11 ms·

Arvind Gupta, the head of IT Cell, BJP Tweeted: "The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti I

by bbarn 12y ago

Arvind Gupta, the head of IT Cell, BJP Tweeted: "The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti India content from ISIS. The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the on going investigations, are being unblocked." This is bad. archive.org by default should have all sorts of offensive things on it. Pastebin and github should not be responsible for people hosting code they don't like. May as well block google too, I'm pretty sure you can find pro-ISIS sites on there as well.

nicksergeant 12y ago
I run https://snipt.net https://snipt.net, one of the sites listed as being blocked, and I've never received any communication from anyone with the Indian government or ISPs. So they're not proactively doing anything to unblock these sites, as far as I can tell.
- DINKDINK 12y ago
  Why would they have any incentive to contact you? From their perspective the problem is solved -- the material offending statist is out of sight, out of mind. You're the one who wants a different situation to exist. Governments aren't in the customer service business.
  - nicksergeant 12y ago
    I actually don't care at all, but sucks for developers in India who 1) want to use Snipt or 2) have already paid for it. Edit: on item 2, I'll happily refund any Indian developers who've already paid for Snipt and want their money back, but my point is valid.
    - seanp2k2 12y ago
      And of course, apathy is the other big problem with US attitudes about government.
      - jeremyjh 12y ago
        You do realize that it's the Indian government at issue here, right?
        bigphishy 12y ago
        I would argue that the indian government is doing this at the pressure from the united states government.
        chris_wot 12y ago
        Zero evidence and sheer implausibility makes for a great conspiracy theory.
        Vivtek 12y ago
        So why is India the only country to have taken this step?
  - jusben1369 12y ago
    "Governments aren't in the customer service business" - Errr actually that's exactly the business democratic governments are in. Not saying they don't fail regularly but when you are elected by the people for the people you'd better be prepared to provide customer service.
    - iopq 12y ago
      Except most people won't know about this or care. You get the government you deserve, which is to say, a shitty one.
      - chetanahuja 12y ago
        Don't know why you're being downvoted. This is absolutely correct. Even more so for India than, say, the US (source: I'm Indian). Nobody but a tiny tiny fraction of the population cares that github is getting blocked. The opposition wouldn't even bother making it a big issue since the numbers are so insignificant. And even if they did, they don't really have a moral leg to stand on because all politicians and government officials, almost without exception (ok.. maybe with some rare exceptions) are eager to use censorship when it suites their purposes (usually under the pretext of national security... but even that figleaf is not always necessary).
    - honeybooboo123 12y ago
      Oh come on. Whenever the public actually demands something, the government's response is always batons, tear-gas and rubber bullets (and some torture thrown in for good measure, of course). You call that customer service? Imagine McDonald's tasing you for complaining about not getting what you ordered. -That's exactly how governments behave. As a recent example, China and HK declare that from now on, Hong Kong's electoral candidates will be chosen by the tyrants in Beijing. HK's citizens protest. HK's police forces brutalize the citizens.
  - code_duck 12y ago
    Governments should be in the customer service business. Typically, they provide many services that, if they were provided by private companies, which they very well could be, would be customer service oriented. The concept that a government employees such as police are not working for the people is exactly what's wrong with the attitudes surrounding police in the United States. They are providing a service that we pay for as taxpayers, and theoretically, we are their employers, or customers.
    - iopq 12y ago
      You're not a customer because you're being forced to pay. You have no choice in the matter. If they provide really really bad service you still have to pay.
      - code_duck 12y ago
        Sure, that's the situation in a monopoly. It's not that we're not in a customer role, just that we're poorly served customers of a monopoly where management doesn't seem to understand for whom they're working. If the whole system wasn't sondysfunctional, poor service would be addressed by our elected representatives, who are supposed to be properly planning government services for us.
        iopq 12y ago
        Government services are by definition a monopoly because there is only one government in your country. It's a bit worse, though. If there's a monopoly on electricity I can just stop paying and get a generator. If there is a monopoly on air flights I could drive or take a boat. However, if I stop paying the government I go to prison.
- Xeoncross 12y ago
  "The websites were blocked for hosting content that is pro terrorist group ISIS and not cooperating with government investigations, officials said." For some strange reason I'm inclined to believe you rather than India's government officials.
  - nicksergeant 12y ago
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have no problem whatsoever with removing offending content from Snipt. I regularly remove and ban users who post illegal or otherwise inappropriate content on the site. If they contact me, I'll happily remove anything even remotely "pro terrorist group ISIS", but as mentioned, I've received no such requests (and I don't proactively review private snippets for offensive content unless it's reported to me).
    - TylerE 12y ago
      That may not be in your best interest, lefally. Pro-active moderation makes it very hard to argue safe harbor status.
      - nicksergeant 12y ago
        How so?
      - oasisbob 12y ago
        With regards to DMCA, 512(m) seems applicable.
        nicksergeant 12y ago
        Applicable how?
        chris_wot 12y ago
        "(m) Protection of Privacy.— Nothing in this section shall be construed to condition the applicability of subsections (a) through (d) on— (1) a service provider monitoring its service or affirmatively seeking facts indicating infringing activity, except to the extent consistent with a standard technical measure complying with the provisions of subsection (i); or (2) a service provider gaining access to, removing, or disabling access to material in cases in which such conduct is prohibited by law." Dude, you desperately need a designated agent. You just aren't under safe harbor at the moment.
- alexivanovs 12y ago
  Nice, here is my chance to get in touch with you again. A few weeks ago I tweeted out something along the lines of you hosting a lot of credit card dumps on your service, have you done anything about this? I don't care to check once again, but your site did have a lot of users offering stolen credit cards for sale. Are you aware of this?
- cryptbin 12y ago
  As the owner of https://cryptbin.com https://cryptbin.com, also on the list, I've never received any such communication either.
  - cmadan 12y ago
    Can you send out a tweet from the Cryptbin or your personal Twitter account stating that you haven't received any communication? Retweets should help raise awareness on this. Thanks!
    - cryptbin 12y ago
      Done! https://twitter.com/cryptbin/status/550455122091077632 https://twitter.com/cryptbin/status/550455122091077632
      - p3rs3us 12y ago
        As far as I can tell, the ban has not yet been enforced. I can access both https://cryptbin.com/ https://cryptbin.com/ and https://snipt.net/ https://snipt.net/, though my ISP is limited only to Bangalore area. Edit: Well, it looks like pastebin & dailymotion are banned, but cryptbin and snipt aren't
        usbreply 12y ago
        cryptbin and snipt are blocked here (Vodafone network). I presume all the major ISPs have implemented the bans. I think you should not have commented if you knew that your ISP doesn't care to enforce government ordered bans (I know some small ISPs can't afford the hardware to implement URL blocking.).
        _nedR 12y ago
        All 4 seemed to be blocked from my office in Kerala. Github is up so they probably have resolved the issue. A week back Github became mysteriously unavailable (with github status showing no downtime). I guess now we know what happened.
        12y ago
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- tomrod 12y ago
  Sorry for your troubles. If you don't mind me asking, I'm interested in how much traffic has dropped since the blocking? Are you seeing people come in around the block, possibly?
- h43k3r 12y ago
  Don't expect the people from India to contact you. They are just too dumb to do this. People who makes such decision have no knowledge of internet and what are good and bad sites. PS - I am an Indian
  - vithlani 12y ago
    Well said my friend, so true.
  - ksinghsandhu 12y ago
    agree.
- cweiske 12y ago
  I'm the developer of phorkie, and I also have not been contacted by anyone official about the block.
Havvy 12y ago
This is what happens when you let people take any action if they scream 'terrorist'.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
happyscrappy 12y ago
As crazy as it sounds some HN users defend ISIS. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8808630 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8808630
- milesskorpen 12y ago
  Saying that ISIS isn't a terrorist organization doesn't mean that user is defending the organization. Terrorist has become a catch-all term that is used way too broadly (seems to cover any armed force motivated by Islam for many people). ISIS can be an awful organization without consisting of terrorists.
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    They are terrorizing local populations for a political goal. They are not just fighting battles they are slaughtering civilians into compliance. How is that not terrorism? Edit: He also claimed that it would be better if ISIS was in charge of the area. That is quite ridiculous.
    - grandalf 12y ago
      Would you define US drone strikes as attempts at terrorizing the target populations?
      - happyscrappy 12y ago
        Drone strikes explicitly try not to hit non-combatants. ISIS slaughter wantonly. Some people have a world view that needs to see the US and ISIS as equivalently evil.
        ceejayoz 12y ago
        > Drone strikes explicitly try not to hit non-combatants. http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ "Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent." ISIS seems to have a similarly broad definition. No, they're not morally equivalent, but we have serious issues with how we prosecute the War on Terror.
lstamour 12y ago
Strange that they're blocking software rather than websites. E.g. the github block says "gist-it" next to it, which implies they maybe wanted to block https://github.com/robertkrimen/gist-it https://github.com/robertkrimen/gist-it ? There's also http://atnsoft.com/atnsoft.com/textpaster/ http://atnsoft.com/atnsoft.com/textpaster/ blocked and http://sourceforge.net/projects/phorkie/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/phorkie/ which is described as "Self-hosted pastebin software written in PHP. Pastes are editable, may have multiple files and are stored in git repositories." Which is really strange because it says there were only 4 downloads of this software in the last week -- doesn't that make it easier to track?
- eternalban 12y ago
  likely gist.github.com
  - ipavl 12y ago
    That's on the list separately (#23).
- Crito 12y ago
  Either they are deliberately going after the software, or they have failed to understand the difference between hosting a websites source repo and actually hosting that website.
anandrm 12y ago
I m not sure if github is blocked, i m pulling repos right now from Bangalore.
- sjwright 12y ago
  Can you see gists? https://gist.github.com/ https://gist.github.com/
  - sanmon3186 12y ago
    I can from hyderabad, India
    - croodies 12y ago
      Same here, works from Hyd, India. No VPN whatsoever used.
- train_robber 12y ago
  Even I can. GitHub and Gists are all accessible from where I am.
- _nedR 12y ago
  Here in Kerala github.com is up and running but gists.github.com returns "Connection interrupted"
- sethunat 12y ago
  Github works in reliance broadband from kerala
- aksx 12y ago
  i tried to push some code and was getting DNS resolution errors so i started using google DNS, now everything works.
  - arunmib 12y ago
    Same here. Tried accessing github and sourceforge didn't work, switched to google DNS, works like a charm now. Not sure how they are blocking the sites.
pjc50 12y ago
Remember, "offensive" is transitive: to whom is something offensive? http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679... : India had its own idea of what is unacceptable. ISTR there may be no map which is legal in both India and Pakistan.
minusSeven 12y ago
Well they only need to remove the offensive stuff from the Indian version of those websites. This is something I know google can not sure about pastebin and github.

by bbarn 12y ago

nicksergeant 12y ago

I run https://snipt.net https://snipt.net, one of the sites listed as being blocked, and I've never received any communication from anyone with the Indian government or ISPs. So they're not proactively doing anything to unblock these sites, as far as I can tell.

DINKDINK 12y ago
Why would they have any incentive to contact you? From their perspective the problem is solved -- the material offending statist is out of sight, out of mind. You're the one who wants a different situation to exist. Governments aren't in the customer service business.
- nicksergeant 12y ago
  I actually don't care at all, but sucks for developers in India who 1) want to use Snipt or 2) have already paid for it. Edit: on item 2, I'll happily refund any Indian developers who've already paid for Snipt and want their money back, but my point is valid.
  - seanp2k2 12y ago
    And of course, apathy is the other big problem with US attitudes about government.
    - jeremyjh 12y ago
      You do realize that it's the Indian government at issue here, right?
      - bigphishy 12y ago
        I would argue that the indian government is doing this at the pressure from the united states government.
        chris_wot 12y ago
        Zero evidence and sheer implausibility makes for a great conspiracy theory.
        Vivtek 12y ago
        So why is India the only country to have taken this step?
- jusben1369 12y ago
  "Governments aren't in the customer service business" - Errr actually that's exactly the business democratic governments are in. Not saying they don't fail regularly but when you are elected by the people for the people you'd better be prepared to provide customer service.
  - iopq 12y ago
    Except most people won't know about this or care. You get the government you deserve, which is to say, a shitty one.
    - chetanahuja 12y ago
      Don't know why you're being downvoted. This is absolutely correct. Even more so for India than, say, the US (source: I'm Indian). Nobody but a tiny tiny fraction of the population cares that github is getting blocked. The opposition wouldn't even bother making it a big issue since the numbers are so insignificant. And even if they did, they don't really have a moral leg to stand on because all politicians and government officials, almost without exception (ok.. maybe with some rare exceptions) are eager to use censorship when it suites their purposes (usually under the pretext of national security... but even that figleaf is not always necessary).
  - honeybooboo123 12y ago
    Oh come on. Whenever the public actually demands something, the government's response is always batons, tear-gas and rubber bullets (and some torture thrown in for good measure, of course). You call that customer service? Imagine McDonald's tasing you for complaining about not getting what you ordered. -That's exactly how governments behave. As a recent example, China and HK declare that from now on, Hong Kong's electoral candidates will be chosen by the tyrants in Beijing. HK's citizens protest. HK's police forces brutalize the citizens.
- code_duck 12y ago
  Governments should be in the customer service business. Typically, they provide many services that, if they were provided by private companies, which they very well could be, would be customer service oriented. The concept that a government employees such as police are not working for the people is exactly what's wrong with the attitudes surrounding police in the United States. They are providing a service that we pay for as taxpayers, and theoretically, we are their employers, or customers.
  - iopq 12y ago
    You're not a customer because you're being forced to pay. You have no choice in the matter. If they provide really really bad service you still have to pay.
    - code_duck 12y ago
      Sure, that's the situation in a monopoly. It's not that we're not in a customer role, just that we're poorly served customers of a monopoly where management doesn't seem to understand for whom they're working. If the whole system wasn't sondysfunctional, poor service would be addressed by our elected representatives, who are supposed to be properly planning government services for us.
      - iopq 12y ago
        Government services are by definition a monopoly because there is only one government in your country. It's a bit worse, though. If there's a monopoly on electricity I can just stop paying and get a generator. If there is a monopoly on air flights I could drive or take a boat. However, if I stop paying the government I go to prison.
Xeoncross 12y ago
"The websites were blocked for hosting content that is pro terrorist group ISIS and not cooperating with government investigations, officials said." For some strange reason I'm inclined to believe you rather than India's government officials.
- nicksergeant 12y ago
  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have no problem whatsoever with removing offending content from Snipt. I regularly remove and ban users who post illegal or otherwise inappropriate content on the site. If they contact me, I'll happily remove anything even remotely "pro terrorist group ISIS", but as mentioned, I've received no such requests (and I don't proactively review private snippets for offensive content unless it's reported to me).
  - TylerE 12y ago
    That may not be in your best interest, lefally. Pro-active moderation makes it very hard to argue safe harbor status.
    - nicksergeant 12y ago
      How so?
    - oasisbob 12y ago
      With regards to DMCA, 512(m) seems applicable.
      - nicksergeant 12y ago
        Applicable how?
        chris_wot 12y ago
        "(m) Protection of Privacy.— Nothing in this section shall be construed to condition the applicability of subsections (a) through (d) on— (1) a service provider monitoring its service or affirmatively seeking facts indicating infringing activity, except to the extent consistent with a standard technical measure complying with the provisions of subsection (i); or (2) a service provider gaining access to, removing, or disabling access to material in cases in which such conduct is prohibited by law." Dude, you desperately need a designated agent. You just aren't under safe harbor at the moment.
alexivanovs 12y ago
Nice, here is my chance to get in touch with you again. A few weeks ago I tweeted out something along the lines of you hosting a lot of credit card dumps on your service, have you done anything about this? I don't care to check once again, but your site did have a lot of users offering stolen credit cards for sale. Are you aware of this?
cryptbin 12y ago
As the owner of https://cryptbin.com https://cryptbin.com, also on the list, I've never received any such communication either.
- cmadan 12y ago
  Can you send out a tweet from the Cryptbin or your personal Twitter account stating that you haven't received any communication? Retweets should help raise awareness on this. Thanks!
  - cryptbin 12y ago
    Done! https://twitter.com/cryptbin/status/550455122091077632 https://twitter.com/cryptbin/status/550455122091077632
    - p3rs3us 12y ago
      As far as I can tell, the ban has not yet been enforced. I can access both https://cryptbin.com/ https://cryptbin.com/ and https://snipt.net/ https://snipt.net/, though my ISP is limited only to Bangalore area. Edit: Well, it looks like pastebin & dailymotion are banned, but cryptbin and snipt aren't
      - usbreply 12y ago
        cryptbin and snipt are blocked here (Vodafone network). I presume all the major ISPs have implemented the bans. I think you should not have commented if you knew that your ISP doesn't care to enforce government ordered bans (I know some small ISPs can't afford the hardware to implement URL blocking.).
      - _nedR 12y ago
        All 4 seemed to be blocked from my office in Kerala. Github is up so they probably have resolved the issue. A week back Github became mysteriously unavailable (with github status showing no downtime). I guess now we know what happened.
      - 12y ago
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
tomrod 12y ago
Sorry for your troubles. If you don't mind me asking, I'm interested in how much traffic has dropped since the blocking? Are you seeing people come in around the block, possibly?
h43k3r 12y ago
Don't expect the people from India to contact you. They are just too dumb to do this. People who makes such decision have no knowledge of internet and what are good and bad sites. PS - I am an Indian
- vithlani 12y ago
  Well said my friend, so true.
- ksinghsandhu 12y ago
  agree.
cweiske 12y ago
I'm the developer of phorkie, and I also have not been contacted by anyone official about the block.

Havvy 12y ago

This is what happens when you let people take any action if they scream 'terrorist'.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

happyscrappy 12y ago

As crazy as it sounds some HN users defend ISIS. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8808630 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8808630

milesskorpen 12y ago
Saying that ISIS isn't a terrorist organization doesn't mean that user is defending the organization. Terrorist has become a catch-all term that is used way too broadly (seems to cover any armed force motivated by Islam for many people). ISIS can be an awful organization without consisting of terrorists.
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  They are terrorizing local populations for a political goal. They are not just fighting battles they are slaughtering civilians into compliance. How is that not terrorism? Edit: He also claimed that it would be better if ISIS was in charge of the area. That is quite ridiculous.
  - grandalf 12y ago
    Would you define US drone strikes as attempts at terrorizing the target populations?
    - happyscrappy 12y ago
      Drone strikes explicitly try not to hit non-combatants. ISIS slaughter wantonly. Some people have a world view that needs to see the US and ISIS as equivalently evil.
      - ceejayoz 12y ago
        > Drone strikes explicitly try not to hit non-combatants. http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ "Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent." ISIS seems to have a similarly broad definition. No, they're not morally equivalent, but we have serious issues with how we prosecute the War on Terror.

lstamour 12y ago

Strange that they're blocking software rather than websites. E.g. the github block says "gist-it" next to it, which implies they maybe wanted to block https://github.com/robertkrimen/gist-it https://github.com/robertkrimen/gist-it ? There's also http://atnsoft.com/atnsoft.com/textpaster/ http://atnsoft.com/atnsoft.com/textpaster/ blocked and http://sourceforge.net/projects/phorkie/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/phorkie/ which is described as "Self-hosted pastebin software written in PHP. Pastes are editable, may have multiple files and are stored in git repositories." Which is really strange because it says there were only 4 downloads of this software in the last week -- doesn't that make it easier to track?

eternalban 12y ago
likely gist.github.com
- ipavl 12y ago
  That's on the list separately (#23).
Crito 12y ago
Either they are deliberately going after the software, or they have failed to understand the difference between hosting a websites source repo and actually hosting that website.

anandrm 12y ago

I m not sure if github is blocked, i m pulling repos right now from Bangalore.

sjwright 12y ago
Can you see gists? https://gist.github.com/ https://gist.github.com/
- sanmon3186 12y ago
  I can from hyderabad, India
  - croodies 12y ago
    Same here, works from Hyd, India. No VPN whatsoever used.
train_robber 12y ago
Even I can. GitHub and Gists are all accessible from where I am.
_nedR 12y ago
Here in Kerala github.com is up and running but gists.github.com returns "Connection interrupted"
sethunat 12y ago
Github works in reliance broadband from kerala
aksx 12y ago
i tried to push some code and was getting DNS resolution errors so i started using google DNS, now everything works.
- arunmib 12y ago
  Same here. Tried accessing github and sourceforge didn't work, switched to google DNS, works like a charm now. Not sure how they are blocking the sites.

pjc50 12y ago

Remember, "offensive" is transitive: to whom is something offensive? http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679... : India had its own idea of what is unacceptable. ISTR there may be no map which is legal in both India and Pakistan.

minusSeven 12y ago

Well they only need to remove the offensive stuff from the Indian version of those websites. This is something I know google can not sure about pastebin and github.