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by webmobdev 1144 days ago
National security trumps "discomfort to citizens" every time ... otherwise all of us would have revolted by now for wasting hours in airport because of the security checks.
3 comments

When did you last see offline protests against airport security theater?

Literally everyone in India is using WhatApp. If the government decided to shut it down, all government offices would be on fire within hours.

> When did you last see offline protests against airport security theater?

Isn't that what I am saying too? We accept the huge discomfort because we feel it is important and in our national interest! However important WhatsApp is, it is just a platform. If it is killed by a ban, people will just migrate to another platform and that's a lot more easier to do than give up on the benefits of flying by air. The only reason WhatsApp is allowed to function is because they are willing to provide a backdoor to the indian government - and that's easy to do when all the communication goes through their server and they handle the keys.

You actually don't understand the level of dependence India has on WhatsApp.
Yes. It is said the Colonial British used to say The sun never sets in the British Empire.

In today's context with WhatsApp, The sun never rises without a billion GOOD MORNING messages and another billion GOOD MORNING TO YOU TOO replies on WhatsApp in India /s

I am an indian who doesn't use WhatsApp or Facebook. It has never inconvenienced me - only WhatsApp users are inconvenienced when I ask them to SMS or email me. If the government bans WhatsApp today, most indians will simply switch to RCS or other platforms.
Probably most people are smart enough to know why there are security checks at the airport.

You propose to abandon them?

> Probably most people are smart enough to know why there are security checks at the airport.

Which is to artificially maintain the duty free market.