In a move that can be construed as a move against the idea of the free internet, the Indian Government has banned the Wayback Machine. Wayback Machine is a California-based non-profit that has been archiving the World Wide Web for over 20 years now. It has archived over 300 billion web pages, and stores nearly 15TB of data. It is one of the most utilitarian sites on the web and allows users to archive pages, access archived pages for free, and also get hold of several terabytes of music, movies, books, and software that are free from copyright.
Users who tried to access the website on last Tuesday night saw a message from their ISP that read – “Your requested URL has [...]
If you still own a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, you may be deemed a risk to lives of everyone else on board. Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Tiger Airways, among many other have banned the use and carry of Galaxy Note 7 onboard their flights till the phone can be fixed by the South Korean manufacturer, Samsung.
Samsung has already issued a global recall of the handset, however, many hardcore Samsung Galaxy Note 7 users have retained the handset assuming no real threat exists.
Following Samsung’s product recall announcement, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices may not be used or charged on board Virgin Australia flights, Said a Virgin spokesperson.
Samsung PR [...]
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has spelled doom for Facebook’s Free Basics campaign by banning it from India. So much for all the voiced opinions in the last couple of weeks.
Though this is big setback for Internet.org, Mark Zuckerberg refuses to let it douse his spirits. In a post he put up earlier today, he says,
“Our work with Internet.org around the world has already improved many people’s lives. More than 19 million people in 38 countries have been connected through our different programs. Connecting India is an important goal we won’t give up on, because more than a billion people in India don’t have access to the [...]
Say hello to yet another courtroom drama between Samsung and Apple. As always, the bone of contention was patent infringement where Apple accused Samsung of having stolen features like word recommendations and unlock gestures.
Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern California District San Jose court agreed with Apple leading to banning of Samsung’s flagship devices from 2012. The list of devices now banned from sale in the US includes Samsung Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S III and Samsung Stratosphere.
The lawsuit had been stretched over a period of three years before the final [...]
Update: Within 12 hours of issuing it, the ban has been revoked. WhatsApp is working again in Brazil, for now.
Looks like it’s time to shove that smartphone aside for two days and look up from the phone screen if you’re in Brazil. The country has closed WhatsApp for 48 hours. Reasons for this have not been disclosed.
In the past, there has been much ado by Brazil’s telecommunication companies to curb interaction on WhatsApp. They claim that the free calling feature of the app is illegal and requires stricter regulations.In an attempt to distinguish itself from countries like the US, especially post the entire NSA spying scandal, Brazil had passed net [...]
New reports have suggested, that Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi Corp is under investigation for allegedly violating China’s new advertisement law. This new law, that became effective from the 1st of September, 2015, states that the use of superlative adjectives in promoting products would be banned.
Investigation of the matter is being made on suspicion of the usage of phrases such as “the best” to describe their product. Zhu Dalin, an analyst at the Beijing based Internet Consultancy Analyses told the Economic Times :
“The new law will have a [...]
So, we have covered the whole ‘Indian government bans porn’ story and we’ve also covered the ‘Indian govt removes ban on porn’ story; but guess who else has a take on it? John Oliver!
He begins the headlines with a British-India joke and goes on to comment about how ironic it is that India – the land that created the Kama Sutra (because that’s all we’ve ever done), can actually ban porn and then revoke it.
Even though, his comments might be predictable and made from a generic knowledge of the idea of Incredible India; the video overall is quite hilarious, even as he goes on to throw in a little suggestion at the end [...]
A directive had been passed, late Friday evening, blocking around 800 porn websites. Although, the effect of this legislation may not have taken place all over the country, it is said to become active in a couple of days.
So now when one tries to access a particular porn website, an error message will show, suggesting that the Indian government had asked the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to block the site. This is the result of a PIL that is being held in the Supreme Court asking the government to block citizens from accessing pornography on the internet. In November, the government asked the Internet And Mobile Association of India to curate a list of pornography websites [...]
The Indian Government has enforced a ban on the import of mobile handsets in India which don’t carry a unique identity number. This measure is taken citing security concerns as such handsets can be untraceable.
GSM phones carry an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number while CDMA handsets carry a ESN (Electronic Serial Number)/MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier) which gives them a unique identity. This unique identity helps to keep a track of the device and can be used to retrieve the device following a theft.
Mobile handsets with duplicate or fake IMEI numbers can be [...]
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been reportedly granted some reprieve after announcing the ban on the sale of their handsets in India last week. As per a tweet by Press Trust of India (PTI) the Delhi High Court today permitted the sale of their smartphones powered by Qualcomm chipsets till January 8 in India.
Prior to the ban, the company was selling two smartphones in the country: Redmi 1S and Redmi Note. Redmi 1s runs on a Qualcomm chipset, while Redmi Note is powered by a MediaTek processor. This release would imply that Xiaomi can sell the Redmi 1s for nearly a month. Additionally, Xiaomi had earlier planned to [...]
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, they are digital coins that can be sent through the internet. The company claims that Bitcoins has number of advantages over the other alternatives. Using Bitcoins money is directly transferred from a person to another, which means no bank is involved in between. This further means lower cost of transfer and Bitcoins can be used in any country, user’s account cannot be frozen, there are no prerequisites or arbitrary limits.
However, authorities of India does not like this concept at all. Several Indian Bitcoin exchanges have suspended operations following a warning [...]
Chinese companies such as Huawei have always been accused of helping the Chinese government in its spying operations. Countries such as the U.S. and U.K. take special measures to ensure that any Huawei equipment being installed is free from all vulnerabilities that can let China spy on them. A new report from the Australian Financial Review claims that top spy agencies like the MI6 and CIA have banned Lenovo machines from their networks over fears that they might contain “back-door” hardware that would aid China’s spying attempts.
Machines produced by the state-backed technology company, which is the largest PC producer [...]
