Draft Telecom Bill: Surveillance Paradise and Gift to Telecom Monopolies

The government recently released a draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022 for public comment. It follows the withdrawal of the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, which had been in the making for five years. The PDP … Read moreDraft Telecom Bill: Surveillance Paradise and Gift to Telecom Monopolies

The Ugly Truth Behind WhatsApp’s Data Privacy

WHATSAPP, a company owned by Facebook since 2014, has issued a new privacy policy changing its data-sharing rules, which will come into effect by February 8, 2021. In this new policy, WhatsApp has declared that … Read moreThe Ugly Truth Behind WhatsApp’s Data Privacy

US Tech War on China & the 5G Battlefield

THE US tech war on China continues, banning Chinese equipment from its network, and asking its 5-Eyes partners and NATO allies to follow suit. It is a market and a technology denial regime that seeks … Read moreUS Tech War on China & the 5G Battlefield

Telecom: From License-Permit Raj to License-to-Loot Raj

THE major private operators, along with the State run operators in the telecom sector, are currently reeling under a three year price war with Reliance Jio. This has hit their profitability, with Jio buying its … Read moreTelecom: From License-Permit Raj to License-to-Loot Raj

What is Ravishankar Prasad Hiding on WhatsApp Hack?

AS many as 1,400 smartphones worldwide – including 140 of Indians – have been hacked. This hack used Pegasus, the software tools from the notorious hacker-for-hire Israeli company NSO or Q Cyber Technologies. The fundamental … Read moreWhat is Ravishankar Prasad Hiding on WhatsApp Hack?

Tech for Democracy in a Brave New Digital World

WITH the elections in the offing, different groups – the Free Software Movement of India, Association for Democratic Reforms, Common Cause, etc – have raised a key issue: how to stop the Indian elections from … Read moreTech for Democracy in a Brave New Digital World

Hacking Democracy with Big Data, Fake News and Big Money

Starting with the Channel 4 exposé of Cambridge Analytica, and now the NaMo app that sends data to Clevertap.com, we are beginning to realise the impact of big data on elections. If we combine this … Read moreHacking Democracy with Big Data, Fake News and Big Money

Why the 2G Judgement is Wrong

The Special Court judge Saini in his judgements running into thousands of pages on the 2G spectrum issue, seems to believe that let alone criminality, there was nothing wrong with the procedures that A Raja … Read moreWhy the 2G Judgement is Wrong

Cyber Peace Treaty or the Peace of the Hegemon?

 After WannaCry and (Not)Petya ransomware hitting global high profile organisations, there is a much greater awareness of the risks from cyber weapons. Both these ransomwares used EternalBlue, the stolen NSA exploit of a Windows … Read moreCyber Peace Treaty or the Peace of the Hegemon?

NSA’s Hacking Tool in World’s Biggest Malware Attack

  Last week, the world woke up to the largest cyber security threat ever, with a ransomware wannacry originating from NSA’s cache of cyber weapons, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers. Computers in more than … Read moreNSA’s Hacking Tool in World’s Biggest Malware Attack

BJP Troll Sena Exposed

Swati Chaturvedi’s book I am a Troll, released a few days back, blows the lid off BJP’s systematic trolling of its opponents. We have always known that the trolling on the internet we see on … Read moreBJP Troll Sena Exposed

Maran’s OneIndia Plan: Attacking Rural Telephony

THE OneIndia plan, which the minister for Communications, Dayanidhi Maran has thrust down the throat of reluctant BSNL and TRAI, has serious repercussions for the telecom sector. If the problems of the sector is growing … Read moreMaran’s OneIndia Plan: Attacking Rural Telephony