Foreign VPNs offer protection against US government spying

July 21, 2013

Foreign providers of virtual private networks trying to cash in on recently uncovered U.S. government surveillance can increase the level of secrecy of Web activity, experts say. However, no VPN vendor, foreign or domestic, sells a bulletproof defense against government snooping, given the resources and sophistication of spy agencies. However, using a service outside the U.S. does make the task of tracking and logging someone's Web activity more difficult. Privacy jitters reached new heights last month following reports that the U.S. National Security Agency is collecting massive amounts of private data on citizens from telephone and Internet companies, such as Verizon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. The court-approved data gathering is legal under the post-9/11 Patriot Act. A VPN is essentially an encrypted tunnel between a computer and the service provider, which effectively hides the customer's IP address and Web activity. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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