Skip to main content
This blog post is 4 years old and may be out of date.

FAQ: New national security law - Hong Kong

Privacy 

We frequently get questions about HK and its new security law.
The most common question is “Why haven’t you already pulled out of HK altogether?”, but some customers emphasize the need of servers in HK and voice their concern that we might withdraw.

Our VPN service, as well as our relays and bridges, can be used for many reasons and in many different ways. However, if you have privacy concerns, it might be good to choose a server location in a jurisdiction YOU prefer. Also consider using Multihop. Deciding on a location could be based on jurisdiction, network quality, blocking and throttling, and many other factors.

For instance, you can use our bridge service with Singapore as an entry location and the U.S. as an exit location if that’s a combination that fits your needs. Alternatively, you can use the Multihop function in WireGuard. The traffic will be encrypted from your computer to the exit server, and the bridge or WG server in the middle will just route traffic to the exit node without being able to decrypt it. Depending on your threat model, using two locations with different jurisdictions might be beneficial.

Different Multihop options

You -> Bridge -> OpenVPN
You -> WG server entry -> WG server exit
You -> WG server entry -> SOCKS5 proxy on another WG server as an exit point

Any of the above in combination with another VPN service or the TOR network is also an option.

Due to SOCKS5 not being encrypted, we don’t recommend using the You -> WG -> SOCKS5 setup if the WG server is deemed to be in an non-preferred country. (Though SOCKS5 traffic is sent via a WireGuard tunnel between the WireGuard servers.)

Completely removing all servers from a given location will block all the above options for that location. We let the client choose what locations to use and not to use.

Conclusion: If you are in a l­­ocation and are expressing opinions against that location’s regime, you should most likely not use any VPN server location accessible to that regime. We will keep our servers in HK.

We will continue monitoring the situation, and our decision might change over time

Read more

  1. Multihop with WireGuard
  2. Different entry/exit node using WireGuard and SOCKS5 proxy
  3. How to use Bridge mode (in the app)
  4. Swedish legislation relevant to us as a VPN provider
  5. 5, 9, or 14 Eyes: Is your VPN actually safe?