Brexit, Privacy Law

What could Brexit mean for my VPN?

RingVPN has a growing list of 150+ servers in 70 countries. We have written an extensive study of each of the nations in which we have servers, and you can read those as you scroll through the list of our servers. Our focus currently, is on the United Kingdom and the changes Brexit could mean for your online privacy and VPN security.

What do we know?

There’s a lot that we don’t yet know about Brexit, scheduled to occur around the end of October 2019. What can Brexit mean potentially for internet privacy and your UK-based server or VPN?.

What is the current state of play?

Presently, the General Data Protection Regulation Act 2018 (GDPR) applies to the United Kingdom, as a member state the EU. This is a checks-and-balances safeguard that holds the UK to the same standard of privacy laws as the rest of the EU. GDPR aims to limit the extent that EU member states’ monitoring of citizens data can be logged, scrutinised and utilized. One of the basic principles of GDPR is “privacy by design,” meaning that if an EU company or entity violates a citizens privacy or breaches their data protection, EU members (states and individuals) can bring about legal actions against that company or entity.

What could happen when the UK leaves the EU?

The UK would become fully independent sovereign state, and GDPR would be one of the many EU regulations that would no longer apply — including its protections for internet privacy. The alternative? Unlimited mass surveillance by the police and UK government, with its citizens actions —online and offline— up for monitoring and surveillance.

With only days to go, we still don’t know the type of exit from the EU the United Kingdom will make, but there are two options, both of which have very different consequences for your online privacy and how you should go about selecting your VPN.

Hard Brexit and your privacy

Hard Brexit (also known as “no-deal” Brexit) is currently looking like, which would mean a sudden and dramatic change in many laws — rendering the majority of EU laws unenforceable. Including GDPR.

Soft Brexit and your privacy

A soft Brexit (also known as “deal Brexit”) could keep GDPR ad privacy-friendly European laws in tact, but this would mean a deal between the EU and the UK would need to be met whereby both agreed to afford citizens the same level of data protection, and data exchange.

What does this mean?

If the UK leaves the EU with a deal (soft Brexit), this means that citizens personal data will continue to flow between the UK and Europe until at least 2020. If the UK leaves with no deal (hard brexit), guidelines published by the UK government state that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, "there would be no immediate change in the UK’s own data protection standards" as the plan is to bring GDPR protections into UK law.

Wait, what? I’m confused

So is everyone, dude. You’re not alone. Its not yet clear how the UK will either continue to change enact existing EU blueprinted privacy laws — the UK government and the European Commission may or may not agree to retain the right to restrict data flow if protections are unequal between the two.

What can I do to keep safe?

Signing up for a RingVPN subscription is your best bet, whichever way the coin lands — for UK citizens and those who like to use UK-based servers to connect to their favourite content streaming services, like Netflix, iPlayer and others.

RingVPN uses military grade encryption, with a network of hidden tunnels that perform two key security functions. One, we hide your true IP address with our own proprietary DNS servers. These are totally bullet-proof, impenetrable and untraceable so that no government, ISP or spy can see your true location. Two, we let you connect to any server of ours, anywhere in the world, via our tunnels. This means, if you decide the uncertain nature of UK privacy law in the future makes you want to switch server locations, you can use our list to find one with more privacy-friendly and transparent laws.


These are uncertain times. RingVPN is the VPN of choice for privacy enthusiasts who can count on us in uncertain times. We have a no-log and no-track policy. As our servers and company are all governed by St. Kitts & Nevis, one of the most pro-privacy nations on earth, you can be sure with RingVPN that even if the UK crashes out of the EU with a no-deal Brexit and, you are covered with us. Your privacy is our priority — always and with no exceptions.