Is using Hotspot Shield dangerous or illegal?
As far as is known to Sesawe, circumvention per se is not illegal anywhere in the world, and no netizen has ever been punished for using circumvention technology (proxies)—whether HS or any other. After all, use of circumvention tools can be legitimately justified as a step internet users take to preserve privacy (e.g. against hackers). However, most countries define as illegal the possession or consumption of certain kinds of content (e.g. that which is inconsistent with government-approved religious or cultural norms). Governments which try to prevent their citizens from exercising freedom of access to information and freedom of expression have been known to punish people who they can identify as having posted online content critical of the authorities, so if you do post critical content, use an encrypted proxy like HS, and you may want to avoid putting online information which can be used to trace your posting to you. If your contract with your ISP explicitly prohibits circumvention
