There are many examples of privacy products that end up harming their users' privacy, and it's becoming more common over time. For example, a "privacy" app was found to be spying on its users to mine personal data, another was stealing bandwidth for botnets, and one was injecting ads into browsing. Even the biggest "brand" name in privacy (who, ironically, buys millions of dollars in ads that track users), was hacked multiple times and tried to cover it up for a year and a half.

The problem is lack of transparency. Who owns these companies? What happens to your data when you send it to them? Are they even based in a country that has any kind of consumer protection laws? And how do you ultimately know if they're telling the truth about anything?

To fix this problem, we created a certification called Openly Operated that ensures every aspect of a product is 100% transparent, including code, infrastructure, privacy or security claims, and even company location and owners. All claims and information must also be backed by public proof that anyone can check, and verified by independent auditors. In short, Openly Operated is the gold standard for transparency and trust in apps.

Lockdown's Firewall and Secure Tunnel are both Openly Operated. They're built from the ground up to provide full clarity into exactly what it does with user data, and more importantly, what it doesn't do with user data. You won't see transparency like this in most other privacy products.