no wonder why google don't even shows me that It needs to store cookies when you visit its Indian version of the search engine .
India’s Downward Spiral
61–70 of 156 posts
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#62In India, people are being arrested for voicing disagreement with politicians and influential people on social media. You could even be arrested for liking a Facebook post criticizing a politician. http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/19/indian-woman-arrested-ov...
Yes, this is true. We are definitely not near the US standard on the defense of free speech. But the case you mentioned is one of the small number of such cases (I remember one from the state of West Bengal). And in this case, the over eagerness of local authorities was criticized by both the government and public. As of now, I would place India somewhere between UK (with its defamation laws) and US (gold standard of…
I don't know how you could compare India to UK. If you seriously believe there are a "small number of such cases", I must conclude you're ignorant. In most developed countries people would be shocked if issues such as this [1] are seriously considered in court cases, instead of getting thrown out immediately for being frivolous.
[1] http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kerala-student-life-in-ja...
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely there are better ways to identify someone than get their fingerprint, especally if they bothererd to called everyone to the police headquarters to get their fingerprint.
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 analysed too), prints of all 10 and the sides of your hands and retinal scans. Last year the relevant authoring announced it had biometrics for 118 million people [0], which considering the population is just under 10 million isn't bad (there is a high turnover in expat workers).
The ID cards are actually quite advanced, they contain the biometrics and PKI. Pretty much everyone (even government authorities) still use signatures and photocopies of the cards for verification though...
[0] http://www.id.gov.ae/en/media-centre/news/2013/7/9/emirates-...
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#64Worse 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…
UID is clearly surveillance tool. Its aim is to make the citizen's feel powerless. The scheme can be implemented with single fingerprint to prevent duplication, still iris scan is done. The privacy law is still not passed which could limit the access of UID data. It was forced on banks and petroleum marketers undemocratically.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Should I be concerned that my https with https://news.ycombinator.com started wigging out after I posted the original question? Chrome wouldn't load it due to safety concerns
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).
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#66One of the biggest difference between US and India is the constitution. Indian constitution does not give freedom of speech to its people. So government can pass all sort of laws. The 1st amendment to US constitution gives people freedom of speech and ensures that government can not pass any laws against it. On the other hand all the "rights" that Indian constitution gives are subject to other government approvals wh…
Is Quickr any good? From my experience, craiglist india is full of spam.. Every board is filled with men trying to hook you up with prostitutes.. No matter what board it is..
I had seen people selling iPhone 5S for INR 15K on quickr and thought its a scam !
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#67Did anybody noticed that this article is from 2 years ago, and a lot has changed in 2 years including a completely new government??
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#68Earlier 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…
other governments have proposed similar things - in europe there is a widespread distrust of these systems because they were used very effectively by the Nazi's - record keeping in the Netherlands was very good - 75% of jews were killed, in france the people collecting data conspired to protect jews by not punching the jew slot on the punched card and only 25% were killed a belgian company sold an ID system to the rw…
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Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#69One of the biggest difference between US and India is the constitution. Indian constitution does not give freedom of speech to its people. So government can pass all sort of laws. The 1st amendment to US constitution gives people freedom of speech and ensures that government can not pass any laws against it. On the other hand all the "rights" that Indian constitution gives are subject to other government approvals wh…
Indian constitution actually give no rights. The constitution says the govt can make laws that can make restrictions, and so no absolute right is given, and hence freedom is also restricted.
Re: India’s Downward Spiral
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you sure you properly understand what "hacker" means in this context? I think it's fair to say that some people in the grey to black spectrum also attend the CCC, but overall, yes, people there are genuinely committed to free expression (by everybody, most importantly of course by innocent people). They are using the word "hacker" in the original sense of the word (tinkering with technology etc.) What you're sayi…
It is a community meet, hosted by Europe's largest association of hacker. It is not an official gathering of human right leaders, they act on selfish interests. Are they known for their humanitarian efforts, certainly not. If anything they would break and work against the security measures, malicious or not depends on them. Through the entire meeting, they mocked the laws, quoting from handful cases which you have be…
May I remind you that you are posting on a site called "Hacker News"?