Protect Digital India

House panel's plea to ban VPNs will severely hamper commerce

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has reportedly suggested that India ban virtual private networks (VPNs). The committee seems to have discovered in the course of its duties that VPNs might conceivably allow anonymous activity online, and has thus recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs collaborate with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to develop a co-ordination mechanism to block VPNs. In making this recommendation, the standing committee has revealed the depth of ignorance that bedevils India’s parliamentarians when it comes to issues both technical and technological. The question of the right to avoid surveillance in a