Just to clarify -- this article is about Indian government order.
Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
411–420 of 476 posts
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#412Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Then the question gets much more political: how to make the government prefer not to shoot me for using encryption? There are some strategies that are better discussed with e.g. communists than with tech nerds, as they have more experience and thinking on this as it becomes primarily a political thing not a tech thing.
One example - the government would lose infinite respect if it martyrs some normal guy who bought business supplies with foreign (TLS-encrypted) online banking. So it won't do that. So how far can that line be pushed? i.e. what is the least normal thing the government won't punish?
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#413India 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". :-)
That's funny considering the scale of WhatsApp now in the country.
As I understand it's primarily an anti spam thing. They will allow apps to spam you but the telephone network is sacred.
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#414Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
Literally any encrypted mesh net communication protocol would be subject to the same propaganda. The point of this stuff is providing checks and balances for the people against a rogue government, or emergency situation. Yeah, did you know criminals can use roads to commit crimes, too? We should destroy all of the roads. Terrorists also use food to give them energy to commit more terrorism, so we should start regulat…
Honestly no idea what I’d do if I were in government. Originally you’d communicate by mail and they could get a warrant. The day encrypted comms showed up, they wouldn’t just want to give up. If you love the encryption but hate the terrorism, what to do? Double down on old school / physical surveillance? (Obviously not my field)
They need to adapt then. Plenty of encryption users have been busted. Whether by grabbing their device while it's unlocked or by turning a prison sentence into house arrest if they snitch on their peers.
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you were sane, you would realise that restricting the right of billions of people to communicate privately, a right they have enjoyed for all the thousands of years of human history, is handing terrorists a complete and total victory far beyond any act of violence they could commit. The purpose of a government is not to prevent 100% of all crime and terrorism by locking every citizen in a straitjacket. This also i…
What terrorist is rooting for a government to eliminate private communication? For one, it makes their activities harder to carry out.
It inflicts terror, doesn't it?
If you make the government do your terror for you, you win. Like the TSA after 9/11.
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
Become a society where nobody feels it necessary to fall back on "terrorism" to get themselves properly heard.
Yeah, I don't think the terrorism in India is from lack of being heard. It is generally extremist arms interested in destabilizing India to strengthen other regional powers (usually Pakistan). The goal of much of these terrorist attacks simply end with ... no India, not "we demand change to policies in a reasonable way"
"hey pakistani spies if you bring us Pakistan's plans we'll give you a hundred thousand bucks"
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
What a mix! Yes, it is American exceptionalism (and quite foolish) to make the claim that "This could never happen in the US". No, the American government is NOT more authoritative than the UK in the way they handle freedom of websites. The grandparent comment is correct: the US government does not (currently) order ISPs to block specific websites. Yes, those in the US should protest the current government (many of u…
The American government censored a Dutch porn site (Motherless) just last week.
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think maybe there is more than one way to quantify authoritative. Just looking at the percentage of the population in prison, or murders by cop per inhabitant, that are also good indicators of "repression", and the US might rate first worldwide.
First worldwide? Are you on crack? Are you familiar with the country called North Korea? Or Saudi Arabia? As a note, I think you meant authoritarian; authoritative means “preeminent/most trustworthy”
I thought the USA have more murders by cop per capita than both of those
Re: Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Most europeans love their chains, they call it freedom as a coping mechanism
say what you like but at least in Germany when you say free Palestine, they bring you to a court instead of a summary execution