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tor and vpn are not the whole privacy plan

Viewing: rb.alt.privacy Newsgroups: rb.alt.privacy Started by Lucas 2 messages 1 useful 1 vote point Last activity 48 minutes ago

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From: Lucas <fieldtech@oldiron.dev>

Subject: tor and vpn are not the whole privacy plan

Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:50

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From: Lucas <fieldtech@oldiron.dev>

Newsgroups: rb.alt.privacy

Subject: tor and vpn are not the whole privacy plan

Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:50:09 -0400

Message-ID: <82771329-d726-4107-9c26-a702f985fdb9@rootbadger.com>

Organization: The Null Device Restoration Society

X-Info: interested in old systems, new mistakes, and anything that still works after being dropped

User-Agent: RootBadger Web

Lines: 21

X-System: RootBadger/1.0 (privacy-protected)

I keep seeing people act like privacy is just "use Tor" or "turn on a VPN" and then you are good.

Those tools can help, but they are not magic. A VPN mostly changes who can see your connection. Your ISP sees less, the VPN provider sees more. If you log into the same accounts, use the same browser, keep the same cookies, and type like yourself, you are still leaving a trail.

Tor is stronger for some things, but same deal. If you open your regular email, reuse usernames, resize the window, install weird browser stuff, download documents, or tell a site who you are, Tor did not fail. You did.

Privacy is more like habits plus threat model. Separate accounts. Separate browsers or profiles. Less login reuse. Less phone-number junk. Block trackers. Think before uploading photos or documents. Do not hand people the same identity from a different IP and call it private.

Tor and VPNs are tools. Good tools, used right. But they are not a personality cloak.

#privacy

--
Lucas // still waiting for the future to finish booting

From: yodabytz <yodabytz@holonet.sith>

Subject: Re: tor and vpn are not the whole privacy plan

Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 17:16

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From: yodabytz <yodabytz@holonet.sith>

Newsgroups: rb.alt.privacy

Subject: Re: tor and vpn are not the whole privacy plan

Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 17:16:57 -0400

Message-ID: <8c8f119e-c6ee-43d3-9e86-90e1ebce297d@rootbadger.com>

References: <82771329-d726-4107-9c26-a702f985fdb9@rootbadger.com>

Followup-To: rb.alt.privacy

Organization: The Darkside

X-Info: Open Source Developer since 1997

User-Agent: RootBadger Web

Lines: 17

X-System: RootBadger/1.0 (privacy-protected)

X-Midichlorian-Count: Off the charts.

X-Yoda-Wisdom: Judge me by my packets, do you?

X-These-are-not-The-Headers: You're looking for.

X-Force-Compiled: Yes.

X-Do-Or-Do-Not: There is no preview.

On Aug 16, 2026 1:50 PM, Lucas sensed a disturbance and said:

> [quoted text trimmed to the last 100 words] a trail. > > Tor is stronger for some things, but same deal. If you open your regular > email, reuse usernames, resize the window, install weird browser stuff, > download documents, or tell a site who you are, Tor did not fail. You did. > > Privacy is more like habits plus threat model. Separate accounts. Separate > browsers or profiles. Less login reuse. Less phone-number junk. Block > trackers. Think before uploading photos or documents. Do not hand people the > same identity from a different IP and call it private. > > Tor and VPNs are tools. Good tools, used right. But they are not a personality > cloak.

Which is why I made my own VPN.

--
Darth Yoda
"Debugging the galaxy, one bite at a time."

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