Indonesia urged tech companies to register under new licensing rules, issued inspection and ban warning to those who didn't register (UPDATE)

[KeradSnake]

UPDATE: Steam, Origin, Paypal and Epic Games are now blocked. Some providers slowly having them blocked, with state owned ISP such as Indihome and Telkomsel implement the ban early this morning. Source on my latest reply

 

Summary

Indonesia through Kominfo (Ministry of Communications and Information) has made a rules that requires tech companies to register their services to PSE database (Database Penyelenggara Sistem Elektronik, Electronics System Provider in English). This was already issued since one and half weeks ago, with the deadline of July 20th, and they warned any online services that didn't register will be blocked, with inspection that will follow if the companies have a regional office in Indonesia and stating that 'whoever companies didn't register means they don't see Indonesia as their potential market and it's their loss if they're being blocked'.

 

Despite the deadline already past due and the rules already passed, there were no implementation of the ban, but inspection has been done to some tech companies especially to the ones that has regional office such as Google and Twitter, which was late registering their services. Kominfo also stated that the rules was made in order to 'ensure user safety, data privacy, and allow authorities to order platforms to take down content deemed unlawful, or that "disturbs public order" and to make sure any services in Indonesia have localization'. This rules, however, has sparked a lot of protest online, with some independent journalist and NGOs like SAFEnet (Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network) pointed out that there's transparency issues and potential for the rules to be abuse of power, and local cyber security consultant posting various proof that the registration website is clunky and unsafe.

 

Quotes 

Quote

Indonesia urged tech companies on Monday to register under new licensing rules, or run the risk of having their platforms blocked, with data showing many big tech firms such as Google and Meta had yet to comply days out from July 20 deadline. The requirement to register is part of a set of rules, first released in November 2020, that will allow authorities to order platforms to take down content deemed unlawful, or that "disturbs public order" within four hours if considered urgent, and 24 hours if not. (reuters) [...] The new rule is also to ensure that the tech companies are able to provide services in the Indonesian language. (metrotvnews) [...] While many feel the law is aimed more toward social media and online content providers like Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, and such, the new licensing system applies to all domestic and foreign Electronic Service Operators. The government can also compel companies to reveal communications and personal data of specific users if requested by law enforcement or government agencies. Simply put, authorities can take down content on a site or app of a tech company within four hours if it is considered a disruption to the peace. If the content has been flagged but requires a bit more investigation, the authorities can still take it down in 24 hours. (techwireasia)

Quote

The new licensing system applies to all domestic and foreign Electronic Service Operators. [...] The government says the new rules have been formulated to ensure internet service providers protect consumer data, and that online content is used in a "positive and productive" way. Despite the threat, some analysts doubt whether Indonesian authorities would immediately block platforms operated by non-compliant companies, especially given how widely used some of the platforms are in Indonesia, including by state officials. [...] Some activists say the new articles related to content posed a threat to privacy and freedom of expression. "Our analysis shows that this will be the most repressive regulation of its kind in the region," said Nenden Arum, from digital rights group, the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet). Minister Plate said the registration requirement was administrative and not about content. (reuters)

Quote

The Communications and Information Ministry is requiring domestic and foreign private electronic services providers (ESPs) to register all services available in the country by Wednesday night or face imminent blocking, pursuant to Ministerial Regulation No. 5/2020 on private ESPs. [...] The rule is part of a set of implementing regulations under the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which grants the state sweeping censorship powers and has been misused to silence government critics. The ministry's applications and informatics director general, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said that all private digital service providers (DSPs) like Google, Netflix, Meta and Twitter must be registered with the government's Online Single Submission-Risk Based Approach (OSS-RBA) licensing system. “All unregistered DSPs will be categorized as illegal, and as illegals, in accordance with [the Electronic Information and Transactions or ITE] law, they can be blocked,” Semuel told The Jakarta Post.

 

...“Why so sudden? [..] We have not heard anything about this since June 2021 and it appears that there is a transparency problem here,” said Nenden Arum, head of freedom of expression at digital rights watchdog Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet). SAFEnet has long opposed the ITE law for potential abuse of power, and it views the DSP regulation as having the same potential. In a press release, SAFEnet highlighted that the law used the phrases “causing a public disturbance” and “public disorder” as among the conditions for taking down content or blocking access to a DSP. “How will the government decide if something is causing a public disturbance? Do they have any objective indicator or parameter? Who has the authority to decide? The answers to these questions have never been made clear, and that is our concern,” said Nenden. (TJP)

Quote

Hello mate, kominfo pse web can be bypassed just with regular user, I went silly and changed the session and successfully login as admin (secgron)

 

Please for whoever (in Kominfo), make an actually better and secure website first, then you can ask internet users to register (their services) in this PSE thingy. Don't be a hypocrite, be an example instead. This website (PSE from Kominfo) is not good and secure. The proof is you can read this text. This text wasn't written by an admin, but a regular user. Apparently it's easy to "penetrate" Kominfo made app that was said require billions to trillions of cost. Sad, IMO (secgron)

So after I registered as applicant, why is the register PSE button doesn't exist (ngga ada= nonexistent*), does it require the admin to accept. Then I tried to look at the developer console, from those networks I take a look where the get goes for the api- (api-get), then I checked storage session section and the cookies, I saw all the data inside, and what makes me curious is why there's a 'pemohon' (applicant) value, then I changed the value to "admin" and it failed, then I changed it to "administrator" and why does it worked? From there, I looked at the existing menu and doesn't change any of the data because I'm a bit afraid, and that's all dude (secgron)

Quote

I also want a little info for netizens, right? It's better if we don't just fuss about PSE registration, but find out what the consequences of Permenkominfo regulation No. 5/2020 for our lives. If there is a PSE that registers like TikTok, Spotify, etc. [...] In article 9, paragraphs 3 & 4, the phrase 'forbidden' actually has a very wide range and its interpretation is karet (rubbery, slang for vague in Indonesian). For example, what is meant by “disturbing the community” in 4b, what is the size/standard, who will decide? [...] What are the consequences? The PSE that has been registered must take down posts that are considered "disturbing the public and disturbing public order". Because if not, there is Article 9 paragraph 6, which gives a blocking penalty (disconnection). We're not going to get viral content like that again. In Part Two of PSE Obligations Private Scope of User Generated Content article 11 paragraph c, PSE will not be blocked if the PSE removed the content prohibited in article 9. Consequences: registered PSEs will have to frequently remove content that "disturbs the public and disturbs public order"

 

[...] What do you mean by cut off access? If you read the contents of article 13, PSE must really make the content inaccessible to anyone, not just not visible to people. [...] Next, regarding the termination of access [...] Those who can request a termination can be the community, K/L (Kementrian/ Lembaga, ministry or agency), APH (Aparat Penegak Hukum, law enforcers), court orders. Then the minister gave orders to the PSE. PSE then remove it in 1x24 hours. Doesn't it require a court order to cut off proper access according to international rules? Well, this is Indonesia. The content "disturbing the public and disturbing public order" is included in the urgent content of Article 14 paragraph 3. It must be deleted in 4 hours. If not, the ISP is told to block it. [...] In article 21, registered PSEs are required to provide access to electronic systems and electronic data to K/L and APH for supervision and law enforcement. But (1) the absence of independent supervision in obtaining access to personal data, (2) In practice, there is often misuse of personal data, especially by the bureaucracy and law enforcer. (Damar Juniarto)

Quote

For those who don't know, the Jakarta Administrative Court in 2020 decided that @kemkominfo violated the law regarding internet blocking and restrictions in Papua. Just imagine that the Ministry which has a history of breaking the law related to the termination of access is now given power with vague and dangerous articles. Articles 9, 14 and 36 in Permenkominfo No. 5 of 2020 will make this law-breaking Ministry even more dangerous. Think about why until now Twitter, Google and Meta (FB, IG, WA) still haven't registered their platforms to PSE @kemkominfo? If these platforms sign up, then they will violate their own privacy policy & our privacy as users will also be threatened. In the Minister of Communication and Informatics Regulation Number 10 of 2021 concerning Amendments to the Minister of Communication and Information Technology Number 5 of 2020 concerning PSE in the Private Scope, at least 3 articles were found problematic. [...] Article 9 paragraphs 3 and 4 are too dangerous because "disturbing the community" & "disturbing public order" are very vague. Later it can be used to "turn off" criticism even if it is delivered peacefully. What's the basis? They just answer "disturbing public order". Then article 14 paragraph 3 is again found to be "disturbing the community" and "disturbing public order". In this section, they will be able to limit their freedom of expression and opinion at will. Why is my content taken down? They just answer "disturbing the community". They made the vague article on purpose so they could do whatever they wanted. The point is that if you follow the government's definition, nothing will go wrong. We have all seen the impact of the rubber article in the ITE Law. This Permenkominfo is also very disruptive. Then what is also troublesome is article 36, law enforcement will later be able to request the content of our communications and personal data to PSE. What is the guarantee that this will not be misused to limit or end the movements of those who are against the government? Nothing, right? So far, Kominfo has not done anything about it, once they does something, they're troublesome. [...] Regarding the rubber article, because it is too broad and there is no clear definition, anyone is free to define it according to their wishes and this is dangerous. Regarding the data request in article 36, remember the Apple vs FBI case? Requests for data cannot be arbitrary, there must be an order from the court. (secgron)

My thoughts

I already lost hope with how internet works in Indonesia from 2018. This kind of internet L is already common in here and net neutrality is pretty much screwed here. Our govt arbitrarily blocking sites for 'NSFW content and misinformation' with no explanation on why they're actually got the ban (such as Reddit, Imgur, Vimeo and used to be they also blocked Tumblr but it was lifted after various protest on the internet), and now this? I think at this point they're just showing off their clown side. Pulling a great firewall and having a pathetic network infrastructure is just a brutal combo, and I don't know if they're going to revise this or heck, just cancel this. Even though I'm not sure if they have the will to do that because our govt is kind of corrupt and decided to choose people that doesn't have great understanding on how internet works and what looks like an outdated resources for their network infrastructure. Also I know, I'm sorry if this is really long especially with the translated tweet

 

*I also need to add some notes for 4th quote because this used to spark a drama on twitter for stupid reason: It's pronounced Enggak and is a slang for No in Indonesian. This is not a slur!

 

Sources

https://youtu.be/57Rl1MIFhMo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-19/google-meta-bow-to-sweeping-taxes-content-curbs-in-indonesia

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-twitter-yet-sign-up-indonesias-new-licensing-rules-ministry-2022-07-20/

https://www.reuters.com/technology/indonesia-urges-tech-platforms-sign-up-new-licensing-rules-or-risk-being-blocked-2022-07-18/

https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-units-agree-indonesia-tech-licensing-rules-amid-blocking-threat-2022-07-19/

https://kominfu.com/

https://www.metrotvnews.com/play/N4EC2AjZ-indonesia-s-new-tech-licensing-rules

https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/07/25/self-censorship-concerns-grow-as-big-tech-accedes-to-cyber-policy.html

http://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/07/20/disruptions-loom-as-deadline-for-digital-platform-registry-closes.html

https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/07/19/big-tech-submits-to-indonesian-cyber-policy.html

https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/07/19/ministry-urges-tech-platforms-to-sign-up-to-new-licensing-rules-or-risk-being-blocked.html

https://techwireasia.com/2022/07/what-does-indonesia-new-licensing-rules-mean-for-tech-companies/

original tweet from Teguh Aprianto (secgron) and Damar Juniarto (DAM) in Indonesian:

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by KeradSnake
Steam, Origin, Paypal and Epic Games are now blocked :(

[Bombastinator]

Didn’t Indonesia have some sort of coup recently or something?   Or was that another country?  Blocking stuff is famously difficult if the blocked party is willing to put some work in.  If it’s less trouble than the registration big multinationals will simply pull their staff and do that.  I suspect this will be a net negative for Indonesia.  I have no idea what registration involves though or what the ramifications are.  It could be anything from simple and I occupies to a really bad idea, in which case multinationals will duck the ban or allow the curtain to fall.  Probably mostly the latter. 

[KeradSnake]

17 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Didn’t Indonesia have some sort of coup recently or something?   Or was that another country?  Blocking stuff is famously difficult if the blocked party is willing to put some work in.  If it’s less trouble than the registration big multinationals will simply pull their staff and do that.  I suspect this will be a net negative for Indonesia.  I have no idea what registration involves though or what the ramifications are.  It could be anything from simple and I occupies to a really bad idea, in which case multinationals will duck the ban or allow the curtain to fall.  Probably mostly the latter. 

1. No. Thank God we don't have coup. But we used to have a lot of protest regarding work law and presidential period (which has been stated many times it will never be three times)

2. As for the registration process, there's a documentation for it but it's all in Indonesian

https://aptika.kominfo.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tata-Cara-Pendaftaran-PSE-Privat.pdf

[TetraSky]

So the website they made for their stupid thing is so bad a "hacker" was able to get in and write/change whatever they wanted? Geez...

And they claim it cost billions/trillion ? Ain't no way. This is why governments spending on software is like watching someone buy a pack of gum with a hundred dollar bill. They got no clue what they are paying for and how much it should be worth. 

[KeradSnake]

52 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

So the website they made for their stupid thing is so bad a "hacker" was able to get in and write/change whatever they wanted? Geez...

And they claim it cost billions/trillion ? Ain't no way. This is why governments spending on software is like watching someone buy a pack of gum with a hundred dollar bill. They got no clue what they are paying for and how much it should be worth. 

what do you expect from a govt that also used to have three major data breaches last year and were like 'yeah there was a data breach we're going to solve it' and went silent with no update even to this very second?

[JogerJ]

Literally 1984

 

Also it's pretty funny seeing companies like Google and WhatsApp were registered under random no name companies because they didn't even bother implementing domain ownership verification processes 

[Arika]

8 hours ago, KeradSnake said:

Indonesia urged tech companies on Monday to register under new licensing rules, or run the risk of having their platforms blocked, with data showing many big tech firms such as Google and Meta had yet to comply days out from July 20 deadline

"Register or we block you... please register, we know what kind of impact it will have on our citizens if we have to block you, we'll even ignore the deadline we set, just please register"

[Bombastinator]

6 hours ago, KeradSnake said:

1. No. Thank God we don't have coup. But we used to have a lot of protest regarding work law and presidential period (which has been stated many times it will never be three times)

2. As for the registration process, there's a documentation for it but it's all in Indonesian

https://aptika.kominfo.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tata-Cara-Pendaftaran-PSE-Privat.pdf

I can’t understand it but at least it’s Roman alphabet.  I wonder how google translate does with it?  Machine translated legal language can be quite dangerous.  I’ve never heard of a language called Indonesian before. 

[ouroesa]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

I can’t understand it but at least it’s Roman alphabet.  I wonder how google translate does with it?  Machine translated legal language can be quite dangerous.  I’ve never heard of a language called Indonesian before. 

Had to google it and apparently Indonesian is a language, locally referred to as Bahasa.

Also agree on it being really odd (lacking foresight?) to have the document in a local language only - especially if they want to focus on companies with regional offices there; English is generally accepted as the (business)language of most multinational tech companies so at least have an English copy as well. 

And then the weak security and them not even attempting to implement the ban - all this makes me think there is more to this as it seems way too rushed and not thought through.

My mistrusting African brain smells smoke, and where there is smoke, there is fire.

[Bombastinator]

42 minutes ago, ouroesa said:

Had to google it and apparently Indonesian is a language, locally referred to as Bahasa.

Also agree on it being really odd (lacking foresight?) to have the document in a local language only - especially if they want to focus on companies with regional offices there; English is generally accepted as the (business)language of most multinational tech companies so at least have an English copy as well. 

And then the weak security and them not even attempting to implement the ban - all this makes me think there is more to this as it seems way too rushed and not thought through.

My mistrusting African brain smells smoke, and where there is smoke, there is fire.

Agreed, but is it a fire they found and are trying frantically to put out with this thing or is it something else?  In either case the specifics of the situation need to be looked at carefully.

[Bombastinator]

Had a thought about this one.  This may be an attempt to move to a white list from a black list.  If so it may not be a very effective for finding stuff to whitelist.  It is possible Indonesia just isn’t a big enough country to make it work.  The EU could, Russia could, India could.  but I’m not sure a single member of the EU could. There are going to be holes. Especially little ones.  International Sales sites that aren’t very large.  Especially with the “you have to be able to do business in this rather specific language to even know it’s happening” requirement that may have only possibly been accidental.   It cuts off a large amount of the internet even if it does also cut out the black hats.  The problem is blocking is something a black hat is set up to get around anyway, so I’m not sure how effective it’s going to be.  This may be a situation of damage with no appreciable gain.  If that is what they are doing they should say so.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Bombastinator

[AldiPrayogi]

> be me

> kominfo

> never does anything in its life

> finally does something

> mfw it's idiotic

[williamcll]

Should I start hosting a VPN service for indonesians?

[Poinkachu]

For more background context :

- This country's municipals website for important things like presidential office, taxes, etc have sucky server, badly designed, and some feels like it's designed by a 12y old with basic HTML programming. Sometimes it's really hard to access even as a local.

- This country's site & notifications for natural disaster is on a very sucky server. Example : When there's an earthquake big enough to really be felt (4-5 SR), the government website for this kind of stuffs usually inaccessible for atleast 5-10 minutes, even at ungodly hour (like 3AM in the morning). Imagine if there's a 8 SR quake with tsunami.

- They blacklisted a lot of website, mainly NSFW, but somehow they blocked Newgrounds as well back then. Reddit of course is always includedd.

- Unless you tweak something on your PC end, Google's safesearch will always be turned on, even after deactivating it on google settings.

- Most parents let their kids have unrestricted access to phone/pc & internet.

- The country's minister for telecommunication pretty much subtly blaming NSFW & "Gray" sites for the decline of morals and such, then blacklisting those sites on ISP level.
They call the program "Internet Sehat", in english "Healthy Internet". There is nothing about moral & common sense on school curriculum though.

- There was once a senate member caught red-handed opening something NSFW on his phone while in meetings.

- Non-quota based internet is only on some areas in a city, the rest uses phone based internet with limited quota. And both are quite expensive for the bleh speed it gives.

- Right now this country relies heavily on atleast google. So if google decides to just say "F you, blacklist us then", this country is F-d. China atleast made their own google.
I doubt this country's capable of doing so, I mean, just look at their government sites. xD

=========================================

My personal thoughts from living here more than 20 years :

This country always wants to do a lot of things at once, but it's only a starting impulse, once it's made, it's most often neglected or not maintained the right way.
Like how they want to make everything SMART & Internet based, yet the internet in the country still pretty much sucking. And I never seen any real effort to improve the infrastructure.

Example : They changed the toll system to an automatic type using e-money card, yet the scanner machine they use end up being laggy under a year. And hardly ever changed to a new one unless it's totally broken. My self made Arduino-based RFID scanner is faster than the machine they used. Which is silly to me.
 

Another example : Right now when we want to enter an establishment (let's say the Mall), they put up a poster with a QR code on it on every entry point. We have to load up the govt made app to scan it (to check vaccination). The problem is sometimes we don't get signal on the phone, and the app won't load up without internet.
They issued a vaccine card but sometimes the security guard okay with it, sometimes not.

Yet another example : The government based telecommunication company changed the landline phone to a damn VOIP based one. Which is stupid in a country where earthquake is often, and the risk of tsunamis always on the horizon. Especially stupid since the internet those phones uses (Their own) is unreliable at best. I ended up cancelling my "landline" altogether, no point keeping it if I can't rely on it.

They started to market electric vehicles lately to the point that they offer a free yearly vehicle tax if yours is an electric one. The problem ?  there is still a shit ton of houses that doesn't even have a ground line. There's also no vehicle charging station out there, some malls provide it, but only if you use their premium parking service, which is $6-$10 initial pay plus $0.4 per hour.

[RigidBody2D]

Kominfo was a joke 10 years ago when their minister made that one infamous comment about Internet. Holy hell I don't think they could stoop lower than that. I once did a study to Kominfo HQ from my college years and one of my peer asked them what will they do if we could circumvent their internet censorship. They said they will do nothing lol.

[Poinkachu]

40 minutes ago, RigidBody2D said:

Kominfo was a joke 10 years ago when their minister made that one infamous comment about Internet. Holy hell I don't think they could stoop lower than that. I once did a study to Kominfo HQ from my college years and one of my peer asked them what will they do if we could circumvent their internet censorship. They said they will do nothing lol.

Most of the time they just want to be seen like they're doing something big and great and whatever.

I highly doubt they have the half ball to actually ban Google.
If they do, I'm pretty sure it won't be more than a week at best.

Because in a week, a lot of peoples, companies, and another part the govt itself gonna kick up a storm.

The way it stands now, they are just flaunting a very hollow empty threat.
If a company doesn't have an office here, then the less they have to follow the govt restrictions.
They can ban ip, services, etc, but people who can circumvent them will have full unrestricted access.

Which gonna be more problem for kominfo, because the method to do that is going to spread very fast, wide, and ever evolving, instead of just some select persons & methods right now.

I don't like big companies being an arsehole, but in this one case, and I actually feel bad saying this ;

I want google & microsoft to say something like "Okay, go ahead and ban us & all our services. Heck we'll even get out if that's what you want" as a form of "STFU you tool"
Then we'll see if the kominfo office employees can transition & learn Linux in 3 days.
And we'll see if there's any govt branch survives the google services purge.
AFAIK, those govt apps are downloadable from GOOGLE PLAY.
And we'll see if the Ministry of Economic Affairs doesn't kick their (kominfo) balls when those companies decides to get out and pull out all their money.

Again, I don't like big companies being a jerk.
But in this one case, IMHO it's the lesser evil jerk.

[Bombastinator]

9 hours ago, Poinkachu said:

For more background context :

- This country's municipals website for important things like presidential office, taxes, etc have sucky server, badly designed, and some feels like it's designed by a 12y old with basic HTML programming. Sometimes it's really hard to access even as a local.

- This country's site & notifications for natural disaster is on a very sucky server. Example : When there's an earthquake big enough to really be felt (4-5 SR), the government website for this kind of stuffs usually inaccessible for atleast 5-10 minutes, even at ungodly hour (like 3AM in the morning). Imagine if there's a 8 SR quake with tsunami.

- They blacklisted a lot of website, mainly NSFW, but somehow they blocked Newgrounds as well back then. Reddit of course is always includedd.

- Unless you tweak something on your PC end, Google's safesearch will always be turned on, even after deactivating it on google settings.

- Most parents let their kids have unrestricted access to phone/pc & internet.

- The country's minister for telecommunication pretty much subtly blaming NSFW & "Gray" sites for the decline of morals and such, then blacklisting those sites on ISP level.
They call the program "Internet Sehat", in english "Healthy Internet". There is nothing about moral & common sense on school curriculum though.

- There was once a senate member caught red-handed opening something NSFW on his phone while in meetings.

- Non-quota based internet is only on some areas in a city, the rest uses phone based internet with limited quota. And both are quite expensive for the bleh speed it gives.

- Right now this country relies heavily on atleast google. So if google decides to just say "F you, blacklist us then", this country is F-d. China atleast made their own google.
I doubt this country's capable of doing so, I mean, just look at their government sites. xD

=========================================

My personal thoughts from living here more than 20 years :

This country always wants to do a lot of things at once, but it's only a starting impulse, once it's made, it's most often neglected or not maintained the right way.
Like how they want to make everything SMART & Internet based, yet the internet in the country still pretty much sucking. And I never seen any real effort to improve the infrastructure.

Example : They changed the toll system to an automatic type using e-money card, yet the scanner machine they use end up being laggy under a year. And hardly ever changed to a new one unless it's totally broken. My self made Arduino-based RFID scanner is faster than the machine they used. Which is silly to me.
 

Another example : Right now when we want to enter an establishment (let's say the Mall), they put up a poster with a QR code on it on every entry point. We have to load up the govt made app to scan it (to check vaccination). The problem is sometimes we don't get signal on the phone, and the app won't load up without internet.
They issued a vaccine card but sometimes the security guard okay with it, sometimes not.

Yet another example : The government based telecommunication company changed the landline phone to a damn VOIP based one. Which is stupid in a country where earthquake is often, and the risk of tsunamis always on the horizon. Especially stupid since the internet those phones uses (Their own) is unreliable at best. I ended up cancelling my "landline" altogether, no point keeping it if I can't rely on it.

They started to market electric vehicles lately to the point that they offer a free yearly vehicle tax if yours is an electric one. The problem ?  there is still a shit ton of houses that doesn't even have a ground line. There's also no vehicle charging station out there, some malls provide it, but only if you use their premium parking service, which is $6-$10 initial pay plus $0.4 per hour.

Lack of charging stations may not be much of an issue for people living in houses.  Though this lack of electric power to houses might be if I am understanding the post correctly.  I personally have had an electric vehicle for some time and have never used a commercial charging station.  Or any outlet other than a standard one in my garage, and I still don’t have to charge my vehicle every day.  

[Taf the Ghost]

I'd heard about this coming via some memes I ended up seeing. I also get the impression the Indonesian government has a serious case of ADHD in most things. So, at least this will be interesting to the outside observers. 

[Poinkachu]

44 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Lack of charging stations may not be much of an issue for people living in houses.  Though this lack of electric power to houses might be if I am understanding the post correctly.  I personally have had an electric vehicle for some time and have never used a commercial charging station.  Or any outlet other than a standard one in my garage, and I still don’t have to charge my vehicle every day.  

Oops, sorry, I should've typed it in more detail.

Most of the houses here doesn't have grounding line, those that have are split between "jank" grounding, or real grounding.
Jank grounding as in they use a steel/iron bar of way less length than advised. Or some other variation of jank-ness.
Not to mention the power that comes from the utility pole is unstable as shit.
House fire is quite common here actually.
Can still use electricity without ground line yeah, just less safe, especially if we're talking about the amount of wattage needed to charge.

And there's a lot of traffic jams here, even at non busy hour. everywhere.
Not as much as India, but not far behind.
No commercial charging station might result in your car out of power when you take it travelling.
Lots of flooding as well. We are used to having massive flooding atleast 2-3 times a year, medium flooding 1-2 times a year. To the point that I call the phenomenon "Pop-up lake period"

Kinda better now in my city due to 1 governor who were able to think straight, but he's out of the office since 2-3 years ago, and flood starting to come back in full force.

My point was, this country never bothered with improving infrastructures, eventhough the "High Level Goal" they want to achieve needs that particular infrastructure.

 

21 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

I'd heard about this coming via some memes I ended up seeing. I also get the impression the Indonesian government has a serious case of ADHD in most things. So, at least this will be interesting to the outside observers. 

Honestly, it's worse.
Imagine someone wanting to build a big tall luxurious house, but skimps out a lot on the pillars, the foundation, and the parts quality.
If the house end up somewhat okay, they'll use it and invite people to live in it. And when there's new stuffs they add it onto the house.
If the house end up crumbling, they'll build another one, with the same kind of pillars, foundation, & parts quality. Repeat until one manages to not crumble.

If they are an overclocker, they will try to extreme OC on the cheapest board, and whine & complain & blame others when they don't get good result.
And they'd switch the LN to Ice Water, while saying "I even used LN" later.

[Bombastinator]

Bright side of decent grounding is it’s really easy to retrofit.  All you need is a sledge hammer and a screw driver unless there’s no grounding wire in the wall.  Just get a longer copper washed steel rod of the appropriate length and pound it into the ground.  Steel water pipes also work.  They were made illegal in the US because plastic pipes got introduced and it was hard to know if a section of that water pipe was plastic.

[KeradSnake]

On 7/27/2022 at 8:24 PM, KeradSnake said:

Summary

Indonesia through Kominfo (Ministry of Communications and Information) has made a rules that requires tech companies to register their services to PSE database (Database Penyelenggara Sistem Elektronik, Electronics System Provider in English). This was already issued since one and half weeks ago, with the deadline of July 20th, and they warned any online services that didn't register will be blocked, with inspection that will follow if the companies have a regional office in Indonesia and stating that 'whoever companies didn't register means they don't see Indonesia as their potential market and it's their loss if they're being blocked'.

 

Despite the deadline already past due and the rules already passed, there were no implementation of the ban, but inspection has been done to some tech companies especially to the ones that has regional office such as Google and Twitter, which was late registering their services. Kominfo also stated that the rules was made in order to 'ensure user safety, data privacy, and allow authorities to order platforms to take down content deemed unlawful, or that "disturbs public order" and to make sure any services in Indonesia have localization'. This rules, however, has sparked a lot of protest online, with some independent journalist and NGOs like SAFEnet (Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network) pointed out that there's transparency issues and potential for the rules to be abuse of power, and local cyber security consultant posting various proof that the registration website is clunky and unsafe.

UPDATE ON THE NEWS: THEY BLOCKED STEAM , ORIGIN, EPIC GAMES AND PAYPAL RIGHT AT THIS MORNING. Steam is trending right now on Indonesian Twitter trending. 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by KeradSnake
added another source

[Spotty]

Summary

People in Indonesia today are finding they are unable to access many popular websites and services such as Yahoo, Steam, Epic Games, Paypal, Blizzard.net, and more. The websites have been blocked due to failing to comply with new rules introduced by the Indonesian Government which went in to effect today requiring foreign tech and game companies to register in Indonesia and comply with certain requirements such as removing unlawful content and handing over personal data of certain users.

 

Quotes

Quote

Indonesia has blocked search engine website Yahoo, payments firm Paypal and several gaming websites due to failure to comply with licensing rules, an official said on Saturday, sparking a backlash in social media.

Registration is required under rules released in late November 2020 and will give authorities broad powers to compel platforms to disclose data of certain users, and take down content deemed unlawful or that "disturbs public order" within four hours if urgent and 24 hours if not.

Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, a senior official at Indonesia's Communications Ministry, said in a text message websites that have been blocked include Yahoo, Paypal and gaming sites like Steam, Dota2, Counter-Strike and EpicGames, among others.

 

There is a website called Kominfo'd which is displaying the registration status of major websites. There's many more websites here that are listed as Unregistered, including Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitch, Imgur, DuckDuckGo, and more, but it's unclear if those websites are currently inaccessible in Indonesia as I haven't yet seen any mention of them being blocked in other news articles.

Source: https://kominfod.angelo.fyi/

 

My thoughts

F to pay respects to everybody in Indonesia who woke up today and found they were unable to access their favourite websites or game services. Hopefully these companies will be unblocked if they register with the PSE or whatever the new regulation is. In the meantime if only there was some other way people in Indonesia could access these websites...

 

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/technology/indonesia-blocks-yahoo-paypal-gaming-websites-over-licence-breaches-2022-07-30/

https://www.gamerbraves.com/steam-epic-and-other-websites-are-now-banned-in-indonesia/

https://kominfod.angelo.fyi/

 

 

Reminder, please leave politics out of it

No political content, regardless of your views.

• If something spans politics and tech, the discussion must remain clearly within tech and must not descend into politics.

[Spotty]

14 minutes ago, Spotty said:

There is a website called Kominofo'd which is displaying the registration status of major websites. There's many more websites here that are listed as Unregistered, including Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitch, Imgur, DuckDuckGo, and more, but it's unclear if those websites are currently inaccessible in Indonesia as I haven't yet seen any mention of them being blocked in other news articles.

I just refreshed that site and it is now checking and displaying if websites are blocked. I'm not sure if they just updated the website when I posted this or if it just didn't load/display properly the first time.

 

Websites which are unregistered but not currently blocked are still at risk of being blocked if they fail to register with Kominfo and comply.

 

[Poinkachu]

16 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Summary

People in Indonesia today are finding they are unable to access many popular websites and services such as Yahoo, Steam, Epic Games, Paypal, Blizzard.net, and more. The websites have been blocked due to failing to comply with new rules introduced by the Indonesian Government which went in to effect today requiring foreign tech and game companies to register in Indonesia and comply with certain requirements such as removing unlawful content and handing over personal data of certain users.

 

Quotes

 

There is a website called Kominofo'd which is displaying the registration status of major websites. There's many more websites here that are listed as Unregistered, including Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitch, Imgur, DuckDuckGo, and more, but it's unclear if those websites are currently inaccessible in Indonesia as I haven't yet seen any mention of them being blocked in other news articles.

 

Source: https://kominfod.angelo.fyi/

 

My thoughts

F to pay respects to everybody in Indonesia who woke up today and found they were unable to access their favourite websites or game services. Hopefully these companies will be unblocked if they register with the PSE or whatever the new regulation is. In the meantime if only there was some other way people in Indonesia could access these websites...

 

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/technology/indonesia-blocks-yahoo-paypal-gaming-websites-over-licence-breaches-2022-07-30/

https://www.gamerbraves.com/steam-epic-and-other-websites-are-now-banned-in-indonesia/

https://kominfod.angelo.fyi/

 

 

Reminder, please leave politics out of it

No political content, regardless of your views.

• If something spans politics and tech, the discussion must remain clearly within tech and must not descend into politics.

Well, there is probably a way.
Problem is the people here will abuse it so much that it will get very well known & then they (kominfo) will try to block the method.
The tech savvy know to play it subtle, the non tech savvy gonna abuse it and spread. Like usual

[Senzelian]

Not sure if this is the case, but if Microsoft Office is blocked I would assume this would heavily impact companies that are using Office tools for work.

Unless of course this only impacts the Office website.