When shopping for a VPN, you’ll often see a proud declaration: ‘Located outside the Five Eyes jurisdiction.’ But who are the Five Eyes, and why should you care where your VPN is based?
This isn’t just a marketing buzzword; it refers to a powerful, secretive intelligence-sharing alliance that has significant implications for your digital privacy, whether you realize it or not. Choosing a service based inside one of these nations could expose your data in ways you never intended.
As a privacy advocate who reviews digital security tools, I’ve seen the term ‘Five Eyes’ become a major selling point. Yet, many users choose a VPN based on this factor without fully grasping the history behind it or the real-world risks involved. It’s a crucial piece of the privacy puzzle that often gets overlooked.
In this comprehensive guide, you’ll discover:
- Who the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes countries are.
- The history of this powerful surveillance alliance.
- Why your VPN’s location is so critical for your privacy.
- How to assess any privacy service to keep your data safe.
Don’t let your privacy choices be dictated by terms you don’t fully understand. Let me demystify this global surveillance network and empower you to make an informed decision about who you trust with your data.
The Five Eyes in 30 seconds
The Five Eyes is a powerful intelligence-sharing alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Originating after WWII, they collaborate on global surveillance. For privacy-conscious users, the main concern is that these countries can legally share data with each other, potentially bypassing domestic laws that protect their own citizens. This is why choosing a VPN or other privacy service outside of a Five Eyes jurisdiction is a critical security consideration.
1. Who are the Five Eyes? What are the Eyes alliances?
The concept of a secret international intelligence alliance can feel distant and abstract. To make it concrete, I’ve always found it helpful to think of it not as governments and agencies, but as a group of neighbors on the same street.
1.1. The Five Eyes (The Inner Circle)
Think of the Five Eyes countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) as five neighbors who are best friends.
- They share a backyard fence and have had keys to each other’s houses for decades.
- They promise not to spy on their own family members inside their own house (this is a simplified take on domestic surveillance laws).
- However, they have no problem asking their best friend next door to peek through the window for them and report back what they see.
This is a simplified way to understand how they can legally bypass domestic restrictions. The NSA in the United States might be restricted from spying on an American citizen, but it can ask the UK’s GCHQ to do it for them and then share the results. This is the core of the Five Eyes surveillance concern.
1.2. The Nine Eyes (The Extended Friends)
These are four other neighbors on the same street (Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway). They’re not in the inner circle and don’t have house keys, but they’re close friends who often get together with the Five Eyes to share neighborhood gossip (intelligence). The cooperation is significant, but less integrated than the core five.
1.3. The Fourteen Eyes (The Wider Neighborhood Watch)
This adds five more neighbors to the group (Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden). This is the formal neighborhood watch meeting. They cooperate on broader security issues and share information, but the level of trust and automatic data sharing is less intimate than with the inner circle.
So, what is the Five Eyes alliance at its core?
It’s a multi-layered club for sharing surveillance data, with the tightest, most trusting, and most concerning integration existing among the core five members.
Here’s a quick summary of the five eyes, nine eyes, and fourteen eyes tiers:
| Alliance Tier | Analogy | Who’s In It | Level of Cooperation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five Eyes (FVEY) | The Inner Circle | US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ | Highest. “Keys to each other’s houses.” Deepest integration and data sharing. |
| Nine Eyes | The Extended Friends | Five Eyes + Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway | High. Regular sharing of “neighborhood gossip” but less formal integration. |
| Fourteen Eyes | The Wider Neighborhood Watch | Nine Eyes + Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden | Medium. Formal cooperation on specific security threats and broader issues. |
2. The alliances mapped: A visual guide to the 5/9/14 Eyes
Reading lists of countries can be confusing. To make the structure of these alliances instantly clear, I’ve created a simple map. When I evaluate a jurisdiction of a VPN, this is the mental map I consult to quickly categorize the provider’s home country and the level of risk associated with it.
This visual guide shows the different tiers of the intelligence sharing alliance, from the core members to the wider partners.
(Image suggestion: A world map infographic titled ‘The Eyes Alliances Explained’. The Five Eyes countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ) are highlighted in dark red. The additional Nine Eyes countries (Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway) are highlighted in orange. The final Fourteen Eyes countries (Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden) are highlighted in yellow. A clear legend on the side explains what each color means.)
As you can see, the alliances are heavily concentrated in North America and Western Europe, encompassing many of the world’s major tech hubs. This visual representation makes it easy to understand why privacy advocates often recommend services based in countries outside of these colored regions, like Panama or Switzerland. The goal is to choose a location that is geographically and legally separate from this established surveillance network.
3. A brief history: From the UKUSA agreement to the digital age
To understand why the Five Eyes alliance is so deeply entrenched, it helps to know that it wasn’t born in the Internet era. Its roots go all the way back to the embers of World War II.
THE ORIGIN STORY
The history of the Five Eyes officially begins with a secret pact made in the shadow of the Cold War. On March 5, 1946, the United Kingdom and the United States signed the UKUSA Agreement. This formal treaty was designed to continue their highly successful wartime partnership in signals intelligence (SIGINT), primarily to monitor the communications of the Soviet Union and its allies. The original document was so secret that it wasn’t even revealed to the Prime Minister of Australia until 1973.
THE EXPANSION
The alliance quickly grew. Canada officially joined in 1948, followed by Australia and New Zealand in 1956, officially forming the five-nation intelligence powerhouse we know today. For decades, they operated in deep secrecy, building a massive global surveillance infrastructure like the ECHELON program to intercept satellite, microwave, and fiber-optic communications.
THE EDWARD SNOWDEN EFFECT
For most of its history, the alliance was the stuff of spy novels, unknown to the general public. That all changed in 2013.
Safelyo’s Expert Insight: The Snowden Effect
It’s impossible to discuss the Five Eyes without mentioning Edward Snowden. Before his 2013 revelations, the alliance was a shadowy concept known mostly to intelligence experts. Snowden’s leaks provided undeniable proof of the sheer scale of its surveillance capabilities, forcing a global conversation about the balance between national security and individual privacy. He single-handedly transformed the Five Eyes from a conspiracy theory into a household name for privacy advocates.
The leaked documents from Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, revealed the shocking scale of Five Eyes surveillance programs like PRISM. These programs collected vast amounts of internet data from ordinary citizens, often with the direct cooperation of major American tech companies. This was the moment the world learned just how deep the “Nosy Neighbors Club” cooperation really went.
4. Why this matters to you: The VPN connection
So, why should you, a regular internet user, care about a secret intelligence-sharing alliance forged during the Cold War? Because it directly impacts the trustworthiness of any digital service based within these Five Eyes countries. This is the core reason why Five Eyes is important for VPN selection.
4.1. The Problem with Jurisdiction
When I analyze a VPN service, the very first thing I check is its headquarters. If a VPN company is legally based in a Five Eyes country like the United States or the United Kingdom, it is subject to that country’s laws and legal reach. This means the company can be legally compelled to collect and hand over user data to its government. This is often done through secret warrants and gag orders, meaning the company might not even be allowed to tell its users that it’s happening.
And because of the UKUSA Agreement, that data doesn’t just stay with one government. It can be easily shared with the intelligence agencies of the other four member nations.
4.2. The No-Logs Policy Dilemma
This is where a VPN’s “no-logs policy” becomes absolutely critical. In theory, if a VPN provider truly keeps no records of your activity (your IP address, connection times, or browsing history), they would have nothing to hand over even if compelled by law.
However, the risk remains. A government within the Five Eyes surveillance network could potentially force a company to start logging user data in secret. This creates a conflict between a company’s privacy promise and its legal obligations.
4.3. The Safest Solution
For maximum peace of mind and the strongest possible legal protection for your data, the best practice is clear:
Choose a VPN provider that is headquartered outside the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes jurisdictions.
Look for services based in countries with strong privacy laws and a history of resisting international pressure, such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), or Switzerland. By choosing a VPN in a safe jurisdiction, you add a powerful layer of legal armor around your data, making it far more difficult for any government to access it. This must be paired with an independently audited no-logs policy to ensure the company’s practices match its promises.
5. The privacy advocate’s checklist: How to assess a VPN’s jurisdiction
Knowledge is power, but only when you can act on it. When I’m vetting a new VPN or any privacy-focused service, I run through a quick mental checklist to assess the risks associated with its legal home base.
You can use this same simple checklist to evaluate any service for yourself. Before you subscribe, take five minutes to find the answers to these four questions.
| Check | Evaluation Point | Your Findings / Notes |
| ☐ | 1. Where is the company headquartered? (Look on their “About Us” page. If it’s hard to find, that’s a red flag.) Good examples: Panama, BVI. Red flags: USA, UK, Australia. | |
| ☐ | 2. Is that country a member of the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance? (Refer back to our map.) A country inside any of the “Eyes” alliances carries a higher inherent risk due to established data-sharing agreements. | |
| ☐ | 3. Does the country have mandatory data retention laws? (Search for “[country name] data retention laws”.) Countries like Australia have notoriously invasive laws. | |
| ☐ | 4. Has the VPN’s no-logs policy been independently audited? (Look for a link to an audit report on their website.) Reputable VPNs proudly display audits from firms like PwC or Deloitte. |
By asking these four questions, you can move beyond marketing claims and make an informed decision based on the two most important factors for a privacy service: its legal environment and its verified practices.
6. FAQ about the Five Eyes Alliance
We’ve explored the history, reach, and implications of the “Eyes” alliances. Here are some quick, direct answers to the most common questions people have about these powerful intelligence networks.
Who are the Five Eyes?
The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance consisting of five nations: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They share signals intelligence and collaborate on global surveillance efforts.
What is the controversy with the Five Eyes Alliance?
The main controversy, highlighted by Edward Snowden’s revelations, is that the alliance can be used to circumvent domestic surveillance laws. For example, the United States‘ NSA might legally ask the UK’s GCHQ to spy on an American citizen, and GCHQ would then share that intelligence with the NSA, effectively bypassing US legal protections. This practice raises serious concerns about privacy and civil liberties.
Why are they called Five Eyes?
The name “Five Eyes” (or FVEY) originates from the “NOFORN” (No Foreigners) classification used during World War II, where intelligence could be shared between specific trusted allies. The term became a shorthand for the five core nations of the UKUSA Agreement, symbolizing their unique and highly integrated intelligence-sharing relationship.
What was the secret of the Five Eyes?
The original secret of the Five Eyes was the existence of the UKUSA Agreement itself and the extensive signals intelligence operations it enabled. For decades, the alliance operated in deep secrecy. Edward Snowden’s leaks revealed the scale of this secret global surveillance, including programs like PRISM and ECHELON, which collected vast amounts of internet and telecommunications data from ordinary citizens.
What is the difference between the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes?
These terms represent escalating tiers of intelligence cooperation. The Five Eyes is the core, most integrated group. The Nine Eyes includes the Five Eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway. The Fourteen Eyes further expands to include the Nine Eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. The level of trust and automatic data sharing decreases with each expanded tier.
Are there other similar intelligence alliances?
Yes. While the Five Eyes is the oldest and most integrated, other, less formal intelligence sharing partnerships exist globally, often referred to as “Third Party Partners” or “Five Eyes Plus” (including countries like Japan, South Korea, and Israel). However, none have the same comprehensive and historical integration as the Five Eyes.
Which countries are considered “safe” for a VPN?
Countries with strong privacy-protective laws and no ties to major surveillance alliances are generally considered safest for VPN headquarters. Popular choices include Panama, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Switzerland, and sometimes Romania. These jurisdictions are less likely to compel a VPN to hand over user data.
7. Conclusion
The Five Eyes alliance is a powerful and complex entity, a relic of the Cold War that has adapted to become a cornerstone of global surveillance in the digital age. Its operations, though often aimed at national security, carry significant privacy implications for individuals worldwide.
- The Five Eyes are the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – an intimate intelligence sharing alliance.
- They can potentially bypass domestic laws by having partner countries spy on their citizens.
- This is why your VPN’s jurisdiction matters. Choosing a provider outside the 14 Eyes adds a crucial layer of legal protection.
- Always pair a safe jurisdiction with an audited no-logs policy for maximum security.
You may not be a person of interest, but in an era of mass data collection, taking proactive steps to protect your privacy is a wise and necessary precaution.
At Safelyo, we take jurisdiction seriously in all our recommendations. Explore our reviews of the best VPNs in our Privacy & Security Basics section to find a service that is architected for privacy, from its code to its country of origin.
