An Introduction to ShadeYou VPN From an Anonymous Rep
ShadeYou VPN began as a free service that would provide for the needs of those who built it and their friends. Several years later, they are now providing paid VPN to clients all over the world, starting at $2.16 per month. We sat down for a chat with ShadeYou's anonymous representative to take a close look at their work, and hear about some of their views on internet security. Share
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background before ShadeYou VPN. How did you get started as a VPN service?
We are a young team of privacy enthusiasts with different backgrounds. Some of us are tech geeks, others have backgrounds in management and some of us are creative professionals. ShadeYou VPN started a long time ago as a VPN service that would meet our own and our friends’ needs; then it became a free VPN, available for those who really need it; and since many people who wanted to use it, we decided to make it a paid service.
What makes SYVPN different from other VPNs?
We have a mission – to create a good VPN with an affordable price that everyone can use, and this is our first priority, as opposed to other companies where it's all about the money. As far as I know, out of all low-cost VPNs, we provide the best value.
Can you explain “Data retention”? What is your policy at ShadeYou VPN?
We are trying to handle our service using as little data as possible from the users. To be honest, we do not require users to specify real data. You can even type a fake email but it should be noted that the user will not be able to get important notifications from us and restore access. Of course, it goes without saying that we do not keep any logs of our users’ activity.
ShadeYou VPN offers extremely low prices compared to many of your competitors, how are you able to do this?
Affordable privacy and internet protection are things which our guys keep in mind while doing their best to provide a high quality service. We spend most of our revenue on improving our network and on a fair salary for our team.
With Opera offering a free VPN, do you see a future for paid VPNs?
What we understand is that Opera's VPN service is far from perfect and has many drawbacks. Nonetheless, we do envision a promising future for VPN services that come with a cost.
With free VPNs like Windscribe and Hola, what is the differentiator for paid VPNs?
To provide a VPN service, a lot of costs need to be covered: the network, development and employee salaries. We were providing ShadeYou VPN as a free service until the number of users was far from what we were able to cover with all costs coming from our pocket, and little revenue from advertising.
Windscribe operate on a freemium business model, and they're not the only ones. With Hola and other Peer-to-Peer VPNs, you should ask yourself who covers the costs of “free” VPN services, because the answer would most likely be - you.
Some VPNs offer a lifetime deal. What do you think of this strategy?
It is a fine strategy for both sides: the users get a really awesome discount, while the provider gets to accumulate funds needed for important updates like developing clients on different platforms, implementing new technologies, etc. However, it looks strange how someone can guarantee continuity for such a long period of time.
Can you tell us a bit about Anonymizer?
Anonymizer is a free web proxy offered to our site visitors, which allows them to browse web pages anonymously using an IP in their country of choice.
What are your future plans for ShadeYou VPN?
We have a lot of improvements scheduled in the near feature. Firstly, we are eager to release our new VPN mobile applications for Android and iOS;
We also have plan to Extend our VPN network globally, and finally, we are working to Improve the UI / UX of our website to make it more intuitive for desktop clients.
We also have a few other plans lined up, but currently they cannot be disclosed.
What measures are being taken by ShadeYou VPN to prevent outsiders as well as employees from looking at your users’ data?
Our team is quite small. Only the founders have full access to all of our data. Whenever we hire someone new, we make sure they do not have any access to user data until we're absolutely sure they can be trusted. Often times, such specialists don’t even know which company they are working for.
About the Author
Technical writer with a passion for online privacy.