PC Magazine - USA (2019-06)

(Antfer) #1
we be sure the company isn’t selling our data or
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that a given VPN product is encrypting your
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Here’s another example: In late April, The
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company has provided various explanations,
which mostly boil down to it being expected
behavior designed to conceal user activities. That
makes sense, but the options for verifying that
claim are limited. Besides, how do we know that
the accusations aren’t coming from another VPN
company with an agenda? When trust becomes
eroded, even basic assumptions are questioned.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
VPNs aren’t new in the slightest, but for most of
their history, they were used in a corporate
context, not a consumer one. The big exception
was political dissidents operating in countries
with restrictive internet policies. Then all of a
sudden, dozens of new players appeared and
pushed their products harder than ever. This
mass proliferation and the questionable
practices that followed are the results of unique
forces aligning.

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and TV shows. Once people found out they could
use a VPN to unlock even more legal-ish content
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I actually have data to back this up: According to
a PCMag survey, most people use VPNs to access
streaming content online. Some in the VPN
industry think this may be the real reason people

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a


x


E


d


d


y


I fear that the
confusion and
vitriol that
surround
VPNs will
make the
market unsus-
tainable.
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