Say I’m using a VPN service with servers located in Australia. Presuming it keeps no logs whatsoever and employs 2048bit SSL encryption, is there any problem using an Australian server given the data retention laws when privacy is a main concern?
If you’re looking to pirate movies, it’s fine. If you’re looking to do anything a modicum more sensitive than that then I highly recommend using a server located in a country with saner legislation.
ASIO can roll into the datacentre of that VPN service and commandeer their hardware at the drop of a hat for “national security”.
Absolutely do not trust Australian services for anything sensitive for this reason. We’re a member of the Five Eyes.
They claim to keep no logs. That’s the key. You will never know if they do or don’t.
The way things are going, non-logging VPN’s will be made illegal in Australia, assuming they’re not already secretly illegal and logging everything you do and passing it over to ASIO.
Using overseas servers at least guarantees they might have to do some paperwork to violate your rights, as long as your end point is not in a Five Eyes country. That will probably annoy them briefly. Like, a few hours maybe. This is assuming they actually request the data rather than just hack the foreign server and retrieve it like the NSA does.
Even then, if you’re concerned about privacy, a VPN is not enough to save you. It never will be. You need to change your internet habits so dramatically that it’s easier to just not use the internet at all.
The way things are going, non-logging VPN’s will be made illegal in Australia
Doesn’t matter, they can make them illegal all they like, as long as they’re based overseas and you can pay with bitcoin, nuts to them
Thanks for the info 
They claim to keep no logs. That’s the key. You will never know if they do or don’t.
This is the point. The operators running the vpns are in it for the money…they are unlikely to say otherwise.
It would be possible to correlate data usage on the VPN (even with many subscribers using the service) with your usage…
That is not true. I partly own a web service called uFlix which unblocks Netflix regions. We are expanding into the VPN market later on this year.
I can’t speak on behalf of others, but we are not in the game purely to turn a profit. I don’t like what this government has done anymore than the next guy, so by providing VPN services it is a tiny protest to their actions. Sure, money must be made in order to keep the services running, but it is not what is motivating the business.
It is the same with uFlix (our smartDNS unblocker). Yes, we make a little bit of money from the subscriptions, but the thing motivating us is that we are sick of being charged through the nose for crappy services and getting screwed by monopolies in this country. We too are consumers and work for a living.
Sorry for the very, very late reply. Could you go into detail on this? What tools or ways can they use to do this?
How is this different from getflix ?
I was generalising, although probably correct when it comes to the majority…particularly all the various clones of Hydemyass.
I only use Hola because it was the first one I tried a couple of years ago to get on netflix and it has done its job ok …for free so far. I use it because I need to.
For pirating I don’t bother…there has been no reason to (so far…)
If I was into more serious stuff I certainly would not trust a third party, such as a VPN to keep my secrets.
I don’t like what this government has done anymore than the next guy
Correct…and the futility of their actions causing us to find the ways around whatever they think up…they closed down LimeWire…so we started torrenting…instead of single songs we now downloaded albums.
That is also true. Any silly measure put in place will always have a way around it.