Is Opera's Free VPN Going Away?

Much like not using my real name for many postings on the net. I like a VPN because it is one more thing that at least slows down, if not stops, other people's nefarious activities. I do nothing illegal or immoral (or fattening) on the net, but many others do, including trying hard to discover MY personal details, MY Bank records, MY credit cards and more. If a VPN puts a large concrete block in their way, I'm all for it!
You may trust the security offered by your ISP and others, but in light of all the millions of personal records known to have already been illegally acquired. I want all the protection I can get.

Been following you for years, Bob. No longer. I don't need a supposed techie telling me that valuing my privacy isn't worth it.

You would have been better off providing factual data, rather than your misguided opinions.

Fifth, since security and privacy-oriented Norwegian company Opera sold it's name and browser to Chinese conglomerate Qihoo 360 two years ago, it should be expected that it's business principles would change to be consistent with the totalitarian internet control required by the Chinese government. If Opera desktop VPN should continue, know that it will likely be run through a gov monitoring station.

I use TOR.

I don't do anything illegal, immoral, or such. But when I visit a web site looking for some information, and get endless advertisements from them, I need a little protection.

Example, I am looking for a newer cell phone. One visit to a company (that has my email address due to prior purchases) has produced many emails pointing out they have just what I'm looking for.

TOR is difficult to use at times. Many sites sense visits thru them and throw up all kinds of roadblocks, or just plain deny access. Is this true of other VPNs?

ALL offers VPN with membership but Win10 will not install it for they say safety reasons.

My Deloyd:

Bob never claimed that there was anything wrong with choice. He did say that is was one of the losers in the browser wars. The Beta video tape system was significantly better than the VHS system but it lost the VCR war.

Your use of a VPN would have had no effect on the Equifax issue.

Thank you i was looking at VPN's but the speed loss was terrible i will give up on them now and not bother with one now.

We have lived in different countries in Europe (Germany and Spain) for approximately 17 years off and on. Their are lots of programs we can't watch unless we use a VPN. While livening in Germany we had to use a VPN to watch certain US shows. It also protects you when using a hot spot in a coffee shop.

i think VPN still plays a roll. I don't want COMCAST and may others to monitor and block what website i go in order for to tell me so.
i will handle that myself even without a VPN.

Have you made an image of ur OS lately?

I work at a large university. I use a free VPN when I am on campus to test if a connection from off-campus will work.

I'm in the US, but can't watch the BBC without a VPN.

Actually you don't need a VPN to watch the BBC from another country. You can use a service like Getflix that changes your DNS.

When I go to some countries or areas where there are known to be individuals that are trying to get my info, I prefer to use a VPN. It gives me the feeling that my communications will be more secure. Speed has not been a problem for me. Another reason is that I live in the USA but need to do banking (legally) in another country, those banks in the other country do not want to deal with persons located in the USA. The US government wants those banks to enforce US law. It is really those banks don't want to set-up a compliance department because of the cost and who could blame them.

After MS tried to force Win10 on people, I set my update download so that I picked what to install. Then I decided that maybe you were right to just let MS do it all. Now we have the KB4093118 fiasco because I **let** MS present me with problems. How the heck was I supposed to know *not* to install a particular update **before** another? This KB installed nine (9) times on my computer and wanted to keep installing. I called MS and had the situation clarified in just a few minutes. Never again am I just letting MS "loose" with updates. (Uh..the original update was listed as "optional"; then it was later listed as "important." Bugs in the MS system tells me to **beware** updates from now on. I don't believe you've covered this just yet. If it says "preview" as part of the name, SKIP IT, folks--unless you're a tech's tech!

The only reason I have the slightest interest in VPN is because the owner of a website related to my work banned me from her site because I dared to defend a member of our industry who was getting trashed on the site. I jumped in to say I had worked with that person and had no problem. The owner accused me of being paid to say that. I objected very clearly and politely to that (meaning no cursing), so I'm slightly curious about VPN because I lost a good work resource and I'm certainly not going to beg the owner to let me back in.

Danny G: Right from the Getflix website: "Getflix uses Smart DNS and VPN technology." It *is* a VPN.

Bob, maybe an article contrasting and comparing HTTPS, vpn, and tor as well as their relationship to SSL might be in order?

Mr. Bill,
I beg to differ with you on the "Equifax" breach; I use it after the breach and I feel more secure.
And also on "choice" by Bob no bringing up VPN for his readers. I can imagine most of his readers didn't know Opera had a free VPN.

I can't believe anybody in any way related to online security is poopooing the need for a VPN.

Any security is better than none, and for those that are mobile and use different WiFi connections a VPN even a reputable free one is a must.

SOUNDS LIKE BOB MAY BE HAVING A HARD TIME TRACKING PEOPLE WITH A VPN!

EDITOR'S NOTE: What the...? That's (almost) the weirdest comment I've seen, ever.