VPN originally meant ‘virtual PRIVATE network’. And it is still used that way, where security matters.
Virtual private network meaning it connects someone’s private resources into a virtual network not accessible to anyone else.
The ‘VPN services’ you are talking here about are quite different. They use the same technology, just to tunnel traffic through a third party server. Third party - that is opposite to ‘private’.
I do use VPN a lot, but to securely connect my devices over untrusted network (internet). But in this case I control both ends of the VPN tunnel. Or my employer controls that for my work traffic. That is the legitimate use of VPN.
The other ‘VPNs’ are just ‘foreign IP as a service’. Still useful, but I have they being called VPNs and advertised as a privacy solution.
VPN originally meant ‘virtual PRIVATE network’. And it is still used that way, where security matters. Virtual private network meaning it connects someone’s private resources into a virtual network not accessible to anyone else.
The ‘VPN services’ you are talking here about are quite different. They use the same technology, just to tunnel traffic through a third party server. Third party - that is opposite to ‘private’.
I do use VPN a lot, but to securely connect my devices over untrusted network (internet). But in this case I control both ends of the VPN tunnel. Or my employer controls that for my work traffic. That is the legitimate use of VPN.
The other ‘VPNs’ are just ‘foreign IP as a service’. Still useful, but I have they being called VPNs and advertised as a privacy solution.