#WhatsApp is taking the Indian government to court over the traceability clause in the new IT Rules 2021.The new IT rules include a traceability clause that requires #socialmedia platforms to locate “the first originator of the information” if required by authorities.
In its plea, it is learnt #WhatsApp is invoking the 2017 Justice KS Puttaswamy vs Union Of India case to argue that the traceability provision is unconstitutional and against people’s fundamental right to #privacy as underlined by the SC decision indianexpress.com/article/techno…
It should be noted that this rule will impact most messaging apps such as #Signal, #Telegram, Snapchat, Wire and others. Signal is completely end-to-end encrypted (E2E) and, in fact, WhatsApp relies on the Signal protocol for its own encryption. Image
#WhatsApp plea states that the court should declare the traceability clause as “unconstitutional” and should not allow it to come into force. It is also challenging the clause which puts “criminal liability” on its employees for non compliance, it is learnt.
Explained: Key changes in #WhatsApp’s #PrivacyPolicy
The company has issued a detailed blog post explaining why traceability will not work. A #WhatsApp spokesperson said that the requirement to ‘trace’ chats would be the “equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp.” Image
In the blog post, #WhatsApp says it is all for “reasonable and proportionate regulations”, but cannot support “eroding privacy for everyone, violating human rights, and putting innocent people at risk.” bit.ly/3yDJ08i Image
Why is WhatsApp against finding the originator of a message?

End-to-end #encryption ensures that no one can read the message, except for the sender and the receiver. This includes #WhatsApp itself. Nor does the app keep a log of who is sending what message and to whom.
But why can’t #WhatsApp impose traceability? What is the harm, even if it has to rely on ‘fingerprinting’ techniques? Image
The post says in order “to trace even one message, services would have to trace every message”, because “there is no way to predict which message a government would want to investigate in the future”.

Read the detailed explainer here: indianexpress.com/article/explai…
“The Government of India is committed to ensure the Right of #Privacy to all its citizens but at the same time it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and ensure national security,” IT Minister said
indianexpress.com/article/techno…

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More from @IndianExpress

27 May
From the Archives | Remembering #JawaharlalNehru on his death anniversary through some rare archive pictures.

Photo feature: bit.ly/2TgTp9D
Replug | It was a long and winding road that took the child born at Anand Bhawan to his last steps as the Indian Prime Minister at Teen Murti Bhawan. It was not an easy journey.
(Excerpted with permission from #JawaharlalNehru by Aditi De) indianexpress.com/article/parent…
Replug | #JawaharlalNehru, the historian who wrote about the past for the love of his daughter’s future bit.ly/3fNSkOm Image
Read 6 tweets
24 May
An analysis of real-world data from the UK details the effectiveness of Pfizer & #AstraZeneca vaccines against two variants of the #SARSCoV2 coronavirus: one, denoted as B.1.1.7, with its origins in Kent, UK, and the second, denoted as B.1.617.2, that was first detected in India.
Indian public policy has massive interest in this information since the broader B.1.617 variant is expected to, if it has not already, become the dominant strain of the disease within the population in India.
#COVID19
Efficacy data for interdose duration for some of the groups is:
2-dose efficacy with 12 weeks gap: 80%
The trial found that a single-dose had a similar efficacy for up to 90 days.
In addition to proving safety, the trial’s purpose was to establish efficacy of the two-dose regimen
Read 7 tweets
23 May
How Covid-19 took my father, my teacher away bit.ly/3fDVuEi
As the second wave hit close to home, Indian Express journalist recounts his days and nights in a #COVID19 ward as he watched his father slip away. His account narrates the pain of millions in India.
"It was May 1, my wife Chitra’s birthday. But my mind was in my hometown of Tarapur in Bihar’s Munger where my parents live. The previous night, I had video-called my father Sanjay Prasad Singh, a retired English teacher, and chided him for hiding his fever from me..."
Read 8 tweets
16 May
#Covid19 #COVID19India

As a nation counts — and also doesn’t count — its dead, as the wave enters villages, The Sunday Express profiles lives lost for the lack of oxygen and listens to what their survivors have to say.

indianexpress.com/article/india/…
AC maintenance contractor Gurdeep Singh, 37, died on April 27 at New Medical College Hospital, Kota. He leaves behind his wife and a child who turns 2 on May 24.
#Covid19 “I am a nurse, but for my husband, I had to arrange remdesivir through a politician. He kept saying he didn’t want to die… ,”says his wife Maninder Kaur.

indianexpress.com/article/india/…
Read 11 tweets
15 May
In fact, much before the festive season in India, between September and October, we had ensured that banks, NBFCs and others reached out with liquidity, said Sitharaman on @ftlive

bit.ly/3fhkoJH
@ftlive The Indian economy has been slowing, now at 5-6% range, and will need quite a bit of policy-change reforms, in a difficult world environment, to be successful in the decade ahead,” said Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times on @ftlive

bit.ly/2RT7f1x
@ftlive The panelists discussed the role of the state and investment climate for businesses, what an Atmanirbhar Bharat meant, what factors contributed to the slowing down of the economy, where the fault lines are and how the second wave will impact growth.

bit.ly/33GZQF8
Read 5 tweets
14 May
All indications from the coronavirus numbers in India in the last two weeks suggest that the second wave of infections may already have reached a peak, or will peak in the next few days, but end may still be far away.
#ExpressExplained : bit.ly/3hunKvx

#COVID19India Image
After reaching a high of 4.14 lakh last Thursday, the daily cases has dropped significantly in the last 1 week. This is not happening for the first time. After crossing 4 lakh mark for the first time on April 30, the case count had gone down for a few days, before jumping again. Image
#Maharashtra, which at one point was contributing more than 60% of daily cases, certainly seems to be in a declining phase now. The decline in Maharashtra is likely to have the biggest impact on the national curve.
#COVID19
Read 11 tweets

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