I Am Anonymous When I use a VPN - 10 myths debunked

I Am Anonymous When I use a VPN - 10 myths debunked -

We have noticed a disturbing trend in the VPN industry. Increasingly VPN providers are promising a VPN or service "anonymous" "no logging", while providing a minimum or zero transparency on how they actually manage your data. These so-called VPN providers "anonymous" are divided into two categories:

1. They advertise a "limited service" on their website, but the fine print in their privacy policy suggests they connect a significant amount of customer data.
2. They advertise a "limited service" on their website, their privacy policy says simply. "We do not consign" without further explanation or detail

We are not only those who question the suppliers or "anonymous" "no logging" VPN

[i] f someone tells you that you will be completely anonymous, [because] you'll VPN running all time, "which is a lie.

SpiderOak, VPN, confidentiality and anonymity

... you have absolutely no way to know for sure how safe a claim "None of the newspapers" really is. confident in your life without a VPN newspaper service, it's like playing with your life in Russian roulette

Wipe your data EarthVPN user "No log" arrested after police found the papers

[a] ny who heads a large enough infrastructure knows that the implementation of this infrastructure with ZERO logs is impossible.

Spotflux Debunking the Myths of VPN service providers

The "anonymous" or "non-forest" VPN providers hijacked VPN privacy conscious users to focus on the false promise of anonymity instead of focusing on what really matters when choosing a VPN provider: transparency, trust, ease of use, performance and reliability. We hope to dispel some of these common myths lead to a more transparent and frank discussion on privacy in the VPN and the Internet industry in general.

Myths

• Myth # 1: I can be anonymous on the Internet
• Myth # 2: anonymity and privacy are the same
• Myth # 3: When my VPN provider announced a "limited" service, which means they will connect any identifying information about me
• Myth # 4: when my VPN supplier's privacy policy says they "do not connect," it means that I am anonymous
• Myth # 5: Although my VPN provider is using hosted or VPN servers based on the cloud I can still be anonymous
• Myth # 6: Although my VPN provider does not own and operate the network, I can still be anonymous
• Myth # 7: Any VPN logging is bad
• Myth # 8: Privacy companies collect and sell my data
• Myth # 9: Any VPN software is the same
• Myth # 10: Tor is a better alternative than a VPN

Myth # 1

I can be anonymous on the Internet

anonymity is defined as not be named or identified . You are not anonymous when you are online, even using privacy tools like Tor, Bitcoin or VPN. Each service has at least one piece of information that can be used to distinguish different users, whether a set of IP addresses (VPNs and Tor) or purse (Bitcoin). This information alone can not reveal private information about the user, but it can be associated with similar information to eventually identify an individual.

Several publications have rightly pointed out that neither Tor nor Bitcoin you anonymous.

A VPN does not make you anonymous or, but greatly increases your privacy and online security. A VPN is similar to the curtains for the windows of your home. The curtains offer privacy for activities taking place within your home - even if your home address is public

Privacy is a more realistic goal, not anonymous .. Privacy is inherently personal and different definitions for different people, but privacy usually means the ability to exclude information about you. Privacy can also mean the right to express

[p] private life is your right and the ability to be yourself and express yourself without fear that someone looks par- over your shoulder and you could be punished for being yourself, whatever it is.

Evan Greer Fight for the Future, Panelist at Golden Frog
"Take Back Your Internet Privacy Panel" at SXSW 2014

what is Golden Frog:

Golden Frog did not advertise or promise that VyprVPN makes you anonymous on the Internet. Golden Frog VyprVPN only publishes will greatly improve your privacy and online security.

Myth # 2

Anonymity and confidentiality are the same

services claim to make you anonymous attempt to remove any identification data (which is not a realistic goal, as discussed in Myth # 1). However, services designed to protect privacy instead let users control access to their personal data, but not remove all identifying data.

Internet users can use private web browsers, proxies, Tor, encrypted messaging clients, VPN and other great tools to increase their online privacy. These privacy tools help protect against mass surveillance by governments or by private companies "delegates" and to gather information to government leadership (in US companies such as AT & T, Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast). but none of these tools, alone or in any combination, making you anonymous. online privacy through secure communication is a realistic goal, but anonymity is a false promise

Edward Snowden has recently encouraged users to focus on increasing privacy to defeat "mass surveillance"

... basic steps will encrypt your hardware and.. .. your network communications [making] you ... much, much more tempered than the average user - it becomes very difficult for any kind of mass surveillance you will always be vulnerable to targeted surveillance If.. a mandate against you, if the NSA is after you, , they are still going for you get. (Emphasis added) But the mass surveillance which is untargeted and collect-it-all approach, you will be much safer.

As one of the founders of Golden Frog appears on the Usenet, "You are not anonymous on the Net. You can run but you can not hide."

what is Golden Frog

Golden Frog build tools such as VyprVPN paired with VyprDNS to help quantify our Internet connections of users against surveillance mass and ensure safety. However, Golden Frog has not advertise or promise that VyprVPN will make you anonymous on the Internet.

Myth # 3

When my VPN provider announced a "limited" service, which means that they do connect any identifying information about me

Many VPN providers announced a "limited service" on marketing pages of their website, but have terms in the fine print of their Privacy policy stating that they connect.

VPN provider in the UK has announced a "limited service" on its website has been unmasked to return the customer information about a LulzSec Hacker authorities. As you will read below, logging limited VPN is not necessarily bad, because it helps customers troubleshoot issues VPN providers, to prevent abuse of its IP space network and VPN offer different plans ( such as multi-GB device or limited plans). But advertising service and delivery of another service is bad

Examples of VPN providers of marketing messages that seem to contradict the fine print on the page Privacy Policy.

• express VPN:

  Website: "surf anonymously"

  Privacy Policy "in addition to the information you provide through our order form, we can store the pieces of following data: IP address, the time when is connected to our service, and the total amount of data transferred per day. We store it in order to provide the best network experience possible for you. We keep this information secure and private. If we receive complaints about copyrighted materials such as music and movies being shared on our network, we can filter traffic to see which account is sending, then cancel the account "

• pure VPN :.

  Website: "PureVPN anonymous VPN service," "makes you anonymous;" "Anonymous web surfing"

  Privacy Policy "... we will never disclose any information about you or your account to anyone except personal application of the law with the documentation and the necessary documents. "

  "Furthermore, in the context of the use PureVPN services, you or someone on your behalf can give information about yourself or give access to your system. This information can include but not limited to:

  • the names and IP addresses
  • operating Systems
  • operational logs "

• Zenmate:

  Website: "surf anonymously;" "Browse anonymously"

  Privacy Policy "to prevent attacks against ZenGuard your IP address will be temporarily stored on the server without being permanently stored. or used for other purposes "

  " When choosing an access point please note that only this server will process your IP address and request the web page you want to access ( the "targeted web site"). "

  " ... on the server that you selected, your site application and IP address are received via an encrypted connection "

• CyberGhost:

  Website: ". surf anonymously, "" first class security and anonymity "

  Privacy Policy " CyberGhost not retain logs that allow interference with your address IP, the timing or content of data traffic "

  Note: the privacy policy CyberGhost has been updated recently, but previously said they" can process and use personal data collected in the configuration and delivery of services (connection data). This includes customer identification and data on the time and volume of use. "Despite this privacy policy, they still announced a" limited service ". Unfortunately, their new updated privacy policy is confusing. It seems that they say they do not record the contents of your traffic, but what about the connection data such as IP address? Because of their previous marketing messages contradicting their privacy policies before, we have concerns about their current privacy policy.

What is Golden Frog

Golden Frog did not advertise or promise that his service will make you VyprVPN anonymous on the internet and we clearly define what we store in our privacy policy.

Myth # 4

When the privacy policy of my VPN provider said they "do not connect, "it means that I am anonymous

When a VPN provider simply said they do" no record "does not guarantee online anonymity or confidentiality. All systems or network engineer confirms that some minimal logging is needed to maintain and optimize systems or network correctly. In fact, any supplier claiming "no record" should lead you to question immediately what is going on with your private data. If a supplier of VPN kept absolutely no newspapers, they would not be able to:

• offers plans with limits on the use Go or user base
• Limit VPN connections 1, 3 or 5 on a per user basis
• Troubleshooting your connection or to provide support for server-side problems
• Handle your DNS requests when using the VPN service. They could rely on a 3rd party DNS provider that stores DNS queries
• Preventing abuse, such as spammers, port scanners and DDOS to protect their VPN service and their users

the issue of logging is more complicated than putting a single line in your privacy policy says "we do not consign" then advertising your service as "anonymous." There have been too many cases where the user data was presented by VPN providers "no paper", but they continue to promise an anonymous service. For example, a VPN provider "no logging" recently admitted he used a packet sniffing software to monitor customer traffic to avoid abuses. VPN users should demand more transparency from their VPN providers.

What is Golden Frog

Golden Frog is transparent about what data we maintain.

Golden Frog records the following information and we will keep it for 30 days:

• Source IP address of the client (usually the IP address assigned by the client ISP)
• VyprVPN IP address used by the user
• Log start and stop time
• total number of bytes used

Golden Frog logs that amount very minimal data so we can provide the best service and so users do not have to sacrifice the speed and performance to protect their privacy and safety. We never make false promises "anonymity" or "no logging."

Myth # 5

Although my VPN provider is using hosted or VPN servers based on the cloud I can still be anonymous any person

that manages the server infrastructure knows how to run the infrastructure with ZERO newspapers is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Now imagine how difficult it would eliminate logging if you run your own infrastructure and instead let your VPN servers and network of third parties! Apart Golden Frog, almost all VPN providers in the world do not go their own infrastructure. Instead, the VPN "rent" providers of servers and network from an "owner" as a business or hosting data center. When the VPN provider "rents" instead of "owner", how can it ensure that its "owner" will respect the privacy of its VPN users?

Last year, a Dutch client of a VPN provider "no log" was tracked down by the authorities using VPN connection logs after using the VPN service "no log" to a bomb threat. VPN provider of provider data center ( "landlord") apparently seized the VPN server to the direction of authorities. The data center provider was also to keep the VPN provider network to transfer logs.

The VPN provider said they have canceled the contract with the data center, but strangely did not meet the other 100+ places they probably rent VPN servers. Did they cancel contracts with these data centers too? Not surprisingly, the same VPN provider still in evidence advertise an "anonymous VPN service" and says it holds "absolutely no newspapers."

In the forum of a different VPN provider, a thread conveniently disappeared when a user asks whether users can trust the data center do not sign

Some questions about VPN providers "rent" servers include :.

• How 'Renters Server / Cloud "can protect their users from their hosting companies that take snapshots of their machines for backup purposes, for purposes of DDOS, or management Application of the law?
• How "tenants server" avoid live migration of VPN server hosted in which an entire image is taken from the computer, including the memory of the operating system and hard drive, especially when Live migration can be invisible to the VPN provider?
• What happens to data when the hosted machine is used by the VPN provider?
• If you do not own the server, how can you be sure that your landlord has no key or backdoor on the hosted server?

What is Golden Frog

Golden Frog does not "rent" servers but owns and operates 100% of our VPN servers, physically secured using key, biometrics and software. Together with our sister companies, Data Foundry - a global provider of data centers and Giganews -. The first Usenet provider in the world, we have been in the business of the Internet since the dawn of the Internet there are more than 20 years

We have the experience to start our own infrastructure on a base global financial stability and to make financial investments to design privacy in our infrastructure. It is impossible to conceive of privacy in your service if you do not own and operate your own infrastructure.

Myth # 6

Although my VPN provider does not own and operate the network, I can still be anonymous

most VPN providers (except Golden Frog, of course!) do not run their own network and instead allow hosting providers run the network for them. "Running your own network" means that you own and use the router and switches. If your VPN provider does not operate its own network, you are sensitive to their listening hosting company for traffic on both connections inbound and outbound. listening to Internet traffic makes a huge amount of correlation and identification of user activity

for example, if you listen to two people talking in a restaurant, you can learn enough the conversation to identify who is speaking. - Even if you do not know their identity when you start listening If a VPN provider does not operate its own routers, so he can not control who is listening to its users. . Worse, a VPN provider "no logging" recently admitted he used a "packet sniffing" software to monitor traffic to prevent abuse.

Qu 'do Golden Frog is

We own and operate our global network. In addition to faster speeds and increased reliability, the management of our own network VyprVPN offers its members more privacy. Imagine if you have connected to the house directly to the Internet backbone providers allowing you to bypass your ISP snooping. That's what happens when you connect to VyprVPN.

Not only we encrypt the connection of your home to our servers, we connect to multiple backbone ISPs. This makes it impossible for someone to listen for incoming connections and extremely difficult for anyone to listen outbound connections because we generally three different paths to the Internet backbone of our servers. This is much of what it means to run your own network.

Myth # 7

Any VPN logging is bad

in you connecting a minimal amount of data VPN providers can greatly enhance your experience when using a VPN. VPN providers should not maintain the minimum amount of data to run their business and delete this data as soon as they do not need

Edward Snowden said recently at SXSW 2014 :.

"One of the things I would say a large company is that you can not collect data [but] you need to collect data and keep it as long as necessary for the operation . from the company "

Minimal logging VPN provides users the following advantages:

• speed and improved performance by allowing VPN providers to optimize network connections
• Improved reliability by allowing VPN providers to identify and correct the problems low level of services to prevent breakdowns
• Troubleshooting specific customer problems, including speed , connectivity and application issues
• Different levels of accounts to meet the needs of clients, such as the connection of limited accounts and bytes limited accounts
• protection against abuse by spammers, port scanners, DDOS, etc, so that the VPN vendors may terminate customers who abuse other Internet users
• malicious users to VPN termination remain respected Internet tool for preserving the right of users privacy and therefore VPN users are not blocked from sites and services

what is Golden Frog

Golden Frog maintains only the minimum amount of data to operate our business and we delete the data as soon as we do not need

We record the following information and retain only for 30 days.

• Source IP address of the client (usually the IP address assigned by the client ISP)
• VyprVPN IP address used by the user
• Log in and start stop time
• total number of bytes used

There. That's all we register

So we do not log.

• The content of your communications
• Web sites you visit
• The services you use
• Your physical location
• Any other personal information

We have our own servers, our own DNS (VyprDNS) and manage our own network so that we can keep this promise to our customers. In addition, Golden Frog is incorporated in Switzerland, offering privacy laws in favor line we use to protect users. We are committed to operating an ultra-fast, high-quality infrastructure that enables VyprVPN to remain a respected tool online privacy and freedom.

Myth # 8 New

Privacy companies collect and sell my data

We have noticed a disturbing trend of "so-called" Privacy companies offering free services so that they can spy on users. Just because a company offers a product of privacy or service does not work means they keep your private data. This is especially true for companies that offer free services to users. When using a privacy tool, you are often are required to provide access to more information than the tool can be protected, so you have to trust the company. Marketing companies rushed in the space of privacy and abuse that trust. Examples:

• Onavo (for Facebook)

  Facebook has purchased a VPN app called Onavo in 2013. Why Facebook buy a VPN application? Because the VPN functionality provides visibility of the application in the network connection for all of phone . Therefore, information such as the URL and use of the application is exposed, and Facebook may examine user activity for their own purposes. The price of freedom is simply too high

  Privacy Policy. "When using Apps, you choose to transport your entire mobile data traffic through or to, Onavo servers. As a result, we receive information about you, your online activities and your device or browser when you use the services. "

• Hola

  Hola is another offender posing as a privacy company.

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