Sarin, a potentially toxic compound that disrupts the nervous system has been used as a chemical weapon and the exposure can be fatal.
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The package has been discovered at Facebook Inc after the social media company’s Silicon Valley mail facility tested positive for the toxic compound.
The
incident took place on 2nd Tuesday at around 11 a.m. says Jon Johnson,
fire marshall for the city of Menlo Park, where Facebook is based.
The spokesperson of the company Anthony Harrison told News18 that the company have successfully evacuated four building following the positive test and was cooperating with police in the investigation. “ Authorities have not yet identified the substance found. As of now, three of the evacuated buildings have been cleared for repopulation,” Harrison said.
“The (Facebook) facility test all of the packages that come in and they had a positive test, so they just initiated their standard protocol. Now we’re just waiting to verify whether that’s true or not,” says Jon Johnson.
राहुल गांधी ने बुधवार को अपने फेसबुक पोज पर अफगानिस्तान सांसद से हुई मुलाकात के बारे में बताया। राहुल ने लिखा कि एक दिन उन्होंने संसद की विजिटर गैलेरी में अफगानिस्तान के कुछ सांसदों को बैठे देखा। उन्होंने सोचा कि ये सांसद विदेश से आए हैं और हम लोग शोर-शराबा कर रहे हैं।
संसद का कार्यक्रम देखने के बाद वह मेरे कार्यालय में आए। मैंने खेद जताया कि वे लोग हंगामे के कारण संसद में अच्छी चर्चा नहीं देख पाए। इस पर एक अफगान सांसद रोने लगी, तो वह हैरान थे। उन्होंने पूछा क्या हुआ, तो सांसद ने कहा कि उनके देश में बहस बंदूक से होती है।
जिसके बाद राहुल ने लिखा कि लोकतंत्र ही हमारी सबसे बड़ी ताकत है और हमें हर कीमत पर इसकी रक्षा करनी होगी।
Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said “data colonisation” is as bad as previous forms of colonisation and India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indians.
Speaking at Republic Summit here, Ambani, who is chairman of energy-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, said data of an individual or business belongs to them and not to corporates who could use it to monetise from them.
“In this new world, data is the new oil. And data is the new wealth. India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations,” he said.
A genuine concern. Since we all know that a large amount of data is being generated every second. Gone are the days when data generation was limited to computers only. Nowadays, everything digital contains immense data which can be used to influence masses. Controlling data is the key for controlling society.
Image Source: Business-Standard
Why data colonization is a concern? Take this example of Facebook. Although it is not a country, the American company holds data, including personal and private information, of more than 150 million Indians. In this sense, India could very well be a colony of the popular social networking site, which not only holds our personal information but also tracks our daily routine, habits, behaviour, and communication. This extent of information about 150 million Indians is enough to help the social networking giant influence decisions, both democratic and consumerist, taken by individuals. All this is already visible today. Facebook is influencing individual choices when it comes to what product they are buying next or which party will they vote for. And that is the reason why it is among the top 10 companies in the world.
Companies are investing in emerging technologies like cloud computing, data science, machine learning, etc. to influence and study the data generated and use it on their commands. Influencing, conquering and then controlling are the steps of colonization as well as the strategy of IT companies.
The Government of India sent Facebook a show-cause notice. The notice asks whether the personal data of Indian voters and users have been compromised by Cambridge Analytica or any other downstream entity in any manner, and if so, how was it compromised.
The government has asked the company to send its response by April 7.
Data Breach
After reports of Facebook breaching data and influencing electoral processes, the government on March 21 had warned the social networking giant saying it can even summon Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, if found guilty.
Later, there were reports and whistleblowers coming out in public saying Cambridge Analytica, through Facebook, has influenced Indian elections as well and even caste votes were created by them.
In the notice, the government has asked whether the company or its related or downstream agencies utilising its data have previously been engaged by any entities to manipulate the Indian electoral processes. “If any such downstream entity misused data from Facebook, what is the protection available to the data subject?,” said one of the queries in the notice.
It has asked what are the specific steps proposed to be taken by Facebook to prevent any misuse of personal data for potential interference in, or manipulation of the Indian electoral process?
In the notice sent to Cambridge Analytica, six questions were posed to it, including a demand to disclose whether data of Indian users was misused and name the entities that used their services. The company was asked to reply by March 31, and it is yet to respond.
