Not the ones with numbered accounts that accept crypto...

Of course, besides the people who fall for the basic "VPN are some magic security device" most people (in particular those that know what they're getting) always looks for the same thing "which one can I actually trust".

Even if it's not government owned you have no idea whose keeping logs, sharing data etc.

So you can really only base your trust on whether the company has come up to any issues with the government and have refused, or has run for a number of years and provide a positive track record. With the changing of laws and how companies work, you also need to regularly check that your they stay respecting privacy and security.

For what it's worth, a VPN company worth is if it private, security and stands up to scrutiny. The moment trust is lost, the company is meaningless. So that's something for those that are long lasting.

Yeah but would they show their hand by coming down heavy on the average pirate or petty law breaker? If they did have ways to track all VPN traffic they wouldn't want us to know about it.

No, bc gvts are themselves owned by companies.

All? No. But some? I'd be more surprised if I found out none were.

Who is gonna listen to the RIAA and MIAA?

Comcast or the CIA?

I'll take my chances. 🏴‍☠️

Well I didn't until now.

No, not really. Governments generally aren't that competent that it would be viable as a solution. Especially since there are legitimate uses for VPNs that aren't related to VPN providers, such as the ones that businesses use for people travelling, or working from home.

Although I could see the ones that do tracking putting a slightly higher priority on VPN traffic, just because it stands out more, where non-VPN traffic might be more likely to blend into the noise, since it matches more with how regular users use it.