In the midst of the latest Indian legislation surrounding VPNs, we would like to formally announce where we stand on the issue: StrongVPN will continue to enforce our zero traffic logging policy, and as a result, we have decided to take down our VPN servers located in India.
What is happening in India with VPN legislation?
As of April 28, 2022, the Indian government announced new internet surveillance and data retention legislation that has privacy advocates concerned. This directive specifically forces VPN providers that operate within India to keep certain user data and potentially give this data to Indian authorities.
Take a look at what the proposed regulation states:
“…VPN service providers shall be required to register the following accurate information which must be maintained by them for 5 years or longer duration as mandated by the law after any cancellation or withdrawal of the registration as the case may be:
a. Validated names of subscribers/customers hiring the services
b. Period of hire including dates
c. IPs allotted to / being used by the members
d. Email address and IP address and time stamp used at the time of registration/on-boarding
e. Purpose for hiring services
f. Validated address and contact numbers
g. Ownership pattern of the subscribers/customers hiring services”
The requirements of the directive are now in effect, with two exceptions. First, for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) the directive will not go into effect until September 25, 2022. Second, the requirements relating to “validated names of subscribers/customers hiring the services” and “validated address and contact numbers” will not go into effect until September 25, 2022, for all types of entities.
What you should know about StrongVPN’s commitment to privacy
Despite these threats to consumer privacy, StrongVPN remains committed to zero traffic logging. As we mentioned above, we have decided to shut down our Indian servers in order to prioritize our customers’ data privacy.
When it comes to our we safely handle customer data, our privacy policy states the following:
- We are a zero-logging VPN service, meaning we do not track or store your data while connected to our VPN service.
- The only personal information we collect from you is used for your account setups, such as an email address and payment information.
- We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
- We use cookies on our Site to provide basic functionality and understand Site activity in aggregate. You can disable cookies on our Site at any time
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our privacy policy, you can reach out to our support team here.