Sweden is a member of the EU [1]. It has a 6-month data retention law [2]. Much safer to route through Norway, Switzerland or even the United States. (I use PIA [3].)

[1] https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en

[2] https://www.purevpn.com/blog/data-retention-laws-by-countrie...

[3] https://www.privateinternetaccess.com

Everyone has different needs. If you are a journalist building up a story against powerful adversaries, then you absolutely find a VPN provider in an impartial jurisdiction. If you are just trying to hide your browsing habits from your nosey ISP, torrent a couple movies, and latency matters at all to you, a local VPN is not a terrible choice.

Fair point.

I'm not in the US, so the local advantages don't apply, only the three-letter agency illegal snooping disadvantages.

Well, the NSA has intercepts virtually everywhere. They're drowning in data.

Well, who can you trust? Ultimately, no one.

PIA has been dissed over their promotional practices. And for using weak encryption, which allowed them to minimize resource use, and undercut competition.

But I gotta say that their no-logs victory in court is impressive!