India’s cybercrime agency has ordered the removal of repositories of the messaging app Bitchat, developed by Jack Dorsey, from GitHub. Bitchat is notable for its ability to transmit encrypted messages and Bitcoin transactions over Bluetooth mesh networks without needing an internet connection. Protesters in Delhi have been using such mesh network tools to communicate during internet outages.
Protests and Government Intervention
The Cybercrime Coordination Centre of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has issued an order to remove three Bitchat repositories on GitHub. The order states that the app’s lack of registration and centralized logging makes legal surveillance and investigation more difficult. Protesters, demonstrating against a national exam scandal, have turned to apps like Bitchat to communicate despite government internet blackouts.
Features and Effects of Bitchat
Bitchat is an application that transmits encrypted messages between phones over Bluetooth mesh networks without requiring internet, servers, or accounts. It can also transmit Bitcoin transactions offline, with these transactions passing between phones until they are transmitted to the network by a connected device. This feature was designed specifically to ensure payment continuity during government-imposed disruptions.
It’s not yet clear whether GitHub complied with the order within that three-hour period. However, the application is reportedly still accessible on both the Google and Apple stores. Since open-source projects are often mirrored across different platforms, removing it from one platform doesn’t necessarily mean the code is completely deleted.
