Do you not find it interesting that the information superhighway we though we were getting in the 1990s turned out to be a disinformation superhighway; a road where all traffic can go, anytime at all, but seemingly filled with cesspools of toxic danger?
Today we have high speed internet access but what has changed is what we can view and download, and the dangers both bring. Along with speedy internet connections, Wi-Fi everywhere, always on cellular devices, we need protection from where we travel online.
Digital Condom
That brings me to another problem of multiple dimensions. Online activity isn’t safe, whether using Wi-Fi or the local cable TV company’s ultra fast but seemingly secure connections. It’s a jungle out there and sources beyond Russia are interested in hacking your devices and tricking you into giving up information and money.
That’s why so many online technology sites, including the Villagers, recommend using a good VPN. A virtual private network. It’s all easy peasy security, right? Add a VPN to your Mac, iPhone, and/or iPad, and you’re good to go. Right? If only life could be that easy.
First, you would be surprised to know how many people who are online and do not know what a VPN is. And, do not know what a VPN does. And, do not know what dangers lurk beyond your Mac, iPhone, and iPad connection.
How is it, that in the age of the information superhighway, people cannot know about online dangers, and what a digital condom can do for their devices?
How is that possible?
Well, it’s possible for the very reason we call it a superhighway. That means all traffic goes on the same highway system, therefore, everyone connected has access to most of the same information, and is subject to the same dangers.
Second, there is so much information out there on the interwebs that it becomes difficult for Joe and Jane Average to sort through it all, filter out what’s bad, and view what’s good and still understand it all. Mac360 is among the top 1-percent of all website on planet earth (according to overall traffic, according to Amazon’s Alexa website tracking system). That might sound great, but it also means there are about 1-million websites ranked higher, and perhaps a few hundred websites ranked lower.
That’s a long list of websites with an enormous amount of information to sort through, just to find out you need yet another layer of protection while you traverse the interwebs. Here’s a shortcut.
A few months ago Mac360’s famously famous Wilbur compiled a list of a few of the VPNs that all of us on Mac360 and the other Villagers agree are among the best. There are others. But there are many, many others which are not so good, so check out “A Few Words On A Few Good VPN’s” to get started.
We have our own opinions and perspectives, of course; but we’re not here to tell you that the U.S. government has been compromised by deep conspirators (conspiracy theories don’t seem to understand that conspiracies don’t work so well beyond a few dozen people), or that only Apple has the best line of computing device solutions (but that so-called Walled Garden is looking pretty good these days, huh?). We’re here to tell you what we think. Today, we think a VPN is a good option if you are worried about online trackers.
