They already know. From late 2018 I've had physical surveillance on my house, person, and vehicle. 2019 was off the charts involving mutlitple domestic and foreign collection efforts. It's tamed a bit and now just consists of continous electronic and occassional physical spot checks.
Am I paranoid? At first. Now? No. If trying to save the greatest nation on earth from evil parasites warrants surveillance, then I'm glad I made the grade. And I know VERY well what physical surveillance looks like, since I used to do it and managed many others doing it for several years…so I am well able to recognize it. I know it's strenghts, weaknesses, challenges, methods, constraints, you name it.
I am just one Anon. Probably one of the more concerning to both the good guys (who wanted to make sure I hadn't gone to the dark side) and to the bad guys who know I came from within the machine and have extensive connections to it and within it at all levels, including the very highest. The.very.highest.
Consider your anonymity like the locks on your car. They protect you from the lazy. But, with enough capital or manpower, anything is possible. The people we are opposed by have both in virtually unlimited quantities. Others watch us because they were told we were bad, but have since learned otherwise. In fact, some of the physical surveillance has left supernatural impressions on the collection assets, who saw and felt things they only thought existed in scriptures. Even now they are deeply troubled as to how to proceed. Smart men and women fear God and those who do his work on earth.
The bad guys have a profile problem with Anons. The more effective an Anon is, the more likely many are watching them and doing something to neutralize them would almost certainly be observed and they can never know what could happen after that. High risk, low reward.
If your own government labels you a domestic threat for undermining totalitarianism, they you're screwed either way. Fight it or roll over. Only fighting it has an upside…winning.
So, the VPN advice is good not because it foils the sophisticated bad guys, but the unsophisticated ones, who are likely to do foolish violence out of ignorance.
I'm going to die as a Patriot. Whether that is in my old age as a hero to my country, or against evil, God only knows.
Anons, you were chosen for a reason.