Category: Legal

UltraTech on Binani charges: ‘Resolution Professional kept us in the dark’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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CNBC-TV18 accessed the report of a forensic audit carried out on Binani Cement, by a Mumbai-based chartered accounting firm Haribhakti & Company. This report flags off quite a few transactions that it calls, “potentially suspect”.

Nigel D’souza details the scope of this forensic audit, and the key observations that the accounting firm has made.

Ultratech Cement has responded to the auditors of Binani Cement flagging off “potentially suspect” transactions. KK Maheshwari, MD of Ultratech Cement discussed with Nisha Poddar about their response to the auditors.

The news which has come, is quite a surprise to us. At no stage of the proceedings has Resolution Professional (RP) ever shared with us any such findings pertaining to any fraudulent transactions which they might have discovered. RP is managing the company now for last seven to eight months, and maybe they were aware of it, but certainly it was not put out in the knowledge of resolution applicants and certainly not in our knowledge, Maheshwari said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Breaking up with Facebook? It’s harder than it looks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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NEW YORK: Facebook’s latest privacy scandal, involving Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of users in order to influence elections, has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network.

There’s just one problem: There isn’t much of anywhere else to go.

Facebook has weathered many such blow-ups before and is used to apologizing and moving on. But the stakes are bigger this time.

Regulatory authorities are starting to focus on the data misappropriation, triggering a 9 percent decline in Facebook’s normally high-flying stock since Monday. Some of that reflects fear that changes in Facebook’s business will hurt profits or that advertisers and users will sour on the social network.

The furor over Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of stealing Facebook data, follows a bad year in which Facebook acknowledged helping spread fake news and propaganda from Russian agents. It also comes less than three months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the world that he would devote the year to fixing Facebook. Instead, things seem to be getting worse.

“It’s more serious economically, politically, financially and will require a more robust response in order to regain users’ trust,” said Steve Jones, a professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Yet leaving Facebook, like ending a long marriage, isn’t remotely simple. Starting with the little things.

Arvind Rajan, a tech executive from San Francisco who deactivated his account on Monday, suddenly discovered he needs to create new usernames and passwords for a variety of apps and websites. That’s because he previously logged in with his Facebook ID.

It’s a pain, he said, “but not the end of the world.” And because he is bothered by Facebook’s “ham-handed” response to recent problems, the inconvenience is worth it.

For other users looking to leave, it can feel as if there are no real alternatives. Twitter? Too flighty, too public. Instagram? Whoops, owned by Facebook. Snapchat? Please, unless you’re under 25 — in which case you’re probably not on Facebook to begin with.

Facebook connects 2.2 billion users and a host of communities that have sprung up on its network. No other company can match the breadth or depth of these connections — thanks in part to Facebook’s proclivity for squashing or swallowing up its competition.

But it is precisely in Facebook’s interest to make users feel Facebook is the only place to connect with others. Where else will grandmothers see photos of their far-flung grandkids? How will new mothers connect to other parents also up at 4 a.m. with a newborn?

“My only hesitation is that there are hundreds of pictures posted over 13 years of my life that I do not want to lose access to. If there was a way to recover these photos, I would deactivate immediately,” Daniel Schwartz, who lives in Atlanta, said in an email.

People eager to delete their profiles may find unexpected problems that point to how integral Facebook is to many activities, said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University.

“It is getting more and more difficult for people to delete Facebook, since it’s not just as a social media platform but also almost like a meeting square,” she said.

Parents could soon realize that their child’s soccer schedule with games and pickup times is only on a Facebook page, for example. Many businesses also schedule meetings via Facebook.

“It’s more and more difficult for people to feel plugged in if you’re not on Facebook,” Ajunwa said.

There are no signs, so far, that users are leaving in droves — and advertisers go where the eyeballs are, so they aren’t leaving either. Research firm eMarketer hasn’t changed its estimate that worldwide ad spending on Facebook will climb 22 percent this year to nearly $49 billion.

Still, if “Facebook were forced to change the way it uses data or the way its ad products work, then advertisers may become less enamored with it,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with the firm.

Not surprisingly, Facebook doesn’t make it easy to leave. To permanently delete your account, you need to make a request to the company. The process can take several days, and if you log in during this time, your request will be canceled. It can take up to 90 days to delete everything.

There’s a less permanent way to leave, deactivation, which hides your profile from everyone but lets you return if you change your mind.

Lili Orozco, a 28-year-old office manager for her family’s heating and cooling company in Watkinsville, Georgia, deleted her account in December. She was upset that every new app she downloaded would ask for her Facebook contacts.

And while she liked staying in touch with people, she was irritated by the conspiracy stories her high school friends would share.

“Falsehoods spread faster on Facebook than the truth does,” she said. She now gets her news from Twitter and shares pictures with friends through Instagram.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Facebook data leak: Zuckerberg asked to testify; Cambridge Analytica’s CEO suspended

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The head of Trump-affiliated data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica has been suspended, while government authorities are bearing down on both the firm and Facebook over allegations the firm stole data from 50 million Facebook users to manipulate elections.

Cambridge’s board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending an investigation after Nix boasted of various unsavory services to an undercover reporter for Britain’s Channel 4 News.

Channel 4 News broadcast clips Tuesday that also show Nix saying his data-mining firm played a major role in securing Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential elections.

Nix said the firm handled “all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting” and said Cambridge used emails with a “self-destruct timer” to make its role more difficult to trace.

“There’s no evidence, there’s no paper trail, there’s nothing,” he said.

In a statement, Cambridge’s board said Nix’s comments “do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation.”

Cambridge has denied wrongdoing, and Trump’s campaign has said it didn’t use Cambridge’s data.

Facebook also drew continued criticism for its alleged inaction to protect users’ privacy. Earlier Tuesday, the chairman of the U.K. parliamentary media committee, Damian Collins, said his group has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. He said Facebook officials “have been misleading to the committee.”

The committee summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify.

“It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process,” Collins wrote Zuckerberg. “Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to ‘fixing’ Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.”

Leading Democrats in the U.S. Senate also called on Zuckerberg to testify. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Facebook’s latest privacy scandal a “danger signal.” She wants Zuckerberg’s assurances that Facebook is prepared to take the lead on security measures that protect people’s privacy — or Congress may step in.

Facebook sidestepped questions on whether Zuckerberg would appear, saying instead that it’s currently focused on conducting its own reviews.

The request to appear comes as Britain’s information commissioner said she was using all her legal powers to investigate the social-media giant and Cambridge Analytica.

Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is pursuing a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica’s servers. She has also asked Facebook to cease its own audit of Cambridge Analytica’s data use.

“Our advice to Facebook is to back away and let us go in and do our work,” she said.

Facebook has weathered many such blow-ups before and is used to apologizing and moving on. But the stakes are bigger this time. The latest scandal has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network, though there isn’t much of anywhere else to go.

Cambridge Analytica said it is committed to helping the U.K. investigation. However, Denham’s office said the firm failed to meet a deadline to produce the information requested.

Denham said the prime allegation against Cambridge Analytica is that it acquired personal data in an unauthorized way, adding that the data provisions act requires services like Facebook to have strong safeguards against misuse of data.

Chris Wylie, who once worked for Cambridge Analytica, was quoted as saying the company used the data to build psychological profiles so voters could be targeted with ads and stories.

Wylie has agreed to be interviewed by Democrats on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. A date has not been set, and it’s unclear if Republicans on the panel will attend.

On Tuesday, Wylie said he found Facebook’s reaction to the revelations bizarre. He told an audience at the Frontline Club in London that before the story broke, Facebook had agreed to work with him to improve its platform. But he said he was blindsided on Friday with a news release that identified him as a suspect in the case.

Cambridge Analytica found itself in further allegations of wrongdoing. Britain’s Channel 4 used an undercover investigation to record Nix saying that the company could use unorthodox methods to wage successful political campaigns for clients.

In footage released Monday, Nix said the company could “send some girls” around to a rival candidate’s house, suggesting that girls from Ukraine are beautiful and effective in this role.

He also said the company could “offer a large amount of money” to a rival candidate and have the whole exchange recorded so it could be posted on the internet to show that the candidate was corrupt.

Nix says in a statement that he deeply regrets his role in the meeting and has apologized to staff.

“I am aware how this looks, but it is simply not the case,” he said. “I must emphatically state that Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honeytraps’, and nor does it use untrue material for any purposes.”

Nix told the BBC that the Channel 4 sting was “intended to embarrass us”.

“We see this as a coordinated attack by the media that’s been going on for very, very many months in order to damage the company that had some involvement with the election of Donald Trump,” he said.

The data harvesting used by Cambridge Analytica has also triggered calls for further investigation from the European Union, as well as federal and state officials in the United States.

On Tuesday, a dozen consumer-advocacy organizations pressed the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. to investigate whether the release of data violated an agreement Facebook signed with the FTC in 2011 offering privacy assurances.

The move comes after Bloomberg News first reported the FTC could already be investigating. The FTC hasn’t confirmed the investigation but said it takes “any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Supreme Court denies entry to foreign law firms, lawyers can visit to advise clients

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that foreign law firms would not be allowed to practice in India but, foreign lawyers could visit the country to render legal advice to their clients.

A bench consisting justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Rohinton Nariman upheld the 2012 Madras High Court judgement allowing foreign lawyers to visit India. The court’s ruling came on an appeal by the Bar Council of India against the Madras High Court judgement.

Justice Goel stated that the lawyers could visit the country on a “fly in and fly out” basis.

The court also said that foreign lawyers were allowed to come to India to conduct arbitration proceedings in connection with disputes involving international commercial arbitration.  However, the lawyers would be subject to the code of conduct of India.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

‘Every one out of three Indian women receives sexual calls or messages’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Out of the 586 million women in India, about 78% receive harassment calls and 82% receive ‘inappropriate and sexual’ content in the form of videos and pictures at least once a week, reveals a report by Truecaller. The research which has been conducted in collaboration with an independent market research company states that every one out of three women receives ‘sexual and inappropriate’ calls or SMS’.

According to the report, 50% of these calls and texts were anonymous whereas, 11% were the from stalkers. While, 3% of them were from the ones who knew the receiver. Jaipur has the highest number of women receiving ‘offensive and sexual’ images or videos every week with 90% of respondents reporting the cases.

As per the report, women in India receive 18% more unwanted calls than men which indicates a rise by 5% from last year’s 13%.

72% of the women received calls from fraudsters with an objective to collect payments or their personal data at least once a week. Out of these, 4% received counterfeit calls almost daily.

81% of the women who participated in the survey termed blank calls as ‘harassment’. Blank calls were defined as “an anonymous phone call made with the intention to threaten, harass or offend a caller, without a sales- or phishing-related objective” in the survey.

Though most of these women take actions against these calls, the report found that 38% women still remain silent about it. Out of the 62% who have taken measures against the harassment calls, more than half chose to block the harasser and 90% of them use Truecaller to block the harasser. While only 10% registered a complaint to the police. 7% used social media to name and shame the person.

On an average, every Truecaller user in India receives 22.6 spam calls per month, making it the highest in the world.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow