VPNReviewz To Start Including Jurisdictional Data For Anonymity and Privacy Services Says CEO
(PRWEB) August 06, 2013 -- VPNReviewz CEO, Michael Maxstead, said in a public statement made earlier this week, that in the future the VPNReviewz editors would be including a lot more information about the jurisdictional authorities that anonymity and privacy companies they review. The decision comes after recent accusations that the US intelligence agency, the NSA, has created special relationships with many of the biggest silicon valley service providers that would allow direct access to any kind of data they wish without a warrant. He says, “Everyone knew that Skype had been compromised by the Chinese government, but there are indications that the US agency has tapped into everybody, everywhere. And, our readers have started asking about which jurisdiction VPN and Proxy providers answer to.”
“In the last few weeks VPNReviewz has received a lot of emails and tweets asking our editors if the US government has a way to tap into this or that providers protocols, clients, and services,” the CEO said. Then he continued, “but the truth of the matter is that: If given the necessary resources, and a lot of time, any VPN can be hacked, broken, or otherwise viewed. But these things take a lot of resources and time and money, so many people are asking if the provider they are considering has to answer to the US governments Patriot Act.” He then explained that whether the reports that have been surfacing about the US agency are true or not, they have had a well defined effect on the internet and cell phone privacy and anonymity industry. “Consumers are worried that the NSA or some other agency can have access to their communications via a “back-doors” or even before the communications are encrypted,” he said.
The concern among users of the services and software created by the reports hasn't been missed by the privacy providers either. Maxstead says “VPNs and Proxy companies that are outside of US jurisdictional influence are already focusing their advertising and education campaigns based on the very fact that they are outside of the influence of the US Patriot Act.” He then goes on to point out that, “Even in the internet forums, traffic concentrated on who does and doesn't answer to the Patriot Act have increased dramatically.” “It's also our duty, as an information and education providers,” he says, “to insure that our readers have the data necessary to make the most informed decision possible.” Maxstead says that his website, VPNReviewz.com, has seen a measurable surge in the readers clicking through to the providers that are easily determined to be outside of US jurisdiction.
“There are a few providers, like Cyber-Ghost, that proudly announce that they do not answer to any kind of US authority, those are easy to find. But it's not always easy to determine the exact jurisdiction that the provider will have to answer to,” the VPNReviewz CEO says, then he explains further, “Many providers answer to more than one countries jurisdiction, due to one nuance in the law or another, with a wide varieties of combinations. [of jurisdictions.]” “So, our team will start doing a lot more research into: what information, (if any,) can be given up, the conditions for gaining access to the records, and who could ask for them, for each of the companies we review and feature.”
Michael Maxstead, VPNtReviewz, http://vpnreviewz.com/, 202-683-7481, [email protected]
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