Do Free VPNs Sell Your Data? THE Real Dangers Of Free VPN
In this article we will be expatiating on the topic “do free VPNs Sell your data?”, actually this is one of the most common questions in the cyber security space and we will be sorting this question out today.
You see most times any thing free can be very expensive, now when it comes to free VPNs, we can say “any free VPN comes with it expensive or costly danger”.
And this is because most free VPNs if not all claim to protect your privacy and ensure your internet security, but instead they do the opposite like selling your data, injecting ads when you are browsing, sometimes they even worse than you not using a VPN.
In this article we will dive in to the following:
- What are the functions of VPN?
- How do free VPN make money?
- Do free VPN really share and expose your data?
- Why you should stop using them & what to use instead?
Let’s dive straight in to exposing the dark side of free VPNs
What Are The Functions Of VPNs
Before we start discussing on why you should stop using free VPNs let’s quickly discuss on the expected function of VPNs
- Mask your IP Address, location and DNS.
- Encryption
- Route your Internet traffic to secure and secret tunnel
- Maintain Internet Privacy and Security
With a VPN you should be able to surf the internet anonymously, bypass censorship, and protect sensitive data — especially on public Wi-Fi.
And this is what premium VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, or Surfshark do.
But with free VPN the opposite is usually the case.
How Do Free VPN Sell Your Data To Make Money
We know you might be wondering that since they are free, then how would they be making money from you.
First you need to know that creating and running a VPN, isn’t cheap at all becomes it involves series of thing ranging from:
- Bandwidth expenses
- Security audits
- Server infrastructure
- Maintenance and update of developments
- Customer support
With all this list, how would a VPN be free? and so who is paying for all these?
The answer is Advertisers, brokers and some surveillance network.
The thing is they are using your data, and below is the listed ways on how they profit from this
- Selling your browsing data: You might not know that first your data is useful and most big tech firms, advertisers, government are in need of your data, so what these free VPNs do, is to log your data to them, and remember a VPN must also have No-log policy which a free VPN don’t have
- Tracking: some of these free VPNs go extra mile in adding cookies or device fingerprints to track where you visit online, so you might be thinking you are anonymous not knowing you are been tracked all the way.
- Adverts: Another disgusting things they do is showing ads like banner ads, popup ads, to the website you visit.
Do Free VPNs Sell Your Data?
Yes, free VPNs do sell your data some study have proven this and I will be listing this studies below:
- Hola VPN: This is a popular free VPN with millions of users, and after some careful study, it was found out that it was selling its user bandwidth to another company, it also used user devices as exit nodes
- Facebook Onavo’s VPN: this is another free VPN, this VPN collects it users data and send it to facebook, and it’s also analyses it users behaviours on the net.
- HotSpot Shield: Is also one of the most downloaded free VPN on the internet, and it was found that it redi ect traffic to affiliate websites, one of their ways of making money and also injected JavaScript for track adverts.
Note: That is not all free VPNs does this they are some free VPNs that doesn’t use any malicious means like Proton VPN, windscribe and Privado VPN, has more are unveiling we will be updating this article.
How Premium VPNs Protect You
| Features | Free VPN | PREMIUM OR PAID VPN |
| Encryption | Weak Encryption | Strong encryption with AES-256 or wireguard/Nordlynx(For NordVPN) |
| Ad Blocking | May Inject Ads | CyberSec |
| No-Log Policy | Log everything | Strong No-log policy |
| Customer support | No customer support | Have good customer support service |
| Internet Speed | Slow due to being overcrowded | Fast |
| Privacy | Your data is being sold | You are being protected |
Legal Gray Area of Free VPNs
Legal gray areas means areas little to no privacy laws, and there are countries where you can use free VPN due to the to their inability to provide internet privacy.
- United Arab Emirates
- China
- Russia
- Seychelles
What do this means:
- There is no guarantee that your data will be protected.
- They can easily share your data, by simply pressurising them or bribing them.
Our Final Thoughts
Our thoughts is simply if you have the budget for paid VPNs dont bother trying to cut corners because it’s very risky, the very present free VPN that are good might become bad tomorrow, don’t out yourself at risk with free vpns. It can be costly.
>>>> You can also check out our post on what isp throttling is and more about isp throttling <<<<
