No-logs policy
A provider’s commitment not to record which sites you visit, when you connected, or what address you connected from.
Glossary
Warrant canary
What is Warrant canary?
Warrant canary is a regularly updated statement that a provider has not received a secret legal demand, whose disappearance implies that it has. In jurisdictions where a demand can come with a gag order, a provider may be barred from telling you it happened but not compelled to keep asserting it did not.
Why it matters
In jurisdictions where a demand can come with a gag order, a provider may be barred from telling you it happened but not compelled to keep asserting it did not.
What most explanations leave out
The legal theory is untested in most jurisdictions and a canary that quietly stops updating is ambiguous — it may signal a demand, or a forgotten process. Treat it as a weak signal that costs nothing to publish, and note that its absence says more than its presence.
Related terms
Fourteen Eyes
A set of intelligence-sharing arrangements between allied states, expanding from the original five to fourteen participants.
Referenced from
Questions
- What is Warrant canary?
- A regularly updated statement that a provider has not received a secret legal demand, whose disappearance implies that it has.
- Why does Warrant canary matter when choosing a VPN?
- In jurisdictions where a demand can come with a gag order, a provider may be barred from telling you it happened but not compelled to keep asserting it did not.
- What do most explanations of Warrant canary leave out?
- The legal theory is untested in most jurisdictions and a canary that quietly stops updating is ambiguous — it may signal a demand, or a forgotten process. Treat it as a weak signal that costs nothing to publish, and note that its absence says more than its presence.
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.