Yahoo Finance Demand for VPNs surges over TikTok ban fears
Casey Neistat sits in his Tesla Model 3, leans against his white leather upholstery and holds up his phone. “When an app is banned in the US, it means you cannot access it from a US IP address,” he says, looking into the camera. “With NordVPN, you choose whatever country in the world you want your IP address to be from and then, voila, access to TikTok.”
A prolific YouTuber, Neistat, 39, was admittedly paid to name drop the Finnish VPN in a video which is now trending online. But it reveals how virtual private networks have entered the zeitgeist.
Immediately after July 31, when Donald Trump signed an executive order that could result in TikTok vanishing from phones in the US next month, Google searches for VPNs in the US immediately jumped 29pc, followed by a sustained 10pc increase. Influencers are now sharing how to download VPNs on TikTok, in anticipation of a ban come September.
“There's definitely been more interest since Trump first floated the idea of a ban at the end of last month,” says Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN, an independent British review website.
According to Migliano’s research, at least 10 of the most popular VPN services’ directors are quietly living in China, with several detailing their registered address in Hong Kong.
@natalya.michelle VPNs to use if TikTok gets banned! Want more updates on TikTok? Just follow! ##tiktokbanned ##tiktokban ##tiktokupdates ##tiktoknews ##growontiktok
♬ original sound - natalya.michelle
Meanwhile TikTok has hired an American chief executive officer, and has committed to separating the app from its Chinese parent and will open a datacentre in Ireland to keep Western users’ information away from the prying eyes of the ruling Communist party.
“While there's a certain irony to US TikTok users relying on Chinese-owned apps to circumvent any ban, many of these VPN apps are highly flawed from a privacy perspective and are potentially much more risky than TikTok,” Migliano says.
China requires companies that offer encryption to save the keys to that encryption so they can be handed over to the government if required. But it is not just about data sovereignty.
Many VPNs store data – like their encryption keys or app infrastructure – in Hong Kong, where it has long been considered a safe harbour for Chinese internet traffic, remaining just outside of the Great Firewall. Hong Kong citizens have not been exposed to censored news, information or social media. unlike those in the mainland, even though strictly speaking, it was under China’s rules.
But this year Beijing has made clear its intentions to bring Hong Kong under its wing, enforcing rules that preside over the mainland and bringing in a new security law which may mean China will now begin asking for the encryption keys or data logs from a Hong Kong VPN, if they keep them.
Since June, when India banned TikTok, a company named TikVPN has been offering a free version of its service for those looking to access the app.
“What shall we do if Trump do ban TikTok all around the America [sic]? Don’t worry, TikVPN will help the TikTokers from all over the world stay active FOR FREE,” reads the website, which is littered with spelling and grammatical errors.
If customers advertise their service on social media they will get a longer subscription, increasing based on the amount of followers they have. On closer inspection the company, which says it is based in the British Virgin Islands, warns that its privacy policy is controlled by Hong Kong laws.
Someone needs to make a VPN specifically for TikTok and put ads before you can start the VPN. You'll get millions of people using that service because they have no idea how else to get TikTok.
You can even filter it to only do TikTok to save on bandwidth. https://t.co/uBbku4etKi— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) July 8, 2020
#TikTok #59Chineseapps
How to Access TikTok after ban in India? Use TikVPN@TiktokindiaSta1 https://t.co/O9b7f7LQND pic.twitter.com/zWm12GCgLy— TikVPN - Unblock geo-restriction to TikTok (@TikVPN) July 2, 2020
VPNs or virtual private networks, act as an encrypted tunnel between the user’s device and the internet, working as a conduit of data. They are increasingly used by corporations who ask their employees to log on to a secured network when working remotely and can be helpful when using public WiFi to stop anyone from intercepting internet traffic.
Most commonly for Britons, VPNs are often used to stream football matches or shows on BBC iPlayer or Channel 4 from countries where those services are blocked.
They are banned in China, but the government turns a blind eye to its extensive use among academics and businesses to communicate with the Western world over Gmail and other banned internet services. In countries where press and internet freedom is limited, VPNs are a critical means for communication with the outside world.
Not all VPNs are created equal, and dependent on their competency, some may be leaking internet browsing data. A Lulzsec member Cody Kretsinger was caught by the police for hacking into Sony in 2011 after his British VPN, HideMyAss, handed over information to officials.
In a similar tradeoff to when those who buy “knock-off” goods lose their right to send a letter of complaint to Anne Robinson, many VPN providers have gotten away with shoddy workmanship that leads to leaks, and extensive data collection. In some cases it has taken a cyber attack and data breach to reveal exactly how much information the providers collect.
“I wouldn't use a VPN, regardless of where its ownership resides, if I didn't have some confidence in the integrity and technical ability of the owners of the app or the software,” says Andrew Grotto, director of the Cyber Policy Center’s Program on Geopolitics, Technology and Governance at Stanford University, California.
Grotto thinks good VPNs are great for privacy, however, many young people will be on the hunt for the cheapest, or free, services, but that is the biggest red flag, Grotto says.
“You get what you pay for and whenever there is a ‘free’ app it always pays to think through ‘why am I getting this for free and how are the developers making money?”
