Politics and Technology Featured Article

AnchorFree Popularity Attributed to Internet 'Censorship'

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

With what AnchorFree officials characterize as "growing censorship and political tensions around the world," Internet users may be interested in a free online privacy and security tool called Hotspot Shield to access the Internet "freely and safely."

 

The product is a free ad-supported virtual private network guaranteeing users complete privacy and security online. Available on desktop computers, laptops and iPhones, it establishes a secure tunnel between a user's computer and Internet connection, encrypting entire Web sessions to keep IP addresses protected and the user anonymous. 

 

This means third party Web sites and Internet Service Providers cannot block or censor Internet content. Developed in 2005, Hotspot Shield has a user base of over 7.5 million monthly, averaging almost 30 million page views per day, company officials say.

 

When Hotspot Shield is downloaded and enabled, all Web activity is immediately encrypted, and the user's identity becomes anonymous. 

 

Earlier this year TMC's Vivek Naik reported that AnchorFree officials "received a zillion volts shock when it discovered that a Web site, VPN4Life, is going piggy-back on its freely downloadable tool, Hotspot Shield, and is actually charging potential users $50 to avail of this facility."

 

AnchorFree formally registered an official consumer warning.

 

AnchorFree Founder and CEO David Gorodyansky noted that many of their users are in countries "where individual efforts to thwart governmental censorship online have recently been thrown into the spotlight," listing the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Thailand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China.

 

Domestically it's used for secure Wi-Fi connections at airports, hotels or coffee shops, as well as to secure online shopping or financial transactions.

One result has been surges in traffic in frequently-banned Web sites overseas, such as Google, Orkut, Twitter, YouTube (News - Alert) and Facebook, as well as news sites such as BBC, FOX and CNN, AnchorFree officials contend.

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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Tim Gray