Private Internet Access to expand network with 30 geo-located regions
As part of its ongoing VPN Network Expansion Plan, Private Internet Access is proud to announce the addition of 30 geo-located regions in June. These geo-located regions will still be bare metal VPN servers located in safe data centers under privacy-respecting regulations as is our standard for performance. The key difference is that to provide the geo-located region, they will use an IP address registered to the target country to provide our users with the ability to geolocate to these locations safely and privately. These geo-located regions will be clearly marked with a globe icon in our server list. Furthermore, there will be a settings option to remove all geo-located regions from the VPN server list. Additionally, these geo-located VPN locations will never be selected when using the Auto-connect function. Transparency has always and will always be a core value at Private Internet Access and that is why these geo-located regions will always be properly disclosed.
A secure solution to a recurring problem
Private Internet Access has previously closed down physical, bare-metal servers and relationships with our datacenter partners in these regions due to regulatory and security issues. As an example, Private Internet Access stopped offering a physical server in Russia in 2016 after local authorities seized our servers in a failed attempt to gain information on our users. Since Private Internet Access keeps no logs, they weren’t able to access anything. In 2018, a similar incident occurred in South Korea and we stopped offering a South Korean VPN exit gateway. In 2019, Private Internet Access closed down its Brazilian exit gateways due to internet regulations in the region that could be used to attempt to force VPN servers to log. Private Internet Access puts the security and privacy of its users first and foremost and hasn’t returned to these regions despite continuing location requests from our user base. Besides regions where the regulations don’t allow us to provide a VPN exit node that fits PIA’s standards, there are also regions where the performance of local infrastructure isn’t conducive to hosting a full feature, high speed VPN server. Geo-located regions are a solution to both of these hurdles that have previously prevented us from providing the VPN exit nodes that our customers want to use.
Private Internet Access to start providing geo-located regions
Because the underlying physical VPN servers are located in regions with proper internet regulations and infrastructure at our trusted data center partners, along with our proven no log policy, users can rest assured that these geo-located regions are safe to use. The addition of these geo-located regions will make Private Internet Access’s network of VPN servers one of the largest and most diverse in the industry.
