this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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The VPN provider I use has servers in multiple countries. I was wondering if privacy laws would make it better to VPN to some countries over others when pirating.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (3 children)

As long as your VPN provider is a proven no-logger, just go with the best performance.

But if you really want to pick countries, Eastern Europe, Italy and Switzerland just to name a few. If you are in the US I wouldn’t be crossing the pond with my VPN but that’s up to you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Never heard Italy before. Do they have stricter laws than EU in general?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago

Italy is a member of the "14 eyes", so not a good choice.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Maybe less enforcement, that would be my guess

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I’ve heard from Italian friends that been doing it for ever and nothing happened.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If you are in US probably any latin country except Mexico, Puerto Rico and Panama should be OK.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why do people keep saying that Puerto Rico is a country?!

Third time this year.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know it but it is another territory so...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

That's not a strong argument to call Puerto Rico a country.

That's like saying that Japan and Okinawa are two countries.

Edit: downvoted by geography dufuses.

Edit 2: whoops. Doofuses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's doofus.

I think many people feel like Puerto Rico is its own country due to how it is treated by the US.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Thanks for the doofus correction. Whoops.

Puerto Rico treatment

Hm. I guess.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Curious what it is about those countries that would cause you to advise against using them?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They are strongly aligned with US, and this kind of countries are usually more aggressive against piracy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why wouldn't you be crossing the pond for that? Legal reasons? Latency reasons?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Because what I said in the first paragraph. If your provider is not a proven no-logger, get another one.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I’m not entirely sure on the absolute best, but I always use Switzerland. I believe they have extremely strong privacy laws that protect individual privacy and I believe they have a relaxed view on downloading so long as it is solely for personal use, though uploading / sharing torrenting is still very much disallowed.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

... so that's why our servers are always so fucking slow.

[–] spacecowboy 5 points 11 months ago

Tbf it’s often the first one it grabs when I click quick connect.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

I use ProtonVPN's Secure Core. Their entry nodes are in privacy-friendly countries — Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden — and exit nodes can be to any of their VPN servers in dozens of countries around the world. It's a double hop which increases latency slightly, but I don't real-time game on this configuration.

https://protonvpn.com/features/secure-core

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you are in the US, stick with US servers on a no-log VPN. Crossing the border with your traffic allows agencies to collect way more data.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

What no-log VPNs are out there in the U.S.? Anything similar to Mullvad?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I don't mean US based, I mean US servers. Mullvad has US servers.

Can't really comment on 14-eyes, but 100% avoid the US, UK, AU, NZ, and maybe CA based companies. I personally don't use Mullvad anymore since they stopped supporting port forwarding, but it's an otherwise great VPN.

[–] RedBauble 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I switched to Proton VPN and the gluetun docker container for port forwarding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm not a very privacy focused person, so I won't give you recommendations.

Just look at reviews that are recent and are from trustworthy but non-mainstream sources. There are some popular news sites that get revenue from paid links, which will give some less-than-ideal recommendations. It's best to choose a VPN provider with a history of passing 3rd-party audits.

I will say, though, that Mullvad has some great speeds and is stupid-easy to use.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Got it. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

PIA is a proven no-logger. They are also fast as hell.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I use PIA's Canada servers for torrenting because they are (geographically) closest to the US with port forwarding. No issues, been using them for years.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

from a meme that is in my head in Bulgaria piracy is legal not sure if it's the mandella affect or a lie but consider Bulgaria

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I always connect to Sofia because I also remember that 'fact' lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

depends. anything illegal/political extremist shoot for something outside of the fourteen eyes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Maybe try the smallest country that borders the country that sells Vytautas mineral water?

Spoiler alert: it's Latvia.