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Pirate Party UK backs VPN service to "bring back some privacy"

by Alistair Lowe on 3 July 2012, 10:09

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Taking part in a rather forward-thinking scheme, the Pirate Party UK has been in discussion with a "trusted long-time supporter and member" to launch a new VPN service that the party can openly endorse.

The new service, PRV.IO, will provide market-competitive rates with early sign-ups eligible for a discount. As part of the endorsement arrangement, the Pirate Party is reassured that the service will only ever log and retain the bare minimum required by UK law and, will never voluntarily provide any information to authorities.

The group has also formed an arrangement, whereby, should the service become successful enough, a portion of profits will be granted to the party through a corporate donation, to fund its political activities.

"Pirate Party UK has been in discussion with a trusted long-time supporter and member about setting up a new VPN service dedicated to bringing back some privacy and anonymity to internet use, giving users a valid option to opt-out of Government spying.

We are happy to be able to announce that (given sufficient interest) a new VPN service - PRV.IO - will launch to provide VPN services. This service will launch with market competitive prices and anyone registering now will receive a discount once the service goes live.

We are reassured that this VPN will log only to the extent required by law, and no further. PRV.IO will never voluntarily provide any information to authorities. Given a dynamically-changing IP service model and no connection logs kept, anonymity is maximised to the extent currently possible under UK law."

Given the recent revelation that Ofcom fully intends to move ahead with issuing download warning letters in the post, for users that are 'suspected' of copyright infringement, come 2014, perhaps now is the time for users to re-evaluate their privacy situation.

HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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Posted by crossy - Tue 03 Jul 2012 10:20
As part of the endorsement arrangement, the Pirate Party is reassured that the service will only ever log and retain the bare minimum required by UK law and, will never voluntarily provide any information to authorities.
Maybe I'm being naive, or just plain daft, but that comment above is pretty much what I'd expect my ISP to do - minimal amount of snooping and no information handed across to any third parties (including the government) without either my explicit consent or a court order.
Posted by kalniel - Tue 03 Jul 2012 10:37
Indeed, I expect this would in the end make it easier for the authorities as they might only have to ask this company for user details logged for an offending IP rather than bother general purpose ISPs. So yes, all pirates please go and use this service so that you're easier to find and those of us obeying the law can go about our business with ultimately less disruption.
Posted by Malphas - Tue 03 Jul 2012 10:38
crossy
As part of the endorsement arrangement, the Pirate Party is reassured that the service will only ever log and retain the bare minimum required by UK law and, will never voluntarily provide any information to authorities.
Maybe I'm being naive, or just plain daft, but that comment above is pretty much what I'd expect my ISP to do - minimal amount of snooping and no information handed across to any third parties (including the government) without either my explicit consent or a court order.
Yeah you're being naive (understandably, perhaps).
Posted by Malphas - Tue 03 Jul 2012 10:42
kalniel
Indeed, I expect this would in the end make it easier for the authorities as they might only have to ask this company for user details logged for an offending IP rather than bother general purpose ISPs. So yes, all pirates please go and use this service so that you're easier to find and those of us obeying the law can go about our business with ultimately less disruption.
No, ha ha. I'm not sure you understand how VPN works (since you mentioned offending IP), or quite how unnecessarily compliant the average ISP is with the authorities (or just anyone that feels like complaining, e.g. a rightsholder). Good luck if and when some **AA member mistakenly sticks your IP on a list during one of their regular mass complaint mailings and your ISP rolls over without question.
Posted by Scribe - Tue 03 Jul 2012 10:45
crossy
Maybe I'm being naive, or just plain daft, but that comment above is pretty much what I'd expect my ISP to do - minimal amount of snooping and no information handed across to any third parties (including the government) without either my explicit consent or a court order.

The government/Ofcom are asking UK ISPs to build their infrastructure in a way that can monitor more data with 2014 in sight. Whilst we expect this from ISPs now, come 2014, this may not be the case. Likewise, warning letters are going to be triggered by ISPs seeing certain kinds of traffic, which a VPN may mask and VPNs of course are widely used for 100% legitimate use.

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