Tuesday 7 August 2018

How About a Contractual Option ?

Following news reports appeared in today’s papers :

Suggest ways to block Facebook, WhatsApp during emergency situations: DoT

Telecom companies asked to explore ways to block social media apps

Govt explores option to block social media apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram

Extracts :

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is examining the option of blocking popular social media apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram in order to curb fake news and child pornography, and has asked telcos and internet service providers to suggest ways for doing so.

“You are …requested to explore various possible options and confirm how the Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp/Telegram and other such mobile apps can be blocked on internet,” DoT said in a letter dated July 18. The letter was marked to telcos including Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, Idea, besides telecom and ISP industry bodies.

MeitY has informed DoT that blocking such apps during emergency situations are difficult as they work through multiple IP addresses and different protocols , which is why a ROBUST SOLUTION is required to protect national security

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My Take :

· Why talk about blocking only social media apps ?

· What is the point in blocking only during certain periods ?

· Other than “ temporary blocking “ of “ only social media apps “ , is there a permanent solution ?

· Other than “ Telcos & ISPs “ , does not other stakeholders too have a say in this matter ?

· Why confine the issues to only “ Child Porn “ and “ Fake News “ ?

· What are our options other than “ blocking “ ?

· What is our “ Bargaining Position “ ?

· What is it that the Government itself considers a “ reasonable good solution to protect national security “ ?

· Why are we adopting this “ wishy washy “ and “ knee jerk “ approach ?

· In 2010 , the Chinese Government told Google , “ Quit China “ / We have BAIDU !

· On 09 Aug 1942 , a frail Mahatma Gandhi , having nothing more than a moral power , told the mighty British Empire , “ Quit India “

· 76 years later , it is time to tell all Online Platforms / Mobile Apps ( whether local or foreign ) , you have the following options :

“ Quit India “ or enter into a CONTRACT with DPA ( Data Protection Authority ) as envisaged in

A Matter of Motive

If we do not take such a firm stand , expect the likes of Facebook to siphon away personal / private data of Indian Citizens and sell it all over the world !

If in doubt , read :

Facebook is asking Banks to share data on Customers spending habits

What next ?

Every Tom , Dick and Harry , selling following data of Indian Citizens ?

Who I am ( name )

· Where and when, I was born / who were my parents

· Where I grew up / where I live currently

· Do I live in a rented place or in an owned flat

· What Schools / Colleges I attended ( - and degrees I acquired )

· What Companies I worked for and salaries I got

· How I travel to work ( own vehicle or public transport )

· Where I go for my holidays / what books I read

· Who I married and who are my children ( - and how many )

· If divorced , how much alimony I pay and to whom

· Where I invest my money ( Banks – Funds – Equity etc )

· How much I have borrowed from whom and for how long

· My Credit ranking ( including my spending history / card wise – wallet wise )

· What are my eating ( food ) preferences and the restaurants I visit

· What I do for entertainment ( Music / Movies / Videos )

· What clothes I wear and how often do I buy

· Who are my friends and how often I phone / text them / meet them

· What ailments I suffer from and what medicines I take

· What minor offences ( traffic ) or crimes that I have committed

· What elections I have contested ( won and lost )

· Who are my doctors / lawyers / brokers / agents etc

· What web sites I visit and how often and for how long

· What do I search on the Net / What RSS feeds I subscribe to

· What TV channels I watch and Radio Stations that I listen to

· Every photo of mine ever taken ( selfie or otherwise )

· Every phone call that I ever made or received

· Every Email / Text message that I ever sent or received

· Every blog / comment that I ever posted on the Web

· Every face-to-face communication that I engaged in

The only option that spells “ win win “ for the Online Sellers ( of products or services ) , and

the Indian Government , has to be a Contract between Equals

If anyone has an option which is better than “ A Matter of Motives “ , let all hear about that

Now

07 Aug 2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Monday 6 August 2018

Congratulations ! Tech Mahindra

Today’s Economic Times carries following news :

TechM Adopts Facial Recognition for Attendance

Facial recognition could soon jump from your smartphone to your workplace with employers using it to mark attendance and gauge the mood of the workforce.

Tech Mahindra, the fifth-largest Indian IT services company by revenue, has launched a facial-recognition system for employees at its Noida office. Employees can now mark their attendance using swipe cards or they can simply look into the new facial-recognition terminal and sign in.

Tech Mahindra Chief people officer

Harshvendra Soin

[ harshvendra.soin@techmahindra.com / Tuhina.Pandey@techmahindra.com ]

said the tool would help the organisation measure the mood of employees when they use the system through a functionality called “ moodo-meter ”.

The system can recognise nine different facial expressions. It captures the expression on the face of the employees every time he or she uses the system and consolidates the information from all employees daily to create a moodo-meter score, which reflects the mood of the workforce.

“(Most) organisations do an employee survey once a year but great workplaces do it every single day. We will know location wise what your moodo-meter is and if it falls or goes up, it’s either an alarm or something that has gone right” said Soin.

All employees who are using facial recognition have given consent which could be revoked at any time.

Dear Shri Harshvendra Soinji ,

You deserve congratulations for this “ Revolutionary Initiative “

I urge you to “ go where no one has gone before “ and consider implementing features mentioned ( with modifications , no doubt ), in the following :

From BAD to MAD [ 01 June 2016 ]

You are in a race with :

Shri Asheesh Singhji ( Municipal Commissioner - Indore ), and

Shri Virendra Singhji ….( Municipal Commissioner - Nagpur )

whose similar initiatives are mentioned at ,

A Tale of Time Travel [ 05 Aug 2018 ]

Guess what !

If " From BAD to MAD " gets implemented to cover 500 million employees working in millions of establishments across India, we can become a $ 5 Trillion economy by 2024 , as envisaged by our PM , Shri Modiji

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07 Aug 2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Sunday 5 August 2018

A Tale of Time Travel ?

[ or call it “ Fast Forward to Future “ ]

Sunday Times ( 05 Aug 2018 ) carries following news :

Indore civic body to track officials with GPS watches

The city’s civic body is gifting watches to heads of departments – to keep an eye on them

These GPS-enabled watches will help the civic Commissioner keep track of

# WHERE officials are , and

# HOW MUCH time they spend in office

Indore Municipal Corporation commissioner Asheesh Singh told TOI that the GPS watches will be CUMPULSORY for all additional commissioners, deputy commissioners, executive engineers and assistant engineers

It will be MANDATORY for heads of all departments to wear these watches between 10:30 am and 5:30 pm – the official working hours

The smart watch will upload essential details – like ,

# WHEN the official entered office

# HOW MUCH TIME they were at work or in the field,

to the commissioner’s DASH-BOARD , Singh said , adding ,

“ They will show time and have inbuilt cameras as well “

He added the objective include,

# prevention of misuse of MANUAL ATTENDANCE system

# maintaining TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY in day-to-day work

A central government undertaking, ITI will provide these smart watches and END-to-END solution

An official said Nagpur Municipal Corporation , has already introduced these watches and the idea was appreciated at NATIONAL LEVEL

Dear Shri Asheesh Singhji,

Congratulations on this “ timely “ reform

I urge you to ,

* share with the public from time to time , how your bold initiative pans out

{ I am sending this email to Municipal Commissioners / Mayors of some 200 + cities ,

who may write to you, to know how your experiment goes }

* convince the Central Government to implement the “ End – to – End “ solution which I

sent to the Cabinet Ministers on 01 JUNE 2016 , vide my email :

From BAD to MAD

E Mail Highlights :

Now imagine this :

# All smart phones to evolve as Bio-metric Attendance Devices , with built-in

Bio-metric Recorders , GPS , a mobile attendance App ( called MAD ? )

# App to have 2 buttons ( Green = IN / Red = OUT )

# Employee to touch IN upon reaching his work-station and touch OUT ,

while leaving work place , at the end of work-shift . That's all !

# Being GPS enabled , buttons will get activated ONLY when the employee

has reached the work place ( not while he is on his way ! )

# All 100 million establishments in India ( factories / offices / shops / clinics

NGOs / Govt Depts ) to ensure that the MAD app is installed on the smart

phone of each employee , when he joins

# All of these smart phones to be connected ( IoT ? ) , with the Servers of ,

* Labour Ministries ( Central and States )

* HRD Ministry ( Central )

* Skills Development Ministry / NSDC

* Finance Ministries ( Central + States )

* NITI Aayog

* Income Tax Department

* Any other server that you may want to

# MAD app is integrated with a STANDARD / COMMON , software system

for computing daily wages / monthly salaries of ALL the persons working

in those 100 million establishments ( whether they are casual /

contractual / trainee / apprentice / probationer / permanent / retained

# As each person joins in any of these establishments , data re that

person must be inputted by the Employer into the App , such as :

* Name / Contact Details / DOB / Aadhar Card No / Employee Number

( Each unique Employee Number will be auto-generated by the

common Salary Payment Software , running on IT Dept Server )

* Employee's Jandhan Yojana Bank Account Number for salary EC

* Employer's Jandhan bank account / Unique Employer Number

* Payment Mode ( Hourly / Daily / Monthly Rated , wages / salaries )

* Leave provisions / PF rate / TDS rate / Allowances / Reimbursements

* Any other relevant data ( either about employee of for employer )

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES ?

# For employees , no need to file a separate annual Income Tax Return

# Direct deposit of PF / TDS amounts into bank accounts of Govt Depts

# Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) to every Employer for Stipend Subsidy ,

based on number of total trainees / apprentices employed

# Total number of employees in India ( category / region / industry )

# Employment Density ( Industry wise / Region wise / Skill wise etc )

# Net Employment Growth Rate ( weekly - monthly / Industry-wise )

# Co-relation with no of persons graduating at various levels

# Data about those Unemployed ( " Graduating " less " Employed " )

# Overtime Statistics ( Use / Abuse )

# Work-hour Analysis ( Ave hours / week - month )

# Wage / Salary Rates ( Rs per hour ) - Industry wise / Region wise

( of great interest to Foreign Investors looking to bring down

manufacturing costs , by outsourcing to India / manufacturing in India )

# Compliance with labour laws / tax laws / Apprentice Act etc

# Job Market Forecasts through BIG DATA ANALYTIC ( region / industry )

# Demographic Profiles of employees ( Rural to Urban migration )

# Per Capita Income Growth for persons using MAD app ( MOM / YOY )

# Changing composition between Blue Collar and White Collar employees

Dear Shri Asheesh Singhji ,

One more request :

Please send one of these Smart Watches to our dear PM , Shri Modiji

And you need not fear about getting your head chopped off ( for sticking your neck out )

I am sure , not only will he wear it proudly , he will thank you for this thoughtful gift !