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If you host your own home VPN, wouldn't the data still be routed through your own ISP though?

Yeah, you don't host it in your home, you have to buy external hosting. It works similarly to running a Minecraft server or something like that.

If you host your own home VPN, wouldn't the data still be routed through your own ISP though?

Yeah, you don't host it in your home, you have to buy external hosting.

So then, of course, you'd have to make sure that the hosting service and stuff are all reliable and secure, if you're concerned about privacy and such?

Yeah, you don't host it in your home, you have to buy external hosting. It works similarly to running a Minecraft server or something like that.

That's very interesting...VPN stuff isn't really in my wheelhouse, so maybe I'll look into it more soon.

If you host your own home VPN, wouldn't the data still be routed through your own ISP though?

Yeah, you don't host it in your home, you have to buy external hosting.

So then, of course, you'd have to make sure that the hosting service and stuff are all reliable and secure, if you're concerned about privacy and such?

First off, what we are attempting to do here is limit what our ISP can see - even an insecure VPN will provide this. However, since you're going to be using a VPN anyway, you do want it to be secure. Reliability isn't hard to come by.

The VPN will have then have access to all the information your ISP does now, since it will effectively be an addition to your service's backbone. That means that it, and every piece of the networking backbone past the VPN, has access to:

• The websites you visit, since the VPN needs to perform DNS lookups on your behalf, and the input of DNS is the hostname that you want to view and the output is the IP address of the corresponding server(s).
• All your traffic. If you're using HTTPS Only, this will likely be TLS encrypted traffic, and all the VPN will be able to see is noise. If you're connecting to an HTTP server, like Wintreath's, then the content of every request will be accessible by the VPN  in plain text.
  

This means that the best you can do is follow steps like these:

• Close unneeded ports.
• Use a secure authentication scheme. If you must use a username and password, use a strong password. Better yet, use certificates
• Keep your OS and everything running on it patched, preferably on a monthly basis. You, of course, can never be completely protected against the vast shadow industry of exploit development and sale, but that's about as close as you can get to 'secure'.
• Follow OS and application hardening instructions. They are available online
• Limit all logging that the server does, and periodically delete logs. If you need some log files to debug issues,
   then routinely check and delete them

All in all, these last steps are why you are better served to host your own than hire a service. You can't ever really be sure that the VPN service you've purchased is following good practices on their end.

I finished my semester with a 97% average!

So I decided to treat myself and I bought a Switch with Super Mario Odyssey.

SMO is probably the best Mario game to date - the maps are huge and varied, some of the moons are hard to find and I heard they can get real tricky to get to too, though a lot of them are really in your face. The game is gorgeous, seems to run well on TV or in portable mode, controls are top-notch, Cappy is the most interesting gimmick to date (beats out FLUDD).

At first I wasn't too hot about the Switch and I was going to skip this console gen. I'm not a fan of the "TV and portable console" gimmick and the battery life is...real bad. I've been gaming mostly on my PC these days. But mainline SMT, mainline Pokemon, Metroid Prime 4, plus Xenoblade, BotW and SMO convinced me. Especially mainline SMT, though it'll be a while before we see it. I don't know for how much longer the 3DS is going to get games and I figure this is now Nintendo's portable, so a bunch of portable series like EO or maybe PW are going to end up on it. Just thinking about EO on Switch makes me cream my pants.

Also I fucked up 5 screen protectors trying to get them on without bubbles. I think I shaved 5 years off my life expectancy I was so angry. Apparently if you want a decent go you have to do it in a foggy bathroom.

Hey uhhh sorry guys for being inactive. Don't have a real reason why.

Hey uhhh sorry guys for being inactive. Don't have a real reason why.

You must be SEVERELY PUNISHED for your inactivity! Mwahaha!

Actually it's just good to see you and I'm glad you came back and posted.

I have not yet seen The Last Jedi yet, and I think someone just spoiled a major plot point for me. Ugh! May they burn in hell!

Yeah, I've been staying away from people since the Last Jedi came out. I mean, I've been staying away from people since before then, but that's my excuse now.

I have watched Last Jedi.


And I shall leave it at that.

Jar Jar Binks kills Snape with Rosebud.

TR-8R is the Last Jedi. Revealed to have survived a blast in the previous movie, this movie starts with his quest for revenge, and ends with his redemption, a recurring theme in Star Wars. In the end, learning to forgive Finn, he too takes a real name, Trey, and they ride off into the sunset on horses to apocryphal Western music.

Man, wasn't that awesome when that one thing happened, and then something happened after that, and that eventually lead to that one other thing later on?

lol, actually I don't really watch Star Wars, so I've no clue. xD

It's official: Ramaphosa is now the ANC president!

The Zumas have finally met their match.

TR-8R is the Last Jedi. Revealed to have survived a blast in the previous movie, this movie starts with his quest for revenge, and ends with his redemption, a recurring theme in Star Wars. In the end, learning to forgive Finn, he too takes a real name, Trey, and they ride off into the sunset on horses to apocryphal Western music.

Did you not read Before the Awakening? Finn was unique for not having a nickname. FN-2199 aka "TR-8R" in the fandom chose the name Nines.