Popular Free VPN Services That Sell Your Data Hola In the worst-case scenario, the information can be sold to unscrupulous individuals looking to steal your identity and collect sensitive personal and financial information. Such data is worth a lot of money for advertisers looking to use the information to profile and target leads with ads. In exchange for using their “free” services, VPN companies can use the information you send through their network however they please. If you were to check the privacy policy of free VPN services on the market, you would find that they all practically behave the same way.
As a result of the backlash, Facebook pulled Onavo from iOS App Store in August 2018 followed by the Android Play Store in February 2019. As you might imagine, this was a nightmare for users that value their privacy many of which denounced Facebook’s Free VPN Service as a form of spyware as it secretly collected information in an environment that promised its users a measure of privacy. It is believed that the information above was then sold to interested parties to use as they see fit.
While they marketed the movie as a necessary step towards protecting user data, it turns out that Facebook was doing quite the opposite by gathering sensitive information from users which included the following: The social media giant paid as much as $200 million to finance the acquisition. To better understand just how valuable your online information is, consider Facebook’s acquisition of a VPN company called Onavo in 2013. Why would anyone want to buy your information from a free VPN service? This defeats the purpose of using a VPN, as your privacy and security will be compromised. If advertisers can get hold of your data via a free VPN, there’s a chance that entities with malicious intent could do the same.
So, is your data safe when you’re using a free VPN? By installing a free VPN, you’re giving consent for your data to be harvested, knowingly or not. Unless you’ve read through the fine print of its terms and conditions, you’ll be oblivious to the dark nature of free VPNs.Įach time you’re connected to a free VPN, all your activities are being logged and stored. Unfortunately, most free VPNs trade user data in exchange for their service in providing a secure connection for users. One of the questions that beg an answer when signing up for a free VPN is - “Do free VPNs sell your data?” Information about one’s online activities is much more valuable than most people realize and a VPN company gets all of it when you use their “free” service.
The only possible means to accomplish the latter is for free VPN companies to sell the data of their users. After all, servers cost a significant amount of money to run and maintain which even free VPN companies have to pay for. Like the real knights of the medieval ages, free VPNs are almost always self-serving, and it’s not that difficult to see why. When many of the premium VPNs on the market cost $100 or more per year, a free VPN might seem like a knight in shining armor, which isn’t the case. When you rely on a VPN to protect your identity over the Internet, it’s crucial that you opt for a service provider that you can trust.
The company itself that provides you with the VPN service has access to your data, and therein lies the potential problem. Of course, it’s not to say that no one can ever see your information online as long as you’re using a VPN. As a result, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and other third parties do not see the user’s IP address and other sensitive information. It accomplishes this by encrypting data flowing in and out of a user’s computer or mobile device and then routing it to a VPN server that directly interacts with the target server (website or app). In a nutshell, people use the latter to unlock geo-blocked content and hide information about their online activities from prying eyes. Why Would You Need to Hide Your IP Address With a VPN?īefore we get into the hidden risks of using free VPN services, it is essential to understand why people use a VPN in the first place. However, are free VPNs really “free” or are there some hidden costs that you may have overlooked? It’s a good question, especially in today’s digital age where many businesses can get away with employing deceptive strategies to market their brand. “Why pay for something when you can get it for free?” That’s probably how most people rationalize the use of a free VPN service instead of a paid one.