[ignoramous]

> They can absolutely parse things and follow me across IDs to put me in a big log

So, VPNs do not protect against surveillance. Both of us agree.

> some data magic

The EU e-Evidence Regulation requires this of EU & EFTA based providers. Make what you will.

[djhn]

According to Mullvad they do not keep logs, so whatever data they can be compelled to give up should include very little.

[ignoramous]

That's not going to matter if the regulation, like the one linked to above, explicitly requires a proxy provider to preserve data.