@theymos: False allegations made against theymos and BCT forum - by Vispilio
Until you mentioned it I probably never heard of Ghostery but as with all browser add-ons they can read your browsing history and do much more.
Regarding NordVPN, there have been rumours about them too but they have passed annual security audits regularly. As for Protonmail, apart from the time they gave the IP address to the French authorities of the person in question and when it was leaked in the media Proton clarified their position by saying they were compelled by Swiss law to hand the information over to the French police but said if the person in question had used a VPN they would have given that IP address instead.
Proton also seem to have kept certain metadata and other information which was not encrypted. Proton also said the email content was encrypted and not released to the French police. Since then there are not any rumours about their email or VPN service but they removed their no IP logging claim.
Still, I would advise to take caution and to not put blind trust in any online company.
Here is another example:
There was a browser plugin called "ghostery". It was supposed to stop google from collecting your data and guess what happened... They logged your information instead and sold them to another 3rd party (at least that's what I've read about them)
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1gmxdz/consumer_affairs_ghosterys_shady_sells_your_data/
Evidon helps companies that want to improve their use of tracking code by selling them data collected from the 8 million Ghostery users who have enabled the tool's data sharing feature
What about NordVPN?
I am damn sure I read something about them not being as anonymous as they advertise themselves to be. Let's pretend I didn't. Would you trust NordVPN's services if you were into any illegal shit?
The moral of the story here is you cannot trust any service or any company which claims to protect your privacy. You are just making yourself an easy target especially if you are dealing with any kind of shady shit. They will let you watch porn and pretend you aren't jerking off to it and that's it. Even watching porn might get you into trouble depending on the type you are into.
Believing that protonmail is a safe privacy email service is like believing everything the TV tells you.
- This is the most anonymous email service!
+ Why? How do you know?
- Are you blind? It says it on its cover!!