Why is so old article trending?
India’s Downward Spiral
111–120 of 156 posts
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, we understand it. It doesn't mean it's a good thing to do, or that we agree with it and won't criticise it. Also, I am from the East though I grew up in the West, and the attempt to deflect criticism just on the basis of "it's a different society" is disgusting, a hindrance to progress, and frankly quite racist. There is an ongoing campaign in India against the practice of dowry, I guess you also want to argue "W…
I was with you until you started talking about dowry, proving once and for all (literally, for everyone who reads your comment) that you have no clue about India. There is hardly any problem related to dowry. Come, have a look. 'Dowry' exists in media which consists of third grade students turned women-right activists. For mathematically minded people, I will just quote recent supreme court judgment about the reality…
Do you have any clue about India? You just pasted a long paragraph from one source and gave no explanation of how it backs up your point. What even is your point? You seem to think that dowry harassment lawsuits are all there is to dowry.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Westerners don't understand that Eastern societies place far greater emphasis on respecting existing social norms/ structures and the idea of "order" . This is there even in the Indian Constitution. The govt. is allowed to impose restrictions on fundamental rights in order to maintain order and harmony. First Amendment absolutism is totally out of the question in the Indian context.
No, we understand it. It doesn't mean it's a good thing to do, or that we agree with it and won't criticise it. Also, I am from the East though I grew up in the West, and the attempt to deflect criticism just on the basis of "it's a different society" is disgusting, a hindrance to progress, and frankly quite racist. There is an ongoing campaign in India against the practice of dowry, I guess you also want to argue "W…
There's two different arguments here.
'leephilips said: "India is the most prominent example of a country with plenty of voting but no democracy."
You said: "It doesn't mean it's a good thing to do, or that we agree with it and won't criticise it."
A perfectly well-functioning democratic society can reach conclusions that are worthy of criticism. People have a habit of blaming the process for grievances they have with the substantive outcomes of the process.
E.g. people on Hacker News rant about how democracy in the U.S. must not be functioning because the drug war still rages on. The drug war is, in my opinion, a policy worthy of criticism. Yet, it's undeniable that it enjoys popular support. It was only this year that marijuana legalization managed to carry a (slim) majority of registered voters. As recently as 10-15 years ago, there was a 2:1 consensus against even legalization of marijuana--forget about ending the drug war entirely.
It's easy to blame the process for results you don't like. It's harder to admit that the process is fine, you just don't like what people do with their right to self-determination.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#114This is from 2012 as others pointed, but also if you go to Google's transparency report now, there is nothing after 2012 for India. Not sure why this is trending.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, that does sound concerning, though it doesn't necessarily mean anything in particular. If you do get an invalid cert for HN again, please consider posting the fingerprint and CA, etc.
Have never experienced that before, continued for about 5 minutes after I posted and occurred almost instantly after I posted the question (I tried to make an immediate edit and chrome blocked it because of the https issues).
Do you use any certificate-related extensions? If not, you may want to install one that compares certs to those seen by others, just to see if anything interesting occurs. Also, check for any unexpected trusted CAs. I've seen a system infected by malware that adds a CA that was signed by a leaked Microsoft key.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the first time I have seen UID scheme being mentioned as a surveillance tool. The aim of the scheme is to replace the outdated mechanisms - signature, name and address papers which can easily be forged. Why poor people are encouraged to register under the UID scheme? So that the benefits provided by India's socialist governments (central and state) can reach them without any corruption or delay. The fear of i…
The HN libertarians, for some reason, have an incredibly strongly held conviction that governments should not be able to identify their citizens, even in person, even for legitimate reasons. If you support any reasonably secure government-operated authentication system on HN, you will be downvoted to oblivion (as you just were).
>"reasonably secure government-operated authentication system"
Do you believe that the government can keep private information on a need-to-know basis? There is a lot of evidence they cannot.[1]
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#117Worse yet, Indian government is apparently trying hard to emulate NSA's Surveillance Programs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A91idibgT0&feature=youtu.be Here's the video's info: """India is currently implementing some of the scariest surveillance schemes in the world. This lecture will shed light on India's surveillance industry, its UID scheme which aims at the collection of all biometric data and on various cont…
This is the first time I have seen UID scheme being mentioned as a surveillance tool. The aim of the scheme is to replace the outdated mechanisms - signature, name and address papers which can easily be forged. Why poor people are encouraged to register under the UID scheme? So that the benefits provided by India's socialist governments (central and state) can reach them without any corruption or delay. The fear of i…
Perhaps they don't have the homegrown ability, but when they restrict access to a market of 1b+ consumers, that helps "convince" a lot of companies to do it for them. You probably remember this: http://www.heydary.com/publications/Inside-the-Rim-Decryptin...
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the first time I have seen UID scheme being mentioned as a surveillance tool. The aim of the scheme is to replace the outdated mechanisms - signature, name and address papers which can easily be forged. Why poor people are encouraged to register under the UID scheme? So that the benefits provided by India's socialist governments (central and state) can reach them without any corruption or delay. The fear of i…
The HN libertarians, for some reason, have an incredibly strongly held conviction that governments should not be able to identify their citizens, even in person, even for legitimate reasons. If you support any reasonably secure government-operated authentication system on HN, you will be downvoted to oblivion (as you just were).
I'm not a libertarian (for HN, in fact, I qualify as a statist) and I have a problem with universal identification. I thought we had a decent balance struck before Hiibel.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its not just fingerprint (all 10 finger impressions actually) but also retinal scans. And the govt. is gradually making it mandatory for everything from getting 50% subsidies on cooking gas to opening a bank account. It is probably the most ambitious and encompassing citizen database in the world. And there is practically zero debate on the issues: 1. Is the govt. capable and competent enough to keep the data safe fr…
The system in the UAE is similar, but if anything more encompassing. You need a government issued ID card for pretty much everything: renting an apartment, opening a bank account, getting a SIM card (unless you are a tourist in which case you just need a passport), renting a car. Since 2005 to get this you need a medical blood and X-ray test (to ensure you don't have HIV or TB - I wouldn't be surprised if DNA was ana…
Wow, that is interesting and disturbing. India is not quite there yet.. But I would put it down to bureaucratic inertia rather than lack of intention.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was with you until you started talking about dowry, proving once and for all (literally, for everyone who reads your comment) that you have no clue about India. There is hardly any problem related to dowry. Come, have a look. 'Dowry' exists in media which consists of third grade students turned women-right activists. For mathematically minded people, I will just quote recent supreme court judgment about the reality…
Do you have any clue about India? You just pasted a long paragraph from one source and gave no explanation of how it backs up your point. What even is your point? You seem to think that dowry harassment lawsuits are all there is to dowry.
I don't get it. If you think supreme court judgement is 'one source' then you cannot be argued with. And complaining about 'long paragraph'... hmm... I think you are just angry and without argument.
Regarding second paragraph, the citation is not handy right now, but this is what Indian feminists actually write. You know, the ones actually involved in drafting government policies. There was a similar article by NCW I read around 3 months ago. You can also talk to the head of http://samajsevasamithy.org/ regarding it (I volunteer there).