India Orders VPN Companies to Collect and Hand Over User Data

[havoc]

I have already asked Surfshark this question...

 

[Chip]

@mikrotik I had asked Surfshark support this question and the person checked with his/her supervisor they said it's mandatory....and like that's that. You want to subscribe? Then you need to give your PAN #. Like that's BS man. This was back in Feb.

I think only companies without a presence in India will ask for this info...and it has something to do with MEITY order of April. I am a long time user of Dropbox and this is the 1st time they ever asked for this info.

 

[havoc]

Their Response


Source

 

[Chip]

@havoc yes they said it's mandatory..once again it happened before the MEITY/CERT rules were announced.

 

[mikrotik]

You should ask which law specifically. Also, there is a huge difference between surfshark and Dropbox.

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

Welcome to China boys! Cough cough I mean, India.

 

[Chip]

Acche din

 

[Smh]

And how they are going to verify pan?

Why only pan is acceptable for kyc when no large financial transactions is involved.

I wonder if this is anyway related to US charging taxes for any earnings from US citizens. Like if you do YouTube, freelancing and your customers are from US , YouTube will deduct tax and you have to submit all pan and every information. This started from last year.

 

[Chip]

They can't verify because they won't have access to IT Dept. data..but either way if the Govt wants they can easily trace the owner via a the CC or UPI purchase. I have no issues with the Govt knowing I use a VPN..it's not illegal yet. But I have an issue with foreign cos, that supposedly sell privacy solutions, asking for personal data. VPN Cos are not all that above board and there are also some that have direct or indirect Chinese shareholding including some well known and highly touted VPNs.

 

[phoenix10386]

yeah i am not sure why a lot of these companies are now seeking pan card number just for online payments.

Unless I am mistaken somewhere, wouldn't they be taking this additional load on themselves because our servants might be asking them to do so?

Taking PAN and reporting the transactions makes our servants' jobs easier and faster than tracking credit card payments and going through those hoops to get at taxpayers.