10 ms·

Free VPN integrated in Opera for better online privacy

224 points by nmjenkins 10y ago

subliminalpanda 10y ago
Any specifics of what type of VPN protocol its using?
- raddad 10y ago
  >Any specifics of what type of VPN protocol its using? According this chart of vpn's, OpenVPN That One Privacy Guy's VPN Comparison Chart https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJTvWT5RHFSYuEoFVpAeQjuQPU4BVzbOigT0xebxTOw/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJTvWT5RHFSYuEoFVpAe... edit: Name of the service is SurfEasy
  - subliminalpanda 10y ago
    Thanks!
0x0 10y ago
If they are bought out by the Chinese, does using this mean the new Chinese owners will see all your traffic?
- 746F7475 10y ago
  If the traffic is encrypted then they wouldn't see into it, but it would go through their servers, so in worst case scenario you'd be surfing from behind the Great Chinese Firewall
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - LamaOfRuin 10y ago
    The traffic is encrypted between you and the server. They control that server, where it gets decrypted to be sent out over the public internet (where it may be encrypted or not depending on the site). You've introduced a man in the middle. You must trust that man (but that man also already controls the source code for your browser, which can also see all your traffic).
- hungryfoolish 10y ago
  Since Opera is still a norwegian company, they still will need to abide by norwegian data privacy laws.
  - halostatue 10y ago
    SurfEasy (the provider of the service) is a Canadian company, so it follows Canadian data privacy laws (which are pretty good; when I worked there, Michael Geist was an advisor).
- cylinder714 10y ago
  They were--see tomkwok's comment above.
verytrivial 10y ago
Is this the same Opera that was recently purchased by a shady Chinese consortium? [1] 1:https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/11/browser-maker-opera-acquisition-chinese https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/11/browser-m...
- hungryfoolish 10y ago
  It hasn't been purchased yet; the buyout deal is yet to go through AFAICT.
  - neurobuddha 10y ago
    So I guess this an attempt to add value to push the deal through.
    - wagglycocks 10y ago
      Opera has a long history of adding innovative browser features. There's no reason to think that this has some kind of ulterior motive related to a rumored sale.
- mclovinit 10y ago
  I am thinking that announcing this feature may be a tactic to win back consumer trust or in the least attract new customers who are not familiar with the potential buyout.
- hoers 10y ago
  Never route your traffic through a party you don't trust.
xrstf 10y ago
The VPN is operated by "SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada". Just tested it and it worked flawlessly to watch a YouTube video that has been blocked in my country. [Edit: Netflix seems to block SurfEasy already. Sad.]
- arm 10y ago
  They didn’t exactly get a standing ovation the last time¹ they were mentioned on here though (for good reason… if they’re offering a service to help protect people’s privacy, it seems a bit odd that they’d opt to compromise said people’s privacy by having multiple trackers on their website). ―――――― ¹ — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10700792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10700792
  - DyslexicAtheist 10y ago
    I'd mainly be worried how said VPN is using the subscriber data and what is their policy on storing access logs. But even they promise to not track you how would one even hold them to account considering that they must have an interest in the data due to their adtech part of how the parent/sister Opera company makes its money.
- pluma 10y ago
  BTW, apparently in order to purchase anything (e.g. to try out YouTube Red -- which checks your Google Payments data) you may still need a credit card matching the country. This bit me when I tried purchasing foreign versions of games on Steam before (which pre-digital distribution was possible via imports but now tends to suffer from region locking).
  - subliminalpanda 10y ago
    As far as Steam is concerned I used Entropay for virtual pre-paid debit cards. I live in the middle east and it happily validated any US address. Entropay does take a 5% commission if you top-up with a credit/debit card however.
chris_wot 10y ago
If I use this though, will Netflix block me from accessing any content?
- zo1 10y ago
  Netflix blocks you from accessing all content if you are behind any sort of proxy or VPN.
  - ChicagoBoy11 10y ago
    How do they detect that you are using a VPN?
    - Arnt 10y ago
      They have a list of VPN providers. Probably they also have some heuristics that look closely at people who geoip in a different country than their billing records, and whose IP address seems to be in a colo rather than a DSL subscriber block.
      - chris_wot 10y ago
        This is why I would love to see a Visa card that anonymises you to corporations, but not necessarily the government - and available to those overseas. Don't suppose such a thing exists? Edit: Scratch that. What I'd like is a high speed consumer cable account that I could proxy into.
        Arnt 10y ago
        What you need is a friend abroad and a raspberry pi. I have a raspberry pi attached to the wall of a home which is not my own. It's in a country where I occasionally want to be (in a geoip sense of "be"). The rpi maintains a VPN connection to me, so I can reach it even though it's behind a NAT middlebox that knows nothing about it.
        10y ago
haosdent 10y ago
I love this.
codenhagen 10y ago
Just tried out the developer version (http://www.opera.com/developer http://www.opera.com/developer - built-in VPN and ad blocking is currently only available in the developer version of Opera). Both the ad blocking and the VPN works great in the few sites I tested. I especially love that turning the VPN on doesn't require any type of login.
vbezhenar 10y ago
If country is blocking websites, they probably will block that VPN service as well (and possibly Opera website). Why this thing is called VPN anyway? It looks like HTTP proxy should be enough for browser.
a_imho 10y ago
Couple with native adblocking I'm very tempted to switch browsers (from FF) and probably do so when available. But it just sounds too good, what is the catch?
- glaberficken 10y ago
  I'm not a specialist, but you can start by researching how the Opera company makes money. It would seem to me a possible future "catch" would be that they could charge selected advertisers to let their ads through... From their own FAQ: http://www.operasoftware.com/press/faq http://www.operasoftware.com/press/faq "How Opera makes money" Opera provides cloud-based mobile services and solutions to operators, publishers and advertisers and enables hundreds of millions of consumers, via the Company's global cloud infrastructure, to connect to the internet content and services that matter most to them. Along those lines, Opera has different revenue models, depending on the customer type: *Operators.* Opera's revenue sources from this hosted solution include active user fees, data fees, NRE/development fees, hosting services, advertising and maintenance, and support. *Mobile consumers* (via partnerships with search providers and advertisers). The primary driver of mobile consumer revenue is revenue from mobile search, the Opera Mobile Store and active user growth. *Mobile publishers and advertisers.* Revenue comes from Opera's mobile advertising services and technology solutions, offered to premium and performance advertisers, ad agencies, publishers and developers. *Device OEMs.* Revenue comes through license agreements with a wide range of consumer-electronic-device OEMs. *Desktop consumers.* Revenue comes primarily from search and e-commerce partnerships.
  - j_koreth 10y ago
    They literally have an advertising division as Opera Mediaworks
    - blowski 10y ago
      So do the other three biggest browser vendors - Microsoft, Apple and Google. So I'm not sure what that shows.
Fundlab 10y ago
This is a game changing feature and I hope other browsers follow suit, I would love to see it implemented in the mobile version especially.
- vonklaus 10y ago
  Really? I am all for it, but in 2016 putting an extra server in the middle of my request isn't really a game changer. Brave is leading the charge with extensions as a service, and I love them for it. However, I just can't see it being profitable. Brave can def make money, but I don't think people care about privacy. The other usecases make sense, but between opera or brave (both totally unknown companies to non tech crowd) Brave would for sure win that. In Opera's case, one more person would get "all" the data. In all other cases, 1-3 companies get all the data. So it's good, I just can't call it a game changer.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  "Game changing"? No. This doesn't actually change the game at all.
- WoMaameTwe 10y ago
  It's better you say nothing at all just read and leave or the down voting brigade will sink you for your freedom of thought or umm speech. There's no tolerance for antidiscipline up on here
libeclipse 10y ago
Sounds pretty good, but I still wouldn't trust it with anything more than a YouTube video.
sotrueee 10y ago
Free as in free 500MB and then you have to pay.
- iancarroll 10y ago
  Source? The article says it's unlimited.
Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
"This is why we today have more engineers than ever before working on new features for our desktop browser." Is this true or just PR BS? Because my understanding is that they had laid off most of the desktop browser team a few years ago and there were only a few left working on it.
- LamaOfRuin 10y ago
  Now they're based on Blink, so the they don't have to work on the core features of a browser engine. I imagine that means they have more engineers working on what they class "features for our desktop browser" as in user facing features, rather than W3C spec implementation.
  - shwetank 10y ago
    Opera does still contribute quite a lot to blink/chromium (check out https://operasoftware.github.io/upstreamtools/ https://operasoftware.github.io/upstreamtools/ which lists them), though the gist of what you've said still stands.
- j_koreth 10y ago
  They laid off most of their presto team but they did higher more for the new blink browser. It doesn't matter anyway I'm sure the Chinese buying would have given them a temporary revenue
w3designer 10y ago
As of now it's working in China. I'm able to access Facebook/Twitter/Youtube/Google without my normal vpn or ssh tunnel. Will be pretty useful if it stands up to the constant changes. Great work!
- vinceyuan 10y ago
  I bet it will be blocked soon.
thinkMOAR 10y ago
Though we all know by know that there is no such thing as 'free'?
- azazqadir 10y ago
  Some regions could require you to have a paid account or something, like what Zenmate does.
Flott 10y ago
"a native, unlimited and free VPN client, right inside your browser!" Serious question: Money wise, how are they able to afford this?
- lucaspiller 10y ago
  Data of course! Opera (the company) are one of the big players in mobile advertising. They have their own mobile ad platform [0], and a few years ago acquired a couple of agencies that specialise in mobile advertising [1]. [0] http://operamediaworks.com/ http://operamediaworks.com/ [1] http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/opera-snaps-up-mobile-theory-4th-screen-for-26m-in-mobile-ad-push/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/opera-snaps-up-mobile-theor...
  - a_imho 10y ago
    If they can support a secure, adless, anonymous desktop browser for PR exposure by relying on the mobile version displaying ads I would be ok with that.
  - Flott 10y ago
    This is exactly what I fear. It's still a useful service but I believe Opera should say clearly what they do with the data they handle.
  - EugeneOZ 10y ago
    Connection is encrypted
    - niij 10y ago
      To their servers.. Allowing any non end-to-end encrypted information to be harvested at Opera's VPN point.
      - EugeneOZ 10y ago
        Or your provider, or Opera, or own server with VPN. For majority of people setting up own server is too complicated, so it's much better than nothing, especially when you are in place where you can use only non-secure wifi network.
marcosscriven 10y ago
Doesn't this just move trust from your ISP to whomever runs the VPN?
- mikeokner 10y ago
  Yes, but if you live somewhere that definitely surveils your communications or prevents you from accessing certain content, a VPN is a good way to browse as though you were physically located somewhere more permissive.
arca_vorago 10y ago
I really want to like Opera, but I won't be using it until its open source, full stop.
marcosscriven 10y ago
Doesn't this just move trust from your ISP to whomever runs the VPN?
ommunist 10y ago
Since Opera is now owned by China, I'd really think twice before using it.
- xufi 10y ago
  That scares me. The last program I used that was Chinese was the QQ messenger.
anExcitedBeast 10y ago
I know they have no incentive to do this, but it would be nice if they let you configure alternate VPN providers. This is a really clean VPN UX.
mhd 10y ago
The "VPN" feature doesn't get through my work's firewall, so I guess that works mostly in your own home or less secure public networks...
sspiff 10y ago
I've got a few questions, and their puffy news post doesn't answer them: * Is this a real VPN service, or simply an HTTP/HTTPS proxy? * Is DNS resolution also securely handled through the tunnel, or does this stay in the clear? * What region(s) is their VPN service located in? * Is it possible for other software to use this tunnel in any way? Upon first reading, this doesn't seem very different from their old "accelerator proxies" which compressed HTTP traffic into a binary format, and reduced image detail/resolution, but with a new marketing spin and those old features removed or disabled.
- mihok 10y ago
  Just installed it, and looks like you get, Canada, US, and Germany as options for the VPN. Tiny text below the enable button has this: "Secure proxy provided by SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada. By using the service you accept the Terms of Service. VPN connects to other servers around the world so your connection speed might be affected." My only gripe with it so far is the VPN is across all tabs, so I have to switch it off to access some of my office VPN sites
  - sspiff 10y ago
    Interesting, how did you try it? I just installed the Opera developer version and can't seem to find anything to enable or configure VPN usage.
    - mihok 10y ago
      Top left 'Menu'-> Settings -> Privacy & security, about middle of that page has 'Enable VPN' After you do that it shows up in the address bar beside the SSL lock
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- betaby 10y ago
  DNS is not leaked, it's a https proxy and opera passes URL there without any local resolution.
kardos 10y ago
What stops someone from making a Firefox plugin that (ab)uses Opera's free VPN?
- ashmud 10y ago
  Ultimately, nothing. They could still aggregate your usage data, though, and not necessarily be out anything investment-wise, compared to using the Opera client proper.
  - halostatue 10y ago
    There’s a few things that would (probably) stop this from working, but it is possible that the new Opera-based implementation is different than when we implemented it (the proxy version) as a custom Firefox browser back in 2011–2013.
rasz_pl 10y ago
Free, unlimited VPN for sending all of your secure surfing to CHINA ....
- anc84 10y ago
  Free, unlimited VPN for protecting all of your secure surfing from your domestic surveillance...
throwanem 10y ago
"If you're not paying for the product..."
zo1 10y ago
Some terms from the SurfEasy, Inc company, which is the VPN provider for this service[0]: SurfEasy does not store users originating IP address when connected to our service and therefore cannot identify users when provided IP addresses of our servers. Additionally, SurfEasy cannot disclose information about the applications, services or websites our users consume while connected to our services; as SurfEasy does not store this information. However, further down, you have this: SurfEasy is required to comply with law enforcement where subpoenas, warrants or other legal documents have been provided. We may collect and disclose personal information, including your usage data, to governmental authorities or agencies, including law enforcement agencies, at their request or pursuant to a court order, subpoena or other legal process, if there is a good faith belief that such collection or disclosure is required by law. At this point I'm not quite sure what to make of the above two combined together. [0]: https://www.surfeasy.com/privacy_policy/ https://www.surfeasy.com/privacy_policy/
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  Isn't that fairly standard amongst the privacy respecting VPNs? We store nothing / log nothing. We'll comply with law enforcement as far as we're able (ie not at all beyond billing, email and perhaps bandwidth used). So that seems to say they'll perhaps be able to tell when you were logged in, who you are + payment info, and perhaps volumes transferred. Where and on which ports? No clue officer. Private Internet Access seems similar: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/privacy-policy/ https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/privacy-policy/
  - MasterScrat 10y ago
    But what happens if law enforcement specifically ask them to start recording more information?
    - EwanToo 10y ago
      I think this assumption is true of every VPN provider: If the courts or intelligence services tell them to capture a username's data, or access to specific websites from all users, they will do it. If the choice is between keep quiet and do it, or potentially get shutdown or arrested, you have to assume that almost everyone will do as they are told.
betaby 10y ago
In VPN mode I got 184.75.221.xxx - Toronto In Turbo mode 107.167.108.xxx - US
uslic001 10y ago
Definitely slows down browsing but it is simple/easy/free so I would expect as much.
SubiculumCode 10y ago
To sell your web history themselves.
- skrowl 10y ago
  The VPN is also in Canada, a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes country, so in addition to selling your web history they'll also turn it over to any govt agency with no warrant or even notifying you.
SubiculumCode 10y ago
Just to sell All your web history themselves.
xjpi250 10y ago
Ridiculous!!! It is just a honeypot. As the most notorious company in China, no one trust Qihoo360 (opera is acquired by Qihoo360). Qihoo360 is the pet and lackey of Chinese communist party. Go to hell!
- dang 10y ago
  This comment breaks the HN guidelines. If you want to make a point here, please do so civilly and substantively. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540857 and marked it off-topic.
xjpi250 10y ago
Better online privacy? Ridiculous!!! It is just a honeypot. As the most notorious company which good at stealing people's privacy, in China no one trust Qihoo360 (opera is acquired by Qihoo360). Qihoo360 is the pet and lackey of Chinese communist party. Go to hell!
- dang 10y ago
  We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541610 and marked it off-topic.
html5web 10y ago
Very slow in US
bowlofstew 10y ago
I have been using this build today and like it. My only minor gripe is the selection of only 3 locations for the VPN. This one doesn't so far from what I see but then again, it is free.
dang 10y ago
There's another article at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540648, which discussion we merged hither.
summarite 10y ago
An interesting angle is that this might prevent big companies, government agencies, schools etc to disallow just of opera if it was ever possible in the first place. Poor they'll just block the IPs with their usual web filter software and none of these promises behind true. Might work for private use in non-repressive countries, but anywhere else it will face the same blocking as any other VPN. Still a great initiative!
roddux 10y ago
I think this is a great idea, in part because it makes it super easy for the less technically minded to secure their public internet traffic. It also brings VPNs and network security discussion more into the public eye.
jordache 10y ago
How does the Chromium Opera compare to Chrome?
jordache 10y ago
With the VPN enabled, I am able to resolve local network computer names and domains that reside in my work's local DNS only? How is this resolution working?
johansch 10y ago
The performance is quite bad at the moment. It takes 5-7 seconds to load google.com using either the Germany or US location - from Sweden...
- batrat 10y ago
  I watched some YT videos and seems ok for me. US server from Romania.
  - johansch 10y ago
    It works better now. They under-dimensioned the launch peak capacity. This is peculiar, I do know they have much, more more capacity than needed for in that terms of both servers and bandwidth. ;)
owly 10y ago
There are too many reasons to keep VPN separate from a browser to list here.
novaleaf 10y ago
slightly off topic, but does anyone know a good proxy-as-api service? the ones I've seen are either really bad, or really, really expensive.

224 points by nmjenkins 10y ago

subliminalpanda 10y ago

Any specifics of what type of VPN protocol its using?

raddad 10y ago
>Any specifics of what type of VPN protocol its using? According this chart of vpn's, OpenVPN That One Privacy Guy's VPN Comparison Chart https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJTvWT5RHFSYuEoFVpAeQjuQPU4BVzbOigT0xebxTOw/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJTvWT5RHFSYuEoFVpAe... edit: Name of the service is SurfEasy
- subliminalpanda 10y ago
  Thanks!

0x0 10y ago

If they are bought out by the Chinese, does using this mean the new Chinese owners will see all your traffic?

746F7475 10y ago
If the traffic is encrypted then they wouldn't see into it, but it would go through their servers, so in worst case scenario you'd be surfing from behind the Great Chinese Firewall
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- LamaOfRuin 10y ago
  The traffic is encrypted between you and the server. They control that server, where it gets decrypted to be sent out over the public internet (where it may be encrypted or not depending on the site). You've introduced a man in the middle. You must trust that man (but that man also already controls the source code for your browser, which can also see all your traffic).
hungryfoolish 10y ago
Since Opera is still a norwegian company, they still will need to abide by norwegian data privacy laws.
- halostatue 10y ago
  SurfEasy (the provider of the service) is a Canadian company, so it follows Canadian data privacy laws (which are pretty good; when I worked there, Michael Geist was an advisor).
cylinder714 10y ago
They were--see tomkwok's comment above.

verytrivial 10y ago

Is this the same Opera that was recently purchased by a shady Chinese consortium? [1] 1:https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/11/browser-maker-opera-acquisition-chinese https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/11/browser-m...

hungryfoolish 10y ago
It hasn't been purchased yet; the buyout deal is yet to go through AFAICT.
- neurobuddha 10y ago
  So I guess this an attempt to add value to push the deal through.
  - wagglycocks 10y ago
    Opera has a long history of adding innovative browser features. There's no reason to think that this has some kind of ulterior motive related to a rumored sale.
mclovinit 10y ago
I am thinking that announcing this feature may be a tactic to win back consumer trust or in the least attract new customers who are not familiar with the potential buyout.
hoers 10y ago
Never route your traffic through a party you don't trust.

xrstf 10y ago

The VPN is operated by "SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada". Just tested it and it worked flawlessly to watch a YouTube video that has been blocked in my country. [Edit: Netflix seems to block SurfEasy already. Sad.]

arm 10y ago
They didn’t exactly get a standing ovation the last time¹ they were mentioned on here though (for good reason… if they’re offering a service to help protect people’s privacy, it seems a bit odd that they’d opt to compromise said people’s privacy by having multiple trackers on their website). ―――――― ¹ — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10700792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10700792
- DyslexicAtheist 10y ago
  I'd mainly be worried how said VPN is using the subscriber data and what is their policy on storing access logs. But even they promise to not track you how would one even hold them to account considering that they must have an interest in the data due to their adtech part of how the parent/sister Opera company makes its money.
pluma 10y ago
BTW, apparently in order to purchase anything (e.g. to try out YouTube Red -- which checks your Google Payments data) you may still need a credit card matching the country. This bit me when I tried purchasing foreign versions of games on Steam before (which pre-digital distribution was possible via imports but now tends to suffer from region locking).
- subliminalpanda 10y ago
  As far as Steam is concerned I used Entropay for virtual pre-paid debit cards. I live in the middle east and it happily validated any US address. Entropay does take a 5% commission if you top-up with a credit/debit card however.

chris_wot 10y ago

If I use this though, will Netflix block me from accessing any content?

zo1 10y ago
Netflix blocks you from accessing all content if you are behind any sort of proxy or VPN.
- ChicagoBoy11 10y ago
  How do they detect that you are using a VPN?
  - Arnt 10y ago
    They have a list of VPN providers. Probably they also have some heuristics that look closely at people who geoip in a different country than their billing records, and whose IP address seems to be in a colo rather than a DSL subscriber block.
    - chris_wot 10y ago
      This is why I would love to see a Visa card that anonymises you to corporations, but not necessarily the government - and available to those overseas. Don't suppose such a thing exists? Edit: Scratch that. What I'd like is a high speed consumer cable account that I could proxy into.
      - Arnt 10y ago
        What you need is a friend abroad and a raspberry pi. I have a raspberry pi attached to the wall of a home which is not my own. It's in a country where I occasionally want to be (in a geoip sense of "be"). The rpi maintains a VPN connection to me, so I can reach it even though it's behind a NAT middlebox that knows nothing about it.
        10y ago

haosdent 10y ago

I love this.

codenhagen 10y ago

Just tried out the developer version (http://www.opera.com/developer http://www.opera.com/developer - built-in VPN and ad blocking is currently only available in the developer version of Opera). Both the ad blocking and the VPN works great in the few sites I tested. I especially love that turning the VPN on doesn't require any type of login.

vbezhenar 10y ago

If country is blocking websites, they probably will block that VPN service as well (and possibly Opera website). Why this thing is called VPN anyway? It looks like HTTP proxy should be enough for browser.

a_imho 10y ago

Couple with native adblocking I'm very tempted to switch browsers (from FF) and probably do so when available. But it just sounds too good, what is the catch?

glaberficken 10y ago
I'm not a specialist, but you can start by researching how the Opera company makes money. It would seem to me a possible future "catch" would be that they could charge selected advertisers to let their ads through... From their own FAQ: http://www.operasoftware.com/press/faq http://www.operasoftware.com/press/faq "How Opera makes money" Opera provides cloud-based mobile services and solutions to operators, publishers and advertisers and enables hundreds of millions of consumers, via the Company's global cloud infrastructure, to connect to the internet content and services that matter most to them. Along those lines, Opera has different revenue models, depending on the customer type: *Operators.* Opera's revenue sources from this hosted solution include active user fees, data fees, NRE/development fees, hosting services, advertising and maintenance, and support. *Mobile consumers* (via partnerships with search providers and advertisers). The primary driver of mobile consumer revenue is revenue from mobile search, the Opera Mobile Store and active user growth. *Mobile publishers and advertisers.* Revenue comes from Opera's mobile advertising services and technology solutions, offered to premium and performance advertisers, ad agencies, publishers and developers. *Device OEMs.* Revenue comes through license agreements with a wide range of consumer-electronic-device OEMs. *Desktop consumers.* Revenue comes primarily from search and e-commerce partnerships.
- j_koreth 10y ago
  They literally have an advertising division as Opera Mediaworks
  - blowski 10y ago
    So do the other three biggest browser vendors - Microsoft, Apple and Google. So I'm not sure what that shows.

Fundlab 10y ago

This is a game changing feature and I hope other browsers follow suit, I would love to see it implemented in the mobile version especially.

vonklaus 10y ago
Really? I am all for it, but in 2016 putting an extra server in the middle of my request isn't really a game changer. Brave is leading the charge with extensions as a service, and I love them for it. However, I just can't see it being profitable. Brave can def make money, but I don't think people care about privacy. The other usecases make sense, but between opera or brave (both totally unknown companies to non tech crowd) Brave would for sure win that. In Opera's case, one more person would get "all" the data. In all other cases, 1-3 companies get all the data. So it's good, I just can't call it a game changer.
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
"Game changing"? No. This doesn't actually change the game at all.
WoMaameTwe 10y ago
It's better you say nothing at all just read and leave or the down voting brigade will sink you for your freedom of thought or umm speech. There's no tolerance for antidiscipline up on here

libeclipse 10y ago

Sounds pretty good, but I still wouldn't trust it with anything more than a YouTube video.

sotrueee 10y ago

Free as in free 500MB and then you have to pay.

iancarroll 10y ago
Source? The article says it's unlimited.

Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago

"This is why we today have more engineers than ever before working on new features for our desktop browser." Is this true or just PR BS? Because my understanding is that they had laid off most of the desktop browser team a few years ago and there were only a few left working on it.

LamaOfRuin 10y ago
Now they're based on Blink, so the they don't have to work on the core features of a browser engine. I imagine that means they have more engineers working on what they class "features for our desktop browser" as in user facing features, rather than W3C spec implementation.
- shwetank 10y ago
  Opera does still contribute quite a lot to blink/chromium (check out https://operasoftware.github.io/upstreamtools/ https://operasoftware.github.io/upstreamtools/ which lists them), though the gist of what you've said still stands.
j_koreth 10y ago
They laid off most of their presto team but they did higher more for the new blink browser. It doesn't matter anyway I'm sure the Chinese buying would have given them a temporary revenue

w3designer 10y ago

As of now it's working in China. I'm able to access Facebook/Twitter/Youtube/Google without my normal vpn or ssh tunnel. Will be pretty useful if it stands up to the constant changes. Great work!

vinceyuan 10y ago
I bet it will be blocked soon.

thinkMOAR 10y ago

Though we all know by know that there is no such thing as 'free'?

azazqadir 10y ago
Some regions could require you to have a paid account or something, like what Zenmate does.

Flott 10y ago

"a native, unlimited and free VPN client, right inside your browser!" Serious question: Money wise, how are they able to afford this?

lucaspiller 10y ago
Data of course! Opera (the company) are one of the big players in mobile advertising. They have their own mobile ad platform [0], and a few years ago acquired a couple of agencies that specialise in mobile advertising [1]. [0] http://operamediaworks.com/ http://operamediaworks.com/ [1] http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/opera-snaps-up-mobile-theory-4th-screen-for-26m-in-mobile-ad-push/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/opera-snaps-up-mobile-theor...
- a_imho 10y ago
  If they can support a secure, adless, anonymous desktop browser for PR exposure by relying on the mobile version displaying ads I would be ok with that.
- Flott 10y ago
  This is exactly what I fear. It's still a useful service but I believe Opera should say clearly what they do with the data they handle.
- EugeneOZ 10y ago
  Connection is encrypted
  - niij 10y ago
    To their servers.. Allowing any non end-to-end encrypted information to be harvested at Opera's VPN point.
    - EugeneOZ 10y ago
      Or your provider, or Opera, or own server with VPN. For majority of people setting up own server is too complicated, so it's much better than nothing, especially when you are in place where you can use only non-secure wifi network.

marcosscriven 10y ago

Doesn't this just move trust from your ISP to whomever runs the VPN?

mikeokner 10y ago
Yes, but if you live somewhere that definitely surveils your communications or prevents you from accessing certain content, a VPN is a good way to browse as though you were physically located somewhere more permissive.

arca_vorago 10y ago

I really want to like Opera, but I won't be using it until its open source, full stop.

marcosscriven 10y ago

Doesn't this just move trust from your ISP to whomever runs the VPN?

ommunist 10y ago

Since Opera is now owned by China, I'd really think twice before using it.

xufi 10y ago
That scares me. The last program I used that was Chinese was the QQ messenger.

anExcitedBeast 10y ago

I know they have no incentive to do this, but it would be nice if they let you configure alternate VPN providers. This is a really clean VPN UX.

mhd 10y ago

The "VPN" feature doesn't get through my work's firewall, so I guess that works mostly in your own home or less secure public networks...

sspiff 10y ago

I've got a few questions, and their puffy news post doesn't answer them: * Is this a real VPN service, or simply an HTTP/HTTPS proxy? * Is DNS resolution also securely handled through the tunnel, or does this stay in the clear? * What region(s) is their VPN service located in? * Is it possible for other software to use this tunnel in any way? Upon first reading, this doesn't seem very different from their old "accelerator proxies" which compressed HTTP traffic into a binary format, and reduced image detail/resolution, but with a new marketing spin and those old features removed or disabled.

mihok 10y ago
Just installed it, and looks like you get, Canada, US, and Germany as options for the VPN. Tiny text below the enable button has this: "Secure proxy provided by SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada. By using the service you accept the Terms of Service. VPN connects to other servers around the world so your connection speed might be affected." My only gripe with it so far is the VPN is across all tabs, so I have to switch it off to access some of my office VPN sites
- sspiff 10y ago
  Interesting, how did you try it? I just installed the Opera developer version and can't seem to find anything to enable or configure VPN usage.
  - mihok 10y ago
    Top left 'Menu'-> Settings -> Privacy & security, about middle of that page has 'Enable VPN' After you do that it shows up in the address bar beside the SSL lock
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
betaby 10y ago
DNS is not leaked, it's a https proxy and opera passes URL there without any local resolution.

kardos 10y ago

What stops someone from making a Firefox plugin that (ab)uses Opera's free VPN?

ashmud 10y ago
Ultimately, nothing. They could still aggregate your usage data, though, and not necessarily be out anything investment-wise, compared to using the Opera client proper.
- halostatue 10y ago
  There’s a few things that would (probably) stop this from working, but it is possible that the new Opera-based implementation is different than when we implemented it (the proxy version) as a custom Firefox browser back in 2011–2013.

rasz_pl 10y ago

Free, unlimited VPN for sending all of your secure surfing to CHINA ....

anc84 10y ago
Free, unlimited VPN for protecting all of your secure surfing from your domestic surveillance...

throwanem 10y ago

"If you're not paying for the product..."

zo1 10y ago

Some terms from the SurfEasy, Inc company, which is the VPN provider for this service[0]: SurfEasy does not store users originating IP address when connected to our service and therefore cannot identify users when provided IP addresses of our servers. Additionally, SurfEasy cannot disclose information about the applications, services or websites our users consume while connected to our services; as SurfEasy does not store this information. However, further down, you have this: SurfEasy is required to comply with law enforcement where subpoenas, warrants or other legal documents have been provided. We may collect and disclose personal information, including your usage data, to governmental authorities or agencies, including law enforcement agencies, at their request or pursuant to a court order, subpoena or other legal process, if there is a good faith belief that such collection or disclosure is required by law. At this point I'm not quite sure what to make of the above two combined together. [0]: https://www.surfeasy.com/privacy_policy/ https://www.surfeasy.com/privacy_policy/

anexprogrammer 10y ago
Isn't that fairly standard amongst the privacy respecting VPNs? We store nothing / log nothing. We'll comply with law enforcement as far as we're able (ie not at all beyond billing, email and perhaps bandwidth used). So that seems to say they'll perhaps be able to tell when you were logged in, who you are + payment info, and perhaps volumes transferred. Where and on which ports? No clue officer. Private Internet Access seems similar: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/privacy-policy/ https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/privacy-policy/
- MasterScrat 10y ago
  But what happens if law enforcement specifically ask them to start recording more information?
  - EwanToo 10y ago
    I think this assumption is true of every VPN provider: If the courts or intelligence services tell them to capture a username's data, or access to specific websites from all users, they will do it. If the choice is between keep quiet and do it, or potentially get shutdown or arrested, you have to assume that almost everyone will do as they are told.

betaby 10y ago

In VPN mode I got 184.75.221.xxx - Toronto In Turbo mode 107.167.108.xxx - US

uslic001 10y ago

Definitely slows down browsing but it is simple/easy/free so I would expect as much.

SubiculumCode 10y ago

To sell your web history themselves.

skrowl 10y ago
The VPN is also in Canada, a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes country, so in addition to selling your web history they'll also turn it over to any govt agency with no warrant or even notifying you.

SubiculumCode 10y ago

Just to sell All your web history themselves.

xjpi250 10y ago

Ridiculous!!! It is just a honeypot. As the most notorious company in China, no one trust Qihoo360 (opera is acquired by Qihoo360). Qihoo360 is the pet and lackey of Chinese communist party. Go to hell!

dang 10y ago
This comment breaks the HN guidelines. If you want to make a point here, please do so civilly and substantively. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540857 and marked it off-topic.

xjpi250 10y ago

Better online privacy? Ridiculous!!! It is just a honeypot. As the most notorious company which good at stealing people's privacy, in China no one trust Qihoo360 (opera is acquired by Qihoo360). Qihoo360 is the pet and lackey of Chinese communist party. Go to hell!

dang 10y ago
We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541610 and marked it off-topic.

html5web 10y ago

Very slow in US

bowlofstew 10y ago

I have been using this build today and like it. My only minor gripe is the selection of only 3 locations for the VPN. This one doesn't so far from what I see but then again, it is free.

dang 10y ago

There's another article at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11540648, which discussion we merged hither.

summarite 10y ago

An interesting angle is that this might prevent big companies, government agencies, schools etc to disallow just of opera if it was ever possible in the first place. Poor they'll just block the IPs with their usual web filter software and none of these promises behind true. Might work for private use in non-repressive countries, but anywhere else it will face the same blocking as any other VPN. Still a great initiative!

roddux 10y ago

I think this is a great idea, in part because it makes it super easy for the less technically minded to secure their public internet traffic. It also brings VPNs and network security discussion more into the public eye.

jordache 10y ago

How does the Chromium Opera compare to Chrome?

jordache 10y ago

With the VPN enabled, I am able to resolve local network computer names and domains that reside in my work's local DNS only? How is this resolution working?

johansch 10y ago

The performance is quite bad at the moment. It takes 5-7 seconds to load google.com using either the Germany or US location - from Sweden...

batrat 10y ago
I watched some YT videos and seems ok for me. US server from Romania.
- johansch 10y ago
  It works better now. They under-dimensioned the launch peak capacity. This is peculiar, I do know they have much, more more capacity than needed for in that terms of both servers and bandwidth. ;)

owly 10y ago

There are too many reasons to keep VPN separate from a browser to list here.

novaleaf 10y ago

slightly off topic, but does anyone know a good proxy-as-api service? the ones I've seen are either really bad, or really, really expensive.