I’m thinking of configuring a VPN in my router so that all traffic runs via Mullvad, just trying to consider if there are any downsides to this?
If I buy Mullvad via the onion site with Monero, obviously there’s no link to me, and they appear to keep no logs, as has been tested. In any case I trust them to keep no logs more than my ISP and government.
I do already have ProtonVPN but it’s attached to my debit card details, my email address, and name etc. No need to give them all my traffic too.
I know I can still be tracked by browser fingerprint and IP but I’ll be one of many users using the same Mullvad IP and I also employ adguard DNS, anti fingerprinting on my browsers etc.
My threat model is generally removing as much passive data gathering and tracking as possible, corporate or state. My threat model does not include active investigation from the law enforcement or state
Imo the most important thing is the separation of what you do. If you’re logged in on facebook, you can do that from your public ip. Anything you’re not associated with your name you want to use a diffferent browser identity and maybe a different ip.
If you use Torrents or do anything illegal or whistleblowing or similar stuff, use a live linux iso with no persistence and a vpn bought with monero.
I did try to install Qubes recently for this purpose but it’s not well supported on my laptop hardware.
You could try Tails maybe? I found that a lot easier to set up that Qubes personally.
I have Tails on a USB for temporary use , I don’t think it’s supposed to be used as a full time OS with persistent storage though.