Came across this controversial link where someone says that a VPS would be more secure than a VPN provider. From my understanding:
-Wouldn’t the VPS provider just see everything instead of a VPN provider? -Wouldn’t fingerprinting be straightforward, even if you use a hardened browser, since you have a single IP traceable directly to only one user?
ytcombinator doesn’t seem to take it seriously but I’m curious to hear what you all think about it.
This is my personal takeaway as well. The article seems to insinuate that because VPNs by themselves don’t do anything meaningful for privacy, they’re useless. It seems defeatist, since one could take measures to mitigate fingerprinting. But like you said they’re only one of the important parts of maintaining privacy.
I am not more technically proficient than the average user. I have little experience in hosting anything, let alone hosting something that will tunnel all of my internet usage. I’d rather put my faith in my current provider to take the proper precautions and put more effort into things I feel comfortable with. It seems better to me than trusting an unknown VPS provider, my own skill and/or my awful ISP.