Reporters Without Orders Ep 244: The Wire raids and Andhra government's data collection

This week, host Akanksha Kumar is joined by Ashwine Kumar Singh of Newslaundry and freelance journalist Vidheesha Kuntamalla.

Vidheesha talks about her report on how the Andhra Pradesh government is collecting sensitive data from citizens, including income and Aadhaar details and asset ownership, and how it is an exercise in profiling citizens and invading their privacy. 

Ashwine sheds light on the searches conducted by the police at the Wire’s office as well as residences of their staff in Mumbai and Delhi, following the retraction of their reports on Meta and the complaint filed by Amit Malviya. He further explains how the hash value of the seized equipment wasn’t shared and why the police haven’t registered an FIR against Devesh Kumar, the researcher named by the Wire in its complaint.

This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have. 

Tune in.

Watch the conversation here

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:05 - Andhra Pradesh government collecting sensitive data from citizens

00:14:06 - Raids at the Wire

00:37:08 - Recommendations

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Produced and recorded by Parikshit Sanyal, edited by Umrav Singh.