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Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

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Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#81

Post by godelski »

jfk13 wrote: post #66
godelski wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're on a tech form. We aren't political experts, we're tech experts. While we should be aware and discuss the political issues at the end of the day we aren't experts in that. But being experts in tech, we can approach the problem from that end. This isn't a "I'm a hammer therefore every problem is a nail" this is "It is a complicated problem that involves nails, screws, rivets, welding, etc. I am good at using a h…

Sometimes hammering nails into the broken thing will just end up splitting the wood and it'll be more broken than before. Yes, this is a tech forum, but it's entirely reasonable to argue that in some cases, a tech solution is by its very nature not the right solution.

> Sometimes hammering nails into the broken thing will just end up splitting the wood and it'll be more broken than before.

I 100% agree? But we're trying to build a house here. We may not want to hammer nails into those boards, but there are plenty of places we want to. We also don't want to hammer into steel or into live wires.

Maybe my analogy didn't work. I'm saying form coalitions and we apply our domain knowledge to the domain of the problem where our knowledge is most effective. We leave the other domains up to the other domain experts. I'm not saying we shouldn't be aware and help where we can with those issues, but that we also aren't the experts there and shouldn't be leading the conversations (again, participate, but not leading).

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#82

Post by vbezhenar »

LinuxBender wrote: post #42

This is going to sound antiquated and tedious, so please bear with me. Rather than using a VPN/Tor/etc. which can be easily detected or requires a lot of OpSec to get right, consider having people in other countries that can help bundle archives of data for you. Ship the data back and forth over something non conspicuous and not subject to MITM proxies such as SFTP to AWS or one of the low-rent VPS providers. Use a r…

ssh could be used for proxy, so it might be marked as a VPN by ISP hardware. Better way would be to use something very popular like Gmail or Google Drive. I hope that chances are small for Google to co-operate with Indian government.

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#83

Post by InitialLastName »

thbr99 wrote: post #63

The India government is taking action against spreading misinformation & fake news via VPN enabled social media. What is wrong here. Title is misleading and sensationalist.

What's "wrong" is that it's very difficult to tell the difference between this and "The Indian government is taking action against spreading information and news via VPN enabled social media"

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#84

Post by TallGuyShort »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #72

The majority of the population has blind faith in BJP. The only demographic that appears to realise the implications well enough is the youth in urban areas - a very insignificant fraction of the nation's population. Sounds all too familiar here in the US. We are effectively held hostage by rural voters, and the obvious remedy for this state of affairs -- abolishing the Electoral College -- will mean that those voter…

"held hostage by rural voters" is an interesting choice of words considering they already feel the same way. There are already movements in a number of states with a lot of local support to have rural areas that are politically dominated by urban voters secede and join other states that more closely align with their values. I don't know why state governments don't let that happen more freely if they aren't actually trying to be the ones holding others hostage.

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#86

Post by _jgdh »

legolas2412 wrote: post #26
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say "anti-nationalist" is a bad thing? Wow.

They're calling you anti-national. Basically a traitor.

For Americans, this is identical to when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was branding people "Unamerican". The BJP have succeeded in establishing their brand of hatred and stupidity as the only valid form of patriotism.

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#87

Post by _jgdh »

magduf wrote: post #51
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #14

This is a reminder that without physical security, electronic security is pretty much worthless. The best encryption won't save you from rubberhose cryptanalysis where they beat you until you reveal your key. Clever circumvention technologies such as VPN won't save you when they arrest your for using circumvention technologies. These are all good things, but we in tech, oftentimes think we can program our way out of…

>Clever circumvention technologies such as VPN won't save you when they arrest your for using circumvention technologies. True, but my question here is: given that VPNs are pretty much essential for the way many large corporations work (they're not going to let employees access sensitive data over the internet in the clear), how does India, a country with a large tech presence and which promotes itself as a good plac…

You can use VPNs in other parts of the country, just not in the areas where internet access has been banned. While this is an egregious abuse of power and a gross violation of the rights of Kashmiris, it is not happening in the rest of the country.

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#89

Post by dsfyu404ed »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #84
CamperBob2 wrote: post #72

The majority of the population has blind faith in BJP. The only demographic that appears to realise the implications well enough is the youth in urban areas - a very insignificant fraction of the nation's population. Sounds all too familiar here in the US. We are effectively held hostage by rural voters, and the obvious remedy for this state of affairs -- abolishing the Electoral College -- will mean that those voter…

"held hostage by rural voters" is an interesting choice of words considering they already feel the same way. There are already movements in a number of states with a lot of local support to have rural areas that are politically dominated by urban voters secede and join other states that more closely align with their values. I don't know why state governments don't let that happen more freely if they aren't actually t…

>I don't know why state governments don't let that happen more freely if they aren't actually trying to be the ones holding others hostage.

Because the people who run governments often think in terms of maximizing power because that is what it takes to be a successful career politician. When you think that way of course it seems stupid to give up a bunch of people and land who pay taxes to you, count toward your population but aren't actually numerous enough to over-rule the majority party even if the presence of those people is not liked by them and your base. While no particular leader may see themselves as holding the minority group hostage political map lines never get re drawn because there are bigger fires to fight and broaching an topic involving re-drawing the political map has many, many ways to go wrong and maybe a couple to go right.

Re: Indian police open case against hundreds in Kashmir for using VPN

#90

Post by connectsnk »

definitelyRobot wrote: post #20

As a young tech person in India, this stuff makes me so angry. The ruling party here (BJP) doesn't have any real competition. Which means they can get away with pretty much anything. They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician. Then they'll brand you as an "anti-nationalist" and openly say to their supporters that you deserve to be shot. Facial recognition is n…

I am in Jammu(India) right now and can attest that comments like above are only opinions and not facts. As goes for any country, people keep inventing stuff / leaving crucial details because of their own biases and self interests. The same goes for people who support BJP.
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