News & Media
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.
Aadhaar’s moment of truth
It’s time for the unique identity project to answer tough questions it has dodged so far, writes MA Arun in the Deccan Herald.
Look what the state just did to you
The government's recent introduction of new rules in the IT Act allows 'offensive' material on any website to be removed within 36 hours. Did the state just arm everyone to shoot the messenger, online?Th
Tough neighbourhood tests India's e-tolerance
The combination of having restrictive neighbours as well as security threats could make freedom on the web in India a casualty, writes Anahita Mukherji in this article published by the Times of India on June 12, 2011.
Technology, Transparency and Accountability: A Bar-Camp in Delhi
Accountability Initiative (AI) held a bar-camp on “Technology, Transparency and Accountability” on 5th June at Google office in Gurgaon. Pranesh Prakash participated in this bar-camp.
India Weighing Looser Web Rules
Indian authorities are considering revisions to new Internet regulations after criticism from free-speech advocates and companies like Google Inc. that fear they could be exposed to liability under the regime. This article by Amol Sharma was published in the Wall Street Journal on May 30, 2011.
Public data on the Web leaves much to be desired
Making government data accessible to all is a vital challenge, says Deepa Kurup in her article published in the Hindu on May 28, 2011.
Mobile education comes to villages
PEOPLE living in remote villages, trekking many miles to schools and colleges before dropping out, can now look forward to a tech option — mobile education. Education over mobile phones is vital in India, where the literacy rate according to 2011 census is 74.04 per cent, observers note. This article by Shayan Ghosh was published in Mail Today on May 27, 2011.
Google now stalks your street
Bangalore is the first city in the country to be mapped for Street View. This news was published by the Hindu on May 27, 2011.
