Jakarta (Antara) – Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) is mulling possible regulation to control the permit of a virtual private network (VPN) after the service widely used by Indonesians since the government limited access to social media in May 2019.

"If there is a regulation, it will be about its permit, not a restriction," said the ministry's director general for applications and informatics, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan to reporters on Wednesday, June 12.

The plan emerged as the public utilized the service without charges to access social media when it was temporarily blocked by the government in response to the May 22 riot. VPN is basically a closed internet service, and so Semuel questioned operators that provided the service for free.

The use of this free bypassing tool has risks of spyware injection and users' data breach. "Therefore, we are studying a regulation in which VPN service must be licensed," Semuel cited.

VPN service is a part of an internet service provider (ISP) and it is permitted by ISP. "All ISPs have VPN because the service is connected to other internet services," he added.

The ministry has yet set a target when the regulation on VPN will take effect as studies on the matter are still afoot.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1213981/govt-mulls-regulation-on-vpn-service-permit