Dear Department of Telecom, Government of India | Hacker News Reader

Dear Department of Telecom, Government of India

blog.arunbalan.in

39 pointskamikazearun11 comments

According to Indian Department of Telecommunications (as of 2010), you can only use RSA keys up to... 40 bits http://toroid.org/ams/etc/dot-india-crypto-nonsense

Unfortunately, there's a thing called Lawful Interception [1]. It's a requirement for telecom companies, not only in India but even in western countries. What DoT is doing is asking BBM to adhere to this. This also the reason why VoIP and Skype are still not allowed in India.

The real issue here is the misinterpretation of this requirement. Lawful interception methods can be easily be circumvented and it does not make sense to apply it everywhere.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawful_interception

VoIP and skype not allowed in India.. Phew, that's news to me and i am in India.

Stems from the general apathy and lack of education of the Indian populace.

This may be funny for some, but go and spend 6 months in India and you will realize just really how big this problem is, and how the country is suffering because of idiots like this.

These people are voted into power because of a lack of education.

This post is slightly misinformed. The reasoning behind asking BBM to have its server is not to have "access to encrypted communication", but to bring BBM (and similar communication platforms) operations under Indian laws, make them accountable to Indian government and possibly ensuring access to their servers and data to intelligence agencies for audit.

The post was penned down as a joke and not really meant for a serious discussion. In any case, you seem to have confused reason and excuse. Two things to note here

1. We are ruled by a government that has failed to act on information they DID have in the past. "We could not protect you because the terrorists encrypted their communication" doesn't really work.

2. Let us assume that the reason for the terrorist/law&order situation is ENTIRELY the fault of encryption. So what is the extent of a "ban" on encryption? At most they can disable some services like BBM and encrypted mail. Which means everyone who needs encryption, including criminals, will start running their own servers and encrypting their stuff themselves. Net effect: Cost of encryption for citizens goes up. Criminals aren't affected.

Let us not forget that government after government in India are guilty of abusing state organisations for their their own gains (Central Bureau of Investigation anyone?)

Neither of the aforementioned points are government reasoning. Having servers in India does NOT prevents encrypted communication or gives some magical ability to intercept it. No one even claims that. It just makes the company operating in the country, makes answerable to Indian judicial system and laws (equivalent to the powers FBI enjoy in the US, over the websites operating in the US). eg. providing server access to the intelligence organizations of the country.

+1 for the "storage by IIT toppers" :)

(at work now so cant access youtube but i guess the youtube link on cloud technology is the "What happens during rains?" interview?)

Yes, the line where he takes a pot shot at people from a certain college is what you had to like. No comment about the issue, maybe?

Yes, that is the video :)

"boys and girls of Kota for storage" -- that takes the cake :D

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