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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

#101

Post by vivekpandian »

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…

Interesting. When the media is objective, they are branded as pro-BJP, Sangi, Bhakts etc. It's not fair to expect all the media to spew hate against the ruling government

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

#102

Post by connectsnk »

arsalanb wrote: post #13

When I left Kashmir a few months ago, my phone and all its contents were checked by Indian police at the airport. They asked me to unlock and checked photos, WhatsApp texts, etc. Random arrests and extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris by the Indian state is a quite regular occurrence. A laughable narrative around how they were "Pakistan sponsored terrorists" is usually spun by the media/police nexus.

Do you know what Factory Reset means?

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

#103

Post by _jgdh »

thbr99 wrote: post #60
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A democratically-elected authoritarian regime.

Literacy is key to eradicate authoritarian BJP in India. Because the last standing state is the most literate state in India which is Kerala.

I don't think this is true. Some of the most educated and wealthy people support the BJP, fascist though the party may be. Look at the vote split in the recent Delhi election. All upper caste voters flocked to the BJP by margins of 20%+. Dalits and Muslims voted AAP. Upper castes are disproportionately wealthy and educated.

My theory for this is that such people (relatives of mine included, sadly) are just higher on Maslow's heirarchy of needs. At the bottom you need roti-kapda-makaan (food, clothing, shelter), followed by bijli-sadak-paani (electricity, roads, water) and higher up health and education. If you've had all of this all your life, you take them for granted. When Modi comes along and peddles a grand vision to Make India Great Again, like it was in Vedic times, that captures the imagination and inspires us. When the BJP tells us that all of our problems are because of Muslims and that we need to put them in their place to fix everything, we're only too willing to listen.

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

#104

Post by product50 »

duxup wrote: post #36
screye wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have yet to see how the US reacts when a massive section of it wants to secede. India and China both face a significantly more difficult geopolitical reality than the USA. Some of the world's most westernized and developed countries (Spain, Israel) are starting to use violence and suppressive tactics now that they are faced with even the smallest amount of secessionist unrest. Kashmir is one of the most militarize…

Isn't cutting off communication / or various forms of oppression often part of the path to the death of a few million people? I'm not convinced one is being traded for another... possibly quite the opposite.

No - it is not. For most Indians, encryption of messaging/communication is a recent phenomenon popularized by Whatsapp. Millions of people have already died as part of religious, naxal and territorial violence in the past decades. Encryption is not a magical solution to everything.

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

#105

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…

Misleading Title. It is not about using VPN but about propagating rumors. This is a law in India, as there were instances of riots caused by social media rumor.

Actual News ----------- The FIR has been registered while taking cognisance of the social media posts by miscreants by using different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario in the Kashmir valley, secessionist ideology and glorifying terrorists, the police said.

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

#106

Post by shripadk »

1ris wrote: post #73
nu2ycombinator wrote: post #56

Misleading Title. It is not about using VPN but about propagating rumors. This is a law in India, as there were instances of riots caused by social media rumor. Actual News ----------- The FIR has been registered while taking cognisance of the social media posts by miscreants by using different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario in the Kashmir valley, secessionist ideolog…

Suppressing secession is tyranny. India should know a thing or two about that.

No one suppressed secession. There have been secession movements not just in Kashmir but in North East too. That doesn't give anyone the authority to conduct terror attacks on fellow citizens. When things go beyond a point of no return then force is needed. Since the day India Abrogated Article 370 there hasn't been one major terror attack in Kashmir. That is good enough for the rest of India that was sick and tired of hearing Civilians and Army men being targeted by terrorists in Kashmir ever since the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in the 1990s. If you want to learn a thing or two about India, you better read up on Exodus and Genocide Kashmiri Pandits and how they are now refugees in their own country. Then you have the rights to lecture Indians on what is democracy and what is tyranny. We have been the most accommodative over the years and our patience has been tested far beyond permissible limit. India already went through a terrible Partition in 1947 on Religious lines where Muslims did not want to live with Hindus. Did that solve the problem? Nope. We already had one Partition. Won't allow more. And we shouldn't even be justifying it. It is surprising to me that people here question the decisions of a Sovereign Nation on what it should and should not do. Would you be willing to have your Nation broken up into multiple pieces because some Tom, Dick or Harry doesn't like the way it is now? Don't be ridiculous!

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

#107

Post by sonicxxg »

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…

Well, it's just Kashmir, which is as close to become a tech booming region as those remote tribes in the middle of the amazon rainforest.

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

#108

Post by sykick »

loeg wrote: post #61
gbear605 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The context was specifically for consumer encryption technologies, which wasn’t an issue during the Civil War.

That really is not clear from the statement: "We have yet to see how the US reacts when a massive section of it wants to secede," which is obviously false.

It's not false because we don't know what the reaction would be if this happened today. The reaction of people 160 years ago is not at all predictive of what would happen today. Especially if the issue was not a moral one as it was 160 years ago.

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

#109

Post by _jgdh »

nu2ycombinator wrote: post #56

Misleading Title. It is not about using VPN but about propagating rumors. This is a law in India, as there were instances of riots caused by social media rumor. Actual News ----------- The FIR has been registered while taking cognisance of the social media posts by miscreants by using different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario in the Kashmir valley, secessionist ideolog…

Tell me Young Techie, how do you tell the difference between someone who is alleged to have spread rumours and someone speaking the truth?

And when you say you totally support it, do you support everything the BJP has done?

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

#110

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

downvoteme1 wrote: post #53
godelski wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> deepfakes are being used to spread propoganda. Do you have examples for us? Okay if it is in Arabic/Hindi/etc. We talk about the potential for damage here (on HN) and so I think it is important to have examples of this happening in the wild.

That is not a deep fake. That is like saying a modified Trump video speaking Spanish to appeal to Latino voters is a deep fake.

That would be false information- if someone cannot do something, and doctored video is trying to cover for that weakness, then the video is faking it.

Ergo, it is fake. Overdubbing a person's voice? Questionable.

Making someone look like they're speaking a language they don't know? That's faking it.

Using AI to help out with your fakery? That's deep down the rabbit hole

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