<story><title>Indian government bans 14 messenger apps including Element, Briar and Threema</title><url>https://news.abplive.com/technology/india-ban-messaging-messenger-apps-mobile-pakistan-terrorism-connection-crypviser-enigma-safeswiss-bchat-1599074</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rogers18445</author><text>These things are typically bureaucratic security theater. Terrorists can sideload. The decision makers just care to be seen doing something, whether it&amp;#x27;s useful or not is not their problem.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>p-e-w</author><text>You severely underestimate the people in power, and the people who stand behind them.&lt;p&gt;Such bans are deliberate attacks targeting (parts of) the general population. Terrorists have nothing to do with this.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Hahaha those stupid bureaucrats, they have no idea what they are doing&amp;quot; is a popular meme, but it couldn&amp;#x27;t be further from the truth. They &lt;i&gt;do&lt;/i&gt; know what they are doing, and it&amp;#x27;s working. If you believe it isn&amp;#x27;t, that&amp;#x27;s only because you misunderstand what the real goal is.</text></comment>
<story><title>Indian government bans 14 messenger apps including Element, Briar and Threema</title><url>https://news.abplive.com/technology/india-ban-messaging-messenger-apps-mobile-pakistan-terrorism-connection-crypviser-enigma-safeswiss-bchat-1599074</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rogers18445</author><text>These things are typically bureaucratic security theater. Terrorists can sideload. The decision makers just care to be seen doing something, whether it&amp;#x27;s useful or not is not their problem.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dalbasal</author><text>I disagree. This may or may not be effective, but it&amp;#x27;s not theatre.&lt;p&gt;Criminals, terrorists, dissidents, politicians, even intelligence people sometimes... they&amp;#x27;re &lt;i&gt;users&lt;/i&gt;. Just because they &lt;i&gt;can&lt;/i&gt; sideload, or otherwise use more sophisticated methods doesn&amp;#x27;t mean they will. The margins are wide.&lt;p&gt;Imo, same thing is happening in India as is happening in most places with an active security-intelligence service. They receive valuable intelligence from PMs. Then they fret about potentially losing access or want to increase access.&lt;p&gt;If you read HN&amp;#x2F;Reddit&amp;#x2F;Twitter, you&amp;#x27;d get the impression that all this stuff is fake. It&amp;#x27;s not. Intelligence agencies in 2023 are all about these sources, and jelously guard them. Once they have a source, they&amp;#x27;re not giving it up willingly.</text></comment>