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It's news because people use VPNs to protect their privacy. If they are under the impression that Onavo will keep their data private, they are wrong. Just tryin
by searchencrypt 9y ago
It's news because people use VPNs to protect their privacy. If they are under the impression that Onavo will keep their data private, they are wrong. Just trying to inform...
- czardoz 9y agoThe app description does not even mention privacy.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- searchencrypt 9y agoIt does say "take charge of how you use mobile data and protect your personal info." Protect personal info from what? That implies privacy.
- czardoz 9y agoFrom attackers maybe? Protection in no way implies privacy.
- mfringel 9y agoThis is not about your expectations. This is about the expectations of a user who knows that VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network", and that the feature has the word "Protect" in the title. FB creates the expectation of privacy by using those terms, and they (or you) don't get out from under that expectation by splitting hairs.
- princekolt 9y agoIt surprises me how much people will defend obvious overreaching behavior from large corporations, for free, on the internet.
- ballenf 9y agoThe app places the acryonym "VPN" on the phone and instructs users to turn on the virtual private network. I'd say users aren't totally out of line thinking that an app providing virtual private networking functionality would use a layperson's definition of private (as opposed to a techie's definition involving network protocols). I'd argue that a VPN app that isn't private should be required to put something like the warning on cigarettes: > > WARNING: This app monitors and records for all time your every action on your phone and only protects you from 3rd parties who haven't paid us enough money to get access to your data.
- codezero 9y agoI agree that a VPN service implies it's protecting privacy, but let me nit pick a bit: the "private" in virtual private network is not about privacy, it's about a network with a private IP space, the virtual part is that it operates on top of public IP space. With that said, anyone could make the assumption that private means privacy here, and most common use cases for consumer VPNs are for privacy, so, I guess it really matters that they are explicit what they service does, and I think the description above is pretty clear.
- mattnewton 9y agoYou and I understand this distinction. The general public that has been told public networks are unsafe probably does not.
- codezero 9y agoYou are completely right, and I agree fully.
- bhhaskin 9y agoA VPN has nothing to do with privacy. Changing the definition doesn't do anyone any favors. It just blurs the line even further. Private!== privacy. It isn't some magical protocol that all of a sudden makes you untrackable.
- mattnewton 9y agoTotally agree. The word “protect” is in the title. The p in VPN also stands for “private”. People could be forgiven for being mislead here.