PRIVACY, IN FULL
A logging policy that publishes the whole list
“Zero logs” is the most repeated and least examined claim in this industry. We do not use it. We never inspect your traffic or record what you watch, and we do keep some records — so here is every category of data we hold, why it exists, and how long it lasts.
What we never record
None of the following exists anywhere in our systems. This is not a retention policy that could be quietly shortened — the data is not collected in the first place, so there is nothing to disclose, subpoena, leak or sell. One item that used to be on this list is no longer here: the destinations a device connected to. We now keep those, as IP addresses, for 14 days — see the table below.
- The names of the websites and services you use — no domain names, no page addresses
- What you watched, read or downloaded
- The contents of your traffic, messages or files
- The DNS names you look up while you are connected
- Payment card numbers — the processor handles those, we never see them
We also do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.
What we do keep, and why
A subscription VPN cannot run on nothing. Your plan limits how many devices may be connected simultaneously, and that limit is enforced live rather than on the honour system, which requires knowing which sessions are currently open. That is the origin of almost everything in this table.
| Data | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Session start and end times | Enforcing your plan’s simultaneous-connection limit |
| Which server a session used | Operating and capacity-planning the network |
| Bytes transferred per session | Capacity planning and abuse detection |
| The IP address you connected from | Enforcing connection limits and investigating abuse |
| For 14 days: the time, destination IP address and port of each connection, and the device that opened it | Tracing an attack launched through our servers to the one device that sent it |
| For a device flagged for abuse: how many connections it opened per minute, and to how many servers | Detecting infected devices that relay other people’s traffic |
| Account details and billing records | Providing the service and taking payment |
The connection log is the exception to “enforcing the limit”, and it is the one entry here that says something about where a device went. It exists because malware on some customer devices used our servers to attack other networks, and without it we could not tell which device was responsible. It holds IP addresses and ports, never site names or content; it stays on the VPN server that wrote it; and each day’s log is deleted after 14 days.
The VPN servers themselves also keep standard OpenVPN operational logs and a status file covering connect and disconnect events, for diagnosing faults. Those contain no destinations and no traffic contents.
The part most no-logs claims leave out: DNS
Every time you open an app or a site, your device asks a DNS resolver to turn a name into an address. That list of names is a near-complete record of what you did online, and it is where a lot of “no-logs” VPNs quietly leak.
We do not log your DNS queries. We also do not run our own resolver: our servers point your device at Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) and Google (8.8.8.8), which means those companies answer your lookups under their own privacy policies rather than ours. That is a real trade-off and you should know about it. If you would rather use a different resolver, you can override the DNS servers your device uses.
Why we do not just say “zero logs”
Because it would not be true, and because the claim is close to meaningless when everyone makes it. A VPN that advertises a blanket zero-logs policy while retaining subscriber IP addresses is describing a service it does not operate — and regulators have treated exactly that gap between marketing and implementation as a deceptive practice.
The useful question is not whether a provider says “no logs”. It is whether they will tell you, specifically, what they hold. Our Privacy Policy is written to be accurate rather than flattering, field by field, with retention periods and a deletion process.
If you bought through a reseller
StreamShield is sold directly and through independent resellers operating under their own branding. If your account came from a reseller, that reseller administers it and holds your customer details independently of us, under their own privacy practices. We provide the network and hold the account and connection data described above. The Terms set out how that split works.
ANSWERS
Logging questions
- What does “no-logs VPN” actually mean?
- There is no legal definition, which is why the phrase is used so loosely. In practice it should mean the provider keeps no activity logs — no record of the sites and services you connect to, your DNS lookups, or the contents of your traffic. It rarely means the provider keeps nothing at all, because operating a subscription VPN requires some account and connection data. We do not call StreamShield a no-logs VPN, because we keep a 14-day connection log; this page lists exactly what is in it.
- Does StreamShield keep any logs?
- Yes, and we would rather list them than hide them. We keep connection metadata: when a session started and ended, which server it used, how many bytes moved, and the IP address your device connected from. And for 14 days we keep a connection log: the time, destination IP address and port of each connection a device opens, and which device opened it. We do not record site names, page addresses, DNS names or content.
- Why do you keep my IP address?
- Because the alternative is not enforcing the connection limit your plan is priced on, and because network abuse launched through our servers has to be traceable enough to stop. We would rather tell you this than claim we keep nothing and be wrong. It is recorded when a session opens. For 14 days it can be linked to the destination IP addresses a device connected to, through the connection log described on this page; after that the link no longer exists.
- Who can see my DNS queries?
- We do not log them. Our servers point your device at public resolvers run by Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) and Google (8.8.8.8), so those companies answer your lookups under their own privacy policies. We do not operate our own resolver. You can override the DNS servers your device uses if you would prefer a different one.
- Can StreamShield tell anyone what I watched?
- Not what you watched: we never record titles, site names, page addresses or content, so there is nothing of that kind to hand over. What we do hold, for 14 days, is the IP addresses your device connected to, and an IP address can often be tied to a service. After 14 days that record is deleted. We can only disclose what we hold, which is what this page and the Privacy Policy describe.
- How long is connection data kept?
- The connection log is deleted after 14 days. Session records — start, end, server, bytes and the IP address you connected from — are kept for the life of the account and deleted with it. The Privacy Policy sets out every retention period and how to request deletion.
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