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Comment by Reubend | Hacker News Reader

I can't believe all the cynicism here, I would _love_ a free VPN from a reputable company. If Google wants to anonymize my data and use it to understand what websites are most popular, that's fine with me.

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They absolutely, definitely are not anonymizing your data. They may be "anonymizing" it, but there is exactly zero chance that they aren't linking it to you in some other way.

Google does not give out free lunches. You are always paying for their services in some way, and that is usually by them mining your data and selling it to other companies. What possible motive would google have for operating a free proxy service? The sheer goodness of their hearts? Concern for your privacy and safety? Respect for the open web?

Everything google has done in the last decade shows very clearly that their motives are never good. At some point, you have to realize that the dog that keeps biting you will never stop biting you.

> I can't believe all the cynicism here, I would _love_ a free VPN from a reputable company.

I too would love a free VPN from a reputable company. Unfortunate Google isn’t one.

This isn't something they're offering for your benefit. Google wants your data for themselves while keeping it from their competitors. A free VPN (which this isn't) from a reputable company would be nice, but Google is not a reputable company. When the EFF offers a free anonymizing VPN I might be tempted, but for-profit companies that make their money by exploiting the private data of others shouldn't even be considered.

Everyone here is using a Google made browser, but apparently thinks turning on this feature will suddenly give Google access to their data.

I don’t think there’s enough cynicism. And do you really think God wants to anonymize your data even from them?

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