What is Hotspot Shield?
Who owns Hotspot Shield?
Why is Hotspot Shield free?
What makes Hotspot Shield special?
How can I get access to Hotspot Shield?
How do I use Hotspot Shield?
Is Hotspot Shield Mac- and/or Linux-compatible?
With what browsers is Hotspot Shield compatible?
Does Hotspot Shield pass all content
What should I use Hotspot Shield for?
Are there any disadvantages to using Hotspot Shield?
Has Hotspot Shield ever been blocked?
Does AnchorFree keep track of me?
Is using Hotspot Shield dangerous or illegal?
What if Hotspot Shield doesn’t work, or I have some other problem or question?
What is Hotspot Shield?
HS is a (free) commercial product created to enable internet users to access the internet through an intermediate server (managed by HS’s owner), thus enabling them to evade content-filtering mechanisms (thus avoiding censorship), to gain security for information online between the user’s computer and the HS servers, and to assure anonymity of access to internet resources.
> back to the top
Who owns Hotspot Shield?
Hotspot Shield was developed and is owned by AnchorFree. AnchorFree was founded in early 2005 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who wanted to put users in control of their own data online, and to significantly impact user privacy on the Internet. AnchorFree’s servers are spread around the world to best service its users from 175 countries.
Why is Hotspot Shield free?
AnchorFree’s business model is based on selling advertisements. Thus, HS users see advertising upon launch and each time they change domain names. In essence, AnchorFree’s advertisers are paying the cost of creating and maintaining a proxy server network to serve users (you) who need HS’s services.
> back to the top
What makes Hotspot Shield special?
HS is like the free (usually also ad-based) browser proxy services you can find via any web search, but with some important pluses:
HS uses a sophisticated discovery system to unfailingly find and open a path to the content you want to access;
because HS is a VPN (virtual private network), it proxies to the HS server all your internet usage (not just browsing, like browser proxies or UltraSurf);
HS encrypts all your communications, so your government’s surveillance software can’t even see what sites you’re accessing, let alone see your traffic; and
because HS is revenue-generating for its owner, it is supported by massive bandwidth, which makes it relatively fast (1mbps per user).
> back to the top
How can I get access to Hotspot Shield?
Download the 3-megabyte installer; or, send an e-mail and the installer will be e-mailed back to you as an attachment. Then run the installer and let it install and launch itself automatically. (Feel free to share the installer with friends.)
> back to the top
How do I use Hotspot Shield?
Start -> All Programs -> Hotspot Shield -> Hotspot Shield Launch. When HS icon (a little shield with a moon sliver on it) in your system tray is yellow, HS is trying to connect; when it’s green, you’re connected and ready to go. You can use your computer as you normally would, and all your internet traffic will be routed through AnchorFree’s VPN servers in uncensored countries.
To stop but not unload HS, right-click on the and select Disconnect (the system tray icon turns red); to restart it, select Connect.
> back to the top
Is Hotspot Shield Mac- and/or Linux-compatible?
There is a Mac version of the client available for download or by e-mail. There is no Linux-compatible version of HS—sorry.
> back to the top
With what browsers is Hotspot Shield compatible?
HS has been tested with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera. It should be compatible with all browsers.
> back to the top
Does Hotspot Shield pass all content?
Yes, HS tunnels all content—all browser content (including streaming media, Flash, uploads, scripts, everything) as well as all other internet traffic (e-mail, instant messaging, voice-over-IP, ftp—everything).
> back to the top
What should I use Hotspot Shield for?
HS is provided to enable censored netizens to access otherwise-blocked internet resources. It can be used simply for accessing filtered content; it can also be used to enhance privacy—for instance, when posting content (e.g. to your blog)—because all HS access is encrypted
> back to the top
Are there any disadvantages to using Hotspot Shield?
Yes:
use of any proxy server, including HS, slows down internet use (so you may not want to use a proxy server for accessing unblocked content); how much slower proxy server use is compared to non-proxied internet use depends on your preexisting internet access speed—the slower your direct access is, the less a proxy server affects your speed;
to operate, the HS client needs to be installed (not just run, e.g. off a USB thumbdrive), so you probably can’t download / install / use it on most cybercafés’ workstations; and
—
HS’s ads can be slightly distracting; if you want to avoid ads, you can get the same service from other companies such as IAPS, Witopia, HotSpotVPN, or VPNTunnel by paying a monthly fee of about USD10 (assuming you have a credit card or PayPal account).
Has Hotspot Shield ever been blocked?
No. The number of paths HS can use to penetrate filtration mechanisms is too many for any censor to enumerate and block.
> back to the top
Does AnchorFree keep track of me?
The process required to get and use Hotspot Shield doesn’t require you to give anyone any personal information (i.e. no registration or signup). When you use Hotspot Shield, AnchorFree keeps track of what country you’re in and which ads you’ve seen, in order to not bore you with the same ad repeatedly. As with all proxy solutions, your internet packets are passing through the provider’s servers, so you have to trust that AnchorFree is not snooping on your traffic. AnchorFree is in fact not looking at your traffic—the only guarantee you have of this is that AnchorFree is currently the single largest provider of individual VPN services in the world, so the over three million uses served last month are satisfied. AnchorFree’s logs count what content HS users have seen (to enable HS to market its service to advertisers), but that information is not retained in a manner which can be tracked to individual users, so AnchorFree cannot ever tell anyone what you have seen (because it doesn’t have that information), even if a court were to order it to be disclosed (which has never happened).
Can my ISP or international internet gateway see that I’m circumventing? Probably not. Hotspot Shield traffic carries no “signature” which would enable filters to identify it as anything other than normal encrypted traffic like what’s is generated by any e-commerce site. If the authorities have identified HS’s VPN servers, then they could notice who’s trying to connect to those servers, but prior experience shows that when censors do identify proxy servers, they block them (rather than track their use). Since literally millions of people circumvent censorship, governments seem to realize that tracking down individual users is realistically impossible.
> back to the top
Is using Hotspot Shield dangerous or illegal?
As far as is known to Sesawe, circumvention per se is not illegal anywhere in the world, and no netizen has ever been punished for using circumvention technology (proxies)—whether HS or any other. After all, use of circumvention tools can be legitimately justified as a step internet users take to preserve privacy (e.g. against hackers). However, most countries define as illegal the possession or consumption of certain kinds of content (e.g. that which is inconsistent with government-approved religious or cultural norms).
Governments which try to prevent their citizens from exercising freedom of access to information and freedom of expression have been known to punish people who they can identify as having posted online content critical of the authorities, so if you do post critical content, use an encrypted proxy like HS, and you may want to avoid putting online information which can be used to trace your posting to you.
If your contract with your ISP explicitly prohibits circumvention, your contract with your internet provider could be terminated if you’re caught using HS. As far as is known, this has never happened; and
authoritarian governments are not known for their adherence to the rule of law, so if they want to get you, they can always use some vague clause like “threatening national security.”
> back to the top
What if Hotspot Shield doesn’t work, or I have some other problem or question?
Pose your question through the support form in the Support section and Sesawe will respond.
> back to the top
