You Need a Good VPN After Trump Destroys Online Privacy

Before Donald Trump’s landmark decision to reverse the FCC’s previous protection of your online privacy, we were looking at how this would impact you. Now that it is signed into law, our previous theories have been shown true.

This article is going to look at what Trump’s decision really means for you. It will then give you reasons why a VPN can help you, and then look at other reasons why a good VPN service will protect your online privacy in the future.

Donald Trump ruins online privacy

The recent signing into law of a bill which allows your ISP to freely collect and sell your data reverses the previous decision signed by President Obama. The legislation that Obama enacted last year was designed to protect you from being exploited by your very own ISP, the company that you pay to provide you with an Internet connection.

However, the current administration thought that it was for the better if your ISP could collect your data and then sell it to advertisers. It’s quite possible that they had… ulterior motives for this.

But now, why is this an issue? Tell me truthfully, do you want anyone to be able to access everything that you do on the Internet? Because with the signing of this bill, they can. You say you have nothing to hide? Good for you. You are not the only person on the Internet, and there are those that definitely need protection online:

Journalists
Protesters
Those seeking medical advice
Those doing research on sensitive topics
People who are just plain curious and want to learn about embarrassing or possibly crime-related topics

While the last two may be sticking points, if you don’t agree with the first three people needing some amount of privacy, then your opinion doesn’t matter. You do not belong in a democracy, we don’t need you. But if you agree, you deserve privacy, you have a right to privacy, and you can get privacy with a good VPN that encrypts your traffic.

'Online privacy is a serious fundamental right, people should think about it the same way as they think about privacy offline.' @nighatdad

— Justice and Peace Netherlands (@Justice_PeaceNL) December 13, 2016

How a good VPN protects your online privacy from Trump

VPNs have been around for a very long time. Since the beginning of the Internet, in fact. Originally, they were designed so that corporations could have private communications between separate offices. Now anyone can use a VPN to encrypt data traffic and have private communications between one’s computer and the server of the website being visited.

Every VPN encrypts your traffic. That is the most basic thing VPNs do. If you want the most protection possible, you are going to want a good VPN with a no-logging policy. For that, we recommend that you read about:

There are other good VPN providers out there, but these three best protect your online privacy from your ISP and from Trump’s new bill.

Americans overwhelmingly agree: #onlineprivacy is a fundamental right. We need strong rules to protect consumers’ most sensitive information

— Jerry McNerney (@RepMcNerney) July 7, 2016

Other reasons you need a good VPN

Using a VPN just because of something that Trump signed into law last Monday would be foolish. Here are five other reasons to use a VPN well into the future after this bill is (hopefully) repealed:

P2P and torrenting: A good VPN will encrypt all of your P2P and torrent traffic so that no one can trace it back to you. This will come in very handy if you want to avoid getting a DMCA notice.
Using public Wi-Fi: An increasing number of public Wi-Fi hotspots are being set up by hackers. They’re doing this so they can use tools that can intercept your data. If you encrypt this data with a VPN, hackers will be unable to steal anything from you.
Avoiding firewalls: If you are at school or at work and you’re blocked from visiting a website, it is possible that the administrator has set up a firewall to block access. A VPN will encrypt your traffic so that the administrator’s firewall will not be able to detect you visiting that website. That’s how you will get access.
Defeating geo blocks: These blocks are when you were on the outside trying to get in. For instance, if you are outside the UK, you cannot use the country’s BBC iPlayer. A VPN will trick the website into thinking that you are inside the UK and allow you access.
Protecting your communications: Way too many communication apps and tools do not offer encryption. With such apps, anyone who wants to tap into conversations can freely do so, with the right tools and skills. You can read more about apps with poor encryption here. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to know that Skype does not offer protection of your calls.

Even if Trump’s latest bill is repealed, these are the five other reasons why you need a good VPN.

Trump just signed the bill that officially destroys your online privacy. Unbelievable.

— Mike Figueredo (@HumanistReport) April 4, 2017

Protecting your online privacy is not something that you should be worried about just right now. It is an ongoing issue that, perhaps, you have just been made aware of. It is my hope that you continue to protect yourself online with a good VPN, and that you stay up-to-date by following this online security and privacy blog.