Who doesn't use a VPN?

We recently had some IT security auditors ask us what our policy was on employees using untrusted public wifi to access our systems. We explained that they can use it in exactly the same way as any other network connection, because if we’re relying on any connection being secure, we’ve failed.

We design telco infrastructure and it's exactly the same thing, if you're relying on physical later encryption over just one hop, you don't understand network security. End to end encryption is the only way to secure data.

I have barely seen any site that doesn't force TLS encryption in many years. So the VPN is a bit pointless for that.

Serious question - for an average surfer/browser like me, why would I want to use a VPN? I use one for work, but have never used one for personal browsing. The work one is to log into the central server so that my files are backed up and I can access the shared folders etc. Now,  if I lived in Dubai or China, I guess perhaps I might use VPN. Or if I was an expat and wanted to watch UK TV, then perhaps, but still doubtful.

so for those of us who are clueless, why would an average Joe even want to use VPN?

Thread resurrection. I’m going to be in Spain when the Tour’s on and would like to watch the highlights show on ITVX. Can anyone recommend a VPN that I can use that’ll work? I don’t mind paying, but will only want it for a month.
(Salient points in bold 😉).

We used Nord VPN to watch the F1 in Tenerife. Payed for a month and it sorted sky TV out perfectly

I think there's an discount on Nord VPN via The Rest Is Politics

Thanks grim. I couldn’t find anything on TRIP jimster, but a month’s subscription at eleven quid’s fine.

I used windscribe to pretend I'm in a different country now and again. I'm on the free package that includes 40GB month.

and would like to watch the highlights show on ITVX

Check if  they do the highlights on itvx now. Last time I tried to watch the tour on catchup they were streaming the full coverage but not the highlights. And you had to sit through a bunch of ads any time you tried to skip forward.