Slashdot Mirror
Indian Police Demand Internet Monitoring In Bombay
h4rm0ny writes "Both the BBC and the Houston Chronicle are running stories about planned monitoring of customers at cyber cafes in Bombay. Cafe owners have responded by organising into a group to oppose the moves.
The police want cafes to demand photo id, a home address and maintain records of access for at least a year. The Great Deamons of Justification have been invoked - Terrorism, Paedophillia, Hackers and in this case Users of Adult Sites. On the cafe owner's part - they are countering with questions of liability for verifying customer details and the issues of privacy.
India remains a country with a very low percentage of the population having their own internet connection. Bombay's 3000 cafes are used by approximately 1.5 million people so these new laws would give the police much larger scope to monitor people's online behaviour than in other countries.
Other Indian cities are watching the results closely."
The police want cafes to demand photo id, a home address and maintain records of access for at least a year. The Great Deamons of Justification have been invoked - Terrorism, Paedophillia, Hackers and in this case Users of Adult Sites. On the cafe owner's part - they are countering with questions of liability for verifying customer details and the issues of privacy.
India remains a country with a very low percentage of the population having their own internet connection. Bombay's 3000 cafes are used by approximately 1.5 million people so these new laws would give the police much larger scope to monitor people's online behaviour than in other countries.
Other Indian cities are watching the results closely."
I can't imagine that there is a way that this can actually stop anything. Laws and censorship never work in any country. What makes India different? And if not, why should cafe owners be forced to pay extra for filters? "If you take away the right to say fuck, you take away the right to say 'fuck the government'" - Lenny Bruce -Kosher Beef Jerky (Two For One Deal!)
Do you get your own room to masturbate to online porn? Do you do it out in the open?
I have been pwned because my
I went to India late last year for a visit and found out that two or three of the medium sized cities that I visited to my surprise had cable modems available to the general population. Pricing was at par with the US taking into account currency conversion rate and cost of living. Not many people subscribe though because computers are not common except with the tech savvy people.
Other Indian cities are watching the results closely.
Hell, I'm watching it closely. How is this too different from what presidential candidate Howard Dean proposed for this country?
Oh, right, Dean proposed that all computers, whether in an internet cafe or in your home, be equipped with a card reader to scan your national id card* prior to letting you access the internet.
* Ok, inter-operable state-issued id cards.
(Please note, up until hearing about this I was leaning Dean in my search for the right "Anybody But Bush" candidate. But since my major problem with Bush is his administration's willingness to abrogate our civil rights, I want to be sure that the Democrat I vote for will protect our traditional American rights. And Dean had already raised concerns with Vermont's ACLU when he announced that views about privacy would change post 9-11.)
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I *literally* heared of this via the 'Go Digiatal' stream.
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
It sounds crappy but this could lead, finally, to the understanding that anything plaintext can be tapped/subpoena'ed/copied and that the only true way to protect your identity and your communications is with encryption.
Police snooping will only further legitimize encryption in your day to day communications (for the average citizen).
kinda makes you wonder how they'll try to implement this with success.
PS - I DIDN'T READ THE ARTICLE *old news.. for $sme*
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
I don't know how good it will be even with the basic encryption used to communicate. If two parties decide that word "x" means "y" and so on and then just use their new language to communicate, it will be very difficult to decipher because most of the real indian talent is either in private industries or in western countries. The people who work in IT for Bombay police etc. probably don't even understand TCP/IP very well..... I believe this will be misused more than really used for anything good for society. More bribes, more bureaucracy, more red tape
Apparently (halfway down the screen on my monitor) Bombay is now called Mumbai.
On individual cases, it might. Unfortunately, the cost to greater society in terms of intimidation and abuse are higher than the benefits of solving the crime.
Freedom isn't just philosophically attractive, it is also extremely pragmatic. It increases human happiness and productivity. Unfortunately. police are seldom happy people and cannot recognize this value.
I cannot think of any major criminal activity that can be done on the Internet, still less in the restricted environment of a cybercafe. Sure, threats and extortion can be communicated, but these are accessory to the crime contemplated/committed.
The Great Deamons of Justification have been invoked - Terrorism, Paedophillia, Hackers and in this case Users of Adult Sites.
I think you were trying to write daemon, but in this context, it's just demon.
The way you formatted that submission was annoying.
Every other article on the front page is in one paragraph. And yours has no special reason to be split up.
So I don't understand why you did it. Maybe just to annoy anal bastards like myself.
Incidentally, if I recall correctly, the city police in Hyderabad did try to bring in a similar move some two years back or so; the cyber-cafe-owners association there apparently resisted the measure successfully. The police now only insist that the computers be placed in cubicles with clear windows, mainly to discourage folks from browsing porn.
Personally, I think stuff like this (much like that earlier banning of that insurgent group's YahooGroups thing) is indicative of two things urgently required in India:-
a) An EFF-like group to charter and fight for maintaining the constitution's libertarian values,
b) Greater awareness among the Indian public of the issues involved, particularly, the right to privacy and other cyber-legal issues.
(Or if there already is such a group, I'd be great if someone could, perhaps, point their URL out or something.)
More than mere navel gazing.
Cencorship and monitoring are standard fare in India and the only reason it isn't much more widespread is that the population is huge and the government isn't tech savvy enough to do anything 1984-ish.
I read this yesterday morning on the BBC news site. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3431645.stm compared to what China is involved in this is peanuts http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3434 115.stm
It looks like India could be joining Saudi Arabia and China in the list of countries where HTTPort is an essential install.
Vote Clark. You'll be glad you did. Here's some snippets from his Manufacturing Plan:
STOP REWARDING COMPANIES THAT MOVE JOBS OVERSEAS AND START REWARDING COMPANIES THAT PRODUCE IN AMERICA
Require companies to disclose layoffs in America and job increases overseas. Consumer, investors, and workers all have the right to know which companies are moving which jobs overseas. As President, Wes Clark would work to develop a system of timely reporting to ensure that we have timely and accurate information on companies that export jobs.
Stop rewarding companies that shift jobs overseas. As President, Wes Clark would eliminate government incentives for companies to shift jobs overseas.
Stop tax breaks for companies that move overseas for tax reasons. Wes Clark would close outrageous loopholes in the tax code, like the ones that allow companies to avoid taxes by shifting income to Bermuda. In addition, Wes Clark would institute a 90-day review of all tax and spending provisions affecting large manufacturing firms. The review will focus on eliminating tax and spending provisions that give manufacturing firms incentives to move jobs overseas.
Deny government contracts to firms that move headquarters overseas for tax reasons or shift substantial numbers of U.S. jobs overseas. Wes Clark believes that companies should not be rewarded for moving their headquarters to overseas tax havens or shift substantial numbers of U.S. jobs abroad. As President, he will look for ways to make certain these companies are not rewarded with government contracts.
Start rewarding companies that create jobs in America. As President, Wes Clark would seek to implement tax and spending initiatives - above and beyond the $10,000 job creation tax credit - that provide manufacturing firms the incentive to keep existing manufacturing jobs in the United States.
El riesgo vive siempre!
Say No! to Weasly Clark
Do what I'm planning on doing. A write-in vote for "None of the above". I feel I can't in good faith vote for any of the idiots.... ah, candidates this year so instead of not voting, I'm casting a symbolic vote of No Confidence in any candidate.
Yeah, I know, I'm just throwing away my vote, but OTOH I think I'll feel a little better the day after.
...according to the California Court of Appeal, it's perfectly Constitutional to require videotaping of cyber cafe patrons in Garden Grove, California unless the California Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court decides otherwise.
Sorry, but anyone with the belief that abortion should be legal up to 2 seconds before birth is an idiot.
"Clark told a New Hampshire newspaper that "life begins with the mother's decision," adding that abortion should be allowed all the way up through the baby's head coming out of the womb."
Ok, I get this comment in M2, and I'm thinking "troll, and not a very good one, either." But I'm curious, so I check out the com.com.com.com source for the blog entry:
Dean also suggested that computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs--and Americans would have to insert their uniform IDs into the reader before they could log on. "One state's smart-card driver's license must be identifiable by another state's card reader," Dean said. "It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time--making the Internet safer and more secure."
The presidential hopeful offered few details about his radical proposal. "On the Internet, this card will confirm all the information required to gain access to a state (government) network--while also barring anyone who isn't legal age from entering an adult chat room, making the Internet safer for our children, or prevent adults from entering a children's chat room and preying on our kids...Many new computer systems are being created with card reader technology. Older computers can add this feature for very little money," Dean said.
I'm sure glad I didn't make the contribution to Dean that I'd been planning. I guess it's back to my original choice.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.