NordVPN

NordVPN is a Panama-based VPN provider.

7/10

How we calculate ratings →

Handling

Does the policy allow personally-targeted or behavioral marketing? Yes, but you must opt-in

7/10

Does the service allow you to permanently delete your personal data? Yes, by contacting someone

3/5

Does the service allow third-party access to private personal data? Yes, not all parties specified (but only to critical service providers)

7/10

This may come in the form of outright data sharing or by using local third-party analytics software (such as Google Analytics, which collects a plethora of user information).

Note that whether the policy allows sharing aggregated user data does not affect this question.

If the personal data is encrypted when it passes through the third-party, it does not count as third-party access (as the data is inaccessible to that party).

If personal data has been made public by, for example, posting it to a blog, it does not count as private personal information (and is therefore not considered by this question).

Score

Yes

The policy allows sharing personal data with third parties (not just critical service providers), and does not explicitly list the third parties.

Yes, all parties specified (including non-critical service providers such as advertisers)

30%

Yes, not all parties specified (but only to critical service providers)

70%

Yes, all parties specified (only to critical service providers)

80%

100%

Citation

NordVPN uses third party data processors only for processing of payment data, emailing service and basic website and app analytics.

When does the policy allow law enforcement access to personal data? N/A (no personal data to share)

5/5

Score

Always

This includes cases in which law enforcement either runs the service or has a known backdoor into (or relationship with) the service.

Not specified

When reasonably requested

60%

Only when required by a court order or subpoena

80%

N/A (no personal data to share)

The service would have no personal data to share with law enforcement.

100%

Never (special legal jurisdiction)

The service operates in a jurisdiction in which sharing data with law enforcement is never required.

100%

Citation

Further, NordVPN have a strict no logs policy when it comes to seeing user activity online: NordVPN is based in Panama, which does not require data storage.

Transparency

Does the policy outline the service's general security practices? Somewhat

1/3

Score

Somewhat

The policy provides only a very vague overview of its security practices.

30%

Yes

60%

Yes, including audits

"Reviews," "monitoring," etc. also count as audits.

80%

Yes, including independent audits

Independent "reviews," "monitoring," etc. also count as independent audits.

100%

N/A

The service doesn't collect any personal information.

100%

Citation

In order to ensure security of the personal data, NordVPN employs various administrative, technical and physical security measures

Notes

The policy is very vague about this, but an independent audit was conducted: https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-audit/

Is the policy's history made available? Only the date it was last modified

3/5

Does the policy require users to be notified in case of a data breach? Not necessarily

0/7

Will affected users be notified when the policy is meaningfully changed? Yes

5/5

Collection

Does the service collect personal data from third parties? No

10/10

Is it clear why the service collects the personal data that it does? Yes

10/10

Score

Somewhat

30%

Mostly

70%

Yes

100%

N/A

The service doesn't collect any personal information.

100%

Citation

If you choose to create a user account, you must provide the following basic information:

Email address. We ask for your email address as part of your registration. That ensures that we can communicate with you when we have any exciting announcements to make, service updates to advise or errors to report. Valid email address is also needed to retrieve a lost password and to make a VPN connection.
          Payment data. In addition to the conventional payment methods, such as credit card, users can buy NordVPN service with cryptocurrency. Our payment processing partners process basic billing information for payment processing and refund requests.

Does the service allow the user to control whether personal data is collected or used for non-critical purposes? On an opt-out basis, but only for some non-critical data/uses

3/10

Some services allow users to opt-out or opt-in to of non-critical collection or use of personal data, such as collecting data for personalized advertisements.

Score

On an opt-out basis, but only for some non-critical data/uses

30%

On an opt-out basis, for all non-critical data/uses

60%

On an opt-in basis

60%

N/A (no data used for non-critical purposes)

100%

Citation

You can set up warnings for every time the Site places a cookie in your browser, or you can choose to disable all cookies. You can do both through your browser settings. Since each browser has a different procedure for managing cookies, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to do it.

Alternatively, you can disable all cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add-on. Please note that choosing to disable cookies may negatively affect some of the features that make your Site experience more efficient.

Does the policy list the personal data it collects? Yes, exhaustively

10/10

Score

The policy does not claim to not collect personal data, but it also doesn't provide any meaningful insight into the types of personal data it collects.

Only summarily

The policy uses overly vague language to provide a summary of the types of collected personal data.

30%

Yes, generally

All general categories of collected personal data are listed, though not all types of personal data are explicitly mentioned (for example, the list might use a phrase like 'such as' when listing types of personal data).

70%

Yes, exhaustively

All types of collected personal data are listed specifically

100%

N/A (no personal data is collected)

100%

Citation

If you choose to create a user account, you must provide the following basic information:

Email address. We ask for your email address as part of your registration. That ensures that we can communicate with you when we have any exciting announcements to make, service updates to advise or errors to report. Valid email address is also needed to retrieve a lost password and to make a VPN connection.
          Payment data. In addition to the conventional payment methods, such as credit card, users can buy NordVPN service with cryptocurrency. Our payment processing partners process basic billing information for payment processing and refund requests.

Last Updated

December 7, 2020

Sources

Source #1 ↗

Contributors

jacktheripper