February 18, 2021
The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology Technology sent a letter to WhatsApp last month, interrogating changes the Facebook-owned messaging app had made to its privacy policy. MediaNama has obtained a copy of the letter under the RTI Act. “These changes enable WhatsApp, and other Facebook Companies, to make invasive and precise inferences about users which may not be reasonably foreseen or expected by users in the ordinary course of accessing these services,” MEITY said in the letter. “Whether this will enable better provision of services to users or not is besides the point, the issue is the impact it has on informational privacy, data security and user choice.”
highest number of its users.
iii About 40 percent of Indians use this digital messenger.
As media took cognizance of the new development, WhatsApp groups started getting crammed with messages cautioning the people against the ‘new’ dangers of using WhatsApp and advising them to switch to Signal or Telegram – two other messenger apps.
These WhatsApp messages, which were based on media reports, dwelt on how Signal is the ‘best’ and ‘Telegram’ ‘good enough’ for protecting the privacy of our data. But, if we would continue to use WhatsApp, our privacy, our bank accounts and many other things would be in peril. It was also said that WhatsApp and other companies would mint money by selling our data to other private companies. The fact is that changes made by WhatsApp in its terms of service did not warrant such a great alarm. The fact is that surveillance of the people by Tech Giants is something that has been happening for years. It cannot be countered by merely switc
WhatsApp s New Privacy Policy Confusing You? All Your Questions Answered news18.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news18.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
We will rise up: Vice President Kamala Harris highlights American aspiration
Agencies
January 21, 2021
Washington, Jan 21: In her first remarks to the nation as US Vice President, Kamala Harris has highlighted American aspiration and underlined that President Joe Biden has summoned the people to look beyond crisis and aspire to unite.
Harris, 56, made history on Wednesday when she was sworn in as the first female, first black and first Asian-American US vice-president. The former senator was sworn in just before Biden took the oath of office to become the 46th US President. In many ways, this moment embodies our character as a nation. It demonstrates who we are, even in dark times. We, not only dream, we do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be.
Updated Jan 21, 2021 | 13:30 IST
Given the policy vacuum that persists in India, there appear to be few legal provisions that protect data intermediaries like WhatsApp from strong-arming Indian citizens into surrendering sensitive data. Representational image. | Photo Credit: iStock Images
Key Highlights
WhatsApp s latest privacy policy, which it has said must be accepted by users to prevent suspension of its text-messaging service, has reignited the debate around data protection
India has displayed remarkable lethargy in implementing its draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 that, crucially, mandates the setup of an independent Data Protection Authority to explicitly review matters relating to privacy
Experts have noted that WhatsApp s evolving privacy policy works in contravention to Section 5 of the PDP Bill