The primary reason for using a VPN is to conceal your IP address. Clients can prevent website trackers that collect information and monitor their location.However, under a new regulation in India, VPN providers may soon be required to keep customer data for five years.
Under a new national mandate from India's Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-in, virtual private network businesses will be forced to gather significant client data and keep it for at least five years. It's a measure that will almost certainly make life more difficult for both VPN providers and VPN users in the country.
According to the new governing law, failing to satisfy the expectations of the Ministry of Electronics and IT might result in a year in prison. Companies must also keep track of and preserve user details long after a user has discontinued his or her service subscription.
The directive does not apply only to VPN services. Both data centres and cloud service providers are included in the same category. Companies will be required to preserve client information even after a subscription or account has been cancelled. In any event, CERT-in will force enterprises to report "unauthorised access to social media accounts" by their users.
The new regulations are likely to take effect 60 days after they are passed, which means they might take effect on July 27, 2022.
According to the new governing law, failing to satisfy the expectations of the Ministry of Electronics and IT might result in a year in prison. Companies must also keep track of and preserve user details long after a user has discontinued his or her service subscription.
The directive does not apply only to VPN services. Both data centres and cloud service providers are included in the same category. Companies will be required to preserve client information even after a subscription or account has been cancelled. In any event, CERT-in will force enterprises to report "unauthorised access to social media accounts" by their users.
The new regulations are likely to take effect 60 days after they are passed, which means they might take effect on July 27, 2022.
If the proposed change is enacted, VPN companies will be compelled to convert to storage servers, which would allow them to log in user data and retain it for at least five years. Switching to storage servers will result in increasing costs for businesses.
For the end-user, this means reduced privacy and probably more expenses. If data was logged, it would be easy to track your browsing and download history. Meanwhile, paid VPN services may increase their subscription prices to cover the costs of the new storage servers they must now employ.
For the end-user, this means reduced privacy and probably more expenses. If data was logged, it would be easy to track your browsing and download history. Meanwhile, paid VPN services may increase their subscription prices to cover the costs of the new storage servers they must now employ.
Author
-Anurag