ExpressVPN decided to move its servers out of India in response to the new rule of the Indian government to collect user data.
ExpressVPN decided to move its servers out of India in response to the new rule of the Indian government to collect user data.
ExpressVPN is one of the world’s biggest VPN (Virtual Private Network) services, founded in 2009.
“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.
ExpressVPN said that it refuses to take part in the Indian government’s attempts to limit internet freedom. We are focused on protecting privacy and freedom of expression online.”
However, Indian users will 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”. These virtual India servers will rather be located in Singapore and the UK.
The company also noted that the “damage done by potential misuse of this kind of law far outweighs any benefit lawmakers claim would come from it”.
In April 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which serves as the national agency for performing various roles in the area of cyber security, published that a wide range of technology companies, including VPN providers, would be required to store user data for a period of 5 years so as to “facilitate incident response measures”.
The Indian government will implement the new rule from June 27, 2022, and the VPN providers must save the information even after a customer has cancelled the subscription.
Personal data, including names, IP addresses, email, contact numbers and purpose for using the service, has to be saved.
Express VPN is the first company to move out of India, and it is expected more companies will follow the same.
Other VPN service providers like NordVPN and Surfshark have also expressed concerns.
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