I got woken up by a notice that my VPN had disconnected, after multiple attempts to reconnect, I checked my email - and there it was, a letter saying my account had been SUSPENDED. They log ALL of your information, and definitely do nothing to hide your ass. They pretty much tell you in the email that they WILL roll over on you and give your information freely to anybody with a court order. I’m sorry I’m three months in to a 12 month subscription and won’t be eligible for a refund, but as of now, I’m switching to PIA.
DO NOT USE HIDE MY ASS - it’s everything a VPN is not supposed to be.
TorrentFreak had put together a guide on VPN’s that don’t log your information. It’s telling that Hide My Ass is nowhere on the list.
EDIT: After reading the article, it turns out that Hide My Ass was actually the company that prompted the creation of the guide in the first place! They’d turned over information incriminating a file sharer in 2011. I had no idea that they were not just bad, but already been dicks once before.
This is the point where everyone starts quoting the TorrentFreak article showing all the “Good Guy” VPNs that wouldn’t even think of logging any details.
And you’ve only got their word for it. I mean, nobody would LIE on the internets, right?
HideMyAss claimed they didn’t keep logs and yet they did. Who’s to say these other companies don’t?
This article covers why HMA is a bad idea after the Lulzec guys got busted using it and then there is an updated article which covers vpn providers and which log what level of detail. Hope that helps!
Furthermore, instead of hiding your ass, in some cases they’re going to suspend your account until you send them a copy of your ID and utility bills to prove your name and residence. Besides PayPal and other financial stuff, I never heard VPN providers to do this, so new buyers of HMA beware: they might do this.
I paid for a month of service to test it, logged in to the control panel, then when I connected to a VPN it was rejected due to erroneous user/pass. Upon going back to the control panel, I was told I am suspended and to provide photo proof of my name and residence.
Upon declining this and emailing support, I was told I am in a high-risk country (Romania) and that’s why they need the info.
Luckily, I was able to get a refund through PayPal.
If you buy a vpn you should be read reviews about vpn provider and then buy vpn.
Here is the VPN Reviews websites in the vpn industry http://vpnwebsites.com/
The company offering the VPN must commit to keeping NO LOG FILES and then they have no way of identifying you. There are a few companies that do this and the one I use is privatvpn: https://www.privatvpn.se/en They will not maintain log files if you connect through their Swedish servers. If you connect via their US servers (I do this to watch Netflix and Hulu because I live outside the US) then they are compelled to maintain log files. If you talk to them they will tell you that if you want to d/l movies, “use our Swedish servers”.
All this sounds complicated but setting up the VPN client really is a joke. Just make sure they do NOT maintain log files.
Good luck
oh yeah, their service works with Linux which is why I use them.
I tried HMA a few years ago because they had a money back guarantee - if you weren’t happy within the first month you could get your money back. Turns out that was a lie too, and the speeds were slower than dialup.
I had to unsubscribe from PIA because their connection speeds were just awful. No PIA I was at around 30 megs, with it around 1-5. Unusable. Could Comcast have been screwing with me? I wouldn’t put it past them.