Govt bans 20 YouTube channels, two websites under new IT rules

 The Youtube channels and the websites were allegedly running anti-India content from Pakistan.

20 YouTube channels and two websites on Monday were taken down by India after the Union government, for the first time, invoked the emergency powers under the intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code in the IT Act that was notified recently, according to a news report in Economic Times. The YouTube channels and the websites were allegedly running anti-India content from Pakistan.

According to the newspaper, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra directed YouTube and the Department of Telecom to ban the content as it infringes upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.

I&B officials said that the ‘anti-India content’ was being run by Pakistan with the help of Inter-Services Intelligence. One of the groups identified on YouTube was ‘Naya Pakistan‘ that had more than 2 million subscribers and was running ‘false news’ on various issues such as Kashmir, farmers protests in India, Article 370, and Ayodhya. The total subscriber base of these YouTube channels is estimated to be more than 3.5 million and have a total viewership of 500 million, according to the officials.

Google fined $170 million for violating children’s privacy on YouTube

Officials said YouTube violated the law that requires child-directed websites and online services to obtain parental consent prior to collecting personal information from children under 13

Google agreed Wednesday to pay $ 170 million to settle charges that it illegally collected and shared data from children on its YouTube video service, a deal critics said was too soft on the internet giant. The settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the New York state Attorney General is the largest amount in a case involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a 1998 federal law, officials said.

Officials said YouTube violated the law that requires child-directed websites and online services to obtain parental consent prior to collecting personal information from children under 13 which may be used for advertising.

The company marketed itself as a destination for children and benefitted by selling advertising to toymakers and others seeking to connect with young audiences, according to the FTC. FTC chairman Joe Simons said the settlement “prevents YouTube and Google from turning a blind eye to the existence of kids-directed content” on its platform.

Simons said the settlement makes Google liable for violations by third-party content creators, going beyond federal law that requires the platform to have knowledge that videos are directed at children…

How did FB allow livestream of New Zealand attack? PM Ardern seeks answers

A horrific video shot by the gunmen who carried out the mosque massacre was livestreamed on Facebook before being removed by the company

International News: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday said she would be looking for answers from Facebook and other social media firms about how an attack that killed 50 mosque-goers was livestreamed on their platforms.

Saying there were “further questions to be answered” by the tech giants, Ardern said Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg had been in contact and “acknowledged what has occurred here in New Zealand”. A horrific video shot by the gunmen who carried out the mosque massacre was livestreamed on Facebook before being removed by the company.

But the stream, lasting 17 minutes, was shared repeatedly on YouTube and Twitter, and internet platforms were scrambling to remove videos being reposted of the gruesome scenes. “We did as much as we could to remove, or seek to have removed, some of the footage that was being circulated in the aftermath of this terrorist attack,” Ardern said.

“But ultimately it has been up to those platforms to facilitate their removal.” “I do think that there are further questions to be answered.” In a statement on Sunday, Mia Garlick of Facebook New Zealand vowed to “work around the clock to remove violating content”.

“In the first 24 hours we removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally, of which over 1.2 million were blocked at upload,” the company said. Ardern was joined by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in expressing doubts that current rules go far enough.

Morrison said that social media companies had “co-operated” since the attack. “But I sadly have to say that the capacity to actually assist fully is very limited on the technology side.” He said “assurances were given” that once such content was pulled down, a regime would make sure it did not go back up…

Read More: New zealand  Shooting

More than 1,600 URLs blocked in India over last 18 months to curb fake news

Facebook blocked the most (956 or 58%) of URLs, under section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, followed by Twitter (25%) and YouTube (9%)

As many as 1,662 uniform resource locators (URLs) or posts on social media were blocked over 18 months ending June 2018, Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for electronics and information technology, told the Rajya Sabha (Parliament’s upper house) on August 3, 2018, as part of an explanation on combating fake news.

“Recently, it has come to the attention of the government of India that a number of disturbing instances causing loss of innocent lives have taken place in various parts of the country,” RS Prasad said in his reply on the issue of misuse of social media and fake news. “These are deeply painful and regrettable, as well as a matter of deep concern for the government.”

Fake news

Facebook blocked the most (956 or 58 per cent) of URLs, under section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, followed by Twitter (25 per cent) and YouTube (9 per cent).

Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 says websites/pages can be blocked in “defence of India”, its sovereignty, security and integrity, foreign relations, public order and to prevent “incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above”, Prasad said.

Article source : BS

YouTube shooting: Shooter Nasim Aghdam identified in California; 10 updates

YouTube employees recounted dramatic scenes as they fled the headquarters of the Google-owned video sharing service near San Francisco

 

A woman opened fire with a 9 mm handgun at YouTube's headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday, wounding three people before shooting herself dead as employees of the Silicon Valley tech company fled into the surrounding streets, authorities said.

Police did not identify the suspect or say what might have motivated the shooting at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Inc's Google which employs nearly 2,000 people at the San Bruno, California offices.

The woman approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building, police said.

The San Jose Mercury News, citing a law enforcement source, said that she was targeting her boyfriend due to a domestic dispute.

A U.S. government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism.

ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the suspect was 35 to 40 years old, and lived in Southern California, with no apparent connection to YouTube.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai thanked the police and first responders for their efforts.

"There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. Susan Wojcicki and I are focused on supporting our employees and the YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support," he tweeted. YouTube headquarters is located some 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the main Google campus in Mountain View.

Here are the top 10 developments around the YouTube headquarters shooting where the assailant committed suicide after injuring several people:

1. Woman who allegedly carried out YouTube shooting is identified by police

The person who allegedly shot at least three people at YouTube's campus on Tuesday afternoon has been identified as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, according to senior law enforcement officials. The woman, who was 39 years old, is believed to have carried out the attack because of a domestic dispute, officials said. The authorities said terrorism did not appear to be a motive at this time.
The shooter used a 9 mm handgun.

Aghdam, who authorities say last lived in the San Diego area, had previously claimed in a video that YouTube "discriminated and filtered" her content, according to NBC Bay Area.
Police chief Ed Barberini of San Bruno city, 19 km from San Francisco, said the suspect, a female shooter, appeared to have shot herself after injuring multiple people at the campus of the YouTube facility.

"We did locate a victim with what we believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said Barberini. "It's a female, but the investigation is still ongoing before we can put all the pieces together."

2. Google issues statement on the shooting: Google, the parent company of YouTube, issued a statement, saying that "We continue to actively coordinate with local authorities and hospitals. Our security team has been working closely with authorities to evacuate the buildings and ensure the safety of employees in the area".

3. 4 injured in the YouTube shooting: "We have a 32-year-old female who is in a serious condition, a 27-year-old female in a fair condition, and a 36-year-old male in a critical condition," KPIX 5 TV quoted Brent Andrew, spokesman for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, as saying.
The shooting took place in an outdoor cafe at the YouTube campus in San Bruno in the US, which houses at least 1,700 employees.

Read more: Youtube shooting 

Apple fired an employee over iPhone X hands-on video taken by his daughter

The video is reported to have compromised company's confidential information that was there in the device such as special employee-only QR codes, code names of upcoming products etc

Apple has allegedly sacked one of its employees after the latter's daughter uploaded a video clip, which went viral on YouTube, of an unreleased iPhone X.

The video was uploaded by Brooke Amelia Peterson showcasing her trip to Apple’s campus where her father works. In the video, Brooke has been seen using the anniversary edition iPhone X to demonstrate hands-on experience, which includes close-up shots and user interface navigation.

ALSO READ: IPhone X Pre-Orders Are 'Off The Charts', Apple Share Jumps

Brooke removed the video from YouTube after the company made a request to pull it down. While the video revealed just the hands-on of the iPhone X, it is reported that the device was an unreleased product with confidential data such as special employee-only QR codes, codenames of upcoming products etc., which may have been compromised....read more