In a communication to the ministry of electronics and information technology, the messaging service said it was committed to protecting the privacy of its over 400 million users in India.
Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner. India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose". The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.
The country's cyber security agency CERT-In has advised Facebook users to strengthen their account privacy settings after a recent global 'data scraping' incident in the social media platform affected about 61 lakh Indians.
The submission was made by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan; on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Clement Nyaletsossi Voule; and the right to privacy, Joseph Cannataci.
A majority of respondents in a survey said they will not use WhatsApp payment features and may discontinue business chat if the app shares information with Facebook and third parties, according to a survey. The survey -- conducted around WhatsApp new proposed policy across the country covering over 17,000 respondents -- found that five per cent users have deleted the app, while 22 per cent claimed to have reduced using the mobile messaging platform.
Claiming 'right to be forgotten', reality show celebrity Ashutosh Kaushik on Thursday sought a direction from the Delhi high court to the Centre and Google that some of his videos, photos and articles be removed from various online platforms as they have a "detrimental effect" on his life.
The action was taken under Section 69A of the Act that empowers the government to block any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence.
The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company said.
The Delhi high court has struck down a central government office memorandum requiring the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts to obtain political clearance for private visits abroad, saying that such a condition is "uncalled for" in view of the high offices the judges hold.
The government on Monday published a draft data policy for public consultation, which says all data collected, generated, and stored by every government ministry and department will be open and shareable barring certain exceptions. Also, detailed datasets that have undergone value addition could be monetised by the government. The policy document, called "Draft India Data Accessibility & Use Policy 2022", prescribes that a regulatory authority called the Indian Data Council (IDC) and an agency by the name India Data Office (IDO) will oversee framing metadata standards and enforcement, respectively.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday, instead of Wednesday, a batch of pleas alleging the use of Israeli spyware for surveillance of certain people in India, after taking note of the submissions of the solicitor-general that he would be busy arguing a money-laundering case in another court.
"Ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear about the new Rules. Its entire objective is to find out who started the message that led to commissioning of specific crimes mentioned in the rules," Prasad added.
The panel said data protection law is designed to limit the processing of personal data to legitimate reasons and adds there is a conflict between transparency and privacy.
'Demand is wonderful. We have crossed 10 million on many days.' 'The Swedish trade commissioner recently said, "You guys are vaccinating the entire Sweden in one day".'
"The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok, and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications," Nikhil Gandhi, head of TikTok India, said.
The Congress also said that Dr Singh is 'better than yesterday' and asserted that any unfounded speculation is unnecessary and in bad taste.
rediffGURU Anu Krishna, a mental health coach and NLP practitioner, offers expert advice on how to take charge of your life.
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, will answers your MF queries.
It is only gradually dawning on us that some of the information we have trustingly shared with commercial service providers can be used against us when we apply for a job or when we apply to admission to a college, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Are you worried about your relationship with your partner or friends or colleagues? Ask Dr Ashish Sehgal for advice.
You can apply for online MBAs that won't require CAT scores, suggests rediffGURU Mayank Kumar.
The hearing on as many as nine petitions, including those filed by the Editors Guild of India and senior journalists seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter is presently on.
Representatives of Facebook India have been asked to appear on Friday before the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi, while Twitter officials are required to appear before the panel on October 28, as per the notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The Declaration for the Future of the Internet is in part a response to a rising trend of digital authoritarianism, including Russia's actions to block credible news sites
The proposed law seeks bars on storing and processing of personal data by entities without the explicit consent of an individual. It, however, provides for exemptions for "reasonable purposes" such as "prevention and detection of any unlawful activity including fraud, whistle-blowing, merger and acquisitions, network and information security, credit scoring, recovery of debt, processing of publicly available personal data and the operation of search engines".
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
The businessman also said has already been pronounced "guilty" by the media, and he wishes his privacy is not intruded anymore with this continued "media trial".
The 38-year-old former American actress and wife of Prince Harry had filed the claim for alleged breach of privacy and copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the 'Mail on Sunday', in the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
'The message is not clear whether we are wanted.' 'All this could adversely impact our strategy in India and also investments.'
The agenda for the meeting is 'Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Communication (Department of Telecommunications) on the subject of 'Citizens' data security and privacy'.
Chinese company Tencent Games on Friday said it was terminating all services and access for PUBG Mobile users in India to comply with the government's order of last month.
Justice Yashwant Varma took on record and accepted the statement made by CIC counsel that all endeavour shall be made to decide the appeal expeditiously and in any case within 8 weeks.
Google has termed as "tainted" the investigations done against it by CCI, contending that the two informants on whose complaint the fair trade regulator has initiated the enquiry were working at the same office that was investigating the tech major. This was "against the principles of natural justice", Google said in the petition filed before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), adding the Competition Commission of India (CCI) should have refrained from initiating an investigation based on a complaint filed by their own employees. "At the very least, the Commission could have debarred the Informants from working in the DG office while the investigation was ongoing, to ensure that the investigating officer was able to impartially assess the case without any influence, such that no concerns could arise on the independence of the investigation," said Google.
With terror groups misusing Aadhaar to camouflage the identity of their Pakistani cadres, the Jammu and Kashmir police will request the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to strengthen safety features of the biometric ID, officials have said.
The National Digital Health Mission seeks to provide a unique health ID to each citizen who wishes to have one and also on-board the healthcare service provides - hospitals, pharmacies and diagnostic labs, among others. It will have an online database of doctors and personal health records.
The Bombay high court on Monday asked three Jain religious charitable trusts and a city resident practising Jainism why they were seeking to encroach on the rights of others by appealing for restrictions or ban on advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.
Aadhaar-related schemes and the Aadhaar Act exist on the assumption that Right to Privacy is not a Fundamental Right.
The RTI exemptions cited by the CPIO to deny information relate to intellectual property rights, trade secrets and information in the nature of commercial confidence, fiduciary relationship, threat to life and safety of persons who give information to law enforcement agencies in confidence, impediment to investigation, prosecution or apprehension and privacy of an individual.
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
India's tweaking of IT rules allow formation of Centre-appointed panels, that will settle often-ignored user grievances against content decision of social media companies, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, adding that this was necessitated due to the "casual" and "tokenism" approach of digital platforms towards user complaints so far.
