VPN users spiked in India after the pandemic hit, these services are heavily used for online fraud and hate speech, and most of the VPN traffic went to blocked websites,
Indian Government yet to Ban VPN Services 🖥
— Techncyber (@Techncyber) September 7, 2021
Cyber Crimes will never end
If Govt Plan was to Ban the VPN Services to Track Criminals
By Using a VPN alone no one could guarantee their Anonymity
Last year. In September Ministry of Home Affairs set up a committee to crack down on VPN Services in India
A few weeks ago, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team issued new rules for VPN services (including Data Centers, Crypto Exchanges) where the services have to keep the logs for five years.
The rules are likely to be implemented on July 27, 2022. Failing to follow the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s rules may lead to imprisonment
This new IT rule in India will kill the purpose of VPNs, where some VPN services boast a strict no-log policy. This carried a heavy impact on VPN services. also, keeping the logs is neither safer and cost-effective
Although Some VPN services started pulling their services from India, some services operate normally.
What type of data does the Government ask to keep
The Data Includes the Personal Information about the subscriber,
- Time of signup
- Name
- IP address
- Phone Number
- Usage duration
VPN ban in India
VPN services are not entirely banned yet, and it's still legal to use the VPN services; there are chances that the Public VPN services may face a suspension, as it's impossible for no-log VPN Providers to keep the logs
VPN subscribers in India still have to tell the reason for using that VPN,
Punishment for using VPN in India
Using VPNs is still legal in India. People use VPNs to bypass the state restricted censorship, while some visit blocked websites and protect their privacy online.
There is no such punishment is declared for using a VPN in India.