Jurisdiction
The country whose law governs the company operating the VPN, which determines who can compel it and by what process.
Glossary
Virtual server location
A server advertised as being in one country while the hardware physically sits in another.
Why it matters
It is how providers claim coverage in countries where hosting is unsafe, unreliable or legally hostile. You get an address that geolocates to the advertised country, which is what most people actually want.
What most explanations leave out
The important question is disclosure. A provider that labels virtual locations is solving a real problem honestly. One that does not is inflating a country count, and you may be routing sensitive traffic through a jurisdiction you specifically avoided.
Related terms
Server count
The number of servers a provider advertises, typically in the thousands.
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.