this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11998237

The IT ministry has reportedly decided to issue an order blocking end-to-end encrypted email service ProtonMail. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the government is planning to block the email service at the request of the Tamil Nadu police over a hoax bomb threat sent to at least thirteen private schools in Chennai on February 8. The report says that the decision to block ProtonMail was taken at a meeting of the 69A blocking committee on Wednesday (February 14).

A Proton spokesperson told the publication that the company has received the request from MeitY “a few days ago”. “We are currently working to resolve this situation and are investigating how we can best work together with the Indian authorities to do so. We understand the urgency of the situation and are completely clear that our services are not to be used for illegal purposes. We routinely remove users who are found to be doing so and are willing to cooperate wherever possible within international cooperation agreements,” the spokesperson said.

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[–] scytale@lemm.ee 104 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

When the people who know nothing about technology make the decisions about technology.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 57 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Maybe they should shut down phone service when someone calls in a bomb threat and shut down the postal service when someone mails one in too.

[–] far_university1990@feddit.de 15 points 7 months ago

Shut down truck company because someone drove a truck into a mass of people.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Wish our government officials had a basic understanding of tech so they could see this and go "the fuck are we doing?"

[–] Halosheep@lemm.ee 86 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Strange they're willing to block a service for 'allowing' this but somehow can't be bothered to figure out their giant scam industry.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 37 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Scams in India primarily target foreign nations while bringing cash into the country that then gets spent in the local economy.

As long as they're not targeting others within india, the authorities have little incentive to stop them.

That's before you get to the corruption poisoning the investigations/prosecutions that do happen.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They will target anyone they can get sadly, Indians are not exempted from this and are often times, the primary targets

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Actions have been taken against the scam industry, the offices have been raided by police officers several times but once again the collective action is too little and too late

[–] Gazumi@lemmy.world 48 points 7 months ago (2 children)

So..... If someone did it the old fashioned way by telephone from a public phone, or sent out a letter, or shared leaflets, would we be looking at disconnecting public phones, stopping the postal service and banning home printers?

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

By applying Indian government logic, yes! this just in, Microwaves have been banned after a bomb was sent inside a microwave....

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 9 points 7 months ago

Don't give them ideas!

[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Pathetic authoritarian fucks ugggh... Please remember... India is NOT a democratic counterbalance to China. They're just like China. The only difference is that they both hate each other.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Mother of Democracy they said....

[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Never heard "Mother of Democracy", but I've heard a lot of "the world's largest democracy". Yea, bs either ways.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

bs for sure

[–] model_tar_gz@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Wonder if they’d block Gmail, too.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

Seeing how google will hand all user data when asked to, yeah that's not gonna happen unfortunately

[–] THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Lol for what they are open as they get

[–] nfsu2@feddit.cl 29 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wait till they ban talking for threatening verbally

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Wait till they ban staring cause it's intimidating!

[–] clot27@lemm.ee 27 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I swear these dumb bureaucrats and politicians would've banned torrent, tor, etc. too if it was possible.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

Torrenting sites are banned/blocked on many ISPs and on Jio VPNs are blocked too so you're not that far off

[–] THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 10 points 7 months ago

India has aldready banned vpn's on many carriers

[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you don't receive the email containing the bomb threat because you banned the email domain, does the bomb really exist?

No! The bomb just goes away. Checkmate, terrorists.

[–] june@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Has real ‘stop testing for covid to reduce case count’ energy.

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Btw Internet Freedom Foundation (or the IFF) filed several RTI requests (RTI = Request to information) regarding this situation. If anyone wants to follow their progress then here's their Mastodon account: https://mastodon.world/@internetfreedom@mas.to

The IFF is a highly trustworthy and well respected organization that fights for Indians digital rights and democratic freedoms. They've done a lot of good work over the years, they even helped VLC to get unblocked when it was banned in India.

[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Oh didn't know about IFF. Thanks for dropping the link! :)

[–] internetfreedom@mas.to 11 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Hey there! Thank you so much for all the work you guys do, it's great to have an organization you can actually rely on to bring some amount of change <3

[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

WOAH HI!!! YOU'RE AMAZING!!! <3

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

You're welcome!

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Here's their toot mentioning the situation with Proton Mail: https://mastodon.world/@internetfreedom@mas.to/111935324571240375

[–] EpicVision@monero.town 18 points 7 months ago

Guys! I know how to get Gmail blocked in India!

[–] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

After WhatsApp and Telegram duh.

[–] sag@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

So I can't use Proton Mail anymore?

[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

If it gets blocked then no but you can continue using it either through a VPN, a proxy server or through Tor. You could also use a different DNS to unblock the website for yourself (Incase it gets blocked)

[–] EpicVision@monero.town 5 points 7 months ago

You can easily circumvent this block with a VPN. Proton actually offers a free tier of their VPN service that is specifically designed for users that experience censorship: https://protonvpn.com/vpn/censorship

Proton Mail also has a Tor website: https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion/

[–] sag@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] Stewbs@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

You're welcome

[–] THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 5 points 7 months ago

If this go through no . But yiu can use by using it in tor