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Free VPN Service Hola Selling User Bandwidth For Shenanigans

A free VPN provider by the name of Hola is under fire for using its customers' connections as exit nodes in a private network, potentially exposing them to having their connections and IP addresses involved in illegal or abusive activities.

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Hola's 9.7 million customers mostly use the company's service and browser plugin as a way to bypass Netflix geolocation restrictions, allowing them to stream Netflix content in markets Netflix hasn't officially launched in yet.

But these customers apparently weren't told their connections would be used as exit nodes to fuel a paid anonymity service owned by Hola dubbed Luminati, which has marketed itself as a "larger, faster and more anonymous" version of Tor.

This fact wasn't widely known until recently, when 8chan realized users of both services were being used to power a massive spam assault on the website. 8Chan founder Frederick Brennan in a note to users calls the VPN the "most unethical VPN I've ever seen," and explains how it's notably different from Tor:
quote:
When a user installs Hola, he becomes a VPN endpoint, and other users of the Hola network may exit through his internet connection and take on his IP. This is what makes it free: Hola does not pay for the bandwidth that its VPN uses at all, and there is no user opt out for this. On the other hand, with the Tor onion router, users must specifically opt in to be exit nodes and are aware that completely anonymous traffic can pass through their connections, which means they should be ready for abuse reports for child porn, spam, copyrighted content and other ills that come with the territory.
As such, their lines can be used for any number of purposes, including illegal ones. As in most cases when something is free, you are usually the product. That appears to be especially true here, and consumers need to be aware what they're signing up for. That said, Hola seems to do a pretty dismal job at explaining any of this to its users. Motherboard spoke to Hola co-founder Ofer Vilenski, who does a bit of tap dancing in claiming otherwise:
quote:
Vilenski said that the explanation "actually was there in a different form,” and pointed to the old FAQ, which said: "if you would like to use Hola for commercial use contact us at business@hola.org for a quote." Yet, Vilenski himself admitted most users are probably not aware of it.
Hola's FAQ didn't mention Luminati until after this story started to gain traction. It's worth noting that some folks realized precisely what this was last year, even though it's pretty clear the vast majority of Hola users had no idea what they were in for, and neither did news outlets promoting the service over the last few years.

Most recommended from 66 comments



Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

6 recommendations

Noah Vail

Premium Member

I'm 100% VPN away from home

I keep an OpenVPN server at the house.
Every device I use away from home connects to my OpenVPN server and every bit of my traffic traverses that tunnel.

The "something to hide" question is based on a stupidly bogus presumption.

The correct assumption is that I have nothing to show.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

6 recommendations

batterup

Premium Member

This is shocking.

Is there no honor among thieves?