Udit Agarwal
The government of Indian today told Whatsapp to develop a mechanism to trace the origin of messages when the app is found to be abused by the extremists and terrorists, and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that the platform had assured prompt action in such type of cases.
“On the issue of traceability, I have conveyed to them traceability shall be their job. But in the event WhatsApp platform is sought to be abused by rogue (elements), terrorists and extremist elements by repeating, recirculation of messages, then there must be a mechanism where those could be traced to enforce law and order, safety and security of the country,” Prasad said after meeting WhatsApp Global Head Will Cathcart.
The meeting comes at a time when the messaging platform is facing pressure from India to bring in the traceability of fake message originators.
“This I have told them clearly, the mechanism shall be developed by them. And a request for that will also come from appropriately high level so that there is no tinkering in between,” Prasad said. Prasad said the WhatsApp head had assured action in these matters.
Post after the meeting with the minister, Cathcart revealed that Whatsapp had reiterated its support for the encryption and how essential it is for the product. Earlier yesterday, Cathcart has revealed that Whatsapp could roll out its payment services to its users by the end of this year.
The company is highly focused on making changes to its product to deal with virality like forwarding limites that is had set on its messages, he revealed.
“We talked about the work we are doing to cooperate with law enforcement, put in place training, and handle requests,” he said. PTI MBI SR
