"Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will soon establish data entry centres in all villages to collect details of citizens so that it can issue Aadhar cards with unique identification number. Officials of UIDAI and the Planning Commission conducted a review meeting in the Zilla Parishad conference hall over the progress of the Aadhar card programme in the district. They have urged public representatives including ZPTC and MPTC members to create awareness among the public over Aadhar cards which would provide unique identification number to every citizen of the country. UIDAI director Mr. Ravindra said applications for the cards would be available at all the ration shops and AP Online centres. According to him, people above 5 years of age were eligible to get the cards. "The scheme is very important for the downtrodden sections as Aadhar cards will enable them to get many benefits from the government," he said. "Corrections in the existing ration cards will also be possible with the entry of new data which is essential for issuing Aadhar cards," he added."

Chandigarh : "The State of Punjab is sitting over a list of around 1,600 proclaimed offenders, who are settled abroad in various countries including United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada", said Vikram Bajwa, President, Indian Overseas Congress, while addressing a press conference here today. Bajwa, along with Amarjit Kaur Bhinder, widow of bombed plane Kanishka's co-pilot SS Bhinder and his brother Kamaljit Singh Bhinder, addressed reporters in the wake of the forthcoming three-days Pravasi Divas, to be held in New Delhi from January 7. Bajwa said the Indian Overseas Congress has appealed to the Indian government and to the Government of Punjab as well, to upload the list of 1,600 proclaimed offenders on their websites, so that people who are settled abroad and are either falsely implicated in some cases or have been made POs by mistake, make seek legal remedies. "In absence of such information, what happens is that a NRI comes to India, and is detained at the airport. He receives the shock of his life, when he is told that he is a proclaimed offender in a case registered against him 10 years or 20 years ago. If the list is uploaded, at least the genuine people, who had to undergo such harassment, could seek legal remedies and come back to their motherland", Bajwa added.

"Worried about the negative impact of the leakage of intercepted conversations, the Centre has begun working on codifying privacy laws in the country. The new law will frame rules for monitoring phone and the Internet and for providing a redressal mechanism in case of breach of privacy. "

If Mr Ratan Tata, Ms Barkha Dutt, Mr Vir Singhvi and others who figured in Radia tapes and Ms Niira Radia herself feel defamed by these revelations, they can test their right to reputation by suing the publishers. Certainly they do not have Article 21 protection here. That right is available for victims of crime but not to criminals or their helpers.

Google Inc will not share the encryption keys of its email service with Indian security agencies as it would compromise the privacy rights of millions of Gmail users worldwide, a top company executive said. The Union home ministry, intelligence agencies and the telecom department are collectively exploring mandatory sharing of software by all communication service companies in India, a sensitive issue with global firms. Some firms have already been asked to comply and Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) is edging closer to January 31, 2011, deadline to hand over the encryption keys for its popular BlackBerry messaging services to intelligence agencies. "

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has decided to construct, for the first time, exclusive women's toilets at public places in the city. Charminar and Birla Mandir are among several locations where these conveniences will be constructed. There will be no charge for use of the toilets. The decision has been welcomed by women's welfare organisations and the medical fraternity involved in women's health problems. But they have warned that unless the toilets are clean and hygienic, with sufficient water supply, privacy and security and are easily accessible, they will meet the same fate of disuse and decay as other public toilets in the city.

London, Dec. 19 : The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Britain's privacy watchdog, has launched an investigation into claims that vital emails between senior executives and journalists on the News of the World have been "lost" while being transported to India."

The Commissionerate Task Force police on Tuesday arrested 13 persons and seized nine computers and a laptop from them on the charge that they were downloading obscene content and circulating them among the youth. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police M. Ravindranath Babu, the task force police team comprising Inspector K. Govindaraju and Sub-Inspector U. Rama Rao conducted raids on internet centres and cell points at Prakashnagar, Governorpet, Moghalrajapuram and Krishna Lanka areas on receiving complaints from local people. All the arrested persons were circulating the obscene content in chips used in mobile phones and computers.

" Internet giant Google said sorry to New Zealanders for collecting personal data from wireless networks for its "Street View" mapping service, in the latest in a series of apologies. The company said it did not realise until earlier this year that cars it was using to photograph public streets were also gathering information known as "payload data" sent over unsecured Wi-Fi systems. Unencrypted information sent on Wi-Fi systems that are not password-protected potentially contains personal information, including the content of emails. "

"acebook on Wednesday began making outside applications or websites detail what private information they want from people's online profiles. Websites or applications then must get permission from users for specific data, according to Bret Taylor of Facebook. "