Obscura VPN
grade B
Obscura is a privacy-first VPN: your IP only touches its ingress, encrypted packets exit via independent Mullvad servers, QUIC-based stealth, anonymous signup &
grade B
What the documents mean for you
Obscura can suspend or end your subscription without notice if it believes you broke the terms, and your payment is nonrefundable. An account is required, but no ID. It says it never logs your IP, yet may disclose what it holds where law permits.
The documents never mention identity verification, KYC or source-of-funds checks, and you can sign up and pay with Bitcoin Lightning or a one-time card payment. However, the privacy policy reserves the right to use and disclose the information it holds "as required or permitted by law" and to hand it to service providers, so legally compelled disclosure of the little data it keeps is contemplated.
Nothing in these documents asks you to verify your identity or prove where your money came from. You do have to register an account, and if you pay by card, Stripe (the card processor) collects your card details and an email address; Bitcoin Lightning and one-time card payments are offered as more private options. Obscura says it does not log your IP address, but it may disclose the information it does hold to service providers and where law requires or permits it.
Warnings
Obscura can suspend or terminate your subscription at any time, with or without notice, if it reasonably believes you broke the terms or the law. Nothing in the terms promises money back in that case.
Your payment is nonrefundable and Obscura gives no credit for unused time or partial periods. Any refund is entirely its choice, and it may end your subscription after issuing one.
The licence covers personal, non-commercial use only, and commercial use of the service is listed as a prohibited use.
Card subscriptions go through Stripe, which collects your card details and an email address; Obscura says it does not retain that information. Bitcoin Lightning and one-time card payments are offered as more private options.
How the score was reached
Privacy100/100
Trust59/100
Overall = (privacy × 0.6 + trust × 0.4) / 10, rounded = 8/10, grade B. Each attribute above rests on a clause quoted below or was assigned by a moderator; the rest is what the listing knows.
Attributes12 moved the score
May suspend your accounttrust -4
The service reserves the right to suspend or limit access for violations or arrears.
Obscura reserves the right to suspend or terminate your subscription when it believes you violated the terms or the law.
“We reserve the right, at any time, in our sole discretion, with or without notice, to suspend or terminate your subscription if we reasonably believe you have violated any applicable laws or these Terms.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Service termination policytrust -4
The provider can terminate access at any time, without notice, at its discretion.
No-refund policytrust -3
The service does not offer refunds.
Payments are stated to be nonrefundable, with refunds only at Obscura's discretion.
“EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE STATED HEREIN OR REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOUR PAYMENT IS NONREFUNDABLE, AND WE DO NOT PROVIDE REFUNDS OR CREDITS FOR ANY PARTIAL-PERIOD SUBSCRIPTION PERIODS OR UNUSED SERVICES.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Identity-free registrationprivacy +10
Users can create accounts without giving personal information such as a full name, address or phone number.
Verifiedtrust +10
Passed repeated checks over time and showed consistent behavior.
Strict no-log policyprivacy +5 · trust +3
The service has a strict no-log policy: it does not collect or store any information about its users.
Accepts Moneroprivacy +5
This service accepts Monero, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that provides enhanced anonymity.
Has Onion or I2P URLsprivacy +5
Onion (Tor) and I2P URLs enhance privacy and anonymity.
Source available codetrust +4
The source code is publicly available but not under an open-source licence.
Split-trust architectureprivacy +3 · trust +1
Two independent providers share the work so that no single party can de-anonymise a user.
Legally registeredtrust +2
Legally registered as Sovereign Engineering Inc. in United States.
Token-based loginprivacy +1
Access is through a secret token rather than a username and personal details.
What costs you most first. Tap one to read the clause it rests on, or what the listing knows, priced as kycnot.me prices it.
What the documents say
If you cancel, you keep access until the period ends but get nothing back for unused time. You also lose any service or referral credits.
“You will also forfeit any service or referral credits and unredeemed benefits of the subscription upon cancellation.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Obscura decides alone whether to give any refund or credit, and it may cancel your subscription and access after giving one.
“We reserve the right to issue refunds, credits, or discounts at our sole discretion. If we issue a refund, credit, or discount, we are under no obligation to issue the same or similar refund in the future and we may terminate your subscription and access to the services.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Obscura states it does not keep, log or store your IP address when you use the VPN, and that traffic is end-to-end encrypted to a blind relay so it cannot read the contents.
“IP Addresses: We do not persist, log, or otherwise store your IP address when you use our VPN.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Obscura can turn down your request to see, correct or delete data it holds about you if it judges the request burdensome, injurious or inappropriate.
“We reserve the right not to agree to any such request if we deem it burdensome or otherwise injurious or inappropriate, or if such data will interfere with our ability to meet our own legal obligations, except to the extent required by applicable law.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Obscura can set usage limits or block certain kinds of usage whenever it decides, to protect itself, its users or the service.
“We may impose usage or service limits or block certain kinds of usage at our sole discretion to protect Obscura, our users, or the Services.”
https://obscura.com/legal
If your payment method cannot be processed, Obscura may terminate, disable, cancel or suspend your subscription with no further notice.
“If your payment method cannot be processed for some reason, we may, at our discretion, terminate, disable, cancel or suspend access to your subscription without further notice.”
https://obscura.com/legal
The website runs Plausible, an analytics provider. Obscura also serves the site as a Tor onion service if you prefer not to reach it directly.
“We use a privacy-friendly analytics provider – Plausible – on our website to improve our service.”
https://obscura.com/legal
Obscura may disable or terminate accounts of users it considers repeat infringers of other people's intellectual property.
“Obscura may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate User Accounts of users who repeatedly infringe the intellectual property of others.”
https://obscura.com/legal
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