VPNs work in theory.
However, if the operating system is compromised or applications compromised, then your activities can still be known even if the routing servers can't know.
It's kind of a "how much do you trust the programmer" issue.
Not entirely true. There are options that are less compromised. There are ways of virtualizing and complicating attack methods.
It is ultimately a question of "is it worth the effort?"
Almost any system can be breached with enough work. The question is whether or not breathing that system is worth the effort. A huge portion of how much effort is involved is related to system build and software options… As well as who the attacker is. Joe schmo with his custom build computer is going to have much more difficulty cracking through most individual security on computers/phones than Google, who owns the OS, servers, and many apps people use. However, a state looking to crack a computer system that uses custom ASICs and software, run by a secretive group that has hardened itself against humint… May have few options but to simply conduct a military raid to first analyze what the hell the group is actually using.
It's all a red queen's race.
Agreed. I have even considered enlistment, again. Although, I am torn. I have gotten used to life outside the wire, so to speak. But I let my enlistment expire without renewal after it became obvious we were sponsoring ISIS and it wasn't exactly a new development.
I think most on the net think that they are personally going to be tracked down for some kind of operation… But I really don't think that is true.
Most of the coming nightmare was to be population level. Look at how they used Antifa and other groups to try and pressure us into civil war. Look at how they had our economies structured to be mutually dependant, such that a crisis in one could cascade into systemic failure across all. As dangerous as all of this tech can be, I think most of the fear over having a flashbang lobbed through our windows was just a distorted view of what was being set up.
Or, think of it another way. Many people today use eHarmony and other such things to find people for relationships. Facebook and others are used to maintain relationships (or destroy them). If there was an individual assault underway - I would expect it to be via those avenues. To destroy our interpersonal skills to such a degree that we relied on computers to match us - computers linked to genetic databanks - and could have applications pound us in the face with our girlfriend's post on social media where an old guy friend of hers has a conversation we'd be a bit jealous of.
That is what I fear a lot more than getting a flashbang through my window. The way many media and social media apps work, disruptive voices can be almost completely silenced. The illusion of free speech persists for the time being - but only as a necessary step toward further trust of the platforms.
I have known for some time that if it comes to a shooting war, it will be like the Succession Wars depicted in Battletech, and that my job will be to preserve 'lostech' methods after surviving the initial fuckery.
Which is why Q changes everything.