How to choose a secure VPN that does not spy and does not share data

When we talk about VPN in the home, we refer to anonymity services which, through an encrypted connection, allow us to hide our presence on the Internet by providing us with a fake IP (completely different from the public IP that our operator provides us). These services are very good to be able to surf without leaving traces on the Internet or to access services dedicated only to users from foreign countries (for example Netflix USA, accessible only with US IP), but if we decide to use a paid VPN, we must be certain that the chosen service offers good privacy protection and does not communicate the data collected during our connection (all Internet data will pass from the VPN server before reaching the requested site or service, so we have to choose a service we can blindly trust).
In this guide we will show you in detail how to choose a secure VPN that does not spy and does not share data, so that you can surf safely and avoid wiretapping, international mandates and espionage.

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How to choose a secure VPN

When we choose a new paid VPN service we have to get familiar with i Fourteen Eyes terms, No Logs warranty and other terms that are often not advertised by the websites of the various VPN services but which we absolutely must know in order to effectively protect our privacy when we surf the Internet. Let's not stop at the subscription price (choosing the cheapest one now): The cheapest VPNs are often the most dangerous from a privacy perspective.

What does Fourteen Eyes mean?

When we choose a VPN service we have to make sure that the headquarters of the service is not in a country of the so-called Fourteen Eyes, that is, part of the countries that share intelligence information and therefore allow to quickly exchange tracking logs and international mandates to force service managers to access servers located around the world.

From the image above we can take a quick look at all the countries in the world that easily share information, violating user privacy when necessary or when an investigation is underway.
Without going into the details of international geopolitics, you just need to avoid "like the plague" VPN services with the offices present in one of the Fourteen Eyes countries or that has agreements with Fourteen Eyes. If we are unable to find details on the location, we search the site and service information, also reading the privacy regulations (where the service location must be reported).
To be on the safe side, just choose the VPN services based in one of the following countries:

• Panama
• seychelles
• Hong Kong
• Romania
• Northern Cyprus
• Cyprus
• Malaysia
• Finland
• belize
• moldova
• British Virgin Islands

We avoid all other VPN services in "collaborative" countries (which do not belong to Fourteen Eyes but are collaborative in the case of international mandates, such as Switzerland and Israel) or in countries with offices within the Fourteen Eyes (in fact they can collect the data and share it when necessary).

What does No Logs mean?

With No Logs we mean the guarantee by the VPN server manager that no personal data (attributable to our person or identity) is collected during the use of the service on our computers.
This policy needs to be explored in detail, given that a total No Logs policy is not possible nowadays: in order to function properly, the VPN servers must keep track of each user's access and exit times and, in order to obtain a good No Logs policy, these data must be encrypted and made unrecognizable (in fact they become a simple alphanumeric string associated with a login time and a logout time, without any reference to particular users).

This aspect is very important and goes hand in hand with Fourteen Eyes: if we choose a VPN service in a safe country, we must also be sure that a strict No Logs policy is applied, so that our browsing data when we are under VPN are not stored (i.e. cookies, IP address of our line, DNS requests, visited sites, downloaded material etc.).
Unfortunately, all VPN services boast a No Logs policy, even those present in the Fourteen Eyes countries (which could be nonsense!): We must be good at understanding where the authentication servers are stored, i.e. the servers they keep encrypted databases with statistical access data (however, they are data stored anonymously, but better that they remain outside the Fourteen Eyes!).

Are VPN servers in Italy or in Fourteen Eyes countries safe?

The question arises: if we choose a VPN service outside the Fourteen Eyes and with a strict No Logs policy but we decide to connect to their server located in Italy (country of Fourteen Eyes), we will be spied on?
The answer is no: even if the servers of the VPN service may be present within the Fourteen Eyes countries (which is essential to be able to provide us with a fake Italian, US or any other type of IP), the data of the browsing sessions are not collected and the only ones data necessary for operation (login and logout data) end up, always encrypted, in a database kept in the country where the service is located.

If a mandate or a seizure of data is issued for the VPN server (and remember that at least 1000 users per second are hidden behind it!), It will not contain any data attributable to individual users: the proponents of the mandate will have to forward the request to the country where the access server is located, ending in a dead end (countries outside the Fourteen Eyes have no legal obligation to communicate the data stored on private company servers).
So in most cases the offending VPN server will simply be seized and closed, but given the high profit margin for all VPN services, "one pope dies if another is dead", ie a new VPN server is immediately opened (or a new office with new servers) in the Fourteen Eyes country where the gesture was made.

This makes it possible to use the VPN service to obtain a new Italian, US, German, French or any other IP address without problems, without fear of repercussions or discrimination.

Conclusions

In this guide we have provided only a superficial overview of the world of VPNs, indicating the information that we must absolutely check before choosing a good VPN service: choose one that really protects our privacy and that does not sell our browsing data to the first one. passes and asks.

Since the best VPN services are paid services, we recommend that you immediately cross-reference the information provided with the services seen in our guide Faster, reliable and limitless premium VPNs.
To know all the methods to hide our identity on the Internet, we advise you to read our articles Surf the internet anonymously with proxy, vpn and fake IP address is Guide to configure Tor with foreign IP.