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-------- Forwarded Message --------
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Subject:
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<td>WhatsApp and mental torture in school communities</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
<td>Sat, 6 Jun 2020 17:07:04 +0530</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">From: </th>
<td>Nandakumar Edamana <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nandakumar@nandakumar.co.in"><nandakumar@nandakumar.co.in></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:min.edu@kerala.gov.in">min.edu@kerala.gov.in</a></td>
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<br>
Sir,<br>
<br>
I'm, Nandakumar Edamana, who was active in IT@School activities
(AnTS<br>
project especially) during late 2000s and early 2010s. I'm happy
to<br>
learn that e-learning activities in schools are into a new level.
At the<br>
same time, I'm sad to learn that the whole move to free software
is<br>
being hijacked by the overuse and mandating of WhatsApp in school<br>
communities. To me, the issue is personal too, since my mother is
a<br>
Teacher in an aided school.<br>
<br>
WhatsApp is proprietary, and it's owner, Facebook, has an
extremely bad<br>
reputation for collecting and misusing the private information of
users.<br>
Government promoting it's use is a total going-back from where
we'd<br>
reached, and one of the worst things it can do to school students.
Of<br>
course, many don't care, but that's not a reason to force others
to use<br>
it. There is no reason to mandate the use of WhatsApp when we have
libre<br>
and privacy-respecting alternatives like Signal (signal.org). At
least<br>
there should be options.<br>
<br>
And there are some people who don't like to use high-end
technology at<br>
all, the ones like my mother. I've personally witnessed she being<br>
mentally tortured to buy a smart phone and install WhatsApp,
which,<br>
she'd managed to resist. She does her duties well, but being an
agent<br>
for Facebook is not one of them. Please note that she isn't
against<br>
technology or ICT or e-learning. She simply doesn't want to be
forced to<br>
use the technology she doesn't like.<br>
<br>
Tracking activities undertaken by Facebook and Google has gone
wild and<br>
deep recently. I'm sure 99% of people don't know their enemies
aren't<br>
cyber criminals, but some of the giant service providers. I think
KITE<br>
can and should provide/promote better alternatives. I hope such a
libre<br>
world would emerge.<br>
<br>
Thank you.<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature">--
Nandakumar Edamana
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://nandakumar.org">https://nandakumar.org</a>
GPG Key: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://nandakumar.org/contact/gpgkey.asc">https://nandakumar.org/contact/gpgkey.asc</a>
GPG Key Fingerprint: BA6B 8FDE 644F F861 B638 3E2F 45D6 05FC 646A F75D
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