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Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

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Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#51

Post by pm90 »

chris_wot wrote: post #47
leostatic wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the govt sites of india are in similar state. They are hardly ever updated. The main reason for this is the paperwork/legalese needed before a site can be revamped. Permissions have to be taken from various post holders. I have an email account that is given by govt college and the allotted space is 5Mb.

In that case, the Indian Government needs wholesale reform. And soon. If India wants to be a forerunner in the world of IT (which it's rapidly becoming) this is only going to cause massive problems.

The govt. was not responsible for the IT revolution, it was mostly just entrepreneurs taking advantage of the opportunity. Don't expect much help/facilitation from them. However, once it was clear that IT was a job creator, many state govt. did start promoting it; but the extent is still unclear to me.

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#52

Post by astrodust »

jmspring wrote: post #49

France had a similar policy in the mid 90s. I recall SSL had a renegotiation to allow banking sites to upgrade from the weak key to a stronger one. Over time, this policy went away. There are companies that do disallow ssh or require you use a null cipher/key to a gateway before going to the outside world. I'm not sure how this will be enforced, however from prior comments, it looks like it may be an old policy?

> There are companies that do disallow ssh...

How are these companies still in business? You're just asking to get cracked.

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#53

Post by [deleted] »

batista wrote: post #44
Symmetry wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I guess I was. In the US you see things like relatives of police officers not getting ticketed when they crash while driving drunk, for instance, and other sorts of selective non-enforcement of laws and sometimes selective enforcement based on the prejudices the enforcers. But I've never had to pay a bribe, and I don't know anyone else who's had to pay one either.

Well, it's for higher echelons, and in that level it's not even called a "bribe". You know, like having your company get huge commissions from the very business your war policies created, or having your friends in DC bail you out because you're "too big to fail", etc. E.g (Wikipedia): Halliburton has become the object of several controversies involving the 2003 Iraq War and the company's ties to former U.S. Vice Pres…

[deleted]

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#54

Post by chris_wot »

pm90 wrote: post #51
chris_wot wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case, the Indian Government needs wholesale reform. And soon. If India wants to be a forerunner in the world of IT (which it's rapidly becoming) this is only going to cause massive problems.

The govt. was not responsible for the IT revolution, it was mostly just entrepreneurs taking advantage of the opportunity. Don't expect much help/facilitation from them. However, once it was clear that IT was a job creator, many state govt. did start promoting it; but the extent is still unclear to me.

I think you are misunderstanding where I'm coming from. While the government isn't driving IT growth in India, it is still able to hinder it fairly effectively. After all, it is the government that must legislate the IT industry and the bureaucracy that must administer these laws.

If this is the parlous state of both the government and the bureaucracy, then I suspect that growth will be hampered.

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#57

Post by DamnYuppie »

Zirro wrote: post #7
DamnYuppie wrote: post #4

This is an absolutely terrible idea. 20 years ago people where hailing the Internet as a bastion of freedom and espousing how it would liberate people around the world, it was supposed to be the death knell of censorship. Sadly it seems more likely that it will be used to reduce the freedoms and liberties of all men across all nations, unless we stand firm in our convictions and remain unafraid to raise our voices in…

"20 years ago people where hailing the Internet as a bastion of freedom and espousing how it would liberate people around the world, it was supposed to be the death knell of censorship." But it still is. Now more than ever. It's toppled regimes, unmasked government secrets. If authorities try to take away what has once been given to the people, there will be protests.

People did those things, as we have done throughout history. To add meaning to your claim you would have to prove that the rate of regime toppling has dramatically increased since the advent of the internet. I am not saying it did not play a part or wasn't a key tool, but such things always start and succeed based upon the commitment and sacrifices of those willing to stand up to their oppressors.

The internet is a tool for communication. If you co-op that communication then it is a tool for propaganda and oppression. I am not seeing a trend lately for more openness, instead I am seeing more and more laws for restricting what can be done, and governments demanding back doors into all aspects of our communication. of course I maybe blind and misinformed, but I see governments and corporations making a land grab for our individual freedoms.

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#58

Post by sigkill »

shabda wrote: post #2

See point 2: LEVEL OF ENCRYPTION Individuals/Groups/Organisations are permitted to use encryption upto 40 bit key length in the RSA algorithms or its equivalent in other algorithms without having to obtain permission. However, if encryption equipments higher than this limit are to be deployed, individuals/groups/organisations shall do so with the permission of the Telecom Authority and deposit the decryption key, spl…

Welp my 2048-bit key may not float there. This is ridiculous, I never though it'd be THIS bad. And why are they asking for the "decryption key", in two parts?!

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#59

Post by sigkill »

gautamc wrote: post #39
sgt wrote: post #20

Surprisingly many of the indian IT workers (outsourced) I am in touch with support the increasing limitations of freedom in India. I am not sure why, maybe they are just brainwashed or simply not used to having as many rights as people in the western world are accustomed to. In any case, terrorism is a real threat in India and I suspect they are all a bit touchy.

I am from India and I am pretty concerned about terrorism, but I am assuming that the people/businesses who will end up following such rules would most probably be the people who aren't planning any thing nefarious. Meanwhile, the real bad guys are going to find a way around it - and will the govt of India pay me damages if my private key ended up on piratebay because someone stole it from their servers? Nope, don't…

You're on HN. This puts you far above the "average person". You probably have critical thinking, and problem solving abilities that not many people have.

My guess is that once tech. penetration reaches a critical mass where the rewards for breaking into a low security server outweighs the hassle for the poor or smart people, only then will the government policies be upgraded.

Re: Govt of India proposes to ban SSH (Or wants you to use 40 bit keys)

#60

Post by sigkill »

neil_s wrote: post #33

I'm not that surprised by this. More developed countries use their scientific prowess to build massive organisations like the NSA to decrypt and monitor communications in the name of national security, the Indian government tries to legislate it instead. This is what they insisted on doing with RIM's encrypted Blackberry services as well. Technology's progressing too fast for the government research agencies to keep…

>I've got nothing to hide

In that case, they've got no reason to look.

But I think like quite a few other comments say, it's old document.

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