404 Media: Reuters Takes Down Blockbuster Hacker-for-Hire Investigation After Indian Court Order. “Reuters has ‘temporarily’ taken down a blockbuster investigation into a specific Indian hacker-for-hire operation after facing a court order issued on Monday, according to an editor’s note now published on Reuters’ site in place of the article. There is no indication that the article contained errors or otherwise incorrect information, and the editor’s note states ‘Reuters stands by its reporting and plans to appeal the decision.'”
Tag Archives: India
Deepfake row: Govt advisory for social media companies in two days (New Indian Express)
The New Indian Express: Deepfake row: Govt advisory for social media companies in two days. “The government will issue advisories to social media intermediaries such as Meta and X (formerly known as Twitter) in the next two days to ensure compliance on addressing deepfake issues, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Tuesday.”
New Indian Express: Fake letters on social media keep leaders on tenterhooks
New Indian Express: Fake letters on social media keep leaders on tenterhooks. “Fake news, in the form of letters, being spread on social media platforms is not only creating confusion in political circles but also causing a big headache for the leaders.”
Hard Drives, YouTube, and Murder: India’s Dark History of Digital Hate (WIRED)
WIRED: Hard Drives, YouTube, and Murder: India’s Dark History of Digital Hate. “Today more than half the population of India—759 million people—are online. The country has 467 million active YouTube users—the most in the world. The users are no longer predominantly urban. Nobody has tapped into this proliferation better than right-wing groups dedicated to fostering communal disharmony, moving from hard disks filled with videos and laptops in temples to the vast reach of YouTube and WhatsApp.”
Internet out: India deploys shutdowns in name of security (AFP)
AFP: Internet out: India deploys shutdowns in name of security. “With the world’s largest biometric ID database, a pioneering digital payment system for daily transactions and a flagship space and satellite programme, India knows the power of connected technology. But when trouble brews with political unrest or sectarian violence, authorities are quick to sever internet service to stem disinformation — cutting off millions of people who depend on the web for communication, information and business.”
Google Blog: Explore the rich legacy of Hindi cinema
Google Blog: Explore the rich legacy of Hindi cinema. “Journey through our collection of over 7,000 cinema artifacts and learn from stories curated by our partners— or, play our first-ever Hindi cinema puzzle party game. And with the help of augmented reality technology, project the poster of your favorite Hindi movie anytime and anywhere.”
The Hindu: Servants of Knowledge to digitally archive Motilal Banarsidass’ out-of-copyright books
The Hindu: Servants of Knowledge to digitally archive Motilal Banarsidass’ out-of-copyright books. “Servants of Knowledge and Public Resource… are set to take up digital archiving of some of the publications of Motilal Banarsidass, a 120-year-old Delhi-based publisher. Motilal Banarsidass recently arrived at an agreement with Public Resource and Servants of Knowledge to create a free and open archive of all its out-of-copyright books or old books that will not be republished.”
MoneyControl: MeitY to meet Meta, Google, other platforms and ‘brainstorm’ on deepfakes
MoneyControl (India): MeitY to meet Meta, Google, other platforms and ‘brainstorm’ on deepfakes. “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is set to meet social media platforms, including Meta and Google, in the next few days, and ‘brainstorm’ on how to mitigate the persistent issue of AI-generated deepfakes on such platforms. This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the issue of this technology, and termed it as ‘problematic’.”
Deepfakes: Social media companies summoned over deepfakes (Times of India)
Times of India: Deepfakes: Social media companies summoned over deepfakes. “The Indian government has summoned social media giants, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (now known as X), and YouTube, to discuss the law of deepfakes. This comes in response to a recent controversy overa fake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna.”
News18: India’s Biggest Data Leak So Far? Covid-19 Test Info of 81.5Cr Citizens With ICMR Up for Sale | Exclusive
News18: India’s Biggest Data Leak So Far? Covid-19 Test Info of 81.5Cr Citizens With ICMR Up for Sale | Exclusive. “In what is suspected to be the biggest data leak case in the country so far, details of 81.5 crore Indians with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are on sale. Given the grave nature of the incident, India’s premier agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to probe the matter once ICMR files a complaint.”
Nagaland Page: Tetso College Launches Digital Language Archive At The Listener Nagaland Festival
Nagaland Page (India): Tetso College Launches Digital Language Archive At The Listener Nagaland Festival. “An initiative by Tetso College, [North East India Indigenous People’s Archive] is a comprehensive digital repository dedicated to host cultural and linguistic materials of the region and is one of the first of this kind in the region.”
EV-Ready India Dashboard: Over 1.6 cr annual EV sales by 2030; estimated to grow at a CAGR of 45.5% (ET Auto)
ET Auto: EV-Ready India Dashboard: Over 1.6 cr annual EV sales by 2030; estimated to grow at a CAGR of 45.5%. “The EV-Ready India Dashboard, launched on Monday by R K Singh, Union Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy, is an interactive tool that allows one to track, analyse, and display key performance indicators and metrics for growth of EVs in the country. A free to access platform, it is developed by the Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) Foundation, a policy research and social think tank.”
MIT Technology Review: The grassroots push to digitize India’s most precious documents
New-to-me, from MIT Technology Review: The grassroots push to digitize India’s most precious documents. “The museum building houses the largest reference library for Gandhian philosophy in the state of Karnataka, and over the next year, the large assortment of books—including the collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, a translation of his autobiography, Experiments with Truth, into the Kannada language, and other rare items—will be digitized and their metadata recorded before they join the Servants of Knowledge (SoK) collection on the Internet Archive.”
BBC: Inside the deadly instant loan app scam that blackmails with nudes
BBC: Inside the deadly instant loan app scam that blackmails with nudes. “A blackmail scam is using instant loan apps to entrap and humiliate people across India and other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At least 60 Indians have killed themselves after being abused and threatened. A BBC undercover investigation has exposed those profiting from this deadly scam in India and China.”
The Hindu: All of Google’s eyes, now on Madras High Court
The Hindu: All of Google’s eyes, now on Madras High Court. “The court will decide the fate of civil suits filed against service fees levied on owners of mobile apps featured on Google Play. The litigants have accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the market to impose ‘unconscionable and arbitrary’ conditions.”