In no particular order, here are MediaNama’s top 10 stories of the week ended 11th August 2019
MediaNama would like to thank its sponsors: E2E, for their support.
New draft E-Commerce Guidelines for Consumer Protection 2019 now open for public comments
On August 2, the Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, released the draft of E-Commerce Guidelines for Consumer Protection 2019 (available below) for consultation. Read it here
Reliance buys 87% equity in e-commerce platform Fynd
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has bought an 87.6% equity share in software company Fynd for ₹295.25 crore, the company said in a stock exchange filing on August 3. Read it here
Privacy commissioners from around the world raise concerns over Facebook Libra’s privacy risks
“We are joining together to express our shared concerns about the privacy risks posed by the Libra digital currency and infrastructure,” reads the joint statement (see below) issued by the privacy commissioners of the US, the UK, the EU, Australia, Canada, Albania, and Burkina Faso on August 5. Read it here
Registrar General to seek biometric data from UIDAI for National Population Register
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Vivek Joshi, will ask the UIDAI to verify biometric data of individuals to include it in the National Population Register (NPR) programme instead of collecting the details again, the Economic Times reported. Read it here
Google Assistant can now read messages from third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp
Google Assistant, available on Android devices, can now read texts on third-party apps, including WhatsApp, and reply to them. By orally instructing the Assistant to “read my messages”, a card pops up with the last text messages, and the Assistant reads them aloud and identifies the sender and the app they were sent on. Android Police first reported this development. Read it here
China could put ‘reverse sanctions’ on Indian companies if Huawei’s business is blocked: report
Indian firms operating in China could face “reverse sanctions” by the Chinese government if India blocks Huawei from doing business in the country, reports Reuters. Read it here
IIT Madras’s Kamakoti tells MediaNama how WhatsApp traceability is possible without undermining end-to-end encryption
Dr V. Kamakoti, a computer science professor at IIT Madras, is clear about this. In the last two hearings (on June 27 and July 24) of the case, in which the Madras High Court is deliberating on how the originator of a message on WhatsApp can be traced, Kamakoti’s initial submission has heavily featured in the judges’ opinion of whether traceability is technically possible. Read it here
Facebook to open-source video and image algorithms to detect abusive content
Facebook is open-sourcing two technologies on GitHub to detect identical and nearly identical photos and videos in order to curb the spread of abusive content and share hashes — or digital fingerprints — of different types of harmful content, the company announced in its blog post. Read it here
Messages and identity on WhatsApp can be manipulated if hacked: Check Point Research
Israeli security company Check Point Research showed that WhatsApp messages and the identity of the sender can be changed if the account is hacked. This was revealed by the researchers during the annual Black Hat security conference held in Las Vegas on August 7. Read it here
Uber mulls launching bus service in India: Report
Ride-hailing service Uber is mulling an experiment with its bus service in India in order to promote mass transit, according to a report by Moneycontrol. Uber confirmed the development in response to MediaNama’s query, but declined to share further details on the matter. Read it here
