Understanding Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes
The Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes alliances are international surveillance agreements that can significantly impact your online privacy. These alliances represent formal agreements between member countries to collect and share intelligence data, including internet activity, communications, and metadata.
When choosing a VPN service, understanding these alliances is crucial because:
VPN providers based in these countries may be legally required to hand over user data to authorities
Companies operating in these jurisdictions might be forced to maintain logs of user activity
Data collected in one member country can be shared with other member countries without your knowledge
VPN servers located in these countries may be subject to surveillance and data collection requirements
Each expansion of the alliance (from Five to Nine to Fourteen Eyes) increases the network of surveillance and data sharing, potentially affecting your privacy in different ways. Understanding these alliances helps you make informed decisions about your VPN provider and server locations.
The core intelligence-sharing agreement between five nations:
Lead member - NSA
GCHQ
CSEC
ASD
GCSB
High
Extensive monitoring of online activities, communications, and metadata collection
Comprehensive intelligence sharing between member nations
VPN servers in these countries may be subject to surveillance
Includes Five Eyes plus:
FE
DGSE
AIVD
NIS
Very High
Includes Nine Eyes plus:
BND
VSSE
AISE
CNI
FRA
Extremely High