In a series of tweets (opens in new tab), she rejected such allegations, explaining that his son is actually in Canada for a temporary trip aimed at "knowledge-based" research. However, it wasn't difficult for Iranian social media users to get deeper into the story by finding the Rezazadeh's profile on the professional website Rocketreach.
This clearly describes him as the software manager, chief executive officer and founder of Betternet VPN.ĭespite the post now disappearing from the site, the vice president's brother Mehdi Khazali confirmed the truthfulness of such accusations. "He closed his company in Iran and moved to Canada where he created another company that is active in the field of VPNs," he told to RFE/RL (opens in new tab). With the Iranian government's strict stance on the use of VPN services and online liberties, calls for Ensieh Khazali to resign from her official role inevitably follow suit. The story has also lead to resentments around what Iranian called aghazadehs. This describes the hypocrisy around governmental figures who, while strongly criticizing the West at home, still send their children to study and work there. What's more, Canada and Iran have been in a conflictual relationship since 2012, and the North American country has been refusing to grant visas to many Iranian citizens. Whether or not a malicious intent to harvest users' sensitive data lies behind Betternet's controversial Iranian ownership exists is impossible to ascertain. > Are VPNs really safe? How to check your service's security (opens in new tab) > Free Chinese VPN exposed millions of users' data (opens in new tab) What's undeniable is that its software is not famous for being the most secure VPN on the market.ĭespite being a popular freebie - it has been downloaded more than 50 million times on Google Play alone - a 2016 research report (opens in new tab) discovered the presence of malware and tracking libraries embedded in Betternet Android app. > Our pick of the best free VPN providers around right now (opens in new tab)īetternet LLC Inc.
And, the US together with Canada are two of the founders of the intelligence-sharing alliance known as the Five Eyes.