PrivacyIndia

A government panel set up to examine security threats regarding 15 forms of communications, including Google's Gmail, Research in Motion's BlackBerry services, Nokia's email offerings and internet telephony among others, that cannot be tracked by law enforcement agencies here, has recommended that no service be banned purely on the grounds that it cannot be monitored. It has recommended that in the short term, India can force operators who offer such services to either locate their servers in the country or share encryption keys with security agencies and assist security agencies here in monitoring these services.

Cyber Crime police on Friday evening arrested an internet hacker, Vangalapudi Vijaya Kumar, 23, for swindling Rs 30,600 from an HDFC Bank customer. Vijaya Kumar, a resident of Boduppal and a native of Krishna district, secured the internet banking user name and password of a cyber cafe visitor. He used the details to purchase online a mobile phone (Nokia N-97) worth Rs 30,600 on December 3. On December 8, he sold the mobile instrument for Rs 20,000 to one Shahnawaz Zubair, a mobile vender at Jagdish Market, Abids. Through the IMEI number of the phone, the duo were traced and arrested, an official press release said.

BANGALORE: The Centaur Hotels' website, centaurhotels.com, appears to have compromised personal information of its hotel guests, in what seems to be a case of poor internet security protocols implemented by the site. This allowed website visitors on Saturday to obtain and view details of passports, driving licences, pan numbers, credit cards, and other forms of personal identification provided by its guests. Centaur Hotels, a unit of the Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Aviation Company of India that runs national carrier Air India. It runs a hotel near the Delhi international airport and another in Srinagar.

The State-level pilot project of the biometric census for the National Population Register (NPR) began here on Friday. Speaking at the inaugural function, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Minister for Revenue, said that the creation of a comprehensive database of the population would enable the people to avail of the benefits and services under various government programmes more effectively. It would not only aid the planning process, but also strengthen the security of the nation, he said. An iris scan was conducted on the Minister and his fingerprints and photograph were taken during the inaugural function

PANCHKULA: Following the footsteps of UT police, Haryana police is also mulling over to procure unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for the force. Senior officials of Haryana police including ADGP (law and order) B S Sandhu on Tuesday witnessed the demonstration of an Israeli-made UAV ' Micro B ' at Sector-5 parade ground. Bangalore-based company officials demonstrated the vehicle for around one-and-a-half hours and Haryana police officials saw the pictures taken by the machine.

After months of uncertainty, the government on Monday gave its in-principle approval to National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), which will facilitate robust information sharing among law enforcement agencies to combat terror threat at home and abroad. Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/natgrid-gets-cabinet-approval-110816?cp

So much so, it has asked the telecoms department to make it mandatory for all mobile phone companies to secure suitable clearances from LEAs before running the Tiger application on their networks. "Use of the (Tiger Text) application by Indian telecom service providers can create operational problems for national security agencies

NEW DELHI: Indian law enforcement and national security officials are drawing up plans that will give them technology capabilities to cut off all internet services during emergencies. After a series of recent meetings on cyber security held at the prime Minister's Office at South Block, all government departments have been asked to jointly work on developing technologies and also invest in enhancing R&D capabilities to enhance the Centre's control on internet services within the country, officials aware of the development told ET.

NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) wants all mobile phone companies to store call data records, or details of all phone calls made by their customers, for a period of five years-a move that is set to be vehemently opposed by companies citing operational costs. At present, telcos store call records only for six months. This marks the second time in the recent months that the IB has asked the telecom ministry to increase the tenure of storing communication details of customers.

Facebook has quietly expanded the availability of technology to automatically identify people in photos, renewing concerns about the privacy practices of the world's top social networking service. The feature, which Facebook automatically enabled for Facebook users, has been expanded from the US to "most countries", Facebook said on its official blog. Its "Tag Suggestions" feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of labeling friends and acquaintances that appear in photos posted on Facebook.

To ensure elimination of bogus ration cards, the central government is pushing states to go for biometric ones, taking the help of unique identification (UID) numbers. States have been asked to take a lead in distributing biometric ration cards, as identification of beneficiaries for issuing ration cards is a state subject. States like Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra have already launched pilot projects to make biometric ration cards. A senior food ministry official said a biometric ration card would be different from a regular one. It would have barcoded details of the beneficiary, with a picture of the head of the family. The card can be read at any ration shop through a machine that will then be matched with the fingerprint details of the beneficiary to eliminate duplication or misuse.

"The Central Information Commission has directed the Raja Sabha Secretariat to disclose the details of private and pecuniary interests declared by MPs, including their commercial and business interests and remunerative positions held by them. Acting on an appeal filed by Anil Bairwal of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Chief Information Commissioner Satyendra Mishra asked the House to release the "register of members' [commercial and business] interest" containing details of their business and commercial interests such as "remunerative directorship, regular remunerative activity, shareholding of controlling nature, paid consultancy and professional engagement.""

"NEW DELHI: "Right to privacy," like other fundamental rights in the Constitution and statutory rights under various laws, will soon become a reality. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily indicated that a bill in this regard would be introduced in the monsoon session. The Right to Privacy Bill (a copy is with The Hindu) is to provide for such a right to citizens of India and to regulate collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of their personal information. Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Moily said the bill also provided for penal action for violation of such right."

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.