Officials blocked from WhatsApp for using ‘suspect’ group name
The name ‘Child Sex Ratio Decline’ rings alarm bells at instant messaging platform
09/11/2019, TANU KULKARNI ,BENGALURU
A WhatsApp group initiated by an official with the Department of Women and Child Development ( DWCD) has run afoul with the instant messaging platform, which reportedly took objection to the group name and blocked it. What’s worse, officials from the Department of Primary and Secondary Education, who were added to the group, found that their numbers were blocked by WhatsApp. The name of the group that has caused so much trouble — ‘Child Sex Ratio Decline’.
While officials are not clear why such stringent action was taken, they believe the use of the words ‘child’ and ‘sex’ may have triggered WhatsApp’s alarm. The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Dakshina Kannada, has approached the cybercrime police station in Mangaluru, where the police filed a non-cognizable report and have reached out to the platform.
“We received a letter from the department about a week ago stating that numbers of all the people who were added to the group as well as the administrator has been blocked after they created the WhatsApp group. The cybercrime police have acknowledged the issue,” said the police.
An official of the Education Department, who was part of the group, said all group members were part of a workshop titled ‘Gender sensitisation and legal awareness’ that was conducted by the DWCD along with other departments.
This was part of the Union government’s flagship — Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme. “After the workshop, we wanted to share the best practices carried out in the district, and discuss the medical and social perspectives pertaining to the issue. We also wanted to stay in touch and follow up on this. So a WhatsApp group was created in October. We were surprised when we learnt that our numbers had been blocked,” said a source. The source added that at least 18 officials were blocked from WhatsApp.
One of the affected officials said that he was finding it difficult to coordinate assignments at work as he could no longer use the messaging platform. “This is a great inconvenience as I am unable to receive timely updates on several activities of the department. We want our numbers to be unblocked at the earliest,” he added.
The Child Sex Ratio is the number of females per thousand males in the 0 to 6 age group and is one of the most important child welfare indicators. The ratio in Karnataka, according to the 2011 census, is 948. The same ratio for Dakshina Kannada district is 947, which is a decline from 952 in 2001.
The name ‘Child Sex Ratio Decline’ rings alarm bells at instant messaging platform
09/11/2019, TANU KULKARNI ,BENGALURU
A WhatsApp group initiated by an official with the Department of Women and Child Development ( DWCD) has run afoul with the instant messaging platform, which reportedly took objection to the group name and blocked it. What’s worse, officials from the Department of Primary and Secondary Education, who were added to the group, found that their numbers were blocked by WhatsApp. The name of the group that has caused so much trouble — ‘Child Sex Ratio Decline’.
While officials are not clear why such stringent action was taken, they believe the use of the words ‘child’ and ‘sex’ may have triggered WhatsApp’s alarm. The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Dakshina Kannada, has approached the cybercrime police station in Mangaluru, where the police filed a non-cognizable report and have reached out to the platform.
“We received a letter from the department about a week ago stating that numbers of all the people who were added to the group as well as the administrator has been blocked after they created the WhatsApp group. The cybercrime police have acknowledged the issue,” said the police.
An official of the Education Department, who was part of the group, said all group members were part of a workshop titled ‘Gender sensitisation and legal awareness’ that was conducted by the DWCD along with other departments.
This was part of the Union government’s flagship — Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme. “After the workshop, we wanted to share the best practices carried out in the district, and discuss the medical and social perspectives pertaining to the issue. We also wanted to stay in touch and follow up on this. So a WhatsApp group was created in October. We were surprised when we learnt that our numbers had been blocked,” said a source. The source added that at least 18 officials were blocked from WhatsApp.
One of the affected officials said that he was finding it difficult to coordinate assignments at work as he could no longer use the messaging platform. “This is a great inconvenience as I am unable to receive timely updates on several activities of the department. We want our numbers to be unblocked at the earliest,” he added.
The Child Sex Ratio is the number of females per thousand males in the 0 to 6 age group and is one of the most important child welfare indicators. The ratio in Karnataka, according to the 2011 census, is 948. The same ratio for Dakshina Kannada district is 947, which is a decline from 952 in 2001.
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