India | Social Media Blog

Mar
26

India Seeks Ban on .xxx Domain

Category: Social, Technology Tags: .xxx, Government of India, ICANN, india, Indian Penal Code, Indonesia, Middle East, Pornography Leave a Comment

Joins Indonesia and the Middle East to protect the moral integrity of its citizens

After half-a-decade worth of approvals and rejections the quest for a separate .xxx domain exclusively for porn finally came to fruition a few days ago. The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has finally given a go ahead to the xxx domain. We had considered the pros and cons of the move in our coverage of the news, and one major concern that emerged was the inevitability of conservative governments like Islamic states in the Middle East and Indonesia imposing a blanket ban on the domain, which would undermine the freedoms that the Internet stands for. Shortly after the news broke out, the Indian government expressed its intention to seek a ban on the pornographic domain; putting it in the company of Indonesia and the Middle East vying to protect the moral integrity of its citizens.

The new .xxx domain evoked a response from the ministry of IT, wherein an official issued the following statement, “India, along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia, opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws.” The Indian laws, which are widely considered to still be clinging to the outdated Victorian roots, ironically do not have any credible deterrent for sexual abuse of children, making India a haven for paedophiles world over, but they have a provision that outlaws adult sexual content.

The distribution of adult content is illegal as per the Indian Penal Code, which validates India’s opposition to the xxx domain. However, viewing pornography isn’t technically a crime. The new domain, however, will make it easier for conservative Islamic states and, ironically the original peddler of adult content, India, to block the porn distribution channels. That will essentially be futile as Indians still have the option of visiting the pornographic websites working from existing .com domains, banning which would be counter-productive if not impossible.

India To Ban.xxx Domain (yro.slashdot.org)
India’s Reaction To .xxx Domain Exhibits Why Porn Industry Hates It (blogs.forbes.com)
India to block .XXX top-level domain (thenextweb.com)
India says NO to Dot XXX domains! (trak.in)
.XXX porn domain approved (mobile-ent.biz)
New .XXX Domain Name For Porn Sites (businessinsider.com)
Have a Porn Site? Reserve Your Own XXX Domain Name Now (crenk.com)
A Seedy New Neighborhood For The Web: XXX Domain Approved (businessinsider.com)
ICANN Approves .XXX Domain for Adult Entertainment Industry (pcworld.com)
.xxx Domain for Adult Porn Websites Available for Registration (Price $60) (mydigitallife.info)

Feb
8

By pratyushkp

Census 2011 will Use Facebook, Twitter

Category: Social, Technology Tags: Bhopal, Census India, Divyanka Tripathi, facebook, Gulzar, india, Madhya Pradesh, Priyanka Chopra, Sachin Tendulkar, Twitter Census 2011 1 Comment

Pages put up on Facebook , celebrities roped in to create awareness

From February 9, the big brother will come looking for you. Don’t sweat though, as it will be for the 2011 census. This time around, the government fully intends to leverage the reach of social networking media to make the 2011 census a success. It’s altogether a different matter that most Indian homes do not have access to the Internet, but like the official census website says, every “drop of water contributes to the mighty ocean”. The Madhya Pradesh government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) held a day-long workshop on the role of media in Census 2011 to this effect in Bhopal. It was announced at the venue that two pages on census related information has been uploaded on Facebook. The second phase of Census 2011 starts on February 9 across India and concludes on February 28.

Sachin Sinha, director of the directorate for census work talked about the celebrity endorsements – “While the centre’s brand ambassadors are Sachin Tendulkar and actress Priyanka Chopra, lyricist Gulzar and television actress Divyanka Tripathi would be the brand ambassadors for census work in Madhya Pradesh.” Voicing his concerns about the class struggle prevalent here he remarked, “It is a real challenge for us to include everyone – from beggars to the elite class – in the census.” Either that or he meant to underscore the economic disparity of our nation; neither of which makes much sense.

Nov
19

By pratyushkp

Airtel To Appear In A Whole New Avatar

Category: Social, Technology Tags: A. R. Rahman, Africa, airtel, airtel new logo, Bharti Airtel, Brand, Business, india, Marketing and Advertising, Mobile network operator, new airtel 3 Comments

Airtel will now sport a new logo and a new signature tune.

As Airtel subscribers await the coming of 3G services, Airtel has decided to surprise them by bring out a new logo and a whole new signature tune.

In a bid to celebrate the 2000 crore users landmark, Airtel will introduce a whole new logo and signature tune for its subscribers.

According to Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti airtel “Fifteen years ago Bharti airtel started its journey in India with a promise of delivering world class and affordable services. Today, as we expand on the global stage, this new brand identity gives us the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world. It reinforces our promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to our 2000 crore customers across Asia and Africa.”

The new logo which will come in the colour red will have a curve which will give automatic recognition to the identity of the brand. The red colour will represent the energy and dynamism that has made Airtel the success it is today.

The Signature tune on the other hand is composed by none other than the Oscar winning music maestro, A.R. Rahman, who composed the previous airtel signature tune.

Airtel promised users that it will deliver 3G service by the end of next month.

Nov
15

By pratyushkp

Google To Feature A Indian Student’s Doodle On Home Page

Category: Social, Technology Tags: Akshay Raj, Children’s day, Dennis Hwang, Doodle 4 Google, google, google doodle, google india, Google logo, Google’s doodle, india, Les Paul, Mangalore, Searching Leave a Comment

Google’s doodle for Children’s day was done by Akshay Raj, grade IX student from St. Aloysius High School, Mangalore.

Google has joined the nation as it gets ready to celebrate Children’s Day Today(November 15), the Homage will wear a new look, as Google unveils a doodle done by Akshay Raj, grade IX student from St. Aloysius High School, Mangalore.

The competition, Doodle 4 Google, conducted in September required students from classes I to X to submit their doodles on the topic ‘My Dream for India, along with a supporting statement. Chosen from over 108, 000 doodles submitted by students across the country, Akshay Raj doodle “Technically and Naturally Growing India” and was selected based on artistic merit, creativity, and expression of the theme. The winner Akshay Raj will receive a Technology Starter Package and an INR 2, 00,000 technology grant for his school St. Aloysius High School, Mangalore.

The doodle which was chosen by Dennis Hwang, the original Google Doodler, will be featured on Google’s Homepage as part of its Children’s day celebrations.

Nov
11

By pratyushkp

Wikipedia All Set To Win Over Indian Users

Category: Social, Technology Tags: Asia, india, Internet encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales, opensource, San Francisco, Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia, Wikipedia india Leave a Comment

Wikipedia plans to open an office in India.

Online Encyclopedia, wikepedia is all set opens its branch in India. In a bid to popularize the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, its founder Jimmy Wales has announced plans to open a branch in India.

Jimmy Wales, who is in India, in a bid to popularize wikepedia, has already announced its plans to set up an office in India, which would be its second office in the world after San Francisco. The Indian project is supposed to attract Indians and also to build a “strong and healthy India based projects.

According to Wales “As a media project, for me India was the perfect place because we wish to work with a variety of people and India has a lot of communities. The community in India should lead and Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) will follow them.”

He also encouraged Indians to contribute more and edit more on wikepedia.

Oct
21

By pratyushkp

Two New Facebook Security Features Out

Category: Social, Technology Tags: facebook, facebook security, google, Graham Cluley, india, Login, Security, SMS, Sophos Leave a Comment

Experts explain why this may prove counterproductive

Under fire for its recent disregard for user privacy, Facebook has made amends by tightening security and has now introduced two new features to enhance secure accounts – one-time passwords and remote logout.

One-time password is meant for people who access Facebook through public places like cybercafes. This is significant in a country like India where there is low PC penetration leading to a great chunk of the users accessing Internet from Internet Cafes. Unfortunately, this feature is restricted to U.S. only, but it may be extended to India as well. This feature is accessed by sending an SMS to receive a temporary password that expires after twenty minutes. Remote logout lets you, well, remotely sign off your Facebooks session. It’s useful when you log in through a friend’s computer or phone, but forget to log off.

However, if experts from IT security firm Sophos are to be believed, Facebook’s one-time password still leaves users vulnerable to security risks. According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, “If you believe a computer might not be secure in the first place, why would you use it to access personal accounts such as Facebook? A temporary password may stop keylogging spyware, giving cybercriminals a permanent backdoor into your account, but it doesn’t stop malware from spying on your activities online, and seeing what’s happening on your screen.”

Makes perfect sense, because the first rule of security is to stay clear of any unnecessary scenario that compromises security. So there’s no real reason to log into Facebook from public computers. However, for those who have no choice – like the ones who don’t have a PC – it’s an added layer of security. Like they say, something’s better than nothing.

Facebook phishing: Can you spot the difference? (blogoholic.in)
Hypocritical Facebook scores PR own-goal with sleazy attack on Google privacy (blogoholic.in)
Spam from your Facebook account? Malware attack poses as official warning (pratyushkp.wordpress.com)
Hypocritical Facebook scores PR own-goal with sleazy attack on Google privacy (pratyushkp.wordpress.com)

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India Seeks Ban on .xxx Domain

Joins Indonesia and the Middle East to protect the moral integrity of its citizens

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Census 2011 will Use Facebook, Twitter

Pages put up on Facebook , celebrities roped in to create awareness

Airtel To Appear In A Whole New Avatar

Google To Feature A Indian Student’s Doodle On Home Page

Wikipedia All Set To Win Over Indian Users

Two New Facebook Security Features Out

Experts explain why this may prove counterproductive

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