Discussions
Privacy and security of Control D in an ever-growing surveillance world
[Quote]Since we store the bare minimum for a customer to actually use our service, any request for user data that supplies an IP + timestamp would yield nothing of value as we do not store any historical logs on who used which IP address, and since IPs are shared by dozens/hundreds of people at any given moment, so we cannot tie any activity to a specific account. Much like any other service, if a valid Canadian subpoena includes the exact email associated with an account, we have no choice but to provide all details associated with the account. This data is limited to what was mentioned above.[/quote]
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/canadas-bill-c-2-opens-floodgates-us-surveillance
My understanding is that both Control D and Windscribe are based in Canada and are subject to Canadian law. Recently, news broke that Canada is under pressure from the US to adopt US-style surveillance laws. That is incredibly scary. The US is slowly slipping away from being a rule of law country and becoming more like China, a police state. I copied and pasted Control D's policy here to make this discussion easier. What is Control D doing now, and in light of the bill potentially becoming law, to protect the privacy of its users?
I feel like free users have more protection as they don't have to create an account. For premium users, where we had to use a credit card with identifiable information, what can premium users do to further enhance their privacy and security, especially if the Canadian bill becomes law? I understand that Control D and Windscribe have to respond and cooperate with law enforcement pertaining to any subpoena and investigation. I know I can get the logs to be stored outside of Canada, but how does that help if law enforcement compels Control D and Windscribe for information? I see Iots of information about my devices and services used in the activity log. For streaming, I'm not worried. For web browsing, I'm worried that using ControlD's premium account could compromise my privacy and security if ControlD is cooperating with law enforcement.
Does Control D log changes to the account such as email and credit card changes? If so, how long does Control D retain such information for? If I change the email of my premium account today, will there be any record of the previously used email address?
People can't easily move to other countries due to immigration laws. It's much easier to move infrastructure or data to other parts of the world. It's just a matter of cost and whether the company wants to spend the money or not. If the Canadian bill becomes law, or even if it doesn't, has Control D and Windscribe consider placing as much information on its users in more private and secure jurisdictions and as little in Canada as possible? Unfortunately, Canada is also part of the Five Eyes organization. Very worrying for privacy-conscious people! I hope Control D is doing everything possible to protect its users.