Private Internet Access x Kape Questions

[CPotter]

This Friday Linus will be taking part in a recorded conversation with executives from Private Internet Access and Kape Technologies about their recent merger, which was announced late last year.

 

We saw that our community had a number of questions about what that means for the future of PIA, and we want to get answers for you, directly from the source. If you have any questions or comments about the future of PIA and our relationship with them, please list them below, and we'll do our best to get some answers during that conversation.

 

Feedback & direction from our community will be the primary factor that we consider when determining the potential future of our partnership with PIA/Kape, or any other VPN provider.

 

Thanks for your contributions here!

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

why recorded? why not live? afraid they're gonna see questions that they can't answer? rather see them on Wan show. 

[Zando_]

Just now, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

why recorded? why not live? afraid they're gonna see questions that they can't answer? rather see them on Wan show. 

There a problem with wanting to have scripted questions you can make a clear reply to? It's really damn easy to mess up and word something wrong by mistake on a live stream. 

[CPotter]

2 minutes ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

why recorded? why not live? afraid they're gonna see questions that they can't answer? rather see them on Wan show. 

Honestly, it was a time zone constraint. We'll be airing this video Q&A on WAN Show.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

2 minutes ago, CPotter said:

Honestly, it was a time zone constraint. We'll be airing this video Q&A on WAN Show.

i just want there to be a discourse b/w Users, LTT and PIA, but i'll settle with it being aired on Wan show if Linus do get to answers some of the people's concerns.   

[lieder1987]

What differences will the end users see?
How can we ensure our data is protected?

What company changes are coming?

 

[dominicmallo]

Will PIA remain private?

Or will the P in PIA be changed to profitable?

[TVwazhere]

For anyone needing a refresher:

 

[Gandalf6700]

How do we know that is "Truly" private and safe ? .. what garantee do we have then our information wont slip out in any shape or form ? .. here im hinting at Nordvpn leak  last year .. but how do we know?  can they make garantee's? 

[RadiatingLight]

Why did Kape purchase PIA? What do they hope to gain from PIA?

[Arika]

what is LTTs "unfiltered" opinion on the acquisition and what will happen with the sponsorship?

[givingtnt]

Can you guarantee there will be no sale or misuse of our information ?

What's the plan if our information becomes available to outsiders ?

If you do ever (you or your parent company) decide to change policy and sell / use our data in any way, I for one wouldn't want my data used or sold. will we have an option to opt out ?

[TempestCatto]

Will the service be more akin to Nord in where they literally say "fuck off" to any government or entity that asks for any data of any kind?

Will there be absolutely NO data logs of any kind, anywhere, under any circumstance? 

Can people torrent without any sliver of worry that their DNS/IP or any data what-so-ever is leaking out? 

Will pricing and packages remain the same? 

[DexterSmythe]

8 hours ago, Gandalf6700 said:

How do we know that is "Truly" private and safe ? .. what garantee do we have then our information wont slip out in any shape or form ? .. here im hinting at Nordvpn leak  last year .. but how do we know?  can they make garantee's? 

Along these same lines, how do we know they won't keep logs despite saying they wont now that they're under new owners.

[DexterSmythe]

5 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

Will the service be more akin to Nord in where they literally say "fuck off" to any government or entity that asks for any data of any kind?

Will there be absolutely NO data logs of any kind, anywhere, under any circumstance? 

Can people torrent without any sliver of worry that their DNS/IP or any data what-so-ever is leaking out? 

Will pricing and packages remain the same? 

These are basically the same questions I have. The PIA of old was great about this, and they seem to be okay now, but what assurances do we have?

[LAwLz]

1) Why did Kape decide to buy PIA? Kape already owns companies such as CyberGhost and Zenmate which also sells VPN services. Why buy another company instead of further growing the services you already have? Did Kape by PIA just for the install base? For some specific technology? For the reputation? Kape bought PIA, a company that was at the time over 32 million dollars in debt, for 95.5 million dollars. Essentially, Kape paid 127 million dollars for PIA. Companies generally don't pay almost 100 million dollars to buy a company that is losing money every month. Since the most valuable thing PIA has (in my eyes) is the potential to harvest user data, it makes me worried.

 

2) Just a few years ago, Kape was known as "crossrider", and was in the business of collecting user data. What has changed since then and why? 

 

3) Why did Mark Karpeles become your new CTO? For those who are unaware, Karpeles became the new CTO of PIA something like a year and a half ago (before Kape bought them). Previously, Mark was the CEO of Mt. Gox, a now defunct bitcoin exchange which closed when bitcoins worth 450 million dollars were "hacked" and "lost". He was brought to court and found guilty of tampering with financial records (he hid the fact that bitcoints had been stolen). If he is willing to cover up millions of dollars stolen, why should we as VPN customers believe he wouldn't do the same with lost private data?

 

4) What kind of safety net do we consumers have? You might say that "nothing will change" but how do we know and how can we ensure that it won't? Just take a look at Oculus and Facebook. When they were acquired, users were ensured that nothing would change and Facebook wouldn't become an integral part of Oculus. Now, some years later Oculus shuts down their social services and instead only uses Facebook for all the social stuff, and if you use it you agree to share your Oculus usage data with Facebook.

It seems like words are not worth anything when there is money involved, so what can PIA do for me as a customer to ensure that nothing actually can or will change?

 

5) Will PIA under the ruling of Kape continue with their strong respect for user privacy, such as stand up against FBI in court. Is there any way for us users to validate that?

[wzaroes]

does pia keep old privacy policy?

does possible kape request of pia's user data?

does kape selled user data to goverments?

is kape going to raise prices? 

is Pia Going to Audit to Trust Users?

are Pia employees fired?

================================

it is better to give Pia a chance to prove himself

[FakeNSA]

What benefits does Kape plan to gain from PIA if not user data?

 

As echoed above, is there any hard guarantee that can be given so we don't have a facebook-oculus style turnabout in two years?

 

Would you consider an external audit to prove that you are not collecting logs of user data?

 

To what level is the internal structure of the organization being changed? (To clarify: Are some of the same executives that have been running it still in place, or is the acquisition triggering a significant restructuring?)

 

These have likely already been said before, but oh well.

On another note, thank you PIA for being willing to facilitate this open discourse, and LMG for making it happen. If I was ever in the market for a VPN, this would definitely factor into my decision.

[CPotter]

Thanks for the questions everyone!