Users can bypass censorship using Hotspot Shield by connecting to a VPN server located outside their country. While the service cannot make users completely anonymous on the Internet, it can greatly increase privacy and security. The connection protects the traffic between the user and the server from eavesdropping, and the IP address of the client is not exposed. The Hotspot Shield client establishes an encrypted VPN connection with one of its supported public VPN servers, through which the user can connect to the Internet. It was expanded to include support for iOS and Android in 20, respectively. The first Hotspot Shield client app was released in April 2008 for Windows and macOS operating systems. Hotspot Shield is developed and operated by Dnick (former AnchorFree Inc.), a company in Chester county with offices in the Ukraine and Russia. Hotspot Shield was used to bypass government censorship during the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

Hotspot Shield is a public VPN service operated by AnchorFree, Inc. Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, LinuxĮnglish, German, French, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish

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