[governance] EC aborts tie-up with Google over security concerns

[Guru गुरु]

"The (Indian Election) Commission had earlier signed a non-disclosure 
agreement with Google" :-D
regards
Guru

The Election Commission has decided not to pursue its proposed tie-up 
with internet giant Google after concerns over national security were 
raised from several quarters, including major parties. The U.S-based 
Google had earlier this week made a formal presentation to the Election 
Commission proposing a tie-up with it for voter facilitation services 
ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

The Commission, in its meeting in New Delhi on Thursday which was 
attended by Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election 
Commissioners H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi, deliberated on the issue and 
decided not to go ahead. “After due consideration, the Commission has 
decided not to pursue it any further,” said an EC official. The EC said 
Google had proposed to provide electoral look up services for citizens 
to help in Commission’s efforts for better electoral information services.

The Commission had earlier signed a non-disclosure agreement with Google 
but had not shared or handed over any data to the internet giant so far 
and was deliberating on the tie-up with it for using its search engines 
for voter facilitation. Congress and BJP besides some cyberspace experts 
had voiced concerns over the proposed tie-up, saying stakeholders should 
have been consulted before a decision. The Congress legal cell has 
written to the Chief Election Commissioner raising security concerns 
over the proposed tie-up and hoped it will not have any effect on the 
electoral process and national security. BJP also expressed concerns and 
said the issue could have been discussed first at an all-party meeting 
by EC.

Questioning the EC’s move, a group of cyber security experts had written 
to the panel amid concerns over sharing of vital data pertaining to 
Indians to a foreign company. The concerns also come at a time when 
eyebrows have been raised over leaking of vital data of Indians to 
United States intelligence agencies as exposed by Edward Snowden.


source - 
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ec-aborts-tieup-with-google-over-security-concerns/article5557857.ece?homepage=true 

-- 

Gurumurthy Kasinathan
Director, IT for Change
/In Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC/
www.ITforChange.Net  <http://www.itforchange.net/>  | Cell:91 9845437730 | Tel:91 80 26654134, 26536890
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Subject_Teacher_Forum  

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