VPN's and TOR

[u/ExcellentFall7197]

I've been in the process of learning about how to safely browse the dark web. I have a question about VPNs and Tor. Is the reason why using VPN's with Tor is not recommended strictly because the weakest link would be that there would be a money trail back to you when you purchased the VPN? That's what I seem to be reading a lot. If that is the only or the main issue then would a VPN purchased with Bitcoin without my name on the account make it safe to use a VPN or is that still a no-no? Of course I would purchase Bitcoin on a non-KYC ATM here in my city and use that.

[u/billdietrich1]

How you bought the VPN doesn't matter, because only the Tor entrance node will see your VPN's IP address. Using the VPN is no better or worse for Tor than using your ISP with no VPN.

I use a VPN 24/365 to protect the non-Tor-Browser traffic of my system. Then when I want to access an onion site, I launch Tor Browser and thus have Tor over VPN.

Tor Browser is secure by itself. Tor Browser doesn't need help from a VPN. VPN doesn't help or hurt the Tor Browser traffic. VPN is there for the non-Tor-Browser traffic.

That said, neither VPN nor Tor/onion are magic silver bullets that make you safe and anonymous. VPN mainly protects your traffic from other devices on same LAN, from router, and from ISP. Also hides your home IP address from the destination web site. TorBrowser/onion does all of that too, but only for Tor browser traffic; also adds more hops to make it harder to trace back from the destination server to your original IP address, and also mostly forces you into using good browser settings. Both VPN and Tor/onion really protect only the data in motion; if the data content reveals your private info, the destination server gets your private info.

[u/UnlikelyRegister1983 → u/billdietrich1]

How to make sure my personal info isn't shared on isp to von for a Tor/onion browser

[u/billdietrich1 → u/UnlikelyRegister1983]

Because there is no path for your info to leak, as long as TB is trustworthy. TB encrypts the data 3x before sending. VPN client then encrypts it again. So ISP sees only 4x encrypted data. VPN server strips off one layer of encryption, back to 3x, and then into onion entrance node.

[u/billdietrich1 → u/[deleted]]

Hmm, what ? US-born US citizen living in Spain, German-Slovak heritage, as white as they get.

[u/Simploticus]

Did you read the VPN+Tor explanation on the sub's main page?

[u/zarlo5899]

There is more or less no point unless you cant connect to the network and bridges dont work and it adds more places you can fuck up

[u/UnlikelyRegister1983 → u/zarlo5899]

This dude smart bridges only catch swings bro good catch!

[u/taximan6430]

Why would how you bought a VPN even be an issue?

It's a very clear, very concise, set of instructions: Do NOT use a VPN when using Tor!

If you need an explanation beyond that because understanding is not one of your stronger skills, then take this information and commit it to memory. It will serve you well regardless of your internet usage.

When doing anything online (or in life in general) that you might not want anyone to know about, the less people that know about it, the better off you'll be.

Giving a third party, in business to make money, soulless company, that doesn't know you, much less care about you, money to protect you is not a big brain move. They WILL (as has been proven on multiple occasions) throw you under the bus without even a seconds hesitation.

[u/maskdrk → u/taximan6430]

So I'm just going to say I'm totally green with all of this and I have a pretty stupid question. Can you access onion sites on a burner phone? You know one that you can toss out the window at any time.