There was a recent bit in the news about a group of hackers named 'lulzsec' hacking into a bunch of places like Sony, some newspapers, and even some UK government agencies. What else in new. However, a tangent that came off of this news report is from the way that they found some of these guys. One thing led to another, and they discovered that Hide My Ass, a VPN service, was used by lulzsec to hack these sites anonymously. VPN services are used world wide as a way to connect to the internet anonymously, or invisibly, and the fact that the UK government was able to find lulzsec though HMA sparked quite a backlash from VPN users, torrent fans, and especially HMA customers. IF HMA is used to hide your identity online, why did they expose lulzsec? Is you private data safe with VPN services like Hide My Ass?

There are of course two sides to the story, but basically, most of you have nothing to worry about. Luckily, HMA had their "A-game" on, and responded not only to users who left comments on their blog, but also to some other blogging communities who reacted to this situation. The point that can be taken from HMA's responses is that HMA is British company, and if you use HMA to break UK law, then your identity is not safe. Otherwise, you've got nothing to worry about. Still, this didn't convince all users - many who were under the impression that VPNs could be used for complete anonymity, no matter what you do online.

I think that HMA has a great point. They went on to say that no illegal activity is supported by VPN services, and if you use a VPN that gives you the go-ahead for illegal stuff like child-porn, hacking government agencies, and the like, do you think you can really trust this kind of service in the first place? If you use a VPN, remember that there ARE some conditions to your anonymity online.

HMA had their guns loaded and hit a lot of good points on their blog. For example, if VPN providers say that they don't keep logs how can they locate abusive users?

And in reaction to the fear that VPN services will mask your IP address, and then "sell you out" at the pending threat of any government - this is far from the truth. Accessing Facebook and Twitter is illegal in some Middle Eastern and Asian countries, but not in The UK - HMA only answers to the UK courts. Many "hacker-types" responded to this behavior by calling HMA a coward and sellout, but how else would you expect them to run a legitimate VPN service form the UK if they break UK law? Other VPN services will most likely follow suit, but be sure to ask questions before you choose a service.