I’d like to clear some things up before I start asking questions.
Since I was little, my parents controlled me in every way they possibly could, so even though I thought I had my own privacy, I never did. I don’t suffer from physical abuse anymore, but the psychological abuse I go through everyday is enough to make me want to do something about it. I’m almost an adult now and when I finally thought I could live normally, my parents revealed to me that they could spy on everything I did on my cellphone and computer (at first, I couldn’t even have control over my own computer, but I did some digging and was able to take control over it, that’s why they started spying on me). You might think that I’m worried about NSFW sites or something, but you see, my father is a tech guy and he is Christian (a very strict one), and once he saw that my favorite movie was Spirited Away, he freaked out and called me a satanist just because there are witches in the movie. I’m tired of this. Can you please help me? I just wanted to know if a VPN is enough to keep him from seeing what I search and when I’m using the internet (he administers the router). As I said, he has a degree on tech and I’m not even close to knowing what to do, and since he is the administrator of the router, I don’t have any chance on changing anything on the router’s settings. If the VPN is not enough, then is there something else I could do?
(Sorry if the category of the post is wrong, I don’t really know where it should go)
Yes a vpn would only register your computer communicating with the vpn sever your connected to so your parents would not be able to spy on your internet usage. I mean unless they have a root kit on your pc or a key logger but I doubt that.
I just wanted to know if a VPN is enough to keep him from seeing what I search and when I’m using the internet (he administers the router).
Yes, but they can discover that you are using a VPN and they may question you about your browsing activity. Moreover, many services require payment, so you can’t use your parent’s credit/debit card (if any) to subscribe.
You can also rent a VPS, install and configure a private VPN server in it and connect to that server. Oracle provides limited-capacity VPS free of charge, although the home region you choose (the location where your free VPS will be provisioned) will be permanent and you will also need a credit/debit card to sign up. While your parents may not be able to figure out the VPN provider you used, it may still look suspicious and they may still question you about your browsing activity.
Moreover, if parental control/monitoring software is installed in your computer, your parents will take no time to find out your activity, even if you are using a VPN.
Just a thought - if you can get a credit card the how about an on demand machine at AWS or Azure - I have one to get around geo-blocking to the UK from the USA. I use it for about 20 hours a month and its something like $7 - do all your “research” on that machine
The things you can do is (with or without a VPN):
Use a VM (delete the shortcut from desktop)
Use Tor Browser (You Can go on the d4rkN3t but thats not for using it like that. Its known for his privacy)
Thanks for bringing a free alternative! VPN payment is not a problem since my friend is going to sign for one and offered to share it with me, but it’s nice to know about it if something goes wrong. About the part where my parents could get suspicious, I’ll try to make up a lie if they ask, but if they wanted to see the search history on my phone they wouldn’t be able to, I’ve deleted it entirely and I’m on anonymous ever since. Lastly, I hacked my computer (Mac) because of the IOS parental control, and I don’t think he would install one more. I’m an administrator now so I think it’s alright
Right. The browser will still reflect the history if someone has access to the physical machines. If they are looking through router/firewall logs or modem logs they only see vpn traffic.