Show Author >

5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes: Surveillance Alliances Explained

It wouldn’t be right to talk about VPNs without mentioning the surveillance alliances of the world. After all, these alliances have a huge impact on the VPN industry. They dictate where service providers can and cannot operate safely.

In this article, you’ll learn everything about Five Eyes and other surveillance alliances and their impact on VPNs. I’ll discuss their histories along with why they should be avoided. I shall also discuss how they affect consumers.

The Surveillance Alliances

Multiple surveillance alliances exist. The most famous of which are the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes Alliances. All of them are aptly named after the number of member states they have.

You are probably wondering what these surveillance alliances do. In simple terms, they work to gather and share mass surveillance information. That information is obtained from citizens in various ways, like emails, documents, and wiretaps. As such, these alliances pose a massive risk to your privacy.

Five Eyes Alliance members have equal access to each other’s intelligence data. The same can’t be said for the Nine and Fourteen Eyes Alliances.

Oftentimes, the member countries of these alliances provide reports and raw data without anything in return. They don’t even get access to resources, assistance, and equipment from the National Security Agency (NSA).

It would be wrong to only concern yourself with the Five Eyes Alliance because of what’s stated above. The reason why is because the two other alliances may also invade your privacy.

VPN services can’t base themselves in member states of the world’s surveillance alliances. It’ll be impossible for them to operate freely in those locations. They’ll have to follow strict privacy and copyright laws or face being shut down.

For that reason, most VPNs are based in countries and territories like Panama and the British Virgin Islands. These places are free from the jurisdiction of any surveillance alliance, making them safe havens for VPNs.

With all that said, there are still many services that operate from surveillance alliance member states. Great examples include IPVanish and Private Internet Access (PIA), both based in the United States.

1. Five Eyes

The Five Eyes Alliance is the oldest and most important surveillance alliance in the world. It has been operating for decades, collecting and analyzing the daily activities of the citizens of member states. Keep in mind that these activities can be either online or offline.

Member states of the Five Eyes Alliance are:

  • United States
  • Canada
  • New Zealand
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia

The original mandate of this alliance was to protect against communist threats. It changed over time to address contemporary issues. In doing so, the member states have taken the opportunity to expand their surveillance within and sometimes outside their borders.

Interestingly, almost nothing was known about the Five Eye Alliance until 2013. All that changed when Edward Snowden leaked information about its activities. The most alarming thing revealed was proof that the United States conducted mass surveillance with the help of ISPs and telcos.

Over its history, lots of well-known individuals have been monitored by the alliance. These include celebrities, politicians, and other public figures. Here’s a list of a few famous personalities that have been targeted:

  • Nelson Mandela
  • John Lennon
  • Kim Dotcom
  • Jane Fonda
  • Angela Merkel
  • Charlie Chaplin
  • Diana, Princess of Wales

Nelson Mandela isn’t a citizen of any member state of the Five Eye Alliance. As such, it’s clear that the alliance’s spying activities are not limited to people within its jurisdiction. Anybody can be a target, which is why you should be careful no matter where you’re from.

Unofficial Five Eyes Partners

The Five Eyes Alliance has unofficial partnerships with a handful of sovereign states. It works with each to procure information that is helpful to its operations. These states may or may not get data in return for their cooperation. Because of that, they don’t share equal status with the official Five Eyes members.

Countries with an unofficial partnership with the Five Eyes Alliance include:

Israel and Japan, in particular, are known to heavily collaborate with the Five Eyes Alliance. The two nations have a lengthy record of sharing information with the organization. If anything, this shouldn’t come as a surprise as they’re both formal allies of the United States and the European Union.

While the United Kingdom has overseas territories, it isn’t known to share much citizen info with them. Moreover, they’re not liable to provide data to the UK as they’ve been granted a high degree of autonomy. For that reason, many VPNs operate from the British Virgin Islands.

2. Nine Eyes

Another major global surveillance alliance is the Nine Eyes Alliance. It is basically an extension of the Five Eyes Alliance, composed of its original members and four other states. These additional states are:

  • France
  • The Netherlands
  • Denmark
  • Norway

The level of cooperation between Nine Eyes member states isn’t that intense. Still, they’re known to share quite a lot of information. This is especially true on matters related to crime, terrorism, and anything that involves national security.

3. Fourteen Eyes

One last important surveillance alliance that drastically affects the VPN industry is the Fourteen Eyes Alliance. Known officially as SIGINT Seniors Europe (SSEUR), it’s yet another extension of the Five Eyes Alliance. Its members include every one of the members of Five and Nine Eyes Alliances, along with 5 more countries. These countries are:

  • Germany
  • Sweden
  • Belgium
  • Spain
  • Italy

The level of cooperation amongst Fourteen Eyes Alliance member states is not as significant as what Five and Nine Eyes members have. Nevertheless, they still frequently share information about their citizens. Hence, it’s still essential to be mindful of the alliance if you’re from or visiting a member state.

4. Others: 41 Eyes and Tier B countries

Apart from the global surveillance alliances mentioned above, there are a few issue-specific intelligence agreements in place. These agreements include all the countries stated earlier, along with many other sovereign states.

Some of these “Tier B” countries include but aren’t limited to:

  • Austria
  • Czech Republic
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Luxembourg
  • Poland
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey

You should always take the right measures to protect your privacy if you hail from these countries. Even if you’re not a citizen, it is essential to know how your privacy and security can be compromised. Do something about this to make sure you never become a victim of unauthorized surveillance.

History of These Alliances

It’s possible to trace the origins of the Five Eyes Alliance and its lesser-known counterparts back to 1941. Back then, the Atlantic Charter came into existence. It established a series of goals for the Allies to fulfill after World War II.

Two years later, the BRUSA Agreement was signed by representatives from the UK and the US. It facilitated cooperation between the nations’ governments. A large part of that included sharing sensitive information obtained from surveillance.

In 1946, the UKUSA Agreement was formalized. This agreement forms the basis of signal intelligence cooperation that’s done between the GCHQ and NSA today.

Within a few years, the agreement got extended to include Canada, Norway, Denmark, West Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. All these countries participated merely as third parties.

In 1955, a newer version of the UKUSA Agreement was created. This “new” version is what we know today as the Five Eyes Alliance. If you’re wondering, the term Five Eyes itself came from “AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY”.

During the Cold War, the Five Eyes Alliance member states mainly focused on fighting the spread of communism. The information they shared with each other was mostly about the Soviet Union, The People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and Eastern Bloc countries.

As the Vietnam War went about, Australian and New Zealand agents worked alongside Americans to provide support. Meanwhile, a task force of British operatives based in Hong Kong monitored Chinese and North Vietnamese defense systems. Countries that are now part of the Nine and Fourteen Eyes Alliances also provided assistance.

By the end of the century, the Five Eyes Alliance and its lesser counterparts had developed a huge global surveillance system. This system could collect massive amounts of private info from telephone calls, emails, fax messages, and other kinds of data traffic.

Things were taken up a notch after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. But, up to this point, the existence of global surveillance alliances was not confirmed.

Only in 2013 did concrete proof exposing the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes Alliances came about. This happened because of Edward Snowden, who leaked confidential documents during his time working as an NSA contractor.

Nowadays, the world’s three major surveillance alliances have a more public existence. Still, most of their actions are shrouded in secrecy. On the bright side, at least everyone knows about them and can take the necessary measures to evade their watchful eyes.

Why Avoid Them?

Any surveillance alliance must be avoided at all costs. The reason why is because their aim is to breach your privacy. To do this, every method conceivable is used.

Everything from your social media posts to your phone conversations can be tracked and recorded. Information that is obtained can then be used against you. In what way? Data obtained might be used to implicate you in crimes that you did not commit.

I know that avoiding surveillance alliances is easier said than done, especially if you’re from a country under their jurisdiction. After all, governments have almost unlimited funding, the best equipment, and every resource imaginable.

Fortunately, there are methods that you can utilize to avoid getting invaded upon. I’ll talk about all of these methods later on.

You should know that much controversy has surrounded surveillance alliances.

When Edward Snowden revealed their existence in 2013, he also exposed their actions. It came to light that the Five Eyes Alliance conducted widespread surveillance of citizen activity. The private lives of millions of people were invaded secretly for decades.

How Do They Affect VPNs?

Surveillance alliances affect VPNs quite drastically. They completely dictate where a service provider can safely operate.

Why? Because the locations that fall under the jurisdictions of surveillance alliances usually have restrictive privacy and copyright laws. These laws make it hard for a VPN to safeguard your data and anonymity.

If a VPN doesn’t comply with the laws of a given area, it’ll be forced to shut down. Thus, if a certain government asks for your data, it’ll have to be given. For this reason, VPNs operating in places under the jurisdiction of surveillance alliances are sometimes untrustworthy.

Here’s a full list of the all VPNs that operate in places under the jurisdictions of the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eye Alliances:

United States

AceVPN
AnonVPN
Anonymizer
BTGuard
Cloak
CrypticVPN
CryptoHippie
Disconnect.me
FlyVPN
FoxyProxy
FrostVPN
GhostPath
GoTrusted
Hide My IP
HideIPVPN
Hotspot Shield
IncognitoVPN
IntroVPN
IPinator
IPVanish
LibertyVPN
LiquidVPN
MyIP.io
MyVPN.Pro
Netshade
Newshosting
Norton WiFi Privacy
OctaneVPN
Private Internet Access
PrivateTunnel
RA4W VPN
SlickVPN
Speedify
Spotflux
StrongVPN
SunVPN
SuperVPN
Torguard
Tunnelr
Unseen Online
Unspyable
VikingVPN
VPN Master
VPN Unlimited
VPNJack
VPNMe
WiTopia 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Others

United Kingdom Canada Germany France
FlowVPN
HideMyAss
LibertyShield
My Expat Network
OverPlay
TGVPN
TorVPN
TotalVPN
TVWhenAway
VPN.sh
VPNUK
WorldVPN
ZoogVPN
Betternet
Blockless
GetFlix
RogueVPN
SurfEasy
TunnelBear
UnoTelly
VPN Land
Windscribe
Avira Phantom VPN
ChillGlobal
Internetz.me
Steganos
Traceless.me
Zenmate
ActiVPN
Sweden Denmark The Netherlands Italy
AzireVPN
FrootVPN
Integrity.st
IPredator
Mullvad
OVPN.com
PrivateVPN
PRQ
BeeVPN
Unlocator
GooseVPN
ProXPN
ShadeYou
VPN4All
WASEL Pro
WifiMask
AirVPN

Note that not all the VPNs listed above are untrustworthy. Two of them (Private Internet Access and IPVanish) have even made it into our top VPN list. As such, it’s important to do your research to not judge a VPN based solely on its jurisdiction.

If you need help with selecting a VPN service, we’ve got comparisons and reviews. Go and check them out.

How to Protect Yourself

There are various ways to protect yourself from surveillance alliances. Let’s talk about what each to stay ahead of them. Following the steps below, you’ll make it harder for any surveillance organization to invade your online privacy.

1. Use Secure VPNs

A VPN is the best tool you can use to protect your digital privacy. With that being said, not all VPNs are created equal. Some are far better than others at providing security and absolute anonymity. For that reason, you must choose wisely.

Secure VPNs have all the latest security features like kill switches, WireGuard support, and military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. They also have huge server networks that are 100% RAM-based, making them incapable of storing logs. Lastly, the most secure VPNs maintain good records with no histories of being breached.

2. Use Secure Browsers

Mainstream browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome aren’t secure. The companies that operate them have links with the NSA. Moreover, they openly gather your browsing information and sell it for profit.

Examples of info your browser collects that can be used against you include:

  • Browsing history
  • Login information
  • Autofill data
  • Tackers and cookies

Switching to incognito mode and altering the settings of your regular browser won’t fully protect you. Your IP address, and therefore, your location, will be exposed to every webpage that you check out. Hence, it’s a must to take more drastic measures.

Fortunately, many safe internet browsers are available. The majority are free and easy to use. When used, no data of yours will be recorded. Because of that, even when government authorities force them to disclose your information, they’ll have nothing to give.

Here are some highly-rated browsers that are known to be safe:

  • Ungoogled Chromium
  • Tor Browser
  • Pale Moon Browser
  • Iridium
  • Brave Browser

Despite all their perks, secure browsers still don’t hide your IP address. Thus, it is necessary to use them alongside a reliable VPN. With it, your digital privacy will drastically get fortified. It’ll be next to impossible for third parties to find out your real identity and location.

3. Use Secure Search Engines

Common search engines such as Google and Bing are data traps. Both collect and store things like your query search terms, cookie ID, date and time of queries, and IP address. The reason they claim to do this is to give you a better searching experience.

To be safe, always use a secure search engine that doesn’t collect user data. You won’t have to spend a dime to download them since they’re usually free. My top picks on the market are:

  • StartPage
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Ixquick
  • YaCy
  • MetaGer

While these search engines can keep you secure on their own, it would be better to use them alongside a secure browser. If possible, it’s nice to have a VPN running on top of everything so nobody could ever gather your data.

4. Use Secure Email Providers

Email is the oldest and most formal method of communication on the internet. Sad to say, it isn’t the safest one. With every message sent, avenues for data theft are opened. Troublemakers may then easily take advantage and steal your information.

To ensure that no one obtains your info, you should ditch email solutions like Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Replace them with services like Tutanota or ProtonMail. These email solutions have fully encrypted mailboxes, making them extremely secure.

Another way to fortify email security is to double the encryption of your email service’s inbox. It’s quite easy to do this. Simply download a browser extension (free or paid) that fully encrypts your messages and attachments.

Putting It All Together

The globe’s surveillance alliances have watchful eyes that make it essential to fortify your online and offline privacy. In addition, they serve as a massive obstacle for the VPN industry. Luckily, it is possible to keep them at bay. By taking the measures stated above, you’ll be more than able to stay safe and protect your digital privacy.

When picking out a VPN, remember to do your research. Don’t ever settle on the cheapest service available. Instead, choose one that’s got excellent track records when it comes to maintaining the privacy and anonymity of its users.

Your VPN is the ultimate tool to keep safe online. Hence, it’s essential that you make the right investment and get the best one money can buy. In doing so, you will get to prevent your and your entire family from becoming targets of the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes Alliances.

By: Erwin Caniba
Eric is the co-founder of VPNOnline. He has been an avid user of VPNs since 2012. He has tested all of the major VPN providers and shares his findings on this website. Follow Eric on Facebook.