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[vanished]

Yeah sounds like it was mainly because of the stigma around mcafee

[tsukabe]

For anyone concerned with PIA being based in the US.

 

https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/hc/en-us/articles/229705288-Is-Private-Internet-Access-Located-In-A-Fourteen-Eyes-Country-

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[deleted]

[tsukabe]

Honestly it probably is a stigma thing. No one really wants to be associated with McAfee especially if you are trying to promote something related to security. I mean reading through McAfee's privacy policy alone gives an idea why a lot of people don't trust them.

[TheLaserCucumber]

1 hour ago, tsukabe said:

Honestly it probably is a stigma thing. No one really wants to be associated with McAfee especially if you are trying to promote something related to security. I mean reading through McAfee's privacy policy alone gives an idea why a lot of people don't trust them.

And now please remember that McAfee is an Intel company...

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 hour ago, ajh76 said:

They're two completely different things. That page is very misleading.

 

Tunnelbear has pretty similar logging policy and privacy stance as PIA, there's no evidence that suggests they couldn't do the same thing as PIA. So to me, it just seems like a stigma thing. 

It's the usual "we keep no logs" while operating from countries where keeping certain level of logging is mandatory. If that was true, they could be shut down tomorrow, no additional reason needed.

So yes, being based in the US means there is logging, and the logs could be demanded. Having said that, it was no different with Tunnelbear being located in Canada.

[JoostinOnline]

4 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

It's the usual "we keep no logs" while operating from countries where keeping certain level of logging is mandatory. If that was true, they could be shut down tomorrow, no additional reason needed.

So yes, being based in the US means there is logging, and the logs could be demanded. Having said that, it was no different with Tunnelbear being located in Canada.

PIA is one of the few companies that doesn't actually log anything, and will fight to protect the customers. They've gone up against the FBI in court.

 

@OP It's not just that they're subject to US laws. Because they're located in Canada with a US parent company, they are subject to TWO governments.

[asus killer]

Any VPN from the US is a bad VPN because the US is one of the most abusive countries when it comes to invading privacy.

Avoiding Mcafee to join a US based VPN seems like a lateral move at best.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

PIA is one of the few companies that doesn't actually log anything, and will fight to protect the customers. They've gone up against the FBI in court.

You don't seem to understand: zero-logging is illegal for VPN providers in the US.

It's one thing to trust people acting in your best interest and theirs simultaneously, it's another thing to trust people going to jail for you.

 

If you want a zero-logging VPN, choose one operating from a country where the law requires no logs.

[JoostinOnline]

8 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

You don't seem to understand: zero-logging is illegal for VPN providers in the US.

It's one thing to trust people acting in your best interest and theirs simultaneously, it's another thing to trust people going to jail for you.

 

If you want a zero-logging VPN, choose one operating from a country where the law requires no logs.

Can you back that claim up?

 

I also think you're ignoring the fact that they have gone up against the US government to protect their customers. There are also other privacy methods. You can pay with gift cards instead of a credit card if you want.

 

Google "private internet access FBI"

[asus killer]

from a post on reddit i read some time ago

 

Why is it not recommended to choose a US based service?

Services based in the United States are not recommended because of the country’s surveillance programs, use of National Security Letters (NSLs) and accompanying gag orders, which forbid the recipient from talking about the request. This combination allows the government to secretly force companies to grant complete access to customer data and transform the service into a tool of mass surveillance. An example of this is Lavabit – a discontinued secure email service created by Ladar Levison. The FBI requested Snowden’s records after finding out that he used the service. Since Lavabit did not keep logs and email content was stored encrypted, the FBI served a subpoena (with a gag order) for the service’s SSL keys. Having the SSL keys would allow them to access communications (both metadata and unencrypted content) in real time for all of Lavabit’s customers, not just Snowden's. Ultimately, Levison turned over the SSL keys and shut down the service at the same time. The US government then threatened Levison with arrest, saying that shutting down the service was a violation of the court order.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

9 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Can you back that claim up?

 

Yes. But it's old news by now and it would take time to dig up original stories about legislation, time I'm better off spending in something else

A quick search would return this:

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn-logs-lies/

but you'll have to follow from there to reach definite information. Invest as much time on learning about it as you deem it worth.

 

I have no reasons to recommend VPNs based in the US while plenty alternatives operating from much more favorable jurisdictions are available.

You can claim these guys "will fight the FBI" in such and such cases; I'd rather use a company that won't even have to.

[JoostinOnline]

7 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Yes. But it's old news by now and it would take time to dig up original stories about legislation, time I'm better off spending in something else

A quick search would return this:

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn-logs-lies/

but you'll have to follow from there to reach definite information. Invest as much time on learning about it as you deem it worth.

 

I have no reasons to recommend VPNs based in the US while plenty alternatives operating from much more favorable jurisdictions are available.

You can claim these guys "will fight the FBI" in such and such cases; I'd rather use a company that won't even have to.

The fact that they had no logs to give disproves your assertion. Like I said, Google it.

 

Edit:  @SpaceGhostC2C

LMAO even the link you provided said PIA doesn't log anything. Great "evidence"

[SpaceGhostC2C]

6 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

The fact that they had no logs to give disproves your assertion. Like I said, Google it.

I find it funny when someone demands to "back up a claim", yet limits his own answers to "Google it"   

6 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Edit:  @SpaceGhostC2C

LMAO even the link you provided said PIA doesn't log anything. Great "evidence"

I also find it funny when someone asks for source, gets one (with a disclaimer that it was found in 5 seconds and not the original one), and replies without even reading it.  

Finally, it is yet again funny that when the person eventually checks it, he doesn't do it thoroughly, because you seem to have missed the link at the end:

Spoiler

PIA lies about no logging. They do it by using word games. According to two now ex-PIA employees (https://airvpn.org/topic/23959-private-internet-access-caught-lying-about-their-no-logging-statements/):

“According to an ex-PIA employee, PIA does log PIA user account activity on the VPN: The information logged is written to a collective record that is a private business record for system monitoring. This record, due to the manner in which this information is collected, is considered (part of) a “proprietary method” and thus is ‘legally’ not disclosable in response to subpoenas or advertising or response to questions about logging. This allows them to ‘legally’ say they do not log when in reality they do in this “proprietary method” record. The information recorded in this “proprietary method” record is user activity on the VPN such as the ISP IP address the user connected to the PIA gateway server with, where the users goes on the internet, times and dates of the user activity, and how many devices the user has connected. This is tagged with the user PIA provided user account name used to log into the VPN system, this is the reason PIA will not allow this user account name to be changed once assigned.

 

This is all beyond the point to me: as I said,

18 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I have no reasons to recommend VPNs based in the US while plenty alternatives operating from much more favorable jurisdictions are available.

You can claim these guys "will fight the FBI" in such and such cases; I'd rather use a company that won't even have to.

 

[JoostinOnline]

4 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I find it funny when someone demands to "back up a claim", yet limits his own answers to "Google it"   

I also find it funny when someone asks for source, gets one (with a disclaimer that it was found in 5 seconds and not the original one), and replies without even reading it.  

Finally, it is yet again funny that when the person eventually checks it, he doesn't do it thoroughly, because you seem to have missed the link at the end:

  Hide contents

PIA lies about no logging. They do it by using word games. According to two now ex-PIA employees (https://airvpn.org/topic/23959-private-internet-access-caught-lying-about-their-no-logging-statements/):

“According to an ex-PIA employee, PIA does log PIA user account activity on the VPN: The information logged is written to a collective record that is a private business record for system monitoring. This record, due to the manner in which this information is collected, is considered (part of) a “proprietary method” and thus is ‘legally’ not disclosable in response to subpoenas or advertising or response to questions about logging. This allows them to ‘legally’ say they do not log when in reality they do in this “proprietary method” record. The information recorded in this “proprietary method” record is user activity on the VPN such as the ISP IP address the user connected to the PIA gateway server with, where the users goes on the internet, times and dates of the user activity, and how many devices the user has connected. This is tagged with the user PIA provided user account name used to log into the VPN system, this is the reason PIA will not allow this user account name to be changed once assigned.

 

This is all beyond the point to me: as I said,

 

From your own source:

Verified “no logs” claims – There have been two examples where “no logs” claims have prevailed over law enforcement. Private Internet Access had their “no logs” claims tested and verified in US court last year. In another example, Perfect Privacy had two of their servers seized in Rotterdam (also reported by TorrentFreak). According to Perfect Privacy, customer data remained safe due to the server configuration and their strict “no logs” policies.

 

I was hoping I could convince you to pull your fingers out of your ears and stop humming, but when you're just proving YOURSELF wrong and denying it, there's nothing to be done.

[Lurick]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

From your own source:

Verified “no logs” claims – There have been two examples where “no logs” claims have prevailed over law enforcement. Private Internet Access had their “no logs” claims tested and verified in US court last year. In another example, Perfect Privacy had two of their servers seized in Rotterdam (also reported by TorrentFreak). According to Perfect Privacy, customer data remained safe due to the server configuration and their strict “no logs” policies.

 

I was hoping I could convince you to pull your fingers out of your ears and stop humming, but when you're just proving YOURSELF wrong and denying it, there's nothing to be done.

So you take the word of the article over the word of someone who refutes what they said in the article?

[SpaceGhostC2C]

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

So you take the word of the article over the word of someone who refutes what they said in the article?

 

Spoiler

 

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, Lurick said:

So you take the word of the article over the word of someone who refutes what they said in the article?

What? It's been absolutely proven that they don't keep logs. When the FBI tried to get logs from them, they didn't have it. They didn't get in trouble for it either, which kind of pokes a hole in his "It's illegal to not keep logs" story. But this conversation is just getting agitating, so I'm done responding.

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

What? It's been absolutely proven that they don't keep logs. When the FBI tried to get logs from them, they didn't have it. They didn't get in trouble for it either, which kind of pokes a hole in his "It's illegal to not keep logs" story. But this conversation is just getting agitating, so I'm done responding.

Did you read the comment?

The reason they didn't get in trouble was because their logging method is considered to be "trade secret" stuff which is in a grey area and can't be easily subpoenaed. That doesn't mean they aren't keeping logs.

[EPENEX]

Any American based company doing computing is compromised in terms of security.

[LinusTech]

stigma

[vanished]

also if anyone watched WAN show they talked about how once news of the McAfee acquisition broke, LTT tried to contact TunnelBear for comment and stuff and never heard back for weeks so they had to act fast to find a new provider because people don't have time to wait around if their privacy could be on the line.

[dVTd42WbNSjTwBuFQnzE7GTuC6]

[deleted]

[captain_to_fire]

4 hours ago, LinusTech said:

stigma

To be fair, there’s some truth to the McAfee stigma especially with their anti-virus programs way back in early 2000s and I think until now.