The moment I realized my VPN was actually hurting free speech work

I was using a free VPN for years to access blocked news sites in Egypt. Then an IT buddy showed me the logs and I saw the VPN company was selling my browsing data to advertisers - basically trading one form of surveillance for another. Anyone else default to free tools without checking the fine print first?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxmurphy11d agoTop Commenter

Wait, do you really think a free VPN company is the one causing the real harm here? The Egyptian government is literally blocking news sites and tracking who visits them, but you're mad at a company selling data to advertisers? That's like blaming the taxi driver for your ride being bumpy while ignoring the guy who stole your wallet. Free VPNs have to make money somehow, and at least they aren't selling your info directly to the regime's security forces. The real threat to free speech work is the government censorship itself, not some ad-targeting tech. You should be grateful the free VPN even let you access those blocked sites at all, even if it cost you some privacy in the bargain.

martinez.anna10d ago

Max, I feel for what you're saying and I think a lot of people share that frustration with choosing between bad options. I had a similar wakeup call two years ago when I noticed my free VPN was injecting ads into my browser, and it made me feel pretty stupid for not checking first. The thing is, for someone like me who isn't very tech savvy, it's easy to assume a free tool is just a nice thing someone made to help. I don't blame the VPN company for needing to make money, but I do think it's fair to be upset when they hide how they're using your data. The government censorship is definitely the bigger enemy here, no question about that. But it's still a real letdown to find out you traded one set of eyes on your browsing for another, especially when you're already taking risks to see what's really happening.