by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Markets, Networking, Social Media, Technology
Jack Dorsey
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : Stressing that data localization is an irrelevant debate in an era of Cloud, the deliberations must be in the direction of how people own and control their data, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has said.
In an e-mail interview with IANS, Dorsey, who is in India on his maiden visit, said that in their business, “Internet is trending towards where data sits to be irrelevant”.
“The Cloud allows data to be everywhere. I think the more important question is whether people own their data and how they control it,” replied Dorsey when asked about the Indian government’s demand from the tech companies to store data locally so it remains within the law of the land.
According to Dorsey, there must be a conversation on data ownership, not localisation.
“That’s the conversation that I think we need to have rather than where exactly the data sits. It’s more about the ownership by the individual,” Doresy told IANS.
Dorsey arrived in India the last weekend and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi during his Delhi leg of the tour.
Even as the Twitter CEO was busy meeting with top leaders, the government pulled up the social network for being “slow” in removing “objectionable content” from its platform.
Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, in his meeting with two top Twitter executives — Vijaya Gadde, Global Head of Legal, Policy, Trust and Safety, and Mahima Kaul, Public Policy head in India — asked them “to ensure a 24×7 mechanism for prompt disposal of requisitions of law enforcement agencies for deletion of unlawful/objectionable content from their platform”.
Twitter replied that it was committed to working with governments around the world, including in India, to encourage healthy behaviour on the platform.
Currently, there is no Grievance Officer from Twitter in India. To report a violation, the Indian users have to contact Jeremy Kessel in Dublin, Ireland.
Twitter’s European headquarters is in Dublin, as are those of Google and Facebook, where the Data Protection Commission is strongly enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into existence on May 25 this year.
According to Dorsey, he came to India to find out where the gaps are.
“One of the reasons why I’m here in the first place is to understand how to do that and understand where the gaps are,” Dorsey told IANS.
“We certainly have heard a lot about language support and that’s something I’ll be looking into. Access, in terms of data speed, is something we’ve been working on,” he added.
In his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Dorsey discussed various steps the social network was taking to curb the spread of fake news and boost a healthy conversation on its platform.
Admitting that fighting fake news was no easy task, Dorsey told a meeting at IIT-Delhi said the social network was taking “multi-variable” steps, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to curb the spread of misleading information ahead of 2019 general elections in India.
“We think there is a lot of opportunity in India. We love the conversational nature of the society and culture. We’re really excited to make Twitter viable to more and more people in the country,” the Twitter CEO, who also visited Mumbai and met superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Oscar-winning music composer A.R. Rahman, told IANS.
According to Dorsey, the company launched Twitter Lite (a lighter data-friendly version of the main app) not too long ago, specifically for India, to reach people who don’t have access to hi-speed or costly data.
“India remains a top priority market for us and we’re making sure we understand how people use it here so that we can make it better.”
When it comes to monetising Twitter and further tapping the Indian market, Dorsey has his focus clear.
“We do have a very healthy data business, so we’ve monetised beyond ads already. We’d like to bring all of our revenue lines to all of our markets,” Dorsey told IANS.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to continue to build a business model that aligns with the interests of the people that we’re serving.”
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Muslim World, Technology
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Cairo : Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has signed a new law that tightens controls over the internet.
The legislation on “cybercrime” means websites can be blocked in Egypt if deemed to constitute a threat to national security or the economy, the BBC reported.
Anyone found guilty of running, or just visiting, such sites could face prison or a fine.
Authorities said on Saturday that the new measures are needed to tackle instability and terrorism.
The Cairo-based Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression said more than 500 websites had already been blocked in Egypt prior to the new law being signed.
Last month another bill was passed by parliament, yet to be approved by President Sisi, that would allow any social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers to be placed under supervision.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Online Marketing, Technology
New Delhi : When it comes to online browsing, two-thirds of Indian users do not wait for even five seconds for a web page to load and move on to next website, a survey said on Wednesday.
According to the survey by global digital content provider Limelight Networks, Indians are the most demanding Internet users and 54 per cent would move to a different site to make a purchase if a website was too slow.
Nearly 10 per cent of Indian users do not re-visit a website after previously experiencing slow performance.
Smartphones are the primary device used to access online content for Indians and more than half (56 per cent) expect fast web performance regardless of what device they are using.
“In today’s crowded market, brands can’t risk delivering a poor online experience to their customers,” Michael Milligan, Senior Director at Limelight Networks, said in a statement.
The annual global report, which highlights online behaviour and expectations of consumers from seven countries including India, found major increases in time spent online and the impact of online experiences on customer loyalty.
Globally, more than 45 per cent of people spent at least 15 hours a week online outside of work, a 64 per cent increase from last year.
Almost a third of Indian consumers spend at least 15 hours a week online outside of work — the lowest amongst the countries surveyed.
Indian consumers also want to know their information is being safeguarded online. 69 per cent have a negative opinion of a brand after it has experienced a security breach, and 45 per cent say they will not shop at a website that has been the victim of a cyber-attack.
“Security breaches, slow performance and other elements of an inefficient online experience impact a shopper’s actions and have long-lasting effects on brand reputation and customer retention,” added Milligan.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Technology
By Faisal Kawoosa,
The era of 5G of mobile networks will not simply be about more throughput and speeds. These are obvious outcomes. The real power of 5G will be in unleashing connectivity among the unconnected — and “unconnected” will not primarily mean people. 5G will not be providing solutions to reach out to the lowest strata of society that remains to be “connected”. So, do not expect 5G to help widen the user base.
The essence of 5G is about creating a mesh between humans and things. While it will continue to enhance the communication experiences of humans with humans, the main focus of the technology will be on creating channels of communication for things-to-things and humans-to-things. This is why Internet of Things (IoT) is the centrepiece of the 5G era.
There is already a lot of literature from technology creators like Qualcomm, Ericsson and others on the characteristics of 5G as well as IoT. And India too will follow the global trend where the initial 5G technology implementation will mean integrating and connecting objects with humans.
Smartphones will undeniably retain their relevance in the 5G era. They will remain the default interface between humans and the connected environment around. However, what will excite the entire value chain, in terms of displaying of technology innovations, business opportunities and creating value out of the communications infrastructure, will predominantly be other connected and smart devices and gadgets.
This will trigger an upgrade in terms of specifications of smartphones so that users actually use the technology embedded in the infrastructure and other bits. What will excite everyone down the value chain will be the integration of technology and intelligence running over it through artificial intelligence (AI) and other such interventions.
This will mean greater excitement around the launch and display of what is referred to as “ConnectedX” (a bouquet of devices that would get connected in due course of time).
In the Indian context, smartphones have been exciting the market for around a decade now. However, in the coming decade, smartphones alone will not steal the limelight. There will be more connected devices and gadgets — including some that we have not even visualised yet — and all of them will be propelled by the underlying 5G power.
This means that companies showcasing solutions around IoT based on 4G connectivity will actually have to speed up to launch their 5G-based solutions in the next couple of years.
We saw the smartphone trend eventually leading to 4G and becoming the default cellular connectivity in just a span of three years; it is highly likely that “IoTification” will predominantly happen through 5G, and 4G connectivity may remain relevant for just a couple of years in that era.
While the media and other channels of promotion in future will not see the same interest in the launch of smartphones, the ecosystem in India — especially home-grown handset makers — have to align their strategic roadmap to remain in the business for the next decade.
The R&D capabilities of these brands in smartphones were limited and restricted. However, it is time for them to prepare for the long-haul and get set for the coming 5G opportunity.
(Faisal Kawoosa is the General Manager-Research & Consulting with CyberMedia Research [CMR]. His core areas of research include Telecommunications and ESDM. The views expressed here are personal. He can be contacted at releases@cmrindia.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Markets, Networking, Sales, SMEs, Technology
New Delhi : Global IT security firm Quick Heal’s Enterprise Security brand Seqrite has discovered an advertisement on DarkNet forum that claims to have access to data of over 6,000 Indian businesses that include Internet Service Providers (ISPs), some of the key government organisations, banks and enterprises.
Seqrite Cyber Intelligence Labs, along with its partner seQtree InfoServices, tracked the advertisement where the unknown hacker has priced the information at 15 Bitcoins (nearly Rs 42 lakh) and is offering network takedown of affected organisations for an unspecified amount, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This can be a major tool of mass disruption if a non-state actor gets hands on it,” Seqrite said on its website.
The organisations whose services may be at risk are: UIDAI (Aadhaar), Idea Telecom, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Flipkart, DRDO, Aircel, Reserve Bank of India, BSNL, SBI, TCS, ISRO, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, VMWare, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and various Indian state government portals, among others.
“We have alerted the government authorities well within time. If someone gets control over this massive data that is currently up for sale on DarkNet, the above mentioned organisations and enterprises can get affected,” Rohit Srivastwa, Senior Director, Cyber Education and Services at Quick Heal, told IANS.
Following a detailed investigation, researchers identified the affected organisation as India’s national Internet registry IRINN (Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers) which comes under the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).
As a precautionary measure, Seqrite reached out to the government authorities and Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), recommending to them to alert all potentially affected organisations and urge them to change passwords and get their servers and systems patched with latest updates.
According to the researchers, the seller claims to have the ability to tamper the IP allocation pool, which could result in a serious outage or Denial of Service (DoS) attack-like condition.
“This could impact various content delivery network (CDN) and hosting providers as well. If the hacker gets an interested buyer, then an attack on the system could disrupt Internet IP allocation and affect Internet services in India,” the company said.
“Along with the access, the hacker is also selling credentials and various contractual business documents and claims to have access to a large database of Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC),” it added.
The IRINN provides allocation and registration services of IP addresses and autonomous system numbers.
It comes under NIXI which “is the neutral meeting point of the ISPs in India with the primary objective being the facilitation of exchange of domestic Internet traffic between peering ISP members”.
—IANS
