A few days ago I sat down for an interview with Rotem Guez, a savvy internet entrepreneur, whose latest stroke of genius will make any mobile proxy user convert immediately.
Some readers might remember Guez as “The Israeli Mark Zuckerberg” following his battle with Facebook almost a decade ago. Back then Guez co-owned an investigation and skip tracing company, but also tinkered with social media marketing. Facebook threatened to sue him for his SMM activities but he retaliated by officially changing his name to Mark Zuckerberg. The threat of the Goliath dwindled and the media coverage Guez got for “trolling the giant” made him a prominent member of the Black Hat World community.
Since then, Guez has commanded numerous guerilla marketing campaigns and was invited to many TV and radio programmes as an Osint and Cyber expert. He also took part as a cyber and social media consultant in the making of “100 Million Views” a documentary film about the evolution of YouTube, directed by Itamar Rose.
Since 2018, Guez has dedicated his time to finding creative solutions for data collection.
I asked him which of his campaigns he was most proud of. He recalled how together with Guy Lerer from the TV programme “HaTzaneret”, they exposed the National Insurance Institute of Israel’s 2016 Tender for Data Mining, intended to spy on people with disabilities in order to evade paying their stipends. “That and our 2011 “Free Gilad” campaign are my most significant achievements to date”, he smiles proudly.
Back to 2021 and Guez is on the go again, this time with an innovative mobile web hosting company. “This is the first web hosting company based on a 4G+ or 5G connection between cell towers and mobile devices. Our users enjoy The Real Cloud Experience.”
So you don’t use cables to connect to the internet?
“We offer our users two ways to connect. The first is via our S2S service (Sim to Sim) which is mobile from beginning to end. This service is designed for special ops which require opening mobile data centres anywhere in the world with 4G/5G coverage. The second is via services such as Mobile VPN for which we use fibre as a gateway to our servers but our clients’ connection to us and out to the internet is completely mobile.”
Is that the biggest difference between you and a regular web hosting company?
“The most important difference between us is that we provide residential mobile IPs. That means that all of our clients - whether they use a mobile VPS, a mobile VPN, a mobile proxy or whether they choose to install their websites in our servers for local SEO purposes - will all look like a bonafide human mobile browser. All other web hosting companies go through traditional data centres. They provide very high speeds but their footprints expose their source as a data centre proxy.”
So looking like a bonafide human mobile browser is the essence of it all?
“The internet is all about data, right? The Big Data Era means constantly cross-referencing data. On the one hand, the Data Rush triggered an abundance of innovative automation systems for brand protection, security, intelligence and marketing, to name a few. Although these sectors work with automation tools, they don’t want to be exposed, flagged, banned or identified as bots or machines.
On the other hand, the corporations that hold all this data, most importantly real-time data from social media and other platforms, don’t want to be scrapped or give it all away for free. So they introduce high level security measures that automatically flag or ban any automation related to IPs that appear to come from data centres or look like machines. Our IPs work under all those radars.”
It sounds a lot like a mobile proxy, doesn’t it?
“It sure does, but really it’s much much more. Up until now, mobile proxies were the best way to make bots look like humans. We also sell mobile proxies, but the real edge is in our Mobile VPS, Mobile VPN and Mobile Hosting solutions.
Think of Mobile VPS as a transformation for those who use regular mobile proxies today.
Our clients can get 4G+ and 5G speeds and not 10-20MBps which is what you get with the best mobile proxy services on the market. Users can host their computing or scripts in our Micro LTE Data Centre that has a line of sight with 4G+ and 5G cell towers and by that bring their automation to the edge.”
Is that Edge Computing?
“Edge computing can mean different things to different people. In our case, edge computing is not needing to use proxies because we choose the perfect spot for our data centres, where they get the best 4G+ and 5G speeds. Think about it, we get 600 /150 MBps (download/upload speeds) with Hot Mobile and Partner. This creates a totally different experience for the client.”
So you’re like a traditional data centre only with a SIM slot?
“Exactly! We started our journey with Mobile VPS, the first such service in the world and after that developed Mobile VPN.”
As far as I understand, you target businesses and governments. How can someone like me use your services?
“Our clients range from governments that scrap or analyse data from the web, brand protection companies that scan the internet in search of counterfeit products, law enforcement and Pre-Crime agencies which collect crucial data points that can lead to preventing or solving criminal activities, to internet marketers who use multi-accounts and academic institutions. For regular Joes and Janes we developed our Mobile VPN services which are all about personal safety browsing. Once again, the advantage over regular VPNs on the market today, is the fact that you look like a normal mobile user. You’re not identified as a machine in a data centre - masked or not.
So, Rotem, what’s next?
“We’re launching MVPS and MVPN in April. We’re also testing a very cool service that is part of our company’s vision, letting clients build their websites on our servers, aiming at local SEO. Look, we can’t compete yet with the speed and bandwidth traditional data centers provide, but we can definitely compete with the localization of the domain installed in our Micro LTE Data Centres.”
Where are you based?
“We are UK and IL based. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 restrictions, we currently sell in the UK 4G+ services only. In Israel we sell all our products on 4G+ and 5G mode.”
What do the telecom companies say about your innovation?
“5G is all about crazy, innovative ideas. 10 years ago, who would believe that a doctor would be able to successfully operate from miles away using a robotic arm, just as if he were in the operating room with the patient? These things are happening now!
All the telecom companies around the world encourage innovations related to 5G. There's still a long way to go so all the players, big and small, want to work together and combine forces in this play.”