#kape also merged with private internet access so there's another vpn teddy effectively owns | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

awkward-teabag · 8 months ago

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I was just going through this for some tag talk but ExpressVPN's parent company is Kape Technologies plc. Kape Technologies also owns the VPNs CyberGhost, ZenMate, and Private Internet Access, so that's 3 more VPNs to avoid.

Kape Technologies also owns the VPN review sites vpnMentor and WizCase which both heavily push ExpressVPN to a gross degree (as in both give huge popups to subscribe to ExpressVPN) while claiming it's unbiased and them being owned by Kape doesn't affect their reviews at all. They also push CyberGhost and PIA, though to a lesser extent by having them in the #2 and #3 places. ZenMate isn't mentioned because it "partnered" with CyberGhost.

Everything else aside, to me it's sketchy as hell when one person buys up multiple VPNs and VPN review sites, especially when that person also owns online advertising companies, one of which effectively used a trojan, sorry, injector, to deliver personalized ads that was then used by malicious actors to inject malware and spyware onto people's computers without them noticing.

That company? It changed its name from Crossrider to Kape Technologies to "distance the company from past activities".

Boycott ExpressVPN

#reblogging 'cause i've seen more expressvpn sponsorships lately #not mentioned is that kape bought a vpn review site the same year it bought expressvpn #or that teddy's previous start up was used to inject malware and spyware onto people's computers #because it was designed to inject personalized ads and they 'couldn't keep up' with removing the malware #he was also named in the panama papers #though now it looks like the review site has been reworked to 'connect [traffic] with the brands they need'#but it also owns and opperates vpnmentor and surprise surprise expressvpn #is the editors choice vpn and you get a special discount if you subscribe to it through them #kape also merged with private internet access so there's another vpn teddy effectively owns #i'm sure there's more if one were to dig into it given the guy's a billionaire and has been systematically buying up vpns #and internet advertising companies #oh and there it is #got a huge time-limited offer to get expressvpn on this supposedly independent review site #and i assume there's something fishy there 'cause i only whitelisted the site itself temporarily #ads are still blocked from everything else and javascript is also blocked #looks like i was right 'cause the tracking link on it helpfully says it's from the totally not biased site #but it looks like they're trying to hide they own vpnmentor #on the current site they just talk about their 'review sites' and how their 'review sites were featured on' various sites and fox news #but if you look at the site before they were bought out that section was about #how the company owns vpnmentor and that's their customer-facing side while webselenese is the business-focused side #plus it says in the advertising disclosure and about page that they're owned by kape technologies #also that kape owns expressvpn and cyberghost and zenmate and private internet access #but that totally doesn't make them biased about it /s #teddy also served time for insider trading #supposedly crossrider shut down and leadership was overhauled but teddy was still owner #and it was erlichman who said it was rebranding as he was ceo of the company that was rebranding from being infamous with malware #to the point security companies talked about it by name and warned about it #because they were now focused on privacy and security as a company and didn't want that to follow them #even though some of the top names and connections hadn't changed one bit #geez this went from a 'oh a tumblr post to look up'

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