<div><em>Perhaps the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi can now feel less embarassed when he speaks with Sillicon Valley CEOs on 27 September, says <strong>Mala Bhargava</strong></em><br><br><br>The Indian Government may be ruing its timing. Its National Encryption Policy was obviously too much, too abruptly, too problematically. In what may well be an example of the power of outrage, the draft policy that demanded people not delete their online communication including on the popular WhatsApp for at least 90 days, has caused the policy draft to be withdrawn for a rethink already. The government also wanted only encryption approved by it to be used by applications and companies that registered with it. Apparently in the name of national security, the government could then demand the text version of virtually any communication by anyone, whether it was SMS, email, WhatsApp or SnapChat or anything in between.</div><div> </div><div>After an outcry on social media, an addendum exempted, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, specifically, and also commercial and bank transactions. The government itself was not bound by any of these restrictions.</div><div> </div><div>But in what must be the fastest turnaround on anything, the draft has been withdrawn for now. Perhaps the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi can now feel less embarassed when he speaks with Sillicon Valley CEOs on 27 September.</div><div> </div><div>The draft policy had proposed extensive control over various forms of online communication and outraged the general public.</div><div> </div><div>Abruptly and in stark clarity, the policy showed just what the government’s thinking is with regard to the common man’s freedom of thought, speech and privacy. Day by day, the right to live as one chooses is being eroded. From the ban on meat to the ban on certain websites, an increasing number of areas seem to be shifting under the purview of government control. And this is a frightening development.</div><div> </div><div>Last night, social media broke out into an uproar as netizens protested the proposed plan for the government to get right inside the encrypted communication of the common man, whether it was an online transaction or an exchange of terrible jokes between two people.</div><div> </div><div>The National Encryption Policy sought to control communication to such an extent that it calls for users of online technology and apps to keep their communication in text form for a period of 90 days in case the authorities should demand to see it for any reason. This was quite apart from the fact that the government wanted each application to register with it and hand over the keys to any encryption used.</div><div> </div><div><strong>None of Your Business</strong></div><div>“#ModiDontReadMyWhatsApp” appeared on Twitter as a trending hashtag as vociferous protests grew louder. “I’m fervently hoping that the internet kills the government before the government kills the internet” tweeted Ramesh Srivats, humourist and commentator. A number of others compared today’s era to George Orwell’s book, 1984, and</div><div>interestingly, Modi supporters who are normally quick to get outright abusive and verbally violent, went quiet.</div><div> </div>
