Connect with us

Technologies

Google One VPN: What you need to know about this privacy tool

Analysis: Google now includes a VPN with its cloud subscription storage service. Here are some of the privacy implications you should know.

Google’s mobile virtual private network service — Google One VPN — is branching out. Once restricted to Android users in the US, the VPN is now a perk bundled with the search giant’s cloud-based subscription storage service, Google One. Earlier this month, however, Google made a change to its developer documents, as reported by 9to5Google. Android users in Canada and Mexico gained access to the service, along with those in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

In October 2020, when Google launched its own standalone VPN as part of its $100 annual bundle package for Google One, subscribers with a 2TB or greater account got access to the service perk for the first time. While the idea of an Android-tailored VPN conveniently rolled into a Google One mobile app might seem appealing as a quick-fix privacy option, there are more than a few privacy concerns to give you pause.

If you’re checking into Google’s service for the first time, here are a few key things to know about the mobile encryption offering.

Read more: Do I really need to use a VPN on my phone? Yes, and it only takes 10 minutes to set up

Is Google One VPN a true VPN?

Yes. According to the tech detailed in Google’s white paper, Google One VPN acts as a traditional VPN does: It diverts all the internet traffic from your device through an encrypted tunnel, sends it through a Google VPN server and passes it along to the website you’re browsing toward — effectively hiding your browsing. It even goes a step further by separating its user authentication process from your browsing, too.

I haven’t yet tested Google One VPN, so I can’t tell you whether it can help you bypass Google’s own geoblocking on country-specific apps in the Google Play Store, or if it can help you access your home country’s Netflix catalog while you’re traveling abroad.

Is Google One VPN truly private?

As we wrote in June, Google One users simply looking for an extra layer of protection while using free public Wi-Fi could find this VPN to be a convenient fit. But there’s an elephant in the room here.

By using Google One VPN, you’re actively feeding every piece of internet-bound data on your device to Google. Then you’re trusting Google to not peek at that data, and to shield you from the same third-party tracking tech that it only stopped profiting from in March.

This is the same Google that required a lot — Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, a lengthy legislative haranguing over privacy concerns, three major antitrust lawsuits (including a landmark case by the US Department of Justice) and another complaint by a bipartisan coalition of states — before it decided to phase out those third-party tracker cookies in its Chrome browser. Google is only just starting that process, which also doesn’t apply to mobile Google devices.

We reached out to Google, and will update this story if we hear back.

VPNs function by routing all of your data through a single company’s servers. So when we recommend VPN providers, we evaluate not only the relative strength of their encryption tech and application security, but we also examine the VPN providers’ data privacy and retention policies, and any instances where the provider has been proven to have collected or shared user browsing data.

Read more: How we evaluate and review VPNs

We frequently advise users against adopting free VPN services except when indulging in a 30-day trial of a recommended provider, primarily as a precaution against undesirable data collection by shady VPN providers and their data brokers. If any of our recommended VPN providers had even half the access to your private digital life that Google so often does, I’d advise against using that provider’s VPN to protect your privacy, regardless of how strong its encryption is.

So if you’re interested in keeping your browsing, internet traffic and usage data private from corporations and government entities, you should carefully consider Google’s long, storied history of sharing and collecting user data before you use any of its products, VPN included. Ask yourself whether it might be better to trust your data to a company whose singular aim appears to be privacy, rather than algorithm farming.

Is Google One VPN worth it?

Thanks to far-reaching gag orders and secret subpoenas, the US government has overseen the collection of more data from internet users than we can feasibly or objectively measure at this time. As such, I recommend against choosing a VPN service with a US jurisdiction, which would include Google One VPN — though it’s worth noting that non-US VPN companies are still far too opaque to operate entirely independent of user trust.

But when even Uncle Sam has to sue a VPN company over data abuse? It may be worth selecting a different fox to guard your digital henhouse.

If you’re a subscriber to the Google One 2TB plan and just looking for light protection as you browse public Wi-Fi, the Google One VPN may do the job. But if you’re looking for more robust privacy, we’d recommend subscribing to one of our tested and recommended VPNs instead.

For more, check out our picks for the best Android VPNs, the best iPhone VPNs and the best cheap VPNs.

Technologies

AT&T’s $177 Million Settlement Will Pay Victims of Two Huge Data Breaches. Learn Who Qualifies

If your data was leaked in two massive AT&T data breaches, you could be eligible for a payout.

Of the 1,350,835,988 notices sent to subjects of data breaches in 2024, almost a tenth of those came from a hack of AT&T servers in April, according to to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2024 Annual Data Breach Report. The telecom giant now plans to settle a  lawsuit for that breach and another in 2019 for a whopping $177 million. 

On Friday, June 20, US District Judge Ada Brown granted preliminary approval to the terms of a proposed settlement from AT&T that would resolve two lawsuits related to the data breaches. The current settlement would see AT&T pay $177 million to customers adversely affected by at least one of the two data breaches. 

The settlement will prioritize larger payments to customers who suffered damages that are «fairly traceable» to the data leaks. It will also provide bigger payments to those impacted by the larger of the two leaks, which began in 2019. While the company is working toward a settlement, it has continued to deny that it was «responsible for these criminal acts.»

For all the details we have about the settlement right now, keep reading, and for more info about other recent settlements, find out how to claim Apple’s Siri privacy settlement and see if you’re eligible for 23andMe’s privacy breach settlement.

What happened with these AT&T data breaches?

AT&T confirmed the two data breaches last year, announcing an investigation into the first in March before confirming it in May and confirming the second in July.

The first of the confirmed breaches began in 2019. The company revealed that about 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders had their data exposed to hackers, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The company first began investigating the situation last year after it reported that customer data had appeared on the dark web. 

The second breach began in April of 2024, when a hacker broke into AT&T cloud storage provider Snowflake and accessed 2022 call and text records for almost all of the company’s US customers, about 109 million in all. The company stressed that no names were attached to the stolen data. Two individuals were arrested in connection with the breach.

Both of these incidents sparked a wave of class action lawsuits alleging corporate neglect on the part of AT&T in failing to sufficiently protect its customers.

How will I know if I’m eligible for the AT&T data breach settlement?

As of now, we know that the settlement will pay out to any current or former AT&T customer whose data was accessed in one of these data breaches, with higher payments reserved for those who can provide documented proof that they suffered damages directly resulting from their data being stolen.

If you’re eligible, you should receive a notice about it, either by email or a physical letter in the mail, sometime in the coming months. The company expects that the claims process will begin on Aug. 4, 2025.

How much will the AT&T data breach payments be?

You’ll have to «reasonably» prove damages caused by these data breaches to be eligible for the highest and most prioritized payouts. For the 2019 breach, those claimants can receive up to $5,000. For the Snowflake breach, the max payout will be $2,500. It’s not clear at this time how the company might be handling customers who’ve been affected by both breaches.

AT&T will focus on making those payments first, and whatever’s left of the $177 million settlement total will be disbursed to anyone whose data was accessed, even without proof of damages. Because these payouts depend on how many people get the higher amounts first, we can’t say definitively how much they will be.

When could I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement?

AT&T expects that payments will start to go out sometime in early 2026. Exact dates aren’t available right now. The recent court order approving the settlement lists a notification schedule of Aug. 4 to Oct. 17, 2025. 

The deadline for submitting a claim is currently set at Nov. 18, 2025. The final approval of the settlement needs to be given at a Dec. 3, 2025, court hearing in order for payments to begin.

Stay tuned to this piece in the coming months to get all the new details as they emerge. 

For more money help, check out CNET’s daily tariff price impact tracker.

Continue Reading

Technologies

RFK Jr. Announces All Americans Need Health Tracking Devices: Here Are the Pros and Cons

The US Health Secretary plans a huge campaign to encourage health wearables: CNET knows exactly the kind of devices he’s talking about, and why accuracy may be a problem.

Many Americans already track health statistics like heart rate and sleep cycles on app-connected accessories. Now the federal government wants to jump in. On June 24, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced «one of the largest HHS campaigns in history» to encourage the use of wearables to track health conditions, a trend CNET has recently covered.

Kennedy is referring to the many different bands, watches and even clothes that use technology to track human vital signs. CNET’s reviewers have spent years testing devices like these, seeing how rings monitor health signs, straps track your heart health and the right devices lead to better sleep.

The latest version of the Apple Watch, for example, has sensors designed to detect heart rate, heart rhythm issues, falls, sleep health, sleep apnea, temperature, breathing rate and more. The newest Oura Ring can track sleep patterns, menstrual cycles, temperature, heart rate and other health details.

«We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda, Making America Healthy Again ,» Kennedy told the Subcommittee on Health during its budget meeting. «My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years … they can see what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a number of other metrics as they eat it.» 

Kennedy also tweeted that «wearables put the power of health back in the hands of the American people.» 

«Wearables,» however, is a broad term encompassing everything from fitness devices that count steps to sleep trackers you wear at night. And consumer devices can’t easily replace monitoring solutions offered by medical professionals. 

For example, CNET has covered research indicating that even the best-in-class Apple Watch struggles with accuracy from metrics like steps to heart rate. Another study from California State Polytechnic University has shown that fitness-related Fitbit trackers show high inaccuracies as well. In fact, that research was used in a related Fitbit lawsuit.

Speaking of glucose monitors, Kennedy isn’t the only White House official with an interest in such health sensors. The administration’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, co-founded glucose-monitoring company Levels and sells a monitoring app as well as other wellness products.

Finally, CNET wellness experts remind everyone that wearables aren’t always a good fit. Those suffering from eating disorders or body image issues should always talk to an expert before using wearables, as they can exacerbate certain issues or lead to a unhelpful outlook. 

The US Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Continue Reading

Technologies

What’s Included in Xbox Game Pass? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Check out the pros and cons of each Game Pass tier, and how much each costs.

Editors’ Note: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offers a slew of benefits, including a massive game library, diverse device support and both PC and console games. Nifty features like the ability to play on smart TVs, phones, tablets and PCs — not just consoles — make this a convenient gaming subscription service for a wide range of people. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs less than the price of a new game each month, yet gives access to hundreds of titles, which is why it earned a CNET Editors’ Choice Award. The original article follows.

New AAA video games used to cost $50 apiece, but it’s not unusual to see a similar game cost $70 now. That price might make you pause before you buy the game, but with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you could play a brand-new game, and others, for a fraction of the price.

Microsoft launched Game Pass in 2017, and since then, the gaming service has grown to be one of the best values for gamers. All Game Pass plans offer member discounts for non-Game Pass titles and other perks, but figuring out which plan is right for you can be difficult.

That choice can be especially tough after Microsoft removed its Game Pass Console plan and replaced it with Game Pass Standard. The company also increased the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $17 to $20 a month.

I’ve covered the service in the past, including future releases and whether Game Pass Ultimate will save you money compared with buying single games. And with all the new titles Microsoft announced would be joining the service as Day 1 releases, like the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages, you might be wondering what the difference is between different Game Pass plans.

Here’s what you need to know about the Game Pass plans so you can decide which one is right for your needs.

Xbox Game Pass tiers

Game Pass Core Game Pass PC Game Pass Standard Game Pass Ultimate
Day 1 releases No Yes No Yes
PC games No Yes No Yes
Online multiplayer Yes Yes Yes Yes
EA Play No Yes No Yes
Cloud Gaming No Yes (select games via GeForce Now Ultimate) No Yes (via Xbox Cloud Gaming and select games via GeForce Now Ultimate)
Monthly price $10 $12 $15 $20

For more on Xbox, here’s what was announced at Gamescom, some titles available on Game Pass Ultimate right now and everything to know about that gaming service.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media