Popular software development platform GitHub, which hosts open-source projects has been blocked for some users in India, the media has reported. The GitHub URL that has been blocked was purportedly serving files and content to users blocked in India. The content domain that has been blocked for users in the country seems to be blocked by ACT Fibernet broadband.
According to a Twitter user named Arnav Gupta (Twitter handle @championswimmer) the GitHub URL was blocked in Bengaluru for ACT broadband users. He further enquired if http://raw.githubusercontent.com was blocked on ACT internet in Bengaluru. His tweet has received replies that indicate the domain has been blocked on certain ISPs in India.
As per security researcher Karan Saini's tweet (Twitter handle @squeal), more details about the block were revealed. The researcher tweeted: “The ‘raw[.]githubusercontent[.]com' host, which serves files for every single @github repository to users all over the world, has been blocked in India for users of @ACTFibernet , likely at the Govt.'s behest.”.
Saini noted that blocking the URL would reduce the functionality of the platform.
Meanwhile, earlier in November, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) unblocked the website of VLC Media Player, run by non-profit VideoLAN, Internet Freedom Foundation announced on Monday (November 14), a month after VideoLANsent a legal notice to the government regarding the blocking of an URL. Non-profit VideoLAN reportedly confirmed the order.
It should be noted that the government did not state a reason behind banning the VLC Media Player app. However, according to a report, VLC download from the official website may have been banned due to some cybersecurity experts saying that a hacker group from China named Cicada used VLC Media Player to deliver malware on systems as part of a cyberattack campaign sponsored by the Chinese government.