VPNs aren't as protective as you think they are, says US Congress
Members of the US government are urging action against deceptive VPN marketing.
Two Democrats in the United States congress have written a letter(opens in new tab) to the Federal Trade Commission to urge chair Lina Khan «to take enforcement actions against the problematic actors in the consumer Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry,» based on what they consider a serious issue: «deceptive advertising and data collection practices.»
The letter, from senator Ron Wyden and representative Anna G. Eshoo, comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned the US's decades-long protections for abortion. One outcome of the Dobbs decision, the congresspeople write, is that VPNs are being recommended as a privacy tool amid concerns that browsing data, location history and even period tracking apps could be weaponized in states that criminalize abortion.
«As the recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has amplified concerns about digital reproductive privacy, people seeking abortion are increasingly told that installing a VPN is an important step for protecting themselves when seeking information on abortion in states that have outlawed and criminalized abortion,» the letter states.
Wyden and Eshoo argue that the VPN industry's lack of oversight, «false and misleading claims about their services,» and «selling user data and providing user activity logs to law enforcement» are pressing concerns for abortion-seekers living in states that are in the process of criminalizing it.
The letter bases its argument on a detailed 2021 white paper by Consumer Reports, which scrutinized 16 popular VPN providers for security and data privacy. Some of the report is dense
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