![]() ![]() Proxy servers offer an alternative to VPNs by routing your traffic via a middleman to mask your location and bypassing restrictions. Switzerland and the Netherlands were once considered file-sharing havens – PIA runs VPN servers in both and a SOCKS5 proxy server in the latter – but European law is bringing them into line.Īustralia's piracy crackdown and the boom in legitimate alternatives might be cause to reconsider your approach to copyright infringement rather than use a VPN to fly under the radar. Opinions vary on the best international VPN server to use if you're concerned about being nabbed for copyright infringement. Unlike many VPN providers, PIA doesn't throttle peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic such as BitTorrent. That said, if the Australian government decides to specifically target seemingly pirate-friendly VPN services then PIA would likely be on the hit list. It's very unlikely that the Australian government will block VPNs as part of the copyright crackdown or under the TTP, with communications minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledging that thry have many legitimate uses. It's easy to switch between countries on the fly depending on your needs. PIA operates 27 VPN gateways across 17 countries, with the two in Australia theoretically offering the fastest connection speeds – although not necessarily putting you beyond the reach of local website blocking. It all depends on how paranoid you are, and whether it's with good reason. Alternatively you could run a fresh browser on a fresh OS installed on a virtual machine and blow it away after each browsing session. You might consider "hardening" your browser with plugins like HTTPS Everywhere, Disconnect, Ghostly and NoScript – although unfortunately these can make your browser fingerprint more distinct. Cookie analysis, web bug tracking, browser fingerprinting and other tricks can help identify you even behind a VPN without logs, especially if you use the same browser with and without the VPN enabled. Remember, your appropriate level of security depends on who you're trying to hide from and why. Using a VPN to tunnel to another country also bypasses mandatory website filtering enforced by your Australian ISP. Once you engage PIA's VPN, efforts to trace your online activities back to you should hit a dead end with PIA's IP addresses rather than the IP address logged by your Australian ISP as part of the metadata retention scheme. PIA may or may not be able to keep the NSA at bay, but you might consider its efforts sufficient protection against Australia's metadata retention scheme and website filters, as well as Hollywood's piracy hunters – at least until we see the final wording of the Trans Pacific Partnership. Of course the spooks clearly aren't afraid to bend the rules so you could argue that no jurisdiction is truly safe.Īll that said, PIA rates highly in TorrentFreak's review of the global VPN providers which take privacy seriously. Despite PIA's promises, if the spooks come knocking it has little choice but to cooperate. It's obviously difficult to test the validity of such claims, and you have to balance them against the fact that PIA is a US-based company and thus subject to the Patriot Act and PRISM surveillance. It is definitely not an easy task, and we are very proud of our development team for helping Private Internet Access to achieve this unique ability." We have worked hard to meticulously fork all daemons that we utilize in order to achieve this functionality. "We absolutely do not log any traffic nor session data of any kind, period. PIA keeps track of your registered email address but, as for keeping records of your online activities, you'll have to take the VPN provider at its word. It also has a deal with which lets you subscribe to PIA anonymously using gift cards from hundreds of retailers like US giants Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Starbucks. If you're not keen on handing over your credit card or PayPal details, PIA accepts anonymous payments via the Bitcoin cryptocurrency and Ripple payment system. At $US39.95 per year, PIA supports five simultaneous users with unlimited bandwidth, global VPN gateways and the protection of OpenVPN security. There's no shortage of free and paid VPN providers, but a few such as Private Internet Access (PIA) stand out from the crowd thanks to the extra steps they take to protect the privacy of their customers. Of course if you find yourself on the NSA hit list then you can kiss your liberties goodbye, but the rest of us might put our faith in a privacy-focused Virtual Private Network to protect against mass surveillance. Protect your online privacy as the Coalition turns the screwsīetween mandatory metadata retention, website blocking and the piracy crackdown, Australians have more reason than ever to be concerned about online freedoms and privacy. ![]()
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