Source:

Hola VPN Sells Users’ Bandwidth, Founder Confirms
http://torrentfreak.com/hola-vpn-sells-users-bandwidth-150528

Hola: A free VPN with a side of botnet
http://www.zdnet.com/article/hola-a-free-vpn-with-a-side-of-botnet

簡單黎講，有人發現Hola嘅免費VPN service原來係用返各Users嘅Internet connection做Exit node，即係話一個用家透過Hola嘅免費VPN上網，其實係經另一個Hola user嘅電腦上網，而唔係經Hola所擁有嘅電腦上。

“When a user installs Hola, he becomes a VPN endpoint, and other users of the Hola network may exit through his internet connection and take on his IP. This is what makes it free: Hola does not pay for the bandwidth that its VPN uses at all, and there is no user opt out for this,” Brennan says.

This means that rather than having their IP addresses cloaked behind a private server, free Hola users are regularly exposing their IP addresses to the world but associated with other people’s traffic – no matter what that might contain.

除此之外，當Hola免費VPN嘅Users嘅電腦閒置嗰陣，無用到嘅Internet bandwidth會讓畀付費用家 (佢地有個Paid plan叫Luminati) 用。

Hola generates revenue by selling a premium service to customers through its Luminati brand. The resources and bandwidth for the Luminati product are provided by Hola users’ computers when they are sitting idle. In basic terms, Hola users get their service for free as long as they’re prepared to let Hola hand their resources to Luminati for resale. Any users who don’t want this to happen can buy Hola for $5 per month.

透過呢種運作方法，Hola就可以減省好多營運開支，例如Maintain少好多電腦去提供VPN service，不過Hola嘅免費VPN users就未必知道自己嘅電腦會咁樣Share咗Bandwidth出黎畀人用黎上網。