Category: Info

Are VPNs legal in Australia? Yes, they are. There’s no specific legislation in place that bans the use of VPNs within the country. However, it’s important to note that using a VPN doesn’t grant legal immunity. Any activity that is considered illegal without a VPN remains illegal when utilizing one, such as copyright infringement through accessing overseas streaming services. Additionally, keep in mind that legislation around this topic is continually evolving.

Furthermore, some Australian government departments even advocate for the use of VPNs, particularly for business applications. They offer comprehensive guidelines on how to use VPNs in a business setting in a legally compliant manner. This support underscores the accepted and legitimate role VPNs can play in enhancing online security and privacy.

However, while VPN use is legal, it is not beyond scrutiny. The Assistance and Access Bill of 2018 has implications for the general landscape of online privacy in Australia. This legislation requires technology and telecommunications providers to create a “back-door” to their services, effectively allowing government agencies access to encrypted communications. This stipulation raises concerns about the potential weakening of encryption standards and the associated risks of becoming a global weak point in terms of data security.

As it relates to VPNs, most reputable providers adhere to a strict no-logging policy, which means that they do not store user data. This policy significantly reduces the risk of data being handed over to government agencies, even if requested. For instance, NordVPN’s No-Logging Policy has been audited and verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich, Switzerland.

It’s also worth mentioning that many VPN providers are based in countries with stringent privacy laws, offering them a degree of protection from such requests. Even though the Assistance and Access Bill could technically extend to foreign companies with Australian subsidiaries, it’s unclear how this would play out, as we are not aware of any major VPN provider with operations in Australia.

In conclusion, while the legality of VPN use in Australia is clear, the landscape is dynamic due to evolving legislation and considerations around online privacy and security. At present, Australians can legally use VPNs, provided they are used for legal activities. As always, users should stay informed about changes in the legal landscape to ensure ongoing compliance.

Disclaimer: This article should not be interpreted as legal advice. It is always recommended to consult with a legal professional for advice related to specific circumstances.

The number of Australian VPN users has been on a steady rise over the past couple of years. One primary reason for this is that subscribing to premium VPN services has become increasingly cheaper. Not to mention the fact that now there are dozens out there, each competing for your hard-earned dollars. However, with so many companies selling VPN services, it is easy to get confused.

To keep things simple, what if you just wanted to use a VPN service to anonymize and secure your internet browsing? You could use a full-blown VPN, like many we have reviewed over the years. Though the alternative is you could use an extension like a Google Chrome extension.

A Google extension, for the most part, can be turned on each time you want to stay anonymous online. The extension goes beyond the barebones incognito mode built into Chrome. The VPN extension can be used to mask your location, so you are invisible to all the websites assessed. So, the next logical question is which are the best chrome extensions in terms of privacy, security, and price? Well, that’s exactly what we’ll examine in this article.

Express VPN Chrome Extension

The Chrome extension by Express VPN is a fuss-free affair with a pretty easy to use interface. Though there are a couple of settings, you can play around with like WebRTC blocking and location spoofing. Despite the various settings it is still possible to click and go with the extension.

While the Chrome extension will require that you are a paid user, the extension also allows for you to teak the Windows app too. The fact that the extension opens the app when you want to make a few changes can be frustrating and annoying at the same time. But as it turns out it is necessary for true security and privacy.

The speeds are pretty good with the extension. However, it can be better, and that’s something we hope will be fixed with future updates. We prefer Express VPN’s Chrome extension in Australia because it comes backed by a full VPN suite by the company. Not to mention the over 2000+ servers across the world and each one offers excellent performance across the board.

Nord VPN’s Chrome Extension

Nord VPN’s Chrome extension is a bit strange or weird for many reasons. Nord VPN’s extension is a lot like ExpressVPN’s extension in terms of it offering a single click affair, but Nord tends to take things a few steps further.

Users have very little room to maneuver with the app. Choosing a server is limited to choosing a country. For instance, if you want to connect to an Australian server, you just choose Australia as the country and which server it ends up connecting to is a toss up between all the ones available. We assume it chooses the fastest server but have no way of proving it.

The only downside of Nord’s VPN Chrome extension is that the speed isn’t always good. Remember when we said that our assumption was it connected to the fastest server, our speed tests showed that many times the speed was slower than it should have been. Though your mileage may vary.

TunnelBear Chrome Extension

The TunnelBear Chrome extension is free which is arguably its biggest perk, and it has a pretty smooth signup process. Once the extension is installed, you’re taken to the signup page where you are asked to register a username and password. It takes a total of 3 minutes to get set up and started.

The only issue is that the free account entitles you to just 500MB of bandwidth a month. Obviously, it isn’t enough for most people. Not to mention their varying server speeds. That said if you feel that the service works fine for you, it is possible to pay for more bandwidth and it still works out to be a lot cheaper than the competition.

ZenMate Chrome Extension

Australians will find that the ZenMate Chrome extension offers a pretty good deal as it costs nothing. The speeds for a free service are pretty decent, not to mention loads of extra options and various other stuff that you won’t normally find with a free extension. That said the premium version is only free for a week.

The so-called freebie is meant to lure people into using the service, getting used to its speed and performance after which they need to buy it. After a weeklong trial, you’re down to the free model if you don’t pay.  The free version is good but not as great as the paid version. That said you’ll find the stable server connections are a huge perk even when compared to the competition which can charge you up to 25% more.

Conclusion

Finally, we feel that it is essential to stress the difference between full-blown VPN apps and Chrome extensions. VPN apps will secure your entire internet connection and every app that accesses the internet. Though the Chrome extension is limited solely to the Chrome browser and all the traffic passing through it.

A Chrome extension is only for those who want to browse anonymously. It isn’t a foolproof solution the way a full-blown VPN app is. That said if we had a choice, we’d go for a complete VPN app solution which includes a Chrome extension. That way we have the best of both worlds, but that type of solution isn’t free.

The two most popular and powerful tools for maintaining online privacy and anonymity are Tor and VPN.

Both Tor and VPN, however, are vastly different tools and come with a unique set of advantages and disadvantages.

In this article, we’ll give you an overview of both Tor and VPN and decide which is superior once and for all.

Tor

With Tor, information is exchanged from your computer via the Tor network rather than connecting directly to the internet destination. This makes sure that you remain anonymous and no third-party has access to any of your information.

Advantages

1. Tor is completely decentralized with hundreds of scattered networks around the world. As such, there’s no headquarters or a single entity that can be attacked for information. This makes it impossible to shut down Tor. Furthermore, due to its decentralized nature, there’s no single institution that the government can coerce into providing information about you.
2. Tor is one of the most anonymous means of surfing the internet.

Disadvantages

1. To ensure anonymity, messages in the Tor network go through over three servers and get encrypted and decrypted repeatedly. This makes it extremely slow, and you could potentially be waiting minutes or even hours to simply stream visual content.
2. Tor is run entirely by volunteers and there’s no central source to finance it or keep it running. As such, several of the servers are old and have terrible networks. This further slows down the network.
3. There’s the likelihood that one of the volunteers working on Tor might not be entirely trustworthy. There’s no central authority you can hold accountable for any data breach or violation of trust.
4. Tor cannot be used on Apple devices like iPhones and iPads.

VPN

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, essentially routes your connection through an external private server. VPNs consist of a network of servers distributed across various countries. Upon using the VPN service, your information is transmitted to that network and then proceeds to its actual destination. This hides your current IP address, encrypts your online data, and makes sure that your activities are private.

Advantages

1. All your messages are completely encrypted. As such, no one — not your ISP, not the government, and not even the VPN service itself — can intercept the data. This is a useful tool for countries with a high degree of government censorship.
2. Your internet speed is slowed down, but only by a negligible degree, especially if you use a powerful and reliable paid VPN service. In most cases, you shouldn’t even experience any inconvenience.
3. VPNs can be installed and accessed within a few short moments. Anyone can access it.
4. You get to choose which external server you’d like to connect to. As such, you can bypass geographical restrictions and pretend to be in another location than the one you’re in.
5. VPNs are compatible with all browsers and devices — iPhones, iPads, Android phones, Linux OS, Windows, Mac, all of them.

Disadvantages

1. Sometimes, the VPN software in your computer can fail. This can temporarily expose your activities. To prevent this from happening, you should use a paid VPN service with a kill switch feature. That will immediately shut down your browser the moment the VPN disconnects. As such, your internet activities will never be exposed.
2. Some VPN services keep logs of your activities. As such, government bodies could potentially enforce them to give up your private information. To avoid this, you should only use trustworthy VPN services like ExpressVPN with a strict NO LOGGING policy.
3. In order to ensure that the connection between your computer and the VPN server is strong, the encryption used needs to be strong. However, some of the VPN services use weaker encryption methods that can be broken. When looking for VPN services, make sure they use the industry-grade 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard.

Tor vs. VPN: The Verdict

When you compare Tor and VPN, it’s clear that VPN is far superior.

For one, Tor is incredibly slow and it will make you want to smash your computer in frustration. And yes, VPN also comes with disadvantages, however, all of those drawbacks can easily be overcome. If you get a reliable paid VPN service that provides a Kill Switch feature, has a No Logging policy, and uses 256-bit AES encryption, you won’t experience any of the stated problems.

All things considered, I believe a reliable VPN will always trump over the antiquated Tor server.

If you want to ensure that your online activities remain private, your best bet is to use a VPN.

Governments around the world have gotten more and more invasive in regards to online anonymity. Just recently, the Australian government passed a bill that can enforce technology companies to hand over private internet usage data to them

In this article, we’ll show you how you can protect your privacy by setting us a VPN.

What is a VPN and why do I need it?

VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is one in which a user’s IP address is replaced with that of a Virtual Private Network provider. For example, you might live in Perth, but you can make it seem like you live in San Francisco or New York.

This has a number of benefits. However, the most important is that it makes it impossible for third parties to gain access to your internet activities. Whatever you do online is kept secure and anonymous. Furthermore, most VPN services have a strict No Logging policy. As such, they cannot reveal their users’ information even if the government legally enforces them to.

Furthermore, a VPN can also be used to bypass geographical restrictions. For example, Netflix filters content based on the country that the user is accessing it from at the moment. If you need to view content available in some other country, you can use VPN to fool Netflix into thinking you’re in that country.

For these reasons — and many others — a VPN can prove extremely useful.

Which VPN Service to use?

There are a number of VPN services out there. However, two of the best VPN services with locations in Australia are NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

NordVPN has over 4,400 servers across 62 countries, out of which 204 are located in Australian cities like Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney. ExpressVPN has over 2,000 servers in 94 countries, with over 100 located in Australian cities. Furthermore, both follow a strict No Logging policy. As such, both of them are ideal VPNs to use.

How to Set Up VPN?

Once you have decided which VPN service to use, you need to simply download and set it up. You can do so in the following steps:

• After you purchase the correct VPN, you’ll have to provide your contact details, including your email address. A link will be sent to your email.
• The link will take you to a webpage from which you can download the VPN for the relevant device or devices, be it a smartphone, Windows computer, Mac, iPhone, etc.
• After downloading the file, you’ll receive an activation code.
• Install the VPN software or app.
• After installation, launch it and ‘Sign In’ with your account details as provided during purchase.
• You will now have to enter your activation code.
• Now you’ll be signed into the VPN.
• You’ll get an option to select a location of your choice. You can click on that to get a list of server locations. You can select the server that you want. If you’re using VPN to access Netflix, you can set up the server according to the country for which you want content. For example, if you want to access American Netflix, you can set up the server for New York, California, etc.
• After selecting the server, turn VPN on.

The aforementioned steps might differ slightly from one service to the next. But this should be the general template to follow.

After you have set your VPN, you can start surfing the internet as you want without any fears of your private data being accessed by anyone else!