International reporting

India: New restrictions on VPNs cause concern

Audio 02:28

So far, only 10 countries ban or severely restrict the use of VPNs: China, Russia, Belarus or North Korea.

© Shutterstock/Alexander Supertramp

By: Sébastien Farcis Follow

2 mins

The Indian government has just imposed new restrictions on online browsing: it is attacking VPN services, used by Internet users to browse anonymously on the Web.

New Delhi says these hidden connections can hamper the fight against cybercrime.

And it broke the privacy of these VPN services.

In a country that increasingly clamps down on online expression, this measure scares many.

Advertising

From our correspondent in New Delhi,

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are software that allow you to connect to the internet through an external server - many use them to access another country's network, and thus circumvent national censorship, and others to browse anonymously and prevent network giants from collecting their personal data.

Like WhatsApp, these VPN companies guarantee complete anonymity in communications.

This service is authorized in almost all democracies in the world, but the Indian government has just challenged this system: it now forces VPNs to collect their users' personal data and store them for 5 years, to make them available authorities when needed.

"

If an incident or a crime is reported, access providers have the obligation to indicate who used this server

", declares Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister Delegate for New Technologies.

“

So, yes, if your business model is to provide anonymous internet access, it won't work.

And I think the world now realizes the damage done by anonymity through VPNs

.

»

Anonymity in the sights of the Indian government

But VPNs embarrass the government for other reasons: They allow journalists to investigate anonymously.

Devesh Kumar is a data analyst and journalist for The Wire, and it was he who revealed that the ruling BJP party had created the Tek Fog software, which manipulated social media trends and orchestrated hate campaigns in line.

During the two years of investigating this topic, I used a VPN all the time, to make sure the government wasn't spying on my activity.

If this system no longer exists, the authorities will know what we are doing and they will either hide the evidence before it is revealed or they will harass us.

In recent months, Indian authorities have arrested, among others, a young environmental activist for sedition or a well-known journalist, because of their online activities.

And the social network Twitter has just filed a complaint against the Indian state, claiming that it was asking it to remove content in an abusive manner.

In this context, therefore, some fear that the end of VPN anonymity will further expose government criticism.

So far, only 10 countries prohibit or strongly restrict the use of VPNs, these are among others China, Russia, Belarus or North Korea.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • India

  • Internet