Outrage over encryption policy

Hyderabad: Many Twitter and Facebook users on Tuesday termed the Centre’s proposed Encryption Policy a follow up to the snoop scandal of Gujarat, while jokes on how a third tick (indicating that the message had been read by “Modiji”) or a saffron tick on WhatsApp kept appearing in Tweets and memes.

Examples of how couples would have had to profess their love if the Encryption Policy has not been rolled back were seen.

Under the handle “Love at the time of #Encryption policy” a Tweet read: “Baby, I love you. Lets move in together…Government is reading our chats, right? ...Chalo Bahan…saath milke Bharat ko Swachch Banayein”.

While the proposed policy was rolled back by the Centre on Tuesday, thousands of memes and Tweets were trending on Facebook and Twitter, mocking the “snooping habit” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The hashtags “SnoopingHabitsDieHard” and   “ModiDontReadMyWhatsapp” were continuously re-Tweeted. Tweets like, “They have NSA and we have our govt! Hahahaha!! Another snoopgate?,” by Ms Dipannita Saha and “I guess kabutar yug will be back soon #ModiDontReadMyWhatsapp” by MAG poked fun at the proposed Encryption Policy.