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India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

reuters.com

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Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#111

Post by tacker2000 »

alephnerd wrote: post #14
iancarroll wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in mainland China, where iOS does have a large amount of changes to comply with local regulations, Apple does not pre-install any apps from anyone.

China doesn't require pre-installed apps but the Chinese government require all data processing and storage to be conducted within China with complete source code access. India chose to back off on data sovereignty [0] because it would have had a side effect of making Indian IT Offshoring less competitive plus to help make negotiating a US-India BTA easier [1]. [0] - https://verfassungsblog.de/cross-border-data-flows…

Most people in China install Wechat by choice, anyway

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#112

Post by satvikpendem »

rishabhaiover wrote: post #22

I'm shocked by people and state using the crutch of cyber crime or scams to push a totalitarian solution to a problem that is better solved by improved education and targeted campaigns against common security pitfalls. I abhor any decision that robs even a grain of my individual freedom.

> improved education and targeted campaigns against common security pitfalls

Good one. Do you see how dumb the average consumer is? They don't know or care even if you try to educate them.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#113

Post by theglenn88_ »

logram-llc wrote: post #73
lez wrote: post #60

It is happening, in spite many won't really deeply believe. Every day 33 brits are arrested for what they say online. It's happening, and it's time we say no. It's uncomfortable, but we need to do it en masse, right now. Do not buy backdoored hardware, help others get rid of the backdoors, use anonymous technology to organize protests. There has to be a line.

Do you have a source for the Brits being arrested?

This is probably one of the best ones https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dj1zlvxglo

Edit: I believe they are now getting compensation for a 'wrongful arrest' which, sounds entirely deserved.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#114

Post by rpcope1 »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #80
logram-llc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for the Brits being arrested?

A Liberty GB spokesman said: "Mr Weston was standing on the steps of Winchester Guildhall, addressing the passers-by in the street with a megaphone. "He quoted an excerpt about Islam from the book The River War by Winston Churchill. "Reportedly, a woman came out of the Guildhall and asked Mr Weston if he had the authorisation to make this speech. "When he answered that he didn't, she told him: 'It's disgusting', and…

You got a loiscence for that speech?

If even half of that is true, I can't fathom why someone would willingly live in that total shithole of a country.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#115

Post by malfist »

profsummergig wrote: post #16

ref: "the new tobacco" this last year i'm seeing very concerning behavior in students in the 14-20 range. complete addiction to their phones. very deep interests in things i was completely unaware that they existed. similar to how when i started noticing anime girlfriends/waifus in 2016. about 40% are deep in discord communities where i literally cannot figure out a single sentence of what they're talking about. if s…

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#116

Post by mlmonkey »

greycol wrote: post #61
SilverElfin wrote: post #34

I assume that in the US, the major manufacturers of phones and their operating systems already have backdoors for national security reasons. I think back to the past leaks from Snowden regarding the PRISM program. That program specifically included Google and Apple cooperating with the government under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. So while this state-owned cyber safety app is authoritarian, I wonder if it reflect…

I am not defending it's use but a secret program is a targeted program, you can't use it in sweeping arrests without parallel construction. Whereas with an openly existing program you can point out that someone has been talking to their friend about how to get abortion medication and arrest them. The real issue with 100% enforcement of law is it requires a society with differing values to not just agree on which laws…

These are just excuses to convince yourself that what the US is doing is "not bad" but what India is doing is "terrible".

Both are doing similar things. You have no idea what the US is doing; I have some inkling, and it is terrible.

At least India is publicly disclosing what this app does, and that the phone has this app. Do you have any idea what the US does?

Hint: that big data center in Utah, what is it for?

Another hint: the US has given many billions of dollars to US telecom companies under the guise of "rural broadband" and "rural cell service". Has the state of rural service really changed much in the last 30 years?? Why has all that money been given, then?

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#117

Post by rustystump »

Kelteseth wrote: post #78
lez wrote: post #60

It is happening, in spite many won't really deeply believe. Every day 33 brits are arrested for what they say online. It's happening, and it's time we say no. It's uncomfortable, but we need to do it en masse, right now. Do not buy backdoored hardware, help others get rid of the backdoors, use anonymous technology to organize protests. There has to be a line.

I didn't find any context for your claim so here is some reddit comment: So it’s true 3,300 people were arrested for posts online. What they don’t tell you are the statistics or context. The actual law for these arrests covers EVERYTHING online. These arrests include those arrested for terrorism (if the planning/act of terror includes any online communication in the UK), threats of violence, racist abuse, hate speech…

Ahh yes reddit the most accurate location of truth finding. Could you at least link the source of the comment or are we supposed to take a random redditor as fact?

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#118

Post by LorenPechtel »

alephnerd wrote: post #11
stickfigure wrote: post #9

What stops someone from loading GrapheneOS on their (Indian) Android phone?

It will be used as evidence that the person who has GrapheneOS on their phone is attempting to break the law. Telegram and Signal chats are often used as circumstantial evidence of malfeasance in Indian national security cases, so the jump to using GrapheneOS as evidence of malfesance is tiny.

India already considers communications they can't monitor illegal. Specifically, satellite communication devices. Not just the crazy expensive satellite phones, but the satellite texting devices a lot of us backcountry types have. And some have been arrested for having them. Yeah, terrorists have used such stuff, but to us it's 911 for when we are far from the cell grid.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#119

Post by notRobot »

stickfigure wrote: post #9

What stops someone from loading GrapheneOS on their (Indian) Android phone?

Custom ROMs fail device integrity, which means you cannot use banking, financial, government, payments and telcom apps, not to mention all the games that refuse to work.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#120

Post by et-al »

rishabhaiover wrote: post #22

I'm shocked by people and state using the crutch of cyber crime or scams to push a totalitarian solution to a problem that is better solved by improved education and targeted campaigns against common security pitfalls. I abhor any decision that robs even a grain of my individual freedom.

FYI two years ago, the Indian government shut down mobile service in the state of Punjab to catch one person:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35303486

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