The New Rules for VPNs |
| Credit: India Today |
OVERVIEW OF VPN
• A VPN or a Virtual Private Network offers you a private connection to the internet that's invisible to most people
• It hides your IP address. IP addresses are usually tied to geographic locations. So in the absences of a VPN, people could track your whereabouts
•It could make it seem as if you are browsing the internet from Singapore when in fact you're doing it from Delhi
NEW REGULATIONS
• VPN has risen by a whopping 600% in the first half of 2021 alone and this has got the Indian government worried
• The Indian government passed a rule that requires all VPN service providers operating in the country to keep a record of their users for five years.
• The government asked the providers to store user names, IP addresses, usage patterns as well as other kinds of identifiable information.
• The VPN companies are required to store this information even if the user were to close the account.
JUDGEMENTS OF GOVERNMENT
• Government highlighted it will help to effectively trace anti-social elements and cybercriminals indulging in various online activities.
• Their contention is that criminals routinely use VPNs to hide their activity on the web and as such get away with the most evil things.
• By these new rules, there will be some ways to track them and to bring them to justice whenever they commit cybercrimes.
• The government have given a month to the VPN companies to enforce these new rules.
ARGUMENTS
• Experts argued that this is a way for the Indian government to further restrict people's freedoms.
• Journalists and whistleblowers also try to work in anonymity for fear of retaliation and VPN logs could be used to oppress them.
• VPN service providers said the new rules would mean a total loss of privacy for users which is one of the most important unique selling points of such services
• Most of the providers don't have access to the infrastructure needed to immediately comply with these rules.
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