Amazon faces flak from techies over distorted map of J&K

A controversy has erupted after the US e-tailer giant Amazon published an inaccurate map of India sans some parts of Jammu and Kashmir in a brochure for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Global Summit.

The event which is being held in Mumbai invited criticism and boycott from native techies. Dinesh O Bareja, Cyber Security Specialist, who is reported to spot the error on the map, has already kicked start an online campaign to get Amazon to remove the image and offer an apology.

Despite demand of rectification, Amazon has not taken a measure in this regard, added Bareja. He demanded a public apology from Amazon to the nation and to delete the earlier brochure.

DAY 3 - CALL FOR AMAZON TO APOLOGIZE TO THE NATION

Amazon INSULTS INDIA WITH A WRONG MAP publicising the Mumbai Summit.

Amazon Web Services pays lip service - they made a phone call and were very contrite about this misrepresentation. My take was simple…https://t.co/kchnqaRrSz

— Dinesh O Bareja (@bizsprite) May 10, 2018

Meanwhile, AWS spokesperson said that they are taking this issue very seriously and working with the team to ensure such inadvertent errors are not repeated. However, there has not been any official response made from the US e-tailer.

Entrackr queries to the e-tailer are yet to get a response.

Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, on a paid subscription basis.

According to the draft Geo-spatial Information Regulation Bill 2016, the depiction of India on a map that does not match the government is liable to a fine of upto Rs 100 crore and seven years in jail. The move was taken by the government against the backdrop of instances where certain social networking sites showed Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of Pakistan and China respectively.

Any person who wants to acquire, disseminate, publish or distribute any geospatial information of India, may make an application along with requisite fees to the Authority for security vetting of such geospatial information and licence thereof to acquire, disseminate, publish or distribute such Geospatial Information in any electronic or physical form, outlines the draft bill.

Earlier, social networking giant Facebook apologised for showing J&K as part of China in a map. Recently, the government protested when Twitter showed the geographical location of Kashmir in China and Jammu in Pakistan.

Another broadcasting news channel Al Jazeera was banned by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for using a wrong map of India.