India Bans 22 Social Media Sites to Calm Tensions in Kashmir: (SRINAGAR, India) — Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have banned 22 social media sites in an effort to calm tensions in the disputed region after videos depicting the alleged abuse of Kashmiris by Indian forces fueled protests. But the sites remained online Thursday as the…
Digital rights are human rights, says Nighat Dad at RightsCon 2017: The sixth conference of its kind, RightsCon 2017 was first initiated after social media’s role in Arab Spring. The event, held from March 29-31, included around 250 sessions under 20 main themes including Freedom of Expression, Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency, Business and Human Rights,…
Internet shutdown in Kashmir during by poll; 25-year-old candidate taking on bigwigs: Amidst calls for poll boycott, the J&K Police decided to clamp the internet down in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency before the bypoll began on Sunday despite J&K Chief Election Officer suggesting not to, as their webcast would also be affected. Read More
Supreme Court of India hears the WhatsApp-Facebook Data Sharing Case: The special leave petition against the Delhi High Court’s ruling upholding WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy came up for hearing before a bench of five judges today. This policy is contentious because it allows WhatsApp to share valuable personal information of its users, including phone numbers,…
Mobile internet in Kashmir snapped twice in a month; What can be done instead: Mobile internet services were snapped for the second time across Kashmir this month, Greater Kashmir reports. According to reports, mobile Internet services could remain suspended for next four days, though there was no immediate official confirmation. Internet services were cut following…
Unlawful to make Aadhaar mandatory: Recently, I attempted a tweetstorm on why I think the 2016 Aadhaar Act does not override, or render useless, the orders passed in Oct 2015 by the Supreme Court. I argued that all of the recent notifications by various central government authorities making Aadhaar mandatory to avail the respective service…
100 crore people in India still far away from Internet connectivity: TRAI Chief: Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) RS Sharma today said that four billion people worldwide still had no access to the Internet connectivity and out of that 100 crore people lived in India. “In data connectivity, there are four billion…
Online abuse a modern-day weapon to silence women: Barkha Dutt: I have been called a whore, a ‘randi’, ‘c***”, bitch and ‘presstitute” on Twitter and other social media platforms so often that now I barely notice it. It is not unusual for me to get tweets that go like this: “Tum agar randi bhi ban…
India’s ‘Phone Romeos’ Look for Ms. Right via Wrong Numbers: LUCKNOW, India — In a glass-sided call center, police constables clicketyclack on computer keyboards, on the trail of a particularly Indian sort of criminal. The “phone Romeo,” as he is known here, calls numbers at random until he hears a woman’s voice, in the hope…
Man Sacked After Rana Ayyub Posts His Abusive Messages on Twitter: Bincylal Balachandran, 31, who worked with Alpha Paints in Dubai as a customer service employee was reportedly sacked when complaints of his behaviour reached his employers. According to Gulf News, social media users who were enraged by his messages brought it to the company’s attention on…