Private Internet Access (PIA) is a VPN company that established itself as the leader in the industry ever since its launch in 2010. It provides its users with strong encryption, an ample number of proprietary servers to pick from, a solid privacy policy, and budget-friendly price tags. The only subpar sector is its user support, so we wouldn’t exactly recommend it to beginners without proper technological knowledge.
In today’s blog, we’ll explore its logging policy and the effect of its location on the overall security levels available to users. Stick around and discover whether Private Internet Access is the right service for you.
Legislature
PIA is based in the US (Denver), which is far from ideal when it comes to VPN services. The US is the home of the CIA and NSA; not to mention that it is a member of the Five Eyes Treaty, which spells doom for VPN users. This means companies can get a warrant and gag order compelling them to hand over relevant user information without anyone even knowing about it.
On the other hand, the US doesn’t currently have any mandatory data retention laws, which can create a convenient loophole for VPNs to avoid giving user data to the authorities. VPN services can use this opportunity, but many of them choose not to. PIA has never disclosed any information to the government, as far as we’re aware, so it should provide a decent level of privacy and security to users who strictly follow the letter of the law.
Logging Policy
PIA doesn’t keep any activity logs, which can mitigate the effect of its surroundings up to a point. So, even if the company receives a warrant and gag order, it wouldn’t have any relevant data to hand over.
Like all other VPNs, PIA also keeps some harmless logs intended to improve the overall quality of the service. This includes time spent online, servers you connect to, and other data that cannot be used to positively identify you. It’ll never log information about the sites you visit, what you download, what apps you use, and so on.
The bottom line is that PIA is an excellent VPN service that is plagued by its location. You will probably be just fine with this VPN as long as you don’t break any laws, but why take the risk, right?