NordVPN could be prepping to exit India amid rising concerns among VPN service providers over the IT Ministry’s latest order. Last week, the CERT-in (Computer Emergency Response Team) ordered VPN companies in India to collect and store users’ data for five years or longer. As expected, the order sparked privacy concerns among those using virtual private networks in the country. Notably, the whole idea of a VPN is to offer privacy to users. A spokesperson for Nord Security, Patricija Cerniauskaite has hinted at the company’s potential exit from the company.
In a statement, Cerniauskaite told Entrackr that NordVPN is considering removing its servers from India. Further, she noted that the company wants to spare no effort when it comes to protecting the privacy of its customers. So, NordVPN will have no choice but the halt its service in the country. For those who are unaware, Nord Security is the developer of NordVPN. Aside from this, the CERT-in has ordered cryptocurrency exchanges to keep user data for at least five years. NordVPN is one of the world’s largest VPN providers.
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NordVPN Planning To Exit India
VPN companies not only ensure privacy while browsing the web, but it offers a slew of other equally vital services. For instance, NordVPN and other VPN companies offer a wide range of resources that users can’t access on a public network. Aside from this, VPNs come in handy for accessing blocked websites and apps by masking the IP address of the users. However, using VPN to access Telegram in Brazil is restricted by the government. So, VPN users will have to shell out a whopping $20,000 fine for using a VPN to access Telegram in the country. Moreover, with authorities ordering VPN companies and store and share users’ data, their privacy will be in jeopardy.
Also, it is worth mentioning here that the safety of VPN users heavily relies on the kind of virtual private network provider they are using. To recall, the personal information of millions of free VPN users was leaked last year. However, NordVPN has previously confirmed that it doesn’t collect user data since they run on RAM-only servers. Notably, the latest order from the IT Ministry could force NordVPN and other VPN companies having servers in India to change their policy.
If things don’t go as planned, NordVPN could decide to pull out of India. However, you might still be able to connect to Nord’s servers in different countries. Moreover, NordVPN reportedly has 28 servers in India that users in different countries can connect to. Also, NordVPN Indian servers give access to blocked websites. Cerniauskaite says that the company is currently figuring out the best course of action. It will probably respond to the Indian government’s newly passed directive in the coming days. The law will come into effect about two months later.
