'With people in Kashmir using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to circumvent the limited access to internet in the region, those, especially in South Kashmir, say the security forces are physically checking mobiles to inquire about VPN usage. This, days after the government restored partial internet services. However, the Army denies that its personnel were involved in any such crackdown. In South Kashmir villages of Anantnag, Shopian, Khonmoh and Kulgam, many youth alleged that Indian Army personnel stopped them at checkpoints.
'The unintended consequence of the Supreme Court’s order on Internet Shutdowns in Kashmir — where it put down accountability norms for Internet shutdowns, and said that some essential websites should be accessible, is that it has given rise to the creation of the Great Indian Firewall: filters that control what users can and cannot access online.
'New rules recently notified giving the Centre power over Central and State information commissioners are intended to ensure RTI appeals go the government's way... The suspense and mystery on the Narendra Modi government’s real impact on the right to information is now over. The damage to the autonomy of all information commissioners in India is more that what was expected. Not only has independence been cut, the institution – and its chief – have been made subordinate...'
'...there is a case for autonomy [of central banks], for sure. And that autonomy is important for all institutions, and that autonomy in the central bank in India was dead, certainly, in November 2016, when demonetisation was announced. Because it was very clear at that time that this was a decision taken against the wishes of the RBI, imposed on the RBI, which then had to implement something, which it did very badly. Which it had absolutely no knowledge of, and no preparation for.
'Ever since the Right to Information Act was enacted in 2005 there have been continuous attempts to dilute this potentially powerful law. The dilution has come from government action as well as by judicial interpretation... The dilution of a landmark law and the rights it confers does not happen with a single amendment. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) II’s 2019 legislative amendments to the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act cap a process that has evolved over the past 14 years, covering the tenure of four governments.
'A delegation of Right to Information (RTI) activists on Thursday submitted a memorandum addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, requesting him to withhold his assent to the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill that was passed by both houses of parliament recently. Several of the activists were allegedly detained. The activists said the amendments had not been debated properly, were pushed through in a hurried manner and would harm the transparency movement by diminishing the stature of information commissions...'
'Negligence in maintaining the security of a Jharkhand government web system has resulted in the leaking of personal information and Aadhaar numbers of nearly 1,66,000 government employees in India, TechCrunch reported on Friday. A web system that was used to record employee attendance was left without a password since 2014, exposing Aadhaar numbers, names, job titles and phone numbers of Jharkhand government workers on the Internet, claimed the report.
'The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) published a report this May which claimed that around 135 Million AADHAAR Numbers and associated personal information were leaked from 4 Govt. websites. In addition to this, they estimated that probably 100 Million Bank accounts were also leaked from these same websites.
