How do VPNs operate legally?

[user224@lemmy.sdf.org]

The article is from 2016.

[imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

I think there are a few things to clear up...

a VPN and an ISP are two different types of services. VPNs are not an internet service provider. They are held to two different standards.

Good VPNs don't log your information. Depending on what country they are based in they are obligated to hand over information if they have it but since they keep no logs there is nothing to hand over. Even if a court wanted to force a VPN to cut off service to a user there would be no way to know who that user is.

VPNs are beholden to the laws of the country they are based in, not the laws of their users. Its very hard for a US court to force a Swiss based VPN to do anything. That's why it's important to have a VPN that's based in a privacy friendly country.

[nollij@sopuli.xyz]

Related, Pirate Bay used to (might still?) have a section where they mock all of the threatening letters that cite a different jurisdiction. Usually the US DMCA, but also similar laws from other countries.

They never posted any letters that cited Swedish (IIRC) law, because those were valid threats.

[valmond@lemmy.world]

Maybe where you live ‍️

[diesertypmatthias@lemmy.ml]

VPNs are a double-edged sword. They can be used in a good way and a bad way.

[diesertypmatthias@lemmy.ml]

Even better if you use a mesh VPN like Tailscale (or Headscale, since the TS server is proprietary)

[kekmacska@lemmy.zip]

many companies, if not all, use some kind of selfhosted vpn solution

[0x0@programming.dev]

Depends. On. The. Country.
Any company will be subject to the country's laws, be it ISPs, VPN providers or a second-hand clothing shop.

The good ones will get away with no logging if they can do it legally.

[refalo@programming.dev]

Even if Section 230 didn't require providers to terminate the user's service, providers further upstream could technically punish that ISP for breaking their own ToS depending on what it is.

People like Liz Fong-Jones and Keffals have successfully lobbied multiple Tier 1 ISPs to blackhole websites that have posted information about them that they didn't like, behavior which the EFF has specifically called out as a threat to the free and open Internet.

[zer0bitz@lemmy.world]

And this is why people should torrent over I2P.

[ertai@programming.dev]

"By using a VPN, aren't you essentially transferring your accountability to the VPN provider?". This is true if you aren't paying for your VPN in an anonimous way, which is why 99% of the "VPN fOr PRiVacY" are scams.