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Comment by sim7c00 | Hacker News Reader

for ppl wanting a vpn which does not do this. at the monthly rate things like nord charge, u can rent a server, install openvpn amd be free of this stuff. ofcourse, the server is yours and tracible to you, but still it has all the other benefits which i think normal vpn users crave. (visit plaintext sites over insecure wifi but no eves on the line etc.). its fairly easy to set up and definitely you wont be part of a traffic redirection network, for whatever purposes the redirection is. maybe u can connect ur friends too and be a good samartian :)

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> visit plaintext sites over insecure wifi but no eves on the line etc.

Not a rhetorical question: When is the last time you’ve visited a non-HTTPs website?

> you wont be part of a traffic redirection network

These are also only a concern for HTTP.

Other common use cases for VPNs include geo-unblocking, and hosting IP ranges are commonly blocked by streaming sites.

I can’t think of a good reason to use a VPS for a VPN anymore these days, to be honest – the privacy/security landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years.

You probably get better privacy these days on public (free/unauthenticated) Wi-Fi than you would on many "free" or paid VPN services.

I don't get why people buy cars anymore when there's Lyft and Uber. The transportation landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years.

Seems like you misread my comment as "there is no need for VPNs anymore these days". I'm merely saying that I don't see the use case for the "self-hosted VPN server" model anymore.

Need to bypass geoblocking, e.g. when traveling? You'll likely need a residential IP -> use your own network at home (e.g. Tailscale or a self-setup solution) or one of the shady "residential IP broker" utilizing commercial VPNs out there.

Want privacy (from visited sites' trackers)? Your VPS is definitely not that: The IP is static, and if you send your entire traffic through it, this is much more fingerprintable than even residential web usage. -> Use a commercial VPN that you can trust (I don't know many) or something like iCloud Private Relay or TOR.

Want privacy from your ISP tracking you (including public Wi-Fis), and only that? Then, yes, a VPS-based VPN might be for you (or any of the commercial VPNs out there).

But my claim is that the last one (and only that) is probably not the biggest concern of most people.

I know you're being facetious, but, that's not the sarcastic counter argument you think it is. I unironically don't own a car anymore because I have an electric scooter and Uber/Didi to fill in where the scooter is (rarely) not enough. The landscape really has changed.

Problem is that many services denylist “data center” ip ranges, making these vpns neigh unusable for things like watching Netflix or in some cases even logging into eBay and such.

I’ve run a private vpn for extended family off of my residential connection for this reason. It helps them and me.

I do most of my every day browsing and online shopping from data center IPs and have never had a problem with eBay or really that many sites at all. Some for sure (looking at you, "Open" AI), but for the most part it's fine.

Like another poster said, when was the last time you visited a http insecure website?

On another note, one of the first firewall rules that many of my clients ask for is to block cloud servers IP ranges.

> install openvpn

Installing open VPN is like carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom. I’ve installed operating systems, databases, web servers, full LAMP stacks that took less effort.

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