Nor will I.
However, I'm puzzled that Free Republic can know that I am using PIA. I usually connect with a PIA node in Texas - not from one overseas. And even then, when I test PIA's performance (such as using www.iplocation.net), I get a result for the IP for the PIA node I'm connecting with, as if I were that node with that node's IP.
Can Free Republic be blocking all PIA nodes?? That's a hellava lot of IPs to block!
It's possible, but maybe Jim could chime in here. I have run into the complete block of PIA on a couple of other websites and usually get a popup saying something about SPAM from the IP as the reason.
I just tried connecting from several different PIA IPs and couldn't get FR to load.
Nah! IP range filtering is very easy. You just need 1 IP in the range, and you can look it up and block everything owned by that company.
For instance, PIA's us-east.privateinternetaccess.com address resolves to 13 different discrete addresses. If I pick just one (208.167.254.106), I can look up the network information from a site like network-tools.com, and I'll see that London Trust Media (PIA's parent company) owns the whole 208.167.254.64/26 network which is 208.167.254.64 - 208.167.254.127. That doesn't seem like much, but if attackers are using the VPN, you can block each of the ranges individually and cease any traffic coming through that provider.
Alternatively, they could be using GEO IP blocking which blocks entire country ranges. I, for instance, block everything from China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Russia, etc. I have no business with anyone in any of those countries, so I'm comfortable blocking everything from all of them.