Sessions logging, 5, 9, and 14 eyes, as well as PRISM

Concepts such as session logging, 5, 9 and 14 eyes as well as PRISM often appear when discussing online privacy and state-of-the-art mass monitoring. Below you will find a series of brief statements on the concepts how they can affect you and how they are related VPN and their choice.

The summary of the following is that private individuals everywhere on Earth are largely monitored by the state - also in Denmark. If you do not want to be monitored on the Internet, it is anonymous VPN service that does not store compromising user data, a good safeguard against this monitoring.

We are on VPNinfo.dk of the ideological conviction that people have a right to privacy and that the slogan that you only object to surveillance if you have something to hide is pure nonsense. At the same time, it must be emphasized that this position does not mean that we in any way approve that VPN used to hide criminal or immoral acts.

Session logging in Denmark

Most people consider Denmark to be a free country with freedom of speech, where the state generally leaves the population alone. However, there is a long way to go from there to the reality, where mass surveillance is practiced on a national scale to a large extent in the form of so-called session logging.

Session logging means that telecommunications companies are required by law to store data about users' use of their services and, upon request, share them with the authorities. For use of the Internet, it is an IP address (which can be used to track the user), the time and the services / sites that have been used.

From 2007-2014, it was statutory for telecommunications companies and during that time, 3500 billion records of Danes' use of the Internet and mobile telephony were stored and stored.

In 2014, the legal requirement for session logging of internet traffic was repealed, but despite an EU ban on precisely that type of surveillance, the government, led by Minister of Justice Søren Pape, is working to implement a new bill that will once again make session logging mandatory.

There are still legal requirements for logging mobile telephony, which is about registering who you have called or texted to, when it took place and which mast you were connected to. The data must be stored for one year.

The argument for session logging is that the data can be used by police etc. for the investigation of crimes, although it i.a. it was precisely the lack of the same property that led to the repeal of the statutory requirement in 2014.

5, 9, and 14 eyes

5 eyes , 9 eyes and 14 eyes are the names of international alliances between various states that, to one extent or another, carry out mass surveillance on their nation's citizens. The collaborations are based on the fact that the states involved have entered into agreements to collect and share intelligence on their citizens. The result is that the alliances in practice function as a global surveillance network that spies on and stores data on citizens' use of the internet.

5 eyes: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The official name for the 5 eyes is the UKUSA Agreement.

9 eyes: 5 eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Denmark's involvement with, among others, the USA was revealed, among so many other disturbing matters, in Edward Snowden's leaks regarding US mass surveillance.

14 eyes: 9 eyes plus Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Germany. The official name is SIGINT Seniors Europe.

This includes a number of other partners, such as Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and all British territories.

As a resident of Denmark, which is part of the 9 and 14 eyes alliances, it is therefore subject to the worldwide network of mass surveillance carried out across borders. What actually happens is out of reach of ordinary people, but there is no doubt that there is mass screening and registration.

PRISM

PRISM is the code name for an American surveillance program that was revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013. The program was started in 2003, reportedly with the aim of only monitoring non-American citizens, but Snowden's leak revealed that PRISM is also used to monitor American citizens.

PRISM is run by the NSA (US intelligence) and uses "backdoors" to monitor data traffic from giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. They all deny that the NSA should have direct access to the companies' servers, but do not deny cooperating with the NSA.

How can VPN protect against mass monitoring?

As described, session logging assumes that IP addresses, time, and used service / site are recorded and stored. Here is the IP address that can be traced back to the user via the ISP. With a VPNconnection, however, the user's IP address is hidden by encryption and replaced with the address on VPNserver.

If you try to track the user, the track will therefore be "cold" when it comes to VPNserver. However, one must be aware that one VPNprovider who stores logs over the users' use of the service can hand them over to the authorities, which can subsequently trace the user.

It is therefore of great importance to choose one VPNprovider that does not log user data and if you want to be extra secure, one should also choose one VPNprovider who does not have headquarters in one of the above countries. Therefore:

• Use one VPNconnection to secure your internet connection
• Make sure yours VPNprovider does not store personal user data
• Preferably select one VPNprovider in a non-participating country 14 eyes 

Session logging is, as described, not in use on internet connections at the moment, but if the government is willing, it can quickly change. However, mobile phone connections are loose, so there is not much privacy left. VPNconnections have no influence on telephone calls and text messages, but if you also want to be anonymous here, you can e.g. clear his calls and text messages Whatsapp (free independent text messaging and VoIP service) while connected to a VPN.

In conclusion, we would like to repeat that we are VPNinfo.dk is of the firm belief that people have the right to privacy, but that we in no way regard the above as an invitation to use VPN and the like for criminal or immoral acts.