Ethically sourced residential proxies come from devices whose owners opted in. The Popa botnet showed the alternative — 2 million hijacked smart TVs, a seized provider, and customers holding the risk. How consent-based sourcing works and what to ask any provider.
On July 2, 2026, the FBI and Google seized NetNut's domains over the Popa botnet — about 2 million hijacked smart TVs sold as residential IPs. What happened, what it means for NetNut customers, and how to vet your next provider.
NetNut is gone. Here are five residential proxy alternatives with real July 2026 prices — ProxyHat, Decodo, IPRoyal, Webshare, and DataImpulse — compared on sourcing, traffic expiry, and who each provider actually fits.
