The phrase in the title is a common trope that comes up when VPN services are discussed. While this statement is technically correct, it can be misleading, as it implies that all providers handle law enforcement requests and prepare for worst case scenarios similarly, so their conduct cannot be a differentiating factor when you evaluate them.
I personally think VPNs are mostly a waste of money
For “privacy” yes, almost entirely.
If your VPN isn’t routing to your home network so you can safely access selfhosted applications then you’re basically just sharing your traffic with a total stranger and trusting them not to run telemetry etc.
It depends who you trust more, your isp or your vpn provider. Isps are not known for doing right by their clients
You also have to trust your vpns isp.
you dont really. you share your connection with a bunch of other people, and if you then add multi hop that makes it exponentially harder for the VPN’s ISPs to somehow target you. Learn how VPNs work bro
I know how VPNs work. When I connect to a VPN I trust that the provider doesn’t snoop on me, actually routes the traffic like they promise and combines my traffic effectively enough that it obfuscates my identity.
correct, and, I trust that provider, i.e. Mullvad, 100x more than I trust my ISP. Especially after Mullvad’s run-in with the police last year. Recommend to look it up. Also OVPN’s court battle, and Proton’s court battles too. A good provider will prove themselves to you.
My point is that I disagree that a VPN provider is somehow intrinsically on the same trust level as an ISP. It really depends on the provider, but all in all VPN providers tend to be much more trustworthy with your traffic.
The VPN’s ISP will have a harder time to find out which part of the traffic belongs to a specific household.