timster Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 The operator of 8chan says the bandwidth of millions of Hola users is being sold for reuse, with some of it even being used to attack his site. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Hola founder Ofer Vilenski says that users' idle resources are indeed utilized for commercial sale, but that has been the agreement all along. Faced with increasing local website censorship and Internet services that restrict access depending on where a user is based, more and more people are turning to specialist services designed to overcome such limitations. With prices plummeting to just a few dollars a month in recent years, VPNs are now within the budgets of most people. However, there are always those who prefer to get such services for free, without giving much consideration to how that might be economically viable. One of the most popular free VPN/geo-unblocking solutions on the planet is operated by Israel-based Hola. It can be added to most popular browsers in seconds and has an impressive seven million users on Chrome alone. Overall the company boasts 46 million users of its service. https://torrentfreak.com/hola-vpn-sells-users-bandwidth-150528/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 ... They're... reselling MY bandwidth and letting me get used in botnets etc? OK, I didn't know that. Uninstalled. EDIT: I recommend people visit this site to check if they're affected or not: http://adios-hola.org/ timster 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pupik Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Any recommendations to replace Hola on Android? Preferably free, as I don't need much from it. Only to launch Spotify and Pandora once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I'm really surprised people aren't making a much bigger issue of this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinggus Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Any recommendations to replace Hola on Android? Preferably free, as I don't need much from it. Only to launch Spotify and Pandora once a week. Hotspot Shield, I believe that does the same thing. I've used it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Any recommendations to replace Hola on Android? Preferably free, as I don't need much from it. Only to launch Spotify and Pandora once a week. I use ZenMate (I used it before Hola, and I've gone back to it). Not sure if their Android version is out yet though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJGM Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Hotspot Shield, I believe that does the same thing. I've used it. It is a free VPN like Hola, but in my experience, it's clunky, slow, and contains adware to inject ads into your browser(s). Not much better than Hola really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinggus Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I use ZenMate (I used it before Hola, and I've gone back to it). Not sure if their Android version is out yet though. It is a free VPN like Hola, but in my experience, it's clunky, slow, and contains adware to inject ads into your browser(s). Not much better than Hola really. Try ZenMate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zenmate.android&hl=en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJGM Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Try ZenMate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zenmate.android&hl=en Thanks, but I don't use my phone for much internet use. I looked up the PC browser version, which doesn't install on my browser, which was the main reason why I didn't use Hola much either. I don't want to open up a different browser I rarely use just to watch geo-blocked content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I'm really surprised people aren't making a much bigger issue of this... Doesn't do it when you actually use it to stream media, and when you don't you just disable it anyway. no other service works as well as it anyway. I use Unblock-us anyway so I don't go through any VPN's, for the few things that don't work with it, I activate Hola. Thanks, but I don't use my phone for much internet use. I looked up the PC browser version, which doesn't install on my browser, which was the main reason why I didn't use Hola much either. I don't want to open up a different browser I rarely use just to watch geo-blocked content. hmmm, you can install hola on pretty much any browser except ie though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) This is why it's worth ponying up a couple of bucks every month... Edit : Actually it's far worse than first thought. http://torrentfreak.com/hola-vpn-already-exploited-by-bad-guys-security-firm-says-150602/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firey Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I pay 5$ or whatever it is for media hint. Can use it on my Smart TV so even it has access to US netflix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcfan Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 don't have it installed anymore anyways. I found hola unreliable for live streaming when i tried it in the past. unblock-us/unotelly and cheap vps does everything for me well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Using your bandwidth in the chrome extension? windows installation? What exactly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liliana Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Unfortunately Hola is a real danger http://www.vpnfaqs.com/2015/06/hola-vpn-great-danger-life/ Personally I am using a reliable VPN service provide with high encryption for my internet connection over all of my devices Windows Laptop, Android tab and iPhone.. all with one account with reasonable price, i am totally satisfied.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts