Why in news?
- The Supreme Court asked government to set up a panel of experts to block virtual dare games like Blue Whale Challenge which has allegedly led to several suicidal deaths.
- The apex court also sought the government’s response on a plea seeking to firewall such life threatening/violent games existing in the cyber world like ‘Choking game’, ‘Salt and Ice Challenge’, ‘Fire Challenge’, ‘Cutting challenge’, ‘Eyeball challenge’ and ‘Human Embroidery game’.
What is a Firewall? Firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private network by controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic.
The Blue Whale Challenge: The Blue Whale Challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete over a period of 50 days and the final task leads him or her to commit suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge.