Wednesday, April 22, 2015

#RahulGandhi speaks on #NetNeutrality in #Parliament.

#sumit
Over 1 million people are fighting for net neutrality & government is trying to carve out the net & hand it over to corporates: Rahul Gandhi
PM has said that everyone should have access to the internet: Ravi Shankar Prasad in Lok Sabha.
TRAI can make a recommendation under TRAI act but the final decision rests with the government: Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Don't want govt & corporates to carve up internet for their own use, says @ShashiTharoor.

Monday, April 20, 2015

#SolarPlane Starts Next Round-The-World Leg in #China

#sumit

Beijing: A pioneering plane attempting to circumnavigate the globe powered only by the sun took off in China early Tuesday for the next stage of its journey, organisers said.

The Solar Impulse 2's departure from Chongqing came after repeated meteorological delays and one of its co-pilots returned to Europe to be treated for migraine.

With pilot Bertrand Piccard at the controls, the plane took off at 6:08 am (2208 GMT Monday), heading for the eastern city of Nanjing, organisers said in a statement. The 1,190 kilometre flight was expected to take 20 hours.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

#Cybercrime now 'number one' #threat: #Europol chief

#sumit

Cybercrime now 'number one' threat: Europol chief

Cybercrime has become as big a threat to Europe's security as terrorism, the head of the continent's policing agency warned Friday.
"The threat online is huge. It is now the number one security concern, alongside terrorism," Europol chief Rob Wainwright said.
"It's become a global problem and we urgently need global instruments to deal with it," the continent's police czar told AFP.
Wainwright was speaking on the sidelines of a global cyber conference ending in The Hague, which focused on issues such as Internet freedom, safety and security.
More than 1,500 delegates from almost 100 countries, civil society and tech industry giants such as Microsoft, Facebook and Cisco gathered for the two-day Global Conference on CyberSpace (GCCS) in the Netherlands.
Delegates on Thursday launched a forum designed to serve as a platform for countries to share expertise in the fight against cyber threats, including hacking attacks and data protection.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Mark Zuckerberg Reacts To India’s Net Neutrality Debate, Defends Internet.org

The debate over free access and Internet neutrality in India has been raging over the last few weeks and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spurred into posting his opinion on Facebook on Friday where he says Net Neutrality and the idea of free internet go hand in hand.
Net neutrality is a concept that says the internet service providers should treat all traffic and sites equally.
The debate went viral in the country when Flipkart started negotiating with Airtel about Airtel Zero, a plan to split India's internet. Later, Flipkart backed out of the deal and stood by Net Neutrality.
A statement released by them said, "We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of Net Neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet."
This is what Zuckerberg's post reads on his page:
"Over the past week in India, there has been a lot written about Internet.org and net neutrality. I’d like to share my position on these topics here for everyone to see.
First, I’ll share a quick story. Last year I visited Chandauli, a small village in northern India that had just been connected to the internet.
In a classroom in the village, I had the chance to talk to a group of students who were learning to use the internet. It was an incredible experience to think that right there in that room might be a student with a big idea that could change the world — and now they could actually make that happen through the internet.

The internet is one of the most powerful tools for economic and social progress. It gives people access to jobs, knowledge and opportunities. It gives voice to the voiceless in our society, and it connects people with vital resources for health and education.
I believe everyone in the world deserves access to these opportunities.In many countries, however, there are big social and economic obstacles to connectivity. The internet isn’t affordable to everyone, and in many places awareness of its value remains low. Women and the poor are most likely to be excluded and further disempowered by lack of connectivity.
This is why we created Internet.org, our effort to connect the whole world. By partnering with mobile operators and governments in different countries, Internet.org offers free access in local languages to basic internet services in areas like jobs, health, education and messaging. Internet.org lowers the cost of accessing the internet and raises the awareness of the internet’s value. It helps include everyone in the world’s opportunities.
We’ve made some great progress, and already more than 800 million people in 9 countries can now access free basic services through Internet.org. In India, we’ve already rolled out free basic services on the Reliance network to millions of people in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Telangana. And we just launched in Indonesia on the Indosat network today.
We’re proud of this progress. But some people have criticized the concept of zero-rating that allows Internet.org to deliver free basic internet services, saying that offering some services for free goes against the spirit of net neutrality. I strongly disagree with this.
We fully support net neutrality. We want to keep the internet open. Net neutrality ensures network operators don’t discriminate by limiting access to services you want to use. It’s an essential part of the open internet, and we are fully committed to it.
But net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected. These two principles — universal connectivity and net neutrality — can and must coexist.
To give more people access to the internet, it is useful to offer some service for free. If someone can’t afford to pay for connectivity, it is always better to have some access than none at all.
Internet.org doesn’t block or throttle any other services or create fast lanes -- and it never will. We’re open for all mobile operators and we’re not stopping anyone from joining. We want as many internet providers to join so as many people as possible can be connected.
Arguments about net neutrality shouldn’t be used to prevent the most disadvantaged people in society from gaining access or to deprive people of opportunity. Eliminating programs that bring more people online won’t increase social inclusion or close the digital divide. It will only deprive all of us of the ideas and contributions of the two thirds of the world who are not connected.
Every person in the world deserves access to the opportunities the internet provides. And we can all benefit from the perspectives, creativity and talent of the people not yet connected.
We have a historic opportunity to connect billions of more people worldwide for the first time. We should work together to make that happen now."

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

#PM #Modi's #coal turnaround to ease #chronic #power cuts this #summer

New Delhi: Fewer power cuts are likely in the country this summer after a surge in output at Coal India helped generators amass record stocks, a turnaround for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had to battle a power crisis within months of becoming prime minister last May.
Fast-track mine approvals, tighter production oversight and more flexibility in coal sales have helped power station stocks recover from a six-year low hit in October, vindicating PM Modi's pitch to voters as the chief minister who brought round-the-clock power to industrial Gujarat.

#Canadian #PM #Harper returns 900-year-old #Khajuraho temple #sculpture to #PM #Modi

Ottawa: A 900-year-old piece of sculpture from Khajuraho temple, which had somehow reached Canada, was returned by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to PM Narendra Modi in Ottawa yesterday.The sculpture, known as 'Parrot Lady', was handed over by Canandian PM Harper to PM Modi in accordance with the 1970 UNESCO Convention.
The handing over took place in the Canadian Parliament Library which PM Modi visited after his talks with PM Harper.
#sumit

#Nasa's #NewHorizons Probe Nears Close #Encounter With #Pluto

The first spacecraft to visit distant Pluto, a dwarf planet in the solar system's frozen backyard, is still three months away from a close encounter, but already in viewing range, newly released photos show.
The New Horizons probe blasted off from Florida in January 2006 for a 3-billion-mile (5-billion-km) journey to the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system located beyond Neptune.

'New atmosphere of trust in our #nation,' says #PM #Narendra #Modi in #Canada

New Delhi: At a Toronto ice hockey arena dressed up in Indian colours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today talked about the change his government has brought in India. And, he emphasised, in the relationship with Canada, using the lyrics of an old Bollywood song to make his point.

Follower of #BhagatSingh starts #signature #campaign for #ChandraShekharAzad

AMRITSAR: A staunch follower of Bhagat Singh, who also donned his look for the past 25 years, began a signature campaign from Jallianwala Bagh for the issuing of a coin dedicated to another martyr of the Indian freedom struggle, Chandra Shekhar Azad.