If you thought Facebook was the only platform which was breaching your privacy? You were wrong my friends! Top VPNs around the world seem to be doing just that!
In a report by The Best VPNs, they shared a list of 26 proxy sites/apps which collect 3 or more important log files which are deeply hidden in their privacy policy.
This list includes pain VPNs as well. They are;
- PureVPN
- HideMyAss
- HotSpot Shield
- VPN Unlimited
- VyprVPN
- Astrill
- ZoogVPN
- Buffered
- TigerVPN
- Boleh VPN
- Anonymizer
- IPinator
- Seed4.me
- AnonVPN
- FlyVPN
- SunVPN
- iPredator
- HideIP VPN
- VPN Gate
- HolaVPN
- Faceless.me
- Betternet
- Ace VPN
- Flow VPN
- Freedom-IP
- IronSocket
1. PureVPN
Some logging despite being advertised as “No Logs”
Claiming “No Logs”: “We do not monitor user activity nor do we keep any logs. We therefore have no record of your activities such as which software you used, which websites you visited, what content you downloaded, which apps you used, etc. after you connected to any of our servers.”
“Actual” logs collected by PureVPN:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your phone number
- Your IP address
- Bandwidth data
- Connection timestamps
2. HideMyAss!
Some logging
Claiming “No Logs”: “We DO NOT store details of, or monitor, the resources (including websites) you connect to or any of the data sent or received over our network, when using our VPN service.”
“Actual” logs collected by HMA:
- Connection timestamp
- Bandwidth data
- Your IP address
- Your VPN server IP address
3. Hotspot Shield
Some logging
Statement from their website: “We collect only anonymous, aggregate data about which websites our users visit and which apps our users use. We do not attribute any specific website visits or app usage to any specific user.”
“Actual” logs collected by HotSpot Shield:
- Your Email
- Your IP address
- Your username
In addition to that, a CSIRO study concluded that HotSpot Shield uses tracking codes to gather information about their user’s and then sells this information to advertisers. They also found that HotSpot Shield would regularly redirect user traffic through one of their affiliate networks in order to profit from purchases that their customers made while using the VPN.
4. VPN Unlimited (by KeepSolid Inc.)
Some logging
“Actual” logs collected by HotSpot Shield:
- Connection timestamps
- Your device type
- Your connection type
- Your encryption type
5. VyprVPN
Some logging
Statement from their website: “VyprVPN does not log a user’s traffic or the content of any communications.”
“Actual” logs collected by VyprVPN:
- Your IP address
- Your VPN server IP address
- Connection timestamps
- Bandwidth data
6. Astrill
Some logging
Claims “No Logs”: “No logs kept.”
“Actual” logs collected by Astrill:
- Your IP address
- Connection timestamps
- Your country
- Your device
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7. ZoogVPN
Some logging
Claims “No Logs”: “We strictly do not collect or keep any information on user activity, the websites or apps the user uses, user IP addresses, or user log-in/log-out sessions.”
“Actual” logs collected by ZoogVPN:
- Your email
- Your name
- Bandwidth data
- Cookies
8. Buffered VPN
Some logging
Statement from their TOS: “We do not as a matter of ordinary practice store private information about individual user activities on our network, such as emails, chats, VOIP calls, websites visited, etc.”
“Actual” logs collected by Buffered:
- Your IP address
- Your OP system
- Your browser
- Bandwidth data
- Connection timestamps
9. TigerVPN
Some logging
Claims “No Logs”: “We are committed to your privacy and do not collect or log traffic data or browsing activity from individual users connected to our VPN.”
“Actual” logs collected by TigerVPN:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Payment information
- Bandwidth data
- Connection timestamps
10. BolehVPN
Full logging
Statement from their website: “BolehVPN does not keep logs of user activity or access. We do keep logs of general traffic throughput of our servers to ascertain loading and usage of our servers but not at an individual level. However, if we do notice any unusual activity on our servers (high bandwidth loading, a high number of connections or CPU usage) we may turn on logs temporarily to identify abuse of our services (such as DoS or spamming through our servers).”
11. Anonymizer
Full logging
Statement from their website: “To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Anonymizer may monitor e-mail, or other electronic communications and may disclose such information in the event it has a good faith reason to believe it is necessary for purposes of ensuring your compliance with this Agreement and protecting the rights, property, and interests of the Anonymizer Parties or any customer of an Anonymizer Party.”
In short, Anonymizer logs everything it can…
12. IPinator
Full logging
Statement from their website: “We do not keep content logs of use or share any of your private information with any third party, although we do not keep content logs of use or share any of your private information with any third party, we will turn over any information we do have if required to do so by law.”
13. Seed4.me
Full logging
Statement from their website: “We are often asked: “Do you keep logs?” and the answer is “Yes, we do”.”
14. AnonVPN
Full logging
Statement from their website: “It cannot be guaranteed that other means of communications (e.g. mail, facsimile, and voice telephone service) will ever be 100% secure. And therefore, we always recommend using common sense.”
15. FlyVPN
Full logging
Statement from their website: “When you use FlyVPN, we will record the following information:
- Your full name
- Your email address
- Your phone number
- Your local IP
- Timestamp you successfully accessed
- The VPN IP which is assigned to you
- The port number which is assigned to you
- Timestamp you disconnected
16. SunVPN
Full logging
Statement from their website: “If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that an end user is involved in online criminal activities, we reserve the right to notify law enforcement agencies.”
17. iPredator
Some logging
Statement from their website: “We minimize the use of logs within our systems and only grant access to them to a selected number of staff for debugging when service quality is an issue.”
“Actual” logs collected by iPredator:
- Your name
- Your telephone number
- Your email address
- Your payment info
18. HideIP VPN
Some logging
Statement from their website: “HideIPVPN will not intentionally monitor private electronic mail messages sent or received by its clients unless required to do so by law, governmental authority, or when public safety is at stake. HideIPVPN may, however, monitor its service electronically to determine that its facilities are operating satisfactorily.”
19. VPN Gate
Full logging
Statement from their website: “We always keep VPN Connections Logs of VPN Gate Public VPN Relay Servers for three or more months.”
20. Hola VPN
Full logging
Statement from website: “We do not share your Personal Information with third parties except with your specific consent pursuant to this Privacy Policy or if required by applicable laws or court order“.
21. Faceless.ME
Some Logging
Statement from their website:“We only track your data usage totals and your IP address, which is required for our internal bookkeeping. And even this data is kept on our servers for a limited time.”
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22. Betternet
Some logging
Claims “No Logs”: “Betternet does not collect, log, store, share any data log belonging to users.”
“Actual” logs collected by Betternet:
- Your IP address
- Your name
- Your email address
- Username
23. Ace VPN
Some logging
Claims “No Logs”: “We do not spy on our users and we don’t monitor their Internet usage.”
“Actual” logs collected by AceVPN:
- Your IP address
- Your name
- Your email address
- Telephone number
24. Flow VPN
Full logging
Statement from their website: “We reserve the rights to log subscription information (including transaction references), connecting IP address, authentication requests, session data (allocated IP, connection date, time, duration etc)“.
25. Freedom-IP
Some logging
Statement from their website: “Does not record the content of communications.”
… but they do gather your log files:
- IP Address of connection
- Start time of session
- End time of session
- Data received of session
- Data sent of session
26. IronSocket
Some logging
Statement from their website: “We DO NOT LOG or record in any manner the content you access while using our Services.”
“Actual” logs collected by IronSocket:
- Your IP address
- Connection timestamp
- Bandwidth usage
Source: The Best VPNs
