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you they haven’t got – therefore, they cannot be prosecuted for having failed to
hand off data actually not in their possession. Usually, a VPN provider requires
personal information to create an account and process payments (ex. name,
email, payment information and billing addresses). Recently, the best VPN
providers realized they can ensure better anonymity to their users offering
payments in crypto-currencies (we’ll cover them later), allowing, with the proper
precautions, to anonymize the transactions, freeing the sellers from the risk of
storing billing data.
3.1.3.4 International Data Retention Laws
Each country has specific laws about data protection and privacy, among
others. The map below (Figure 10) shows countries in the world with a color
code from red to green: countries in red have strict data retention laws, while
green ones are quite flexible (states in white haven’t any laws of this kind).
Figure 10: the following map and the related information are available
online at dlapiperdataprotection.com
Just a real world example: NordVPN is a company located in Panama, a
nation with almost no restraints in terms of data retention laws. Unsurprisingly, it
is also defined as a tax haven, where 120 banks secretly serve rich entrepreneurs
(including tax evaders) and offshore companies. Here, companies have no
obligation to produce financial statements and residents may decide not to file
their income tax declarations, so why would local VPN resellers would bother
storing customers tax data?
Similarly, let’s think of HideMyAss, located in the United Kingdom: online
trading requires the submission of documents, traceable payments, financial
statements and, most importantly, is subject to cyber-crime laws as regulated by
the Computer Misuse Act, allowing the Government to enforce searches
wherever they want.
3.1.3.5 Payment Methods
Features that distinguish a secure VPN from a non secure one include the
supported payment methods. If you are considering to rent a VPN with payment
services like PayPal, credit card or bank transfer (using your name), be aware
that you will leave behind significant traces. No matter how strong a VPN
privacy policy is, banks will store your payment data (and we know they get
quite along with governments).
A VPN accepting only traceable payments – credit card, bank transfer,
money order and so on – cannot be defined as a secure VPN; unlike free VPNs
that can only get your IP and any registered accounts, paid VPN may store data
potentially threatening your anonymity, like the billing information of a credit
card or a bank account.
In this case, you should prefer a VPN offering payments in crypto-
currencies, like Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc., and take the proper precautions in order to
avoid exposing your wallets to traceability risks (we will cover the safe use of
crypto-currencies later).
3.1.3.6 DMCA Notices
DMCA (acronym of Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is a collection of
American laws against the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. Although
it is the legislation of a foreign overseas country, is quite similar to the UE
[22]
Copyright Law and may be somehow applicable to our country as well. We
won’t cover this issue any further due to its highly technical legal nature. The
only thing we can be sure of is that any DMCA violation may compel your VPN
to block your account, in order to avoid any legal issue.
3.1.4 VPN List
The following list includes some of the most popular VPNs I found online:
you can find a more complete index at
vpndienste.net
.
I underlined the best VPNs I think you should use to avoid being traced back
during your navigation. According to their Privacy Policies, they won’t store any
IP when you use their services; furthermore, their offerings (protocols, data,
nation, tolerance and payment methods) are clearly outlined.
VPN Name
State
Data collected
Log
IP
DMCA
AIRVPN
Italy
Personal
information
✔
-
BTGuard
Canada
Personal
information
-
Boxpn
Turkey
Personal
information
✔
?
ExpressVPN
USA
Name
Email Address
Credit Card
✔
✔
HideMyAss
UK
Email Address
Billing Information
IP Address
✔
✔
iPredator
Sweden
Email Address
✔
?
MULLVAD
Sweden
-
-
-
NORDVPN
Panama
Email Address
Username/Password
-
-
Billing Information
PRQ
Sweden
Username/Password
-
-
Private Internet
Access
USA
Billing Information
-
✔
PureVPN
Security Kiss
UK
Email Address
Name
Billing Information
✔
?
SHADEYOU
Holland
Username/Password
-
✔
TorGuard
USA
Personal
information
-
✔
OCTANEVPN
USA
Personal
information
Email Address
Payment
information
-
✔
SLICKVPN
USA
Email Address
Username/Password
Payment
information
Google Analytics
Temporary Cookies
Webserver Data
-
✔
SECUREVPN.TO
Multiple
Personal
information
-
✔
Steganos
Germany
Name
Address
Telephone Number
✔
?
VyprVPN
USA
Personal
information
✔
✔
WiTopia
USA
Name
Email Address
Telephone Number
Credit Card
✔
✔
Be particularly careful with VPN reviewing sites. They have the bad habit to
create fake portals sponsoring their services and giving them 5 stars to alter any
kind of result. Please, choose carefully and discuss with real people.
3.1.4.1. Multi Hop (cascading) VPNs
When a user connects to a VPN service, their Internet traffic is protected
towards a single VPN. Multi Hop is a connection from a VPN from another
VPN (and so on). Multi Hop offers huge benefits in terms of privacy and
anonymity, ensuring different data protection layers as well as different
jurisdictions for the inter-linked VPNs. However, “hopping” may cause
significant slowdowns and I think no further explanation is needed. Otherwise,
they exactly work as the direct connection VPNs ( client->VPN) with the sole
difference that one or more additional VPNs lay between the two ( client -> VPN
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