Binayak Dasgupta

Legal framework for privacy as RS clears digital data bill

While it is unlikely to take long for the bill to receive presidential assent — at which point it becomes law — the next steps will likely pan out over at least a year’s window

Updated on Aug 10, 2023 12:19 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Data Protection Bill 2023 tabled in Lok Sabha, here's what govt, Oppn are saying

The data protection law started its life as the personal data protection bill as drawn up in August 2018 by a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge.

In the pipeline since 2017, the law is meant to give a legal framework for privacy protections after the Supreme Court held it as a fundamental right for Indian citizens.

Updated on Aug 04, 2023 03:35 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Experts wary as data bill set to be tabled

The latest draft retains a clause that allows the government to “exempt any data fiduciary” from the obligations within five years of the law coming into force.

The bill has been six years in the making and the latest version would be its fifth. (File)

Updated on Aug 03, 2023 02:16 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Deep divides on social media, but algorithm tweaks may not help: Study on FB, Insta

The experiments showed there were no easy answers — ideological divides were deep, and just changing algorithms did not help address them

Updated on Jul 28, 2023 12:12 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Copycat websites surge 300%; India a hunting ground: Report

According to the Digital Risks Trend 2023 report, there was a 304% year-on-year increase in the number of scam websites that impersonated legitimate businesses.

Scam pages pretending to be financial services, such as for banks, were the most prevalent, at 74% of all such fraud websites.(Getty Images/ Representational photo)

Updated on Jul 13, 2023 02:08 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Google working on tech to discern AI-made content: Company executive

Google is developing systems to identify AI-generated synthetic media and combat political misinformation.

The comments come against the backdrop of rising concerns over the use of artificial intelligence-generated text and deepfakes for misinformation.(AP)

Updated on Jul 07, 2023 12:08 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

An open letter: On wildfires and pollution

Canada is experiencing an unprecedented year of fires, with the smoke shrouding cities in the US and, over 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, in parts of western Europe

The smoke cloud produced by the multiple wildfires ongoing in Canada’s Quebec is seen over the city of Vigo, northwestern Spain, on Monday. (AFP)

Updated on Jun 28, 2023 05:56 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta

CoWIN ‘data leak’: How a bot reignited privacy fears

The screenshots also carried details that purported to show where these people would have had their latest Covid-19 vaccine doses

At risk may be personally identifiable information (PII) of millions of people, since the data appeared to include identity documents details of people who signed up to get Covid-19 vaccines. (File Photo)

Updated on Jun 13, 2023 10:21 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta

Centre plans to rope in private companies to help secure govt servers, websites

The government’s IT services are managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which hosts 3.3 million email accounts and maintains more than 10,000 websites and services

Updated on Mar 17, 2023 04:10 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta and Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi

HT Interview | Paying up to ransomware attackers bad strategy…: Dmitry Volkov

Dmitry Volkov, the CEO of cyber threat intelligence firm Group-IB says, ransomware remains a threat number one for public and private companies around the world. They have a strong focus on big enterprises that can afford to pay ransom and cannot afford any downtime.

A cyber fraudster allegedly hacked the company’s mail id and sent a mobile deactivation request to the network service provider company. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

Updated on Mar 06, 2023 12:25 PM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

‘China’s Covid wave worse than estimated, peak of 36k deaths a day likely’

China re-opened its borders on January 8 after having abruptly ended its so-called Zero Covid policy of frequent testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns the month before, prompted by unprecedented nationwide protests

A patient lies on a bed at the emergency department of a hospital, amid the Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday (REUTERS)

Updated on Jan 17, 2023 10:06 PM IST

The year ahead: Glimpses into 2023

India, the world’s largest democracy and one of the world’s largest consumer markets, will likely begin working to pass new laws too, with lasting implications for companies such as Meta, Google and Twitter.

The crypto revolution faced a harsh reckoning. (Agencies/Representaitve use)

Published on Dec 31, 2022 06:14 PM IST

ByBy Binayak Dasgupta and Vishal Mathur

The year ahead: Can it be tech to the rescue?

Breakthroughs in nuclear fusion and CO2 conversion could revolutionise the power sector, but this could take a few decades. New approaches to food production are welcome. As the climate crisis intensifies, now amid the Russian war in Ukraine, this will be a crucial year for talks

The year 2022 was a period of record-breaking heat, precipitation and forest fires around the world (Getty Images/Representative use)

Updated on Dec 31, 2022 06:01 PM IST

The Covid-19 shadow still looms

With the virus now sparing no one, Long Covid was a serious problem to deal with, which easily was the most important implication of how the pandemic had changed in its third year.

The Omicron variant was a version of Covid-19 that was so far removed from its predecessors that several assumptions about the virus became redundant in 2022. (AFP/Imaging by Malay Karmakar)

Updated on Dec 31, 2022 12:12 AM IST

A million infections and 5,000 deaths a day from Covid in China: Study

The new estimates were provided by London-based Airfinity, which predicted cases to continue to rise in China with two likely peaks, one in mid-January and the second in early March.

Workers unload a body from an ambulance for cremation at Gaobeidian Funeral Home in northern China’s Hebei province, on Thursday. China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official Covid-19 death toll, a health official said. (AP)

Updated on Dec 23, 2022 05:17 AM IST

A new chapter in ‘Twitter Files’

American journalist Bari Weiss posted a Twitter thread to allege the company, under its old management, created secret blacklists of users whose reach was restricted, the second instalment in what is now being called the Twitter Files.

Published on Dec 10, 2022 12:23 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Ransomware attackers say AIIMS ‘deadline’ has ended

The warning came from an email address known to authorities and is a part of the investigation, although HT could not independently verify whether the people replying from it were indeed behind the hack.

India’s national cybersecurity coordinator, Lt Gen (retired) Rajesh Pant said no ransom money had been demanded. (HT file)

Updated on Dec 06, 2022 09:00 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

‘China risks 1.3-2.1mn lives if it ends zero-Covid strategy’

Science analytics company Airfinity used trends from Hong Kong’s Omicron (BA.1) wave as a proxy for how an outbreak could play out in China, where protests have erupted across the country over the stifling Covid-19 containment strategy.

A health worker takes a swab sample from a woman to test for Covid-19 in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, China on Monday. (AFP)

Updated on Nov 28, 2022 11:42 PM IST

Ransomware attack: Cyber terrorism probe as AIIMS services paralysed

According to a police officer, the preliminary investigation has hinted that the cyber attack may have been perpetrated from outside India.

The suspected ransomware attack has meant that the patients and doctors are unable to access records or test reports, even as experts flagged a potentially bigger problem if the hack also results in some of this data being accessed by the attacker. (PTI)

delhi news

Updated on Nov 25, 2022 02:43 AM IST

ByKarn Pratap Singh, Soumya Pillai, Binayak Dasgupta

New data bill at odds with privacy ruling, say experts

The Union ministry for electronics and technology shared the Digital Data Protection Bill, 2022, on Friday for public comments and the proposal is likely to be brought to parliament in the upcoming winter session.

Among the aspects that experts pointed to was the number of issues left to be “prescribed” later via rules that the government will draw up, a process that would not need parliamentary approval. (Representational Pic)

delhi news

Updated on Nov 19, 2022 05:54 AM IST

ByDeeksha Bhardwaj and Binayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Data bill eases transfer rules, raises penalties

The Centre on Friday unveiled the Digital Data Protection Bill for public consultation, having redrawn a long-delayed law that will provide the legal framework for the fundamental right to privacy of Indian citizens with major implications for tech companies and digital businesses.

Updated on Nov 19, 2022 05:58 AM IST

ByDeeksha Bhardwaj and Binayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Pollution raises risk of childhood stunting, leading to lifelong impact: Study

New Delhi: Children in parts of India with high air pollution are more likely to be stunted or severely stunted, according to a study that for the first time looks at how dirty air affects the development of children

delhi news

Updated on Nov 04, 2022 02:14 PM IST

Winter Covid outbreak on the cards? Worry over converging virus strains

A new set of Sars-CoV-2 variants, all offshoots of the Omicron classification of the virus, appear to be picking up the same sort of genetic traits after following different evolutionary journeys, prompting concern among experts that it could portend the arrival of a “fitter” version that might lead to a spurt in cases in coming months.

Convergent evolution is a situation in which a virus evolves in a manner depending on immunity in the population it infects (REUTERS)

Published on Oct 07, 2022 11:30 PM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta, New Delhi

Legal protections for Big Tech need review

While Joe Biden’s intent is positive, it remains devoid of specifics of how any of this will happen, especially given the partisan divide in American politics on the issue

Network effects (you are more likely to be on a platform that your friends and family are on) and calculated corporate deal-making (most notably, Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp) have given rise to monopolies. A handful of services have now become today’s new town square. (Getty Images)

opinion

Updated on Sep 21, 2022 08:02 PM IST

Behind the troll storm over catch spilled against Pak

Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh was the target of vicious online trolling after his side lost to Pakistan in the Asia Cup game on Sunday night, with an anonymous user, possibly based in Pakistan, vandalising his Wikipedia page to claim he was linked to the separatist Khalistani movement.

India's Arshdeep Singh, right, listens to captain Rohit Sharma before bowling his next delivery during the T20 cricket match of Asia Cup between India and Pakistan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

Updated on Sep 06, 2022 10:28 AM IST

ByBinayak Dasgupta and Deeksha Bhardwaj, New Delhi

Arshdeep Singh’s Wikipedia page vandalised to show Khalistan link, fixed later

Reports indicate that the crowd-sourced digital encyclopaedia may be asked to explain why these changes were done by the government of India

Updated on Sep 05, 2022 01:01 PM IST

Long Covid real, can last from 90 to 150 days: Study

Long Covid, a loosely defined set of conditions that people report after having caught Covid-19, is yet to be properly understood, either for the biology involved or its estimated prevalence.

People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk along a pedestrian crossing Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, in Tokyo.(AP)

Updated on Aug 05, 2022 12:07 PM IST

AlphaFold: AI tool predicts structures for nearly all-known proteins

Proteins are commonly referred as the building blocks of life, made up on some combination of amino acids. It is easy to identify a protein by its constituent amino acid, but this is just one-dimensional information

A lab worker measures the concentration of proteins while working on vaccine and protein research in the Veesler Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington (For representational purpose only). (AFP)

Updated on Jul 31, 2022 11:46 PM IST