UNETHICAL STATE CENSOR: How good is India at patrolling the web?

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Jaimon Joseph, CNN-IBN / Updated Aug 16, 2011 at 06:00pm IST.

New Delhi: In the aftermath of the London riots, Britain considered tighter controls on the Internet, to prevent social unrest. How good is India at patrolling the web? Nikhil Pahwa, the Editor of www.Medianama.com recently tried uploading his holiday photos from Ladakh to a file sharing site to share it with friends. He couldn't do it because unknown to most of us, Internet Service Providers (ISP), had blocked all file sharing sites in the country, to prevent online piracy of the movie 'Singham'.

"Instead of blocking access only to the copyright infringement of 'Singham', everything was blocked. That's limiting my choice, my usage of services when I have done nothing wrong," Nikhil said.

Now, with a new set of IT rules for companies that connect people to the Internet, any content or any website the government objects to, can be blocked within 36 hours by sending a written note to an ISP. The rules cover any content deemed harmful, blasphemous, defamatory or obscene and anything that disrupts public order or threatens India's security.

Some legal experts suggest that these words are too ambiguous. For example, a big part of Anna Hazare's campaign was waged online. The question is whether the government could one day decide that it is a risk to public order and force it offline.

Recent reports suggest that the government will watch whatever one posts on Facebook and Twitter. The new IT rules allow the government to find out who we are, where we are and what we do on the net. Unusual, because till now, even for a simple telephone tap, the government needed authorisation from court.

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Government wants to monitor Facebook, Twitter accounts!

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August 14, 2011 / IANS, New Delhi / DC.

It is not just your BlackBerry and mobile phones, the government also wants to snoop in on your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Communication and IT Milind Deora has said the telecom department has received a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure effective monitoring of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter.

The minister said the government is in regular conversation with the telecom service providers to address security issues and implement the solution to the extent possible, keeping in view security, service and developmental needs of the country.

India's security establishment has also been in talks with Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) over access to encrypted data sent on BlackBerry devices while the Canadian firm has been ruling out 'selective' decoding of e-mails and SMSes.

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/government-wants-monitor-facebook-twitter-accounts-815

U.K. RIOTS: Police reject proposal to shut social networking sites!

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Guardian / The Hindu / LONDON, August 13, 2011.

While some politicians have called for a ban on social networking sites for inciting violence, the police have maintained that social networking sites help in dispelling rumours - AP.

Louise Mensch, the British Conservative MP and one of the UK parliament’s more active Twitter users, has backed prime minister David Cameron’s call for social networking services to be shut down temporarily during civil disorder.

Mensch, a successful novelist, used Twitter to call for a “brief temporary shutdown” of Twitter and Facebook to stop unfounded rumours being spread, as she said had occurred last week during the riots that spread from London to several cities across England.

“Common sense. If riot info and fear is spreading by Facebook & Twitter, shut them off for an hour or two, then restore. World won’t implode,” she said.

“I don’t have a problem with a brief temporary shutdown of social media just as I don’t have a problem with a brief road or rail closure. If short, necessary and only used in an emergency, so what. We’d all survive if Twitter shut down for a short while during major riots.”

However, on Friday, police in Manchester, in the north west of England, which was hit by the rioting earlier this week, backed the use of social networks, saying they have allowed authorities to correct rumours before they gather momentum.

Kevin Hoy, web manager at Greater Manchester police, said Twitter allowed them to give “direct reassurance” and “dispel rumours ... in a way that we could never have achieved previously”.

The force said Twitter had been an “overwhelmingly positive” and “vital” channel of communication as violence spread across the region. It has urged its 95,000 Twitter followers to “name and shame” suspected rioters in CCTV images it has posted online.

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http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/article2353909.ece

Harnessing the power of social media to attract, retain customers!

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Ravi Shankar / The Hindu / July 23, 2011.

Ravi Shankar, Senior Director, MDM Product Marketing, Informatica. Photo: Special Arrangement - The Hindu.

Fans are a powerful viral marketing force who can influence many, but cultivating those customers requires an insight into the dynamics of social media data.

Who's your most valuable customer? Is it the one who buys the most or the one who influences other buyers via social media, effectively doubling as a salesperson?

It's an intriguing question as companies seek to capitalise on social media data to attract and retain customers. 

A key segment is the customers who endorse products and services via Facebook updates, tweets, videos, blogs and more.

These fans are a powerful viral marketing force who influence an extended network of followers with an estimated 50 million tweets and 60 million Facebook updates a day. But cultivating those customers requires an insight into the dynamics of social media data.

Suppose you could learn from a Facebook fan that her son is looking for colleges, she's shopping for a new car, and that she likes cooking. That's invaluable information for targeted marketing available nowhere else. 

And if you can cultivate that customer, you can benefit from the viral marketing effect when she tweets or posts about your product to her friends, and friends of those friends.

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INTERNATIONAL TERROR: Pentagon to monitor ‘new battleground’ of social media!

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July 22, 2011 / ANI, Washington / DC.

The Pentagon is asking experts to help figure out how to detect and counter propaganda on social media networks in the aftermath of the Arab uprising.

The US military's high-tech research wing, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has sent a request for experts to look at 'a new science of social networks' that would attempt to get ahead of the curve of events unfolding on new media.

The program aims to track ‘purposeful or deceptive messaging and misinformation" in social networks and to pursue’. According to DARPA's request for proposals issued on July 14, the program will also help ‘counter messaging of detected adversary influence operations’, The Telegraph reports.

Some senior US officials have spoken of the need to better track unrest revealed in social networks and to look for ways to shape outcomes in the Arab world through Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/sci-tech/others/pentagon-monitor-%E2%80%98new-battleground%E2%80%99-social-media-245

SECURITY & SOCIAL MEDIA: No leniency in monitoring social networking sites: Govt!

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PTI / The Hindu / NEW DELHI, July 13, 2011.

MoS, Communications and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, with MD, Advanced Micro Devices, Ravi Swaminathan, at an AMD-Assocham event - PTI.

The government on Wednes made it clear that social networking sites must comply with the security agencies’ requirement for a real-time monitoring of their user data to ensure that national security is not compromised.

In the backdrop of a raging controversy over BlackBerry posing security concerns, security agencies have asked the Telecom Ministry to provide real-time monitoring of various social networking sites like Facebook, Google, Skype and Twitter, among others, Ministry of State for Telecom and IT Sachin Pilot said.

“We cant afford to take chances with national security,” Mr. Pilot said on the sidelines of an international conference organised by the U.S.-based IT giant AMD, the world’s second largest chip maker.

“There are a whole list of companies that have been asked to give (access), provide monitoring solution, because law enforcement agencies, the home ministry and intelligence agencies want information for national security,” he said.

“Papers were exchanged months ago...the discussions are on and we are looking at finding a solution soon, since it is a matter of national security,” he said in reply to queries by reporters whether government has sent notices to Google and Skype.

The minister made it clear that the government will not leave any loop holes which may be detrimental to national security.

AMD (India) Managing Director Ravi Swaminathan said, “We believe that forums like these create a platform for the industry to come together and address relevant societal issues.”

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http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/article2224087.ece

MUMBAI RAVE PARTY: Cyber Cell to monitor codes used for rave!

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Staff Reporter / The Hindu / MUMBAI, June 29, 2011.

Following the crackdown on a rave in Raigad, the Maharashtra government has asked the Cyber Cell to keep a tab on social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook for party announcements. “Certain codes, such as ‘ravishing' are used for advertisements, which suggest if it's a rave. I have asked the Cyber Crime to give me a report of party ads and the codes used,” Minister of State (Home) Satej Patil said here on Tuesday.

The Raigad rave was organised by a music company called Beyond Logic and they had put up information about the party on their Facebook page, Deputy Superintendent of Police Namrata Patil told The Hindu over telephone. The police are now investigating drug suppliers for the rave.

Mr. Patil said he had asked the Crime Branch to launch a drive against drug peddling. The police will also probe certain allegations made by suspended police inspector Anil Jadhav against senior officers.

Of the 300 odd participants an Inspector of Anti-Narcotics Bureau of Mumbai Police being present and booked is the most bizarre, it may sound, but not surprising who is familiar with the Mumbai Police: its their officers who act as the supporters of illegal activities in the city.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2142569.ece