Law enforcement vs VPN providers? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 9 months ago by brayd@discuss.tchncs.de to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Hello,

reading about the topic I personally wondered about how people can use VPNs like ProtonVPN for torrenting which isn't legal in some countries, without ProtonVPN and other providers getting in trouble.

Of course they don't log and don't have data about which user is accessing what so they can't hand out data. But why don't law enforcements force them to block specific traffic and thus hindering people from using it for pricacy?

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[-] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

First things first: not all VPN providers do not log. Many do. And they are happy to sell the data. So keep that in mind when choosing one. Proton is the best imo, I'm a happy user of their services for many years now. They are subject to Swiss privacy laws.

Torrenting isn't illegal but it can be used to illegally download. Just like the internet in general.

It's like a car. It's a normal form of transportation but if you want you can break the law with it. If it's your car, it's easy for them to find you. When you rented the car and the rental company doesn't log user data, it's impossible to prove who was the driver. But the rental company isn't to blame, as they didn't break the law.

Same with VPN providers. They provide a legitimate service which people could use for illegal business. But when there is no user data, there's no proof of who did it. But the VPN provider can't be blamed either, they did nothing wrong.