This rule will give authorities to counter illicit activities.
Indian government has passed a new VPN law. The law demands all VPN service providers to have a record of user data for five years. This rule is necessary when looked upon the security but defeats the purpose of basic tenets of VPN. A number of users have rendered it to be pointless.
Individuals and business associates make use of VPNs. They use it to encrypt their online presence and activities. The law does not only limit to VPN companies but extends to cloud service providers, data centers, and crypto exchanges. It collects specific, extensive customer data and holds onto it for a period of five years.
As a part of the directive, the companies are to report ‘unauthorized access to social media accounts.’ Until now, India has never had any legislation that banned this practice. If VPN service providers do not abide by the directive, then they will be rendered as illegal byproduct.
VPN functions:
The main function of the VPN is to mask Internet Protocol (IP) address of a user and assign them a temporary or a shadow IP address. This is used to transcend geopolitical boundaries and access content on internet though it is restricted. The whole purpose is that users enjoyed the online privacy. It delinks users IP address from the websites visited.
Reasons to implement the mandate:
From online security to security at the borders, VPN has been used to avoid detection. Hackers make use of it to operate and launch cyberattacks on governmental institutions. This by itself is one of the biggest reasons to implement the law.
Antisocial elements use VPN to disguise themselves. This gives them a head start to post inflammatory statement and comments that could possibly stoke communal violence in the society.
Digital banking and cryptocurrency in the market, money laundering has become very difficult to crack down. But with VPN a person sitting in his house can easily get millions without any identifiable source.
Censoring anything in this free country, India, is tricky. We have freedom of speech and thoughts as well as we have communities to protect. The data acquired from VPN can also be shared across.
It will be interesting to know if the VPN service providers will launch India specific VPNs or stop their services in the subcontinent completely.
Published by: Gargi Sharma
Edited by: Aaradhana Singh
