Indian regulator TRAI has come under criticism from mobile operators and net neutrality supporters after recommending a controversial method of providing free data. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has posited two models of offering free data. The first model would be subsidised by the universal service obligation fund, and see rural subscribers each receiving…
Net Neutrality to Aadhar Bill: The Tech World’s Biggest Policy Changes in 2016.Take a Look Back at the important Developments in the Technology Policy Spaces in 2016 and want to Look Forward to in 2017. Read More
Only a quarter of world’s Internet users get free access: The year 2016 did not witness any improvement in Internet freedom the world over. In fact, according to a recent report, it has declined this year with only a quarter of the world’s Internet users enjoying free access to it. China fared the worst when…
Online surveillance: Seeking user info a rising global phenomenon: During the first half of calendar year 2016, social networking site Facebook removed access to 2,034 pieces of content based on requests by the Indian government and other agencies. This was starkly lower than the 14,971 content restricted during the six-month ago period, and 15,155 in…
Ministry plans cell to check online child pornography: THE CENTRE is set to institute a cell within the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) as part of its plans to set up a national alliance against child pornography content on the Internet. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said the decision was…
50 hacking cases in one month post-demonetisation, says expert: Following the November 8 demonetisation, cyber security solutions provider TAC Security received more than 50 hacking incidents in a month’s time, the company revealed on Tuesday. The incidents included ransomware, financial frauds and website hacking in various Indian enterprises. Read More
Govt cyber cell to watch social media posts: The Haryana government has decided to ratchet up its cyber policing with a centre for digital investigations that it will inaugurate on Wednesday in Gurgaon. The Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (Ditac) will focus exclusively on social media content, picking up anything it feels is “inflammatory”…
Panic Online: Where is the Line Between Security & Freedom?: Rapid spread of misinformation could have potentially escalated into on-street mobilisation and counter-mobilisation, but was prevented by credible online presence of the Bengaluru City Police, which quickly dismissed this malicious information through its Twitter and Facebook social media teams… Read More
Free data in rural areas: Trai proposal could violate Net neutrality: Less than a year after the government banned Airtel Zero and Facebook’s Free Basics for violating net neutrality provisions, Trai has recommended an aggregator model to provide rural smartphone users with 100MB of free data a month. It examined three possible models—a ‘reward’ model…
MBA student held over dog meat rumour on WhatsApp: HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police arrested a 22-year-old MBA student for posting a damaging Whatsapp messageagainst a city-based eatery. The offender, V Chandra Mohan, posted that Shah Ghouse restaurant in the city had used dog meat in Biryani. The message went viral and caused enormous financial losses for…