Opera Bakes Free, Unlimited VPN Directly Into Desktop Browser

Something tells me that a free VPN can’t possibly be good, particularly in regard to privacy.

The launch is the result of Opera’s acquisition of North American VPN company SurfEasy last March. The two companies kinda integrated back in September with version 32 of the Opera browser, but users were prompted to install the SurfEasy extension. It’s also worth noting here that other third-party providers, such as perennial favorite TunnelBear, have long provided VPN add-ons for Opera. But by making it a default feature, Opera goes some way toward making privacy a core facet of the browser.

Took it for a test run, changed some options and enabled the VPN and it crashes every time I start it with no way to recover. Uninstalled and installed again, enabled options one by one and it is the VPN service that is causing it to crash. Anyone else?

It would be great if there was a way to install the flash player. Fuken piece of shit browser won't let you install it. So all flash content is screwed

Browser sucks ass ... more Apple developed garbage that won't work. Fuck that shit

That's why Chrome wins everytime. No need to install all these shit add-ons to get a browser to work. Install & you're off & running.

Opera is based on Chrome and not Apple Webkit. I have a webkit browser (Midori) in Linux and it is fine until you open any video pages, then it crashes a lot.

Mike_Hawk said:

It would be great if there was a way to install the flash player. Fuken piece of shit browser won't let you install it. So all flash content is screwed

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Doesn't Opera already include Pepper Flash like many other Chromium-based browsers? Pepper Flash is just a version Google maintains from Adobe's codebase to work in the sandbox and add a couple more features, so it shouldn't cause any problems with Flash content. To check, visit this page: Is Flash Installed?

There are ways to disable Pepper Flash if you insist on having a less secure and generally older version installed, but why would anyone want to do that?

No, it shows no flash installed but the link there takes you to download flash for Opera 64bit. Maybe you need to go to Opera settings\Websites\ and set 'Run all plug-in content'. I don't want flash anyway so can't test it.

I want to know why the VPN they used as a carrot to get me to download it is crashing the browser.

I truly believe that in this day and age, we really need a web browser such as this one. Opera has managed to take a notoriously difficult and heterodox technology and made it palatable for the masses. VPNs have long been misunderstood and contrived to be a tool used for nefarious purposes, but now it can be put in the spotlight as a tool that everybody should use to help protect their online privacy. There is one thing that Opera must categorically address, and that's plugging the holes in their built in VPN solution.

First of all, the solution they have implemented is not a true VPN, it is a Secure Proxy. It even states in their own software privacy settings, "Secure proxy provided by SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada.". This means that, unlike a true VPN that protects ALL network traffic, it only protects the traffic that is being transmitted to and from the browser. I think Opera should be obligated to clarify exactly how this service works. There are so many people out there that are not computer or internet savvy and may have the misconception that if they turn this setting on, they will be completely protected.

The other issue they need to look into is IP address leaking. After installing and running Opera Dev. Ed. 38.0 and enabling the VPN setting, I wanted to check and see if it would leak my true IP address with WebRTC and STUN servers. Using Roseler's WebRTC Test Page and IPLeak.net, I was able to determine that not only does it leak the IP Address that was assigned to me by my internet provider, but also my private IP address assigned by my router using DHCP. I understand that this falls within the WebRTC protocol and is not necessarily a bug, but it can still be exploited for illicit reasons. When using a true VPN service, such as OpenVPN, this problem does not arise. I can run OpenVPN on my system and perform the same tests and neither IP address is leaked. I realize that blocking or suppressing the WebRTC function will also disable certain services on the internet, such as web based video chat or a food delivery service. I think that is a small price to pay to have true privacy protection. The issue of IP address leaking through Opera's web browser with VPN enabled is easily fixed though. It only requires a simple extension to be installed, one of a few being “WebRTC Leak Prevent”, and is easily found in Opera's extension library. This is the one I ended up using because, after enabling the right settings in the extension, it simply and effectively blocked any IP address leaking.

I believe that if Opera is really going to tout this "all-in-one" VPN and internet browser solution as true internet privacy protection for everyone, then they have to address and fix these two big problems. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not lambasting Opera and saying they are completely screwed up. If anything, I think they did a fantastic job and all other web browsers should follow suit. I believe that this is the future of "surfing the internet". I just hope they fix these issues so that people can truly have what they think is comprehensive privacy protection on the Net.

Mike_Hawk said:

It would be great if there was a way to install the flash player. Fuken piece of shit browser won't let you install it. So all flash content is screwed

Click to expand...

does this work?
opera.exe --ppapi-flash-path=C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\pepflashplayer32_21_0_0_213.dll --ppapi-flash-version=21.0.0.213

Megalith said:

Something tells me that a free VPN can’t possibly be good, particularly in regard to privacy.

Click to expand...

Pretty much my train of thought when I heard of this. Instead of just being freely transmitted about, you are transmitting to someone... And yea, it's a proxy, but ..... and my understanding is probably lacking in this, but aren't proxy and vpns the same thing cept proxies are for a specific traffic, rather than everything.

So, the VPN enabled is not causing crashes for anyone else?

rezerekted said:

So, the VPN enabled is not causing crashes for anyone else?

Click to expand...

Works fine here.

OK, figured out why. If I enable the VPN from settings and then close and start Opera it crashes, so long as I start the VPN and stop it before closing Opera it works fine. Definitely a bad bug because it is unrecoverable from what I can tell.

Also the vpn data usage seems dubious, says I have used almost 500GB of data and I have barely used it. It insulted me by claiming, "that is a lot of music" and even at just 1.2mb it said, "that is a lot of data".

BTW, I have a free vpn service in Firefox too, it is an extension called Browsec and requires no login just like the built in Opera vpn, you just click to enable and click again to disable, and it doesn't nag me about how much data I have used like Opera vpn does.

Mike_Hawk said:

It would be great if there was a way to install the flash player. Fuken piece of shit browser won't let you install it. So all flash content is screwed

Click to expand...

Well, that's another way of protecting people's security and privacy.

There is a separate download for flash for Opera 64bit so it is not due to extra security. I'll test it out and see if it fails to install for me too.

OK, just installed flash for Opera and it is working fine.

the whole point of virtual private network is that it hashes the packets going across the public network so that the computer on the other end can decrypt the data in the packets into something that makes sense in fast enough process that it can be used for data and voice transmission... it is really not that different than encrypting the whole transmission as public key private key... only if all the data is decryption by the same client and no hashes that are router or physical client specif you are basically sending the info in the clear...

I've worked with firebox and Cisco in the past and both started with password that worked at a private key to link the networks, so you installed it at one site and then with the password you set it up at the other site by entering the correct info of what machine to connect to over the internet and entered the password - passcode or other private key which when combined with the public key sent over the internet created a new hash on the receiving machine and is used to encrypt a private key for the remote machine. having all the encryption on a third party machine means that who knows what happens to it and worse all the public private keys have to be sent over the internet... meaning before they are encrypted with a hash they are sent in the clear... if that get trapped then everything you send is in the clear. If their is only soft encryption meaning that everything is time based or some other hash that is used on every connection it means that any traffic can be trapped and you would think you were safe while someone read everything... I don't quite think that is what the virtual is supposed to mean...

Mike_Hawk said:

Browser sucks ass ... more Apple developed garbage that won't work. Fuck that shit

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Apple developed Opera?

Well, Opera used to be a really unique browser at one time but this is just a metoo version of Chrome, apart from the VPN, and I guess mouse gestures, I see no reason to use it over any other chromium based browser.