Today is historical day for Internet world in Australia. Starting from Today, the Federal Government’s Metadata Retention Scheme is must be for telcos and internet service providers. This means that they will keep all your metadata – including surfing sites, text messages, your location, and internet connection details – for a full two years, and can pass these data to Government agencies on the first request, without any warrants.
Well, do we still have some opportunity to stay private online?
Luckily we have such tool as VPN – virtual private networks.
“Virtual Private Networks provide an important element of privacy protection for users,”
Electronic Frontiers Association says.
“and EFA therefore encourages all Australians to consider using a VPN service when accessing the Internet.”
EFA Executive Officer Jon Lawrence said calls VPNs one of the most effective tools for protecting privacy when using the Internet, due to the degree of anonymity they provide when accessing online services – and also the protection against “eavesdropping and government surveillance”.
So get a VPN, EFA says. But which one?
How to select a Good VPN for your privacy?
“As with any industry, the quality of VPN services varies considerably, particularly in relation to privacy issues and people should therefore be well-informed before selecting a provider,”
EFA says.
Here are the organisation’s tips for choosing the right one for you:
- What data does the VPN record?
- Is the VPN retaining web logs?
- Does the VPN know your IP address and the times that you connect to their servers?
- Also, what kind of advertising data does the VPN service store and does it hand that data over to third parties?
- How long does the VPN store data? Nearly all VPNs will store some data in order to troubleshoot network issues. However, the duration of that storage plays a key role in terms of the privacy protection afforded to users. After all, if the data has been deleted, then it cannot be accessed by a third party. Ideally, a VPN should be wiping user data within hours of it being recorded. If a VPN is storing data for anything more than a few days then beware.
- Read the privacy policy carefully. If you don’t find the answers to your questions in their privacy policy then ask them directly, or steer clear.
What country are they based in? For example, you may want to avoid services based in Australia, UK, US, New Zealand or Canada (the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ countries, which have comprehensive intelligence-sharing arrangements in place). You may also want to avoid services based in countries with authoritarian governments.
All access to this data should require a warrant – not just for journalists’ data (the only people currently protected). A majority of European Union countries require some form of independent, judicial authorisation for access to this sort of data, so there’s no reason why Australians shouldn’t enjoy the same protection.
It’s important that additional agencies aren’t added to the list that are allowed access to this data. The one good part of the data retention legislation is that it reduced the number of agencies able to access this data from literally hundreds to less than two dozen (Police and anti-corruption bodies mainly).
The two year retention period is unjustifiably long and must be reduced to at most six months.
Which VPNs are the Best for Security
Below you can see the list of vpn providers who guarantee you complete Internet security.
| Sahrzad VPN | |
 | |
| 1 week | $3.99 |
| 1 month | $9.99 |
| 3 months | $27.99 |
| 6 months | $53.99 |
| 1 year | $89.99 |
 |
| VPN Account | |
 | |
| 1 week | $3.5 |
| 1 month | $10 |
| 3 months | $28 |
| 6 months | $52 |
| 1 year | $98 |
| |
| Spider VPN (for Android)The Cheapest! | |
| 1 week | $3 |
| 1 month | $5 |
| 3 months | $10 |
| 6 months | $15 |
| 1 year | $29.99 |
| |
| VPN Privacy | |
| 1 week | $3.5 |
| 1 month | $10 |
| 3 months | $28 |
| 6 months | $52 |
| 1 year | $98 |
| |
How to USE a VPN
You can use a vpn on any device from your mobile phone (Androoid, iPhone and others), to your tablet, laptop or PC.
All you need is setup a vpn connection in a few simple steps. Please review our vpn setup guides for more information.
You do not need to install any additional software – just use your system features of security.
All you need is:
- Get a VPN
- Setup VPN connection
- Enjoy your privacy and security in the Internet.