With the resurgence of pirating, do you think there will be a “response” from the powers that be?
In general, what would that look like?
Specifically, do you think VPN companies based in the US or friendly countries will start to feel legal or corporate pressure to stop letting people use their services to download copyrighted material?
I just feel like these things always ebb and flow.
Yes they will, and anyone confident in saying no doesn’t understand that laws will be changed if they need to. If VPN usage is significant enough of a factor in piracy or any other illegal activity laws will be changed to find providers responsible. They could mandate data be logged. There’s so many other more nefarious things that these VPNs could be sheltering more important that governments would like to be able to have information on that I just can’t see them shrugging their shoulders and ignoring it. That time will come.
None of the big VPN companies officially endorse use if their services for piracy or any illegal activities for that matter.
But to crack down on it they would have to keep logs on your activity and with that most of their legitimate use cases wouldn’t be valid anymore either.
No company, especially VPN companies, will encourage you to break the law or violate copyright.
We have to support companies like Mullvad who operate on the premis that privacy is a human right, if it’s just a business equation then they will fold when it’s inconvenient
Plus, if the VPN is setup right, they can’t know exactly what you are downloading or what you are accessing.
I mean I’m still out here rawdogging usenet without a vpn. I keep waiting for the great crackdown on usenet but it never comes… Surely that comes before any VPN crackdown.
I think it’s very likely this happens more in the future, but likewise VPN providers sell you anonymity. So if they can’t operate without disclosing, they will lose their customers. I’m positive no matter what, VPN companies will find a way to avoid these situations such as operating from countries with less regulations etc.