Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Deleting WhatsApp, Google Hangouts messages could become illegal in India...

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According to the draft, citizens may use encryption technology for storage and communication. However, encryption algorithms and key sizes will be prescribed by the government through Notification from time to time. This means that the government will determine the encryption standards for all and entities like Google and WhatsApp will have to follow the encryption standards prescribed by the Indian government.

What's bizarre is that the draft lists specific guidelines for all citizens who use encryption services including instructions that individuals should store in plain text versions of communication for 90 days. So this may imply that you'll have to store your WhatsApp messages for 90 days or face action in case asked to reproduce.

What's appalling is that the government expects all citizens to be aware of encrypted communication and the way to store messages in plain text securely. A large number of users may in fact not even know that WhatsApp and iMessage use encryption.

As per the draft, "all citizens including personnel of Government / Business (G/B) performing non-official / personal functions, are required to store the plaintexts of the corresponding encrypted information for 90 days from the date of transaction and provide the verifiable Plain Text to Law and Enforcement Agencies as and when required as per the provision of the laws of the country." Full story...

Related posts:
  1. WhatsApp faces UK ban within weeks...
  2. Google and Whatsapp will be forced to hand messages to MI5...
  3. India’s fight for net neutrality...
  4. WhatsApp starts encrypting user messages on Android devices...
  5. India leads the world in Facebook censorship...
  6. Politicians in India wake up to WhatsApp effect...

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