Ever since Edward Snowden dropped the ball on government surveillance on US citizens, it has been revealed that other governments monitor their citizens as well. Many governments actively spy on their own citizens. Almost everything that you share and do on the internet is kept track of. The authorities justify this blatant violation of privacy as means to preserve the national security.
With each day, the government’s stronghold on internet increases. But there are ways to stay hidden, most notably, via a VPN. But before we tell you how a VPN can help, you need to know how much is at stake.
Extent of Government Surveillance
To draw a clearer picture, here are a few things many governments across the world actively monitor:
Web history
Everything that you search for is actively monitored by the government. It might be the nearest delicatessen or the best insurance plan to buy for your child. All your search history, as well as your activity, is monitored. All websites that you access are recorded. Companies like Google record your search history to make a full profile and give more personalized search results. The government does so in the name of national security.
Email and other communication
Every email that you send and receive is peeked into by the government surveillance teams. They have a complete track of who sends you what on each day. They know everything from the latest offer your credit card company sent you to the latest assignment your boss asked you to complete. What’s more, some might even go a step further and listen in on your Skype conversations and read your chats as well.
Social Media
This is quite common knowledge now. Authorities actively monitor everyone’s social media activity for hints of ‘national threat’. It’s quite alarming as to how insecure some governments can be. The justification is national security, while people in some countries are arrested and punished based on something they share on their social media profile.
Avoid Surveillance using VPN
Now that you know just how paranoid some governments of the world are, it’s time you found out how you can keep yourself safe. The best method to go about this is to use a VPN.
VPNs hide your activity and identity from anyone trying to snoop in.
Your ISP or anyone tracking your activity can only see that you are connected to a VPN server. After that, it’s all dark. Your IP address, your activity, what you share, what you receive; everything is confidential. Since your connection is encrypted, you can share sensitive information safely. Moreover, you can spoof your geographic location by connecting to an overseas server. This is useful for people living in countries that enforce heavy internet censorship and filter content exhaustively.
However, one must always heed caution when choosing a VPN. While it’s true that your identity and activity is hidden from everyone when you use a VPN, your VPN can see everything. Therefore, you should always choose a VPN that does not record any logs. That should be the primary concern. After that, you can look for things like server availability, strength of encryption, speed of connection, etc. Some VPNs like Torguard offer stealth servers as well, so that’s an added advantage.
Best VPNs for Avoiding Government Surveillance
Multi-platform Compatible | ||
256-AES Encryption | ||
PRICE | $5 for 1 month with code "best10VPN" | $6.95 a month |
Website Rating | 9.9 | 8.8 |
24/7 Live Chat | ||
Residential / Dedicated IP for permanent streaming access | ||
Has Mobile App + PC / Mac Support | ||
Stealth VPN / Advanced Obfuscation techniques | ||
Visit VPN Provider | Visit TorGuard | Visit PIA |
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about government surveillance, and how you can avoid it by using a VPN. It’s quite alarming just how deep the governments have their noses in your lives. But the onus to keep things private is on you.