kair65•4mo ago

Warning: that "free VPN" extension might be tracking you

I installed a free VPN extension for Chrome last month because I kept seeing ads for it. After a few days I noticed my browser was super slow and I kept getting weird popup ads. I ran a scan and found out the extension was injecting ads into every page I visited. It also collected my browsing history and sold it to ad companies. My buddy at a local IT shop in Denver showed me how to check the permissions these extensions ask for. Turns out it requested access to all my data on every website. Has anyone else had issues with these so called free privacy tools before?

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susansingh4mo ago

Yeah I used to think free meant safe. Learned that one the hard way too.

5

davidwright4mo ago

Huh, @susansingh I actually SEE it a little DIFFERENT. Those free tools are USUALLY sketchy but a FEW are legit - ProtonVPN is open source and funded by paid users, so it’s not ALL bad if you do your homework.

1