Internet Technologies

Can, but have not blocked any VPNs: Pakistan's telecommunication authority

Pakistan's telecom watchdog made it clear that no virtual private network (VPNs) was blocked in the country, nor it planned to do so in the future despite having the capability. It was announced by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman Hafizur Rehman on Monday while addressing the launch of the regulator's 'Annual Report'. According to the Express Tribune, Rehman made it clear that so far, no VPN had been blocked and there was no such plan for the future. We have said it before, and I repeat it now: we could block VPNs, but we won't. To date, no VPNs have been blocked. The statement comes after news taking rounds for months that the regulator had initiated the process of registering the VPNs. The deadline for the registration was extended beyond November 30. However, a new deadline had not been announced for the VPN suspension. The government had expressed the apprehension that VPN use might be harmful for the people, while accessing immoral contents on social med

Soon, you can import and export 'Passkeys' while maintaining encryption

FIDO Alliance has unveiled draft specifications that reportedly establishes the Credential Exchange Protocol (CXP) and Credential Exchange Format (CXF) for transferring passkeys

Italy to test Starlink satellites to enhance internet access, says official

We're assessing with Starlink and other players the possibility of complementing existing infrastructure with satellites for the most remote areas

Data centre emissions witness growth: Is AI or climate change to blame?

Three of the biggest tech companies, Microsoft, Google and Meta, have reported ballooning greenhouse gas emissions since 2020

Mobile internet to be suspended in J'khand on Sat, Sun for recruitment test

Mobile internet services will be suspended across the state for over five hours on Saturday and Sunday in view of the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination (JGGLCCE), an official statement said. The services will be suspended from 8 am to 1.30 pm on Saturday, and the prohibition will be repeated on Sunday, in a bid to check any malpractice during the examination, it said. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said he has spoken to senior officials regarding the preparations for the examination. "Negligence will not be tolerated under any circumstances," he said on X. "If anybody tries to do something wrong during the examination, even by mistake, we will deal with them strictly," Soren said. The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission will conduct the examination in 823 centres, with around 6.39 lakh candidates expected to appear for the test, a JSSC official said.

Blackstone mulls selling majority stake in visa, tech firm VFS Global

Considerations are at an early stage and Blackstone may still decide against pursuing a deal, the report said

Enforce traceability, privacy norms on internet call, messaging apps: COAI

The government should enforce traceability and user privacy rules on WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Meet as well as other calling and messaging apps along with telecom operators as such platforms provide similar services using internet network, industry body COAI said. Telecom operators want the government and regulator to enforce message traceability and user privacy rule on these apps to curb spam and illegal activities as majority of messaging traffic has moved to data networks from SMS, COAI said. In a recent direction, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has mandated telecom operators to enhance message traceability. The regulator has mandated that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024. Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others, said that while the telecom service providers are working jointly with the Trai and the other stakeholders on th

KITE introduces AMC for 185K hi-tech devices in Kerala schools

The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), the technology arm of the state General Education Department, has introduced a comprehensive Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) for 1,85,114 high-tech devices in government and aided schools across Kerala. This move ensures the smooth functioning of these devices, which are essential for effective digital education. The AMC, which commenced Sunday, covers 79,571 high-tech devices installed in 11,226 primary and upper primary schools under the High-Tech Lab project implemented in 2019, an official statement said here. Similarly, 62,677 laptops and 42,866 projectors in government and aided high schools, higher secondary and vocational higher secondary schools, installed during the 2018-19 period, have been under AMC since April 2023, it said. K Anvar Sadath, CEO, KITE said that school principals should register any hardware-related complaints on the new portal - www.kite.kerala.gov.in/support. Vendors will be penalised i

Tired of in-flight internet woes? New solution likely on the horizon

India is preparing to launch its most advanced satellite, GSAT-20, later this year. It is expected to significantly enhance communication capabilities

SpaceX Starlink to provide free emergency service for all phones: Elon Musk

Elon Musk said that the move was to ensure that no one is at risk due to an inability to pay for emergency services. The service would be available subject to approval from country governments

Cheap AI bots rapidly expand across India, transforming tech landscape

Startups may turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier of generative AI products

Susan Wojcicki, internet pioneer at Google, Youtube passes away at 56

She announced plans in February 2023 to leave YouTube to focus on her family, health and personal projects

CrowdStrike sued by fliers after global IT outage disrupted air travel

They said CrowdStrike should pay compensatory and punitive damages to anyone whose flight was disrupted, after technology-related flight groundings for Southwest Airlines and other carriers in 2023

Online misinformation fuels tensions over stabbing attack in Britain

Within hours of a stabbing attack in northwest England that killed three young girls and wounded several more children, a false name of a supposed suspect was circulating on social media. Hours after that, violent protesters were clashing with police outside a nearby mosque the first of several violent protests in across England. Police say the name was fake, as were rumours that the 17-year-old suspect was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain. The suspect charged with murder and attempted murder was named Thursday as Axel Rudakubana, born in the UK to Rwandan parents. By the time a judge said the teen suspect could be identified, rumours already were rife and right-wing influencers had pinned the blame on immigrants and Muslims. There's a parallel universe where what was claimed by these rumours were the actual facts of the case, said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think tank that looks at issues including integration and national identity. And that

Global outage leading to phishing attacks against CrowdStrike user: CERT-In

The Indian cyber security agency has said a phishing attack campaign has targeted users impacted by the recent global computer outage, with attackers impersonating CrowdStrike support staff to trick people by offering to help them with system recovery tools. According to a CERT-In advisory issued on Saturday said, these attack campaigns could "entice an unsuspected user to install unidentified malware, which could lead to sensitive data leakage, system crashes and data leak." The world suffered a major computer systems outage on July 19 due to a faulty update to the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software leading to crash of Microsoft Windows operating system. The event grounded numerous flights, hit business, banking and hospital systems across the globe including in India. The systems have now recovered as both CrowdStrike and Microsoft released official fixes even as some organisations continue to recover from the mega technology meltdown. It has been reported, the advisory said, tha

SpaceX rocket fails, leaves Starlink's internet satellites in wrong orbit

A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company's internet satellites in an orbit so low that they're doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Several minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine malfunctioned. SpaceX on Friday blamed a liquid oxygen leak. The company said flight controllers managed to make contact with half of the satellites and attempted to boost them to a higher orbit using onboard ion thrusters. But with the low end of their orbit only 84 miles (135 kilometres) above Earth less than half what was intended our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites, the company said via X. SpaceX said the satellites will reenter the atmosphere and burn up. There was no mention of when they might come down. More than 6,000 orbiting Starlinks currently provide internet service to ...

Not halted any orders of Nvidia's advanced chip in market, says Amazon

The Project Ceiba transition was announced by the two firms in March when Nvidia unveiled the new Blackwell chips

Digital Competition Bill may hinder investments in tech startups: IAMAI

The Digital Competition Bill seeks to further regulate large digital enterprises, including news aggregators, as part of efforts to ensure a fair competition in the digital spaces

Strong solar storm hits Earth, disrupts Musk's Starlink satellites

Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet

Australian regulator says Musk's X shouldn't set limits of internet law

X, formerly Twitter, is fighting an order by the e-Safety Commissioner to remove 65 posts showing video of an Assyrian Christian bishop being knifed mid-sermon in Sydney last month