Got a threatening notice from my VPN provider, HideMyAss. Isn't this why I pay for a VPN?

We have received a file sharing complaint and the date, time, and IP address provided match the date, time, and IP address your VPN account was in use. Illegal file sharing is against our terms of service and we cannot ignore breach of copyright complaints, as such we kindly ask you to stop sharing said files to comply with this request. Please note repeated offences may result in permanent suspension.

The whole reason I pay for a VPN is to encrypt my traffic, which I thought concealed whatever I’m doing on my internet connection. What giveth?

HMA is a shitty VPN provider, get a better one.


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Cancel immediately. They’re known to give up activity logs. Id never give them business

Bad choice of provider to do what you suggest you’re doing.

HMA is for evading hackers on public WiFi (maybe).

You want a VPN provider who at least claims to not retain activity logs.

Their claimed ability to associate ‘file sharing activity’ to you proves that they are keeping logs and not to be trusted for guarding your privacy.

I’m a fan of Mullvad.

Not all VPNs are the same, read their terms of service before you purchase.

The first time I saw one of those from HMA, I sent them an email, told them to fuck off and cancelled my service.

they literally have a jackass as their logo. what did you expect?

Try expressvpn or ibvpn

Almost no one recommends to get HMA as a VPN. Were you high when you were shopping for it? Get a better one like PIA, right NOW!

For pirating you want something like dediseedbox, get a nice Netherlands seedbox…

Protip use free download manager to acquire 20 connections, and you’ll Max out your connection on downloads.

HmA has been on everyone’s avoid list for years.
but keep in mind even a quality vpn provider will designate
a minority of it’s specific outlets for p2p traffic, so make a note of that fact.

I have been using PIA for over a year now with no problems, I would recommend!

Although I am in firm agreement, screw HMA, at least the notice you got was from them and not from your ISP or local authorities…

Way back when I was in high school I was at my buddy’s place and a mutual friend came over and was torrenting without our knowledge… (High school… VPN/proxy usage was not a thing…)

Two days later his internet gets shut of and he’s got a $250 fine from the ISP… Of course mutual friend denies denies… But then we hear that HIS home was also cut off and fined…

So… Had he been ‘hiding his ass’ he would have been better off, even if HMA is definitely not great.

PIA. Don’t care if you torrrent. In fact I have seen an ad of theirs on one torrent site .

Good speeds

servers all over the world

No data caps

5 devices can be used

39.95 U.S. per year!

No brainer. 18 months and no complaints from me.

blame the government …

Don’t forget to check for DNS leaks, especially if you’re using Windows 10.

HMA is the one VPN you should avoid like airborne ebola. Horror stories all 'round. i.e. What those scum did back in 2011

should have done some research

I use CyberGhost VPN. Haven’t had any issues.

No matter the VPN, organizations like Interpol will always secretly monitor. Some VPNs are less likely to share your info for bullsh@#R$#@ than others…that’s the only difference.