i2Coalition Launches VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) to Promote Industry Best Practices and Ensure Online Consumer Safety

Collaborative Initiative to Educate Consumers on the Digital Privacy and Security Benefits of VPNs, and Ensure VPN Providers Meet High Operational and Ethical Standards

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) add security and privacy to online communications and activity. To drive further awareness of and trust in this crucial technology, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (“i2Coalition”) has announced the launch of the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), an industry-led and member-driven consortium of VPN business leaders focused on improving digital safety for consumers by building understanding, strengthening trust, and mitigating risk for VPN users.

Founding VTI members include five companies: ExpressVPN; NordVPN; VyprVPN; Surfshark; and NetProtect (whose VPN brands include encrypt.me, WLVPN, SugarSync, IPVanish, StrongVPN, OverPlay, and SaferVPN).

The i2Coalition is the leading voice for web hosting companies, data centers, domain registrars and registries, cloud infrastructure providers, managed services providers, and related tech. By introducing the VTI, the i2Coalition seeks to foster cooperation in the industry and leverage collective first-hand knowledge and insights to advocate for beneficial VPN technical standards and business best practices. The VTI is dedicated to serving as the voice of the industry, collaboratively strengthening public trust in VPNs, promoting appropriate guidelines, and helping consumers make informed VPN choices.

Experts estimate that 30 percent of Internet users have utilized a VPN or proxy server in the past month. Many users choose to employ VPNs to safely and securely gain unrestricted access to the global Internet, and it’s expected that the number of VPN users will continue to quickly grow in the coming years. As a result, VPN industry revenue is expected to grow from $34.591 billion in 2018 to $50.153 billion by 2024.

VPNs provide crucial benefits that protect users’ digital privacy, security, and rights. These benefits include:

• Encrypting and shielding users’ online activities from unauthorized access by hackers, ISPs, Wi-Fi network operators, and others
• Enhancing users’ privacy by masking their IP addresses, reducing websites’ ability to track them across the Internet and identify their physical locations
• Protecting users from undue Internet access restrictions or censorship, whether at home or while traveling

To best provide these benefits, VPNs need to follow best practices to ensure the safety of their users. The reputation of this important technology rests on VPNs following technical and ethical best practices. The VTI gathers VPN insiders and aligns industry voices to advocate, create, vet, and validate industry policies and guidelines that ensure trust in the VPN marketplace and promote constructive self-regulatory practices to best serve consumers.

With a focus on advocacy, awareness, and education, the VTI aims to reach consumers, legislators, and technologists, promoting appropriate industry-led stewardship, providing accurate information to policymakers, informing the greater technology sphere, and collaboratively establishing solutions to pressing VPN challenges.

“Connecting to a Virtual Private Network helps ensure your activity isn’t being intercepted, especially when you’re using a shared Internet connection. VPNs are a foundational technology for a safer Internet, so it’s important that VPN providers adhere to best practices. However, it’s also important that new legislation doesn’t inadvertently limit the effectiveness of VPNs,” says Christian Dawson, Co-Founder of the i2Coalition. “This initiative offers a vital and unique opportunity for the industry to come together as a collective and spearhead real awareness, education, and progress. In doing so, we not only position our members as stewards of the Internet with active and dedicated interest in the global Internet’s safety and efficacy, we also deliver highly valuable, beneficial, and transformational action as digital security concerns grow and the technological world evolves.”

To learn more about the VTI or to join as a member, please click here.

About i2Coalition’s VPN Trust Initiative

i2Coalition’s VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) is an industry-led consortium that promotes consumer safety and privacy online by increasing understanding of VPNs and strengthening business practices in an industry that already protects millions of Internet users. The VTI leverages first-hand knowledge to advocate, create, vet, and validate guidelines that strengthen trust and transparency and mitigate risk for users.

PR Contact

Anne Whealdon
iMiller Public Relations for i2Coalition
[email protected]
Tel: +1-866-307-2510