Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

501–510 of 783 posts

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

#501

Post by jack_tripper »

greenavocado wrote: post #497
amarant wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? In Sweden we have digital ID and it's great! Super practical and I struggle to think of how it would be used to spy on citizens, given that it has the same legal protections as banks have regarding your account transactions etc. Like sure you could in theory see every document I've ever signed if you have a warrant for BankID servers, but you could probably glean most of that if you had a warrant for the bank…

Your digital id is great until your leadership decides you need to be conscripted and sent to their meat grinder and the penalty for failing to appear for your death sentence is being cut off from food and water because everything is linked. The idea of all these digital documents is never a problem until you go through the exercise of figuring out what it will all be used for (controlling you).

[flagged]

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

#502

Post by dustractor »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #388
RHSeeger wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t really get why people seem convinced that the government is removing protections for all citizens under a smokescreen of illegal immigration handling, as opposed to taking limited and temporary measures to deal with an unusual situation. Probably because the actions being taken are against people of every category; illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, and naturally born citizens. As has been noted, _anyone…

What actions are being taken against legal immigrants and naturally born citizens? Are you referring to getting arrested and released due to some suspicion (let’s say the suspicion is always fabricated for the sake of argument), or deported, or something else? On due process, if someone accidentally gets a free flight to a foreign country, that totally sucks and they should be paid compensation, but let’s not pretend…

> Have people disappeared off the face of the earth?

It is established that hundreds of detainees from the July 2025 Alligator Alcatraz intake were unaccounted for in ICE’s online system by late August and reported as such through September 2025, with recurring reporting of about 800 with no online record and some 450 with unclear location data.

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

#503

Post by greenavocado »

jack_tripper wrote: post #501
greenavocado wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your digital id is great until your leadership decides you need to be conscripted and sent to their meat grinder and the penalty for failing to appear for your death sentence is being cut off from food and water because everything is linked. The idea of all these digital documents is never a problem until you go through the exercise of figuring out what it will all be used for (controlling you).

[flagged]

You missed the people that took what they could in cash and ran for the border

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

#504

Post by abc123abc123 »

amarant wrote: post #242
nephihaha wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, this isn't even remotely "nationalist". This stuff is being pushed across the world. Digital ID? The only people really desperate for it are our rulers.

How so? In Sweden we have digital ID and it's great! Super practical and I struggle to think of how it would be used to spy on citizens, given that it has the same legal protections as banks have regarding your account transactions etc. Like sure you could in theory see every document I've ever signed if you have a warrant for BankID servers, but you could probably glean most of that if you had a warrant for the bank…

Yes, it is the single most popular vector for scammers to fleece old people. Great! Add to that, that your identity is controlled by banks, not the government, and that banks can terminate you without any due process, and complaining can take weeks if not months, and there is no guaranteed positive outcome.

No thank you, I'll take no ID over ID any day, and at worst, a physical plastic card over a bullsh*t digital solution that is used to lock you out off society.

Sweden is really the worst possible approach, is authoritarian, and hands over the power to the banks controlling the digital ID system.

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

#505

Post by Tor3 »

lxgr wrote: post #480
Tor3 wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A digital ID is not doing all of that. The way it's implemented in Sweden, just to take an example already mentioned, is simply to identify you, and only for certain parts of society (mostly governmental services, banks, insurance and the like, and a few more). It's not about authorizing you for travel. If you need an ID for picking up your valuable shipment from the post office then you simply show your driver's lic…

But GP raise a valid point: If IDs are ubiquitous and commonly used for non-government business, the government does implicitly gain substantial "veto power" over non-government transactions (by revoking existing credentials or not issuing new ones). Availability has to be ensured just as much as security and privacy in such a scenario, and that's not trivial. (I still personally think it's worth trying.)

In those places where a system like Sweden's has been implemented, the usage is constricted to certain areas. And in the case where it's used elsewhere, that's an option that is not mandatory (and in any case far and few between). A way to identify an individual is typically related to financial or contractual issues. So far, at least. Looking at you, the UK

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

#506

Post by jack_tripper »

greenavocado wrote: post #503
jack_tripper wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You missed the people that took what they could in cash and ran for the border

I didn't miss anything. Lone deserters spread out, are more tricky and resource intensive to catch in the wilderness of mountainous border areas with rough terrain, than in flat densely populated areas like city or village streets that can be easily patrolled by vans.

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

#507

Post by Saline9515 »

dvdkon wrote: post #470
Saline9515 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital ID is also an identification system, social security number isn't. For instance you can't ID people on porn sites using it.

You can't ID people on porn sites with what's implemented in most European countries either. I feel like what you mean by "digital ID" is very different to what others mean.

Yes you can, eID means that you can prove your identity online using your digital signature.

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

#508

Post by eitland »

jack_tripper wrote: post #501
greenavocado wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your digital id is great until your leadership decides you need to be conscripted and sent to their meat grinder and the penalty for failing to appear for your death sentence is being cut off from food and water because everything is linked. The idea of all these digital documents is never a problem until you go through the exercise of figuring out what it will all be used for (controlling you).

[flagged]

1. This is a wild exaggeration: There are lots of men walking in Ukrainian streets.

2. Why single out Ukraine here? Isn't this what any country does with people who don't appear for the draft? (Unless they can pay a doctor to diagnose them with bone spurs or something?)

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

#509

Post by ace32229 »

greenavocado wrote: post #497
amarant wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? In Sweden we have digital ID and it's great! Super practical and I struggle to think of how it would be used to spy on citizens, given that it has the same legal protections as banks have regarding your account transactions etc. Like sure you could in theory see every document I've ever signed if you have a warrant for BankID servers, but you could probably glean most of that if you had a warrant for the bank…

Your digital id is great until your leadership decides you need to be conscripted and sent to their meat grinder and the penalty for failing to appear for your death sentence is being cut off from food and water because everything is linked. The idea of all these digital documents is never a problem until you go through the exercise of figuring out what it will all be used for (controlling you).

Digital ID makes no difference to this whatsoever. If a government wanted to cut you off from utilities they could make it happen within hours already.

Same with conscription, which needless to say was invented and effectively implemented prior to the invention of digital anything.

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

#510

Post by Saline9515 »

eru wrote: post #471
Saline9515 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital ID is also an identification system, social security number isn't. For instance you can't ID people on porn sites using it.

Yes, so you get all the downsides of > "Legal" protections can disappear in one evening, and then you are left with a centralized system, very practical for population control. but none of the upsides.

No, because with classic ID documents, the government doesn't know if I went to a specific healthcare provider, if I opened a social media account, if I bought a train ticket, or even where my bank accounts are (reporting is yearly, not in real time). Accessing all of this data is possible but bears a lot of friction, which prevents mass surveillance (or at least increases the costs).

Once the eID system is set up and becomes ubiquitous, it will be trivial for companies to use eID to open any online account or reserve plane/train tickets. Therefore, giving enforcement forces very convenient access to all of my activity and allowing automated monitoring. Just look at what is happening in China.

Post reply on HN