In response to this criticism, minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that VPN service providers that do not follow the new rules are “free to leave India”.Īccording to the statement, users wanting to connect to an Indian server can do so through “India (via Singapore)” or “India (via UK)”. Validated names of subscribers/customers hiring the services Period of hire including dates IPs allotted to/being used by the members Email address and IP address and time stamp used at the time of registration/on-boarding Purpose for hiring services Validated address and contact numbers Ownership pattern of the subscribers/customers hiring servicesĪs The Wire reported, this move sparked criticism from most major VPN companies, who typically do not store such data in the interest of protecting their customers’ privacy. In April 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which serves as the national agency for performing various functions in the area of cyber security, announced that a wide range of technology companies including VPN providers would be required to store user data so as to “facilitate incident response measures”.Īccording to the directive, the following categories of information will need to be logged: As a company focused on protecting privacy and freedom of expression online, we will continue to fight to keep users connected to the open and free internet with privacy and security, no matter where they are located.” “ExpressVPN refuses to participate in the Indian government’s attempts to limit internet freedom.

The company also noted that the “damage done by potential misuse of this kind of law far outweighs any benefit that lawmakers claim would come from it”. These ‘virtual’ India servers will instead be physically located in Singapore and the UK,” the statement noted. “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.

Indian users, however, will still be able to “connect to VPN servers that will give them Indian IP addresses”. “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,” the firm said in a statement. Well-known company ExpressVPN has announced that it will remove all of its “Indian-based VPN servers” in response to the new regulations, calling them “overreaching” and “so broad as to open up the window for potential abuse”. New Delhi: The Indian government’s new rules for VPN (virtual private network) providers have claimed their first victim.

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