Set up your own VPN on your own server

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A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be a real asset if you want Online anonymity. It scrambles the data emitted by all your Site traffic & re-routes it through another remote server, thus thwarting the efforts of Online snoops. But there’s 1 problem – commercial VPN owners themselves continue to have total control over the things that most of their users do. So what happens to complete anonymity? ‘Jigsaw’ from Alphabet of Google fame has come up with a solution that claims to have licked even this 1, last problem, by offering the setting up & use of your very own VPN. Jigsaw, incidentally, is a tech incubator from the Alphabet stable especially focused on Online privacy & human rights.

Not knowing the tech stuff will no longer be a hurdle in this process. Users will now be able to combine the virtues of Tor-like tools & costly VPNs to set up their personal VPN on the Cloud or their own PCs. ‘Outline’ is the software used for this, & everyone will be capable of using it to their benefit. Product Manager, Outline, Santiago Andrigo, has said he had addressed the pain point of old-fashioned VPNs, where the end-user was never in control of your data. With Outline, your privacy is completely in your hands & yours alone.

Outline gives you control over your privacy by letting you operate your own server. Strong encryption helps keep your communications private. Outline servers automatically update with the latest security settings, so you don’t have to worry about keeping software up-to-date.

The app runs on Windows & Android for now. It is not long before Apple follows. Outline will be offered to users at a set fee per month. Although it has been based on ShadowSocks (the open source VPN software), it is a lot less difficult to use.

If you are worried about logs of your Website traffic, don’t be. No logs are kept & users can even check it out on GitHub. After all, Outline is open source. However, you should know that when using a Cloud server, there are still risks to keep in mind. Unlike when using your own data server, the Cloud server might be less anonymous than one would think.

What you must also remember is that Outline does not ensure absolute anonymity. This means that when visiting a Website, you will remain visible. What it does is prevent surveillance & overlook bypassing restrictions.

Outline can be used for news organizations which do not want to be compromise their sources, for example. It lets news organizations easily provide their network safer access to the open Internet.

This personal VPN might well be the answer to censorship like the Great Firewall of China. In other words, through the use of Outline it might be harder to detect & block IP addresses. Since the servers will not be known, the whole detection & blocking process will be more difficult.