ProtonVPN, a leading VPN service, has announced that it is moving its Indian servers after the government crackdown on VPNs. The company said in a statement that it will move its Indian servers to locations in countries with more liberal laws, such as the United States and Canada. The crackdown comes as a result of India’s strict anti-VPN laws, which have been criticized for being restrictive and ineffective. ProtonVPN has said that it plans to continue providing its service in India despite the restrictions.
The rules, put together by India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) in a bid to fight cybercrime, will force VPNs—among other computer service providers—to implement know-your-customer protocols. This includes registering each user’s full name, address and telephone number, as well as customer activity while using the network.
This flies directly in the face of what VPNs are supposed to do, so it’s small wonder, then, that ProtonVPN—among others—is leaving India. The only way to avoid the restrictions is to abandon any presence in India, which includes servers. That said, users can still sign on and use the service from India, they just won’t be able to use servers based in the country.
However, ProtonVPN seems intent on making sure that their customers can still anonymously use the internet with Indian IP addresses. To do so, it will “replace” its abandoned Indian servers with Indian IPs on virtual servers in Singapore using what it calls “smart routing.” ProtonVPN users will still be able to spoof Indian IPs, they’ll just be doing so through Singapore instead of somewhere on the subcontinent.
ProtonVPN’s decision to give up its Indian servers is the latest in an exodus of VPN providers. ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NordVPN, to name just three, upped sticks back when the new VPN crackdown was announced in June.
