What a nice device you have got here. Wouldn't it be a shame that something bad happened to you because you didn’t throttle your bandwidth or stopped paying your subscription on time?
this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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Privacy
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Mullvad uses the term "Disconnected" in their apps, and their website header says "Not using Mullvad VPN".
(I know that's probably not a good reason to switch providers, but they are really good in other ways too)
I just saw that on Proton VPN but I remember seeing other services forcing this "unprotected" word as if it was the end of the world.
"Please you need us look how you need us now you're unprotected holy shit"
It's just fear-based marketing, which I have a strong distaste for as well
This confused my parents too. They saw a sponsorship for some no-name VPN, with a bunch of scare tactics, and were afraid they would get hacked without a VPN. I had to explain that the VPN was only the entrance to the internet. We already have plenty of encryption in place with https. Only time I really "need" a VPN is for hotel/airport/mall public Wifi.
But VPN is not a privacy service.
I keep seeing this but I don't understand. Does it not improve your privacy with respect to your ISP?
If your ISP tracks you, then yes; the VPN "tunnels" past the ISP. But keep in mind that the VPN provider can also sell your browsing history. And the ones suitable to work around DRM laws, usually don't have strict data protection laws.
The issue is, that a lot of VPN providers sell their service as a privacy service, with loads of superficial bullshit or false promises.
"If" heh
I wouldn't trust any ISP to not be tracking users
Virtual Private Network?
Virtual wire from your PC to the provider. Nothing more, nothing less. And btw, the encryption of the "wire" doesn't protect against online tracking (and https is already encrypted).
You'll know in about nine months, give or take, depending on when you went unprotected.
It all depends on what you're supposed to be protected from. Vpns protect your Communications from being intercepted and keeps your location anonymous.
So you are in fact unprotected from being located identified and tracked. You are also unprotected from having your Communications intercepted by a man in the middle.
If you're on a public unsecured Wi-Fi network you are totally exposed. If you are on your own router connected through an isp, the ISP knows everything you're doing, and attaches your billing information to that data and uses it.
So I really don't think unprotected is a scare word. It is an accurate description of your situation.
VPNs don't prevent a device from announcing its real location. And they protect you from a MITM at the ISP but not at the VPN provider, so you just switch who you trust. VPNs also don't do anything to help with the browser fingerprinting that companies use to track you around the web. From the point of view of the services and sites you connect to, all a VPN does is change your IP address, and the IP address may not be a big part of how they track you in the first place. VPNs alone do not improve privacy much at all.
What VPNs do is shield your traffic metadata from inspection by the network hops between your client and the VPN provider (though the content is almost always enxrypted even without the VPN), and change your apparent location for any service that is exclusively using IP-based geolocation.
What other terms could they use?
- Vulnerable
- Exposed
- In Danger
- At Risk
- Potentially Compromised
- Unmasked
- Uncovered
- Unhidden
- Discoverable
- Unpresentable
- Uncouth
- Unbecoming
- Indecarous (might be my favorite now)
- Indecent
- Immodest
- ...
disconnected
They could just provide the facts: your connection is not protected by the VPN. The scaremongering is just marketing for the next renewal.
That's no fun
Your data is leaking
Better simply "You're Leaking"