VPN failure?

Question

I'm a bit confused. My internet provider sent an email saying that I have been identified as violating copyright rules (essentially) by using a vpn to download copyrighted material.

I thought the main purpose of using a vpn was to avoid such scrutiny.  Am I missing something?

Mike Thompson · Answer

Thank you for your reply.  I appreciate it.  I live in the U.S.  The message came from the company that is the new owner of my ISP and it doesn't address me by name specifically, yet doesn't quite resemble a phishing message.  It did indeed get my attention.

Nathan Kinkead · Answer

What country do you live it?  I know China put some serious anti-VPN laws into place... maybe some others too.

While the VPN hides your traffic from your ISP, your ISP does have the ability to keep a database of known VPN IPs and track users who are connecting to those IPs.  But, that just means they know you're using a VPN.  They don't know if you're doing anything illegal with it.

Nathan Kinkead · Answer

Interesting, what company is it?  Also, is there some kind of required action stated in the letter?  Scams or phishing schemes would probably have a call to action that would result in you thinking you have to pay some money or provide some access credentials.  Definitely watch out for that.