DuckDuckGo coming back online in India following country-wide block

3 min read Original article ↗

Updated 

Manuel Vonau was Android Police's Google Editor until April 2024, with expertise in Android, Chrome, Pixels, and other Google products. For five years, he covered tech news and reviewed devices after initially joining Android Police as a news writer in March 2019. He lives in Berlin, Germany.

Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university career with a master's thesis titled "The Aesthetics of Tech YouTube Channels: Production of Proximity and Authenticity." His background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn't shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either.

Manuel's first steps into the Android world were plagued by issues. After his HTC One S refused to connect to mobile internet despite three warranty repairs, he quickly switched to a Nexus 4, which he considers his true first Android phone. Since then, he has mostly been faithful to the Google phone lineup, though these days, he is also carrying an iPhone in addition to his Pixel phone. This helps him gain perspective on the mobile industry at large and gives him multiple points of reference in his coverage.

Outside of work, Manuel enjoys a good film or TV show, loves to travel, and you will find him roaming one of Berlin's many museums, cafés, cinemas, and restaurants occasionally.

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  • Restored access

Following the Indian ban of almost 60 Chinese apps including TikTok and Weibo, many people living in the country now report not being able to access the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo. The company confirms as much, saying that the problem isn't on its end. It's currently talking to local internet service providers to resolve the issue. It looks like these have blocked the service via their DNS servers, as the search engine is still accessible through most third-party DNS resolvers.

While some ISPs are currently already lifting their blocks, the situation is still pretty unclear. The ban seems to have affected many people, though others say that DuckDuckGo remained reachable for them. Some providers have added a note that the website has been blocked by the Indian Department of Telecommunications (which also ordered the ban of the Chinese apps), but others just give out standard failed DNS lookup errors. It's possible that the service has been caught in the crossfire when India banned the Chinese apps, but we can't tell for sure.

We can confirm that the block is still in place on at least one network, Jio, while Airtel and Vodafone seem to have unblocked the service for most people. Those who are still impacted are encouraged to change their DNS provider or use a VPN. DuckDuckGo recommends switching to Cloudflare.

UPDATE: 2020/07/04 10:15am PDT BY CORBIN DAVENPORT

Restored access

It appears DuckDuckGo is coming back online in India, with still no explanation from authorities about why the search engine was banned in the first place.

There are still some ISPs that haven't fully restored access, though — reports say ACT Fibernet and Vodafone are still blocking the site.

Source: @DuckDuckGo

Via: Techworm

Thanks: Arpit