The Idiot gets a VPN Account Pseudonymously

Privacy. It’s all the rage now. Let’s see if we can get a little more of it.

I’m a fan of a properly configured VPN — emphasis on properly configured. Encrypting your traffic is one of the basic things you can do to keep your data safe, especially on public Wi-Fi. While rolling your own VPN is my personal preference, some people would rather pay a provider and call it done.

As of this writing (January 2018), you could get a VPN account from Private Internet Access without surrendering your credit card or email address. It just takes a little extra work.

The Setup

PIA accepts certain store-branded gift cards as payment — no credit card required. However, you still have to provide an email address to receive your credentials. That’s where Mailinator comes in.

Mailinator is a publicly-accessible, receive-only, disposable email service. We’ll have PIA send your credentials there — a layer of separation between you and the VPN provider.

Step by Step

1. Pick up a store-branded gift card from the dropdown on PIA’s payment page.

2. Register the card using the same link.

3. When asked for your email address, open a new tab and go to mailinator.com.

4. Create a long email name — I use four random words strung together. Click Go!

5. If there’s existing mail in that inbox, add more words until you find an empty one.

6. Speed matters here. Give PIA that Mailinator address and submit.

7. Watch your Mailinator inbox for 3 emails from PIA. Copy your username and password, then delete the emails. These inboxes are public — less time available, the better.

8. Download the PIA app for your platform, plug in the credentials, and connect.

That’s it. You have a VPN and you’ve submitted no personal information whatsoever.

Caveats

This doesn’t work in bulk. One or two accounts a day seems fine, but running several in a short window appears to trigger their fraud prevention.