I came in here to ask exactly that. They explicitly "forbid" illegal activity and then immediately promote their service as a way of breaking other countries' laws.
Exactly - I think they're a bit confused in their language. When HMA say:
"our VPN service and VPN services in general are not designed to be used to commit illegal activity"
...what they actually mean is:
"...not designed to be used to commit illegal activity in the USA"
Clearly one of their main selling points is the ability to circumvent censorship in countries where that's a problem. For better or for worse, trying to get around such restrictions can very well be illegal.
Of course, I'm not saying trying to get round oppressive censorship is a bad thing. Of course it's not - but HMA don't seem to acknowledge the hypocrisy of on the one hand saying "use our service to get around your government's laws" whilst on the other saying "but don't do any illegal activity!".
The real reason HMA have that attitude is that being based in the US they have everything to fear from US government action. This is the same reason online poker sites actively and aggressively block US players - because chances are at some point in the future you're going to do business in the US, and you don't want it coming back to bite you in the ass.
Similarly, why should HMA care about China or Iran getting upset at their service? But it's much more inconvenient if the FBI starts poking around, because they're based in the USA (I think).
