The IT ministry has reportedly decided to issue an order blocking end-to-end encrypted email service ProtonMail. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the government is planning to block the email service at the request of the Tamil Nadu police over a hoax bomb threat sent to at least thirteen private schools in Chennai on February 8. The report says that the decision to block ProtonMail was taken at a meeting of the 69A blocking committee on Wednesday (February 14).
A Proton spokesperson told the publication that the company has received the request from MeitY “a few days ago”. “We are currently working to resolve this situation and are investigating how we can best work together with the Indian authorities to do so. We understand the urgency of the situation and are completely clear that our services are not to be used for illegal purposes. We routinely remove users who are found to be doing so and are willing to cooperate wherever possible within international cooperation agreements,” the spokesperson said.
The block order hasn’t been initiated “”“yet”“” but knowing the stance the Indian Government has on encryption as a whole, it’s not much to go with.
Say the service does get blocked then the app will be available through F-Droid but the website will most likely be blocked by most ISPs. if any Indian user still wishes to continue using PM if a block order is initiated then they’ll most likely have to use a VPN or a proxy server or through Tor. It’ll also be possible to access the website if they use a different DNS.
I’m really hoping it doesn’t end up being banned but seeing how the Indian government banned VLC a few years ago (unbanned it later on however) for the stupidest reasons possible… Yeah it doesn’t exactly induce much confidence…
I’m pretty sure that most people who are using Proton Mail are technologically savvy enough to bypass whatever half assed measure the government puts in place.
I agree! But it’s still an issue as there are quite a few proton mail users who just wish to achieve a tad bit more privacy and aren’t tech savvy. I know some folks like that myself and tbh sometimes all the technical stuff or going through hoops can just be very daunting/overwhelming at times
I personally don’t use proton mail, since I don’t really get any e-mails so I just never use any sort of mail app, but what are some easy ways to bypass this?
By using a VPN. Most have easy to follow guides on setting it up in your home router or mobile device.
I run all of my traffic over a VPN regardless to thwart my ISP from selling my data. Everyone should.
the same thing happened when the indian government banned porn
Wait, why they ban VLC?
Some Chinese hacker group called Cicada was using VLC to distribute malicious code and conduct cyberattacks. After this the website for VLC was blocked from February to November (I can’t remember for how long so this timeline might be wrong).
At least that’s what the reports says lol, the official reason was never revealed by the Indian Government which is just the cherry on top of this shit cake
The idiots just made it easier for cicada because people could no longer download the original executable so were downloading it from shady sites where the likelihood of the executable being infected by malicious code is very high. Just like almost everywhere else, the officials here are morons.
Was going to say how they likely only meant they won’t accept email from Proton, then I read the article. Hyper-react, India?
The Indian government will crack down on regular people using encryption, but they don’t give a shit about the scammers based there.