Does Hotspot Shield keep logs?
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Hotspot Shield is a free VPN launched by AnchorFree in 2008. Today, the service also has a premium redundancy that offers many additional benefits. Since its inception, more than 650 million people around the world have installed this VPN.
As always, we’ll focus on the premium version of the service, so if you want to learn more about the company’s registration policy and the measures in place to protect your privacy and security online, keep reading this post to find out what information Hotspot Shield collects and how it protects you from prying eyes and government agencies.
legislation
AnchorFree is an American company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As we know, the US is not an ideal location for VPN users due to redundant safeguards and gag orders. The United States is also a member of the famous Five Eyes Alliance, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
This means that government agencies can require VPN providers to hand over personal user data and even issue a gag order to make certain users unaware of this fact. This can of course be avoided by implementing a strict no-logs policy and not having any personal information to provide. However, many VPN service providers do not, even though the US still does not have any mandatory data retention laws. In addition, the collected information can also be shared internationally through the complex data network behind the Five Eyes.
Bottom line, the US is one of the worst locations for VPNs, but all potential risks can be negated by a “bulletproof” no-logs policy.
Registration Policy
Hotspot Shield collects two types of information:
- Data you provide – This section includes the information you will need to provide if you decide to create your personal account (email and payment information).
- Automatically Collected Information – Every time you turn on Hotspot Shield, the software will collect your IP address. However, it will be deleted the moment your session ends. Apart from this, the Company will also receive data regarding your hardware model, language, operating system version, wireless or mobile network, browser type, websites you visit, and applications you use.
We don’t like the amount of information collected by Hotspot Shield, especially when we consider the company’s vague identification of an IP address. Is it considered personal data or not? I’m not quite sure. As mentioned earlier, the company is based in the United States, which means that the authorities can request all the information collected at any time. Moreover, the company claims that it is not possible to establish a direct connection between your IP address and your Internet traffic, which is hard to believe.
Want to know more about Hotspot Shield? Be sure to check out Hotspot Shield Review for detailed information about this VPN provider.
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