On the implementation of internet censorship in India

Abstract

In this work we highlight the evolution of Internet censorship within the largest democracy i.e., India. We first report a new form of Internet censorship i.e., mobile app blocking and describe in detail the mechanics involved. We studied 220 mobile apps that were recently blocked in India. Through our research efforts, we observed a novel “three-tiered” app censorship scheme in India, with each tier increasing the sophistication of censorship. After thoroughly analyzing the app censorship mechanisms, we present effective circumvention techniques to bypass the tiered app censorship. We were able to access all the blocked apps with the said techniques. Secondly, we also present a detailed study of the evolution of web censorship within India. We performed tests in the four major ISPs (that together serve > 95% of Indian netizens). We discovered that they have upgraded their censorship techniques and infrastructures. For example, three of these ISPs are now engaged in wide-scale HTTPS censorship, in addition to the previously reported HTTP censorship. Furthermore, we also discovered that the fourth ISP actively employs DNS injection (along with DNS poisoning), a fact hitherto unreported for India. We managed to bypass all forms of web censorship by intelligently crafting packets, without needing to use conventional tools (e.g., VPNs). Overall our work highlights the evolving censorship ecosystem (for app as well as web) in India.