VPN: Which countries are part of the “14 eyes” and why is that important?

VPN

August 31, 2024 at 20:00

The “14 eyes” are an alliance of secret services from several countries. For you as a VPN user, it is important to know the countries involved. We will enlighten you.

1. The consequences of the UK-US agreement

2. What are the “5 eyes” and “9 eyes”?

3. This is how the “14 eyes” affect your VPN usage

4. Which countries of origin are considered safe for VPNs?

5. VPN providers with no-log policies

Have you been warned about the “14 eyes” and are now worried about your privacy? First of all, you should keep a cool head. There is actually a merger of the secret services of several countries in order to make the surveillance of the Internet more efficient and to network it internationally.

This alliance originally dates back to the USA and England, who entered into an alliance. This was formed as a consequence of the Second World War. In 1946, the secret services of the countries entered into an alliance to increase the efficiency of military intelligence in the Eastern bloc, with a particular focus on the Soviet Union. But why do the “14 eyes” still exist today?

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The consequences of the UK-US agreement

Nowadays, the alliance of secret services mainly serves the purpose of intelligence gathering and combating international terrorism. In order to work together against this, the community expanded over the decades to include England and the USA, thus expanding the alliance that initially consisted of only five states.

You will rarely come across this agreement in everyday life, but you will when choosing the right VPN service. After all, the “14 eyes” is about an open exchange of communication between states. If you are concerned about your privacy on the Internet, this is an important factor.

What are the “5 eyes” and “9 eyes”?

In connection with the “14 eyes” the terms “5 eyes“- and “9 eyes“Alliance is mentioned. These are not other alliances of secret services, but precursors or partial alliances of the “14 eyes” states as we know them today.

The “5 eyes” include the USA, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and AustraliaAlready during the Cold War, these countries worked together to analyse data traffic on the Internet and exchange information.

Later, this alliance was joined by Denmark, France, Norway and the Netherlands four other countries. The “5 eyes” became the “9 eyes” alliance. Over time, these countries also built up connections with other countries, such as Japan, Israel and South Korea, but that would take us too far afield here. We’ll spare you the further historical background at this point. Let’s look at how this alliance affects your VPN usage.

This is how the “14 eyes” affect your VPN usage

There are no precise details about how the countries work together in terms of surveillance. Nevertheless, experts are concerned about VPNs. If your VPN provider’s headquarters are in a country with the “14 eyes”, alarm bells ring and they see this as a major security risk. So is it better to choose a VPN service from Panama instead of a US provider?

In terms of greater privacy, the answer is yes. In theory, VPN providers in a country with the “14 eyes” could be forced to hand over user data and connection logs. There is a risk that these will then be released and openly communicated with other countries. How exactly this data will ultimately be processed is of course also unclear.

Which countries of origin are considered safe for VPNs?

With such a large international network of secret services, you are probably wondering in which countries your data is still safe, or at least as safe as possible. There is no easy answer to this question. However, the decisive factor is always the legal domicile of your VPN provider.

Even if a company’s legal headquarters are outside the “14 eyes” states, this is not sufficient for comprehensive data protection and optimal anonymity. After all, many other countries also have questionable or inadequate data protection laws. A location in such countries is therefore hardly more advantageous.

Over time, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Seychelles and Panama have developed into particularly secure locations for VPN services, partly because of the data protection laws that apply there. This is also the reason why we always give VPN services based in Switzerland a certain security bonus in our VPN tests, for example.

But be careful: Even individual server locations of providers that are located in countries with questionable data protection laws can become a problem. If a Swiss provider operates physical servers in the USA, for example, there is still a risk that the server locations there will be claimed or checked by the secret services of the respective country. A no-logs policy from the VPN provider provides additional security here.

VPN providers with no-log policies

Some VPN providers have recognized the problem and therefore offer a three-tier security system: no data storage (no-log policy), company headquarters and servers outside the “14 eyes” states and payment via cryptocurrency. You can read how this was implemented here. There we also explain why this is exactly why there can be no good, completely free VPN services in the long term.

This is precisely why many VPN users are unsure and choose a VPN provider whose headquarters are located in a country outside the UK-USA agreement. Netzwelt shows you the best VPN providers on the next page and tells you how you can better protect your privacy on the Internet.