VPN article: 30% of the world’s top VPN providers are secretly owned by 6 Chinese companies

Exile_D

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I didn't see anything bad about NordVPN in there. That's what I use.
It can be used together with a privacy browser, and Tor if you want, as part of a solution to obscure what you are doing and where you go on the web.
It isn't foolproof, but it is can be very effective against marketing data gathering.
If a .gov wants to find out, they probably can, but they'll have to work at it. It won't (for example) just be sitting there in the Utah NSA data warehouse.
 
There is a misunderstanding of just what a VPN does, at least in some circles. If you connect to any website, that website can and normally does log what you do. What they do with the data is up to them. If you search on Google via vpn, Google has that search info. Vpns protect your data in transit. I can't sit in between somewhere and monitor your traffic.

It protects your data against 3rd party monitoring, that is all.
 
What about the potential for the information that is transiting a VPN to be monitored by the VPN provider?

It seems to me that is the real issue here. China has a bad reputation for industrial espionage. If Chinese VPN providers are able to gain intelligence from the information flowing through the VPN service that would not be good.
 
What about the potential for the information that is transiting a VPN to be monitored by the VPN provider?

It seems to me that is the real issue here. China has a bad reputation for industrial espionage. If Chinese VPN providers are able to gain intelligence from the information flowing through the VPN service that would not be good.
Particularly since the users would have the (false) idea that they were protected...
 
Carolinaboy, I agree with you, and disagree with JimP’s idea that a VPN is effective against market-data-gathering.

Your IP address is a tiny piece of market data. Cookies are the bigger part, and VPNs do nothing about that.

If you NEVER (intentionally) use Google or Facebook, and use a VPN always (even on your phone), AND use a good ad-blocker, Google and Facebook still know who you are, and what you’re up to (from a marketing standpoint). There are so many embedded third-party cookies in common use, it’s nearly impossible to avoid.

A VPN does nothing to stop this. In fact, it adds one more data-point.... you use a VPN.

A VPN is part of the solution. First, your ISP is collecting and selling marketing data about everything you do online, so that has value right there.

I use OpenDNS set up to completely block a lot of ad domains.

I also have all the known Facebook and Twitter servers completely blocked by name resolution on my primary computer. Nothing from those servers gets in - badges, cookies, etc... also, never used Facebook. (Not that that stops them from trying.) I have only ever seen screenshots of twitter. None of the embedded links to twitter that people post work on my home network at all. I do without. Same for FB.

Use private browsing that throws out cookies when shut down. Then there is no session to session tracking. And use ad blockers that block cookies from known ad domains. Ublock Origin is pretty good.

The VPN obscures your IP by making it look like you come from the VPN‘s IP, which can be in nearly any country with NordVPN.

Yes, Amazon and eBay have quite a history on me. But I can browse without exposing those cookies and linking what I do to that identity when I want to.

For example, if I want to do some research on a medical condition, whether mine or family or friend - full precautions and anonymity. No upside to having that associated with me that I can think of.

I know it isn’t foolproof and that stuff leaks out. But much slower than for most I bet.

Next step will be to use Tor browser.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Point to consider.
The Chinese Gov't copies every bit of data that goes through any Chinese owned company or Chinese company hardware.
This came out with Huawei.
Huawei claimed the "right" to store and keep all data that passed through a Huawei phone or base station.

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I found it shocking... sort of. Would have thought the CIA/NSA owned more. Of course you have to take it with a grain of salt that a VPN company is reporting on their competition. ;)

Found it here: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252466203/Top-VPNs-secretly-owned-by-Chinese-firms
Link to their blog: https://vpnpro.com/blog/hidden-vpn-owners-unveiled-97-vpns-23-companies/
Link to study results summary (pdf): https://vpnpro.com/wp-content/uploa...-97-VPN-products-run-by-just-23-companies.pdf
What is sad is that I trust the utterly unethical Chinese more than the intel agencies of the USA.
 
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