Does it have spyware or something? People used to recommend Hola on reddit all the time, but lately I’ve been seeing just the opposite.
(Here’s what Hola is: http://hola.org/)
Some one asked this a few days ago in another thread here is what I said then
Hola might not be the best solution, as when you use it you are an exit node for other users and because you have no idea what the other users might be doing thats not a good thing.
Then in more detail
Hola connects you to a proxy network not a VPN. Basically all the different users are acting as proxies for each other. For example, when you use Hola to watch something on the UK netflix you are connecting to Netflix through another user of Hola who happens to be in the UK. On the flip side of that when someone from the UK whats to connect to the US netflix they can go through your ip.
If everyone was just using this for Netfix it would be no big deal but much much more can be done with it. This means as an exit node anything could be happening though your IP ( illegal content, piracy, CP , online harassment, People trying to get around IP bans, ect ). generally allowing anonymous people you don’t know and have no control over to use your IP address is risk.
I would personally recommend looking into getting a VPN.
DotVPN and zenmate are free browser based VPN’s I am currently trying out. I have no idea how safe they are are what the catch is but they both work pretty well so far.
Dose that help?
If you are a free user others can use you as a proxy. That is how hola works to change countries, each free user acts as a proxy node.
It is technically ad monetized adware/spyware too.
I was alerted a few days ago in some random thread somewhere, and asked for a bit of info. I didn’t get very much, but then I wasn’t honestly expecting a lot of in depth conversation about it having started in the middle of nowhere, internet-wise.
I googled it a fair bit, and found that at one point they started inserting ads here and there. There was a bit of a backlash, and from what I can gather, they’ve reverted back to their old ways.
I wouldn’t know, I use extensions to filter out ads on most pages, so I wouldn’t be a good judge of that I suppose.
But I did find a lot of hearsay. Forums, reddit posts, there seems to be an awful lot of discussion about it being malware, with little to back it up officially and finally. Which is kind of weird, I guess. I could pull out the ol’ tin foil hat and go at it, but that’s not going to get any of us anywhere.
I think it works fine, but then I’m just a dumb ol end user with little more than “uhh, yeah, it loaded up” to go on.
I’m not incredibly worried, personally.
I still like and use it.
I just clicked on your link and WEBROOT shit a brick. Says Hola has been identified as unsafe to use.
There are countries that are starting to crack down on folks using third party proxy services to utilize netflix.
It turns your connection into a Tor exit node. So if someone is doing something illegal on the Tor network, and they use your connection while being tracked, you could be held responsible as an accomplice.
See, I’m not surprised it’s getting a hell of a lot of flax. Because it would mess around with Chrome and I couldn’t watch video and I had to restart the page, or I couldn’t hear any audio from Chrome. Honestly, Hola is shady.
I saw a Portuguese girl (vacation awesome 3 day whirlwind awesomeness) who I intended to keep in touch with (till she falsely claimed pregnancy to get me to move there) who used a service called Hola as social media. This was before facebook. I know because it was one of my only ways to contact her. Really awesome shit. Like the movies.
She still has my vintage Styx T-shirt I gave her to put on her wall (my dad gave it to me O.o). I was 14-15 and told her I would come get it. I would have too if she wasnt crazy. I had money. I had been working since 11.
Edit: I now realize this is completely irrelevant.
Yes, it does! Thank you!
Question. Since most people using hola are trying to get to sites that are US and UK exclusive (like Netflix or pandora or Spotify), is it true that if I’m in a country that probably no one is trying to get through, I’ll be fine? Meaning no one is trying to get to the Israeli Netflix so no one is using Israel on hola and therefore my Israeli IP is relatively safe (compared to Americans using hola), correct?
Thanks.
Hola might not be the best solution, as when you use it you are an exit node for other users and because you have no idea what the other users might be doing thats not a good thing.
Is this true of the browser extension or just the app?
Holy crap that is cool.
Has nothing to do with ads or malware, When using Hola as a free user you Can and do work as a proxy for others Hola users. Those other users can appear as your IP, Because you don’t know/ can’t control what they are doing this could be bad.
I’m not really sure if being in Israeli makes you any safer. The majority of the users who try to get around the US/UK exclusives are not what you have to worry about. It’s the people that want to use Hola to hide their identity while doing other more nefarious actions that should concern you. Those users do not care where their IP is hidden as long as it is hidden. It might even be possible that some one in palestine might want to appear like they are in Israel to do something sinister.
Hola is still probably mostly safe it is very unlikely that you will end up with a bad guy hiding behind your IP. It is just out of caution people are recommending not using it.
You might want to look in to using a of these VPN like
DotVPN and Zenmate are two easy to use options, but I don’t know if they are safe or if there is any catch so be safe.
For Israel specifically, I’m going to go with “ehhh”, simply on the basis of severity vs likelihood.
In all likelihood, you’re right, few people are going to be looking to connect through an Israeli IP in comparison to an American one.
But when it comes to severity, there are certainly a few topics in particular which law enforcement over there has been known to take an “apprehend first investigate later” stance toward.
In short, you’re less likely to be chosen, but more likely to get in trouble if you are.
Do yourself a favor and sign up for a VPN service. They’re cheap insurance for watching region-restricted content.
You don’t think anyone in your region wouldn’t love to hola from your house some stuff onto the internet?