ExpressVPN Removes India-Based VPN Servers Due to Government Order: 10 Reasons for the Change

ExpressVPN's subscribers will continue to be able to access Indian material using "virtual" servers.

HIGHLIGHTS

• ExpressVPN made the announcement on Thursday.

• In India, the business has shut down its VPN servers.

• Concerns over the government order were also expressed by NordVPN and others.

ExpressVPN has shut down its VPN servers in India after failing to comply with the government's directives to preserve customer data for at least five years and share it with police when requested. The action is the first by a VPN service provider in response to an order issued by India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) in late April, which takes effect on June 27. Other VPN providers, on the other hand, expressed reservations about the guidelines immediately after they were announced.

Here are the top ten reasons why ExpressVPN servers were removed from India.

• "With a recent data rule established in India mandating all VPN providers to preserve user information for at least five years, ExpressVPN has made the very simple choice to withdraw our Indian-based VPN servers," the business stated in a blog post published on Thursday.

• As a result of the change, ExpressVPN customers will be able to connect to "virtual" India servers.

• According to the corporation, the virtual servers would utilise Indian IP addresses to give Internet access as if they were physically situated in India. This implies that customers outside of India will be able to utilise the VPN service to access India-specific content.

• The virtual VPN servers, on the other hand, will be hosted in Singapore and the United Kingdom, not in India. Users will be able to connect to the virtual India servers by selecting 'India (through Singapore)' or 'India (via UK)' as their VPN server location.

• For some years, ExpressVPN has had a server location in India (through UK). Virtual locations are also utilised to give "faster, more dependable connectivity" to consumers, according to the corporation.

• Users are unlikely to notice a significant difference in their experience.

• ExpressVPN said that it will never collect or keep user activity data or connection logs.

• VPN service providers have been asked by the government to preserve user logs for at least five years and share them with police as needed. It also told service providers that they must "mandatorily activate logs" on their systems and keep them safe for 180 days.

• The government order has raised worries among ExpressVPN and other VPN providers.

• If no alternative choices are provided, NordVPN's parent company, Nord Security, has threatened to relocate its servers from India.