As many as 296 mobile apps have been blocked by the government since 2014 in the interest of the country s sovereignty, security, and public order, Union minister Sanjay Dhotre told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. A total of 296 mobile applications have been blocked by government since 2014, under the provisions of section 69A of IT Act 2000 and its rules. in the interest of sovereignty & integrity of India, security of the State and public order, Dhotre, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said in a written reply. The minister also said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) the requesting agency for blocking of these apps under section 69A of the IT Act had received several reports about misuse of some Chinese mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms .
Google removed about 100 money lending apps that were possibly not in compliance with the applicable legal and regulatory framework from December 2020 till January 20, 2021, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has received a number of public grievances against frauds and the malpractices by few online instant loan applications available on internet, including Google Playstore, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. He added that the complaints are mainly related to high interest rates, alleged collection of personal data and its misuse, fraudulent and unlawful practices of physical threats and use of other coercive methods for recovery of loan and that few cases have also been filed in the courts.
Traceability and Cybersecurity: a report on Experts’ Workshop Series on Encryption in India
Traceability, or the ability track down the originator of a particular piece of content or message, is at the center of India’s debate around rules for online platforms and communications providers.
In late 2018, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTy), proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules under the Information Technology Act. Among the proposed changes is a demand for traceability, which would “enable tracing out of such originator of information on its platform.” The amendment would make the online platform or provider liable for content posted by their users, if traceability is not provided. Early this year, nearly 30 cybersecurity and cryptographic experts from different parts of the world sent an open letter to MeiTy expressing concerns about the proposed amendments.
November 6, 2020
“Copyright law is not just about the rights of creators, but it’s also about the rights of society to access the work, and also the right of society to use the works in different manners,” Dr. Arul George Scaria said at MediaNama’s discussion on Copyright and Digital Media. The roundtable was organised against the backdrop of the government’s private consultation to amend the Copyright Act. In the discussion, participants surfaced many gaps in the law that could be filled surrounding fair use and intermediary liability for copyrighted content. The discussion was held on October 30 with support from Netflix, Amazon, and Facebook.