Everyone should make use of a VPN app whenever they visit the internet.
It would help if you used a VPN for several reasons on the internet. VPNs are suitable for keeping you secure while you are online and ensuring nobody can snoop on your activities, not even the government.
It also ensures that your internet service provider cannot track your activities on the net.
These are just some of the few reasons why having a VPN is essential if you use the internet a lot.
However, just like everything else in the world, there are the good ones and the bad ones.
Just because you should use a VPN does not mean using any VPN app. Some are not worth using, and we will explain why in a few seconds.
You would be better off surfing the internet unprotected than using a VPN app.
In this article today, we will be looking at some VPN apps that we believe Canadians should stay away from.
VPNs Canadians Should Avoid
Below are the VPN apps you should avoid using in Canada
Hola VPN
This VPN was found to be doing something other VPNs were not doing then.
It turned its users’ computers into ‘exit nodes’ through which other users routed their traffic.
They later sold this bandwidth to a third-party company. This is a clear violation showing that Hola is a VPN everyone needs to avoid.
If you still sign up for Hola after reading this, good luck.
Hotspot Shield
Back in 2017, there was a privacy group that made some claims against Hotspot Shield.
It claimed the VPN intercepted and redirected users’ traffic to their partner websites, including advertising companies.
It also accused the VPN of logging connection details, which goes against privacy policies.
They were also found to be injecting Javascript code and redirecting e-commerce traffic to their partner domains in 2016.
So this is another VPN you should stay away from.
Facebook Onavo VPN
It was made known in 2018 that Facebook’s built-in ‘protect’ feature for mobile devices was a VPN known as Onavo, which Facebook purchased back in 2013.
Even though the VPN may be good in keeping you protected, one thing that should make you stay away from it is that it will collect your mobile traffic data to “improve Facebook products and services, gaining sights into the products and service people value and build better experiences.”
Opera Free VPN
A new free unlimited VPN was introduced by Opera Browser in 2016. However, this new feature was not a VPN in the actual sense.
It was more like a proxy, and Opera did collect usage data that could have been shared with third parties.
HideMyAss
Apart from the name of this VPN being funny, it is one you should stay away from.
This is because, in 2011, the FBI could track a hacker’s activities to an IP address that belonged to the HideMyAss VPN.
The hacker was arrested and prosecuted based on the logs the FBI obtained from the VPN provider.
We are not saying that we support hackers and their nefarious activities. That is not the point.
The main point here is that HideMyAss will certainly not be able to hide your ass when the FBI comes snooping around.
VPNSecure
This VPN provider is in Australia and is part of the Five Eyes Alliance. A research paper in 2016 found out that there were IP and DNS leaks with the VPNSecure service.
An ‘egress point’ was also found for residential users. This ‘egress point’ is similar to the exit node we mentioned earlier.
Zenmate
A test by vpnMentor in 2018 found that this VPN, Hotspot Shield, and PureVPN all suffered IP leaks.
IP leaks can give away your online identity even when using a VPN with an established connection.
The VPN provider responded slowly to these findings, which were probably true.
Reasons Why You Should Stay Away From These VPN Apps
We have seen the VPNs that Canadians should stay away from. Let us now look at some of the reasons why these VPNs are unsuitable for you and why you should stay far away from them, no matter how good they claim to be.
Place Of Origin
When you look at where these VPN apps originate, you will see that the governments of these nations actively spy on their people or the people of each other.
You would find out that these nations also share intelligence about their people with each other.
They also encourage the surveillance of their people in one way or another.
Therefore, such countries may try to acquire information about their people from VPN servers operating in their territories.
Logging Of Activity
When you connect to a VPN, whatever you do on the internet is routed through the server of the VPN.
Some VPNs keep a minimal log, which could be the internet service provider you are connected to at that time.
Some VPNs will log almost everything you do online, such as the websites you visit, the apps you download, and your browsing habits.
This isn’t good because this will allow your online activity to be traced back to you should the government try to get your information from the VPN servers.
Even some VPN apps that tell you they do not keep any logs cannot be trusted based on their words alone.
They may log other things even if they do not log your online activities.
Their Terms Of Use
The terms of use of a VPN service outline what you should expect from the VPN provider.
It outlines the kind of forbidden activities, what they track, and many more.
Whenever you feel in doubt, the best thing to do is to contact the service provider and ask them questions.
Try and determine what their logging policy is. Below are some things you should keep in mind when asking them questions.
- Anything related to your connection that they log will be traced back to you.
- If they do not block accounts, even ones that abuse the system, then the VPN may be log-free
- If they tell you that they can block accounts without logging any info that will show users, ask them how that works. They may need help to give you clear answers. In this case, you should assume that they do keep logs.
Failure Of Leak Test
Sometimes, your connection to a VPN service can be compromised. Your computer could go to sleep and will not reconnect to the VPN service after it comes back on.
Only some of your traffic may be routed through the VPN server, even when connected to the server successfully.
Due to this, you should check on it with a leak test from time to time.
If There Is No OpenVPN
There are many kinds of connections that VPN providers can operate with.
The most popular ones are LT2P and PPTP. However, these flaws do not make them the best for privacy reasons.
OpenVPN is the best protocol since it is open-source and has the strongest traffic encryption available.
Free Service
If the VPN is free, you should stay far away from it. They come with a lot of risks that most people need to realize.
They will need to pay for their service and the bandwidth, and since they are not getting the money from the users, they will have to get another way.
They usually do this by selling the data and info of their users. So before you sign up for a free VPN, remember that your info will be used in paying for the bandwidth you are using.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is not advisable to use free VPNs in Canada because they are known to sell your information to third parties and advertising companies as a way to generate revenue they do not take from you.
So it is best to stay away from Free VPNs.
Conclusion
These are some of the VPNs you should avoid using in Canada. We cannot list all of the VPNs you should avoid here, but these are the most popular ones you should certainly avoid if you care about your privacy on the internet.
You can also check out this article covering whether using a VPN is legal in Canada or not.
