Today, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become omnipresent. Millions around the world use VPNs, and they are often promoted by influencers as essential tools for privacy. Their rise in popularity stems from the idea that they offer online privacy by hiding your browsing activities and making you anonymous on the internet. 

Despite the marketing, the reality is less reassuring. VPN providers frequently fail to deliver the level of privacy and protection that users expect. 

A VPN works by channelling your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a VPN server. This prevents your internet service provider (ISP) from tracking your online activities, such as websites visited or apps used. However, this does not make you anonymous. Instead, it shifts the trust from your ISP to the VPN provider. This raises an important question: why trust a VPN provider more than your ISP? 

The truth is, that VPN providers cannot always be trusted. Free VPN services, in particular, are notorious for collecting and selling user data to third-party advertisers, posing privacy risks. Even paid VPN services, which claim to protect privacy by not logging data, have often been found to break those promises. In some cases, VPNs with “no-log” policies were later discovered storing data, which was leaked or shared with law enforcement. 

A significant issue with VPN providers is the difficulty in verifying their privacy claims. Often, the only assurance users have is the provider’s word, and that’s rarely enough. Numerous VPN companies have been caught logging user data, breaking the trust they have established with their customers. 

VPN For those needing a VPN to bypass censorship or other specific purposes, experts recommend setting up a personal VPN server. By using services like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, or DigitalOcean, users can create and manage their own encrypted VPN server, giving them control of the private key to their data. This ensures that even the cloud provider cannot access your information.