Microsoft Edge to get a free VPN powered by Cloudflare
In a world where user privacy and data security is getting more important every day, Microsoft’s Edge web browser is taking a step in the right direction.
Recently, a support page was discovered on Microsoft’s website. The page is about a feature named, “Microsoft Edge Secure Network”. It talks about how the browser will avoid online tracking and encrypting browsing data with the help of Cloudflare. This implies that Microsoft Edge is about to get a free VPN feature soon.
Microsoft Edge VPN: How does it work?
The Edge Secure Network seems to work similarly to that of Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS resolving service. Basically, it is an in-built VPN that will work like any other VPN. It will encrypt all your user and browsing data from your ISPs (internet providers). Moreover, you can use it to hide your location, and IP address by using a virtual IP address and even watch streaming geo-restricted websites like watching Netflix of different regions.
Microsoft Edge Free VPN: What’s the catch?
Ironically, It will require you to sign in using your Microsoft account. This is because Edge’s free VPN feature has a monthly browsing limit of 1GB. Your Microsoft account will be used to track your bandwidth usage of the VPN. There’s no information about any paid plans with unlimited bandwidth or anything yet.
The page mentions that Cloudflare will not keep any user-identifiable data. But, any web browsing-related data i.e. sessions etc. will be kept for 25 hours on their servers.
Moreover, Microsoft claim they will collect nominal data and access tokens which will be retained “for the duration of the required service window”.
Also read: WWDC 2022: Here’s what to expect
Microsoft Edge VPN: Release Date
The so-called Edge Secure Network will roll out to the general public as part of a security update of the browser. As of publishing this, the Edge VPN feature is a testing preview. Therefore, in order to get your hands on the feature, you need to be a part of the Microsoft Edge Insider Channel as the feature will roll out to them soon. You can also wait a few more weeks and test the feature as a beta user.
Microsoft has been pushing their Chromium-based web browser very aggressively in the past few months by adding more features and forced reminders. To be fair, it has done well since its shift to Chromium. It is still nowhere near Google Chrome. But, it is a good start.
Originally published here
