OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Courts sound the bell for liberty FE LINES UNHEALTHY FOODS AREN’T JUST BAD FOR YOU, THEY MAYALSO BE ADDICTIVE Diversity in space Space missions will soon have more female astronauts, as well as people with disabilities Page 6 Food researchers debate whether highly processed foods like potato chips and ice cream are addictive, triggering our brains to overeat Page 10 ACROSS THE AISLE , P CHIDAMBARAM LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. XVII, NO. 25 DIGITAL ACTIVISM KOLKATA SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2021, 14 Pages, `10 (NE States & Andaman `13) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY B E N G A L U R U , C H E N N A I , READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , NEW SOCIAL MEDIA RULES WhatsApp can tell on you without snooping WHAT'S INSIDE ● Experts say tracing origin of messages can be done without breaking encryption ■ SPOTLIGHT, P7 Home smart home Home automation is on the rise and so is a shift towards minimalism. The future home, experts say, will be a combination of function, aesthetics and sustainability RISHI RAJ New Delhi, February 27 WITH THE GOVERNMENT notifying new, stricter guidelines for social media companies, which includes messaging apps, once again a debate has started whether this means breaking of end-to-end encryption by WhatsApp, which would have to break the secrecy of private conversations amongst individuals. The government has asked companies to disclose the first originatorofwhatisdeemedas mischievous messages by the government. Some legal experts maintain that by asking messaging apps like WhatsApp to trace the origin of messages, the government is in a way trying ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Apresident preaches Pranab Mukherjee’s last memoir begs the question, what should a president write on? ODD & EVEN C H A N D I G A R H , ‘This is the best time in history to campaign on issues you care about’ Page 5 ROHNIT PHORE RED HERRING? Every message has a source code and a destination code, and can be traced via them No policy yet on data storage and for time period for which data to be stored by OTTs to snoop on private conversations and for this encryption needs to be broken. However, technologyexpertsdiffer.They maintain that origin of messages can be traced without breaking any encryption and the bogey of breaking the encryption has been raised by WhatsApp as a red herring. Under the new guidelines notified on Thursday, the government has made it mandatoryformessaging apps to disclose the originator of messages if the matter relates to law and order problems or threatens the country's sovereignty, integrity, or friendly relations with neighbouring countries, etc. In such cases, WhatsAppwould need to trace Company can trace origin of messages through source code, used in mobiles, e-mail networks Tech experts say bogey of breaking encryption raised by WhatsApp as red herring the origin of message within 72 hours of being asked. Technology experts maintain that though messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by WhatsApp, the company can trace the origin of the messages through source code. Source codes are used in mobile phones and e-mail networks to trace messages.While in phone networks it is called call data record,in e-mails it is called internet protocol data record (IPDR). "Every message, be it via SMS,e-mail,orWhatsApp,has asourcecodeandadestination code, and can be traced via it. This can happen without breaking eitherthe encryption orprivacypolicy,”a technology expert told FE. For instance, when law enforcingagenciestrackmobile call data record to investigate crime, they do not tap phone conversations. Similarly,when thesourceofe-mailistrackedto investigate criminal activity then e-mail accounts are not hacked.ByaskingWhatsApp to trace the origin of a mischievous message,the government is not asking it to read the message,butjusttoinformthegovernment from where it originated within the country. “Traceabilityisrequiredincases where messages create lawand order problem, communal hatred,etc.Insuchcasesthelaw enforcement agencies need to findoutfromwhereanotorious message originated to take appropriate legal steps,” said a technical expert. However, for such traceabilitythere needs to beadomesticlawinplacewhich mandatesforhowlongthedata needs to be stored by WhatsApp. Currently, there's no policyon local data storage and for what time period data needs to bestoredwhenitcomestooverthe-top (OTT) players. Continued on Page 11 INDIAREGISTEREDA single-day spike of over 16,000 Covid-19 casesforthethirddayinarowon Saturday,pushing the infection tally to 1,10,79,979,while the recoveries surged to 1,07,63,451,accordingtohealth ministry.Atotalof16,488coronavirus caseswere reported in a day,while the death toll rose to 1,56,938 with 113 new fatalities,showedthedataupdatedat 8amonSaturday.Theactivecase count has further increased to 1,59,590. —PTI PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, February 27 HOSPITALS CAN Vaccination drive underway `150costofvaccineplus`100 service charge. This arrangement will remain effective till further orders,” a source said. According to sources, states and Union territories have VENKATA SUSMITA BISWAS Mumbai, February 27 INFLUENCER MARKETING IS all set to be regulated in India. Advertising Standards Council ofIndia(ASCI),theindustrybody that regulates advertising communication,hasdevelopedaset of guidelines for influencer marketing on digital media platforms. The guidelines will come into effect by the end of March after consultations with industrystakeholders. ASCI’s proposed guidelines ■ Use tags like #ad, #collab, #promo, #sponsored, #partnership ■ Ads must be obviously distinguishable from editorial and independent user-generated content ■ The disclosure label needs to be upfront — within the first two lines Influencer marketing is booming in India on social media platforms and is estimated to be worth $75-100 Smart cars the hot new wheels Tech on a roll ● Sales of connected cars picking up in Indian market VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, February 27 THE NEW HONDA City has a unique feature: You can speak intoanAmazonAlexadeviceat home and ask the carto switch on the AC as you get ready for office. How about “Alexa, ask Honda to start the AC and set temperature to cool”. Thankstointernetofthings (IoT),whichyoumayhaveexperienced in everyday life for things such as automatic lighting and smart refrigerators, a ‘connected car’is emerging as a popular IoT device.These cars have an inbuilt eSIM, and features such as voice-based navigation, voice-assisted phone calls,in-carairqualitymonitoring,remote engine start,and so on.Thesecarsarealsocapableof over-the-air software updates, just likeyoursmartphone. There are lakhs of such cars running on Indian roads already. Kia Motors has sold morethan1,15,000connected Kia has sold more than 1,15,000 connected cars Hyundai has sold 1,05,464 connected cars; offers this tech in six models Honda has sold over 20,000 units of connected City Tata Motors will introduce connected car tech across models Over 81,000 Ford cars have FordPass connectivity tech Over 5,000 customers use ‘Mercedes me connect’ cars(over50%ofitstotalsales) since the company launched the Seltos on August 22,2019. Its connected technology is called the UVO and is available in select variants of all models. Hyundai’s tech is called the Blue Link and it’s currently being offered in six models — i20,Venue, Creta, Elantra,TucsonandVerna.Thecompanyhas sold over 1,05,464 connected cars since the Venue (touted to be India’s first connected car) waslaunchedonMay21,2019. Continued on Page 11 of any given platform ■ If the ad is a picture or video not accompanied by text, the disclosure label needs to be superimposed over the picture or video ■ For videos that last 15 seconds or lesser, the disclosure label must stay for a minimum of two seconds million as per digital marketingagencyAdLift.“Brandsallocate 10-15% of their digital media spends to influencer To get blemish free skin use NO SCARS. It helps to reduce and remove, scars and marks. been informed about it. The Union health ministry onFridayhadsaidbeneficiaries wouldbeabletoself-registerin advance by downloading the Co-WIN2.0portalandthrough other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu,which will show the government and private hospitals serving as vaccinationcentreswithdateandtime of the available schedules.The beneficiary would be able to choose the centre of herchoice and book an appointment for vaccination,the ministry said. Influencer marketing under ASCI scanner ● Influencers will have to disclose paid-for posts, but regulation will be challenging INTERNET OF THINGS '' Pvt hospitals can charge up to `250 per dose from March 1 PRIVATE P U N E '' COVID-19 VACCINE charge up to `250 per dose of Covid-19 vaccine, official sources said on Saturday as India prepares to vaccinate people aged above 60 years and those over45with comorbiditiesfromMarch1.Thevaccinewill be given free of cost at government hospitals, while people will need to pay for it at private facilities. “`250 will be the ceiling — D E L H I , don’t bother for scars any more. BAJAJ AUTO MD Rajiv Bajaj on Saturday said that India must continue to trade with China, reports FE Bureau. “We must continue to do trade with China because if we conduct our business at the exclusion of such a large country (and) such a large market, we will find ourselves incomplete over time and we will be poorer for the loss of that experience,” he said. He drew attention to what happened around June-July last year when the government suddenly came down hard on imports, especially from China. PAGE 3 India sees 16,488 new Covid cases N E W QuickPicks We must continue to trade with China: Rajiv Bajaj SINGLE-DAY SPIKE M U M B A I , marketing.The market is now growingat40-70%y-o-y,”says Prashant Puri, CEO and founder,AdLift. The categories of brands engagingadvocateshavegrown too. “Influencers are not restricted to the beauty,food or travel categories anymore.We workwith influencers forproducts like paints, laminates etc,” notes Ankita Chauhan, group head,strategy,TonicWorldwide. The concern with influencer marketing is that lines between advertising and content have started to blur on digital platforms. “Consumers are unable to distinguish betweenwhat is a paid for piece of brand communicationversus a plain social media post. Continued on Page 11 100r% ue P rian a Veget ap So PREMIUM QUALITY SOAP Get dazzling Glamour with... 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