Admin: qwiki: categories/vpn.md

2026-09-29T23:55:48Z

qwiki: categories/vpn.md

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= VPN =

Tools for tunnelling your traffic through an encrypted link to hide it from your local network/ISP and to change your apparent location. A VPN moves the trust: your ISP no longer sees your traffic, but '''the VPN operator now does'''. So the operator’s ownership, jurisdiction, and transparency matter more than the marketing speed charts.

'''On evaluating VPNs:''' judge every one on four axes, not just “is it fast”:

# '''Who runs it''' – ownership and corporate structure. A “no-logs” promise is only worth the trustworthiness of the company making it.
# '''Jurisdiction''' – what laws can compel the operator, and which intelligence-sharing bloc (5/9/14 Eyes) it sits in.
# '''Verifiability''' – open-source clients, reproducible builds, and repeated independent audits. Better still: a real-world test (a seizure that turned up nothing).
# '''Infrastructure control''' – can you self-host, or is there a single operator who can be compromised, compelled, or shut down?


== Ownership concentration you should know about ==

A large share of the consumer VPN market – including several brands that top “best VPN” lists – is owned by a small number of companies with Israeli ties. This is worth calling out because the whole point of a VPN is to hand one company visibility into all your traffic, so '''who that company is, and what jurisdiction and transparency regime it answers to, is the entire question.'''

* '''Kape Technologies''' (British-Israeli, controlled by Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi via his Unikmind holding) owns '''ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access (PIA), and ZenMate''' – ''and'' the review sites '''vpnMentor''' and '''Wizcase''' that rank those same products. As of early 2026 Kape was taken fully private and delisted from the London Stock Exchange, so there are '''no more public filings or transparency reports''' – effectively a black box.
* '''Hola VPN''' – Hola Networks Ltd., headquartered in Israel; founders have Israeli tech and intelligence backgrounds. It was also caught reselling users’ bandwidth to third parties.
* '''Hotspot Shield / Betternet''' – via '''Pango Group''', established in Israel in 2017 (later rolled into Aura).
* '''Onavo''' – Israeli-founded, later owned by Meta and used to surveil competitors’ usage; since discontinued.

'''A misconception to correct:''' '''NordVPN''' and '''Surfshark''' are ''not'' Israeli – both were founded by Lithuanians (Nord Security), with Panama/Netherlands corporate structure. The viral “NordVPN is Israeli” claim is false. We still don’t recommend them here, but on the separate grounds that they aren’t open-source or self-hostable – not on ownership.


== Self-host vs shared-IP VPN vs Tor – pick for your threat ==

These solve ''different'' problems; they aren’t ranked on one scale. A self-hosted VPN is for '''control''', not anonymity: it gives you a single dedicated exit IP, rented in your name, so all your traffic is attributable to one person – the opposite of hiding in a crowd.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Approach
! Hides from ISP?
! Anonymous to sites?
! Deplatform-proof?
! Best for
|-
| Self-host (WireGuard)
| Yes
| No – one dedicated IP tied to you
| Yes – you’re the operator
| Control; hiding from your ISP
|-
| Shared-IP no-logs (Mullvad, IVPN, Proton)
| Yes
| Yes – big shared IP, anonymous signup
| No – you trust the operator
| Anonymity in a crowd
|-
| Tor
| Yes
| Strongest – multi-hop, no fixed exit
| N/A – no operator
| Max anonymity; censorship
|}


== What we recommend (in preference order) ==

Same logic as the rest of the wiki: self-host first, then a verifiable non-Israeli provider, mainstream only as a last resort.

# '''Self-host''' – [[WireGuard]] on your own VPS. No third party sees your traffic and there is nothing to subpoena. See also [[:Category:Self Hosting]].
# '''[[Mullvad]]''' (Sweden) – open-source, reproducible builds, anonymous account numbers, cash/Monero accepted, and a no-logs policy ''proven by a 2023 police raid that seized nothing''. The gold standard when self-hosting isn’t practical.
# '''[[IVPN]]''' (Gibraltar) – GPLv3 open-source apps, audited every year since 2019, anonymous account IDs. Smaller network and pricier, but very high trust.
# '''[[Proton VPN]]''' (Switzerland) – run by the non-profit Proton Foundation, fully open-source apps, annual no-logs audits, and a genuine free tier. Best usability fallback, the way Signal is for messaging.

'''Rejected on ownership grounds:''' ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, PIA, ZenMate (all Kape), Hola VPN, and Hotspot Shield / Betternet – regardless of their features, the operator is the risk. Also avoid free VPNs generally: if you aren’t paying, your traffic is usually the product.

[[Category:Privacy & Anonymity]]

Category:VPN - Revision history

Admin: qwiki: categories/vpn.md