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Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

thehindu.com

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Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#121

Post by sourweasel »

brightball wrote: post #102
realo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Are there any instances of the US sending a tourist to jail in another country?

Not exactly. There have been cases where tourists were denied entry and faced extended detention but they were held in U.S. facilities before being returned to their home countries.

There have been cases of incoming immigrants sent to foreign prisons without charges or trial. In March 2025 the U.S. administration flew 238 Venezuelan migrants from Texas directly to the "Terrorism Confinement Center" in El Salvador. The group included asylum seekers with active court cases, individuals who had entered the U.S. legally, and recent border crossers. The administration labeled them members of the "Tren de Aragua" gang to justify the move.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#122

Post by paxys »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #70
logicchains wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Indian government is pretty serious about cracking down violently on peaceful protesters: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/07/23/india-excessive-force-us...

One of the formative narratives of Indian independence is that peaceful protest works in getting rid of bad governments. on edit: changed myths to narratives to avoid confusion

It’s funny because the Indian independence movement was a failure. Indians protested non-violently and sometimes violently for over a hundred years, and British control (first through the East India company and then directly by the crown) kept increasing with every passing year, eventually encompassing the entire subcontinent.

India eventually gained independence because colonialism in general was not politically and economically viable in a post WW2 world, and so Britain just got up and left (as they did from dozens of other colonies in the post war years).

Had the independence movement not existed and Gandhi himself not existed the end result would have been exactly the same.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#123

Post by amanaplanacanal »

stanfordkid wrote: post #91
darreninthenet wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Playing Devils Advocate... isn't this the government taking action?

I mean one could say they are taking action when they lock up and kill random immigrants... or getting into unnecessary wars in the middle east. I would hardly call that a measure of competence. In fact, I would love a government that did absolutely nothing at all ahead of this one.

The article is about India, not the US.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#124

Post by [deleted] »

lava_pidgeon wrote: post #36
petcat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like this would be basically impossible in the US, and it wouldn't even matter what kind of administration tried it. The US government doesn't even order ISPs to block websites because they run afoul of all kinds of 1st amendment litigation. They just have the FBI seize a domain after a court order. Honestly I would think something like this would come from the EU or UK. UK is trying to ban VPNs, EU is tryi…

Oh boy , this is American exceptionalism at its finest. The US has by far the most authoritarian government of all mentioned entities. Really you should protest against your government.

[deleted]

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#125

Post by wtmt »

This may not be much, but if you’re outside India, please write to your local representatives and also to the Indian government that you are going to avoid products made in India as much as possible, will avoid visiting the country for tourism or work, and will not invest in the Indian markets or in foreign currency bank deposits. Clearly state the reasons why, and ask how the “largest democracy in the world” could be so short sighted and dictatorial.

Note that India is heavily dependent on money from elsewhere (hence a lot of recent policy changes to bring in more foreign money). It is a net importer and isn’t strong enough on exports.

There are some recent policy changes to attract more foreign currency deposits with lots of expectations.

If there is a hint that these subversive actions are also going to hurt the economy, there is a tiny, tiny sliver of a chance that the powers that be will be a bit more afraid of losing the next round of elections in the state governments and in a few years at the union level. That could possibly limit the ignorant knee jerk reactions and bans.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#126

Post by nozzlegear »

i_idiot wrote: post #20

In long term, it seems democracies transform to autocracies. Well, china is the future indeed.

Some relevant wisdom from the founding fathers of the United States:

When asked about when kind of government the founding fathers had created, Ben Franklin replied "A Republic, if you can keep it."

On democracy, John Adams wrote: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

Thomas Jefferson further wrote that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

tl;dr democracies need to be fought for, or else they won't stay democracies forever.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#127

Post by iamnothere »

philipallstar wrote: post #115
3form wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that most of terrorism does happen because the people behind it have some goals, not for funsies; so trying to fight the causes would be one thing to do. Obviously, that's difficult for many reasons, and making life more shit for everyone else is cheap and easy, and hence preferred.

But if the cause is "death to the West" or "from the river to the sea" or "India should not be secular" then it's a bit of a problem. How do you fight the cause?

Provide a better alternative that satisfies the material grievances underlying the ideology

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#128

Post by hootz »

kube-system wrote: post #64
lebuffon wrote: post #21

India is kind of cute. In the late 90s I attended a Telephone industry conference while working for a telephony test equipment company. A rep. from the Indian government gave a talk on their telephone system regulations. During the question period I got up and asked how India was dealing with voice over internet protocol (VOIP). With a straight face the speaker replied "We will not allow it". :-)

And it's also cute when people imply the internet is unregulateable. There are plenty of tools that countries use to regulate internet traffic. They can require ISPs to DPI the traffic and block it. They can MITM traffic. They can shut off the internet entirely. They can throw people in jail. etc. This stuff happens in many places, including in India.

There are workarounds for all of those things up until the point of you suffering violence for just using any encryption. But if you are at that point, then your country is completely fucked.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#129

Post by kpcyrd »

Unfortunately Bitchat feels like an unfinished proof of concept.

At a festival I got notifications there are "other users nearby", which made me question if and how the app is broadcasting it's presence, possibly at all times. I also couldn't figure out a way to turn off these notifications (there's barely any settings) and I ended up uninstalling the app.

Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey

#130

Post by thewebguyd »

viktorcode wrote: post #93
SpyCoder77 wrote: post #19

Title should specify that it is Indian government. I was worried for a second there that it was the American government. I should have read the url though.

I was fully expecting that was about Trump administration, and was a bit disappointed that my prediction turned out to be wrong. I do not support this; I expected the first federal court and then all the appeals to serve a verdict cementing the right of encrypted communication to exist in the US.

Be careful what you wish for. Bringing a test case to the current supreme court is playing with fire, and we are far more likely to end up with precedent rejecting a right to encrypted communications, given the current make up of the court. They have already shown a willingness to show deference to national security, and our fifth amendment protections are already eroding (State v. Andrews in NJ, government can compel the production of a password under the foregone conclusion exception). For now this is still state dependent, but its only a matter of time before a case reaches the supreme court.

We're much safer not opening that can of worms for now.

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