Two catches, one of which is mentioned in the article and the other of which isn't: they're thinking about putting adverts in the app, though it doesn't have any at the moment, and they gather aggregate traffic data and sell it (suitably anonymised, they claim) to companies interested in mobile traffic stats.
Give it a couple of years and VPN's will probably be illegal, after all only the bad guys use those sort of things, just like they all wear masks and carry bag with swag written on them.
where is the VPN connecting to ? Is it part of Opera VPN network? If so thats hardly secure and gives ONLY opera/whoever manages the VPN access to all traffic. Do you trustt them to handle that correctly? PS - they will never make VPNs illegal they are used by 95% of all businesses for good reasons
China, Russia, Singapore, and the UAE are just some of the counties that are hostile towards VPNs to varying degrees, and seeing as the soon to be introduced Snoopers charter has a gaping hole in it i can envision amendments being made at a later date to close that loop hole.
As the article states: the endpoints are run by SurfEasy, a VPN company Opera bought a while back. Also, I'm curious: what sort of VPN do you use that doesn't give the VPN operator access to all the traffic? Even Tor users can be sniffed (but, theoretically, not directly identified unless the traffic contains identifying information) by exit nodes.
well thats my point - its not secure for a user just a slight improvement from everyone to authorized people. You are trusting a company thats allowing you to use a VPN for FREE, nothing is ever free so they must be using the data just as companies like facebook and google do.
Except that if you pay for a VPN, you're trusting the people you pay for a VPN just the same - so where's the difference? At the end of the day, the only perfect security you're going to get is to take the battery out of your phone. I certainly trust Opera - even under Chinese ownership - more than I trust the operator of FREE_CAFE_WIFI. As for "nothing is ever free," what a defeatist attitude. Sunsets are free, birdsong is free, and I'm sat 'ere typing away on a free website¹ using a free browser² on a free operating system³. You tell me again nothing is ever free. ¹ Funded by advertising. ² Chrome, so funded by OH MY GOD ALL THE PRIVACY INVASIONS EVER. ³ Linux, which is funded by selling support contracts and development services to people who aren't me - so, from my perspective, it's totally free as in both beer and speech. Yay!
These comments reminded me of a conversation I had about Googles new spam caller feature and how I already had the same coverage from Truecaller. The person said they would never use Truecaller but were fine with trusting Google, which I found crazy. Truecaller have a great track record, as do Opera. You should always be weary of companies motives but every company has the ability to be as ethical as any other, and some are not always about making the most money. Some want to make money while making things better.
True, but if it kicks off a security arms race among browser developers it may well get a lot more secure in the future.
look im not a tin foil hat kind of person. Im aware of advertising as a form of payment and on the whole i think most people are ok with that but not everyone is. i certainly would never join a public wi-fi but perhaps maybe working in IT security means i am more cynical than most. i think you blow my comment way out of proportion with regards to free. I wasnt applying to EVERYTHING in life. "Free" services like facebook, google etc are not entirely free you trade your personal information for access. How the company uses that information varies such as targeted advertising, database selling to 3rd parties etc but it makes money from information you give it. The data held by companies on individuals is of real concern - would you enjoy being scammed using information obtained online from a company that doesnt protect its data. Why do you think more laws are coming in to effect with fines around the loss of personal data. My major concern is not that i object to using said services as long as its clear what they do with the info they gather but how they secure that so unauthorized users do not obtain access. VPN services you buy are no different and they may even sell the data they collect in addition but VPN system owned end to end by a person/business are isolated and secure (for all intended purposes) securing 1 end ONLY isnt secure which is my point. It would only take the breach of their servers to compromise the whole system. That would be a great thing indeed.
Dude, you literally wrote "nothing is ever free." That's true of any VPN, or any encryption for that matter: you pwn the endpoint, you pwn the user.
We pay for everything in the currency of entropy as we march towards the inevitable heat death of the universe
Nothing is free, I've got nothing, not even a pot too, well you know, and i didn't pay a single penny for my nothing. Can't we put the central heating on? I'm blaming the weather, i think it's cooking my brain.
