Fair point. Atleast when it comes to Windows.
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That is a privilege not everyone can just do on a whim, or even care if it’s only on a work device.
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@overdrawn98901 Few things here:
Why do you call privilege what should be right to work/do a job? Unless you are forced to do certain job you are free to choose whatever job you like/want/desire etc.
Well, Im well aware that, especially these days, its not an easy task to switch jobs on-the-fly (during 1-2 days), but still, changing jobs is doable.
on a whim
Nowhere did I say that changing jobs should/have to be done on a whim.
Hmmm, I wouldn’t say you are entirely wrong. I just there is sometimes nuance in that changing jobs is much higher effort and can’t be done today, and not always possible for some people in any short term. Sometimes life is using privacy countermeasures to handle shitty situations we can’t remedy today.
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In those countries, the government can get access to all the users info very easily, sometimes even without court order (the law stipulates that a certain government organization has the power to access all the info all the time).
My point is that you would need to hide from both the ISP and every company registered in the country, which usually includes Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, TikTok, etc. Otherwise, the use of VPN (on demand) is pretty much useless against the government threat.
The point is not about Brave alone, but whether it’s better when comparing to Firefox, which is much worse OOTB without uBlock Origin, etc. This is why Firefox has been critiqued for years that it’s not really a privacy browser.
I support Firefox for the sole purpose it’s the last remaining non chromium based browser. For the US, if usage falls below 5% or something, than the US government doesn’t require support for it (and many would follow suit). That would be a slice to the Achilles tendon for Firefox imo, and a sad day for everyone.
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Exactly 
I think the fact that Tor uses Firefox, gives FF credibility.
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Firefox has credibility even without tor. Mozilla is a reputable organization that has a long history of advocating for privacy and making privacy respecting products (as well as other software such as the Rust programming language)
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I don’t mean to revive a dead topic, but @PrivacyAintReal is this not true:
However (the following are all assumptions), it still prevents surveillance from your ISP, so it would still be good to have it on the majority of the time, with a kill-switch. Furthermore, VPNs could provide protection from outsiders (e.g., hackers, outside of the website you are visiting, your ISP) trying to spy on your network traffic, assuming they haven’t hacked the website you are visiting themselves.
My apologies for partly beating a dead horse and reviving this post, as you have already addressed all of this here:
and here:
Reading this again in the future, and this is a huge point, if I accidentally connect to an account without a VPN, they will know my real IP no matter if I use the VPN or not again, so by wiping out my account, which I think you mean by deleting it and creating a new one, with different info from the previous one and with a VPN on 100% of the time when visiting the site, I can combat this.
Final verdict:
A VPN actively/in real time, provides security and privacy against people outside of the websites you are visiting, i.e., a hacker or your ISP, and against the websites you are visiting, on the conditions that you have used it on these specific websites 100% of the time you have visited them, and you have used the VPN with a kill switch. However, this is only true, if the website is logging all of your different IP addresses over pretty short intervals, and is able to ascertain your real IP address amongst all the ‘fake’ ones, which should be easy to do by looking at a list of common VPN servers. Although, using a paid VPN with geographically closer servers, would make it a lot harder for a website to differentiate your real IP from your ‘fake’ one(S). A VPN can also prevent cross-site tracking (even if other websites know your IP, future ones you have not yet visited do not).
So the final verdict is still: use a VPN as much as you can, except where doing so is inconvenient, and if not using it is safe to do so, i.e., in circumstances when performance is needed.
More info from my original post:
Here are some assumptions I made: A VPN is used when you don’t want a website or server you are connected to, to know your IP address (rough physical address). A VPN is less useful if the website already knows your address. However, even in this case it can be useful to prevent cross-site tracking, because if someone has access to your request/device info across sites [IP addresses], and you use this same IP address across more than one of these sites, they will be able to piece together and tie the information across the sites to your IP [or other info, the more info, the more variables by which they can distinguish you by], based on info that you [defined by your IP] have provided on other sites, allowing them to build a profile on you). Thus, even if other websites know your IP, future ones you have not yet visited do not.
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