vpns DO NOT protect your privacy
tl:dr
vpns cannot protect your privacy. they can however get around geo-blocking. you cant be completely anonymous online. the closest is probably tor. NEVER USE A FREE VPN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
youtubers stay lyin'
im joking but it's pretty worrying how many youtubers advertise vpn's as a privacy solution. as a nerd i feel obligated to tell you that vpns dont protect your privacy. i dont believe youtubers that do ad reads for vpns are actually lying. most of them probably dont know.
the real liars are the vpn companies
i say this because they represent themselves as a way to protect your privacy. while yes, when you use a vpn your isp cannot see what websites you are visiting. guess who can see it tho...
the mufuckin' vpn company
they can and will give your the info they have to the cops. i will say as stated in the linked article, many vpns have a no loggin policy. this means they dont keep track of your history. the issue is that you have to trust the company. say they do uphold this policy, they are still not above the law. they still have your payment info, email and ip address.
ok so how can you actually be anonymous?
you cant. but you can be closer to it by using tor. the best vpn for privacy is probably mullvad. mullvad also released a privacy minded browser along with tor. there is also tails for a privacy focused operating system. again none of these are completely secure. if you are doing illegal shit, the cops can always catch you. my suggestion is dont do illegal shit.
also most internet traffic is encrypted anyway
you really aren't gaining much in security by using a vpn. any website using https encrypts the traffic. anyone snooping on your traffic can see what sites you are going on but cannot see what you are doing. for example you wanna log into your bank account from a coffeeshop using their wifi. theres a bad boy looking at the traffic going thru the wifi. they will see chase.com but thats all they will see. the rest will be nonsense they need a key to decode.
ok but how do i keep the bad boy from seeing chase.com?
ok so this is a use case for a vpn BUT it does not have to be from a vpn company. you can set up your own vpn on your home network or in the cloud (aws or linode for example). i can do a future tutorial on setting this up but there are a lot of resources for this. i like this network chuck totorial because of his strong DAD energy.
actual uses for a vpn company
i refuse to help you watch anime. shut up weeb. just kidding. vpn companies are good for getting around geo blocking because they have servers all around the world. you can also set this up youself on aws but you'd have to change the location a lot which is annoying.
DO NOT USE FREE VPNS
i will not explain this. just dont do it.