VPN may soon get banned in India

They have not completely banned VPN but made it useless by stripping off the basic thing it offers- Privacy.

The government made it compulsory to log and store user's data for 5 years or more even when the user has cancelled his subscription or closed his account. This data should be shared promptly whenever asked by GOI.

You are also required to share your details like validated real name, contact number, physical address, reason to use it, etc. Those who don't comply could potentially face up to a year in prison.

Most VPNs offer a no-logging policy, a public promise against logging, collecting or sharing customer usage and browsing data. Leading services like ExpressVPN and Surfshark operate only with RAM-disk servers and other log-less technology, meaning the VPNs would be theoretically incapable of monitoring for URLs listed in the directive. If VPNs in India are required under the new directive to keep customer registration data -- or to monitor and report social media usage -- many could potentially run afoul of the law simply by continuing to operate.

 
According to a report by WIRED, several VPN providers also echoed the same concern regarding the new directive. For example, Harold Li, vice president of ExpressVPN, stated that the company will never log user information or activity, and will change its operations and infrastructure “to preserve this principle if and when necessary".

Additionally, Surfshark told WIRED that the VPN provider can’t now comply with India’s logging rules since it uses RAM-only servers that automatically overwrite user-related data, while ProtonVPN stated that even though it is monitoring the directives, it remains committed to its no-logs policy and to protecting the privacy of its users.

Similarly, Nord Security said that it would remove the servers from India if no other options are available. It should be noted that Nord Security is the developer of Nord VPN, which is one of the most popular VPN services in India.


 
Virtual private network service providers that are not ready to comply with the new guidelines have the only option to exit from India, minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday.

 
At a press conference where FAQs on the April 29 directions were released, Minister of State (MoS) in MeitY Rajeev Chandrasekhar reasoned not taking a public consultation as it "has no effect on citizens".

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) refused details on consultations taken over the April 29 directions of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) citing 'affect' to national security.

 
With a recent data law introduced in India requiring all VPN providers to store user information for at least five years, ExpressVPN has made the very straightforward decision to remove our Indian-based VPN servers.

Rest assured, our users will still be able to connect to VPN servers that will give them Indian IP addresses and allow them to access the internet as if they were located in India. These “virtual” India servers will instead be physically located in Singapore and the UK.


 
“In response to the new Indian data regulation laws, Surfshark is shutting down its servers in India. The new laws require VPN providers to record and keep customers’ logs for 180 days as well as collect and keep excessive customer data for five years,” the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. “Surfshark proudly operates under a strict ‘no logs’ policy, so such new requirements go against the core ethos of the company”.
 
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