Servers in country
Providers with exit locations in Botswana: a server here gives you an address in the country. The register’s table records no mandate for VPN operators here; the briefing below sets out what the law asks of providers.
Only a few providers publish an exit here.
Providers with exit locations in a country — a fact about a network, kept deliberately apart from where the company is registered. Only providers whose country list has a source appear: a provider that publishes nothing simply does not show up, which is a criterion already in the data rather than an editorial one.
Botswana’s Cybercrime and Computer Related Crimes Act, 2018 lets a judicial officer order a provider to supply subscriber information or collect data in real time, while police may order preservation or traffic-data disclosure by written notice. The 2022 Controlled Investigations Act is reported to require providers to install interception facilities.
The Cybercrime and Computer Related Crimes Act, 2018 (No. 18 of 2018) defines a service provider broadly, including anyone providing an information and communication service (s. 2). Police may order data preserved once the court confirms it (s. 24), or require it preserved or traffic data disclosed by written notice (s. 25).
A judicial officer may order a provider to supply subscriber information (s. 26) or to collect content or traffic data in real time, within its technical capabilities (s. 28).. Refusing an order or notice carries a fine of up to P20 000, one year’s imprisonment, or both (s. 32). The Act takes effect on a day the Minister appoints by gazetted Order (s. 1).
A provider that discloses such an order, or what was done or collected under it, without lawful authority faces a fine of P1 000 000 to P5 000 000 (s. 23). The Criminal Procedure and Evidence (Controlled Investigations) Act (Act 14 of 2022) is reported to require providers to install interception facilities, with jail for non-compliant directors. Whether either Act reaches a VPN operator is not established.
The Cybercrime Act provides a deletion order: the Director of Public Prosecutions may apply to a judicial officer for an order that data containing pornography, obscene material or child pornography no longer be stored on or made available through a computer system, or be deleted or destroyed (s. 29). Racist or xenophobic material, and racist or xenophobic insult, are separate offences (ss. 21–22).
The Cybercrime Act punishes cyber harassment (obscene requests or threats of harm; fine up to P10 000 or six months, s. 16), cyber stalking (wilful, malicious or repeated electronic communication to harass, or a threat meant to cause fear; up to P20 000 or one year, s. 17) and offensive electronic communication that disturbs a person’s peace or privacy (same penalty, s. 18).
Subscriber data is sought by a production order from a judicial officer (s. 26), though a police sergeant or above may act without an order where applying would cause undue delay (s. 30). The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that police obtained from a mobile operator an activity log for an editor’s account and searched his phone, while he faced charges over Facebook posts.
The Intelligence and Security Services Act requires a court order for searches or interception of mail, e-mail, computer or telephonic communications, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The first draft of the Controlled Investigations Act allowed access to communications “by any means” without a warrant; within days the government amended it to prohibit warrantless interception and to add a judge-led committee overseeing covert operations.
The order of the rows is the security score, and a server’s location is not a recommendation.
Botswana
Only a provider that publishes a country list appears here at all — 41 of the 77 on file. The other 27 are not missing research: they publish no list, and U02_server_countries is unknown for them rather than filled from the number their marketing claims.
A provider that says “100+ countries” and enumerates none gets no page on any of them, and the count printed on its own record is the length of the list, never the claim. With 41 providers behind 180 countries, the long tail of these pages carries one or two rows.
More countries
What moved
Every row is the record’s own history[], filtered to U02_server_countries and P04_mandate_response; the whole log holds every field.
29 Aug 20261 changes
NordVPNResponse to a national logging mandateP04_mandate_response
not on the record changed to withdrew_physical
Coverage149countries
Paying monthly$14.99monthly
Paying yearly$139.08yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices10at once
Security
Usability
Coverage168countries
Paying monthly$11.99monthly
Paying yearly$47.84yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices5at once
Security
Usability
