India coronavirus dispatch: What happens when a Covid-19 case is confirmed?

The scientists helping fight a pandemic, the future of agricultural markets, and how the government responds when a Covid-19 case is confirmed – read these and more in today’s India dispatch

Here’s a round-up of articles from across publications in India on how the country is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic – from scientists helping fight a pandemic, to the future of agricultural markets, and how the government responds when a Covid-19 case is confirme.

Expert Speak

Webinar: Was the lockdown successful in breaking the chain? Is herd immunity going to save us from the virus? Who needs the mask? Listen to this webinar to know what Dr Shahid Jameel, a well-known virologist and CEO, DBT, India Alliance, and Dr Arvind Kumar, chest and lung surgeon at New Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital, and founder of Lung Care Foundation, have to say about the coronavirus outbreak in India, the lockdown, the treatments, vaccine developments and future of the pandemic.

Citizens Under Lockdown

These scientists are not medical experts but are still trying to help fight coronavirus: They are not virologists or involved in medical research, but a team of around 400 scientists has come up with different ways to bolster India’s attempts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. They are busting coronavirus-related myths — a major menace in current times — besides using government data to derive calculated estimates about the spread of the disease. Read here about how they are also helping manufacture masks and low-cost ventilators.

For Indians under lockdown, social media is the go-to source for news and entertainment: With Indians locked up inside homes, social media usage has gone through the roof in the country. Total session time – the time spent each day – on popular social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram grew significantly between February 2 and March 29, data show. Read more here.

Linking Aadhaar with social media or ending encryption is counterproductive

The need of the hour is sustained research and development of privacy protecting surveillance mechanisms

Should Aadhaar be used as KYC for social media accounts? We have recently seen a debate on this question with even the courts hearing arguments in favour and against such a move. The case began in Madras High Court and later Facebook moved the SC seeking transfer of the petition to the Apex court. The original petition was filed in July, 2018 and sought linking of Aadhaar numbers with user accounts to further traceability of messages.

Before we try and answer this question, we need to first understand the differences between the different types of data on social media and messaging platforms. If a crime happens on an end to end cryptographically secure channel like WhatsApp the police may request the following from the provider to help solve the case:

1.Identity data: Phone numbers of the accused. Names and addresses of the accused.

2.Metadata: Sender, receiver(s), time, size of message, flag identifying a forwarded messages, delivery status, read status, etc.

3.Payload Data: Actual content of the text and multimedia messages.

Different countries have taken different approaches to solving different layers of the surveillance problem. Let us start with identity data. Some like India require KYC for sale of SIM cards while others like the UK allow anonymous purchases.  Corporations also have policies when it comes to anonymous speech on their platforms – Facebook for instance enforces a soft real ID policy while Twitter does not crack down on anonymous speech….

Keep Reading : Linking Aadhar with social media

TikTok vanishes from Google Play Store after Madras HC ban, govt order

Users who had the app will continue to be able to use it

Technology News: Google has expelled TikTok from its Play Store, a few clients announced Tuesday night, yet the prominent short video application was accessible on Apple’s App Store. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had requested that Google and Apple bring down TikTok after the Madras High Court restricted the application on April 3 for “explicit and wrong substance”.

Google, in an email reaction to Business Standard, said it doesn’t remark on individual applications yet holds fast to neighborhood laws. Clients who had the application will keep on having the capacity to utilize it. The High Court, prior on Tuesday, would not evacuate its boycott and named senior backer Arvind Datar as a free guidance to inspect TikTok’s suggestions.

In an email proclamation, TikTok had stated, “We welcome the choice of the Madras High Court to delegate Arvind Datar as Amicus Curae (free advice) to the court. We have confidence in the Indian legal framework and we are hopeful around a result that would be generally welcomed by more than 120 million month to month dynamic clients in India, who keep utilizing TikTok to grandstand their innovativeness and catch minutes that issue in their regular day to day existences.”

S Muthukumar had recorded an open intrigue suit for TikTok to restricted refering to the utilization of unseemly substance being posted and shared on the application by minors. Android, the Google claimed working framework, represents 70-80 percent piece of the overall industry in India, and Apple’s iOS accounts makes significant progress behind it. TikTok was focused at individuals who claim lower-end Android advanced mobile phones. A look for TikTok on Google Play Store Tuesday night demonstrated different applications comparative in name or logo.