IP Troubles
Is it something I need to worry about?
Warning: this article may seem overwhelming at first, but pl. try to digest it somehow, it will pay dividends for years to come.
There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding what IP address privacy entails, mostly because of snake oil VPN's.
First of all, lets understand what IP means? Its your address on the internet given by your ISP, all the devices connected on one residential Wifi/Router/Access Point have the same address to the outside world (the messages get routed to the correct device because of something called NAT)
In a lot of cases, even many residential routers have the same IP address and google (for eg) only knows the address of the ISP's internal router because each address costs something, it is economical for the ISP to have as less unique address as possible while not breaking their service.
We got a layer of privacy as a side effect of capitalism, pretty rare but I like to dream a world where this is the norm, rather than a miracle. I think privacy is yet to be priced in.
Since your home address is hidden behind your service provider, IP only leaks your city or a location near it (an ISP hub). Most people have a somewhat low threat model so this is acceptable in most situations.
Only VPN that is actually anon is mullvad paid with xmr (for now, maybe lightning in the future, maybe)
Only real use cases of a vpn IMO are:
Proton VPN for daily use, if you are cautious for some reason.
Geo unlocking media & sites (windscribe)
TOR/ORBOT for shady stuff or daily use where slowness is acceptable.
Proton VPN for networks you don't trust (cafe, mcd, hotel etc)
WARP if you just want to hide from work wifi and/or ISP. (Its free as in beer)
You can consider having a systemwide dns, self-hosted adguardHome is nice, nextdns is okay otherwise.
If you want to use a proxy on android, rethinkdns is nice.
Whats a proxy?
It's just someone else's computer but you shouldn't get disheartened yet, as they just knows your ISP's address and nothing more.
So why would you use this anyways? To hide behind someone else's computer ofcourse!
VPN and TOR are blocked by signup endpoints, this is where proxies shine.
When VPN shouldn't be used?
Having VPN on, all the time ain't smart.
You don't want to hide from your own bank. (It may lock your account temporarily)
Buying something (on amazon for eg - if they don't trust your account they may think you are using a payment method that is not yours and lock your account and ask for some verification)
When you can't do nothing?
When you have interpol after you,
you should just not use internet at that point tbh.
Whats a proxy-chain?
Out of scope but wonderers can brave search.
Entry node
Entry nodes on TOR know your ISP’s address.
Exit node
Exit nodes on TOR are blocked by services for obvious reasons.
Ok - I have proton VPN - I change my VPN location on some basis. So far I haven’t had an issue with accessing my bank but have occasionally I will try and access something n it says it isn’t available where I am. Would I just change to a US location n then access? Then change back? Are there some countries I should not select?