DoT PUSHES FOR UPGRADE TO BLOCK SPECIFIC ONLINE APPS
The Department Telecommunications (DoT) is holding discussions with telecom service providers, device manufacturers, and other stakeholders so that they quickly upgrade their networks and machines to internet protocol version 6, or IPv6. Once this is done, it will be easier to block internet services specifically to target security and law and order concerns.
At present, such concerns are addressed by imposing a blanket ban for an entire district or taluka. This has been criticised as it leads to huge losses, especially for e-commerce businesses. According to a 2018 study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, there have been 16,000 hours of internet shutdowns in the country over the past five years, leading to a loss of about $3 billion (or ~209 billion at current exchange rates.)
The DoT has also written to telcos asking for ways in which social media applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and others can be blocked to maintain law and order. of DoT believes shift from IPv4 to IPv6 protocol will give them more granular access to data, helping law and order officials Study says that blanket closure of the net in a particular area leads to
Confirming the development of DoT pushing for an IPv6 upgarde, a senior official said: “We have been told that with this, it will be possible to block services more precisely. We are pushing stakeholders to upgrade their networks, devices, and apps to be IPv6ready.” huge loss in business transactions in e-commerce and data revenue
Most 4G networks as well as smartphones are ready for IPv6. However some legacy networks, feature phones as well as many applications have to be upgraded IPv6 offers more capacity for new IP addresses, while IPv4 has already reached its peak capacity, impelling dynamic use of IP addresses
Most 4G networks and smartphones have already made the switch, but legacy networks will take some time to change. Even apps need to do this, but the upgrade needs fresh investments.
Experts said the IPv6 protocol has 340 undecillion IP addresses; this means, every device will have a unique address, making it easier for the DoT to aim for a more granular blocking of devices and services that it can do at present.
The IPv4 protocol allows only for a finite number of URLs (about 4.3 billion).
With the proliferation of personal computers, smartphones, gaming devices etc., there has been a woeful shortage of IP addresses. To meet this shortage, dynamic IP addresses are used. As these are not unique to devices or users, it is impossible to block precise ones.
Experts said IPv6 could address this problem. “IPv6 provides granularity of control, definitely making it easier to block access to certain sites at the router level, maybe even at the device level,” said Gurshabad Grover, policy officer, Centre for Internet & Society.
Others have a different view. A senior executive of an internet service provider said, “Blocking specific webpages is technically possible. But, fixed IPs will be difficult to generate on mobile browsing. The law demands that specific pages be blocked, not the whole website. There are very few fixed broadband lines in India which run on fixed IPs like office connections.”