A big reason why so many people love using a VPN is because it helps them stay anonymous online. This gives them privacy – a fundamental right of everyone on earth. Even the most barbarous of dictators wouldn’t openly admit to wanting to put a camera into the home of all their subjects.

Yet that is exactly what the governments and corporations of the world are doing with your online activities through various acts known collectively as Big Data. They’re tracking your online activities, taking this information from you, and selling it to marketers. Read that again: they’re using you. But a VPN can help you get privacy from Big Data.

Pregnant Mother seeks Privacy from Big Data, NSA

A story making the rounds right now is about a woman who wished to conceal her pregnancy from Big Data. It was part wanting privacy, and part an experiment she was running as a sociologist of technology.

Her experiment to remain anonymous involved using an online anonymizer that’s similar to a VPN, not mentioning her pregnancy on social media (the biggest data stealers of all), and only buying in cash – even resisting the temptation of “loyalty cards.” When shopping on Amazon, she used Amazon gift cards bought with cash. This proved to be where Big Data drew the line and had some legal ways to pressure her into conforming.

When her husband tried to buy $500 in gift card with cash, he was told that his activity was going to have to be reported to the police as this is a common activity of money launderers. He was made to feel like a criminal for wanting privacy from Big Data. Her simple want of privacy caused:

• Sneaking around not being able to talk to family members over the dominant form of communication
• No longer buying with those ‘convenient’ plastic cards
• Being accusation of criminal activity.

This is what people face when they seek to stay anonymous online, when they want privacy from Big Data – and it shouldn’t be this way.

Using a VPN is not a criminal act

With stories like this coming out, it may cause those looking to stay anonymous online to feel as if they’re criminals. This is the true terror of Big Data – freedom and privacy are now suspicious activities! There is absolutely no legislation in the world which makes it illegal to use a VPN – they are perfectly legal (except in Iran…where using one is common as they block Facebook). If you have no idea how they work, I’d advise you to look at the ones in this list of easy to use VPNs with great clients. Pay close attention to IPVanish, and other no-logging policy providers.

Using a VPN to do illegal things isn’t even illegal, the illegal acts themselves are. This is because many major corporations and universities encourage VPN use amongst their staff. A VPN allows them to access sensitive information in a secure manner. In fact, the first VPNs were corporate VPNs.

Why you need a VPN to gain back your privacy from Big Data

A VPN will keep you anonymous online so that Big Data can not track you. So that bots don’t follow you all over the internet and report back to marketers. So that you don’t have to feel like a commodity in everything you do. That’s correct, commodity. How much do you trade for? Not much. I recently used a tool over on the Financial Times that calculated how much I’d worth to marketers if I didn’t use a VPN: Less than 50 cents. That’s what a marketer feels like I’m worth. I, however, feel like I’m worth much much more than. Do you? Choosing a reliable VPN, taking your privacy back, and not selling yourself to every online marketing agency on Earth is an important step in showing the people behind Big Data that you are worth more than $0.4569.

 

Feature image via Maksim Kabakou / Shutterstock