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Google has indexed invite links to private WhatsApp group chats, meaning anyone can join various private chat groups (including several porn-sharing groups) with a simple search.

According to a report in Motherboard, invitations to WhatsApp group chats were being indexed by Google.

The team found private groups using specific Google searches and even joined a group intended for NGOs accredited by the UN and had access to all the participants and their phone numbers.

Journalist Jordan Wildon said on Twitter that he discovered that WhatsApp's "Invite to Group Link" feature lets Google index groups, making them available across the internet since the links are being shared outside of WhatsApp's secure private messaging service.

"Your WhatsApp groups may not be as secure as you think they are," Wildon tweeted on Friday, adding that using particular Google searches, people can discover links to the chats.

According to app reverse-engineer Jane Wong, Google has around 470,000 results for a simple search of "chat.whatsapp.com", part of the URL that makes up invites to WhatsApp groups.

WhatsApp spokesperson Alison Bonny said: "Like all content that is shared in searchable public channels, invite links that are posted publicly on the internet can be found by other WhatsApp users."

"The links that users wish to share privately with people they know and trust should not be posted on a publicly accessible website," Bonny told The Verge.

Danny Sullivan, Google's public search liaison, tweeted: "Search engines like Google & others list pages from the open web. That's what's happening here. It's no different than any case where a site allows URLs to be publicly listed. We do offer tools allowing sites to block content being listed in our results."

Unnao, Feb 26: Ever heard of someone wishing a 'bright future' for the dead? In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, a village head issued a death certificate with the wish for an elderly man who had died last month.

The incident took place in the Sirwariya village in Asoha block where an elderly person Laxmi Shankar died after a prolonged illness on January 22.

His son went to the village head Babulal and requested him to issue a death certificate that he needed for some financial transactions.

Babulal not only issued the death certificate, but also 'wished' 'a bright future for the deceased' on the document.

The village head wrote in the death certificate -- "Main inke ujjwal bhavishya ki kaamna karta hoon (I wish him a bright future)."

The letter went viral on the social media on Monday after which the village head apologised for the error and issued a new death certificate.

New Delhi, Apr 17: The Indian Railways turned 167 years old on Thursday and for the first time ever, its trains did not carry any passengers on its birthday and instead stood idle in the yards waiting for the nationwide lockdown to end.

On this day 167 years ago, the wheels of the first passenger train in the country from Mumbai to Thane started rolling.

In 1974, Indians experienced life without trains for the first time. In May 1974 during the strike of the railways that lasted for around three weeks, drivers, station masters, guards, track staff and many others went on 'chakka jam' demanding fixed working hours for train drivers and an across-the-board pay hike.

"I can recall those times vividly. I remember that our leader George Fernandes had almost secured a deal with the then railway minister, but it fell through when it was taken to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi," All India Railwaymens Federation General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, who was an apprentice in the railways at that time, told PTI.

"Fernandes was arrested in Lucknow. The workers went through a lot at that time. But those were days that angry workers had refused to give in and took great risks to get their demands met," he said.

However, just like this time, four decades ago too freight trains carrying essential supplies were run and the unions agreed to let some passenger trains run on the trunk routes like the Kalka Mail from Howrah to Delhi.

"Never ever in its history, there has been such a long interruption of services. Not during the World Wars, not during the 1974 railway strike, or any other national calamity or natural disaster," a railway spokesperson said.

The first Indian Railways passenger train was flagged off on April 16, 1853, from Mumbai to nearby Thane.

On Thursday, the Railway Ministry wished the railways a happy birthday on Twitter - "Today, 167 years ago with the zeal of 'never to stop' the wheels of the first passenger train from Mumbai to Thane started rolling. For the first time, passenger services are stopped for your safety. Stay indoors & make the nation victorious," it said.

Railway has suspended all passenger services since March 25 till May 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Around 15,523 trains run by the railways have been affected including 9,000 passenger trains and 3,000 mail express services which are run daily. It caters to over 20 million passengers every day.

According to the Union health ministry, the death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday.