ExpressVPN, one of the major VPN servers globally, has become the first service provider to react to and reject India’s new VPN rules. The company announced that it is going to remove its India-based servers.
“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 company said in a blog post.
The company explained that users will still be able to connect to VPN servers that give them Indian IP addresses and allow them to “access the internet as if they were located in India”, but these “virtual India servers” will be physically located in Singapore and the UK.
“In terms of the user experience, there is minimal difference. For anyone wanting to connect to an Indian server, simply select the VPN server location ‘India (via Singapore)’ or ‘India (via UK)’,” ExpressVPN said and added that virtual server locations are “not new” for them and that “virtual locations are used, where necessary, to provide faster, more reliable connections”.
“As for internet users based in India, they can use ExpressVPN confident that their online traffic is not being logged or stored, and that it’s not being monitored by their government,” it added.
Explaining its reason to pull servers out of India, ExpressVPN pointed out that India’s new VPN rule (which comes into effect from June 27) requires VPN service providers to store users’ real name, IP addresses, usage patterns, and other identifying data.
Initiated by India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the new data law is aimed at fighting cybercrime, but it is inherently “incompatible with the purpose of VPNs, which are designed to keep users’ online activity private”.
“The law is also overreaching and so broad as to open up the window for potential abuse. We believe the damage done by potential misuse of this kind of law far outweighs any benefit that lawmakers claim would come from it,” ExpressVPN wrote.
“ExpressVPN refuses to participate in the Indian government’s attempts to limit internet freedom. 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,” it added.
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