6 ms·

Indonesia bans search engine DuckDuckGo on gambling, pornography concerns

55 points by gsky 2y ago

wanderingstan 2y ago
I checked out a WiFi hotspot from a library recently and was surprised to find that they blocked DDG. (Was less surprised to see they blocked Reddit.) Isn’t it just using the Bing API?
- ticoombs 2y ago
  It also proxies images, which I think is the actual reason (sic). So there is no way from a network point of view to disallow pornographic material on public access terminals. Though, I have not recently looked at how the other search engines do it. As a long time DDG user, the image filter isn't perfect and occasionally I'll see NSFW images even when I have safe search on.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    I noticed on my city's public network Google Safe Search, and the DDG equivalent, is enabled by force. Apparently for Google it's done by aliasing www.google.* to forcesafesearch.google.com [1], or for DDG: safe.duckduckgo.com [2] [1] https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-dns-safesearch https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-dns-safesearch [2] https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/features/safe-search/ https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/features/safe-s...
- Chrontius 2y ago
  Man, I wouldn't even stop to think that they blocked a search engine, I'd just think that their hotspot was broken. Well, I guess by my standards, it IS broken.
akam4n4n 2y ago
1.5 percent of GDP in online gambling is crazy right? is it really that bad?
- anewhnaccount3 2y ago
  Could be a way to launder money into other countries?
  - stubish 2y ago
    Laundering by definition requires spending to look legal. So no.
    - anewhnaccount3 2y ago
      Laundering requires earnings to look legal.
- cozzyd 2y ago
  is it counting cryptocurrency?
- racked 2y ago
  Yes. Mostly done by people who don't have the money to spend in the first place.
worstspotgain 2y ago
Curiously, this is both one of the best possible ads for DuckDuckGo, and one of the best possible ads for Indonesia's gambling ban (1.5% of GDP is bonkers.) One could argue that if they had more access to pornography, maybe they wouldn't gamble so much...
tmpfs 2y ago
As an Indonesian resident and a long time DDG user this is immensely frustrating. It seems to me that internet censorship is becoming more and more pervasive globally and whilst there can be legitimate reasons (eg: CSAM) blocking a search engine like DDG is a massive over-reach. Unfortunately, most Indonesians won't notice as they happily let Google, Meta et al track everything and everyone and are unlikely to be using DDG.
- robobro 2y ago
  This is one reason among many that I have vpn/vps/etc. At least duckduckgo is only blocked at the dns level!
  - patrakov 2y ago
    My question would then be whether this easily avoidable type of blocking is a form of protest from those mandated to implement blocking.
    - racked 2y ago
      As is often done in Indonesia, most would probably opt to leave that unmentioned.
dartharva 2y ago
For online gambling, why not just tax the stuff? India pulls in 30% of any player's winnings as tax, for example. The gaming companies also have to pay 28% of their revenue (yes, revenue, not income).
- stubish 2y ago
  The laws are to enforce the ruling group's religious morals.
  - SapporoChris 2y ago
    Perhaps, it could also be protecting the masses from exploitation of gambling companies. The odds are never in a gambler's favor.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - stubish 2y ago
      Both. Most religions consider gambling immoral because it leads to social harm. You need to favor personal freedoms and personal responsibility more to justify taxing gambling rather than banning it. Or acknowledging that prohibition may cause more social harm than not. But only more secular governments get to allow harmful vices for the greater good.
      - mock-possum 2y ago
        “Only more secular governments get to allow harmful vices for the greater good.” I hadn’t really thought about it before, but yeah, that’s naturally the way it goes.
        gregw2 2y ago
        I think a wise secularist may see greater good in less gambling. Not every secularist is a libertarian in their tradeoffs of "what is good" for people. There is usually some reason vices are squashed that is not religious in nature; take the China society's approach to various vices for example.
wodenokoto 2y ago
Weird. In the UAE DDG has stopped returning international results for those kinds of queries.
nunobrito 2y ago
DuckDuckGo should be banned globally for all I care. Never allowed anyone to inspect their premisses, hardware/software and yet claim privacy. I understand many people here will not know any better and still a slightly better approach than using google or yandex, still a quite sus option for the casual informed user in Europe. 3/10, would not recommend nor care.
- suggestion 2y ago
  What would you recommend instead?
  - nunobrito 2y ago
    SearX You can install/run from your own server, or just use a public version like this one here: https://metasearx.com/ https://metasearx.com/ Source code is available for verification. You can host yourself or choose from multiple domains to access.
    - sentientslug 2y ago
      How do you confirm the public instances are running the blessed version of the source code?
      - nunobrito 2y ago
        You don't. For that scenario you 1) download the code, 2) verify yourself what is inside and then 3) compile. (optional 4) Subsequent versions check on the delta of changes. There is a cost to your time/effort in performing this type of action that is proportional to the criticality of your context and the level of trust you place on the providers. TLDR: The less you trust, the more you verify
        elashri 2y ago
        To deploy it I think you mean on a vps. Now all your searches by Searx will be routed to other engines with the IP of your vps. So unless you deploy it with something like gluten to provide VPN access for searx. You will let those engines build profile about you. If you use the public instances so that more people are using it you don't know if they are running the unmodified source code. Id you go with the route of VPN with sear then you probably use VPN with search engines like DDG directly. And don't save cookies on the browser.

55 points by gsky 2y ago

I checked out a WiFi hotspot from a library recently and was surprised to find that they blocked DDG. (Was less surprised to see they blocked Reddit.) Isn’t it just using the Bing API?

ticoombs 2y ago
It also proxies images, which I think is the actual reason (sic). So there is no way from a network point of view to disallow pornographic material on public access terminals. Though, I have not recently looked at how the other search engines do it. As a long time DDG user, the image filter isn't perfect and occasionally I'll see NSFW images even when I have safe search on.
- netsharc 2y ago
  I noticed on my city's public network Google Safe Search, and the DDG equivalent, is enabled by force. Apparently for Google it's done by aliasing www.google.* to forcesafesearch.google.com [1], or for DDG: safe.duckduckgo.com [2] [1] https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-dns-safesearch https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-dns-safesearch [2] https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/features/safe-search/ https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/features/safe-s...
Chrontius 2y ago
Man, I wouldn't even stop to think that they blocked a search engine, I'd just think that their hotspot was broken. Well, I guess by my standards, it IS broken.

akam4n4n 2y ago

1.5 percent of GDP in online gambling is crazy right? is it really that bad?

anewhnaccount3 2y ago
Could be a way to launder money into other countries?
- stubish 2y ago
  Laundering by definition requires spending to look legal. So no.
  - anewhnaccount3 2y ago
    Laundering requires earnings to look legal.
cozzyd 2y ago
is it counting cryptocurrency?
racked 2y ago
Yes. Mostly done by people who don't have the money to spend in the first place.

worstspotgain 2y ago

Curiously, this is both one of the best possible ads for DuckDuckGo, and one of the best possible ads for Indonesia's gambling ban (1.5% of GDP is bonkers.) One could argue that if they had more access to pornography, maybe they wouldn't gamble so much...

tmpfs 2y ago

As an Indonesian resident and a long time DDG user this is immensely frustrating. It seems to me that internet censorship is becoming more and more pervasive globally and whilst there can be legitimate reasons (eg: CSAM) blocking a search engine like DDG is a massive over-reach. Unfortunately, most Indonesians won't notice as they happily let Google, Meta et al track everything and everyone and are unlikely to be using DDG.

robobro 2y ago
This is one reason among many that I have vpn/vps/etc. At least duckduckgo is only blocked at the dns level!
- patrakov 2y ago
  My question would then be whether this easily avoidable type of blocking is a form of protest from those mandated to implement blocking.
  - racked 2y ago
    As is often done in Indonesia, most would probably opt to leave that unmentioned.

dartharva 2y ago

For online gambling, why not just tax the stuff? India pulls in 30% of any player's winnings as tax, for example. The gaming companies also have to pay 28% of their revenue (yes, revenue, not income).

stubish 2y ago
The laws are to enforce the ruling group's religious morals.
- SapporoChris 2y ago
  Perhaps, it could also be protecting the masses from exploitation of gambling companies. The odds are never in a gambler's favor.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - stubish 2y ago
    Both. Most religions consider gambling immoral because it leads to social harm. You need to favor personal freedoms and personal responsibility more to justify taxing gambling rather than banning it. Or acknowledging that prohibition may cause more social harm than not. But only more secular governments get to allow harmful vices for the greater good.
    - mock-possum 2y ago
      “Only more secular governments get to allow harmful vices for the greater good.” I hadn’t really thought about it before, but yeah, that’s naturally the way it goes.
      - gregw2 2y ago
        I think a wise secularist may see greater good in less gambling. Not every secularist is a libertarian in their tradeoffs of "what is good" for people. There is usually some reason vices are squashed that is not religious in nature; take the China society's approach to various vices for example.

wodenokoto 2y ago

Weird. In the UAE DDG has stopped returning international results for those kinds of queries.

nunobrito 2y ago

DuckDuckGo should be banned globally for all I care. Never allowed anyone to inspect their premisses, hardware/software and yet claim privacy. I understand many people here will not know any better and still a slightly better approach than using google or yandex, still a quite sus option for the casual informed user in Europe. 3/10, would not recommend nor care.

suggestion 2y ago
What would you recommend instead?
- nunobrito 2y ago
  SearX You can install/run from your own server, or just use a public version like this one here: https://metasearx.com/ https://metasearx.com/ Source code is available for verification. You can host yourself or choose from multiple domains to access.
  - sentientslug 2y ago
    How do you confirm the public instances are running the blessed version of the source code?
    - nunobrito 2y ago
      You don't. For that scenario you 1) download the code, 2) verify yourself what is inside and then 3) compile. (optional 4) Subsequent versions check on the delta of changes. There is a cost to your time/effort in performing this type of action that is proportional to the criticality of your context and the level of trust you place on the providers. TLDR: The less you trust, the more you verify
      - elashri 2y ago
        To deploy it I think you mean on a vps. Now all your searches by Searx will be routed to other engines with the IP of your vps. So unless you deploy it with something like gluten to provide VPN access for searx. You will let those engines build profile about you. If you use the public instances so that more people are using it you don't know if they are running the unmodified source code. Id you go with the route of VPN with sear then you probably use VPN with search engines like DDG directly. And don't save cookies on the browser.