Internet censorship in India is a real thing. While it’s not as bad as the situation in China, internet censorship is becoming more and more common in India. Over 800 websites have already been banned for pornographic content. The Internet Archive has also been banned alongside several useful or entertaining websites.
A VPN allows you to bypass this censorship. Using a VPN in India is legal at this time. The government has yet to declare using VPNs a crime and we hope it remains that way. And while using a VPN is fine, you have to be careful of what you do with a VPN.
This article focuses on the reasons why you should get a VPN in India. Continue reading to learn about these reasons.
Reasons to use a VPN in India
Below are the reasons to use a VPN in India:
1. Access Geo-Restricted Content
A VPN allows you to unlock content that is not available in India. Some of this content is not unavailable because the government banned them but because they are only restricted to their country of origin. Take, for instance, BBC iPlayer and Netflix US.
Access to BBC iPlayer is restricted to the UK while Netflix US is only available in the US. A VPN can change your IP address, trick streaming services, and allow you to access geo-restricted content. All you have to do is connect to a server in the country where the content is available.
2. Bypass Government Surveillance
The Indian government isn’t secretive about its internet surveillance. And they use several methods to collect information on people. Even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is required by law to provide metadata to government agencies.
Many people are clearly uncomfortable with this. It’s not that they plan to do anything illegal but knowing that everything they do online is logged in can be a little unnerving. Your entire web history, downloads, and messages are seen by the government. A VPN can improve your online privacy by encrypting your internet traffic and preventing spying eyes from accessing it.
3. You Can Conduct Business From Abroad
India is home to offices or branches of several international organizations. Whenever you are out of the country, you may experience problems when trying to get some work done as many companies ban international IP addresses.
Connecting to an Indian VPN server can solve this problem for you since it’ll appear you are accessing your company’s website from India. And you get to do your work without any interruption.
You may also find yourself unable to access content that is normally available to you at home. And a VPN will come in handy in this scenario.
4. VPNs Are a Must on Public Networks
Public wifi is a haven for cybercriminals. The security on much public wifi is usually nothing to write home about and hackers use several methods to steal the private information of people connected to the network. Credit card credentials, bank details or login, financial information, and other sensitive info are especially sought after.
Many people will find it difficult to stop using public wifi. After all, they are free. So, what do you do? You take steps to protect yourself and this involves using a VPN. VPNs encrypt your internet traffic, ensure no one can access them, and should anyone manage to access them, the information is useless to them.
5. Increased Gaming and Streaming Speed
ISPs don’t like heavy internet users. If they see you hogging the bandwidth, they’ll happily throttle you which is the intentional slowing of your internet speed. And this will affect your online gaming and streaming.
A way to bypass bandwidth throttling is to is a VPN. Since your internet traffic gets hidden from your ISP with a VPN, they can’t see what you are doing and punish you for it.
Final Thoughts
As you can, there are a number of reasons to use a VPN in India. The exact reasons depend on what you intend to achieve. As we mentioned earlier, it’s legal to use a VPN in India but there might be legal consequences if you engage in any illicit activities with a VPN. Such activities include committing fraud, downloading copyrighted materials, selling drugs, and so on.
Related Article:
