The unintended consequences of the heavy-handed India VPN ban

VPNs are now banned in the Indian region of Kashmir. The Indian government has taken this stance due to "threats to national security," but, ultimately, as with all instances of VPN restrictions, this just feels extremely heavy-handed to me. To take the principle to absurd levels, it'd be like banning clothes just because some criminals might use them to disguise themselves.

This VPN ban was introduced on December 29, so the people of Kashmir have now been living VPNlessly for a few weeks. There's a long history of conflict in the region (as it lies on the oft-disputed border between India and Pakistan), going back about 80 years.

While the VPN ban is unlikely to calm things, it'll certainly make ordinary people much more exposed on the internet. Looking up a very personal and private interest? The data-hungry corporations of the world want to know. Googling symptoms of a medical problem that you'd rather nobody but your doctor know about? Well, get ready for the data to be sold so that you can get targeted ads for it when you show your friend something funny on your phone.

A VPN ban also makes it easier for cyber-criminals to do their thing, and, given the layer of security afforded by VPNs to IT, finance, and government employees, could end up posing threats to national security. Oh, the irony.

When you factor in all the additional cybersecurity features that a lot of the best VPN services offer, it's even worse. What about those who use them to keep on top of whether or not their email addresses were involved in any data breaches? Or those who used their VPNs as password managers? Or those who used them as their computer's de facto malware detector?

As with most laws regarding VPNs (and the internet at large, really) this seems to have been drawn up by people who don't truly understand the importance and nuance of VPNs to their average user.

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