Government has given some clarifications on the Encryption Policy, which was posted online in order to receive public response on the same.
According to this clarification, web applications and mass-use social media like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter will be kept out of the purview of the new National Encryption Policy, intended to secure online communication.
As per the original draft, users of the applications like WhatsApp, which is huge in number, will have to save the chats of last 90 days. Deleting them could have been a punishable offense, also would have to show the same if required for any official proceedings.
This draft was out yesterday, seeking the response and feedback from public before implementing it. To this, there was outrage in people against the policy. It was a breach in the privacy of people.
The clarification mentioned was “The mass use encryption products, which are currently being used in web applications, social media sites, and social media applications such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter etc.”