Australia has seen a significant increase in VPN use over the past half year or so, owing to two high-profile legal changes. First, social media companies are now obliged to block users under 16, meaning kids have looked to VPNs to appear as though they’re located overseas. Second, the government has ordered providers of adult material like pornography to verify that Australian users are over 18, meaning local visitors are met with requests for video selfies or ID cards which they may not care to provide. The thing to remember is that accessing the information is not a crime.
In these laws, the onus is on the service provider to gatekeep. That does mean they will attempt to identify you as an Australian, but it does not make you a criminal if you take steps to keep that information away from them. These particular checks and verification methods may not present a significant privacy or security risk, but we are in an era of increased digital surveillance and identity fraud, so some people will opt to use a VPN and it remains a legal choice. Are there risks associated with VPN use?
There are downsides to using a VPN. Primarily, while neither your ISP nor the web service you’re connected to can see a whole picture of your activity, your VPN provider can. At least in theory. If the VPN you’re using is free, or cheap, there’s a risk your provider is paying its bills by logging your data and selling it.
A high-quality VPN provider will want to protect its reputation by proving that it doesn’t even collect this data, with what’s referred to as a no-log policy.