Are VPNs legal in the US? Seemingly this is the question that a lot of Americans wonder. While VPNs are, in general, permitted to use, many people worry about their legality within their country of residents. Read on to find out if VPNs are legal in the US.
Read more: 5 Best VPN for the USA
Are VPNs Legal in the US?
To answer this straight away; yes, VPNs are legal in the US. No laws or regulations are prohibiting their use on American soil.
Knowing as VPNs managed to earn a bit of a shady reputation in the past; I understand why people continuously doubt their legality. However, VPNs are essentially cyber-security tools and as such is not prohibited to use.
However, it is worth noting that while VPNs are in and of themselves legal, you still need to make sure you’re using the VPN correctly.
For as long as you’re using a VPN to maintain your privacy and security and to stream legal content of the internet, you’re fine. Do not use a VPN for illegal activities.
VPN Explained
As I stated above, a VPN is primarily a cyber-security tool. VPNs have two basic functionalities:
1) Encrypting your data.
2) Re-routing your traffic through their own secure servers.
As an additional bonus, a VPN spoof your IP. Since a VPN re-routes all of your traffic, our public IP address ends up changing to reflect the location of the server you connected to. Websites and apps use IP bans, usually, to restrict access to their services based on your location. In other words, VPNs give you the ability to bypass geo-restrictions based on the servers you choose to connect to.
Therefore, while VPNs do give you access to blocked sites, that is not their primary function. There’s nothing in a VPN’s functionality that is, by nature, illegal.
Having said that, some people have used VPNs for unlawful reasons, which does put them at risk of being caught out, fined, or even jailed.
Why the People of US Use VPN?
There is a good lot of reason which is why the people in the US use VPN, but the main reasons are:
- Protect your data at all times. Since VPNs regularly encrypt your data while active, they work as great tools to keep data theft at bay. In other words, your online data will remain secure even if the attacker employed malicious tactics to try and get at your information.
- Torrent Anonymously. VPNs let you use P2P file-sharing networks without the risk of showing your real IP address to the other users since your real IP address changes based on the server you use.
- Stop third-parties from tracking your connection. A VPN tunnels your internet traffic when it re-routes it. This makes it nearly impossible for a third-party to watch what you are doing online, even if it’s your ISP. This is especially handy for privacy-oriented Americans since the USA is part of the Five Eyes organization.
- Mask your IP address. Americans can use a VPN to browse the web anonymously without anyone finding out their real geo-location.
- Gain access to geo-restricted content. Many VPN users in the US enjoy benefiting from a VPN’s ability to spoof their IP address. This way, they can access sites and apps that are geo-blocked in the US.
- Bypass Blackouts: Americans know that watching a Sports game, whether it be football, basketball, or baseball, from a different state is almost impossible. With a VPN, Americans can bypass those blackouts and access all of the Sports they want.
Read more: VPN Guide – Everything a Beginner Needs to Know About VPN
Best VPN for the US
Have a look at the following list to learn about the best VPN for the US that we recommend:
1. NordVPN
2. ExpressVPN
3. Surfshark
4. CyberGhost
5. Private Internet Access
Conclusion
Using a VPN is entirely legal in the US as long as it is used for their security, privacy, and (legal) streaming capabilities. Using a VPN for illegal acts online does mean that you might face severe repercussions from the American government. That being said, as long as you’re not abusing your VPN subscription, you can rest assured that you’re entirely within your rights to use these tools.
