“Everyone deserves to be private online if they want to be. By adding a free, unlimited VPN directly into the browser, no additional download or extensions from an unknown third-party provider are necessary,” said Krystian Kolondra, SVP at Opera.
“So, today, our Opera desktop users get a handy way to boost their online privacy, as well as easier access to all their favourite online content, no matter where they are.”
The move will be controversial for some, and banned sites like The Pirate Bay were unblocked out of the box in our tests.
The VPN works in the same way as add-on paid solutions, blocking your IP address, unblocking sites, and protecting your identity. The company has been working towards this moment for some time, declaring as far back as Opera 32 that VPN was a ‘universal right’.
Krystian Kolandra, Opera’s head of browsers for computers, told the INQUIRER that, while no single event triggered the decision for Opera to go in this direction, it was a response to growing interest and demand.
The company is in the midst of a takeover by a Chinese consortium, ironically as China is one of the most restrictive internet environments in the world.
Source: New feed