This is one of the limitations of trusting what companies say. It is in the interest of VPN companies to say/market that they don’t keep logs, and no one/consumer would know if this is true or misleading information. It is a risk those who use a VPN because they think it doesn’t log users activities.
The only way to know is when there are data breaches or whistle blowers (or say government audits).
As most VPN companies are not Australian, their is no requirement to meet Australian law in relation to what they say. Are we putting too much trust in what they say when they have a financial benefits, through more customers, to make such claims?
Double-edged sword. If they aren’t Australian they can say anything misleading about their products to gain customers…including saying they don’t log when in fact behind the scenes they do…and Australians could be duped into a false sense of security or anoymity by believing misleading marketing materials.
It may be best assuming they all log and look to see there the VPN is hosted/company is based to see what could happen to collected or logged data.
Equally conflicted that would appear to be one reliable solution.
Don’t trust the internet?
Our mum has got by with total avoidance of the need for 92 years.
There are still those I know who are not so old and who for now get the daily needs without. One moved home to be within walking distance of the shops and critically the post office and bank. Once the last of our oldest generation have faded away, meeting our every day needs without the internet will be impossible for 99.999% of us.
The observation is that there is no turning the internet back, trust or no trust.
Yes, and if one uses a VPN, chose a credible and respected company (irrespective if it logs or not) rather than one which is lacking any real credentials.
Logging is possibly only really an issue if one uses the internet for illegal purposes (e.g. downloading copyrighted materials, planning/sharing illicit activities etc)…but if it is used for lawful purposes, generally it should not be an issue. Logging is a bit like been seen by surveillance cameras…if one does the right thing, the footage captured will never see the light of day…do something wrong, and it will most likely make the 6pm news.
Even if I am acting lawfully, do I want (fictional example) my cousin who works as a contractor for my ISP to be able to see my every online move?
I do not want to live in a surveillance/surveilled society. For the ‘average, law-abiding citizen’ there is minimal benefit, and extraordinary cost to such a society.
We do to some extent. It could be a lot worse; we could be in China - or the UK, or the US!
Actually, it appears we are pretty awful. We come sixth in the world for the ratio of cameras per person, and 10th for the total number of cameras.
That may be related to Australia’s population being so urbanised. Regardless, I do not like it, and it is a silent scourge that is creeping upon the land without consultation or consideration of all the risks to a monitored society.
Annoyingly, the ratios in that article’s list of surveilled cities do not appear to align with the ratios per country. Either there are a bunch of security cameras outside metropolitan areas, or the methodology is different.
I think the VPN I trust most is ProtonVPN. But it also breaks a lot of websites which I regularly use and although its free to use at the most basic level, you don’t get to choose which country’s server you use.
Same. And yes it does update often - I have wondered - hot on bugs or really bad coders? Works well for what I use on the laptop and ‘other devices’ … the potential issues of logging and jurisdiction are interesting but unlikely to be of concern to users unless they make themselves ‘interesting’ enough to justify closer inspection, and if they become ‘interesting enough’ then no VPN is safe …
The VPN bypass vulnerability could result in users’ data being exposed if the affected connections are not encrypted themselves (though this would be unusual nowadays)
As outlined above, I am a little sceptical about some VPNs and if they fully provide anonymity like their marketing material indicates. VPNs are as secure as the weakest link…and unfortunately it is often the case that the weakest link is not known by the consumer or those ‘experts’ reviewing VPN security.
It could be suggested there are two types of companies - those we know have had data breaches, and those we don’t These days, I don’t believe it’s even a question of ‘if’, moreso ‘how many’ …
Same. That, and while there is always a ‘weakest’ link, it could be (hypothetically) there are often many links that are ‘weak enough’, ignoring for a moment the links that aren’t inherently weak but for which there could potentially exist entities strong enough to break them nonetheless. For me, the scope and nature of what we believe we think we might know about the NordVPN breach was of no concern, though I’m sure mileage may vary …
Start here: Best VPN services Discusson goes from 2017-2020. Australian owned may not be your best choice under the current climate, unless its quartered outside Australia. Even then, they can probably be forced to hand over whatever detail they have, even if they don’t log.
Works well for what I use on the laptop and ‘other devices’ … the potential issues of logging and jurisdiction are interesting but unlikely to be of concern to users unless they make themselves ‘interesting’ enough to justify closer inspection, and if they become ‘interesting enough’ then no VPN is safe …
