(IANS)
Brasilia/New Delhi, April 17: After facing an intense scrutiny in India over its upcoming privacy update, consumer protection agencies in Brazil have now asked the government to act on the May 15 privacy update that will allow Facebook to aggregate users' data across all of its platforms.
Consumer rights non-profit organisation Idec has notified Brazil's National Data Protection Authority, the National Consumer Secretariat and the Federal Prosecution Service, among others, with a request for joint action against the privacy policy, reports ZDNet.
"It is essential that the Brazilian authorities press [Facebook] for clear answers and that the administrative procedures implemented respect the data protection rights of Brazilians", said Michel Roberto de Souza, the lawyer leading the digital rights programme at Idec.
Originally planned for a February 8 roll out, WhatsApp had to defer the privacy policy amid strong protests in India.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) strongly objected to the new WhatsApp privacy policy through which all kinds of personal data, payment transactions, contacts, location and other vital information of a person using WhatsApp will be acquired by it and can be used for any purpose by the platform.
In a communication sent to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, CAIT demanded that the government immediately restrict WhatsApp from implementing the new policy or put a ban on WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook.
The Centre last month asked the Delhi High Court to restrain instant messenger app WhatsApp from implementing its new privacy policy.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in an affidavit filed before the High Court, stated that WhatsApp's new privacy policy was not in tune with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011.
The IT Ministry said WhatsApp's new privacy policy "fails to specify types of sensitive personal data being collected".
According to the Idec in Brazil, "there is a lack of clear information to users on the upcoming changes and their consequences".
"There are strong indications that the company disrespects the consumer protection code and the civil framework of the Internet and did not adequately adapt to the new data protection legislation," Idec argued.
(IANS)
Lucknow, Nov 30: Hundreds of passengers aboard the Barauni-Lucknow Express were left stranded at Burhwal railway station in Barabanki due to the departure of the train’s loco pilots, one of whom said that his duty hours were over, while the other claimed uneasiness before switching off their duties.
This incident on Wednesday reportedly kept North Eastern Railway (NER) officials on their toes for several hours as they grappled with the challenge of securing another loco pilot to continue the journey to its destination in Lucknow.
Confirming the incident, the NER said in a statement: “Upon reaching Burhwal station, the loco pilot of Train Number 15203 expressed discomfort with proceeding further. In consideration of ensuring safe and secure train operations, arrangements were promptly made for another loco pilot to take over, allowing the train to continue its journey to Lucknow in a safe and secure manner.”
A video has also surfaced, featuring an official believed to be the station master, who is heard informing passengers that the loco pilot had declined to continue, but another loco pilot was en route, and normal services would resume shortly.
The official mentioned that the train had arrived at the station around 1 p.m., and due to the unanticipated situation, passengers became agitated, highlighting the railway’s apparent lack of preparedness.
This led authorities to expedite the deployment of an alternate loco pilot.
Railway officials explained that the loco pilot’s duty hours were completed due to delays in the train schedule.
Consequently, the loco pilot brought in from Gorakhpur stopped the train midway to rest.
A senior official revealed that the train arrived at Burhwal railway station about six to seven hours behind schedule, resulting in the completion of the loco pilot’s duty hours.
Subsequently, the loco pilot disembarked from the train after completing his duty.
The train remained halted at Burhwal railway station for approximately two hours until a second loco pilot from the Amrapali train arrived.
(IANS)
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New Delhi, Nov 30: Nearly one in three (30 per cent) Indians say they are watching a lot of videos they later find to be fake, with more than one in two residents seeking social media platforms to be mandated to remove deepfake videos within 24 hours, a new survey showed on Thursday.
In the recent weeks, multiple Indian actors have featured in deepfake short videos circulating on various social media platforms.
According to the survey by social community platform LocalCircles, 43 per cent of Indians surveyed watch three or more short videos on average each day.
Thirty per cent of them say they later find 25 per cent or more videos they watched to be fake
About 56 per cent respondents say a deepfake video circulating on a social media platform should be removed within 24 hours of complaint submission, the findings showed.
Many deepfakes have been found in circulation in election-bound states also, leading the government to take serious note of the rising trend of deepfakes, particularly in the light of the popularity of short videos.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has said the government will assist citizens in filing FIR against social media platforms for violation of IT rules in case they are aggrieved from objectionable content like deepfakes.
The minister said the government will come up with new regulations soon to tackle deepfakes. In the meanwhile, the government has mandated that social media companies must promptly and diligently identify misleading and deepfake videos.
According to the survey, very few people know or bother to check the authenticity of a video they watch forwarded to them on social media platforms.
As part of the community discussions, people have expressed the extremely poor responsiveness that platforms have to user complaints when their social media account gets hacked.
People have written that even after a formal police complaint, it has taken 7-10 days for deactivation and without one many are waiting to hear from platforms even after three weeks.
“Not just actors, politicians, celebrities, etc., but anybody can become the target of deepfake videos as new tools emerge globally every month enabling users to create a deepfake video,” the survey noted.
(IANS)
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