India Demands GitHub Take Down Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Repositories

India Orders GitHub to Remove Bitchat Repositories

In a significant move, India’s Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued a directive to GitHub, demanding the removal of three repositories associated with Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat messaging app. The order requires compliance within a tight timeframe of three hours.

Concerns Over Surveillance

The request from I4C stems from apprehensions regarding the app’s anonymous and decentralized communication capabilities, which rely on an offline Bluetooth mesh network. The agency has cited potential surveillance risks related to the app’s design, claiming that its architecture hinders lawful interception and could facilitate unlawful assemblies and misinformation.

Legal Justifications and Backlash

According to a notice shared by Dorsey on July 23, I4C referenced various sections of the Information Technology Act to formally justify its order. The group asserted that the decentralized nature of Bitchat makes it a challenge for law enforcement to execute investigations effectively.

Digital rights advocates, including the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), have questioned the legality of the I4C’s directive, labeling it as unconstitutional and authoritarian. They argue that the order violates Section 79 of the IT Act, which outlines the conditions for the liability of online intermediaries.

Protests and Communication Restrictions

Dorsey made the directive public amid heightened tensions linked to ongoing student protests in New Delhi, where authorities had imposed communication restrictions in the form of mobile internet shutdowns near protest sites. I4C’s notice indicated that failure to comply with their demands could expose GitHub to legal repercussions.

Impact on Bitchat’s Usability

While the removal of these repositories would complicate access to Bitchat’s original source code and release files, it would not disable existing copies of the app already installed on user devices. Bitchat allows users to send messages over Bluetooth Low Energy without the need for centralized infrastructure or internet access, posing a challenge to the Indian government’s efforts to control communication.

Response from Digital Rights Groups

Groups like IFF have called for the government to rescind its order, asserting that the restrictions are ineffective as Bitchat can still function independently of GitHub. This incident follows a trend where similar technologies face regulatory scrutiny, notably an earlier order from the Chinese government that led to Bitchat’s removal from application stores in China.