Recommended not to connect to server in home country?

[SeUbHS 3]

I saw this recommendation when browsing through the settings of eddie client on android. I was curious about the reasoning behind this. Also, I've noticed that the client prefers to connect to a canadian server, so it's not exactly like the server is located in a bastion of privacy.

[ss11 15]

It's usually desired to select a server outside the country you live in to fulfill the purpose of using a vpn: e.g. someone trying to watch your activity.
Choosing one tin the same country provides 0 protection against a local adversary, which we assume is common to trigger and easy for the to watch.

The recommendation to use a server outside your home country is obvious in my opinion. I don't know exactly why the client (I guess you mean Eddie) prefers a Canadian server, but my guess is that it selected the least loaded server as per AirVPNs load balancing policy. You can opt out that country if you don't like it. Even so, if Canada is obvious not a "bastion of privacy" it has significantly more advantages than using a server in your own home country.

[rx_man123 6]

It's important to make a distinction about the differences here in privacy. Is it safe to say that while you can use a VPN server in your home country - if you are already being monitored or decide to be monitored, the plug to start that process is way simpler when using a server in the same authoritative jurisdiction? 

For example, we know that AirVPN would not disclose any information, but if there was already in place passive/active sniffers at the DC's where the servers are ran from - they could essentially bypass the need to request information from AirVPN?

Is that why it's recommended?

[Snowsuit8087 4]

Quote

Under a security point of view, picking a server outside the country you live in is a superior choice: an adversary with the ability to monitor your Internet line will have more difficulties in re-building your connections paths and enlarge its monitoring powers into different jurisdictions.

From the FAQ: Why don't you add many more servers locations?

[victorab 12]

This kind of questions, like many others in the cybersecurity field, will mainly depend of your personal context, who are you trying to protect from, and the criticality of what you're trying to protect.
Trying to protect yourself from hackers is not the same from trying to protect from local police agencies which is also different to protect from the NSA so the answer will depend.
If you don't want your government to arrest you then yes, theoricaly (again it will depend of the agency you try to hide from) it's better to select a server outside your juridiction. 
Why? Because it will be harder for them to gain/ask access to this server and the legal procedure will be way more paintful for them, without even be sure that it will succeed.
But if you are just torrenting the last Spider-man, nobody will never ever care. 
 

[rx_man123 6]

On 8/31/2023 at 6:22 PM, victorab said:

This kind of questions, like many others in the cybersecurity field, will mainly depend of your personal context, who are you trying to protect from, and the criticality of what you're trying to protect.
Trying to protect yourself from hackers is not the same from trying to protect from local police agencies which is also different to protect from the NSA so the answer will depend.
If you don't want your government to arrest you then yes, theoricaly (again it will depend of the agency you try to hide from) it's better to select a server outside your juridiction. 
Why? Because it will be harder for them to gain/ask access to this server and the legal procedure will be way more paintful for them, without even be sure that it will succeed.
But if you are just torrenting the last Spider-man, nobody will never ever care. 
 

I do not think the last part is particularly true. You will have a better chance bitTorrenting in areas that have more lax rules (think Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Iceland etc.) and the Provider is less likely to get a court order inquiry for information. If, at the least, a Provider cannot directly tie you to the piracy, they might be able to tie payment method depending if that was anonymous (read AirVPN privacy policy carefully: they specifically state to use more anonymous payment gateways [BitCoin] but they don't explicitly state why).

[victorab 12]

On 9/4/2023 at 11:44 PM, rx_man123 said:

On 9/1/2023 at 1:22 AM, victorab said:

This kind of questions, like many others in the cybersecurity field, will mainly depend of your personal context, who are you trying to protect from, and the criticality of what you're trying to protect.
Trying to protect yourself from hackers is not the same from trying to protect from local police agencies which is also different to protect from the NSA so the answer will depend.
If you don't want your government to arrest you then yes, theoricaly (again it will depend of the agency you try to hide from) it's better to select a server outside your juridiction. 
Why? Because it will be harder for them to gain/ask access to this server and the legal procedure will be way more paintful for them, without even be sure that it will succeed.
But if you are just torrenting the last Spider-man, nobody will never ever care. 
 

I do not think the last part is particularly true. You will have a better chance bitTorrenting in areas that have more lax rules (think Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Iceland etc.) and the Provider is less likely to get a court order inquiry for information. If, at the least, a Provider cannot directly tie you to the piracy, they might be able to tie payment method depending if that was anonymous (read AirVPN privacy policy carefully: they specifically state to use more anonymous payment gateways [BitCoin] but they don't explicitly state why).

I think you are confusing who the Provider is and what data they own. 
The servers provider(s) are the datacenter owners (like Leaseweb).
The service provider is AirVPN, based in Italy.
AirVPN doesn't own the servers, it rents them from the servers providers. 
The servers providers, depending on the country in which it is located may receive a court rule (which, for movie piracy, is extremely unlikely). Not only they can't tie you to the piracy because of the no log policy, they also don't have any of your payment informations you only gave to AirVPN. Legally, the servers providers only know AirVPN for which they have a commercial contract.

Concerning the privacy policy: Using anonymous payment gateways is very useful in countries where using VPNs are forbidden (Russia, China and many others). It will be way trickier for them to prove that you bought those illegal services.
 

[rx_man123 6]

9 hours ago, victorab said:

I think you are confusing who the Provider is and what data they own. 
The servers provider(s) are the datacenter owners (like Leaseweb).
The service provider is AirVPN, based in Italy.
AirVPN doesn't own the servers, it rents them from the servers providers. 
The servers providers, depending on the country in which it is located may receive a court rule (which, for movie piracy, is extremely unlikely). Not only they can't tie you to the piracy because of the no log policy, they also don't have any of your payment informations you only gave to AirVPN. Legally, the servers providers only know AirVPN for which they have a commercial contract.

Concerning the privacy policy: Using anonymous payment gateways is very useful in countries where using VPNs are forbidden (Russia, China and many others). It will be way trickier for them to prove that you bought those illegal services.
 

I recommend you look deeper into the subject instead of the broad understanding.