I've been on a journey to find a VPN provider that aligns with my privacy values, and I wanted to share my experiences and concerns here, hoping for some insights and recommendations.
Primary Criteria:
Outside of the 14 Eyes: Ideally, I'd prefer a provider outside of the 14 Eyes intelligence-sharing countries.
Accepts Monero: Given its the only real privacy coin there is, I'm keen on providers that accept Monero as a payment method.
I need port forwarding for the services I host.
Current Options:
I've considered Mullvad and IVPN, both of which I trust for their privacy focus. However, they recently disabled their port forwarding support, which I need since I host services from home. SPN by Safing sounds really interesting too but they also do not offer port forwarding sadly.
ProtonVPN seemed like a close alternative, but I've come across several red flags:
Logging Concerns: ProtonMail, under the same parent company, provided IP logs in response to a Swiss court order. This contradicts ProtonVPN's claim on their website that "we can’t be obligated to start logging" under Swiss law.
Use of Google Analytics: Despite being a privacy-focused service, ProtonMail has used Google Analytics on their website, raising questions about their commitment to user privacy.
No Monero Support: Proton has not added Monero as a payment option, despite numerous requests from the community over the years.
Seeking Recommendations:
Given the above, I'm reaching out for advice. Are there any VPN providers you'd recommend that fit my primary criteria? Or any insights into the concerns I've raised about ProtonVPN?