I have read some stuff about how if you are logged into like your google account while on your VPN you have pretty much given yourself away.

So first, is that accurate?

I just got a mullvad vpn and am using their browser. Created a new lemmy account. And I shut down my other browsers before connecting to the vpn to be on the safe side. Is that necessary? Anything else I need to do to sail the high seas anonymously and safely. I am looking to start finding all the movies that never seem to be on my many streaming services, but want to be safe about it. Thanks

  • Jessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 months ago

    I’ve used Transmission + PIA for several years now. In that time frame, I’ve had three separate ISPs (due to moving a few times). I received a total of one DMCA notice in the last ~10 years, due to unknowingly running Transmission with the VPN off. Since then, I keep the advanced kill switch turned on.

    My Google account is always logged in. I only use Facebook for their Marketplace, which is seldom.

    I have no issues, at all. Keep in mind, you’re small potatoes.

    • myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website
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      8 months ago

      Not sure that transmission supports it, but other torrent clients (qbitorrent, deluge) allow binding the torrent client to your VPN interface. That way, you literally can’t torrent on anything but your VPN connection (even if a killswitch fails/the VPN isn’t running)

      • Jessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        8 months ago

        Very interesting! I’m running on Mac and I have a dedicated IP with my VPN, I bet I could do something similar. Thank you!

        • TCB13@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          In you case setting bind-address-ipv4 and bind-address-ipv6 to your VPN IPs should work. According to this under macOS settings are stored in $HOME/Library/Preferences/org.m0k.transmission.plist. Not sure if the format is the same tho and don’t forget that editing a plist on macOS isn’t just always just editing a text file, it might be encoded and cached by the system, do your research.