India Wants Backdoors Into Clouds, Email, SaaS, For Tax Inspectors

Asia in Brief India’s government has proposed giving its tax authorities sweeping powers to access private email systems and applications.

The proposal emerged last month in the search and seizure provisions of a tax bill [PDF] which at section 247 requires citizens to provide tax authorities with access to their physical and digital records.

The section also gives tax authorities the power to “gain access by overriding the access code to any said computer system, or virtual digital space, where the access code thereof is not available.” That text appears in the same paragraph describing powers to break down doors or crack safes.

“Virtual digital space” is defined as follows:

• Email servers;
• Social media account;
• Online investment account, trading account, banking account, etc.;
• Any website used for storing details of ownership of any asset;
• Remote server or cloud servers;
• Digital application platforms;
• Any other space of similar nature.

The bill doesn’t explain how tax authorities would access any of the above.

India’s main opposition party, Congress, has labelled the proposed law as warrantless surveillance.

“This is nothing but the government trying to take control through the backdoor,” said party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.

India’s government has said the provisions are needed to modernize tax laws for the digital age.

The Bill is currently just that, and is subject to further debate before becoming law. If it passes in its current form, India’s tax authorities will start cracking virtual digital spaces in 2026.

NTT Communications warns of data leak

Japanese telecoms giant NTT Communications last week warned that information about services for corporate customers stored in its Order Information Distribution System may have leaked.

The company said its tech team detected unauthorized access to systems on February 5th, and again on the 15th.

Data on almost 18,000 customers’ mobile phone contracts are thought to have leaked. Customer names, contacts, phone numbers, email addresses and “information related to service use” is at risk.

Malaysia embraces Arm to create its own AI chips

Brit chip designer Arm last week announced a tie-up with the government of Malaysia. The new relationship will reportedly see Malaysia pay $250 million over a decade to license Arm designs with the aim of creating AI accelerators for export. Arm will help to train 10,000 semiconductor designers.

Minister of Economic Affairs Rafizi Ramli hailed the relationship as the first of its sort between Arm and a sovereign nation and said it will “focus on shifting our semiconductor ecosystem from Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test to IP, developing native technologies, and enabling Malaysia to explore the fields of AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and IoT.”

India signs chip fab deal

India’s government last week announced it would contribute half of the ₹91,000 ($10.5 billion) local industrial giant Tata plans to spend on a semiconductor fabrication plant capable of producing 50,00 wafers a month.

The fab will see Tata work with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation to builds chips for “automotive, computing, communications, and artificial intelligence” semiconductors.

A government press released breathlessly asserts India’s inbound investment schemes for semiconductor manufacturers will transform India “from a technology consumer into a global manufacturing powerhouse.”

• India's top telco plans cloud PCs for its 475 million subscribers
• As China embraces Big Tech again, Alibaba plans vast spend to push for artificial general intelligence
• Fujitsu worries US tariffs will see its clients slow digital spend
• Singapore says Nvidia's astounding local sales don't mean it's the source of DeepSeek's GPUs

InternetNZ tables revised constitution

Internet NZ, the registrar of the .NZ domain last week published its draft constitution and said it will be put to a vote this month.

That timing matters because free speech activity recently protested some elements of the constitution, after which membership of InternetNZ went from 400 to over 2,000.

Members are, however, only able to vote 90 days after signing up. Those who signed up in the wake of the criticism therefore won’t be able to vote when the constitution is put to a special general meeting.

InternetNZ has pointed out that it advised a meeting to vote on the constitution would take place in “early 2025” in late 2024.

Samsung strikes deal with striking workers

Samsung has settled the pay dispute with workers in South Korea that caused the first-ever strike in the company’s history/

South Korea media report that Samsung and the National Samsung Electronics Union last week agreed on a deal that includes a 5.1 percent pay raise, discount vouchers for Samsung products, and some shares.

Vietnam opens to crypto

Vietnam’s government last week announced it will pilot trading in cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

The nation currently lacks laws defining digi-dollars, so while many citizens hold cryptocurrencies local companies that facilitate dabbling in the instruments are apparently registering offshore. Vietnam feels that represents a potential loss of competitive advantage, so these pilots are seen as a way to bring more action onshore. ®