India’s New Privacy Rules For VPN Providers Postponed Till September: What It Means

The Indian Government has decided to postpone its new privacy rules for VPN providers, data centres and cloud service providers for another three months.

The new rules were supposed to come into effect on June 27, but according to a new update from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the new deadline to comply with the rules is September 25.

Also Read: Happy Birthday Elon Musk: Top 10 Inspiring Quotes For Techies Who Are Just Starting Up

“The extension of timelines for implementation of these Cyber Security Directions of 28th April 2022 have been urged in respect of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for providing reasonable time for generating capacity building required for the implementation of these Directions,” CERT-In highlighted in its new notification this week.

As per the new IT privacy rules, VPN app providers, data centres, cloud service companies and more are required to log the details of all their users and include information such as their name, email ID, phone number, and even their IP address for a period of five years.

Understandably, there was a lot of backlash after this notice was shared with providers, some even deciding to take matters into their hands. The likes of NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN have already pulled out their server networks from India, not willing to comply with the pending norms for VPN providers and more.

Also Read: After ExpressVPN, Surfshark Leaves India Before New VPN Rules Kick In

Many have talked about the new rules violating the right to privacy protection offered by the Indian Constitution. The new delayed deadline is likely to have been offered in order to give all these companies more time to regulate their operations and start the data monitoring process before the new timeline for the rules to kick in.

Privacy experts have also sought public consultation on the subject, asking for more involvement from the industry to find the best solution for everyone involved. It remains to be seen if the companies manage to fall in line with the new rules before the September deadline.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.