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Urban VPN Proxy under Scrutiny for Alleged Data Collection amid AI Chatbot Use

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Business Honor Urban VPN Proxy Faces Scrutiny Over Data Use AI Up

Business Honor
16 December, 2025

Allegations raise significant privacy concerns as the extension tracks user interactions with various AI platforms.

Urban VPN Proxy, a widely used Google Chrome browser extension with 6 million+ users & 4.7 rating in the Google Chrome Web Store, has recently received attention over allegations that it collects and stores user data from many different AI-based chatbots. Urban Cyber Security Inc. based in Delaware, is the developer of the Urban VPN Proxy extension. The extension has been downloaded approximately 1,300,000 times from the Microsoft Edge add ons store and concerns about Urban VPN Proxy surfaced after the release of the 9 July 2025 update v5.5.0. It uses a custom built JavaScript executor to trigger for specific AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, etc.

Every time a user interacts with any chatbot on the platform, this application collects the input received from the user (prompt) and the response generated by the chatbot, tracking them through unique identifiers assigned to the conversation and the date/time of the interaction. It captures what was done within the browsing session and what platform/model was used with the AI. The script will inject itself into a browser via a web browser extension, replacing many of the most critical APIs of a web browser (e.g., "fetch" and "XMLHttpRequest").

While the application claims to mask users' identities and provide anonymous browsing experiences for internet users, the findings detailed above have invoked alarm among privacy advocates and have raised many concerns among users regarding the extensions and what it means for user privacy and data security in the era of AI-enhanced interactions. Further, many people are asking what this extension is really about, particularly with regard to the future of data security in light of increased usage of AI technologies and the growing amount of data being collected by AI platforms.