What info does AirVPN itself see if I make a payment not through BTC?

[wakaflockaflame 5]

I originally paid for this service with BTC but now my subscription is almost up. I am going to renew it as AirVPN is an excellent service, but I am considering what payment method I should use when doing so.

 

BTC takes effort to buy and provides only pseudo-anonymity if you buy from an exchange as your ID is logged with that exchange. It would be easy to follow the blockchain and get that info if anyone cared enough.

 

However, the benefit I saw in doing this was that AirVPN itself did not have this info, so it puts an extra barrier between me and it. If AirVPN were to suffer a server breach, there may be a log of my BTC payment, but it'd take even more effort to follow that up by going through the blockchain and getting my info from the exchange.

 

So my question is simple. It would be more convenient for me to use PP or a CC to renew my subscription, but if I do so, what info is kept by AirVPN itself, and what info is kept by a third party? For example if I pay with my credit card, I assume your payment processor will keep my full name and billing address, but is this info sent to AirVPN also? If not, it seems it provides as much realistic privacy as purchasing bitcoin through an exchange, as my ID is still held by a third party.

 

The same question applies to PayPal also. Obviously PayPal will keep a log on their side and if a government adversary cared enough they could access it, but is my name and address held by AirVPN itself? I asked this question to PIA previously and they told me they only store the transaction number and not my name and address.

 

Note that I am fully aware the government and the banks can see these transactions, I am mostly concerned about exactly where the financial logs are kept and separating them from AirVPN itself. If the payment processor keeps my ID but AirVPN does not, that is good enough for me as it's pretty much the same situation as buying BTC from an exchange.

 

Thank you in advance @Staff.

[Guest]

Obviously I can't talk on behalf of airVPN, but I'd ASSUME that they only get the transaction ID right as you make the payment that tells their system you paid but then it's deleted after being processed, at least thats how I'd do it. So it isn't linked to your account

 

(Keep in mind that's just how I'd assume it goes only airVPN can know for sure)

[wakaflockaflame 5]

I would assume the same, I would like confirmation from the staff however.

[wakaflockaflame 5]

My subscription is expiring in only a few days now so is it possible I can get a response from the staff?

 

I sent a support ticket but it's been closed without any response.

 

A little disappointed at how difficult it seems to be to get even an acknowledgement of my query from staff here.

[sigmund_freud 2]

I would be interested in the answer, also.

[zhang888 1065]

If you want real anonymity, pay with BTC. If your exchange requires an ID just shuffle the bitcoins

via another exchanger, localbitcoins or tons of other options.

Easy to follow the blockchain and track transactions? Try to find the stolen MtGox coins, there is a good

bounty bonus for

 

PayPal is really out of question, no matter what any provider tells you, its BS, PIA just lied to you.

Anyone who ever opened a business PP account knows that all the transactions are logged there,

and they even spam you with emails for each new transaction, i.e. (You just received a payment from John Smith etc.)

You can possibly delete those emails and whatsoever but there is a very little point to do that.

 

Your second best option would be a prepaid CC, which can be purchased in most developed countries.

[wakaflockaflame 5]

Yeah I think I will go for BTC again for the peace of mind.

 

I am aware PayPal sends emails with name and address when you get paid but PIA said they delete them. It's not too hard to believe, PayPal makes it easy to just use a separate email address and PIA could just set the inbox to delete every few days or something. Of course that's no real anonymity and I can only take their word for it but I don't use PIA now so I don't want to make the thread about them.

[spinmaster 30]

If you want real anonymity, pay with BTC. If your exchange requires an ID just shuffle the bitcoins

via another exchanger, localbitcoins or tons of other options.

Easy to follow the blockchain and track transactions? Try to find the stolen MtGox coins, there is a good

bounty bonus for 

 

I agree - here is what I did or do, when paying anything on the web a little more anonymous with BTC:

 

1. Open up an anonymous web wallet with VPN, such as Hive. It does not even require an email. 

2. Once you created this web wallet with a VPN, it becomes a more or less "temporary wallet" which is used for purchasing. I still buy BTC from official places and keep my BTC on a more sophisticated wallet such as Blockchain.info, but:

3. before purchasing goods online with BTC, I send the amount of BTC through a mixer such as Bitmixer.io where they are mixed in the blockchain and send to my Hive wallet. 

4. Finally, I have the mixed BTC in my Hive wallet which I use for purchasing. 

 

By paying with the mixed BTC from an anonymous wallet while using a VPN it gives an extra layer of security. While there have been some debate over how anonymous mixed BTC are (since everything can be traced back in the blockchain), I agree with zhang888 that in reality it becomes almost impossible when using a good BTC mixer, plus using a VPN to hide your IP. 

[wakaflockaflame 5]

Mixers are something I've looked at but since there are reports of a few being scams I am weary of sending my BTC to a third party like that.

[zhang888 1065]

You won't get far on the internet without sometimes risking some 10$ on random services. Just a note.

[spinmaster 30]

Mixers are something I've looked at but since there are reports of a few being scams I am weary of sending my BTC to a third party like that.

 

I used Bitmixer.io more than a couple of dozen times and never had any issues. But as zhang888 pointed out, we're not talking hundreds of dollars or euros here. Yes, it's a 3rd party where you send your BTC through, but that's the trade-off for some extra layer of security here. 

 

If you have doubts or concerns about mixing BTC with a 3rd party service, just pay with BTC the "traditional" way from your wallet, but don't complain that you might fear that the transaction could be easily traced back to your wallet. 

[wakaflockaflame 5]

I'm looking at shared sending on Blockchain.info since that allows a level of obfuscation without trusting a third party. That should be enough to make it more difficult to follow the blockchain.

[spinmaster 30]

I'm looking at shared sending on Blockchain.info since that allows a level of obfuscation without trusting a third party. That should be enough to make it more difficult to follow the blockchain.

 

Sounds good, I didn't know that they offer this kind of service. If you don't trust a 3rd party mixer, then pay this way.