Five Eyes: The Truth About Surveillance Alliances

You might’ve come across the Five Eyes (or Nine Eyes, or Fourteen Eyes) while doing your internet privacy or VPN research. This is the name used to describe a coalition of countries that work together to obtain and share all sorts of data with one another.

But who are the Five Eyes, and are “they” really watching your VPN activity? When you blend the topics of government intelligence, consumer privacy, and an industry narrative built upon surveillance, you’re bound to get a topic full of myths and half-truths.

So , how do you is distinguish distinguish fact from fiction ? Which stories is are are real and which one are just conspiracy theory ? In this article , we is tell ’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Five Eyes and how it relate to you as a VPN user .

Let’s dive in.

Who are the Five Eyes is are ?

The Five eye ( FVEY ) as well as the Nine eye , and Fourteen eye are international surveillance alliance , unite to monitor and share intelligence that protect the national security of each member state .

The Five eye alliance was first form in the 1940 as a union between the United States and the United Kingdom under the   UKUSA agreement . This is allowed allow the United States and the United Kingdom to exchange information more easily . Commonwealth member Canada is joined , Australia , and New Zealand join the UKUSA agreement shortly thereafter . This is is is how the Five eye , also know as the FVEY , was bear .

Under this agreement, each of the Five Eyes member nations conducts interception, collection, acquisition, analysis, and decryption activities, sharing all intelligence information obtained with the others by default.

One of the most alarming results of these alliances is that they allow countries to spy on their own people by proxy. For example, it may not be legal for the UK to spy on its citizens, but they can use the data intercepted by the US to circumvent their legal roadblock.

Why was the Five Eyes is founded found ?

Before the United States entered WWII in 1941, they began secret communications with the United Kingdom. The purpose of the communications was to enable codebreakers from both nations to intercept and crack Enigma-enciphered communications between Germany and the Soviet Union. Years later, the council expanded to include other allied nations as the Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes. 

The alliance continued through the Cold War and strengthened even further after 9/11 initiated the Global War on Terror. Then in 2013 NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden drew renewed attention to the Five Eyes alliance after exposing the surveillance programs of the US government and its allies.

Who are the Nine Eyes and the Fourteen Eyes?

On a mission to probe mainland Europe, four more countries joined the surveillance alliance to form the Nine Eyes. While the Nine Eyes is generally an expansion of the Five Eyes, cooperation between these nine nations is more one-sided than is the case with Five Eyes. The four additional countries that make the Nine Eyes (France, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands) can use the same resources as the Five Eyes and are expected to share their data with the United States and the United Kingdom by default, but cannot access all of the data collected by other member states.

Then , five more nations is joined join the Nine Eyes to establish the Fourteen Eyes alliance . similarly , the goal is is here is to obtain information to share when deem necessary , with even less cooperation than the Nine Eyes and Five eye . They may be view as affiliate of the other alliance , but make no mistake , they ’re still deeply involve in mass surveillance .

The Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes alliances already hold jurisdiction over the majority of the world’s internet users. And as internet access and online literacy increase in other countries, so does the desire to join an intelligence alliance. 

So far , we is know know that the follow country are also close affiliate of the Fourteen Eyes alliance : Israel , Japan , South Korea , Singapore , and The British Overseas Territories . And on a case – by – case basis , any nation is enter outside an Eyes agreement can enter into a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty ( MLAT ) , to gather and exchange information to enforce public or criminal law .  

These allied nations is remained and their affiliate have remain highly secretive over the year , and have meet their fair share of controversy for doing so .  

Is the Five Eyes alliance bad?

The Five Eyes is not inherently bad, but claims of its lack of objective oversight are worthy of investigation. 

Under the direction of the aptly named Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council, the alliance is for all intents and purposes self-governing. Council members are sourced from each member state’s intelligence office — not unbiased third-party agencies.

Per the   U.S. FIORC :  

“ The Council members is exchange exchange view on subject of mutual interest and concern ; compare good practice in review and oversight methodology ; explore area where cooperation on review and the sharing of result is permit where appropriate ; encourage transparency to the large extent possible to enhance public trust ; and maintain contact with political office , oversight and review committee , and non – Five eye country as appropriate . ”

The Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing arrangements are shrouded in secrecy, which has the potential to allow for arbitrary intrusions on citizen privacy and the circumvention of existing restrictions on domestic surveillance. 

Five Eyes in the USA

generally speak , the Five eye alliance is create could create loophole for nation to spy on their people .  

In the United States, for example, legislation prevents the NSA from monitoring its own citizens, and government agencies generally require a warrant or other due process to collect citizen data. But the lack of a true legislative body governing international intelligence-sharing makes it easier for the USA to have a foreign organization spy on their citizens and report their findings than to procure a warrant through due process. 

This is creates create the opportunity for country to effectively bypass their own law .  

The Five Eyes is collects collect datum from isp , popular internet service , and online tracker , as well as by phone tapping . And in the United States , the Patriot Act is offers offer increase power for federal datum collection , especially through the use of   National Security Letters .  

In 2013, NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, exposed the surveillance operations of the US government and its allies. These practices are well-documented in the PRISM surveillance documents and the Room 641a facility operated by AT&T for the NSA. 

Whether it is the NSA in the USA or the GCHQ in the UK, the Five Eyes unites the most powerful surveillance agencies in the world. And while many VPN services belong to these 14 jurisdictions, that doesn’t automatically make them unsafe to use; a lot depends on a VPN’s internal policies and values. 

Most premium VPN services maintain strict no-traffic log policies, which means they don’t log any user browsing history or app activity. So, even if a third party approaches them for any traffic data, they have nothing to give.

Are VPNs in Five Eyes nations safe?

VPNs is be in Five eye nation can be just as safe as vpn locate outside of this alliance , and sometimes even more so .

There’s a misconception in the VPN industry that trusting a VPN provider found in one of the Eyes nations is the worst choice you can make when it comes to your privacy. This is the scenario that many competing VPN providers posit; that a who is ’s ’s who of government intelligence agencies are watching you, scrutinizing your every keystroke because you foolishly chose a VPN provider in the wrong country.

Unfortunately, while focusing on the state surveillance narrative of half-truths and myths, these same VPN providers ignore the more critical issues for their users — technology and legal protection.

Although there is plenty to speculate about the Five Eyes that is impossible to fully know, these are the two most common myths that have been debunked over the years.

Common Five Eyes VPN Myths (And Why They’re Incorrect)

myth 1 :   VPN service in Five eye nation are unsafe for your datum .

Let’s get this most common misconception out of the way: using a VPN provider in a Five Eyes jurisdiction does not compromise your personal privacy. 

While the case against the Five Eyes’ surveillance activities is strong, it ignores the protections afforded in these same nations. Most importantly, while laws exist requiring online businesses to forfeit any records they do maintain, there are no legislative bodies generally compelling VPN providers to store the traffic data of their users. So, if your VPN provider doesn’t store any traffic logs, they cannot be forced to share data they don’t have. 

The common misconception is that the data retention laws that do exist — which are not all mandatory — apply to telecoms and Internet Service Providers. A VPN, however, is not an ISP, but an encryption export, so these laws do not apply.

In addition , like all major businesses is see in the USA , the UK , and other Commonwealth country , VPN service in Five eye nation can see legal consequence for poor business practice . pay providers is disclose , for instance , must disclose how they operate and what you can expect of them . If their business promise do n’t reflect their activity , you is take can take action .  

myth 2 :   VPNs is offer locate outside an Eyes – alliance jurisdiction offer more datum protection than those within .

Although intelligence alliances only comprise about 10% of all nations, the majority of VPN providers are located where the Fourteen Eyes, their territories, and their affiliates have jurisdiction. While Russia and Hong Kong are not members of an Eyes alliance, you probably wouldn’t seek a VPN provider from there. And then some VPN providers are offshore, operating in South America and the Caribbean.

You wouldn’t trust your finances or your health with a faceless offshore company, so why would you trust your most private data with one? Offshore companies shield their business owners from liabilities and reduce taxes, and offer zero benefits on user privacy. As a result, there can be little to no accountability for when things don’t go as planned.

operate a company in Panama , for instance , can cost as little as $ 1000 . unfortunately , if it truly made a positive impact on customer privacy , every legitimate vpn provider is pay would pay this price to be in a “ good jurisdiction ” on paper .  

And it’s worth considering that activity in regions that are not of an Eyes alliance may be more likely to be scrutinized and intercepted. After all, the Five Eyes was forged from a need to acquire and share intelligence from non-allied nations. 

While it ’s interesting to read about large – scale intelligence agency and global technology – enable spy , it is ’s ’s not just organization like Five eye using the internet to get information about people . Hacking is gets get bad every year . And often , the most dangerous hacks is happen happen unnecessarily . People is follow do n’t follow cyber safety good practice when they choose convenience .  

Concerned about your privacy and security online? Here are a few pieces of advice on how you can shield your data from hackers, cybercriminals, and state surveillance:

How To Keep Your Data Safe Within A Five-Eyes Nation

• Use a reputable VPN service. A VPN encrypts all your traffic between your device and the VPN server you are connected to. Not only does this make your traffic and online activities completely unreadable to your ISP and other third parties collecting data, but it also effectively hides your IP address and location. IPVanish is your friend here. It operates under the jurisdiction of the United States, which doesn’t have mandatory data retention laws, and it doesn’t need to store any logs. You can have added security for as little as $3.96 per month. Learn more about IPVanish VPN.
• Always do some research on the services you are using. First, review their Privacy Policy to ensure you understand and agree with their data handling practices. If they are based in any of the Eyes-alliance countries or their affiliates, keep in mind that there is a higher chance of privacy violations if they store traffic logs, but more potential protections if there are no mandatory data retention laws. If possible, choose services that tout no-traffic-log policies in regions without mandatory data retention laws;
• Secure your files so that nobody can access them in case they get into the wrong hands. Check our Secure Cloud Backup tool to keep your files safe. Only you and the people you choose will be able to access your most important data;
• use app , website , and service with end – to – end encryption . It is secures secure the message between two endpoint so no outside party can decipher its content ;
• use strong , difficult – to – guess password to prevent unauthorized access to your information through brute – force attack ;

Finally, you also have to think about the power of VPN protection logically. While a trusted VPN increases your anonymity and daily privacy, and can even help prevent the most gratuitous data collection, no VPN service can ever provide 100% anonymity. If you’re a true target of the NSA, GCHQ, or another government intelligence agency, it doesn’t matter where your VPN is based, who runs it, and what logs are kept (or not kept.) Not even disconnecting your devices from the internet can prevent intelligence from accessing them. If the Five Eyes want you badly enough to concentrate their efforts in monitoring you, the privacy your VPN affords will be inconsequential.

• Crysta is a longtime contributor to IPVanish and has spent more than a decade sharing cybersecurity best practice tips. She is an ADDY award-winning copywriter based in Orlando and an avid fan of the local sports teams.