

Dear Department of Telecom, Government of India - kamikazearun
http://blog.arunbalan.in/2011/09/15/dear-department-of-telecom-government-of-india/

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dchest
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>

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braindead_in
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>

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

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nsomaru
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.

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random42
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.

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kamikazearun
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?)

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random42
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.

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hardik
+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?)

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rrrazdan
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?

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

