Govt gets tough as netizens dodge ban

Ishfaq Tantry

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Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 3

The authorities in Kashmir have started blocking VPNs (virtual private networks) through which netizens have been circumventing the social media gag and using banned sites.

The telecom companies and service providers have been asked to strictly enforce the ban and block all such VPNs being used in the Valley to flout the gag order.

“We have been asked to block the VPNs which help connect to the banned sites,” said a private internet service provider.

On April 26, the state government directed the Internet service providers not “to transmit” any content from 22 social networking sites and messaging services, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google+ and Snapchat.

Some of the banned apps and sites were not well-known to most of the people in the Valley such as QQ, Baidu, Snapfish and Xanga.

With VPN browsers readily available through open sources like online play stores, Kashmir was back on the social media as soon as the ban came into effect.

IT experts are, however, skeptical, saying that it is virtually impossible to block all VPNs, available in thousands.

The users facing Internet censorship can use VPNs to create a secure connection to a more permissive country and browse the Internet as if situated in that country, they said.

“The government has set wrong priorities. Instead of wasting its energies on small issues like blocking VPNs, it should focus on governance issues and delivery,” said a lawyer at the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, who too was surfing for new VPNs on his smart phone as the government has already restored 3G and 4G services.

‘Impossible to block all virtual private networks’ 

• On April 26, the state government directed the Internet service providers not “to transmit” any content from 22 social networking sites and messaging services, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp
• As soon as the ban came into effect, netizens started accessing banned sites through virtual private networks (VPNs). IT experts say that it is virtually impossible to block all VPNs, available in thousands