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Twitter faces legal liability due to India’s IT Act

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IT Act

Popular micro-blogging platform Twitter stands facing legal accountability in India after failing to adhere to the country’s new IT act forcing social networking sites to remove content following the issuance of a legal order.

Twitter has been facing an increasing backlash from a plethora of fronts for the past couple of months.

As steep tensions escalated in the past months, India’s minister of IT and communications warned the networking platform of “unintended consequence” if the company does not abide by its new IT act, giving it “one last notice to immediately comply.”

The act firmly states that “in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above.”

The act exposes Twitter to legal responsibility for any content posted by its Indian users following the platform’s failure to comply to the country recent IT act.

Parallel to many other tech companies, Twitter feels there is room to really understand all the positions in this situation and reach an understanding suitable for both parties, focusing on the importance of open dialogue between the company and the Indian government.

Still, despite its willingness to discuss the issue, “Twitter will not hesitate to take the litigation route if it has to, but feels the room to really understand the situation,” said Vijaya Gadde, chief legal officer at Twitter in the RightCon 2021 conference on June 10.

Prior to these altercations between both sides, New Delhi’s high court’s filing will be welcomed by the Indian government as a result to the accusations led by a twitter user.

This law explicitly involves any tech company from all over the world, including telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online auction sites, online marketplaces, and many more.

On its part, Twitter acknowledged the government’s demands and suspended the account on its behalf which included a multiplex of high-ranked profiles endorsing the protests.

Nevertheless, the micro-blogging site hastily overturned the profiles’ suspension under the pretense that these tweets fall under the appearance that “content is free speech and newsworthy.”

This led to the governments’ rise against the company and filing to execute a law against Twitter due to its failure to obey India’s new rules.

In June, the battle between Indian government and Twitter escalated when the country’s technology minister faulted the social giant with intentional defiance with India’s local laws.

Following the prime minister’s conference, Twitter announced in a statement that it is making every plausible effort to follow and abide by the new regulations. It has followed the acts orders by appointing a chief compliance officer that answers to the Indian government.

In response, the IT minister further blamed the tech giant with being bias towards labelling content as manipulated media, following the act’s regulations only when “it suits its likes and dislikes,” he added during the conference.

At heart, for Twitter, this would mean if at any given point the Indian government deemed any tweet to be breaking the IT act, then Twitter will have questions to answer.

By doing so, it would leave the popular micro-blogging platform responsible for any content under the Information Technology Act, 2000. This act provides legal recognition to the transaction done via electronic exchange of data and other means.

In the case of this law’s determination, a twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch the social platform will endure a dominant legal obligation for the country, leading to the exposure of Twitter’s executives to face criminal charges over questionable content posted by users on its platform.

Yet, according to the social network’s guidelines, the platform cannot be held accountable for its users’ posts, whether they are legally liable or not.

Despite that, the Indian government has stood its ground concerning its IT act, expressing that Twitter has lost its legal protection, and the final decision will conclusively lie in the hands of the high court.

The move of which the Indian government will take against the twitter universe, will expose it to a face-off against the IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, which will be solemnly held in the hands of the Indian court.

“If any foreign entity believes that they can portray itself as the flag bearer of free speech in India to excuse itself from complying with the law of the land, such attempts are misplaced,” Prasad expressed in a series of tweets.

Twitter has always been at the center when it came to its decision-making, exposing it to more backlash from different governmental sectors.

These events came consequently after a sea of protests broke in one of the company’s most prominent key markets, as protestors’ voice was raised high with #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide on Twitter, leading to the government to demand blockage of nearly 257 accounts under India’s Section 69A of its IT act.

From the infamous ban of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account to freedom of speech and regulation-oriented debates circulating around its content, Twitter has lost legal immunity for users’ posts in India and will be going to court against the Indian government.

Alongside Twitter, various tech companies have previously challenged Indian authorities concerning its latest regulations. Among them is Facebook-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp, which sued the Indian government over its “mass surveillance” internet laws.

According tothe multifunction messaging platform, India’s surveillance law is an unconstitutional and obvious attack on users’ privacy.

After all, forcing the company to trace private messages sent on its platform leading to fracturing its end-to-end encryption policy – which keeps on-app communications secure and unreachable to outside parties.

While social media networks are constantly exposed to regulations to their privacy policies, the fight will never end if each side is fighting for its own cause.

It is most likely that Twitter’s high-stake fight with Indian government will result in legal actions, since both sides do not show willingness to compromise their position for the other side’s-imposed regulations.

As Twitter complied with several of the other’s side requests, chances are any further compromises will be off the table until legal actions will be made. This might lead to further escalation in the current state both parties found themselves to be exposed to.

Daryn is a technical writer with thorough history and experience in both academic and digital writing fields.

Technology

What are the Ethical Issues in Biometrics?

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Ethical Issues in Biometrics

What is biometric identification? It is the process through which unique biological characteristics are used in biometric identification to recognize and validate a person. These characteristics can be found in facial traits, eye structures, DNA, fingerprint patterns, and even handwriting. All this data that can be gathered on an individual inevitably brings up the ethical issues in biometrics that need to be addressed.

Facial recognition and fingerprint scans were previously the domain of security, and they were utilized for identification and law enforcement. However, increasingly more business and civil applications are using biometrics authentication. Due to this increased use, it is crucial to address the moral and ethical issues in biometrics when used in the creation of new application and technology.

Applied biometrics and corporate ethics have received little empirical study despite the widespread use of biometric technologies. As a result, there is plenty of room for future study to help us better comprehend the moral consequences of adopting this technology.

This article examines the ethical concerns associated with the use of biometric technology on the use of biometrics for non-security applications as well as the moral ramifications for business.

Ethical Issues in Biometrics and Privacy

Biometric data takes privacy concerns to a whole new level that typical data gathering only touches on. Digital identities can be forged, and anonymity on the web can be maintained to a degree if you know how. Also, digital data can be deleted – if we forget that Meta (Facebook) has been revealed to store deleted data, which is an ethical concern in itself.

The problem with biometric data is that it is unforgeable, unconcealable, and permanent, You can’t change your eye structure, your fingerprint, or your facial features. Big tech companies already have your face, fingerprints, and your voice recorded and stored via current biometric authentication systems – mainly used for unlocking your phone. That data will be there forever, and there is little that people can do about it besides avoid it In the first place.

While many companies still give users the option of using a good old fashion passcode to unlock their phones, as technology as a whole tends to do, the biometric alternative is slowly gaining more traction, and will one day become the norm, as it is hard to argue its convenience and security. You can’t accidentally leave your eyeball at home or forget your fingerprint. But in the same sense, you can’t change it. If your childish curiosity while browsing the web put a black spot on your record, there’s no changing that.

Therein lies the question of who if anyone should have access to such data. Today’s tech giants have all our data in their hands, that won’t change with the spread of biometric verification methods. Indeed, it will only increase targeting capabilities.

While the collection of biometric data on its own does not necessarily mean it will be shared, monetized, or abused in any way, it never the less requires clear and strict guidelines and regulations to be implemented around it. There are too many things that can be abused by the wrong party when the ethical issues in biometrics are not taken seriously, and if such limitations are not applied stringently.


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Oppo Reno 8 and Reno 8 Pro: Specs and Comparison   

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Oppo Reno 8

The Reno line of smartphones has always had a fantastic camera and an attractive design. The Reno 8 and 8 Pro include a 120Hz AMOLED display, the newest Dimensity chipsets, 80W fast charging, a 32-megapixel front camera, and triple 50-megapixel back cameras, among other notable features that make the Oppo Reno 8 and Reno 8 Pro high-quality yet affordable option for anyone. 

Here we compare the two latest Oppo phone series iterations and see what to expect from the flagship Oppo smartphone, and how the Oppo Reno 8 and the Oppo Reno Pro stack up against each other. 

Oppo Reno 8 Specifications 

The Oppo Reno 8 has a smaller 6.43-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080 by 2,400 pixels, a 90Hz refresh rate, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It also runs Android 12 with ColorOS 12.1 on top. Additionally, the display has an 800 nits maximum brightness and a 20:09 aspect ratio. An octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage are all found within the Oppo smartphone. 

The Reno 8 has a triple back camera configuration for pictures and movies, with a 50-megapixel main sensor and an f/1.8 lens as its focal point. Additionally, there is a 2-megapixel macro camera with a 112-degree field of view and an 8-megapixel sensor coupled with an f/2.2 ultra-wide angle lens. 

The Reno 8 offers 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, GPS/A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C connector as connection options. An accelerometer, light, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a proximity sensor are among the sensors on board. For biometric verification, the phone also has a fingerprint sensor hidden behind the display. A 4,500mAh battery inside the Oppo Reno 8 supports 80W Super Flash Charge quick charging. The phone weighs 179 grams and has dimensions of 160 x 73.4 x 7.67mm. 

Oppo Reno 8 Pro Specifications 

A 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,412) AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection is included with the Oppo Reno 8 Pro. Running on top of Android 12 is ColorOS 12.1. Additionally, the display supports HDR10+ and is certified by Netflix HD, Amazon HDR, SGS Low Motion Blur, and SGS Low Blue Light. The MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max SoC, which has eight cores, and up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM power the smartphone. Storage on the Oppo Reno 8 Pro is UFS 3.1 capable of up to 256GB. 

The Oppo Reno 8 Pro boasts a triple rear camera arrangement with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 main sensor and an f/1.8 lens, an 8-megapixel sensor and an ultra-wide lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 112-degree field of view, and a 2-megapixel macro camera with an f/2.4 aperture. Along with the MariSilicon X NPU, the phone’s camera will offer generally better performance in both bright and dim light. It has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera sensor with an f/2.4 lens for taking selfies and making video calls. 

The phone has 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, GPS/A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C connector as connectivity options. An accelerometer, a light meter, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and a proximity sensor are among the sensors built into the phone. For biometric authentication, the phone also contains a fingerprint sensor underneath the touchscreen. The smartphone has a 4,500mAh battery that supports rapid charging at 80W Super Flash Charge. The phone weighs 183 grams and has dimensions of 161 x 74.2 x 7.34mm. 

Both the Oppo Reno 8 and Reno 8 Pro are prime smartphones that can fit any user’s preferences and can be considered premium smartphones on the cheaper side. If you like photography, you will be satisfied with the level of quality overall, but keep in mind that neither phone is particularly water resistant, so be careful where you take it.  


Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Technology sections to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles. 

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Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: How do They Compare Today

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Electric Cars vs Gas Cars

Many prefer the rumbling ‘vroom’ of a gasoline car to the soft hum of an electric vehicle, while others would rather just be satisfied in the knowledge that they are lessening their carbon footprint. Let’s look at the cold hard facts however, and compare electric cars vs gas cars

Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Components

The amount of moving components is an important distinction between electric and gasoline-powered automobiles. While a gasoline-powered car contains hundreds of moving components, an electric vehicle just has one, the motor. Another significant distinction is that the electric car has fewer moving components. The electric car is more dependable and needs less routine maintenance. The maintenance needed for a gasoline-powered car ranges from routine oil changes, filter replacements, tune-ups, and exhaust system repairs to less frequent component replacements including water and fuel pumps, alternators, and so on.

Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Maintenance

The expenses associated with maintaining an electric car are reduced since there are less maintenance requirements. The shaft, the only moving component of the electric motor, is extremely dependable and needs little to no maintenance. The controller and charger are electrical devices that require minimal to no maintenance because they have no moving components. Modern sealed lead acid batteries are maintenance free and utilized in electric cars nowadays. However, these batteries have a finite lifespan and will eventually need to be replaced. New batteries are being developed to increase the range of electric cars as well as the battery pack’s lifespan, perhaps eliminating the need to replace the battery pack throughout the course of the vehicle’s lifespan.

Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Efficiency

In addition to being simpler and less expensive to repair than gasoline-powered vehicles, electric vehicles are also more cost-effective to run. The electric car will drive roughly 43 miles for $1 based on the efficiency of 3 miles/kwhr and the cost of power at 7 cents per kwhr. The gasoline-powered car will go roughly 18 miles based on the average gas mileage of 22 miles per gallon and the price of gasoline at $1.25 per gallon. As a result, an electric car may drive more than twice as far on a dollar’s worth of petrol.

Where Electric Falls Behind

There are still a number of difficulties for the owner of an electric car despite the fact that it will be less expensive to operate and maintain.

The primary issue is the restricted range offered by existing battery technology. The amount of driving distance possible utilizing the current batteries is between 50 and 150 miles. These ranges are being extended by new battery technologies, and prototypes of these batteries have shown ranges of up to 200 miles between recharging. Solar powered charging stations are being implemented in numerous places to decrease range anxiety towards electric vehicles

The lack of qualified service professionals to repair and maintain electric cars is another issue that faces their owners. A two-year associate degree program has been developed to train high school graduates to become proficient electric vehicle technicians, and training programs are being developed and made available to upgrade the conventional automotive technician with the skills needed to maintain an electric vehicle.

Infrastructure to recharge the batteries is also required. The most important component of the infrastructure for recharging already exists: electric power is accessible practically everywhere. To support the electric car, it is still necessary to guarantee that charging stations with the right sorts of service (i.e., maximum voltage and current) are placed in important areas. Plans must also be made.


Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Technology sections to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.

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