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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

But what you're referring to as a "VPN app" is something very different than what the parent poster is referring to with respect to what Tailscale is.

When you use services like NordVPN, Mullvad, Surfshark, etc., you're just installing a VPN client, and you're basically just using them as a reverse proxy to hide your IP address (present it as coming from another country). That is the use case you are talking about.

Tailscale is very different. It is about setting up your own VPN so that you can access devices from your home or wherever from the Internet at large in a secure manner.

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I pointed someone who, admittedly, has issues following complex computer setup instructions at Tailscale, they easily set up their own tailnet and use it to access home devices all the time to the point they barely remember it's there

> But what you're referring to as a "VPN app" is something very different than what the parent poster is referring to with respect to what Tailscale is.

Does that matter? It still shows willingness to install.

I think it matters a lot because the use cases are so different.

Just look at the US - tons of people now install a VPN app like Nord or Mullvad to get around state-level porn blocks. In other countries it's to get around other types of censorship. And to install those apps on something like a phone or laptop is trivially easy.

The use cases for installing Tailscale (I need a home network and I need to be able to access these devices from the Internet) is, I would guess, ~5% compared to the other VPN use case. I'm a software developer, and I don't need it.

Indeed. VPNs were originally created to allow secure remote connections to and between LANs. The whole privacy thing is a by-product, and they're not that great at it.

Tor exists and is far better at providing privacy.

Tor is far to easily blocked, and given that a great number of nodes are compromised, it is likely it is far worse at providing privacy than some self-hosted vpn on some cheap hosting.

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