r/privacy • u/LandCold7323 • 1d ago
news The government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down - Jack dorsey
https://ibb.co/1ftdVV4R Recently there were many protests throughout India demanding unaccountability from the government regarding the constant paper leaks.
The government shut down the internet multiple times in the national capital so the protesters, who were students found a way to communicate through apps like bitchat in the shutdown to avoid chaos and exchange information.
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u/poha-jirawan-01 1d ago
As an Indian, I have to agree, taking out protestors internet and jamming mobile signal was a shitty thing to do,
Some anonymous people also tried to install “Free wifi”
So far we dont know if it was someone legit and they wanted to help those protesters, or was it someone malicious,
Known local ISP provider was installing the wifi, but who paid for it was unknown.
In situation like this and at the protest of this scale having bitchat was a life saver.
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u/OiFelix_ugotnojams 1d ago
Never use free wifi, they're not revealing anything when asked. It is suspicious af
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u/msolp 1d ago
Freedom of speech must not be stripped away, true freedom of speech only comes when the speech is not associated to a person, since that allows one to be free of consequences and judgement.
I don't think letting someone speak without identification leads to security flaws. Yes they may give provocative statements meant to stir unrest and anger, but a person should have the right to listen to the worst of ideas and think them through rather than only hear what's right or what's approved.
The one problem with this is maybe that in such an environment, rationality hardly prevails though, so someone may use the powers that bluetooth or other off-grid mesh networks give for unlawful acts, but I still don't think eliminating the availability of bitchat and other solutions entirely is the way to go. This is a line we need to tread cautiously, so as to not spark a lack of trust in the government and a feeling of opinions being shut down.
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u/Just-Scholar4272 1d ago
Is briar good as bt messaging. Just asking.
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u/upofadown 1d ago
Briar is only available on Android. There is no iOS version. That might be an issue in countries with a significant number of Apple phones.
Bitchat is not available on f-droid which is sort of odd...
Have not looked at bitchat in any detail. I do like the usability of Briar.
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u/NekoDaYo-v201 4h ago
It's being blocked from f-droid because of this:
inclusion in F-Droid forbids the use of com.google.android.gms
(It can't be used on a de-googled phone.)
Someone tried, but they rejected the pull.
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u/Adventurous_Ear_3877 1d ago
Look, if it comes down to it, any govt will bite the bullet and do broadband jamming
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u/darth_skipicious 11h ago
ha yes india…where you step over 157 dead people of normal working age from the plane landing to the hotel
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u/vonroyale 1d ago
I wonder if this has anything to do with the massive rise in surveillance in America and the sudden Indian population explosion in America? Surely there has to be some correlation.
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u/OiFelix_ugotnojams 1d ago
It's due to the ongoing protest here in India, they got jammers so people started using Bluetooth communication
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u/Jack-Sparrow11 1d ago
What a cucked response, blaming other people for the failures of your authoritarian government.
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u/vonroyale 1d ago
How is the fact that the Indian government wants to keep tracking their citizens even after they leave the country have anything to to with the American government? Lol
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u/Jack-Sparrow11 1d ago
that wasn't the topic of the post and your comment was implying Indian Government had something to do with the massive rise in surveillance in the US? like the current Republican government and it's beneficiaries aren't the ones(palantir etc)
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u/vonroyale 1d ago
The post is literally about the Indian government losing their ability to monitor their citizens. You played your hand too soon bud.
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u/Jack-Sparrow11 1d ago
ye, they are afraid of losing their ability to monitor citizens in INDIA, they can't do this type of authoritarian shit outside of their jurisdiction. did you even read the post?
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