ExpressVPN Pulls Physical Servers From India Over Country's Data-Logging Rule
ExpressVPN will shut down its servers in India after the country imposed a policy requiring VPN providers to collect and turn over data on their customers.
ExpressVPN announced(Opens in a new window) Thursday that it removed all physical VPN servers in India ahead of June 27, when the rules go into effect. “We are doing this because we refuse to ever put our users’ data at risk,” a company spokesperson told us.
India's new policy, introduced a month ago, is designed to bolster the country’s approach to fighting cybercrime. But to do so, local authorities are demanding that VPN providers log, store and potentially hand over information on customers, including which IP addresses they’ve been using to browse the web.
According to ExpressVPN, the data-collection requirement is “incompatible” with the very purpose of a VPN, which are often marketed as tools to protect your digital privacy by hiding your computer’s real IP address.
“The law is also overreaching and so broad as to open up the window for potential abuse. We believe the damage done by potential misuse of this kind of law far outweighs any benefit that lawmakers claim would come from it,” the company wrote in its announcement.
ExpressVPN seems to be the first VPN provider to remove its physical servers in India over the new policy, but it probably won’t be the last. That’s because many major VPN providers have adopted a strict no-log policy on recording customer traffic data. NordVPN is also mulling shutting down its servers in India.
However, India doesn't appear to be backing away from the impending data-collection requirement. “If you don’t maintain logs, this is not a good place to do business,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the country's Minister of State for
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