Are VPN services legal?

3. May 2023

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In almost every country in the world, it is legal to use VPN services to ensure privacy and security online.

Some people wonder whether VPNs are legal or not. After all, the service allows you to become more anonymous in the online space, which can be quite useful for hackers or other internet scammers. If these people cannot be traced, it is much harder to punish them for any crimes. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that VPNs are an illegal service.

On the contrary, many official companies and businesses work with VPNs and recommend their use. The European Union also supports the internet freedom that a VPN can give you.

There are a few countries that consider using a VPN illegal, but generally speaking, using a VPN will definitely not get you in trouble in most of the (democratic) world.

Exceptions include, for example, the United Arab Emirates, where the use of VPNs is currently banned. Some countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, are wary of VPNs because they give people access to all the content on the internet worldwide.

Nevertheless, the laws in these countries generally do not prohibit VPNs themselves, but rather the use of VPNs to circumvent state censorship efforts.

This is also the case in China, where the government is beefing up its “Great Firewall” to block VPNs and websites. Russia is also trying to ban VPN use.

These measures often fail. This is simply because the VPN traffic itself can be hidden to make it look like normal HTTPS traffic. There are several VPN providers that can handle these limitations very well in their applications. These include NordVPN, Surfshark VPN and ExpressVPN.

Important Note: VPNs are commonly used by businesses around the world to secure their networks. We will never see a complete ban on all VPNs, as they are absolutely essential for the security of both businesses and individuals.

Can’t people use VPNs to do bad things? Of course. You can think of VPN as steel. Steel can be used for good purposes, such as building bridges, buildings and transport – but it can also be used to make bombs, weapons and tanks that harm people. A complete ban on the use of steel would be ludicrous, even if it is sometimes used for bad purposes.

The same logic applies to encrypting traffic over VPNs. Banks, businesses and other websites that handle sensitive data need to use encryption technologies every day to keep people (and their data) safe. VPNs and encryption are essential tools that we all need to use, even if some people abuse the technology.

Want to start using a VPN right away? We encourage you to try out the VPN services that have stood out in our tests and won the Excellent VPN Service award from us. The VPN services listed below offer great speeds, strong security, and have a number of other benefits available.