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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

#161
post #51

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…

Can't they whitelist VPN access to corporate IPs?

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

#162

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…

> They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician. Thank you for sharing this information. How were you, in your comment above, able to safely criticise the government while in India? (If you are not able to disclose how you did, that's understandable to me. We all know about methods like Tor and obfs4 bridges. I run a Tor bridge to help people in China, hopefully.…

While the situation in India is getting worse as others say, it can't be compared to China at all...

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

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is "we"? This is how democracy works, and those rural voters have a say in what happens. This country would crumble within months without all those flyover states contributing to the nation.

Curious as to your line of thinking here. What exactly do the coasts need that only flyover country can provide? I live in a flyover state and I like living here just fine, but I find the idea that California is going to crumble if North Dakota stops supporting it to be hilarious.

Flyover country provides food, manufacturing and talent to many corporations that you don't know but interact with every day.

As a 20 year resident of California, this state is absolutely broke and barely survives as it is. It would be a failed nation-state if it was on its own.

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

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Absolutely right. It is ridiculous to think that the Government will not restrict communications in a region that has seen nothing but violence and terrorism for the past 30 years since the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. For the first time in 3 decades the Valley is peaceful. If it comes down to choosing between deaths of innocents by deranged terrorists and cutting communication I would always choose the latter. The Pu…

I was going to quote the whole "those who would give up essential liberty..." quote, but then I Googled it and realized that all the search results were spammed with the same false meme about how he was "misquoted". Since likely some hn commenter has been exposed to the meme, I need to preempt them posting it here by pointing out that yes, I am aware of it, I just think the meme is bullshit.

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

#165
post #137

Quick summary of the situation in India - In 2014, Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister on a plank of "development for all". Since the BJP's pedigree was one of Hindu nationalism (aka Hindutva), this was a change welcomed by many. He had a good track record of development as Chief Minister (equivalent of Governor in America). - After a couple of major missteps (invalidating all high value currency notes, tax chan…

> building a temple over a destroyed mosque

Wasn't this a Supreme Court order both parties accepted? The BJP isn't forcing this, although this has been their goal for decades and they will certainly claim credit for it.

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

#166

It's really too bad that the two rising tech countries - China and India - have such a third-world approach to censorship on the Internet. You would think they would want to mimic the US's successful formula in hopes of building their presence as a tech powerhouse, but in this area they don't seem to be doing that.

Not that I disagree with what you're saying but can you please clarify what you mean by "third-world approach"? It seems to imply some sort of inferiority compared to "first-world".

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

#167

It's really too bad that the two rising tech countries - China and India - have such a third-world approach to censorship on the Internet. You would think they would want to mimic the US's successful formula in hopes of building their presence as a tech powerhouse, but in this area they don't seem to be doing that.

Please don't use "third-world" as a generic insult for countries.

Even the wrong-yet-common definition of "poor" doesn't fit here, because internet censorship isn't a function of wealth: Saudi Arabia is rather rich yet unfree. Russia and China area also not "third world".

Russia, a leading internet censor, actually happens to be the (current version of) a country that used to be the definition of either "first" or "second" world.

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

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is "we"? This is how democracy works, and those rural voters have a say in what happens. This country would crumble within months without all those flyover states contributing to the nation.

Speaking as someone in one of those flyover states, the electoral college appears to have ended up in the worst of both worlds: it is neither reflecting the popular vote nor is the college doing what it was designed to do, which is act as a sanity check against demagogues and corruption.

It wasn't designed to do either of those things. The Electoral College makes sure each state has a say without being overruled by the majority. Countering the popular vote is the point.

Also corruption is a much deeper issue that has to do with popular perception and the vast amounts of money in politics. It needs to be solved starting in local elections and work its way up. There's nothing the EC can do about that.

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

#169

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…

Who is "we"? This is how democracy works, and those rural voters have a say in what happens. This country would crumble within months without all those flyover states contributing to the nation.

If by "works" you mean "Results in the election of Donald Trump as President," then, yeah, it "works," I suppose.

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

#170

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.

Deepfake is the technology, not the intention. All those videos where someone replaces everyone in a movie scene with Nicholas Cage, or whatever, are deepfakes even though they're not intended to fool anyone.
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