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

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

#341

Post by adityaathalye »

vivzkestrel wrote: post #327
anon291 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with the Modi and Hindutva project almost entirely, not only politically, but on a personal level coming from a minority community (Christian) in India. However, India is in what basically amounts to a perpetual state of war with Pakistan and has always been this way. India rarely agresses Pakistan and Pakistani terror groups do operate with seeming impunity in India (Pakistan doesn't even maintain a 'no-f…

its amazing you are actually getting downvoted for speaking facts

I upvoted that comment because it's obvious tin foil hat "oooh look at the boogeyman" speech. That fact along with its critique contributes to the discourse on HN.

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

#342

Post by gib444 »

qingcharles wrote: post #329
m463 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan has no trash cans. (reaction to the japanese subway attacks) Returning to the US from japan you notice. Japanese bathrooms don't have trash cans, so no paper towels. In the US, the bathrooms have trash cans overflowing with paper towel waste and it is quite a difference.

Britain had no rubbish bins on train stations for a long time due to similar issues (IRA attacks).

They're still quite rare and only the type with a clear bag hanging on a metal ring in the main areas.

The busiest stations have wandering staff picking up rubbish off seats and the floor etc.

Many of us Brits in station coffee shops still do the performance of looking for a bin because we're too embarrassed and too well-mannered to leave it anywhere else. It's endearing and funny at the same time (though of course it's also often due to forgetting there are no bins!)

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

#343

Post by mr-house »

Lets imagine that github does give in and it does take down bitchat, will it result in the death (or at least a huge loss) for github? I mean of course a lot of open-source projects on github won't feel safe when they know that github can easily give in to the government pressure. Plus the general state of github right now is already causing projects to migrate to some better alternatives.

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

#344

Post by adityaathalye »

anon291 wrote: post #312
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hardly anything is ever true to the same degree, and so saying something is simply not true to the same degree seems oxymoronic, in that if it is not true to the same degree implies that it is somewhat true to a lesser degree.

Let me be more clear. There is a racial component to it that the American settlers did not have. Gandhi and the original nationalists were English barristers who spoke English, believed in English institutions, were educated in England, and saw themselves as Englishmen and loyal subjects of the King. That is how they've always seen themselves and how the average educated Indian saw themselves. Gandhi's experiences in…

What you describe, and the way you describe it, reads to me like a progressive application of the Saam, Daam, Dand, Bheda principle, attributed to the late great diplomat Chanakya.

Saam: First, they tried reason.

Daam: Then they demanded a price (Salt Satyagraha to initiate the Civil Disobedience Movement).

Danda: Then they moved to reject the regime entirely (Quit India). At a time when the colonial power was literally fighting on multiple fronts, in World War Two.

Bhed: Then they helped to throw them out, and attempt to build a whole new political identity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saam_Daam_Dand_Bheda

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

#345

Post by adityaathalye »

sieve wrote: post #286
hamper653 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> India is in what basically amounts to a perpetual state of war with Pakistan and has always been this way. You mean, since India and Pakistan were invented 79 years ago?

I wonder what is it with this denial of the existence of India prior to 1947. If people were specific and said that they were referring to the Republic of India as the successor state to British-controlled India, then it would at least make some sense. Otherwise it sounds completely insane. If India was invented 79 years ago, then you need to explain the various East India companies established in the 1600s, and all…

There was no unified political entity prior to 1947---technically, 26 January 1950---because it took that long for Sardal Patel's program of political unification of sovereign princely states to conclude, so that the now-unified political entity would govern itself under common constitutional, and common law, with democratic universal franchise.

The East India Company, and then the British Raj, held power because they were able to broker deals with opposing (and warring) princely states and kingdoms. They used contractual leverage to make those sub-sub-regions keep each other in check.

The British Raj was a kingdom of kingdoms, in addition to being a protectorate. These are literal legal facts [0].

The word Hindu is literally an exonym. A name given to a people by foreigners. Our very collective identity was conferred upon us by outsiders.

[0] Obligatory Wikipedia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj#British_India_and_...

In its Interpretation Act 1889, the British Parliament adopted the following definitions in Section 18:

    (4.) The expression "British India" shall mean all territories and places within Her Majesty's dominions which are for the time being governed by Her Majesty through the Governor-General of India or through any governor or other officer subordinates to the Governor-General of India.

    (5.) The expression "India" shall mean British India together with any territories of any native prince or chief under the suzerainty of Her Majesty exercised through the Governor-General of India, or through any governor or other officer subordinates to the Governor-General of India.[1]
Who agreed to the legal terms? The rulers of the sovereign princely states and kingdoms.

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

#346

Post by dguest »

orsenthil wrote: post #281

An important context is, there is a large scale non-violent protest and a Gandhian fast lead by Sonam Wangchuk. https://x.com/Wangchuk66/status/2080471599237702014 Indian Government is struggling to address this issue at face. PM Modi hasn't responded to this in public. To address this, Government is taking into all sort of measures like blocking public communication and social media. Like they have done for other me…

> Jack Dorsey is now using his clout to share about this app and bring some light on the situation

Failed attempts at censorship are the best thing that could ever happen to Bitchat: free advertising for a vibcoded and questionably secure entry in a space with plenty of competitors. As others have commented it's basically impossible to shut down an open source app by blocking the source distributor, but press is priceless.

I played around with Briar [1] for a while: it worked well, and had an option to install peer-to-peer without going through any app store, was sad to see that the authors put it in maintenance mode. It also had a security audit.

[1]: https://briarproject.org/

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

#348

Post by mx_03 »

hamper653 wrote: post #228
viktorcode wrote: post #76

> the app enables communication even during network restrictions and creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal groups and cyber criminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions. This mouthful boils down to exactly this: a form of communication not controlled by the government creates a risk for…

> Sorry for pointing out the obvious, but if your country's safety depends on ability to block all forms of private person to person messages, your government has failed in one of its primary goals: providing safety for its citizens. Sorry for pointing out the obvious, but "providing safety for its citizens" is not, has never been, and never will be a "goal" of any government on this planet.

You are just very pessimistic and cinic person.

Governments DO HAVE to try to protect its citizens against internal and external threats. Otherwise people will "abandon" the government up to a certain point.

Case in point: When cartels dominated small towns in Mexico, people gathered in small armies (Auto defensas).

Same thing with Zapatistas.

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

#349

Post by t0bia_s »

platevoltage wrote: post #272
t0bia_s wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and vote out incompetent persons in power. How you can vote someone out?

You vote against them when they're up for re-election. If they're not up for re-election, you vote against anyone who allies themselves with said person.

So main driver is frustration? Why not remove immunity to electorate and keep them responsible for their decisions?

Or, even better, don't give our responsibility to uknown electorate at all.

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

#350

Post by coolandsmartrr »

m463 wrote: post #206
iambenm wrote: post #17

India is pretty serious about being able to monitor all communications after the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. The terrorists used satellite phones to coordinate the attack. As a result, they banned most satellite communication devices. I learned about this earlier this year because I had a connecting flight through India on the way to go trekking in the Himalayas. I had planned to take a Garmin inReach with me,…

Japan has no trash cans. (reaction to the japanese subway attacks) Returning to the US from japan you notice. Japanese bathrooms don't have trash cans, so no paper towels. In the US, the bathrooms have trash cans overflowing with paper towel waste and it is quite a difference.

To add some context, the removal of trash cans accelerated prior to the hosting of the Tokyo Olympics. The municipal government was concerned about trash possibly overflowing from the can, thereby ruining the appearance of the streets.

Meanwhile, Japanese subway stations still have trash cans, which are only blocked when foreign dignitaries visit the country. It doesn't seem authorities are reacting to the subway attacks from 30 years ago.

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