CAIT asks authorities to ban WhatsApp, Facebook over new privateness coverage

Traders’ physique CAIT on Sunday wrote to Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanding that the federal government prohibit WhatsApp from implementing its new privateness coverage or impose a ban on the messaging app and its mother or father firm Facebook.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) claimed that by means of the brand new privateness coverage, “all kinds of personal data, payment transactions, contacts, location and other vital information of a person who is using WhatsApp will be acquired by it and can be used for any purpose by WhatsApp”.

In the communication to Prasad, CAIT has demanded that “government should immediately restrict WhatsApp from implementing the new policy or put a ban on WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook”, the merchants’ physique said.
CAIT mentioned Facebook has greater than 200 million customers in India and enabling it to entry information of each person can pose severe menace to not solely the financial system however even to the safety of the nation.
However, in an electronic mail response to PTI, a WhatsApp spokesperson mentioned, “To additional improve transparency, we up to date the privateness coverage to explain that going ahead companies can select to obtain safe internet hosting companies from our mother or father firm Facebook to assist handle their communications with their clients on WhatsApp.
“Though of course, it remains up to the user whether or not they want to message with a business on WhatsApp.”
The spokesperson additional mentioned that the replace doesn’t change WhatsApp’s information sharing practices with Facebook and doesn’t influence how folks talk privately with buddies or household wherever they’re on this planet.
“WhatsApp remains deeply committed to protecting people’s privacy. We are communicating directly with users through WhatsApp about these changes so they have time to review the new policy over the course of the next month,” the spokesperson added.

An electronic mail despatched to Facebook in search of touch upon the difficulty didn’t elicit a response.
CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal mentioned, “The changed privacy policy of WhatsApp is an encroachment on privacy of an individual and runs against the basic fundamentals of Constitution of India and therefore the CAIT has demanded immediate intervention of the government.”