Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information • Hacker News Board

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#21

Post by r0h1n » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:34 AM UTC

redact207 wrote: post #19

In a country that's stricken with extreme poverty, a caste system that births you into such a fate until death, where women can't walk the street at night without the fear of getting brutally raped or molested, a country that starves while massive stockpiles of food reserves perish due to kafkaesque bureaucracy and corruption; I hardly think that privacy breaches are India's top concern. The political system is alrea…

Oh for crying out loud, not the "India is so poor that they shouldn't bother with expensive luxuries like space programs and Internet privacy" argument again!

Pray tell me, what is the connection between "extreme poverty, a caste system, the safety of women walking the streets at night and massive stockpiles of food" with better Internet privacy measures?

Are the two a zero-sum game? Will implementing more secure email and Internet communications across all government departments somehow make Indian women more likely to get raped or molested? Or entrench the caste system even further?

> India has great potential to develop into something more than it is

Thank you for your vote of support. Do let us know when we'd become eligible for Internet privacy though.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#22

Post by Daniel_Newby » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:39 AM UTC

curiousDog wrote: post #16

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #2

Wow. Apu Fuck-knuckles is so incompetent that he deserves to be taken for a ride by every intel agency in the world. (Typewriter sounds are more easily surveilled and decoded into letters than a well-shielded computer. A given typewriter is trivially traceable to a particular office and even individual. Typing paper is somewhat easy to trace. Typewriters requires use of photocopiers, which are a centralized easily-su…

How do you know they won't do a thorough sweep for bugs? How do you know their mode of transportation? If the Russians are doing it, there must be some merit to the solution. Granted it doesn't sound logical. Your worthless assumptions aside, you seem to have a lot of hate pent up there. No need for name calling, Cletus. And it's sad to see this in someone with 12 yrs of professional experience as a "software and ele…

Hate? They've got missiles, nukes, a dirty little war with Pakistan, and many regional political challenges. It is not some lolcat site that takes PayPal, it is armies and central bank policies. They were caught with their intel pants down and their response was to make a show of unbuttoning their shirt. It's like a Tom Clancy story ghostwritten by Robin Williams. A little hate is warranted.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#23

Post by r0h1n » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:41 AM UTC

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #15

kamakazizuru wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow - you're a racist bigot!

I am neither racist nor bigoted. What I am is opposed to spacefaring nuclear powers who are utterly incompetent at their jobs. They put all our lives in danger. If the Brits pulled this crap I would insult them with "Johnny Fuck-knuckles". (For example, "I am staggered that Johnny Fuck-knuckles would send agents to fling around office equipment at the Guardian's offices.")

I'm sorry sir, but you clearly are both racist and bigoted without apparently seeming to realize it.

"The Apu travesty" - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/16/theaput...

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#24

Post by Figs » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:43 AM UTC

curiousDog wrote: post #16

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #2

Wow. Apu Fuck-knuckles is so incompetent that he deserves to be taken for a ride by every intel agency in the world. (Typewriter sounds are more easily surveilled and decoded into letters than a well-shielded computer. A given typewriter is trivially traceable to a particular office and even individual. Typing paper is somewhat easy to trace. Typewriters requires use of photocopiers, which are a centralized easily-su…

How do you know they won't do a thorough sweep for bugs? How do you know their mode of transportation? If the Russians are doing it, there must be some merit to the solution. Granted it doesn't sound logical. Your worthless assumptions aside, you seem to have a lot of hate pent up there. No need for name calling, Cletus. And it's sad to see this in someone with 12 yrs of professional experience as a "software and ele…

> If the Russians are doing it, there must be some merit to the solution.

That's like saying, "I saw my doctor smoking so it can't be that bad for you, right?" Maybe there's merit to the method, maybe not... but just because someone else is doing it too doesn't mean it's good to do.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#25

Post by r0h1n » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:44 AM UTC

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #22

curiousDog wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know they won't do a thorough sweep for bugs? How do you know their mode of transportation? If the Russians are doing it, there must be some merit to the solution. Granted it doesn't sound logical. Your worthless assumptions aside, you seem to have a lot of hate pent up there. No need for name calling, Cletus. And it's sad to see this in someone with 12 yrs of professional experience as a "software and ele…

Hate? They've got missiles, nukes, a dirty little war with Pakistan, and many regional political challenges. It is not some lolcat site that takes PayPal, it is armies and central bank policies. They were caught with their intel pants down and their response was to make a show of unbuttoning their shirt. It's like a Tom Clancy story ghostwritten by Robin Williams. A little hate is warranted.

> They've got missiles, nukes, a dirty little war with Pakistan, and many regional political challenges. It is not some lolcat site that takes PayPal, it is armies and central bank policies.

In short, like the USA, which does all of these at far greater scale?

> A little hate is warranted.

And apparently, a little racism and bigotry.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#26

Post by redact207 » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:48 AM UTC

r0h1n wrote: post #21

redact207 wrote: post #19

In a country that's stricken with extreme poverty, a caste system that births you into such a fate until death, where women can't walk the street at night without the fear of getting brutally raped or molested, a country that starves while massive stockpiles of food reserves perish due to kafkaesque bureaucracy and corruption; I hardly think that privacy breaches are India's top concern. The political system is alrea…

Oh for crying out loud, not the "India is so poor that they shouldn't bother with expensive luxuries like space programs and Internet privacy" argument again! Pray tell me, what is the connection between "extreme poverty, a caste system, the safety of women walking the streets at night and massive stockpiles of food" with better Internet privacy measures? Are the two a zero-sum game? Will implementing more secure ema…

Did I say they should do without expensive luxuries and internet privacy? No. I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous.

The article isn't about internet privacy for their residents. if it were, are you saying that the rights of women and the starving population is fine as long as no sneaky NSA is reading your emails?

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#27

Post by r0h1n » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:55 AM UTC

redact207 wrote: post #26

r0h1n wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh for crying out loud, not the "India is so poor that they shouldn't bother with expensive luxuries like space programs and Internet privacy" argument again! Pray tell me, what is the connection between "extreme poverty, a caste system, the safety of women walking the streets at night and massive stockpiles of food" with better Internet privacy measures? Are the two a zero-sum game? Will implementing more secure ema…

Did I say they should do without expensive luxuries and internet privacy? No. I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous. The article isn't about internet privacy for their residents. if it were, are you saying that the rights of women and the starvin…

Allow me to quote you:

> In a country that's stricken with extreme poverty, a caste system that births you into such a fate until death, where women can't walk the street at night without the fear of getting brutally raped or molested, a country that starves while massive stockpiles of food reserves perish due to kafkaesque bureaucracy and corruption; I hardly think that privacy breaches are India's top concern.

Your infering that privacy should hardly be India's top concern is a non-sequitur.

Privacy doesn't need to be India's "top concern" for its government to fix it. And neither is there a link between fixing it and all the other (valid) ills you described prior to it.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#28

Post by alphakappa » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 5:57 AM UTC

redact207 wrote: post #26

r0h1n wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh for crying out loud, not the "India is so poor that they shouldn't bother with expensive luxuries like space programs and Internet privacy" argument again! Pray tell me, what is the connection between "extreme poverty, a caste system, the safety of women walking the streets at night and massive stockpiles of food" with better Internet privacy measures? Are the two a zero-sum game? Will implementing more secure ema…

Did I say they should do without expensive luxuries and internet privacy? No. I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous. The article isn't about internet privacy for their residents. if it were, are you saying that the rights of women and the starvin…

> I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous.

Your comment is mind-boggling. Using typewriters for better security is somehow a prioritization over solving fundamental issues? As in, if they spent some effort over security at their embassies, it affects their ability to solve other problems? You should get over yourself.

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#29

Post by hrjet » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 6:03 AM UTC

iamshs wrote: post #3

Ah. How are they gonna transmit data? What a temporary solution to a permanent problem, using a technology that must have been cracked a century ago. Btw why would you go outside to discuss private matters? Wow. Now instead of playing into one agency's hand, play into all world's. Especially, now that everybody knows India discusses private matters in gardens. Horrific. India should totally adopt lavabit. Incompetent…

While the first picture of a typewriter that comes to the mind is an archaic, metallic, clunky one, the story doesn't really give more details to complete the picture.

Perhaps the typewriters are noiseless, electronic ones, with a touch-based input system? Perhaps, they generate characters which can't be traced (with the help of randomized glitches for example). And perhaps they only use paper which is not traceable (if such a thing exists).

Re: Indian High Commission to use typewriters for sensitive information

#30

Post by redact207 » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 6:08 AM UTC

alphakappa wrote: post #28

redact207 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did I say they should do without expensive luxuries and internet privacy? No. I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous. The article isn't about internet privacy for their residents. if it were, are you saying that the rights of women and the starvin…

> I did say that prioritising using typerwriters for internal communications of a handful of their government offices above the fundamental issues that affect hundreds of millions of their countrymen is ridiculous. Your comment is mind-boggling. Using typewriters for better security is somehow a prioritization over solving fundamental issues? As in, if they spent some effort over security at their embassies, it affec…

You misread, I wrote the opposite to what you're saying.