Cyber security risks to individuals and companies are continuously growing day by day but the good thing is that consumers are becoming more aware of the volume of personal information people are unintentionally exposing to internet businesses. VPNs are routinely advised by cyber security gurus to mitigate these risks.
A VPN is an abbreviation for Virtual Private Network. It conceals your original IP address, decodes your browsing history, and allows you to bypass geo-restrictions.
Preferably, your information should be completely safe and within your control but sadly, this isn’t always the case, and the safety of your information will be determined by the sort of VPN you use.
So if you are looking for free VPNs to watch Netflix in UK; we have some bad news for you. Free VPN cannot work in the UK because of Five Eye. Now you must be wondering what is Five Eye? The United Kingdom-United States of America Agreement is known as the Five Eyes (UKUSA).
Despite its official name, the UKUSA agreement includes five countries. They are the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The agreement stems from a World War II intelligence-sharing contract between the United States and Britain.
The Five Eyes Alliance is an intelligence network that supervises citizens’ and foreign governments’ electronic communications.
Do Free VPN Sell your Information
Unfortunately, most of the free VPNs exchange user data in order to provide users with a secure connection. Unless you carefully read the fine print of its clauses and conditions, you will be unaware of the shadowy nature of free VPNs.
When you connect to a free VPN, all of your activities are logged and saved. This information is frequently sold to advertisers. By using a free VPN, you are knowingly or unknowingly giving permission for your personal data to be collected.
So, it is clear that your data is not safe if you are using free VPNs. If advertisers can access your data through a free VPN, agencies with criminal intentions may be able to do the same. This defeats the objective of using a VPN by jeopardising your privacy and security.
Are Free VPNs recommended to use in the UK?
The answer to this question specifically depends on the VPN you have selected. Some free VPNs work exceptionally in the United Kingdom while others cannot hide your online activity from Five-eye surveillance.
As the UK is an active member of five-eye surveillance, the online activity of internet users is monitored closely which makes it really hard for free VPNs to change user’s IP addresses. This issue is not only limited to privacy but can also ruin your streaming experience which is another reason we don’t recommend using a free VPN in the UK.
As streaming services implement geo-restriction barriers to follow copyright laws of a country, the selection of content available on a streaming service varies from region to region. This is why streamers always look for free VPN options that can help them unblock unlimited titles.
Free VPN servers are outdated and they are easily identified and blocked by streaming services as they are not updated regularly. If a VPN is not useful in unblocking a streaming service, how can it ascertain your privacy!
What do we recommend?
Considering the importance of data security, we always recommend users to think about their safety first. Every day you hear news about new cyberattacks and millions in losses so you need to be careful about the type of VPN service you are opting for.
If you are paying for a service – your data will become the product and this statement is also true in case of a free VPN. Rather than selecting a totally free VPN service, avail the free trial offers of premium VPN services.
Various trusted VPN providers such as ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark offer a 30-day free trial with money-back guarantee. It is always a good idea to try premium VPN services for free even if it’s for a month only.
It is also important to keep in mind that if you don’t want to get charged for the service, you need to cancel your subscription before 30 days. Try premium services as they are the only effective solution against five-eye surveillance.
Cheap VPNs are better than free VPNs
Yes, you read that right. When it comes to the choice of a free VPN or a cheap VPN service – always go for the cheap one. As you are paying so much for the services, your data will be secure. The service will be better and even the servers will be updated periodically.
Rather than falling for the word “free”, try cheap VPN services as some of them are really good. We have tested some cheap VPN services including Surfshark, CyberGhost, Windscribe, and Proton VPN but Surfshark really impressed us with the result.
We were able to unblock regional libraries of major streaming services such as Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and Hulu. The internet speed did not drop and we were able to buffer less streaming.
Wrapping Up!
The word free is enticing as it fools you into believing that you are not paying for these services. When it comes to the security of your data, free VPN should be preferred as they sell your information to advertising agencies and make a profile off it.
Therefore, it is important to invest in premium VPN services as they are designed to offer you maximum level of security ascertaining that your data is protected by hackers and any type of cyber-attacks.
No price is too much for data protection but if you cannot afford the hefty price tag of a premium VPN service, cheap VPN services are your best friends. Invest in cheap VPN services and don’t fall for the free VPN myth ever!
