NAS build

[smitbret]

I see. Thanks for the reply. That seems interesting! Then my NAS can become a sort of personal cloud...

I was also thinking, I understand that by using a VPN you're ip is hidden (or you use another ip, whatever). But let's say, you log in to your gmail account while on the VPN. Then it's possible to link your identity with the ip used at that time. So then the whole concept of being anonymous is gone, no?

Does this mean that to stay anonymous on a VPN, you can not log in or give personal information of any kind?

A VPN simply encrypts your data and rerroutes all of your traffic through a remote location. You could set up a VPN so that you run through your home network even when away from home. This is what corporations do with mobile data systems. It assures that the data is entirely encrypted and no one is able to hijack. It also makes sure that all data passes through the appropriate filters.

Or, I think you are talking about using a VPN client. Basically, you subscribe to a service. Then you set up the VPN on your system. Once active, ALL of your internet traffic goes to the VPN server that masks your ip address with their own. Then all of your activity looks like it is coming from the ip address of the VPN server.

Normally the connection looks like this:

Search "dolphin" at www.yahoo.com ---->Yahoo Servers----> Search Results for "dolphin" comes back to you

With a VPN Client:
Search "dolphin" at www.yahoo.com ----> VPN Provider (new ip address) ---> Yahoo Servers ---> VPN Provider (filters back to original ip address) ----> Search Results for "dolphin" comes back to you

Another use is if you are in a physical location that blocks certain internet traffic. For example, if you subscribe to NetFlix and you are in vacation in Mexico. You try to log in to NetFlix and watch a movie, but you find out that NetFlix is only available in the U.S. So, you log into your U.S. based VPN and now you look like you're in the U.S. and are able to use NetFlix.

 

[laspo]

Aha, okay. I see the difference now.
Thank you!

 

[mfenn]

I was also thinking, I understand that by using a VPN you're ip is hidden (or you use another ip, whatever). But let's say, you log in to your gmail account while on the VPN. Then it's possible to link your identity with the ip used at that time. So then the whole concept of being anonymous is gone, no?

Does this mean that to stay anonymous on a VPN, you can not log in or give personal information of any kind?

Yes, you're right that a VPN doesn't protect you from somebody why can spy on a large portion of the traffic on the Internet, such as the NSA. They can correlate your activities between different sites, or even just intercept your original VPN connection.

It does mean that people without such full knowledge will have a harder time tracking you between web sites. So if you download something from a web site, the owner of that website will only see the VPN connection.

Obviously you are screwed if you have previously given your real contact information to that site's owner.