A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has urged India’s central government to block VPNs in India, alleging that such services “allow criminals to remain anonymous online.” As reported by Medianama, the committee highlighted that the Home Ministry should coordinate with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to “identify and permanently block such VPNs with the help of Internet service providers”. needed. The recommendations also suggested that India should develop a “coordinating mechanism” with international agencies to permanently block VPNs in India.
The parliamentary committee’s recommendation comes months after the central government liberalized the other service providers (OSP) sector by recommending official use of VPNs, to facilitate remote working capability for India’s largely outsourced IT industry. The move was considered a welcome move to facilitate the functioning of one of India’s largest industry sectors, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move essentially relaxed the erstwhile norms set by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) relating to call centers and IT services in India.
Titled ‘Action taken by the Government on the recommendations and observations contained in the 230th Report on Atrocities and Crimes against Women and Children’. Report No. 233 The committee reads as the following:
“The Committee notes with concern the technical challenge posed by VPN services and the dark web, which can bypass cyber security walls and allow criminals to remain anonymous online. To date, VPNs can be easily downloaded. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs, with the help of Internet Service Providers, should be empowered to identify and permanently block such VPNs. should coordinate with the Ministry of Information Technology. The committee also recommends that a coordination mechanism should also be developed with international agencies to permanently block these VPNs. Initiatives should be taken to strengthen the tracking and monitoring mechanism by further improving and developing state-of-the-art technology.
In the subsequent part, the report also stated, “The committee has noted the incomplete response of MeitY as no information has been provided on the coordination mechanism with international agencies to permanently block VPNs and Initiatives taken/proposed to strengthen the tracking and monitoring mechanism. A check on use of VPN and dark web. MHA may make its efforts to obtain such information from MeitY and submit the same to the committee .
At the moment, it is not clear what will be the further course of action in this regard. The move to block VPNs in India and abroad is often considered by privacy advocates to be a move that could hinder the free exchange of information on the Internet. It will be interesting to see what action is taken going forward. In terms of regulating actions on the Internet, the government has already moved in 2020 Apply restrictions to specific apps With ties with China, citing national security as the backbone of his actions.
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