P6 intermediate Network

VPN for Network Privacy

Replaces: Unencrypted public Wi-Fi

Use a trusted VPN like Mullvad or ProtonVPN to hide your traffic from your ISP on public Wi-Fi or while traveling.

Sources

trackinggovt-surveillance

Phase

Major Lifestyle Migration — high commitment, disruptive

General

Use when: public Wi-Fi (coffee shops, hotels, airports), travel (especially international), ISP sells your data (US ISPs can), torrenting. Do NOT use always-on unless your threat model requires it. Fix your browser first.

Deployment

Cloud

Mullvad (audited, no-logs verified by Swedish police raid, anonymous accounts) or ProtonVPN (free tier available, audited)

⚠ A VPN does NOT make you anonymous. It moves trust from your ISP to the VPN provider. Websites still see you via cookies, browser fingerprinting, and logged-in sessions. A VPN hides DNS queries and TLS SNI from your ISP. It does not stop application-layer tracking.

Research Findings

Consensus: VPN does not make you anonymous. It moves trust from ISP to VPN provider. Does not stop application-layer tracking (cookies, fingerprinting). Useful for: public Wi-Fi, travel, ISP data selling, torrenting. Not essential for: home network with HTTPS, strong passwords, hardened browser. Mullvad: audited, no-logs verified (Swedish police raid 2023, left with nothing). ProtonVPN: free tier, audited. Both are reputable. Most people do not need always-on VPN — fix browser first.