Had a talk with a friend about VPNs that made me nervous

I was chatting with a buddy who works in IT security last Friday, and he told me about how most free VPNs actually sell your data to pay the bills. He showed me a study from 2023 that said over 70% of free VPN apps on the Play Store had sketchy tracking code. That hit different because I've been using a free one for years thinking it made me safer. Now I'm wondering if I just handed my browsing habits over to strangers. Anyone else ever dig into what their VPN provider really does with logs?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_taylor2d ago

Heard you loud and clear on this one. I had a similar wake up call last year when I found out the free VPN I was using was actually owned by a company that runs ad networks. Felt like a real dummy after reading their privacy policy. Now I only use a paid one that has a solid no logging promise and gets audited by a third party every year. Like you said, it really makes you question everything you thought was keeping you safe online.

kellymurphy2d ago

Audited doesn't mean much when you're still trusting a paid company with your data.