Giving out your passwords to Cyber-cafes in legal way

This is what Indian cops are trying to impose on the cyber-cafes in financial capital of India – Mumbai. They are trying to make all owners in city to install keystroke loggers in their cyber-cafe in order to record every key pressed by visitors which will include the passwords, bank account details, credit card numbers, email texts and will ultimately end up in the police records for surveillance. This in turn, can frighten anyone that his/her personal information can be disclosed and sold out to third parties, provided the involved backgrounds. The news also, doesn’t denies it completely but says –

The government’s rationale (or rationalization) behind this is familiar and silly. Whenever the government wants to restrict freedom, it invokes security, and cops justify this move under the grounds of fighting terrorism. Well, firstly, at a practical level, the cops won’t have the manpower to scrutinize the massive volume of keystroke logs generated everyday, or to figure out what is terrorist code and what is teenage lingo. Secondly, at a moral level, it is simply wrong to deny people of their privacy in this manner.

Also another point raised in same article on the basis of similar news makes absolute sense –

…why should the cops not place TV cameras in hotel rooms or record every conversation in every taxi and train? After all, terrorists use hotels and public transport. Are you okay with that?

But you may also like to answer this question –

“The question we need to ask ourselves is whether a breach of privacy is more important or the security of the nation. I do not think the above question needs an answer,”…

 

As long as personal computers are not being monitored. If monitoring is restricted to public computers, it is in the interest of security,” said National Vice President, People Union for Civil Liberty.

 

In my view, the second way of monitoring by camera is much secure and efficient as compared to earlier one which will bring more insecurity for those already sensible nerds, even if it is in interest of nation.

Do you want to reduce already negligible Indian online population? – is my question.

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