> Honest question: Is there any reason to believe that PIA is a US intel operation vs, say a Russian one?

I would also like to know the motivation for a US intel agency to want to run a VPN. It seems to me like it wouldn't be worth the bother: VPNs aren't illegal in the US, so it would be too hard to convince everyone to use theirs. Spies, etc. could just use private ones they control. They'd just see a bunch of crap from unsophisticated people.

Seems to me like it would be more likely for US law enforcement to want to do something like that, but I'm skeptical they have the resources.