SC seeks Centre's reply on plea for ban on Zoom app until appropriate legislation is put in place
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday sought response from the Centre on a plea which has sought a ban on the use of video communications app 'Zoom' for official as well as personal purposes until an appropriate legislation is put in place.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre on the plea which has raised privacy concern and claimed that continued use of Zoom app is "making the users vulnerable and prone to cyber threats".
The matter came up for hearing through video-conferencing before the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, which asked the Centre to file its reply within four weeks on the plea which has arrayed US-based Zoom Video Communications as one of the respondents in the case.
The plea, filed by Delhi resident Harsh Chugh, has also sought a direction to the Centre to carry out an exhaustive technical study into the security and privacy risks of using Zoom application.
The plea, filed through advocate Wajeeh Shafiq, has alleged that continued usage of this app might put the national security at stake and might also give a boom to number of cyber-threats and cyber crimes in India.
"The global COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reshaped the way in which consumers, businesses and schools communicate.
Rather than lending a hand to people in need, Zoom violates the privacy of its millions of users by misusing and exploiting their personal information and falsely, deceptively and misleadingly advertising fictitious security benefits of the program," the plea has said.
It has alleged that Zoom app "practices data hoarding and cyber hoarding" which includes mass storage of personal data of its users and stores cloud recordings, instant messages and files.
"Zoom is reported to have a bug that can be abused intentionally to leak information of users to third parties. The app has falsely claiming calls are end-to-end encrypted when they are not," the plea said while claiming that Zoom had also apologised publicly for "mistakenly routing traffic through China" where internet is heavily monitored by the government.
It has alleged that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the nodal cyber security agency, has also warned Zoom users of cyber risks.
The plea said that due to privacy and security concerns, several organizations across the world have banned the use of Zoom app.
Claiming that cyberspace risk is increasing everyday due to global connectivity and online services which makes it easier to hack and access sensitive data of users, the plea said it is not that difficult to hack if a secure network is not used.
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NIA registers case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal
New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday registered a case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said.
The move came following a directive by the Union Home Ministry in this regard, they said.
In pursuance to the home ministry's order, the anti-terror agency on Sunday registered a case, which was originally filed at Uttar Kashi police station, Bhangar division, Kolkata on Saturday, and took up the investigation, an NIA spokesperson said in a late night statement.
"The case pertains to recovery of 79 crude bombs and other incriminating materials by Kolkata police, which were being stored at a spot, thereby endangering human life and property," the spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had directed the West Bengal Police to launch a special drive to arrest those involved in illegal manufacturing of crude bombs in the poll-bound state, an official said.
It asserted that all cases related to the making of any such explosive would be probed by the National Investigation Agency, the official said.
The directive came after the police recovered a large number of crude bombs from the house of a person, allegedly a TMC worker, at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, days ahead of the second and final phase of the assembly polls in the state.
The explosives were recovered during a search at the residence of Rafikul Islam following specific inputs, the official said.
The poll panel also issued a warning to senior police officers across the state over any lapse in maintaining law and order before the April 29 polling.
The first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal was held on April 23, while the second phase will take place on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
A record 93.19 per cent turnout has been recorded in the first round of polling. Bhangar will vote in the second phase.
