• 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Man even in the 90’s nobody was scared of having their IP address known because there’s not a helluva lot you can do with one anyway, and the average regular person is using a dynamic one that resolves to a local CO and not usually their actual home address.

    It was quite normal to scare the normies by having a forum signature that displayed the IP address of the machine loading the page because something that basic was enough to make them think you were a hacking wizard.

    Those who were especially paranoid, used proxies (maybe VPNs but I never even heard that term until NordVPN started advertising all over the place).

    • hansl@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      In the 90s everyone could find out your address by looking your name up in the white pages.

      Americans became crazy after 9/11 and the patriot act.

      Also, don’t use NordVPN. Worst VPN service by a long shot.

    • halva@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      VPNs are a weird term because practically they’re used for an entirely different purpose (making virtual networks as the name implies)

      What advertises itself as VPNs are usually just proxies based on popular VPN protocols.

        • halva@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          VPN as in proper VPN, yeah, that’s what they’re used for among other things. Hamachi is a VPN service.