IS News Tracker
Government to sniff your emails
September 22, 2008, Daily News and Analysis
The recent terror attacks in various parts of the country during which terrorists allegedly hacked into wireless networks to send emails warning of imminent attacks has prompted the central government to consider monitoring e-mails on a full time basis. For this, the government has decided to install specialised software to check the content of e-mails which flow over four or five major ISPs.
Free software centre likely by December
August 2, 2008, The Hindu
The Kerala government is in the process of establishing an international centre on Free and Open Source Software. Dr. Rahul De - the professor from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) who submitted the mission plan for the project is of the opinion that the centre can be a world class space for promoting FOSS. He has proposed six key areas the centre could become a pioneering institute in.
New company law to post email as evidence
August 26, 2008, The Economic Times
Electronic mail or e-mail is by far the most popular use of the networked world of computers today. Given that a majority of communication between people and companies occur in the form of email it was surprising that the legal framework did not have a proper mechanism in place of considering such communication as a form of evidence.
e-Payment system for NREGA workers soon
July 23, 2008, iGovernment
The NREGA programme has been a boon to a large number of rural households in terms of providing employment for a significant portion of the year. However, it has been plagued by inefficiency in various areas, not the least in the actual disbursement of payment for work done. This is set to significantly improve for the better by the adoption of information technology for wage payment. Under a project being jointly developed by BSNL and NIC, each person employed in this scheme will have a smart card and an account in the local post office. Funds will be electronically deposited in the post office and the person can use the smart card to withdraw money.
ICT initiative in Kerala making waves
July 23, 2008, iGovernment
An interesting ICT project in Kannur district of Kerala has proved to be an eye-opener as to the possibilities of such technologies in improving the lives of people in every strata of society. Web portals containing information on everything from the availability of coconut tree climbers to jobs have been setup for the villages in the district.
Govt may keep an eye on emails from abroad
26 June 2008, The Economic Times
The Internet has thrown up new challenges to the government in terms of information security. The recent acts of defacement of websites as well as intrusions via the web has led to steps by the Department of Information Technology in India. These include a proposal to scan emails coming to India from abroad as well as setting up secure infrastructure for the hosting of government websites.
Now, an RTI call centre for queries
July 16, 2008, The Times of India
The government is planning to set up call centres across the country to help ordinary citizens seek information from various departments under the Right to Information (RTI) framework. The call centre idea is envisaged as a cheap, efficient and swift process whereby anybody seeking information needs only to dial the number, which will be uniform across India, and speak, which will then be dealt with and followed up.
