Why and how do we keep clients log on our public servers for 30 days?

[trudyhood]

We try to explain how VPN privacy works on the internet most truthfully. Please read this article and not let misleading and confusing advertisements fool you.

First of all, VpnHood is an open-source solution. You can install it on your servers and connect to it. In this case, it does not keep any log unless you want to. We don’t care what you do on your server.

Secondly, we save the timestamp, the opened port on our servers, and the client IP in our log; we do not save the destination IP address, so we cannot find what website you browse.

Why do we start keeping this log?

We are not interested in what you and our users do. However, the problem arose when we started receiving frequent “Notices of Claimed Infringement” that indicate the IP owner is responsible for illegal activities such as torrenting copyrighted materials. It mentions that if we do not stop these activities, they will terminate our contract.

So indirectly, we have to keep some log to delegate our responsibility or stop it. If you know of any affordable cloud hosting that doesn’t send such notices, just let us know!

So, how do we use our logs without tracing what users do?

We do not save what you browse, so no one can find what you do by checking the logs. However, you should know that tracing happens beyond our network. When some Infringement activity happens, we get a notice from global trackers or destination addresses that tells us the time stamp, source IP, and port. We can trace the log, find the client, and act accordingly with this information.

How do some VPN providers claim they do not save user traces?

We are not sure what they really do, but you can read their “Terms of Service,” for example, read NordVPN's "Terms of Service" under the section of Prohibited:

You can find similar terms of license almost everywhere from any VPN hosting; we believe it is deceptive and a hypocrite. The question is how they can enforce their terms when there is no trace and log! For more information, you can read the following article:
Why you should be skeptical about a VPN's no-logs claims

What do you think?

We hope it is convincing and you don't blame us for being honest. We are network experts who provide network software solutions. We are not freedom activists or lawyers. If you have any questions or comments regarding this policy, please feel free to discuss them here.