does a VPN help me to get anonymous on IPFS? people can still find my original ip or other info that can lead to me? i don’t want to use ipfs for illegal purposes, i just want to be safe and anonymous in this kind of “p2p” network. Thanks to everyone who replies.
I mean don’t forget that by using a vpn you are trusting that vpn. People will see the ip of the vpn and the vpn will know that you used the service.
If I can see IPFS traffic going to an address, I can assume that address is running an IPFS node. A VPN service can’t run a node on your behalf, if that’s what you are asking. The whole point of a P2P network is that peers know about their nodes. The protocol itself doesn’t “know” anything about who is running that node, only how to request information about locations of nodes and data.
No vpn makes you anonymous online. It’s a misconception. All a VPN reliably does is change your location.
With enough resources, your real IP can be found.
For anonymity, use TOR.
It would help but nothing is really anonymous with enough resources. Trick is paying monero for a vpn that doesn’t use emails something like mullvad.
It might help if you are accessing IPFS through gateways. But if you are pulling data through your own IPFS node, it has a unique peer id that gets broadcast to other nodes even if you are using a VPN to connect. It’s like wearing a trench coat, sunglasses, and a hat while walking around asking people for a good time, and then handing all of them your business card so they can find you if they want to take you up on your offer.
VPN services, often nothing more than rebranded proxies, are not a good source of anonymity. Rather, they help bypass primitive geofilters. If someone wants to know bad enough, they’ll know where you are.
Your node is also identified separately from its IP address of any particular network connection, so if someone wants to trace it back to you badly enough, they can, even if you use it exclusively on the VPN.
A vpn can’t change your location. Your location is the chair you sit on. Teleportation isn’t invented unfortunately.
I mean, you know what they meant. Don’t be obtuse
Yeah I know what he means but “changing location” only works because it successfully tricks the server with the wrong ip. If you find the real ip with enough resources than you also find his real location. The location is derived from the ip, you can’t hide the location while having your ip exposed, no matter how we turn that expression it sounds like he is missing an importing point. You should use tor to fake your location for the same reasons why you should use tor to hide your ip. If you are ok with hiding your ip just with a vpn than you can also hide your location with just an vpn. The decision about what to use tor or vpn shouldn’t be based on the question if you want to hide your location. That’s wrong and dangerous information. I could explain all this but I preferred to just point out that it’s not a 100% correct expression so that it doesn’t lead people into mistakes.
Sure. I’ll concede. Technically you’re correct. But it’s pretty much semantics. You know what I meant! lol
Also, to be a little obtuse as well (lol) technically Tor isn’t necessarily 100% safe anymore either. Last I heard, 20’something percent of Tor exit nodes are malicious, and doing deep packet inspection, and there’s like a tiny group - or a single dude - hunting down, figuring out & and reporting malicious nodes. But new malicious nodes keep popping back up.
If I was a nation state, I’d do the same thing.
If you’re only hopping through 3 nodes, and almost ~30% of nodes are KNOWN malicious…those are GREAT odds in Vegas, but only “OK” odds for criminals - and activists being hunted.
Tor is like using a condom on a back alley hooker. She’s the talk of the town, everyone knows about her, and it’s easy to meet up. You miiiight not catch anything using a condom with her…buuuuuuuuuuut, there’s definitely a chance.
i2P is like using a high class escort, at a 5 star hotel, that comes with multiple references. She costs a bit more money, but she can show your her STD screen from that day, week, and month. So you can have fun with no fear.
Use i2P.