VPNs being used to access social media

Tribune News Service

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Srinagar, February 19

Every day a virtual private network (VPN) to access Internet stops working in Kashmir. The news spreads quickly and another comes into use. This has become a norm in the past four weeks.

Even as telecom companies have created firewalls to prevent unauthorised Internet usage, people in Kashmir have managed access to Internet through VPNs.

Thousands of VPNs available online have made their way into the mobile phones of the people after the government restored the 2G Internet on January 14, but blocked social media platforms.

People are downloading VPNs from various online platforms and sharing them with each other through different apps available on android phones.

The VPNs that top the list are LetsVPN, Express VPN and Betternet. While many of them have already stopped working, there are new coming up every day.

It takes more than a month for the private telecom companies to create firewall to block the VPNs, which keep on developing to function through different protocols.

“There is no law in the country which stops a person from using VPNs. At least 80 per cent mobile users are using VPNs and 95 per cent of them are genuine users,” said a senior police officer.

He said the government should restore 4G services instead of forcing youth to access Internet through VPNs, which shields the identity and location of users.

Several social media users on Tuesday complained to a VPN company, LetsVPN, that they are not able to access Internet.

LetsVPN from unverified account tweeted: “Dear Kashmiri users, we are more attached to the problem as you think. I will keep you posted as things progress.”

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar on Monday appealed to general public not to use social media via VPN. But advocacy groups have criticised the government for the case against unnamed users saying there is no such law available that prohibits usage of a VPN.

“With reports emerging that Internet users may be prosecuted for using social media through VPNs in Kashmir, it is important to note that there is no publicly available blocking order prohibiting VPNs under Section 69 A of the IT Act,” said the Internet Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that works for digital rights and Internet freedom in India.