From Belarus to Bangladesh, authorities in 29 countries shut down or interfered with the internet at least 155 times in 2020.
The ministry of home affairs has made the use of Aarogya Setu app mandatory for all employees, both private and public, and pinned the responsibility for compliance on the head of respective organisations.
'There are already multiple lawsuits against the IT rules.' 'So questions of compliance are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.'
A group of lawyers and activists want India's privacy law to ensure that autonomy, dignity and privacy are safeguarded, and proposes a penalty provision of up to Rs 10 million for those found violating the code and a jail term extending up to three years or a combination of both. Mayank Jain reports.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said the update 'does not impact the privacy of personal messages for anyone'.
The exponential number of downloads can be attributed to a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking people to have the app on their mobiles, combined with the government's push for downloading of the app through other channels, reports Neha Alawadhi.
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