Major #VPN services #SHUT_DOWN in #INDIA over #ANTI_PRIVACY #LAW;
#Apple hasn’t yet commented??
Major VPN services have shut down service in India, as there is #no_way to #comply with a #new_law without #breaching their #own privacy protection #standards.
The #law also applies to #iCloud #Private_Relay, but Apple has not yet commented on its own plans …
#New_rules from India’s Computer Emergency Response Team
India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (#CERT) has said that new rules will apply to VPN providers from September 25.
These will #require services to #collect #customer_names, #email_addresses, and #IP_addresses. The #data must be #retained for at least #five_years, and #handed_over to CERT on #demand.
This would #breach the privacy standards of major #VPN services, and be #physically_impossible for services like #NordVPN, which keep #no_logs as a matter of policy.
The #company is registered in #Panama #specifically because there are #no_data_retention laws there, and no #international #intelligence_sharing.
Major VPN services shut down Indian servers
Major global providers of #virtual_private_networks, which let internet users shield their #identities online, are #shutting_down their #servers in India to protest new #government_rules they say #threaten their customers’ #privacy […]
Such rules are “typically introduced by authoritarian governments in order to gain more control over their citizens,” said a spokeswoman for Nord Security, provider of NordVPN, which has stopped operating its servers in India. “If democracies follow the same path, it has the potential to affect people’s privacy as well as their freedom of speech,” she said […]
Other VPN services that have stopped operating servers in India in recent months are some of the world’s best known. They include U.S.-based Private Internet Access and IPVanish, Canada-based TunnelBear, British Virgin Islands-based ExpressVPN, and Lithuania-based Surfshark.
ExpressVPN said it “refuses to participate in the Indian government’s attempts to limit internet freedom.”
The government’s move “severely undermines the online privacy of Indian residents,” Private Internet Access said.
Customers in India will be able to connect to VPN servers in other countries. This is the same approach taken in Russia and China, where operating servers within those countries would require VPN companies to comply with similar legislation.
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay affected
The law also applies to iCloud Private Relay, which is effectively a VPN service used only for Safari.
The design of the iCloud Private Relay system ensures that no single party handling user data has complete information on both who the user is and what they are trying to access.
To do this, Private Relay uses modern encryption and transport mechanisms to relay traffic from user devices through Apple and partner infrastructure before sending traffic to the destination website.
Apple has not yet commented on its own planned response, but we have reached out to the company and will update with any response.
https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/01/major-vpn-services/
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