Mere days after ExpressVPN decided to shut its Indian servers over the new IT rules proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Surfshark VPN has followed suit.
In an email to CNBC-TV18, the VPN service provider confirmed that it will be shutting down its Indian servers by June 26, before the proposed new data law comes into effect.
"Surfshark proudly operates under a strict 'no logs' policy, so such new requirements go against the core ethos of the company," a Surfshark spokesperson wrote in the email. "The infrastructure that Surfshark runs on has been configured in a way that respects the privacy of our users, and we will not compromise our values — or our technical base," the statement added.
Last month, during a press conference, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said if service providers cannot maintain logs, then
India is not a good place to do business.
Surfshark said once its physical servers in India are shut down, "we’ll introduce our virtual Indian servers". These servers will be physically located in Singapore and London and users will be able to find them in Surfshark's regular list of servers.
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The new data rules require VPN providers to record and keep customers’ logs for a rolling period of 180 days. as well as collect and keep excessive customer data for five years, and hand it over to the government when asked.
“A VPN is an online privacy tool, and Surfshark was founded to make it as easy to use for the common users as possible," said Gytis Malinauskas, Head of Legal, Surfshark.
The company said virtual servers are functionally identical to physical ones. "The main difference is that they’re not located in the stated country. They still provide the same functionality — in this case, getting an Indian IP," the statement said.
"Users in India who don’t use Indian servers will not notice any differences — they will still be able to connect to whichever server outside the country they please. Meanwhile, Surfshark will continue to closely monitor the government's attempts to limit internet freedom and encourage discussions intended to persuade the government to hear the arguments of the tech industry," Surfshark added in the email.
Nord VPN too had previously said it was mulling over shutting down its Indian servers because of the proposed new law.
First Published: Jun 7, 2022 8:02 PM IST
