content: the IP you appear as to the internet is directly tied to your identity  You obviously want to avoid that.  Don't use the same exit IP as your personal Web-site, duhhh.  All it protects against is local network sniffing of unencrypted traffic, and you get that from any VPN.  The purpose of the VPN is to protect you from your ISP, which is the easiest thing for the government to compromise, especially if it's a cable or phone monopoly.  It's a very safe bet that the government has direct access to their real-time logs. An off-the-shelf VPN solution is the second easiest.  But the zillions of competing mom-and-pop VPS providers all over the world are, by far, the hardest. They don't know who you are (assuming you're using cryptocurrency and encryption correctly).  The ideal solution is to use a relay of multiple mom-and-pop VPS providers, so no one entity can know enough about you.  Basically, you gain absolutely nothing by following his advice.  Instead of hiring one wolf to guard your sheep you're hiring multiple competing sheepdogs.  But you lost all the potential benefits of a clean VPN service.  No such thing as a "clean VPN service".  You're putting your blind faith in them.  If they're small, you don't know if you can trust them.  If they're big, you definitely can't trust them because they're the first governments want to corrupt.  No big business can stand up to the US government.