Ask HN: What privacy changes should be expected from the Opera Purchase

1 point

10 years ago

The question may sounds obvious but i am peeking out from under my tinfoil hat to try and think critically about this. As a user of Opera primarily, i was quite pleased with their efforts lately. Built in unlimited VPN and a rather robust ad blocker by default were some excellent steps as far as browsers go.

As for the company, the CEO and CTO had spoken about the acquisition was not their decision [1], and i have not see any notes about them stepping down from leadership. Also, of of the acquiring companies is a major Chinese security firm [2]. Honestly, in viewing the details, had the acquisition been from a consortium of companies from nearly any other nation, i don't think i worry about a privacy shift in the browser.

So, avoiding the "if you really cared about privacy you would use Tor/3 VPNs/etc", are there good reasons to believe the privacy of Opera would be silently diminished without the existing leadership and employees commenting about it publicly?

1: https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/25/opera-ceo-sale-to-chinese-consortium-wasnt-our-decision/

2. https://www.techinasia.com/chinese-tech-companies-bought-opera