News & Media
International human rights community vs SOPA
The Centre for Internet and Society was mentioned in a news story published in BoingBoing. Cory Doctorow wrote the story published on November 17, 2011.
Netizen Report: Transparency Edition
Global Voices Online has carried a feature story, "Netizen Report: Transparency Edition". We at CIS had filed an RTI application about website blocking. This is reflected in this article by Rebecca MacKinnon which was posted online on 7 November 2011.
Learn It Yourself
The peer-to-peer world of online learning encourages conversations and reciprocal learning, writes Nishant Shah in an article published in the Indian Express on 30 October 2011.
India’s vanishing fingerprints put UID in question
A curious situation has come to light at the UID (unique identity) enrolment centres. Call it the phenomenon of vanishing fingerprints. You see, our unique fingerprints don’t necessarily last a lifetime and they can be damaged or destroyed and, in some cases, even non-existent. And that is not the best scenario for the first-of-its-kind project that endeavours to create a unique identity for India’s billion-plus population based on fingerprints and iris scans (or biometric data).
Ninth Workshop on Media Economics
The Higher School of Economics and the New Economic School have joined hands to organize the ninth workshop on media economics in Moscow on October 28 and 29, 2011. All events are scheduled to take place in Marriott Courtyard, a hotel in the centre of Moscow within 10-minute walking distance from the Kremlin, the Red Square, and the Bolshoi Theatre.
Netizen's Guide to the Internet Governance Forum
IBSA Seminar on Global Internet Governance
The seminar will take place at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 1-2, 2011.
India's social media "spring" masks forgotten protests
Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike for 10 years to protest against military abuses, force-fed by tubes through her nose. But the tragedy for the world's longest hunger strike is that she is on the wrong side of India's digital divide.
Digital divide: Why Irom Sharmila can’t do an Anna
Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike for 10 years to protest against military abuses, force-fed by tubes through her nose. But the tragedy for the world’s longest hunger strike is that she is on the wrong side of India’s digital divide.
When revolutions go viral
Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, the urban Indian youth, famously detached from the goings-on in the country, came out on the streets to support the anti-corruption movement - not only here but abroad as well. TOI-Crest looks at the anatomy of a modern protest movement.
Net Gain
The draft Electronic Service Delivery Bill, 2011, is aimed at making government services available online. But there are many hurdles to bringing in effective e-governance, says Hemchhaya De
IISc students boycott UID, don’t want Big Brother to keep watch
The programme doesn’t have statutory backing. It is still in parliament
In the Right Circle
I’ve been on Google Plus for a few weeks now. In the beginning, it felt like showing up early at a much-talked-up party. There was a small scatter of people, poking around, examining the place, making preliminary conversation with the few others they knew. Most of the talk was, unsurprisingly, about Google Plus.
Govt wants to monitor Facebook, Twitter
The Union home ministry has written to the department of telecom asking it to "ensure effective monitoring of Twitter and Facebook".
Portal augurs well for transparency
Data.gov.in will have meta-data, which will facilitate discovery of data and access from portals of ministries, says T Ramachandra. The article was published in the Hindu on 25 July 2011.
Facebook, my boyfriend is lousy
While a sizeable chunk of users do not mind living their life in public, oversharing can have nasty repercussions in real life. This article by Sahana Saran was published in the Bangalore Mirror on 24 July 2011.
UID: The World’s Largest Biometric Database
At the start of his presentation, Sunil Abraham pointed to two aerial drawings of cybercafes: one where each computer was part of a private booth, and one where the computers were in the open so the screens would be visible to any one. Which layout would be more friendly to women, and why, Abraham wanted to know. Some participants selected the first option, liking the idea of the privacy, while others liked the second option so that the cybercafe owner would be able to monitor users’ activities.
NYT lauds Oommen Chandy’s 24/7 office webcast
The Kerala chief minister Mr Oommen Chandy’s much hyped 24/7 webcast of his office has received global attention with the New York Times coming out with an article on the initiative.
Transparent Government, via Webcams in India
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India — Little Brother is watching you. That is the premise for the webcam that a top government official here has installed in his office, as an anticorruption experiment. Goings-on in his chamber are viewable to the public, 24/7.
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