Let’s say I wanted to watch movies without paying. Let’s say the government cracked down on the site I was using. Let’s say they got all the IP’s of the people who streamed with it. Is there a vpn that, no matter WHAT paperwork, court order, subpoena, whatever else… there is no way they could ever find out who was really behind that IP? And ofc it’d need to be undetectable to my isp. Lastly, this is all hypothetical, of course.
Glad you clarified this is hypothetical. I almost started to think something was off…
Technically, you don’t really need a VPN to visit free movie sites. It’s highly unlikely you will receive a letter for watching pirated content on a website. Torrenting on public trackers is a different story, and will get you a letter from your ISP almost instantly.
Just avoid torrenting and watch pirated content on HTTPS-secured websites. Still, using a VPN is better than nothing, so you might as well use one even if streaming from a website for extra reassurance. According to your post, it seems like you don’t torrent but stream from free movie sites. If you ever do decide to torrent, make sure to bind your VPN client. NEVER rely on a VPN’s kill switch.
Anyways you were asking for good VPN recommendations so here you go.
Good VPNs with good privacy policies:
- Mullvad
- iVPN
- Perfect Privacy
- Windscribe
- ProtonVPN
VPNs that are “eh,” but will work for what you want:
- NordVPN
- Surfshark
- ExpressVPN
- PIA (Private Internet Access)
- CyberGhost
NordVPN and Surfshark are owned by Tesonet, which is alright-ish but they own a lot of other products. They also own a data mining company.
ExpressVPN, PIA, and CyberGhost are all owned by Kape, formerly known as Crossrider. They have a really bad reputation for spreading some malware or something in the past, so those VPNs would be my last pick. They do get audited, though I’m not sure how much I can trust that.
PIA was also court proven however that was before the acquisition, so who knows if they would do the same now.
Legally there has to be a record kept somewhere incase illegal activities are done. In order for them to be a business in the US they MUST keep a record somewhere. When companies say things like “Keep your privacy” or “No one will see your internet data” they mean it wont be sold and/or advertisers can’t collect data on your search history. However, if you are looking up things you shouldn’t, messaging people you shouldn’t, selling and buying things you shouldn’t, they 100% have a log somewhere and at the very least, can tell the authorities you actual location and IP. They have to BY LAW. You’d be surprised how many people get arrested thinking they can get a VPN and that means they can do illegal things without being caught.
IPA is apparently good. I use Proton myself.
I like proton, but I keep seeing mixed opinions about how secure/private it is
Humbly wanna ask if I could get a pass on its use
That article doesn’t give any information regarding what the authorities would do with the user registration data. It’s unlikely they will send a letter to each registered email on the websites database, but it’s the EU so who knows. My point of not needing a VPN applies to free streaming websites that don’t need registration. If you’re going to register for a service and PAY for something like that, obviously register under false credentials and an alternate email along with a VPN. If you’re paying with a credit card or paypal, might as well just register using your full legal name and normal email.
I don’t know, I’m a pretty big fan of the IPA
Where have you seen these options? I feel like it’s failed setup because there are non P2P, and then P2P servers.
When I search online to see if it keeps logs or if it’s a good option, some people say it’s bad, some say it’s good, I don’t know about the P2P servers because I use the free version
They have a strict no log policy. You can search that one pretty easily. They have done multiple tests.
Now if you are emailing without a vpn. Those are exposed unless you turn on the vpn.
Free version doesn’t support P2P. So that would potentially expose you.
I’ve had proton for 5 years almost and not had a single issue.
iknowwhatyoudownload is an interesting tool to see your local iso downloads.
Oh, I see, so I don’t need to worry about it keeping logs, even if I’m using the free version?
Should no. But the free version doesn’t support P2P. I’m sure you could though. But would recommend p2P