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India Blocks WeTransfer File-Sharing Site

12 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/india-blocks-wetransfer-file-sharing-site.208399/

thetechfreak
thetechfreak Original post #1
May 31, 2020 at 3:18 PM
The Department of Telecommunications has banned popular file-sharing site WeTransfer.com citing public interest and national security, according to a report in The Mumbai Mirror. WeTransfer is a web-based file-transfer site, which makes it convenient to upload files up to 2GB in size and share it for free with others over the internet. A premium version of the service allows one to share larger file sizes.

According to the news report, on 18 May, the telecom department issued a notice to internet service providers (ISPs) across India to ban two specific URLs (links) on WeTransfer and a third notice banning the entire site. It isn't known what data was contained in the two links that were to be banned, but banning the entire site is like shooting the messenger.
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Source : Shooting The Messenger: India Blocks WeTransfer File-Sharing Site

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Desmond
Desmond #2
May 31, 2020 at 3:38 PM
That's a pretty vague reason. Have they elaborated on anything particular?
W
whitestar_999 #3
May 31, 2020 at 5:52 PM
Desmond David said:
That's a pretty vague reason. Have they elaborated on anything particular?
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DoT usually does not come out with such statements just for banning a site so I think things aren't what they look at the surface(aka "national security" point).
thetechfreak
thetechfreak #4
May 31, 2020 at 11:32 PM
Wouldn't be surprised if WeChat is next. Telegram has already been "soft banned" by many ISPs

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Desmond
Desmond #5
Jun 1, 2020 at 9:17 AM
whitestar_999 said:
DoT usually does not come out with such statements just for banning a site so I think things aren't what they look at the surface(aka "national security" point).
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If it were a Chinese service I'd have understood since there is kind of an anti-Chinese sentiment going on. But this is not a Chinese service.

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skeletor
skeletor #6
Jun 1, 2020 at 9:48 AM
Lack of technical people in Indian ministries.

It's a chicken and egg problem.
Desmond
Desmond #7
Jun 1, 2020 at 9:53 AM
ico said:
Lack of technical people in Indian ministries.

It's a chicken and egg problem.
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True, applying Hanlon's razor, it's much more likely that they made this decision out of lack of understanding. This decision seems too random without much context. Perhaps there has been some episode that we are not aware of, or this is just the DoT's typical "blanket ban" behaviour, in the latter case it's probably just Tuesday.
thetechfreak
thetechfreak #8
Jun 1, 2020 at 10:25 AM
ico said:
Lack of technical people in Indian ministries.

It's a chicken and egg problem.
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If only India had a supply of technical people...

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Desmond
Desmond #9
Jun 1, 2020 at 10:27 AM
thetechfreak said:
If only India had a supply of technical people...

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Technical people leave the country :)

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skeletor
skeletor #10
Jun 1, 2020 at 6:23 PM
yes, chicken and egg problem.