How and Why People Use Virtual Private Networks

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are often used to protect online users' privacy, but many VPNs do not guarantee privacy and may even compromise user privacy through leakage of traffic flows, data collection and sharing, and so forth. In this paper, we aim to understand the extent to which people are aware of privacy and security risks when using VPNs, as well as how they use and adopt VPNs in the first place. To do so, we conducted a study of 729 VPN users in the United States about their VPN usage habits and preferences. Our study comprised 32 in-person interviews with university students, a survey of 349 university students and a survey of 348 general VPN users on Prolific. We present three findings. First, although a general population of VPN users primarily use VPNs to improve privacy and security, students are additionally concerned with access to content (e.g., circumvention of geographic restrictions). Second, both groups concluded that VPNs collect data about them, exposing gaps in both mental models about how VPNs work and awareness of the risks of data collection. Finally, most users learned about VPNs in high school or college and use free VPNs but feel safer using VPNs provided by their institutions. These results could form the basis of future research, awareness campaigns, and regulatory activity.