Companies with a mission to protect privacy should collect the minimum amount of information about their users, and never share data with others. We consider the ethical and security implications of our decisions deeply, and put principles before profit.
We believe in leading by example, and commit to the following:
Trackers by ad companies and social networks monitor your actions and aid in profiling you. You won’t find them on ivpn.net - we are a Tracking Free provider.
Tools like Google Analytics collect personally identifiable information. We use software hosted only on IVPN-controlled servers to ensure your privacy.
Behavioral advertising uses data collected in ways you might not know about. We take a stand against this by refusing to advertise on Facebook and Google.
Paying others to declare you are the best is misleading. Comparison sites often claim independence while auctioning off top spots. We refuse to participate.
A VPN alone can't guarantee you anonymity. Protecting your privacy is our goal, so we provide education for privacy-related issues a VPN can’t solve.
IVPN is independently owned and 100% of our revenues come from subscriptions. We don’t own review sites or sell data harvested from our users.
We are committed to spreading the word about IVPN’s mission and help more people protect their privacy. Utilizing free and paid channels to reach new audiences is part of this process. We consider marketing methods that are misleading or use personal profiling harmful, and refuse to engage in them.
Overview of our marketing methods:
| Type | Stance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct sponsorship | acceptable |
Newsletter, podcast, blogs |
| Contextual advertising | acceptable |
Ads targeted based on page content on social websites, magazines, etc. Ads targeting based on who you follow |
| Product placement | Depends |
Product in entertainment, influencer mention or usage, paid editorial |
| 1st party behavioral advertising | Not acceptable |
User actions and behavior is tracked internally and used for persistent ad targeting |
| 3rd party behavioral advertising | Not acceptable |
User actions and behavior is tracked across websites, services, purchased from external data sources Behavior profile based podcast and newsletter advertising |
| Profile-based retargeting | Not acceptable |
User visits ivpn.net, then is targeted on social network |
| Affiliate program | Not acceptable |
Affiliates are paid to push IVPN’s message |
| CHANNEL EXAMPLE | Stance | TYPE/NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter "Conversation targeting" | acceptable |
Contextual targeting |
| Reddit Subreddit “Conversation targeting” | acceptable |
Contextual targeting |
| Reddit Location targeting | acceptable |
Up to city level |
| Native advertising (recommended articles on new sites) Interest-based (contextual) targeting |
acceptable |
Contextual targeting |
| Podcast advertising - contextual | acceptable |
Direct sponsorship |
| Product placement in entertainment | acceptable |
Only with clear disclosure No misleading communication |
| Apple App Store ads | acceptable |
Contextual targeting |
| Display ads through ethical ad networks | acceptable |
Contextual targeting |
| YouTube influencer sponsorship | acceptable |
Only with clear disclosure No misleading communication |
| Paid editorials | Depends |
Only in publications with strong editorial standards (no “best vpn” type of content) |
| Revenue share agreement with comparison websites | Depends |
Only if comprehensively reviewed by domain experts and considered after review is published Independent websites with no pay-for-play (purchased rankings) |
| Twitter "Behavioral targeting" | Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling |
| Twitter retargeting with pixel | Not acceptable |
Sharing visitor data with Twitter |
| Reddit behavioral interest targeting | Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling |
| Native advertising (recommended articles on new sites) behavioral "attribute" targeting |
Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling |
| Podcast advertising - individual targeting based on behavioral profile | Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling |
| Affiliates through skimlinks.com, existing networks | Not acceptable |
Leads to misleading communication |
| RTB and programmatic ads | Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling, Uses data brokers |
| Any type of Facebook ads | Not acceptable |
Behavioral profiling |
| Google Search Ads | Not acceptable |
All Google ad products utilize information of your personal profile |
| YouTube banner ads | Not acceptable |
All Google ad products utilize information of your personal profile |
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