How can you assure that when even lawyers couldn't prove it in a court?
was talking about cases where VPN providers from so-called 14 Eyes nations, like Mullvad, Windscribe were taken to court but it was proven that they indeed keep no logs.
Why are you even writing things you don't understand?
Greece isn't part of any alliance, not even the 14 Eyes. First of all. Secondly, Windscribe had a "battle" with a Greek court and isn't subject to Greek law. Windscribe is a Canadian product and is subject to Canadian law.
Thirdly, Canada and the US have laws that, under the "guise of citizen safety," their governments have the right to collect data during internet use, and if a user breaks the law, the services must disclose this data. I think someone forgot the three letters FBI, NSA, CIA, etc.
And that could be IP, email, device number, logs, etc.
Canada is a member of the 5 Eyes alliance, a group of countries that monitor their citizens' online activity. In this respect, they are considered "the biggest spies."
I won't write about the biggest spies like Microsoft or Google. Google is a free service, and by using their services according to their terms and conditions, we are vulnerable to their data collection, processing, and sharing. Google has had so many privacy mishaps (including a glitch with their encryption) that it's not even worth mentioning.
Even Apple collects data because it has to, but at least they don't resell it, because it's not free and you have to pay for its services. And although its encryption is much better and more secure than Google's,
Proton, which was supposed to be private, was also forced by a court order in Switzerland, forced by Interpol, to disclose activists' data. Fortunately, it only had an IP address, as the client wasn't connecting through TOR. But Proton's terms and conditions stated that it could disclose IP addresses in the event of a court order.
Proton is extremely privacy-conscious, and although I'm skeptical about it, I trust them more than the solutions from America or Canada.
L'année 2020 et 2021 a été marqué par la mise en place et la répression d'une série d'occupations ouvertes dans le quartier de la place Sainte Marthe. Durant l'enquête, les policiers se sont concentré sur un collectif et ont remarqué qu'il communiquait via une adresse mail protonmail. Ils ont...
secoursrouge.org
Besides, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany have their own laws, independent of the US. Just like every state has state law in the US. Currently, they strongly protect user privacy.
But the European Union is starting to get annoyed and wants to change that law. Hence, Proton is fleeing Switzerland. Of course, Switzerland isn't in the EU, but they have signed agreements and treaties – for example, Interpol's pressure on the Swiss court mentioned above.
Regarding Mullvad: If it were a major scandal and the US wanted the data, they would have fought for it. And Mullvad doesn't have the financial backing (it's also in the country of the 14 Eyes, Sweden) to go to war with the Lion to defend some user who pays $2 or $3 a month for their service. And I don't believe that Mullvad, as a Swedish service in the 14 Eyes alliance, doesn't collect some data. They can defend themselves, fight the courts, and claim they don't have it, but it also depends on their opponent. They'll find one where they'll have to give everything they have. I'll just repeat – Sweden is far from how privacy works (or even the lack thereof) in the US and Canada.
In Sweden, obtaining data through a court order is a daunting task. But that doesn't mean it's impossible (14 Eyes Alliance)
Besides, we don't know the Swedish police warrant or the charges. They could have been trivial, and the law in Sweden was on Mullvad's side, who could only ridicule them.
But the news spread worldwide, and they capitalized on it brilliantly for marketing purposes.
Just like Apple did with unlocking the shooter's phone.
Programs, services, etc., from America are the biggest spies. Perhaps only Russia, Israel, China, and North Korea are worse.
That's why those who defend "user rights" most strongly flee to countries where the US or some alliance doesn't operate. But that doesn't entirely work either. Nord VPN is supposedly registered in Panama, but the parent company is probably in the Netherlands. You can read about it online.
Of the VPNs currently on the market, despite Mullvad's pros and cons, Proton seems to offer the highest privacy standards. But as a citizen of this world, I have limited confidence in Proton.
Anyway, to wrap this up. When I read that an AV provider uses VPN services registered in Canada or the US, you can be 99% sure there's no privacy. A court order is all it takes, and they're singing like birds of a feather.
It's none of my business if someone turns a blind eye or believes what American companies promise them. I prefer the policies of Proton or even Fsecure, which explicitly state what they can share with law enforcement if compelled by a court order. Rather than trusting the promises of a service that promises they don't collect anything and that you're 100% anonymous. Because that's a lie.
Anyway, as a fun fact, In 2021, Widscribe's servers in Ukraine were compromised, and the stored data was unencrypted, allowing the Ukrainian government to track users of the service. Has Widscribe made any reparations for this? It merely apologized, saying it was a human error and people lost their privacy
And what was the truth? We don't know. But we're at war there, so how can we be sure it wasn't intentional because the US needed the data? We don't know. We can only speculate.
I'm doing the dishes because I'm going on vacation. Best regards and thank you for the interesting conversations.
