Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who had called India ‘Rapistan’ and had recently launched a political party as a joint venture with JNU’s freelance protestor Shehla Rashid, attempted to play victimhood on his birthday in a strange way.
Faesal, who had announced soon after his party launch that his party will not contest the Lok Sabha elections, had informed on Twitter that it is his birthday. While most people just say that it is the birthday or post images of their birthday celebrations with loved ones, Faesal did it in a weirdly political way.
He declared that he is turning 36 but not many youths in Kashmir get that privilege, hinting that most youths in Kashmir do not reach the age of 36.
Via Twitter
However, the attempt to score political goals by playing victimhood for himself and Kashmiri youths using the birthday as an excuse did not quite work for Faesal. Twitter users soon reminded him that he is trying to peddle a false narrative and Kashmir is one of the topmost states in India in terms of life expectancy at all ages, not just 36.
Journalist Akhilesh Sharma shared a 2016 news report that had the Registrar General of India’s data on how Jammu and Kashmir had replaced Kerala as the state with the highest life expectancy at most age groups.
Faesal was also reminded that for ‘normal’ people like law-abiding citizens, Jammu and Kashmir’s life expectancy score is among India’s best.
Happy birthday mate!
Life expectancy in Jammu & Kashmir is one the highest in India above the national average, for law abiding citizens. https://t.co/jWnOa8LhIY
Faesal had been in the news when he had asked for a Nobel Prize for Pakistani PM Imran Khan. He is also a great admirer of both Imran Khan and Arvind Kejriwal and had stated in the past that he gets inspired by them.
On behalf of team OpIndia, we wish Shah Faesal a very happy birthday and pray to god that he lives a long life, as most people in Jammu and Kashmir do.
Intelligence agencies have warned of a possible terror attack on defence installations on the 23rd of May the day Lok Sabha election results will be declared. Incidentally, it is also the 17th day of Ramzan. The Kashmir Valley has been put on a 3-day alert.
As tweeted by ANI, Government sources have said that the terrorists are likely to attack Srinagar and Awantipora air bases.
Government Sources: Intelligence input warns against terrorists’ plans to carry out an attack on Srinagar and Awantipora air bases. Security forces on high alert in and around these bases. pic.twitter.com/tQfCSGpmGB
Militants have previously chosen the 17th day of Ramzan, which is also the day of the battle of Badr or Jang e Badr, to attack defence instalments.
Sources: Pak terror group Jaish e Muhammad with ISI support planning an unprecedented attack in Kashmir valley during Ramzan coinciding with the battle of Badr. Alert issued around National Highway, South Kashmir & some key installations of Indian Army, Air Force and J&K Police.
As per reports, the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad with ISI support is planning the attack. An alert has been issued around National Highway, South Kashmir & some key installations of Indian Army, Air Force and J&K Police.
May 23, the day general election results will be declared coincides with the 17th day of Ramzan on which day the Battle of Badr was fought in 624 BC. It is considered one of the key battles in the early days of Islam and is considered a turning point in Mohammad’s struggle with the opponents which led to a decisive Muslim victory.
As political tension between Trinamool Congress and BJP reaches the crowning point in West Bengal, Haryana Health Minister, Anil Vij took to Twitter to call out on Mamata Banerjee’ unworthy attitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party.
Calling the West Bengal Chief Minister, ‘mentally unstable’ he questioned the President of India whether such mentally unsound people were fit to enjoy the position of the Chief Minister of any state?
जिस प्रकार से #ममता_बनर्जी प्रधान मंत्री जी के खिलाफ निम्न स्तर के शब्दों का इस्तेमाल कर रही है उससे लगता है वह अपना मानसिक संतुलन खो चुकी है । आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति जी को संज्ञान लेना चाहिए कि क्या ऐसे अनियंत्रित दिमाग वाले व्यक्ति को मुख्यमंत्री जैसे महत्वपूर्ण पद पर रखा जा सकता है
— CHOWKIDAR ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) May 17, 2019
Unnerved by the winds of West Bengal changing in favour of BJP, Mamata Banerjee has been lately resorting to all kinds of tactics to keep her position intact. From castigating the Prime Minister to violence, booth capturing and rigging or unleashing atrocities at BJP workers at ground level, Mamata and her goons have been all-inclusive this election season.
However, such nefariousness is not new for Bengal which has experienced similar situations on multiple occasions. In February, West Bengal was encompassed in a similar anarchic situation after the Kolkata police had forcefully detained eight CBI officials who had gone to question police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to obtain crucial information regarding the Saradha scam.
Haryana’s Health Minister, Anil Vij had then too, blamed Mamata for the chaos in West Bengal and compared her to the mythological character of ‘Tadaka’, a princess-turned-demoness in the epic Ramayana saying she creates problem pertaining to every issue.
Citing the villain of the epic Ramayana, Anil Vij said, “I used to watch Ram-Leela when I was young and in a scene the demon ‘Tadaka’ used to disturb the ‘Yagyas’ conducted by the Rishis. Mamata Banerjee is also indulging in a similar act.”
Interestingly, it is widely believed that senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy also allegedly refers former Congress president Sonia Gandhi by the same name ‘Tadaka’ along with other names like ‘Vishakanya’.
Moreover, in another controversial statement, Vij had compared Congress President Rahul Gandhi to the deadly Nipah Virus. After much outrage, Vij later had to withdraw this comment.
Anil Vij had stirred yet another political storm, when days after Prime Minister Modi and other BJP leaders and supporters prefixed ‘Chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles as part of ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar‘ campaign, Haryana Minister Anil Vij advised Congress supporters to add ‘Pappu’ to their names.
BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde called Congress President Rahul Gandhi a ‘moron’ over his ‘Modilie’ jibe at the Prime Minister.
This moron @RahulGandhi is hell bent on proving himself that he is one of his own kind of international idiotic skill master and hence the horizons have extended beyond the boundaries. No one can prevent his growth….Amazing…!!!! https://t.co/0W7GXMHASV
— Chowkidar Anantkumar Hegde (@AnantkumarH) May 17, 2019
Describing Rahul Gandhi as ‘international idiotic skill master’, Hegde said that Rahul Gandhi’s horizons have extended beyond the boundaries. Hegde was taking a dig at Oxford Dictionaries calling out Rahul Gandhi’s bluff over the ‘new word’ added in the dictionary.
The official Twitter handle of the Oxford Dictionaries had tweeted to Rahul Gandhi yesterday after the Congress President claimed that a new word ‘Modilie’ has been added to the dictionaries which, as per Rahul Gandhi, meant ‘constantly modifying the truth’.
It is not the first time that Rahul has been called out for fake attribution. Recently the Supreme Court had slammed the Congress President for falsely attributing the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ jibe to them. Rahul had to submit an unconditional apology for the same.
Ex Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar, who was at the centre of a high voltage drama back in February when West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee defied all rulebooks in his support and went on a dharna to shield him, has reported at the MHA after being relieved from his duty by the Election Commission of India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is the controlling authority of all IPS officers in the country. Rajeev Kumar was the additional DG of CID in West Bengal up to Wednesday when the Election Commission of India had relieved him from his duty along with Atri Bhattacharya, the principal secretary (home) for failing to control the law and order situation in the state. The EC had also invoked article 324 and had ordered all political campaigning to stop in the state a day prior to the scheduled date.
Rajeev Kumar, as per reports, is yet to be assigned any new charges by the MHA.
Rajeev Kumar is accused of shielding some of the accused and destroying evidence in West Bengal’s Sharada Chit Fund scam case. On February 3, a team of CBI officials had arrived at his residence in Kolkata to interrogate him. What followed was an unprecedented political and legal drama. Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had jumped to his defence, moving the state machinery against the CBI and alleging that the attempt to interrogate Kumar is a ‘conspiracy’ by the central government against her.
CBI officials were also attacked, heckled and detained by the Kolkata police under Mamata’s orders. Mamata’s Dharna had lasted almost 72 hours where she had kept on claiming that PM Modi and Amit Shah are planning to overthrow her government and the interrogation order against Rajeev Kumar was a plot by NSA Ajit Doval.
The dharna drama had ended after the Supreme Court had ordered the interrogation of Rajeev Kumar at a location outside Bengal following which he was interrogated for days in Meghalaya’s Shillong along with some other accused in the case.
The MHA had also taken a strong objection to serving IPS officers attending the Bengal CM’s dharna. The ministry had ordered the government of West Bengal to initiate a probe against offices who were seen sharing the stage with the CM.
As Rajeev Kumar arrives in Delhi to report at the MHA, the CBI’s plea seeking custodial interrogation of Kumar is also due to hearing at the Supreme Court today. The SC is to pronounce its verdict today on the CBI application seeking the vacation of the court order that provided Rajeev Kumar interim protection from arrest. The CBI has been alleging that there is prima facie evidence against Kumar that he had destroyed crucial evidence against key accused in the Saradha Chit Fund case.
Rajeev Kumar was transferred from his post of Kolkata Police chief to take up the charge of ADG CID on February 19. On 15 May, the ECI had removed him from his post and had asked him to report to MHA. Following the incidents of violence and vandalism at Amit Shah’s roadshow, the ECI had taken stern action, removing Kumar and Bhattacharya from their posts and, for the first time ever, invoked article 324 to curtail election campaigning in the state. 9 remaining constituencies in the state will vote on Sunday.
As per latest reports, the Supreme Court has allowed the CBI’s petition and has withdrawn the protection against arrest from Rajeev Kumar. Delivering its verdict on CBI’s plea of vacation of the interim protection order, the SC has agreed to it. The SC has given a week’s time to Rajeev Kumar to approach a competent court for interim relief and has directed the CBI to act in accordance with the law.
In an interview with Aaj Tak, BJP president lambasted at Mamata for repeatedly targeting the BJP in Bengal and said that wherever there is Mamata, there is violence. “Mamata Banerjee is frustrated with the public’s anger against her and she is the reason for it. We had planned a yatra to reach the masses and tell the people our agenda and ideology. It was not given permission. 70 BJP rallies were not given permission. Our leaders were not allowed to land their helicopters in Bengal,” said Amit Shah.
He furthered, “All this happens only in West Bengal. Even we have governments in 16 states but no opposition leader is ever stopped.”
Talking about political violence Bengal has been experiencing this election season, Amit Shah said that the people of Bengal are heading towards change, They want to shun the present government, “Bengal wants to change. If BJP wins in Bengal, violence will stop,” said Shah.
West Bengal has witnessed immense violence this poll season. Recently, BJP President, Amit Shah’s roadshow in Bengal was marred with severe violence. So much so that in an unprecedented decision the Election Commission had to cut short the campaign for the last round of voting in Bengal. Talking on this Election Commission’s decision, BJP President Amit Shah lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister calling her frustrated.
He strongly held Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee responsible for the spate of violence in the state, “Such violence is not seen in any other state in India. There is peace in rest of India. Where there’s Mamata, there’s violence,” claimed Amit Shah.
“We attack Mamata Banerjee’s governance, she attacks our workers. Our workers were killed,” said the BJP president as he claims that under Mamata’s rule 60 BJP karyakarta’s have been killed.
She wants to silence her opponents by inflicting violence, but Shah was certain that the May 23 results would show the path, TMC would be wiped out from Bengal, said the visibly irked Shah.
Addressing to the TMC’s allegation that the BJP has hurt Bengali pride by vandalising the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Kolkata Shah said, “It is us who are trying to protect Bengali pride. The TMC is broke the statue of a social reformer like Vidyasagar for their dirty politics. Mamata Banerjee doesn’t know the legacy of Vidyasagar otherwise she would not sink to such low levels.”
Defending his party workers Amit Shah maintained that there was an 11-foot gate which his karyakarta’s never crossed. The Trinamool goons were inside the college campus where the bust of Vidyasagar was destroyed. Moreover, the media witnessed that the lock of the room where the bust was kept was opened not broken, how would BJP karyakarta’s acquire the keys to the lock, questioned Shah, as he asserted that Mamata was using Bengal’s emotions to play petty politics.
Amit Shah, contrary to the allegations meted by the opposition that EC is working on the Central government’s instructions damned the poll panels to be biased in Bengal. “EC did not ban Mamata Banerjee for her inch-by-inch revenge jibe…History-sheeters are arrested during elections across the country. In Bengal, they are released after furnishing a bond. The EC should explain to the public that they are doing this because of Mamata Banerjee. The public deserves to know,” Amit Shah said.
However, he denied the allegation that EC ban on campaigning in Bengal was meant to favour the BJP. “Even our 12 rallies were curbed. This has been done for all parties,” Amit Shah clarified.
“What Bengali pride is Mamata talking about? Mamata has throttled the state’s dignity by opening doors for Bangladeshi infiltrators so that her vote bank remains intact,” said Shah. Expressing concern over the alarming condition of the state where people need the High Court’s permission to celebrate Durga Puja, Shah confidentially declared that the Bengal wind was undergoing a change and BJP would win at least 23 seats in West Bengal in this Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking out on the injustice meted out to him, RJD supremo and fodder scam convict Lalu Yadav’s son Tej Pratap Yadav took to Twitter to express that he was not allowed to speak at a rally in Patliputra because his father was not present.
The cryptic tweet was actually meant for Congress leaders whom he referred to as ‘ghatiya’ (cheap). Tej Pratap said that Congress’ Ashutosh Sharma is a cheap person who is responsible for this state of Congress in Bihar. He even said that Congress in Bihar knows that ‘Dusra Lalu’ was being born in Bihar and that is why Congress is scared. He was referring to himself as ‘Dusra Lalu’.
As per the report, Tej Pratap was to address a rally to campaign for his sister Misa Bharti where even Congress President Rahul Gandhi was also present. Lashing out on Congress, Tej Pratap said, that Congress has no existence in Bihar. He also said he knows of those ‘cheap’ people who are responsible for such a state of Congress in Bihar. Tej Pratap was furious at Congress because he was not allowed to address the rally.
After Tej Pratap’s cryptic tweet, Twitter users came out in his support and urged him to speak up, as they are listening.
Stay strong brother. please speak here, we would like to listen you ??
ये अन्याय है तेजू भैया। आखिर कब तक ऐसे घुट घुट के जियेंगे? आप आग हैं भैया, आग। जलजला हैं। कयामत हैं। अपने अंदर के क्रांतिकारी को जगाइए और उखाड़ फेंकिए इस अन्यायी तेजश्वी का सिंहासन। ये गद्दी आपकी है। इसको लीजिये। हम आपके साथ हैं।
Concerned netizens even voiced their support for Tej Pratap and the injustice he is facing despite being so competent.
राहुल गांधी की गलती नहीं है। कोई अखिलेश शर्मा है, उसी के कहने पर तेजू को बेइज्जत किया गया है। और राहुल गांधी भी उसी अखिलेश शर्मा के कहने पर काम कर रहे हैं। एकदम उपेक्षित कर रखा है। तेजप्रताप के नेतृत्व को डल करने में लगे हैं सब।
Some even urged him to rebel and fight for his right.
तेजू भैय्या, आप क्रांतिकारी लालू जी के बेटे और यदुवंश के रौशन चिराग है । कृष्ण भगवान ने अर्जुन से कहा था सत्य और असत्य की लढाई में कोई भाई बहन नहीं होता । छुटवा तेजस्वी पप्पू के साथ मिलकर आप को छल रहा है । आक्रमण यही एक रास्ता है । https://t.co/pfk1kcKg5y
Recently, Tej Pratap had announced he would launch a ‘Lalu Rabri Morcha’ where he claimed he would contest elections as an independent candidate because no one listened to him in RJD.
India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was left without an answer while doing a ground report in Varanasi when a man questioned him about the work done by the previous Congress government in the city. Rajdeep was asked the question in response to his questions about the work of the Modi government. Sardesai who is often seen spreading misinformation about PM Modi was talking to the people of Varanasi on how satisfied they are from the development carried out by the Modi government in the city over the last five years.
The left-leaning journalist was incessantly trying to extract from the people some negative points about the Modi government and was comparing the development work carried out by the BJP government to that of previous Congress government. Sardesai was telling people how Varanasi was a Congress bastion and that Modi government does more marketing and less work on the ground.
When Sardesai asked works done by the Modi government, the people sitting in a shop in Varanasi gave a long list, like cleanliness, wider roads, underground power cables, increased tousing, cleaner Ganga etc, but he still wanted to extract some negative comments, unsuccessfully. Unable to get a negative comment, he was trying to get at least someone to say that what is done is not enough and more needs to be done in the city.
After that, Sardesai rejected the answers given by the residents of Varanasi, and added his own observation by saying that the Modi government has done more marketing and less work. He asked a man does he agree that now marketing should decrease and real work should increase, in a desperate attempt to get a negative comment about Modi government.
Responding to Sardesai’s attempts, the man asked him to name one work done by the Congress party in the city during its government. Attacking Sardesai for his constant but-what-else sort of questioning, the man further said that he could name 50 things done by the Modi government in Varanasi but Sardesai would still ask what else was done by the government. The man asked, “you yourself just said that Varanasi was a Congress bastion till a few years ago. Now you tell what did Congress do in all those years, what happened to that bastion. You are a very senior journalist, tell me one good thing done by Congress”.
Continuing his attack on Rajdeep amid claps by other people in the shop, the man said, “it is like asking what else Sachin Tendulkar did in his life except for scoring hundred centuries. You are saying exactly the same thing”, the man told Sardesai. He also added, “you Congress workers tell one thing done by Congress”.
Interestingly, in the video posted by India Today, Sardesai himself did not name a single development work carried out by the Congress during its rule.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has confirmed that it will continue its investigation in the high-profile Bofors case to probe the alleged Rs 64 crore kickbacks in the purchase of the Swedish artillery guns. Earlier, the agency had on February 1, 2018, submitted before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CMM) Navin Kashyap that it wanted to withdraw the case.
CBI has withdrawn the permission application submitted in the Court of CMM, Rouse Avenue Courts, New Delhi and says ‘probe in Bofors case to continue.’ https://t.co/gL1wsbKsVS
To continue with the investigation of the politically-sensitive case, CBI had sought the permission of the trial court. The investigating agency had filed an application in the Court of CMM, Rouse Avenue Courts, New Delhi on May 16, 2019.
CBI had filed an application seeking permission to conduct further investigation on 16 May in the Court of CMM, Rouse Avenue Courts, New Delhi. The Court stated that permission is not mandatory and an intimation to the Court in this regard will suffice. https://t.co/c5FhaSpAuN
According to CBI Spokesperson Nitin Wakankar, the agency had sought the permission after certain revelations were made by Michael Hershman. “In view of certain revelations made by one Michael Hershman, CBI had sought the permission of the trial court to conduct further investigation in the Bofors case,” Wakankar said.
Michael Hershman is the President of the Fairfax Group and Co-Founder of Transparency International, and an internationally recognized expert on matters relating to transparency, accountability, governance, litigation and security. Michael Hershman was the one who had first found the Bofors papers and broke the scam.
“After obtaining legal opinion, CBI filed an application on May 16, 2019 in the court of CMM, Rouse Avenue Courts, New Delhi, stating that for conducting further investigation under section 173(8) of CrPC, permission of the court is not mandatorily required by CBI and an intimation to the court in this regard will suffice,” he added.
He further added that on May 8, the court had observed that CBI had the independent right and power to investigate the case on its own.
The Bofors deal was signed between Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors AB and the Indian Army worth Rs 1,437, crore for the supply of four hundred 155mm Howitzer guns. There were allegations that the company had paid bribes to Indian politicians and defence personnel. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was also alleged to have received kickbacks from this deal.
The Bofors issue was recently raked up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. The PM, while countering Rahul Gandhi’s incessant allegations on the Rafale deal had said, “Your father was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari No. 1′ (No. 1 corrupt person).”
Whatsapp is used by 1.5B people monthly across the world. Only in India, it is used by over 200M monthly active users. Most of these users, in all probability, do not understand what’s at risk here. Whatsapp makes their life easier in the short term, and the short term is all that matters.
Till it doesn’t.
This week, Facebook was forced to acknowledge Whatsapp security breach where it accepted that Whatsapp had been the target of hackers (most likely Govt agencies) who attempted to use a vulnerability in Whatsapp to get access to a remote user’s phone by simply placing a Whatsapp VOIP (internet) call. The hacker could potentially get access to the phone even without the user actually picking up the phone as reported by FT and Citizenlab.
Whatsapp’s response to this was basically “oh shucks, that’s bad” and to roll out a bug fix and h̶o̶p̶e̶ ask users d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ to update. I say “hope” because Facebook did not even bother to directly notify affected users to update, they are banking on the lap-everything-FB-says media to limit damage to only those who get to read about the security breach. Here’s an example, watch how Facebook “asks users” to update without sending a notification to update but through a press release instead. How’s that for asking without asking?
In a day or two all would be forgotten. FB will come out as the victim of “those bad hacker bullies”, Zuck might shoot a random sorry at worse and balance of universe would be restored. Some Whatsapp users might update after reading the news while most would remain clueless. Of course, this specific hacking case isn’t threatening to most Whatsapp users because most aren’t of importance to Government agencies and the likes but for the ones who are but do not update, this is a matter of life and death. Like in the case of Jamal Khashoggi (the Journalist who was hacked to death by Saudi agents inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey).
After reading through dozens of news, reports, and columns on this issue, it was obvious that the media does not care about educating their readers. The problem isn’t this one case, the problem here is Whatsapp, the problem here is Facebook and the problem here is the pliant media. Too much at stake, the media needs Facebook to survive much more than Facebook needs them.
Then there is this one guy who doesn’t need Facebook as much, or at all. And he wrote a blog about it. I will let this image from that blog do the talking:
Source: Telegra.ph
“I don’t like to focus on competitors. But since people keep asking me about WhatsApp, I have just written this post. It includes my thoughts on them. It also includes my thoughts on us” wrote Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram chat app, the only real competitor to Whatsapp outside of the nation of Facebook and China. Pavel made his billions founding and selling the Russian Facebook “Vkontakte”.
“As a matter of fact, I started working on Telegram as a direct response to personal pressure from the Russian authorities. Back then, in 2012, WhatsApp was still transferring messages in plain-text in transit. That was insane. Not just governments or hackers, but mobile providers and wifi admins had access to all WhatsApp texts” Durov says in the note.
Durov left Russia after facing a can’t-win-with-us battle with Putin and company for control of Vkontakte. Having learned from his own bitter experiences he founded the chat app Telegram, and unlike Whatsapp where security and privacy wasn’t even an afterthought, Telegram was built for privacy and expecting Governments to come seeking control.
So it comes as no surprise that the most scathing critique of Facebook comes from someone like him. The point he makes is simple, Whatsapp was never secure or designed to be secure and privacy focussed, and now under the Facebook umbrella, things have gotten worse and will get worse and there is no light at the end of this tunnel.
“Every time WhatsApp has to fix a critical vulnerability in their app, a new one seems to appear in its place. All of their security issues are conveniently suitable for surveillance, and look and work a lot like backdoors” – Durov
Again, the problem isn’t *this* one incidence, it is that creepy ad or friend suggestion you get after having a conversation with a friend offline, or sending a forward on WA, of Facebook saving passwords in plaintext and selling data of users to whoever pays the most and then pretending to not know. Imagine Facebook to be the soil that’s poisonous, the trees that grow on it won’t be any different.
And before you say “Whatsapp now has encryption” hear this from Durov: “When making this push, WhatsApp didn’t tell its users that when backed up, messages are no longer protected by end-to-end encryption and can be accessed by hackers and law enforcement. Brilliant marketing, and some naive people serving their time in jail as a result”. That’s right, one backdoor closed, another backdoor opened.
And this was what struck me most about Durov’s post:
“WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook maybe even required to implement backdoors – via secret processes such as the FBI’s gag orders [3]. It’s not easy to run a secure communication app from the US. A week our team spent in the US in 2016 got us 3 infiltration attempts by the FBI. Imagine what 10 years in that environment can bring upon a US-based company.”
“WhatsApp has a consistent history – from zero encryption at its inception to a succession of security issues strangely suitable for surveillance purposes. Looking back, there hasn’t been a single day in WhatsApp’s 10-year journey when this service was secure.” writes Durov.
And that is the crux of it. For countries like India and rest, who are being squeezed between two options – the American ones and the Chinese ones, neither of them can be trusted. When most of the top apps on Indian Playstore are either Chinese or American or are being funded by the Chinese or American, the chance that these apps have or will open a backdoor for their Governments is very very real. And there is no solution in sight.
I encourage you to read the full post by Pavel Durov and share this post with as many friends and family as possible to make them aware to be careful who they trust.
