What do we know about the ‘Great Firewall of India’? · Global Voices
Scene during clashes between security forces and students at Islamia college of science and commerce in Srinagar. Image by <PERSON>. Used with permission.
After five months of complete internet shutdown in the federally-administered Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, only partial internet access has been restored after the interference of the Indian Supreme Court on January 10, which called the shutdown ‘‘unconstitutional’’.“Freedom of internet access is a fundamental right”, said Justice <PERSON> who was a part of the bench that gave this verdict.
This shutdown marks one of the longest ever internet shutdowns in any democracy around the world, and is viewed by experts as a potential signal of the rise of the ‘‘Great Firewall of India’’. The term “great firewall’’ is used to refer to the set of legislative and technical tools deployed by the Chinese government to control information online, including by blocking access to foreign services and preventing politically sensitive content from entering the domestic network.
While the Chinese firewall has evolved as a very sophisticated internet censorship infrastructure, the Indian one is yet to get organized into a large-scale and complex structure. India's tactics to control information online include banning entire websites and services, shutting down networks and pressuring social media content to remove content on vague grounds.
Read More: India partially lifts communications blackout in Kashmir, internet still down
301 websites whitelisted
According to internetshutdowns.in, a project that is tracking internet shutdowns in India and created by legal nonprofit Software Freedom Law Centre, the shutdown that was imposed on August 4, 2019, has been the longest in the country and was only partially lifted in Kargil on December 27, 2019, while the rest of the state was still under the shutdown.
Landlines and mobile communications services were also blocked in addition to regular internet services. 206
Although the “verified users” of the Kashmir valley saw 2G services working on January 25, 2020 with access to only 301 white-listed websites (153 initially which was later expanded to 301), social media, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and many other sites remain banned.
The administration of J&K passed an order on 25th January ordering for the restoration of 2G internet for around 300 whitelisted websites. We spoke to <PERSON> about this and this is what he has to say about the current situation of Internet in #Kashmir #LetTheNetWork pic.twitter.com/L9zSjVfvWL
— InternetShutdowns.in (@NetShutdowns) January 31, 2020
Internetshutdowns.in also tweeted on February 4, 2020 that some of the whitelisted 301 sites were still inaccessible:
An order was released on 25th January 2020 by the administration of J&K allowing internet access on 2G for 301 whitelisted websites. We asked a user to access some whitelisted websites on 2G.
This is what was found. #LetTheNetWork #KeepItOn #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/s7V2NqaHBd
— InternetShutdowns.in (@NetShutdowns) February 4, 2020
Independent research indicates many facets of the white-listing such as violation of India's net-neutrality rules, political nepotism and potential surveillance by favoring unencrypted JioChat — an app by Indian conglomerate Reliance allegedly favored by the <PERSON>-led government according to media reports— while banning end-to-end encryption-based chat services like WhatsApp.
India's “Great Firewall’’
The Logical Indian reported on January 30, 2020, that broadband services in Kashmir will be be restored only after the creation of an alleged social media firewall. It is currently unclear whether these restrictions will only be imposed in Kashmir or in other areas of India as well.
<PERSON>, General Manager of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a public mobile and broadband carrier, told the digital news platform that his company is working on a developing “a firewall’’:
We have called a team of technical experts from Noida and Banglore who are working over creating a firewall to thwart any attempt by the consumers to reach to the social media applications[..]
Internet Service Providers like mobile internet carriers were asked by the government to install “necessary firewalls” while “white-listing” the list of allowed websites in an order dated January 13, 2020.
Just wrote this: The beginnings of the great firewall of India?https://t.co/bSs0L4L4xw
— <PERSON> , https://mstdn. 206