India’s new VPN rules spark fresh fears over online privacy

A man uses his mobile phone while charging at a public-charging station in a market area in New Delhi. India ranks among the top 20 countries in VPN adoption, according to AtlasVPN’s global index, with users surging in 2020 and 2021 – as they did worldwide – as companies secured their networks with more people working from home amid the pandemic. — AFP

Virtual private networks (VPNs) that encrypt data and provide users with anonymity online have seen a surge in use in India in recent years as the government tightened its grip on the Internet to curb dissent, and as more people worked from home.

Now, some VPN providers are leaving India while others are considering doing so ahead of new rules that the government says are aimed at improving cybersecurity, but that the firms argue are vulnerable to abuse and could put users’ data at risk.