Their Android VPN application was discovered to be using JavaScript codes for the purpose of advertising and tracking. In 2016, a CSIRO report revealed some concerning practices by Hotspot Shield. Read the best no-logs VPNs that are fully verified here. It is important for users to carefully consider these aspects of Hotspot Shield’s privacy policy when deciding whether to use the service for their VPN needs. This includes connection timestamps, which, when combined with other data points, could potentially be used to prove a user’s visit to a specific website. Hotspot Shield’s decision to log certain information for three years may not sit well with privacy-conscious users. As a general rule, it’s advisable to avoid ad-supported services when aiming for online privacy. Using the free version means you’ll also share personally identifiable information with advertisers. Moreover, Hotspot Shield Free shares additional data with third-party advertisers, including:Īlthough Hotspot Shield attempts to offer some reassurance by stating that even if a government agency seizes one of its VPN servers and manages to break disk encryption, they would not find any logs or information that would reveal an individual user’s browsing, viewing, or online activities via a VPN connection, the extent of data collection still raises concerns for users who prioritize privacy and anonymity.įor Hotspot Shield Elite users, the company monitors “the nature of the requests made to our servers (such as what is being requested, information about the device and app used to make the request, timestamps, and referring URLs)” along with various other details.
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