Worst fears of privacy activists have come true in 2019

With their worst fears with regard to breach of privacy and intrusions into digital spaces coming true in 2019, privacy and cyber security activists expect a better year in the New Year. Attacks on digital life and private data, both by the cyber criminals and by the State agencies, are on the rise.

Alleged snooping attempts by the Government to intrude into WhatsApp accounts of civil rights activists, lawyers and journalists rocked the country a few months ago.

The year, which started off with exposure of 617 million accounts belonging to sites such as Dubsmash, Armor Games and ShareThis in the darkweb, ended with Internet shutdowns and alleged use of facial recognition technologies in some cities by the law-enforcement agencies to track down agitators towards the end of the calendar year.