It seems that after eight years, Google is eager to dabble into the Chinese market again. And the company is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to enter the world’s most populous country. To successfully carry out the controversial project called Project Dragonfly, Google is not even averse to toe the line with the Draconian censorship rules of Chinese government. However, this step has sparked widespread outrage amongst the employees. The company is not above limiting its worker’s access to the documents regarding the project to quell the tumult inside the company. An anonymous source revealed that the company is turning off everyone’s access to the documents [...]
It is no mystery that India is reeling from an unprecedented turmoil. Malicious hate speech, spewing unwarranted venom and spreading fake news have become a norm, inflicting our erstwhile public comity. An easy and unchecked access to social media channels is one of the many reasons for this tragic onslaught. In fact, a report submitted by a panel of secretaries to the government on Wednesday said that lynching incidents are part of a larger problem of unchecked malicious content on websites and social media platforms, mainly targeting children, women and minorities.
In the wake of this fierce torrent, Government is cracking down on the social media platforms like WhatsApp, [...]
SpiceJet propelled India’s very first Biofuel driven flight using a blend of Jatropha seeds and turpentine fuel on Monday. 75% aviation turbine fuel and 25% bio-jet fuel empowers the 72 seater aircraft. The Aircraft took off from Dehradun and landed at the Delhi’s Indra Gandhi International airport. The 43-minute flight was operated by SpiceJet’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft with 20 officials and five crew members onboard. This success is expected to pave the way for cheaper air travel. Also, the use of agricultural residues, bio-degradable fractions of industrial and municipal wastes is bound to make the air travel cleaner and more efficient.
Elated by the [...]
Supreme court has extended the timeline to update Aadhaar details indefinitely. The new order from SC says that “The government cannot insist for mandatory Aadhaar even for the issuance of Tatkal passport.”
Ignore any messages from your telecom operators to link Aadhaar with your mobile number. Similarly, also ignore messages and calls from e-wallet services and banks, regarding the linking of Aadhar.
The interim order from SC also says that Aadhaar is still mandatory to receive govt subsidies. However, this will depend on the five-judge bench which will consider the different petitions, that challenges the constitutional validity of Aadhar.
What is [...]The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has responded to reports that someone sold over 1 billion Aadhar card details for just Rs. 500. In a statement, the organisation has claimed that all data is safe. In response, UIDAI has also filed an FIR for unauthorised access to Aadhaar data, such as names and other demographic details, due to the misuse of the grievance redressal facility at the office of the Surat district administration in Gujarat.
UIDAI denied that the breach allowed access to millions of Aadhaar cardholders’ details, saying the search facility is available for the purpose of grievance redressal to designated personnel and state government [...]
Aadhar, the unique identification number allotted and maintained by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was started in 2009 and is the largest database of privacy information including biometrics that include fingerprints, and iris scans of billions of Indians. The database also includes pictures, addresses and private information of all the individuals registered on the database.
It is estimated that over 1.2 Billion people have already resisted for the Aadhar number, however, it has not been without problems. Initially there was political push back for the Unique ID system which was intended to allow Indian residents easy access to social programs for [...]
Back in 2014, Facebook bought one of the most famous instant messaging apps in the world, WhatsApp. Over the course of three years, there have been many Facebook features which have trickled down to WhatsApp as well, WhatsApp Status being one of them. Being the parent company, Facebook started using the user data from WhatsApp to develop targeted advertising, security measures, and to gather business intelligence.
To tackle the free-sharing of personal user data among the two firms, France’s ultra-strict privacy watchdog CNIL has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with parent company Facebook. WhatsApp has a month to comply with the order, according to a public notice [...]
Goa chief minister Mr Manohar Parrikar launched the country’s first ever mobile food testing laboratory. The vehicle, worth Rs 41 lakh was unveiled in Goa in the presence of the Goa Food and Drugs Administration minister Vishwajit Rane. Mr Parrikar said:
It is entirely funded by the Centre, which will also bear the maintenance cost for five years.
The laboratory, mounted on a bus will travel across the state and check food samples on the spot. Mr Parrikar said this would be the first ever ‘Food Safety on Wheel’ vehicle in the country. The laboratory will help in the on-the-spot testing of food items and curb adulteration. He continued:
Besides this, it will [...]
The Indian government has continued its effort in curbing the danger that some apps on the internet might possess. The Indian intelligence agencies have listed about 42 mobile applications that have the potential to carry out a cyber-attack against the country. The agencies have reportedly issued a warning to the Indian Army and paramilitary against their usage.
As per reliable inputs, a number of Android/IOS apps developed by Chinese developers or having Chinese links are reportedly either spyware or other malicious ware. Use of these apps by our force personnel can be detrimental to data security having implications on the force and national security.
Army personnel [...]
Unmanned Aerial Systems, or commonly known as Drones, have been around for a long time now. A lot of countries have tight regulations around the usage of drones but, getting access to drones and permissions to use it are easily available in such countries. In India, selling and purchasing drones is restricted.
Although it is used by the Army, getting permissions if you are a civilian are cumbersome and if you get permissions, it comes with a set of rigid regulations. However, it appears that the Indian government has identified the advantages of drone usage if conducted with fair and safe regulations. The Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju presented the first [...]
India is planning to roll out 5G internet services by the year 2020. In order to complete this task successfully, the government has set up a high-level forum which will evaluate all possible roadmaps to make sure that 5G internet becomes prominent in the country. For the said objective, the ministries of telecom, information and technology, and science and technology have been included in the forum. A budget of Rs 500 crore is set aside for research and development of 5G technology by the government.
The minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha said:
We missed the opportunity to participate when the standards were being set for 3G and 4G, but don’t want to miss [...]
Apple and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are fighting over the user data that iPhone users in India have on their phone. TRAI argues that no smartphone company should be a guardian of the user data of its smartphones and should share it with apps that require that data to function. Apple has indicated that it believed the TRAI app is a potential risk to its user’s privacy.
TRAI has an anti-spamming app which blocks the numbers reported by the users and then launches a strict action against the number. The app is readily available to Android users, albeit poor customer reviews. TRAI Chairman R S Sharma publically slammed Apple a few weeks ago and has now [...]
