- I'm seeing everyone's data in the air.
[Evil Laugh]
Hey there, Wizards of the Web
and welcome to another episode of #AskFirefox.
I'm your host, Chenae and this week's topic is (beep).
Oop, my bad, had my VPN on.
This week we're talking about VPNs.
We've got all your burning questions
about how to browse the internet safely.
Believe you me, Firefox has been out here in these streets
since the internet was still wearing digital diapers.
And let me tell you, we've seen some (bleep).
First question.
I keep hearing that I should use a VPN, but why?
What does it even do?
All right, let me break it down for you.
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.
It basically acts like a connection
that you'd use to access the internet
sort of like wifi, or ethernet,
but instead of being a real wire
that runs from your computer to your router,
the connection is virtual.
And here's where the private part of VPN comes into play.
So, VPNs protect your data by scrambling it
before sending it out into the world
using a method called encryption.
Here's a real world's example of how it works.
You're at a coffee shop sending Twitter DMs
with some really personal information in it.
You go ahead and hit send and out the message goes
from your computer over wifi to the world.
Hold the front door, you stop that DM right there.
I'm a hacker and I've tapped into the wifi at this Starbucks
and I'm seeing everyone's data in the air.
Without a VPN, hackers can use tools
called Packet Sniffers to look at your unprotected data.
Let's try that again with the VPN encryption.
Give me that data.
I said give me that data.
Hmm.
That text is completely unreadable
and that's the power of a VPN.
They can help you stay private online
by hiding your real location or even keeping ad tractors
from identifying you between website visits.
The network portion is one of the other major benefits
of using a VPN.
You can teleport.
Wait, hello?
Not literally.
Help!
Oh, that was close.
What I meant to say was VPNs teleport your data.
For instance, you can virtually connect one network
in let's say, New York City to another network
across the internet and around the globe in London.
Computers on either end will act as though
they're in the same room using the power of trickery,
smoke, mirrors, and VPNs.
Okay, fine, mostly VPNs.
All right, next question.
Using a VPN seems like overkill to me.
What are some realistic scenarios for using one?
That's fair.
VPNs will scramble more than just text in a DM.
They obscure all of the data
moving over your computers network connection
making it unreadable.
So, let's say you're traveling
and you wanna check your credit card balance
but all you can find is some sketchy public wifi.
Hey, who am I to judge?
We've all been there.
But a VPN will help you protect that sensitive data.
Those mystical teleportation powers can be especially useful
for international travel.
Let's say you're on vacation in Japan for the week
and you just found out
your absolute favorite band Milli Vanilli
is doing a tour in the US.
You rush over to your laptop, connect to the hotel wifi,
and you're met with a nasty,
this website is not available in your location.
If you got a VPN, you're in the clear.
Just flick that bad boy on and buy those tickets
like you're sitting at your desk at home.
All right, next question.
I see ads for all sorts of VPNs.
How do I pick the best one?
Do you have a recommendation?
Funny, you should mention that.
Real funny.
Okay, full disclosure,
we have our own service called Mozilla VPN
and we think it's pretty fly
but whatever VPN you're looking at,
you should make sure it does three things.
Number one, it should be fast.
In fact, you shouldn't even notice it.
Number two, it should be private.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but some VPNs,
AKA, the free ones, are likely collecting your data.
So read those terms of service.
And three, it should work on multiple devices,
computer, tablet, burner phone.
But for real though,
make sure there's an app that you can install
on all your devices
so you can toggle the VPNs on and off as necessary.
Which brings me to our final question.
Are there any downsides to using a VPN?
Are there times I shouldn't?
VPNs aren't exactly a flawless solution.
Using a VPN to connect to a country far away
from where you really are can introduce some serious lag
plus services like Netflix, often block known VPN servers.
Also, beware of the free VPNs.
Many of these providers are actually selling the data
they swore to protect in the background.
Rude!
And remember, if you're not paying for the product,
you are the product.
Well, that's it for this week's episode.
If you're not already watching with a VPN,
now you know why it should be.
Let me know some of your favorite reasons to use a VPN below
and if you got any other questions, drop 'em in the comments
or find us on Twitter and Instagram at Firefox.
Don't forget to check out our other videos
for more online tips and tricks.
See you next time.
(upbeat music)