The internet and social media crackdown in Kashmir has made free VPN apps popular, like curfew passes that help in bypassing the rule.
But if you think that there are free lunches in this world, you are thinking wrong! This applies to free VPNs too.
Free VPN apps usually work by generating revenue by collecting your data, Internet usage patterns, and other personal information. This data is more often than not, sold to the highest bidder.
Yes, you read that right. And that bidder could be the government too.
Some VPNs work by selling you adds, and those are the relatively good ones. To cover their expenses and generate revenue, advertisement model is what most online businesses have thrived on.
But it not just adds that you are seeing, your personal information is circulated among online marketers though various channels.
The other ways that free VPN apps work is by limiting your bandwidth, which allows them to serve it to other (usually paid) users on their network. Most VPNs slow down your network which allows encryption, and helps you go off the grid.
But other than losing your credit card details, locations, private photos, you can seriously damage your phone’s hardware.
So before you hook your wire to the free power, think about what’s it got for the service providers.
