PrivacyIndia

" Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has given top priority to Public Distribution System (PDS) reforms which include improvement of infrastructure for distribution and storage of PDS food grains. State Governments have been urged to take initiatives to computerize system and adopt best practices of management. Accordingly, States have taken several initiatives. As per information received from the States some of them are as under:"

"LONDON: Britain's internal spy agency MI5 tapped innocent people's phone numbers in secret surveillance mix-up, according to a government report. Officers from the Security Service -- mainly concerned with the UK's internal security -- and Serious Organised Crime Agency mistakenly tapped the wrong telephones in as many as 30 cases, says the report. However, on grounds of national security, none of the victims have been identified or told their phones were wrongly intercepted, the 'Daily Mail' reported. "

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a writ petition for a direction to the Centre to release all 5,800 conversations of Niira Radia tapped by government agencies. A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.S. Nijjar was hearing the petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and posted the matter for further hearing on February 2, along with the petition filed by industrialist Ratan Tata on the same issue. The CPIL also wanted the court "to frame guidelines that protect public whistle-blowers." The petitioner said: "Public interest requires that the conversations in the Radia tapes be brought into the public domain so that the citizens' right to know is effectuated by informing them how every aspect of their government as well as institutions such as the media, are being subverted.

NEW DELHI: Responding to concerns about breach of privacy due to intercepted phone calls being made public, government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has taken steps to devise ways to destroy taped conversations that are private

" Men whose wives have relationships with other men can go ahead and file a criminal complaint against the 'other man'. The Bombay high court on Monday dismissed a petition that sought the deletion of offence of adultery from Indian law. A bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi upheld the Constitutional validity of provision of Section 497 of Indian Penal Code, which makes adultery punishable. The petition was filed by a Worli businessman against whom a complaint of adultery was filed last year. His counsel Nitin Pradhan argued that making adultery punishable was a violation of a person's fundamental rights like the right to life, right to privacy and the right to have sexual relationships with a person of one's choice in a changing society where there was greater acceptance of consensual relationships. "

Industrialist Ratan Tata on Thursday accused the government of adopting a "lackadaisical" manner in protecting the right to privacy, citing his case as an apt example. "Today my concern is that government is not giving serious consideration and attention to the issue. There may be other CDs which can be leaked and brought into public domain. There is a lackadaisical approach on the part of the government," senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Tata in the Supreme Court, contended. Tata's concerns prompted the Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly to remark that though the government " have the right to tap but they also have the duty to protect it and ensure that it is not leaked". "They have to safeguard it (the tapes) effectively. In the fast-changing time and developing technology, privacy is virtually disappearing and is being diluted," the court observed.

" The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is planning to use bio-metric devices for attendance, on-site monitoring system for lifting of bins and GPS for garbage vehicle tracking to improve efficiency of the sanitary system. Reviewing the work of various GHMC wings on Monday, municipal commissioner MT Krishna Babu expressed displeasure with the present sanitary system, particularly garbage lifting and staff attendance."

Malaysia on Monday indefinitely postponed a massive exercise to fingerprint at least two million illegal foreign workers including many Indians in the country until all parties were ready for it. An amnesty scheme to encourage illegal migrant workers to come and register was to begin today but has been indefinitely postponed.

BANGALORE: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has hit a legal bump. Questioning the project's legality, V K Somasekhar, founder-trustee of Grahak Shakti, and Mathew Thomas, a retired Army officer of Citizens' Action Forum, have issued notices to UIDAI chairperson and Planning Commission chairperson and deputy chairperson.

Banks have shot down a proposal from the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) to gain access to their confidential customer data.Their anxiety to guard customer information from the prying eyes of the Home Ministry's ambitious anti-terror project seems to have drawn the support of the Reserve Bank of India.

the managing committee of the group housing society now finds itself in the middle of another controversy: for making it mandatory for skilled workers to furnish their fingerprints before entering the complex. The managing committee has been warned by the police to stop the illegal practice. "We received an e-mail from two members of the society about the practice being carried out, following which we issued the warning. As per law, only government investigative agencies have the right to take fingerprints. We will look into the possibility of taking legal action once we receive a complaint from those whose fingerprints have been taken.

SAN FRANCISCO: An internet privacy group that prodded US regulators to scrutinize Google Inc is miffed about getting cut out of a class action settlement over the search behemoth's Buzz social network. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) objected to the settlement in a court filing this week, claiming Google and others decided to fund groups already benefiting from the company's largesse.

The Supreme Court today said it will hold final hearing on a day-to-day basis from April 19 on Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata's plea to bar online portals and electronic media from airing his phone conversation with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia tapped by the income tax department. A bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly will examine the issues raised by Tata including the questions of right to privacy and right to freedom of speech and expression as envisaged under the Constitution.

Britain's privacy rules are under assault by rambunctious journalists, Twitter users and even sports fans, as thousands defy a judge's order keeping the name of a well-known soccer star secret. The disclosure of the sportsman's identity has made a mockery of recently introduced rules protecting public figures' privacy, raising questions about whether it was desirable - or even possible - to order journalists to keep a secret in an age where a single rogue tweet can be read around the world.Britain's privacy rules are under assault by rambunctious journalists, Twitter users and even sports fans, as thousands defy a judge's order keeping the name of a well-known soccer star secret. The disclosure of the sportsman's identity has made a mockery of recently introduced rules protecting public figures' privacy, raising questions about whether it was desirable - or even possible - to order journalists to keep a secret in an age where a single rogue tweet can be read around the world.

Google on Thursday announced it will begin collecting images in Bangalore for its controversial Street View service, which will be offered on Google Maps. The service will allow you to explore places through its 360-degree, street-level imagery. This, it intends to do by using cars and "trikes" (three-wheel pedicab) fitted with a camera system on top. The vehicles "will start gathering images from select locations in and around Bangalore, such as the Nrityagram Dance Village over the next few weeks," Google said in a communiqué.

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, obtained phone records of a whistleblower professor's conversations with journalists without his consent or the sanction of a court or investigative agencies, to charge the faculty member with violating service rules. IIT Kharagpur obtained call details of conversations between computer science professor Rajeev Kumar and journalists from two leading English dailies, drawing allegations of violation of both law and privacy. Other than a customer, only government probe agencies and courts - and not employers in general - can demand call details or records from telecom service providers in India. Service providers also swear to ensure customer privacy in their license agreement with the government.

The packed courtroom waited, but N.D. Tiwari didn't come. Despite a high court order, the Congress veteran didn't turn up to give his blood sample for a DNA test to ascertain whether Rohit Shekhar, a 31-year-old lawyer, is his biological son. Rohit and his mother Ujjawala were present in court today with a doctor who had come to take Tiwari's blood sample. Tiwari's lawyer Bahar Barqui moved an application before joint registrar Deepak Garg, saying Indian and international laws were clear that no individual could be "forced" to give DNA sample.

Cellular giant Vodafone has warned its customer with a law suit after he posted on facebook the numbers and names of the service executives who failed to help him in service. Dhaval Valia, the customer changed his service operator to Vodafone this year in Apr. Dhaval said that he was unsatisfied with the customer care service and brought out his anger through his updates on social networking site, facebook.

The law ministry is working on a proposal to make right to privacy a fundamental right in the Indian Constitution. The right to privacy would include the right to confidentiality of communication, confidentiality of private or family life, protection of his honour and good name, protection from search, detention or exposure of lawful communication between individuals, privacy from surveillance, confidentiality of banking, financial, medical and legal information, protection from identity theft of various kinds, protection of use of a person's photographs, fingerprints, DNA samples and other samples taken at police stations and other places and protection of data relating to individual.

Law enforcement agencies can tap anyone's phone for security/operational reasons for 72 hours even without getting permission from the Union home secretary or principal secretary (home) of states. An inspector general-rank officer can give orders to do so. But if they don't get a nod from the top on the fourth day, they will have to destroy the call records within 48 hours of getting the response from the designated authority.