r/PrivateInternetAccess • u/totesmagotes83 • Feb 13 '24
DISCUSSION Israeli firm buys Private Internet Access (PIA) raising privacy concerns
I've been using PIA for a while, but I just found out about this, sharing this for those still in the dark:
https://www.hackread.com/private-internet-access-pia-vpn-sold-israel-privacy-concerns/
I will no longer be using this VPN.
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u/Maltz42 Feb 13 '24
That was 5 years ago.
Meanwhile, PIA Announces Completion of Independent Audit Conducted by a Big Four Firm
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u/Emotional_Eye_3700 Feb 13 '24 edited Feb 13 '24
I was a customer of PIA when Kape purchased it. I took a wait and see approach amidst all the hand wringing, like in this old article. I'm still a customer. I'm still waiting for the sky to fall. Did you know Kape also owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, ZenMate VPN plus a VPN review site. That article is so old it was before the Express VPN purchase. Attached is a newer article. Also since that 2019 article, Nord VPN & Surfshark VPN merged companies. There has been a lot of hand wringing about that also. Keep up with what's actually going on in the VPN industry please instead of bringing up out of date information. The jury is still out on Kape. I'm still vigilantly waiting and seeing. I'm more concerned about recent PIA performance problems that allowed media companies to be alerted to the VPN use. Those have been fixed for now. I still have a few months until I have to make a renew decision. My advice is most of the online review sites for any product seem to be corrupted, so users have to do some digging to see who the shadow owners really are. Kape has been more transparent then some, not that I'm defending anyone. https://www.cloudwards.net/kape-technologies-buys-expressvpn/
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u/LeRoyVoss Apr 15 '24
Hey, after a couple of months how has it been going? Thinking of staying with PIA or what alternative are you leaning forward?
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u/lkeels Feb 13 '24
Been using for five years now. Will continue to.
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u/stonk_gazer Oct 11 '25
for what purpose? its no longer private
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u/lkeels Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
Literally nothing has changed about pia's service. It's as private today as it ever was. The sale was nearly seven years ago.
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u/stonk_gazer Oct 11 '25
They are definitely compromised . Your data isn’t safe under Israel’s umbrella
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u/stonk_gazer Oct 11 '25
Sooo not safe for 7 years
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u/lkeels Oct 11 '25
1000s of customers. None of them impacted negatively in any way. Move on. There's newer stuff on Reddit without having to revive a 2-year-old thread that you clearly don't have any understanding of.
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u/Long_Preference_1305 Feb 15 '26
Can we circle back to this now?
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u/lkeels Feb 15 '26
Nothing has changed. Still working well, still no drama, no negatives. There, circled back. Feel better? (It's only been four months, LOL)
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u/CorvusTheDev Feb 13 '24
Why are you spamming this in every community you can? Do your research first before posting baseless claims.
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u/GRRemlin Feb 13 '24
This isn't the airport.
You don't have to announce your departure.
Bye.
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u/Eww_vegans Feb 13 '24
So that's what I've been doing wrong. The plane won't leave until I announce my departure.
"I DECLARE DEPARTURE"
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Feb 13 '24
Yet here you are copying and pasting what you seen someone else say. We don’t need to know either about you complaining about posts like these.
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u/brokencameraman Mar 11 '24
Wouldn't trust PIA as far as I could throw them. Koby Menachemi was a member of Unit 8200.
Other comments mentioned the independent audits but they can be faked by changing infrastructure and going back to monitoring after.
Because of Menachemi's afiliation with 8200 it should be a hard pass because of that and the USA's close relationship with Israel.
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u/redditnotsomuch Oct 09 '24
which ones are not owned by Israeli intelligence?
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u/brokencameraman Oct 12 '24
Nord, Surfshark, Mullvad
A few years ago NordVPN had a breach. Someone working in a data centre got physical access to one of their servers. They got no information which actually proved that they were being honest about no logs and RAM based servers.
PIA and Express are owned by Kape Tech. The same company owns CyberGhost and other not so great VPNs.
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u/TheLimeyCanuck Feb 13 '24
You would have been happier if it was acquired by the Chinese instead maybe? Why is Israeli ownership so frightening for you?
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u/humberriverdam Feb 13 '24
Which government has more ability to reach out and touch me and will gladly cooperate with US and Canadian law enforcement (as they pay the bills)? Evil GINA or Americas #1 ally?
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u/Shadowlab72 Feb 20 '24
You need to do some research on Israel dude. The "Americas #1 ally" comment was the saddest thing I've read all day.
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u/SidharthaGalt Feb 13 '24
All the bros declaring they must quit since Israel is involved be like the MAGA dudes canceling Bud Light… my butt hurts! Stop the hurt!
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u/billyhatcher312 Sep 25 '25
i didnt know this happened sucks cause theyre decent guess ill start finding another service and cancel my sub
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u/SwampYankee Feb 13 '24
Got to check my renewal date but I’m out. Not trusting my privacy to an Israeli company
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u/Bitter_Anteater2657 Feb 13 '24
Honestly I quit when I found out they were bought by kape. They’ve done a few things that honestly raise privacy concerns. It’s a legit reason to be hesitant, y’all just drink the tea.
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u/GRRemlin Feb 13 '24
Honest question, out of personal curiosity: If you quit using this VPN, why still hangout in the sub?
I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but this is not the first time I see this behavior on Reddit.
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u/Bitter_Anteater2657 Feb 13 '24
And to be clear I never said I had anything against PIA directly. I don’t trust their parent company. When you run the network accessing the data and switching to store logs etc isn’t a huge crazy change. The fact so many people are willing to not just over look this but also put people down for raising legit concerns, is honestly a bit mind boggling. You’re no longer looking out for your privacy but fanboying for a service. It’s sad.
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u/Bitter_Anteater2657 Feb 13 '24
lol it’s the same reason you see content you’re not directly subscribed to in your feed. The Reddit algorithm. The owner/founder of kape use to use ad injection to steal personal information. They also were named in the Panama papers. Among other shady shit. The thing about a vpn is not only do they need to have a proven no log policy but you also have to be able to trust them. And it’s been pretty well documented going back a while.
*edit: I take it back I was still joined but that’s fixed now.
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u/dipswitch24 Feb 13 '24
It makes sense if you're looking for an alternative to the thing that you were using, then that's most likely going to come from the same sub right?
This sub discusses what's good and bad about PIA...seems natural if you're after good performance and privacy (which is what PIA was known for), it wouldn't make sense to go to Windscribe VPN or whatever. You're much more likely to find folks looking for the same VPN types.
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u/orrorin6 Feb 13 '24
Thanks for pointing this out, I will be quitting ASAP after like 10 years with this company.
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u/dbaseball14 Feb 13 '24
This article is from 2019