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FastestVPN removes all India VPN servers
I just got this mail:
To all our loyal FastestVPN subscribers, we’d like to bring to your attention that we’re no longer housing physical servers in India! Our decision to remove them began effective 1st June 2022, which was in light of the recent issue by CERT-In (India’s cyber security agency.)
They required all VPN providers to hand in full control of physical India servers in order to monitor and store all user data right up to 5 years.
FastestVPN believes in mantaining online freedom, anonymity and protection of all user data. For this, we’ve made the steadfast decision to remove all physical servers in India.
However, don’t worry! You can still access an Indian IP address through our virtual servers in the Cayman Islands. This change has been updated across all platforms!
With that said, continue streaming Indian content without worrying! We’ve got you!
Do other VPN providers do the same or do they give CERT-In access to log everything?
Comments
It is sad to see a country like India being left out. But then it's their government choice.
I appreciate FastestVPN for standing up publicly in the name of customer's privacy and anonymity. This is extremely rare nowadays, because corporations and governments want to monitor decisions and keep people under control.
Congratulations FastestVPN for standing tall! Keep it up!
I just checked VPN Unlimited and they have also removed their Indian servers.
https://www.vpnunlimited.com/blog/removing-indian-servers
So congratulations to KeepSolid too!
NordVPN and others also did and more will follow. Comes as no surprise now.
Maybe some providers will keep "virtual India ip" servers available, where the physical server resides elsewhere.
How that really work?
i would like know how to have virtual ip from X country & physical server on X country
i see m247 do that a lot...
gonna miss low ping vpns
geoip databases.
i know Geoip database but question do you need to have ARIN or anyone can contact GeoIP to update ip?
for example i have a server from hosting provider with ip provided from the hosting in x country
is that so easy to contact GeoIP providers to tell them to change ip country to new x country ?
all that easy ? without owning Range of IP block?
also can is it possible to update a single ip address to x country instead of all / block?
The minimum required for a change is /29. If your provider offers SWIP, you can just put
any address and country there, contact Maxmind and generally if it doesn't look too fake like
Antarctica or North Korea - they will update it twice a month.
Windscribe managed to have antarctica for a while lol
That was probably hosted by @yoursunny.
I think they may have been joking. They have a great (IMO) humorous side to them that you can see If you follow them.
https://windscribe.com/support/article/64/what-and-where-is-the-fake-antarctica-troll-station-server
Yeah, that just reminded me of this.
India is turning into another China.
Sad, but true.
Western countries are working on catching up, though. I mean, here in the US we recently elected a president who was a big backer of the "Patriot Act". 😢
India is changed a lot that I can't say anything more here, I am afraid they would find me and take action.
Very cool!
On what metrics? Would be curious to know .. some example of metrics
-Population
-GDP
-Industrial Production
and most importantly...
don't see any or many MJJs from India.
So before making a generic unqualified flatulent expression, context would be relevant.
I think in the context of this thread you can already tell it’s in the context of increasing authoritarianism.
Indeed.
That could be one of the many interpretations - but not explicitly spelt out.
Coming back to the topic- the reasons for the Law can be debated and beaten to death- but it is already in place. And the new Law does not apply just to VPS providers
I do not see bitcoin companies exit because of the law (market crash may force them out, but that is a different topic).
I do not see cloud service providers- DO AWS or DC operators etc leaving- instead they are expanding.
On the topic of Authoritarianism (the word is a bit of a tongue twister, isn't it?) did DC operators/ cloud service providers leave other countries because of this issue? Need to look into that (speaking for self) before I can comment.
Most media and many analysts- choosing to report / reflect on what serves specific interest takes the eye off the bigger picture.
You wouldn't expect that to happen anytime soon because if you've invested in setting up a datacenter, not having to respect the user's privacy because of a new law is a small price to pay as compared to foregoing the investment.
VPNs have privacy as their core value, and their investment is simply buying some servers, so leaving the country makes sense.
For the most part, @Anayx is right. What India has done in this respect is very similar to China and their system of ICP recordals. Of course any country is free to implement any system of government and any uphold degree of authoritarian values, as they wish. It's just that the world doesn't really need another China or Russia at this time.
I remember my first day of "Introduction to cyber security" class when the professor came to the class with a poster saying "Big Daddy Is Watching You". He told us, "whatever we do on the internet is monitored by the CIA/FBI and other US govt agencies". I think every country does it, and India just joined that league. So, when it comes to users' privacy, every county is China.
@stevewatson301
Your comment on Datacenters .. indeed the thoughts are in concurrence.
From a business economics angle- keep all other matters at bay:
Capital investment/ sunk cost is one factor
Market opportunity is another.
Portability of services given the “physical “ nature of services…
Looking at vpn (or related) services from these angles, entry/exit in a market may post its own set of challenges.
I'm yet to find a GFW in the US; AFAIK India too has its own GFW like system although not centrally managed as with China. I also don't see KYC requirements for VPNs being instituted in the Europe and US.
Yet, here we are, with the jsg-like vibes of "every country does bad things" as a justification for anything.
This is the reason I kept it generic. I can't say anything specific as that would be what India is trying to stop ie. censoring anything which is not in favour of ruling party.
Ruling party where?
State governments from one side of the aisle who jail film actresses for sharing a FB post, or those from other side of the aisle for speaking ill against the leadership?
Central level anybody can say anything and get away these days as Reddit and Twitter indicate.
Last I checked, speak against the central government and courts will be happy to let you walk. So whats the concern against speaking up? New laws framed by central govt not states.
Therefore, specifics matter. Generic off the cuff statement gives wrong signal.
Coming to topic, what do you have to say about impact of new law on Datacenters and bitcoin?
Cheers
When you can copy the whole internet, why do you need GFW? The US keeps a copy of the whole internet, whereas other countries do a little bit as per their needs.
Do you know even Tor Browser is not safe? US army knows everything whatever you do on Tor.
I do not want to be involved in the privacy debate here. My point is no country gives any f about the privacy of common people. If people's privacy had been a concern for the US, Edward Snowden would have been living in the USA freely.
Which ruling party? Central or some states?
I have never heard of the central govt censoring anything unfavorable to their party. They might have censored something which is not good for India. India is the most diversified nation, so some censorship is good for India, otherwise extremist groups will make India hell.
You're conflating two different issues. The GFW (or its equivalent) censors information, eavesdropping provides visibility of who's doing what in an unfair manner. You could say a number of things about the NSA, but surely you can't say they're censoring information.
Surely you can make the argument that three-letter agencies can run Tor exits, but so can you and any other three-letter agency in another country. This is a flaw of any clearnet anonymization protocol, but there's nothing specifically about its design for you to conclude "US army knows everything whatever you do on Tor."
And yet you make statements that are not well informed, and assume everyone to just accept it for what it is?
Something bad happening elsewhere isn't a justification, it's whataboutism. Regardless, I'll bite.
The problem with the US is most are too patriotic for their own good. The concerns Snowden raised were legitimate. However, the media only portrayed him as the "foreign agent who leaked national security documents," and no discussion of the actual contents of the NSA documents took place. With Americans mostly supporting his arrest and an administration hellbent on persecuting him, he had no option. It's a sad state of affairs.