One very interesting and somewhat alarming development is now coming out from India where government is apparently preparing to introduce new legal framework specifically targeting VPN providers . And honestly,the scale of what is being proposed is making a lot of people uncomfortable.
According to sources from The Indian Express,new regulations would require VPN operators to establish physical presence in India and also appoint local compliance officers who would act as direct liaisons with authorities . This is not small thing at all.
Background to this whole situation goes back to 2022 when Indian Computer Emergency Response Team,known as Cert-In,issued one controversial directive mandating VPN providers to store user data including names,email addresses and IP addresses for period of five years . That directive itself caused huge uproar in privacy circles.
But apparently even that wasn't enough . Government itself has now acknowledged those earlier directives were not effective in stopping people from using VPNs to bypass content blocks . Many providers simply didn't comply at all . So now stricter measures are being considered.
Few key things being proposed here:
- Local offices required — VPN providers must establish physical presence in India to ensure compliance.
- Compliance officers needed — Companies will need to hire personnel to address government grievances.
- Penalties for non-compliance — Potential jail terms for local employees who fail to adhere to regulations.
And this last point about jail terms for local employees is honestly most chilling part of whole proposal . Because at end of day,it means individual people working for these companies could face criminal liability for decisions made at corporate level . That is very serious pressure tactic.
To understand why government is pushing so hard right now,consider what happened when Telegram was temporarily blocked before NEET-UG exam . David Peterson,general manager at Proton VPN,noted increase of over 120% in daily registrations from India during that period only . That kind of number tells you exactly how many people are actively seeking ways around these restrictions.
Response from VPN providers to the 2022 directives was actually quite clear . Proton VPN,NordVPN and ExpressVPN all chose to remove their servers from India entirely and reroute traffic through other countries like Singapore . Proton VPN representative stated directly,"We have no intention of complying with this invasive mass surveillance law,leaving us no choice but to remove our VPN servers from Indian jurisdiction."
So that is where things stand right now . Government wants more control,providers are already operating from outside India,and users are finding ways around blocks in increasing numbers regardless of what rules exist on paper .
And what happens when you force compliance through threat of jail for local employees… does that actually stop determined users,or does it just push everything further underground where oversight becomes even harder . That question honestly does not have clean answer,and nobody seems to be addressing it seriously yet
