Oddbean new post about | logout
 If the point is to hide your IP from relays
then running your client through a VPN
and then through tor
(or vice versa)
is redundant and unnecessary.

maybe there are other reasons to do so
but thats the usual idea. 
 A VPN doesn't hide traffic from your ISP like a brake pedal doesn't make the car go fast 
 but it does tho.

and also thats really weird inaccurate simile. 
 I guess there are different ways to set up a VPN to hide traffic like there are with Tor but it seems more straightforward and reliable with Tor and most VPN users don't do it

Not to mention all the other tracking services like Google 
 the main difference is that a VPN is a trusted 3rd party
TOR Isnt (mostly)

so if you have reason to doubt your VPN
or are doing high risk activity,
definitely use tor.

but many people are betting that the mullvads and ivpns etc are secure.

not sure what you mean about configuration problems. 
 I just don't know how to configure a VPN to be hidden from the ISP, whereas in Tor browser (not sure about Android apps) it's easy