Privacy

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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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How do VPNs operate legally? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 5 days ago by Star@sopuli.xyz to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

ISPs get legal notices from companies and are liable if it is found that their users are downloading illegal torrents and they don't take action against those users.

How are VPNs any different? By using a VPN, aren't you essentially transferring your accountability to the VPN provider? Wouldn't courts find that since this or that VPN service's exit server was used in ____ illegal online activity, they're responsible and must cease operations?

How do VPNs operate? Are laws different for them? If yes, then how does that benefit the state? Wouldn't the state benefit from treating VPNs the same as ISPs so they get more control?

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[–] Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I think there are a few things to clear up...

a VPN and an ISP are two different types of services. VPNs are not an internet service provider. They are held to two different standards.

Good VPNs don't log your information. Depending on what country they are based in they are obligated to hand over information if they have it but since they keep no logs there is nothing to hand over. Even if a court wanted to force a VPN to cut off service to a user there would be no way to know who that user is.

VPNs are beholden to the laws of the country they are based in, not the laws of their users. Its very hard for a US court to force a Swiss based VPN to do anything. That's why it's important to have a VPN that's based in a privacy friendly country. Sure a US court could sieze their server if one is located there but if there are no logs, it doesn't provide much.

I think there is this misconception that your VPN provider will break the law for you. Its not the case. Your VPN is going to hand over any info it's legally obligated to if it has that info

[–] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 days ago

Even better if you use a mesh VPN like Tailscale (or Headscale, since the TS server is proprietary)