Hidden VPN Owners Unveiled: 97 VPNs Run by 23 Companies

Outside of US + EU + FiveEyes definitely sounds like a plus, and Proton certainly talks the talk about caring about privacy... but I forgot about one more possible motivation for running a VPN: the honeypot. I came across this about Proton some time back that makes me not trust them. > The company that ‘’officially’' operates ProtonVPN is ProtonVPN AG, a Switzerland based company[1]. However, the business is in reality operated by PROTONVPN LT, UAB a Lithuania based company, which has the same office address as Tesonet, UAB. Both company offices are located at: J. Jasinskio g. 16C, Vilnius 03163, Lithuania[2][3]. PROTONVPN LT, UAB is a separate company that ProtonMail outsources the protection of its users information to - ultimately run by Tesonet out of Lithuania[4]. Furthermore, Tesonet is operating a data mining operation out of Lithuania[5]. TesoNet also operates NordVPN[6], which claims to be based in Panama, not Lithuania[7]. This is specifically the type of situation that ProtonMail themselves say not to trust[8]. It’s appalling. In short NordVPN and ProtonVPN are operated by the same people/team/company. It's likely a joint venture between ProtonMail and Tesonet. [1] https://protonvpn.com/about [2] https://rekvizitai.vz.lt/imone/protonvpn_lt/ [3] https://tesonet.com/contact-us/ [4]http://apkforandroid.org/com.protonvpn.android/34784450-prot... [5] http://oxylabs.io.cutestat.com/ [6] https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https:/... [7] https://trademarks.justia.com/871/90/nordvpn-87190896.html [8] https://protonmail.com/blog/trusted-vpn/ I fundamentally just can't trust any of these companies (also including DuckDuckGo) since there seems to be so much marketing and what feels to me like corporate astroturfing in online discussions about privacy products. These company names just always have to appear in every thread. I guess that is what a marketing budget and VC funding gets you and what a free open source project doesn't have.