At this point of time, you may have already taught nothing on the internet is free. If a service is not monetizing via ads or a premium subscription, your data could be the cost. While if you are using a VPN, your internet connection is secure. However, this is not the same with free VPN users. According to reliable sources, several free VPN services found to be selling your data to third parties.
And this defeats the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place. There are many other reasons why you should avoid free VPNs. Many free VPN services are not transparent about how they make money.
While some are earning money by selling your data to affiliate/partner companies while other VPNs are using shady practices such as injecting ads, referring affiliate traffic, and more. Popular VPN services such as Hola, Betternet, Opera VPN, and Hotspot Shield, Psiphon, Onavo Protect, ZPN, FinchVPN, and TouchVPN are some of the names that can sell your data.
Why Free VPNs Are Bad?
- Besides using you like a product, that is obvious, these free VPNs will go the extra mile to get more money from you.
- Despite claiming them as free VPNs, they often set low data cap. So that you can use them for only a few hours a month. That is enough to earn some decent money for them.
- Many VPNs such as Betternet and Turbo VPN inject ads in your browser. The sole intention is to steal your important data. It may not be your hard disc but your online browsing data which is invaluable. That’s why they are dying to steal it,
- As free VPNs are popular, everybody tends to use its resulting slow connection speed
- Free VPNs also tend to leak your DNS information and keep log files
- Some VPNs like Hola can resell your bandwidth to others. Hole explained everything in its privacy policy about how it is operating.
- Browser hijacking another major thing that these free VPN providers tend to do. What they do is redirect to a partner website without your permission. When you purchase something on the website they will get a commission.
Apart from above, many VPNs are tracking user behavior including collecting names, phone numbers, and email addresses, as well as the type of device being used, the IP address, and bandwidth usage stats. While they may not sell this data to any third-party, this is absolutely against the VPN concept.
READ: What is a VPN Here’s Everything You Need to Know
Wrap Up
That’s all about why you should avoid using free VPNs altogether. Lastly, what I can say is if you are serious about your online privacy you should definitely skip the free VPN services I mentioned above. Like mom told, nothing in the world comes at free of cost.
I advise you to use a premium VPN service for better privacy and safety of your data. Also, Research everything about the VPN before make your choice. Instead, stick to your ISP rather than choosing a faulty tempting free VPN service.
