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PrivacyTools doesn't have a deal with any VPN company or any other company. They can become our sponsors, but they won't get listed as our recommendation on the

PrivacyTools doesn't have a deal with any VPN company or any other company. They can become our sponsors, but they won't get listed as our recommendation on the website [1] (we don't even have any sponsor at the moment), also we can't profit from it personally and everything is transparently shown on OpenCollective [2]. We even give a huge red warning that VPN is not going to help a lot and that you should probably use Tor instead [3]. Also we removed a lot of VPN services from our site, some time ago [4][5]. [1] https://www.privacytools.io/sponsors/ https://www.privacytools.io/sponsors/ [2] https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio [3] https://www.privacytools.io/providers/vpn/ https://www.privacytools.io/providers/vpn/ [4] https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/issues/1139 https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/issues/113... [5] https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/pull/1174 https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/pull/1174

tptacek 7y ago
Why can't every VPN review site say the same thing? Serious review sites don't accept sponsorships. This one does. Should it be taken seriously? I don't take it seriously.
- dngray 7y ago
  > Why can't every VPN review site say the same thing? Serious review sites don't accept sponsorships. This one does. Should it be taken seriously? I don't take it seriously. 1. We currently get _no_ money from _any_ VPN provider (our site makes other recommendations too that are not related to VPN services), our finances are very transparent: • https://blog.privacytools.io/privacytools-io-joins-the-open-collective-foundation/ https://blog.privacytools.io/privacytools-io-joins-the-open-... • https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio#section-goals https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio#section-goals 2. Being a part of the sponsorship program does not get you on the website, you must still meet the criteria which a VPN provider could do for free (so there's no incentive for them to pay us anything). 3. We don't use referral links 4. No single member of the team can add/remove things (everything is also logged in git commit logs). Pull requests also require more than 2 members to sign off. Technically jonaharagon as owner could add things, but it would be pretty suspicious if new VPN providers started appearing without any discussion.... lol. I know I'd be asking questions.
  - tptacek 7y ago
    Or, like reputable review sites, you could just not accept sponsorships from vendors.

tptacek 7y ago

Why can't every VPN review site say the same thing? Serious review sites don't accept sponsorships. This one does. Should it be taken seriously? I don't take it seriously.

dngray 7y ago
> Why can't every VPN review site say the same thing? Serious review sites don't accept sponsorships. This one does. Should it be taken seriously? I don't take it seriously. 1. We currently get _no_ money from _any_ VPN provider (our site makes other recommendations too that are not related to VPN services), our finances are very transparent: • https://blog.privacytools.io/privacytools-io-joins-the-open-collective-foundation/ https://blog.privacytools.io/privacytools-io-joins-the-open-... • https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio#section-goals https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio#section-goals 2. Being a part of the sponsorship program does not get you on the website, you must still meet the criteria which a VPN provider could do for free (so there's no incentive for them to pay us anything). 3. We don't use referral links 4. No single member of the team can add/remove things (everything is also logged in git commit logs). Pull requests also require more than 2 members to sign off. Technically jonaharagon as owner could add things, but it would be pretty suspicious if new VPN providers started appearing without any discussion.... lol. I know I'd be asking questions.
- tptacek 7y ago
  Or, like reputable review sites, you could just not accept sponsorships from vendors.