Government to block ProtonMail after bomb threat: Company responds to India | - Times of India
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The Indian government has decided to block ProtonMail, an end-to-end encrypted email service, after a bomb threat was sent to private schools in Chennai. ProtonMail is working to resolve the situation and cooperate with Indian authorities. However, the company cannot directly answer to foreign law enforcement authorities.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11998237

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.

  • Gazumi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    9 months ago

    So… If someone did it the old fashioned way by telephone from a public phone, or sent out a letter, or shared leaflets, would we be looking at disconnecting public phones, stopping the postal service and banning home printers?

    • Stewbs@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      10·
      9 months ago

      By applying Indian government logic, yes! this just in, Microwaves have been banned after a bomb was sent inside a microwave…

  • CrayonRosary@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    9 months ago

    If you don’t receive the email containing the bomb threat because you banned the email domain, does the bomb really exist?

    No! The bomb just goes away. Checkmate, terrorists.

    • Stewbs@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      9·
      9 months ago

      Seeing how google will hand all user data when asked to, yeah that’s not gonna happen unfortunately

  • Stewbs@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    11·
    9 months ago

    Btw Internet Freedom Foundation (or the IFF) filed several RTI requests (RTI = Request to information) regarding this situation. If anyone wants to follow their progress then here’s their Mastodon account: https://mastodon.world/@[email protected]

    The IFF is a highly trustworthy and well respected organization that fights for Indians digital rights and democratic freedoms. They’ve done a lot of good work over the years, they even helped VLC to get unblocked when it was banned in India.