Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, is under formal investigation related to illicit activities on the messaging app.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has banned the use of third-party tools like WhatsApp and Gmail for transmitting sensitive official documents, citing security concerns. The order, issued by the General Administration Department, states that these platforms are not designed to handle classified information and their security protocols may not meet the stringent standards required for official communications. It highlights potential risks such as unauthorized access, data breaches, and leaks of confidential information. The order emphasizes the importance of using government email facilities, instant messaging platforms, and secure networks for handling sensitive information. It also prohibits the use of digital assistants and smartphones during discussions on classified matters. The government has warned of disciplinary action for non-compliance with these directives.
The government will investigate a claim that WhatsApp accessed the microphone of smartphone users while the phone was not in use, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday.
The announcement on integration of WhatsApp with its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services was made by the CJI before a nine-judge bench headed by him commenced the hearing on the vexed legal question arising from the petitions about whether private properties can be considered "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, which is a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Ola, is encouraging developers to switch from Google Maps to Ola Maps. Ola is offering developers a year of free access to Ola Maps on the company's Krutrim Cloud and over Rs 100 crore in free credits. This initiative comes after Ola replaced Google Maps with its own Ola Maps, leading to annual savings of around Rs 100 crore.
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
OpenAI's AI chatbot ChatGPT experienced a major global outage on Tuesday, leaving thousands of users unable to access the service across multiple continents, with India and the United States reporting the highest number of disruptions.
'There is responsibility to make great games that are played by audiences, that fill the gap from an entertainment perspective.'
Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm may deliberately delay transactions, issue fraud alerts, and require an extra layer of user confirmation before processing any transactions that are likely to be classified as fraudulent.
The court also said that if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read, "you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to".
As per sources, the MHA recommended the MeitY this week to ban and block these apps, and the ministry subsequently initiated the process as per communication.
In its response to the IT Ministry's missive, WhatsApp has said false news, misinformation and spread of hoaxes are issues that need to be dealt with collectively, by government, civil society and technology companies working together.
You are overthinking too much and making a lot of assumptions based on her response sent over a text message, says rediffGURU Shalini Singh.
The plea was filed by advocate Chaitanya Rohilla who stated that WhatsApp changed its privacy policy in "most arbitrary manner" and had made it compulsory for its users to accept its terms and conditions, failing which the accounts and services would be terminated after February 8, 2021 for the respective user.
The Kerala police on Tuesday registered a case against IAS officer N Prasanth for allegedly insulting the modesty of a woman journalist by sending her inappropriate stickers over WhatsApp when she reached out to him for an official reaction.
"We don't use WhatsApp. You came here from the United States for this matter?" the CJI asked the advocate who instantly replied in the affirmative.
The government is also trying to curb child abuse and pornography and such platforms act as catalysts in these cases.
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.
While the users of the three social media platforms remained clueless as they repeatedly received error messages for most part of the day, the stocks of Silicon Valley firm Facebook dropped by nearly five per cent as a result.
Reels often induce the FOMO-'Act now!' mentality. But sound investing is about consistency, diversification and a long-term horizon.
In a bid to curb the spread of fake news, the US-based company is testing a feature, which enables users to detect harmful links sent and received.
Will Mamata's bhasha andolan campaign sway Bengal's bhadralok before the 2026 election in the TMC's favour?
Air India pilots said Ahmedabad airport has long been known for bird activity near the runway, which could have contributed to the incident.
Targets should avoid panicking and hang up. 'Disconnecting stops the scammers from building psychological pressure.'
Those involved in the incident targeted a motorcycle, two cars, one religious structure and a bakery, and indulged in arson. The police had to lob tear gas shells and lathi-charge to disperse the mob, the official said.
The Mumbai police have issued a notice to the 26-year-old man, resident of a village in Waghodia taluka in Vadodara, to appear before them.
Billionaire Elon Musk-owned X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced a service disruption on Monday, affecting thousands of users globally. The outage, which peaked in the afternoon and evening, caused users to be unable to refresh their feed, upload posts, and received an error message. While the services appear to be returning to normalcy, the extent of the impact was more severe in the US and UK, with over 20,000 and 10,000 reports respectively. According to Downdetector, the majority of problems were related to the website and app, with a smaller percentage experiencing server connection issues.
During the short hearing, Justice Prathibha M Singh took strong objection to an email sent by WhatsApp to the court. "I was in any case not going to hear it," the court clarified and sent the matter to another bench recording that the email sent by WhatsApp should be withdrawn unconditionally.
WhatsApp and Facebook had challenged the CCI's March 24 order directing a probe into the new privacy policy.
WhatsApp has drawn massive criticism from users globally, including India over concerns that data was being shared with its parent company, Facebook. WhatsApp, on its part, has maintained that messages on the platform are end-to-end encrypted and that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see the private messages on WhatsApp's platform.
The IT ministry sources said they have received a reply from WhatsApp and are studying it, and that a view on it will be taken soon.
The company said the new policy will be rolled out but the platform will allow users to read it at "their own pace".
Be practical and value what you have, says Rediff's Love Guru.
The Delhi high court on Friday asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the new IT rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to "trace" chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information.
The apex court said people value their privacy more than the value of the company which might be in trillions.
Poor writing, unrealistic plot points, and weak performances drag Sarzameen down, sighs Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'I prefer not to speak before the Hong Kong tie,' Marquez told Hindustan Times in a WhatsApp message on Monday.
The impersonator, it said, has sent such WhatsApp messages to several VIPs.
On October 29, WhatsApp announced it was suing NSO Group for selling its software, Pegasus, which has the ability to compromise a device and get access to all of a target's data. Spooked by revelations that activists and journalists were spied upon by using NSO Group's spyware, many have moved to alternative messaging platforms such as Signal and Telegram.
'Each side could consider challenging the NCLAT's stay order before the Supreme Court.'
