The Centre for Internet and Society
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March 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march%20-2011-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! In this issue we are pleased to present you the latest updates about our research, upcoming events, and news and media coverage.</b>
<h2><b>Researchers@Work</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects are online for peer review.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">New Blog Entry by Zainab Bawa in Transparency and Politics</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/transparency/transparency-politics-it-in-india" target="_blank">A History of Transparency, Politics and Information Technologies in India</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Digital Natives with a Cause?</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who want to critically engage with the dominant discourse on youth, technology and social change, in order to look at the alternative practices and ideas in the Global South. It also aims at building new ecologies that amplify and augment the interventions and actions of the digitally young as they shape our futures.</p>
<h3>Column on Digital Natives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following was published recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/watson-knows" target="_blank">Watson knows the Question</a> [Indian Express, March 6, 2011]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entries by Maesey Angelina</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Maesey Angelina works as a programme officer at Hivos, Jakarta on gender, women and development while exploring research initiatives on Digital Natives in Indonesia. She spent one month in CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The new ones are:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/reflecting-from-the-beyond" target="_blank">Reflecting from the Beyond</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/activism-unraveling-the-term" target="_blank">Activism: Unraveling the Term</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/the-many-faces-within" target="_blank">The Many Faces Within</a> </li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entries by Samuel Tettner</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Samuel Tettner is a Digital Natives Coordinator in CIS. He has written the following blog entries:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/i-believe-that-______-should-be-a-right-in-the-digital-age" target="_blank">I Believe that .......... should be a Right in the Digital Age</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/science-technology-and-society-conference-in-indore-march-12-13" target="_blank">Science, Technology and Society International Conference – Some Afterthoughts</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.</p>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/accessible-mobile-handsets" target="_blank">Accessible Mobile Handsets in India: An Overview</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/rights-of-persons-with-disabilities" target="_blank">Note on the Authorities under the Working Draft of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011 (9th February 2011)</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Its latest endeavour has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/plagiarism-in-indian-academia" target="_blank">Pirates, Plagiarisers, Publishers</a> [ Written by Prashant Iyengar and originally published in the Economic & Political Weekly, February 26, 2011, Vol XLVI No 9]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Submission</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011" target="_blank">Comments to the Ministry on WIPO Broadcast Treaty</a> (March 2011)</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Openness</b></h2>
<h3>Workshops organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/design-public" target="_blank">Design!publiC</a> [Taj Vivanta, New Delhi, March 18, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/open-access" target="_blank">Open Access to Scientific Information Indian International Centre</a> [New Delhi, March 16, 2011]</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although there may not be one centralized authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cyber crime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has taken the following shape:</p>
<h3>Submissions</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/electronic-delivery-of-services-comments" target="_blank">The Draft Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, 2011 – Comments by CIS</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/policy-for-governments-presence-in-social-media-recommendations" target="_blank">Policy for Government's Presence in Social Media - Recommendations</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/rtis-on-website-blocking" target="_blank">RTI Applications on Blocking of Websites</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing a project, ‘Privacy in Asia’. <i>It is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and the International Development Research Centre, Canada and is being administered in collaboration with the Society and Action Group, Gurgaon</i>. The two-year project commenced on 24 March 2010 and will be completed as agreed to by the stakeholders. It was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around challenges and violations of privacy in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.</p>
<h3>Submission</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy_govdatabase" target="_blank">Privacy and Governmental Database</a> </li>
</ul>
<p>Workshops organized</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/privacy-matters-ahmedabad" target="_blank">Privacy Matters - A Public Conference in Ahmedabad</a> [Ahmedabad, March 26, 2011]</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/ian" target="_blank">Public Talk by Dr. Ian Brown on Privacy, Trust and Biometrics</a> [Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc, Bangalore, March 21, 2011]</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/electronication" target="_blank">Electronication: Ragas and the Future</a> [Jaaga, Bangalore, March 6, 2011]</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/fostering-freedom-of-expression" target="_blank">Role of the Internet in Fostering Freedom of Expression and Strengthening Activism in India - A Workshop in Delhi</a> [Constitution Club, New Delhi, March 4, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/global-freedom-expression" target="_blank">Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression</a> [Constitution Club, New Delhi, March 4, 2011]</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this:</p>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/untapped-potential" target="_blank">India's untapped potential: Are a billion people losing out because of spectrum?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Column</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/big-bang-budgets" target="_blank">Big-Bang Budgets?</a> [published in the Business Standard on March 3, 2011]</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Forthcoming Events</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is organising some conferences/workshops in the month of March/April:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/w3c-conference-hyderabad" target="_blank">Web Sites Accessibility Evaluation Methodologies: A New Imperative for State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities</a>[Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/shadow-search-in-cis" target="_blank">Shadow Search Project (SSP) in CIS</a> [CIS, Bangalore]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/facebook-resistance" target="_blank">Facebook Resistance Workshop</a> [CIS, Bangalore]</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>News & Media Coverage</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/networking-better-governance" target="_blank">Networking its way to better governance</a> (Hindu, March 28, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/failed-uk-nir-project" target="_blank">‘Learn from failed UK NIR project’</a> (Deccan Chronicle, March 22, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/design-public-livemint-coverage" target="_blank">Design!publiC - News from Livemint</a> (Livemint, March 18, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/muzzling-internet" target="_blank">Muzzling the Internet</a> (Outlook, March 17, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/battle-internet" target="_blank">Battle for the Internet</a> (Down to Earth, Issue: March 15, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/cause-and-effect" target="_blank">Cause and effect Facebook-style</a> (Hindustan Times, March 13, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/catch-all" target="_blank">Catch-all approach to Net freedom draws activist ire</a> (Sunday Guardian, March 13, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/suspended-in-web" target="_blank">Lives suspended in the Web</a> (Indian Express, March 11, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/it-guidelines-gag-internet-freedom" target="_blank">Draft IT guidelines may gag internet freedom</a> (Times of India, March 11, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/govt-proposal" target="_blank">Govt proposal to muzzle bloggers sparks outcry</a> (Times of India, March 10, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/online-censorship" target="_blank">New Indian Rules May Make Online Censorship Easier</a> (Yahoo News, March 7, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/anti-social-network" target="_blank">Anti-Social Network</a> (Mail Today, February 27, 2011)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Follow us elsewhere</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Follow CIS on <a href="http://identi.ca/main/remote?nickname=cis" target="_blank">identi.ca</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28535315687" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Visit us at <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/" target="_blank">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march%20-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march%20-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-30T10:59:46ZPageComments to the Ministry on WIPO Broadcast Treaty (March 2011)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011
<b>As a follow up to a stakeholder meeting called by the MHRD on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, CIS provided written comments on the April 2007 Non-Paper of the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, emphasising the need for a signal-based approach to be taken on the Broadcast Treaty, and making it clear that India should continue to oppose the creation of new rights for webcasters.</b>
<p>On February 22, 2011, the Ministry of Human Resource Development held a meeting to decide on the Indian position on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty. The Ministry asked the participants at the meeting to send in written submissions on four matters. We sent in submissions on those four issues, as well as a few others.</p>
<h2>Comments on the non-paper for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty by the Centre for Internet and Society</h2>
<p>On February 23, 2011, the Ministry of HRD had asked for comments on four matters:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Article 3 of the Non-paper which was circulated earlier</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Term of protection for signal</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Nature of limitations and exceptions</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Protection of signal and retransmission</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>We have made submissions on those and a few other matters as well. Unless noted otherwise, all comments made in this note pertain to the final non-paper (April 2007) and not the draft non-paper (March 2007).</p>
<h2>Article 3</h2>
<p>Article 3 of the draft non-paper that was circulated (March 2007) for comments from country delegates stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>3. Scope of Application</p>
<p>The provisions of this Treaty shall not provide any protection in respect of</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(i) mere retransmissions;</p>
<p>(ii) any transmissions where the time of the transmission and the place of its reception may be individually chosen by members of the public (on-demand transmissions); or</p>
<p>(iii) any transmissions over computer networks (transmissions using the Internet</p>
<p>Protocol, “webcasting”, or “netcasting”).</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>A number of people present at the recent MHRD-organized meeting noted that “mere retransmissions” is a confusing term. In the revised non-paper (April 2007), it has been clarified that protection is not granted to third parties for merely retransmitting another’s signal (Art. 3(4)(i)).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>3. Specific Scope and Object of Protection</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(4) The provisions of this Treaty shall not provide any protection</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(i) to retransmitting third parties in respect of their mere retransmissions by any means of broadcasts by broadcasting organizations;</p>
<p>(ii) to any person for transmissions where the time of the transmission and the place of its reception may be individually chosen by members of the public (on-demand transmissions); or</p>
<p>(iii) to any person for transmissions over computer networks</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition, Art. 3(4)(iii) is currently ambiguous since it is not clear whether “retransmissions” are subsumed under the word transmission. By allowing for separate rights for retransmission over computer networks, the Treaty allows for the creation of two classes: traditional broadcasters who will have rights over retransmissions over computer networks, and all other persons who will have no rights over transmissions. Thus, if “retransmission” is not subsumed under the word “transmission”, it would be advisable to alter that clause to read “<i>to any person for transmissions or retransmissions over computer networks</i>”.</p>
<p>Lastly, Art. 3(4) should additional prevent protection for persons broadcasting materials for which they have not acquired copyright, or for broadcasting materials in the public domain.</p>
<h2>Term of Protection of Signals</h2>
<p>No term of protection should be provided. As was noted by the US government in its response to the draft non-paper, it is questionable “whether a 20-year term of protection is consistent with a signal-based approach”. The Brazilian delegation also states: “Article 13 should be deleted. A twenty-year term of protection is unnecessary. The agreed “signal-based” approach to the Treaty implies that the objected of protection is the signal, and therefore duration of protection must be linked with the ephemeral life of the signal itself.” Thus, a term is only needed if we stray away from a signal-based approach. As we do not wish to do so, there should be no term of protection.</p>
<h2>Limitations and Exceptions</h2>
<p>The limitations and exceptions (L&E) currently provided for allow for mirroring of copyright L&E limited by a Berne-like three-step test.</p>
<p>However, reasons for providing protection over broadcasting are not the same as those for copyright. For instance, a country may wish to make exceptions to signal protection for cases such as broadcast of a national sport, as India has done with the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act.</p>
<p>This might well afoul of the three-step test proposed in Article 10(2). Furthermore, a country may wish to limit the application of broadcasters rights for national broadcasters (whose programming is paid for by taxpayers, and thus should be available to them), but may not be able to do so under the provisions of Article 10(2). Thus, Article 10(2) should be deleted, and Article 10(1) should be expanded to include issues of national interest and for free-to-air broadcast signals.</p>
<h2>Protection of Signal and Retransmission</h2>
<p>It should be a sine qua non condition of India’s that that this be a purely signal-based treaty with no fixation or post-fixation rights. Thus, it should restrict itself to protection of signals, and simultaneous retransmission.</p>
<p>As a result, no separate right to prevent unauthorized “decryption” should be granted, since signal-theft is already a crime. For instance, this provision would also cover decrypting an unauthorized retransmission without authorization from the retransmitter. This provides the unauthorized retransmitter rights, even though s/he has no right to retransmit. This leads to an absurd situation.</p>
<p>As stated by the Brazilian government:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Article 10 of the draft non-paper and Article 9 of the non-paper] is inconsistent with a “signal-based approach”. It creates unwarranted obstacles to technological development, to access to legitimate uses, flexibilities and exceptions and to access to the public domain. It does not focus on securing effective protection against an illicit act, but rather creates new exclusive rights so that they cover areas unrelated with the objective of the treaty, such as control by holder of industrial production of goods, the development and use of encryption technologies, and private uses. The prohibition of mere decryption of encrypted signals, without there having been unauthorized broadcasting activity, is abusive.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Other comments</h2>
<h3>Article 7</h3>
<p>Article 7 of the non-paper provides broadcasters rights post-fixation (“Broadcasting organizations shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing … the deferred transmission by any means to the public of their fixed broadcasts. ”). This is contrary to a signal-based approach. A signal-based approach would necessarily mean that it is only signal theft (which happens only via unauthorized simultaneous retransmission) that should be protected. Deferred transmission should implicate the rights of the owner of copyright, but not of the broadcasting organization.</p>
<h3>Article 4</h3>
<p>As suggested by the Brazilian government, Article 4(1) which proposes a non-prejudice clause should be amended to add the words “and access to the public domain” at its end. This is consistent with the WIPO Development Agenda.</p>
<h3>Article 5</h3>
<p>India should re-iterate its suggestion to add the following to the definition of “broadcast” under Art. 5(a): “‘broadcast’ shall not be understood as including transmission of such a set of signals over computer networks. ”</p>
<p>Further, the phrase “general public ” should be retained in Art.5 (as was present in the draft non-paper), and should not be made into “public”. The danger is that a limited public (say family members) could possibly be covered by the term “public”, while they will be excluded from “general public”, which in any case is the target audience of all broadcast.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshAccess to KnowledgeIntellectual Property RightsBroadcastingSubmissionsTechnological Protection Measures2012-12-14T10:29:20ZBlog EntryPirates, Plagiarisers, Publishers
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/plagiarism-in-indian-academia
<b>This article attempts to rescue not by denying the charges of plagiarism, but by charting an alternative trajectory of plagiarism so that each successive instance does not amplify our sense of embarrassment and crisis in the academy. The article by Prashant Iyengar was published in the Economic & Political Weekly, February 26, 2011, Vol XLVI No 9.</b>
<p>"Copying one book is plagiarism; copying several is research." Unknown <a href="#1">1</a></p>
<p>Someone must have slandered Indian academia, for, without having done anything new or different, allegations of plagiarism have suddenly been tumbling out of India’s ‘top’ universities in these past few years.</p>
<p>In October 2002, a group of physicists from Stanford University, including three Nobel laureates, addressed a letter to the (then) President Abdul Kalam complaining of plagiarism by the Vice Chancellor of Kumaon University.<a href="#2">2</a> In January 2006, a professor from IIM Bangalore was dismissed for plagiarism.<a href="#3">3</a> In February 2008, a professor from the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupathi was accused of having plagiarized up to 70 papers between 2004 and 2007.<a href="#4">4</a> In October 2010, IIT Kharagpur was forced to set up a committee to investigate allegations of plagiarism by one of its professors and three doctoral candidates.<a href="#5">5</a></p>
<p>And so on. It seems Benjamin Franklin’s adage about originality being “the art of concealing your sources” thrives today in Indian academia. Something is rotten in the State of academic research. Evidently, we even know exactly what it is: Some years ago, the Association of Indian Universities invited students to a research contest. The pamphlet advertising the contest contained a remarkably prolix account of the causes of the general decline in academic research:</p>
<p>Of late, <b>research has become a subservient component in the university</b> functioning. It is <b>not considered a lucrative career option</b>. Apart from this, <b>resource constraints, lack of commitment, lack of proper encouragement</b>, etc., are the impediments that are affecting the quality of research in our institutions of higher education. Another important factor for the deterioration of the quality of research is the <b>absence of adequate training and other capacity building</b> endeavour in our system, which has <b>restricted students’ creativity only to rote memory</b>. <a href="#6">6</a> (emphasis mine)</p>
<p>Similarly, we are periodically reminded, as in this instance, by the chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation that “India lacks quality academic organisations and research and development institutions that breed inventions in technology. This is the major reason behind India's failure in breaking new ground in inventions and innovations.”<a href="#7">7</a> Other news reports bemoan the fact that “Indian patent filings lag behind global average" with the total “number of filings by residents being just three per million people in its population, compared with the world average of 250”<a href="#8">8</a></p>
<p>Accounts such as these, which abound in the press and journals, typically trace a “decline” hypothesis according to which the quality of academic research in India, once rigorous and upright, has fallen precipitously in recent times. Poor quality of academic research is then portrayed as a function of the impoverishment of the academy itself. Concealed within this auto-critique is an envy of putatively ideal systems in other countries which exhibit values that are an inversion of those identified as ours: i.e. they privilege research, are well-resourced, file the statistically approved average number of patents, allow students’ creativity free rein, and do not restrict their creativity only to rote memory. Lurking underneath these criticisms is also the anxiety that the arrival of the internet has, far from invigorating indigenous research in India, facilitated plagiarism on a wider scale than previously imaginable. What do we make of all this self-slander?</p>
<p>In this essay I will attempt to rescue Indian academic research, not by denying the charges of plagiarism, but by charting an alternative trajectory of plagiarism so that each successive instance does not amplify our sense of embarrassment and crisis in the academy.</p>
<p>I begin by drawing on my own prior study on student research in law universities in India<a href="#9">9</a> to provide a rough account of how law students approach research. However inappropriate, I use some of my observations in the course of that study as a microcosmic model for how research is conducted by students across the country today.</p>
<p>Next, I will attempt to show how the charge of plagiarism only acquires its pungency after the installation of a particularly western ‘Romantic’ conception of creativity that is hinged on the ‘genius’ figure. My point here is not one of cultural difference – we may or may not have conflicting traditions of (literary) creativity in India - but of heterogeneity of possible standpoints from which creativity can be judged, which have been deprecated or forgotten since this modern conception took root. While this idea is itself not ‘original’, having been made by numerous authors on whose work I draw upon here<a href="#10">10</a> , I am interested here in how it can inform our reaction to quotidian reports of plagiarism in the contemporary. Specifically, I think our understanding of 'originality-as-genius’ is a relatively recent historical product, and is definitely not the 'natural' or universal parameter by which literature and arts have been judged. I would assert that contemporary practices on the Internet restore us to (or renew the salience of) some of these pre-modern practices of authorship where originality in its Cartesian sense may not necessarily be determinative of value.</p>
<p>I would however hasten to add that this does not lead us inexorably to the conclusion that our traditional understanding of plagiarism has to abandoned. In the case of academic writing, 'Romantic' standards of originality have been rigorously upheld and policed by the spectral might of the University. Here, the ritual demonstration of cartesian orginality is not only a condition of success, but a minimum qualification for survival and advancement in this domain. With the stakes being so high, the temptation to pass off others' works as one's own is great, in contrast to the risks of being caught. This does not mean that everyone resorts to it, only that there are structural factors in the academy that make practices of plagiarism more 'rational' than, perhaps, in other domains<a href="#11">11</a> .</p>
<p>To begin, then with my conclusions, I think that dulling the keenness of ‘cartesian originality’ in the University could be an important component in the serious task of educational reform. Equally, I aim, in this article to rehabilitate the term plagiarism so as to diminish the sense of embarrassment that seems to come naturally to us when we speak of Indian research.</p>
<h3>Student ‘research’ in Law Schools in India</h3>
<p>The content and observations in this section draw from a study that I had conducted in 2006 on student research in national law universities in India. During the study I had interviewed 40 students and eleven faculty members across three National Law Universities. <a href="#12">12</a> I will focus here on the themes from those surveys that directly address the issue of research and plagiarism.</p>
<p>By way of background, in a typical national law university following a semester model, a student must submit up to 5 research papers (of lengths varying from 20 to 50 pages) a semester – or ten papers a year. In the duration of her five year legal education, a student from a national law university in India would have submitted anywhere between 48 (NALSAR) to 70 (NLIU Jodhpur) research papers of varying lengths. Given an average class-size of 80, and 5 batches in every university, a guesstimate indicates an average output of about 4000 papers of varying quality from every national law university annually. The table below contains a rough back-of-envelope enumeration of the research output of five national law universities in India, drawn from respective university prospectuses and websites.</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td><b>NALSAR</b></td>
<td><b>NLSIU</b></td>
<td><b>NLIU</b></td>
<td><b>NLU</b></td>
<td><b>GNLU</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Intake</td>
<td><b>80</b></td>
<td><b>80</b></td>
<td><b>80</b></td>
<td><b>80</b></td>
<td><b>160</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max Strength</td>
<td><b>400</b></td>
<td><b>400</b></td>
<td><b>400</b></td>
<td><b>400</b></td>
<td><b>800</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Academic Unit</td>
<td><b>Semester</b></td>
<td><b>Trisemester</b></td>
<td><b>Trisemester</b></td>
<td><b>Semester</b></td>
<td><b>Semester</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Law Courses</td>
<td><b>40</b></td>
<td><b>51</b></td>
<td><b>48</b></td>
<td><b>54</b></td>
<td><b>51</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Non-Law Courses</td>
<td><b>10</b></td>
<td><b>10</b></td>
<td><b>26</b></td>
<td><b>8</b></td>
<td><b>9</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of research papers<br />per student through the <br />duration of the 5 year course</td>
<td><b>18</b></td>
<td><b>50-60</b></td>
<td><b>65-74</b></td>
<td><b>55-62</b></td>
<td><b>55-60</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max number of research <br />papers per semester / trisemester</td>
<td><b>1900</b></td>
<td><b>1400</b></td>
<td><b>2000</b></td>
<td><b>2200</b></td>
<td><b>4000</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of student<br />research papers per year<br />(approx)</td>
<td><b>3800</b></td>
<td><b>4200</b></td>
<td><b>6000</b></td>
<td><b>4400</b></td>
<td><b>8000</b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>By any estimate, this volume of research is staggering and should ordinarily be a cause for pride. However law universities are also beset with the same anxieties of poor research ‘quality’ and plagiarism that characterize the broader academy. While my previous study contains a fuller discussion on the causes of poor legal research at these universities, I would like, here, to only reproduce some of my survey conclusions from that study that would feed the discussion for the later sections of this paper.</p>
<ul>
<li>From my surveys it appeared that both students and faculty shared a sense that the research burden on students in these universities was excessive and too onerous to facilitate high quality research.</li>
<li>Students respond to the high research load by budgeting their efforts – working more intensely on some research assignments while neglecting others. This accorded with the responses from faculty members who reported an extremely low number of high quality research papers turned in. Responses from faculty indicate that a high percentage of papers received fall under a median category between ‘high quality’ and ‘abjectly low quality’ – i.e. there are a large number of papers which, while offering a cogent account of the topic do not add any insight of their own.</li>
<li>Both students and faculty reported generally, the existence of a high degree of plagiarism (defined as the inclusion of extrinsic material without attributing sources) sourced both from amongst their peers as well as from extrinsic sources. Although most students (78%) claimed never to have directly copied from other students’ papers, many (67%) admitted to having shared their papers with other students either for ‘reference’, or more commonly, for adaptation/reuse in their assignments. The responses to whether they had any reservations against the practice were diverse with more students in favour of the practice of plagiarism (47%) than against (30%). Without admitting to participating it in themselves, 60% of respondents characterised the prevalence of ‘copy/paste’ plagiarism in research on their campus as ‘Rampant’ or ‘High’. Many reasons were forthcoming for the prevalence of this practice among which the more frequently stated included: ‘High work pressure’, ‘lack of time’ ‘lack of incentive to do high quality research’, ‘lack of emphasis by evaluators on high quality academic work’, ‘pointlessness of repeating identical research from scratch’. Other less common reasons offered were ‘emphasis on sheer volume to the neglect of quality of analysis’ and ‘disingenuousness of topics’ and ‘Laziness’.</li>
<li>Over half the students surveyed had never published their research in journals. This despite the fact that 75% of respondents reported that at least 1 of their research papers was either publishable immediately or with modifications. More than half the respondents reported upwards of three papers that they themselves regarded as ‘publishable’.</li>
<li>One of the common reasons that the faculty identified for the incidence of plagiarism was that students had begun to stereotype teachers who were unlikely to check or be able to check for plagiarism and would submit entirely plagiarised papers to them. Other reasons included the difficulty of checking the huge number of papers they received individually for plagiarism and also the fact that students had an unreasonably high workload coupled with the lack of enough incentive to do thorough research. <br /><br />“Intuition” and “checking the number of sources” was still the common mode of detecting plagiarism although some faculty made creative use of the internet – particularly Google.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Faculty was asked if a paper that appeared plagiarized to a high degree, but also indicated that the student had put in an intelligent compilation of materials, would be acceptable by them. The response to this was largely affirmative with some faculty members saying that most papers would correspond to that category and this standard was imperative for a majority of students to pass! Most faculty required that the source material at least be acknowledged.</li>
<li>With regard to their research sources, there was a clear bias in favour of online sources almost to the exclusion of other sources. One respondent even rated online sources as being “more important than libraries”, and even claimed that she always began her legal research on the internet.</li>
</ul>
<p>It is evident then from the foregoing account that the law universities are poor representatives of ‘original’ scholarship. The career of students through the law school seems to be marked by a blithe collaboration with faculty in which a Nelson’s eye is turned to their less-obvious plagiarisms. Although it is possible to adopt a high moralistic tone and condemn these practices, in the remainder of this paper I would like to marshal resources that would lend some dignity to them. In the section that follows, I will argue firstly, that there are rival conceptions of originality which privilege the recombination of existing information, rather than being fixated on ivory-towered ex nihilo originality.<br />Under this conception, even the pastiche works by lazy law students emerge as eminently ‘original’. Secondly, I argue that slavish imitation is never always only that, and have long been recognized as an integral aspect of the creative process itself.</p>
<h3>‘Originality’ is only a special effect of reception</h3>
<p>In his fascinating book Original Copy, Robert Macfarlane draws on George Steiner’s vocabulary to contrast two different narratives of literary creation – The first, creatio, espouses “a hallowed vision of creation as generation” which “connotes some brief, noumenal moment of afflatus or inspiration’ during which the author composes her work.</p>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<div>..the creative urge is dramatized as pulsing deep within the fastness of the individual self, and the solitary writer is seen to conjure ideas into the influence proofed chamber of his or her imagination. <a href="#13">13</a></div>
</blockquote>
<p>By contrast, the second conception of literary creativity, inventio, which is commonly found both in literary postmodernism and Augustan aesthetics, conceives of “creation as rearrangement” and “refuse[s] to believe in the possibility of creation out of nothing, or in the uninfluenced literary work”.<a href="#14">14</a> Instead this view “privileges the act of making out of extant material”. According to these “recombinative theories”, the creating mind is conceived</p>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<div>“as a lumber-room in which are stored innumerable verbal odds and ends. The supposedly ‘original’ writer in fact works with ‘inherited lexical, grammatical, and semantic counters, combining and recombining them into expressive executive sequences’. <a href="#15">15</a></div>
</blockquote>
<p>As an instance of this latter view, Macfarlane cites the example of Derrida who coined the term itérabilité to describe “the semantic drift which inevitably occurs between consecutive uses of the same text”. Derived from a combination of the Latin verb iterare (meaning ‘to repeat’) and the Sanskrit word itara (meaning ‘other’), the word “valuably emphasizes ‘the logic which links repetition to alterity’. For Derrida, the repetition of a text inescapably involves its alteration: you can never step twice in the same poem, paragraph, or word.”</p>
<p>I find this latter conception, especially Derrida’s concept of itérabilité to be a valuable tool with which to think through the practices of the law students I interviewed. While being derived from a plurality of (frequently unacknowledged sources), their papers were never mere ‘slavish’ repetitions, but always contained an element of alterity.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the networked information age that we inhabit both facilitates and preempts the flourishing of ‘recombinative creativity’. On the one hand, the abundance of informational resources that the internet puts at a researcher’s disposal, as well as the ease of word-processing makes it easy to rapidly refashion materials into a pastiche of one’s own. On the other hand, the illusion of novelty that such work may produce is capable of being dispelled equally swiftly, and more efficiently than ever before through the use of special applications designed to detect plagiarism. If, as MacFarlane suggests, originality is not “an indwelling quality of writerly production, but instead a function of readerly perception, or more precisely readerly ignorance (the failure to discern a writer’s sources)”, then the emergence of the internet has nearly made this form of originality impossible, by making this reader ignorance extremely evanescent (lasting only until the reader’s next Google search). The ability of students to pass off plagiarised material as their own will hinge increasingly on their ability to alter it unrecognizably, at which point the output is no longer a mere slavish imitation, but something new altogether – ‘quality research’.</p>
<div>
<p>In an essay on pre-print culture<a href="#16">16</a> , Lawrence Liang demonstrates that the notion that prior to print technology, the task of writing was reduced to that of slavish copying by scribes is false. As Liang notes, the real story is slightly more complicated.</p>
</div>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<div>
<div>Acting as annotators, compilers, and correctors, medieval bookowners and scribes actively shaped the texts they read. For instance, they might choose to leave out some of the Canterbury Tales, or contribute one of their own. They might correct Chaucer’s versification every now and then. They might produce whole new drafts of Chaucer by combining one or more of his published versions with others.<a href="#17">17</a></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p>With the arrival of print technology, however, a fundamental transformation occurs in the way the activities of writing and reading. Liang quotes an extended passage from Rebecca Lynn’s study of reading and writing practices in medieval England<a href="#18">18</a> that captures this change:</p>
</div>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<div>
<div>
<div>the benefits readers derived from the press, in terms of better access to authorized texts, were countered by a profound loss of opportunity for inventive forms of reception. They were free to take with the texts they recopied. Manuscript culture encouraged readers to edit or adapt freely any text they wrote out, or to re-shape the texts they read with annotations that would take the same form as the scribe's initial work on the manuscript. <i>The assumption that texts are mutable and available for adaptation by anyone is the basis, not only for this quotidian functioning of the average reader, but also for the composition of the great canonical works of the period</i>.<a href="#19">19</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p>Is it possible, in the light of this insight about the creative element of copying in pre-print days, to revise our pathological accounts of contemporary plagiarism? <a href="#20">20</a> Can we view plagiarism not as an offence against the ‘author’ity of knowledge, but in a sense as a reversion to a more primordial tradition in which the availability of a text presumes and is premised upon its availability for adaptation. As described previously, responses from interviews with faculty indicates a grudging tolerance of plagiarism in student research.</p>
<p>This tolerance, stemming from an acknowledgement that even acts of compilation are not wholly without a creative element, seems to restore us to such an understanding of ‘creative’ reading akin to what has been described above.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>Few years ago, a famous author of textbooks on Intellectual Property law in India was discovered to have plagiarised close to two hundred pages of his new book on the Right to Information. The pages had been lifted verbatim from the manuscript sent by a famous law professor to the same publisher. When the matter came to light, the first author pleaded ignorance. After an ugly out-of-court tussle between the professor and the publisher (who happen to be one of India’s more powerful legal-publishing houses), a compromise was reached wherein the professor’s book would be published with a note inserted stating that 200 of his pages had been included in the other ‘author’s’ book.</p>
<p>I conclude this essay with this piece of copyright ‘gossip’ in order to highlight a couple of ironies that it animates. The first is, of course, the delicious irony that a famous author, of IP books no less, would stoop to such lows. (Could academic writing in any discipline be above suspicion now that academic writing in IP, that guardian discipline of genius ‘originality’, has proven susceptible to plagiarism?) The second irony is that this person’s reputation as the ‘author’ of a book, and of a genre of books survives despite the fact that he may not have penned even a single word of his book – which prompts us to ponder what function the author truly serves here. Lastly, I find the fact curious that both books continue to be displayed – and sold - in various legal bookstores, frequently side-by- side. The ‘fact’ of the plagiarism seems not to have significantly impacted sales of either author’s tome.</p>
<p>Tempting as it may be, one must resist treating this example as either exceptional or paradigmatic. Publishers in India in many cases do lead authors by their nose, and this is particularly so in the case of text-book publishing. However, this does not mean that original – in the Cartesian sense - academic writing does not continue to be produced in India. I feel this instance points us to the limits of the argument I have made in the preceding section. As well as it may be to celebrate ‘recombinative’ accounts of creativity in students, wholesale plagiarism with impunity by big name authors backed by large publishing houses cannot be easy to endure. In our acceptance of a combinatorial ‘inventio’ theory of creativity, it would be unwise too hastily to jettison the more austere creatio theory. As Macfarlane points out, popular attitudes to originality and plagiarism have moved between the two narratives of originality in a dialectical fashion so that they can best be thought of as “enmeshed .., or existing in a kind of helical wrap: each requiring the other for its support, counter-definition, and continued existence. Neither ever obliterates the other.”<a href="#21">21</a></p>
<p>However they may have been produced, we regard our ‘works’ not merely as our property but also relationally through ethics of propriety. In other words, what we write is our “own” not in the way that our shoe is our own, but in the sense that our friends are our own. Plagiarism in this context most closely approaches its original Latin roots – plaga: to convert a freeman into a slave22. – as the unjust enslavement or capture of our work by someone else.<br />What role has the internet played in this crisis of plagiarism? Despite the inherent promiscuity of the medium, I think that the arrival of the internet has not actually changed our practices in relation to plagiarism. So the fact that I may blithely pirate movies and music on the internet does not mean, automatically, that I adopt 'piracy' as my research methodology for academic writing. Our choices remain as they were – to acknowledge or not, with the latter being increasingly more risky in an age when exposure is only a google search away.</p>
<p>Finally, how does all of this relate to the question I posed at the start viz: what do we make of this self-slander? I think it will not do to simply declare ourselves innocent of the charge of plagiarism. (As Josef K’s prison chaplain says, that is what the guilty usually do.) But equally we must be careful, to continue with a Kafkaesque metaphor, not to see the gallows being constructed in the distance and hang ourselves on the presumption they are being erected solely for us. Kafka alone, of course, does not supply good grist for policy decisions. A possible way forward would be to import the cinematic notion of plagiarism into academic writing: Not all that is unacknowledged is unoriginal (as my <br />example from student research at law universities shows), but this does not extend to a license to appropriate all as one's own (the example of the famous IP author who plagiarised 200 pages from a professor). The former is a function of the dominant, awkward alien aesthetic imposed by the University, which requires academic writing to be dully impersonal and abstract. Finding it too taxing, most students resort to a clumsy pastiche rather than, for instance, shifting to a more narrative style which they may be more comfortable with. The internet allows their pastiche to be more colorful than before.</p>
<p>The latter is plainly an ethical failing by someone who believes they can get away with impunity. The internet does not impact them in any way except that their 'crime' once discovered circulates endlessly on the internet (As this IP author discovered to his dismay).</p>
<p>In deciding what is to be done, however, I would advise our policy makers to make haste, only slowly.</p>
</div>
<h2>Notes</h2>
<div>
<p class="discreet"><a name="1">Lindey, A., 1952. <i>Plagiarism and originality</i>, Harper., New York, P.2</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="2">Chu, S. et al., 2002. Letter from the group of Professors of Physics of Stanford University to the President of India. Available at: </a><a class="external-link" href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/publications/PDFfiles/india.pdf">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/publications/PDFfiles/india.pdf</a> [Accessed December 22, 2010].</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="3">Seethalakshmi, S., 2006. IIM-B prof held violating copyright. The Times of India. Available at: </a><a class="external-link" href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-01-05/bangalore/27803993_1_iim-b-p-g-apte-copyright-violation">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IIM-B-prof-held-violatingcopyright/ articleshow/1359149.cms?curpg=2</a> [Accessed December 21, 2010].</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="4">Tewari, M., 2008. Indian professor guilty of plagiarism. DNA India. Available at: </a><a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_indian-professor-guilty-of-plagiarism_1152417">http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_indian-professor-guilty-of-plagiarism_1152417</a> [Accessed December 21, 2010].</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="5">Singh, K., 2010. IIT-K sets up panel to probe plagiarism charges. Indian Express. Available at: </a><a class="external-link" href="http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/iitk-sets-up-panel-to-probe-plagiarism-charges/695196/">http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/iitk-sets-up-panel-to-probe-plagiarism-charges/695196/</a> [Accessed December 21, 2010].</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="6">"Anveshan: Student Research Convention." Association of Indian Universities. Apr 2008. Research Division. 30 Apr 2008 <http://www.aiuweb.org/Research/research.asp>.</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="7">Josy Joseph , ‘India lacks R&D base, laments DRDO chief ‘, (2000), [Internet], Available from: <</a><a class="external-link" href="http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/aug/11josy1.htm">http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/aug/11josy1.htm</a>> [Accessed 21 April 2008]</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="8">‘Indian patent filings lag behind global average’, [Internet], Available from: <</a><a class="external-link" href="http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4075557/Indian-patent-filings-lag-behind-global-average">http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204702703</a>> [Accessed 21 April 2008]</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="9">Iyengar, P., 2008. Open Information Policy for Student Research in Law Universities. SSRN eLibrary. <br />Available at:</a><a class="external-link" href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1555689"> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1555689</a> [Accessed December 24, 2010].</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="10">See for instance, Rose, M., 1993. <i>Authors and Owners: The Invention of Copyright</i>, Cambridge, Mass: <br />Harvard University Press. Woodmansee, M., 1984. The Genius and the Copyright: Economic and Legal<br />Conditions of the Emergence of the 'Author'. <i>Eighteenth-Century Studies</i>, 17(4), 425-448.</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="11">For instance, the charge of plagiarism in the domain of cinema seems to have a significantly diluted charge. Bollywood has been accused frequently of aping Hollywood, although this does not stand in the way of it immense popularity and renown. Ramesh Sippy's Sholay is regarded as having been influenced by John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven, itself being similarly 'influenced' by Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. On the modern definition of originality which requires us all to be 'perfectly uninfluenced', this qualifies as plagiarism. This definition however did not stand in the way of Sholay becoming an iconic film for Indian cinema.</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="12">Respectively The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS).Although this sample is not sufficiently representative to make statistically kosher extrapolations – indeed, I make no such claim - I think the responses I received affirmed certain interesting observable trends about student research, that would seem commonsensical to anyone who teaches in India. To that extent, I think this data yields some interesting starting points for the theme of the current paper.</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="13">Macfarlane, R., 2007. Original Copy: Plagiarism and Originality in Nineteenth-Century Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.2</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="14">Ibid, p.4</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="15">Ibid</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="16">Liang, L., 2009. A Brief History of the Internet from the 15th to the 18th Century. In N. Rajan, ed. <i>The Digitized Imagination</i>. Routledge India, pp. 15-36.</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="17">Ibid</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="18">Schoff, R.L., 2004. Freedom from the Press: Reading and Writing in Late Medieval England. Harvard University. Available at: </a><a class="external-link" href="http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/ER/detail/hkul/3516592">http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/ER/detail/hkul/3516592</a>. cited in Liang, L., 2009. A Brief History of the Internet from the 15th to the 18th Century. In N. Rajan, ed. The Digitized Imagination. Routledge India, pp. 15-36.</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="19">Ibid</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="20">For instance the ‘epidemic of plagiarism’ language typified in this BBC article Precey, Matt. “Study shows 'plagiarism epidemic'.” BBC 17 Jan 2008. 13 May 2008 <</a><a class="external-link" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/7194850.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7194850.stm</a>>.</p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="21">Supra n. 12, at p. 17</a></p>
<p class="discreet"><a name="22">See Voltaire, 1824. <i>A philosophical dictionary: from the French</i>, J. and H. L. Hunt. (Accessed from Google Books)</a></p>
</div>
<h2><span class="Apple-style-span">Also see these:</span></h2>
<div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15759.pdf">Economic and Political WEEKLY</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://originalfakes.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/epw-article-on-plagiarism/">Originalfakes</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1775582">Social Science Research Network</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/plagiarism-in-indian-academia'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/plagiarism-in-indian-academia</a>
</p>
No publisherprashantIntellectual Property RightsCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2014-05-29T05:55:27ZBlog EntryFebruary 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2011-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! In this issue we are pleased to present you the latest updates about our research, upcoming events, and news and media coverage:</b>
<h2><b>Researchers@Work</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects have been published online for public review:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/Internetcities/city-and-space">Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Digital Natives</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS has interest in developing Digital Identities as a core research area and looks at practices, policies and scholarships in the field to explore relationships between Internet, technology and identity. The Digital Natives project is funded by Hivos, Netherlands. CIS involvement has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>Columns on Digital Natives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following articles were published in the Indian Express recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/pull-plug">Pull the Plug</a> [published in the Indian Express on February 20, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/flash-of-change">A FLASH of Change</a> [published in the Indian Express on February 6, 2011]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/wiki-world">Wiki changes the world</a> [published in the Indian Express on January 23, 2011]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Workshop</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project took place in Santiago, Chile, from 8 to 10 February 2011. Samuel Tettner wrote a report about the workshop:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/santiago-workshop-an-after-thought">Digital Natives with a Cause? —Workshop in Santiago — an Afterthought</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entries by Maesey Angelina</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Maesy Angelina is doing Masters on International Development, specializing in Children and Youth Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is working on her research on the activism of digital natives under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme. She spent a month at CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise Project under the Digital Natives with a Cause? framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The new ones are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/the-class-question">The Class Question</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/diving-into-the-digital">Diving Into the Digital</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry by Samuel Tettner</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Samuel Tettner is a Coordinator in the Digital Natives project. He has written one blog entry:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/dn/computers-in-society">Computer Science & Society – The Roles Defined</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/working-draft">The Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2010: Does it exceed its Mandate in Including Provisions Relating to Other Disability Legislations</a>?</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Our latest endeavour has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/exhaustion/weblogentry_view">Exhaustion: Imports, Exports and the Doctrine of First Sale in Indian Copyright Law</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/parallel-importation-rebuttal">Thomas Abraham's Rebuttal on Parallel Importation</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/indian-law-and-parallel-exports">Indian Law and "Parallel Exports"</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/parallel-importation-of-books">Why Parallel Importation of Books Should Be Allowed</a>
<ul>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Openness</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS believes that innovation and creativity should be fostered through openness and collaboration and is committed towards promotion of open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software, its latest involvement have yielded these results:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/digital-commons">Engaging on the Digital Commons</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/comments-ifeg-phase-1">CIS Comments on the Interoperability Framework for e-Governance</a> (Phase I)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/withdrawal-of-journal-access">Withdrawal of Journal Access is a Wake-up Call for Researchers in the Developing World</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b> Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although there may not be one centralised authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cyber crime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has taken the following shape:</p>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/google-policy-fellowship">Google Policy Fellowship Program: Asia Chapter</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/intermediary-due-diligence">Comments on Intermediary Due Diligence Rules, 2011</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/cyber-cafe-rules">Comments on Cyber Café Rules, 2011</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/security-practices-rules">Comments on Draft Reasonable Security Practices Rules, 2011</a></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Privacy</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing a project, ‘Privacy in Asia’. It is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and the International Development Research Centre, Canada and is being administered in collaboration with the Society and Action Group, Gurgaon. The two-year project commenced on 24<sup>th</sup> March 2010 and will be completed as agreed to by the stakeholders. It was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around challenges and violations of privacy in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.</p>
<h3>Blog Entries by Elonnai Hickok</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Elonnai Hickok is a Programme Associate in the Privacy in Asia project. She has published a series of Open Letters to the Finance Committee regarding the UID:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/biometrics">Biometrics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/finance-and-security">Finance and Security</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/uid-and-transactions">UID and Transactions</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/operational-design">Operational Design</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/uid-budget">UID Budget</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Other New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy-conferencebanglaore">Conference Report: 'Privacy Matters' Bangalore</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy-uiddevaprasad">Analysing the Right to Privacy and Dignity with Respect to the UID</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this:</p>
<h3>Column</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/jhatka-or-halal">Spectrum auctions - 'Jhatka' or 'Halal'?</a> [published in the Business Standard on February 3, 2011]<b><br /> </b></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Forthcoming Events</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is holding some conferences/workshops in the month of March in Delhi and Bangalore:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/fostering-freedom-of-expression">Role of the Internet in Fostering Freedom of Expression and Strengthening Activism in India - A Workshop in Delhi</a> (March 4, 2011, Constitutional Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/global-freedom-expression">Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression</a> (March 4, 2011, Constitutional Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/electronication">Electronication: Ragas and the Future</a> (March 6, 2011 Jaaga, Bangalore)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/design-public">Design!publiC</a> (March 18, 2011, Taj Vivanta, New Delhi)</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Staff Update</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Deepti Bharthur</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Deepti Bhartur is a Research Intern at CIS. She did her BA (Hons) in Journalism from Lady Sriram College, University of Delhi and completed her Masters in Communication from Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad. Deepti joined the Accessibility team of CIS and is working on accessibility in telecom policy in India.</p>
<h2><b>News & Media Coverage</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/growing-cyberspace-controls">Growing cyberspace controls, Internet filtering</a> (Hindu, February 20, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/copyright-amendment">2(m) or not 2(m)</a> (Business Standard, February 19, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/twitterati-change-world">Can the twitterati change the world?</a> (The Times of India, February 12, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/mouse-a-tool-of-revolution">Can the mouse be a tool of revolution in India?</a> (DNA, February 12, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/social-network-suicide">Social Network Suicide</a> (Bangalore Mirror, February 6, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/new-kids">New Kids on the Blog</a> (Indian Express, February 6, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/procuring-books">Procuring books in Indian libraries</a> (Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange, February 4, 2011) </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/what-are-you-accused">What Are You Accused of? Find Out Online</a> (Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/one-wikipedian">One among the clan of Wikipedians</a> (Hindu, January 27, 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/digital-wrongs">Digital Wrongs</a> (Forbes India, January 24, 2011)</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Follow CIS on <a href="http://identi.ca/main/remote?nickname=cis">identi.ca</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28535315687">Facebook</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Visit us at <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Looking forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to write to us for any queries or details required. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please do write to us and we will unsubscribe your mail ID from the mailing list.<i><br /> CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-30T11:16:29ZPageThomas Abraham's Rebuttal on Parallel Importation
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-rebuttal
<b>We engaged in an e-mail conversation with Thomas Abraham, the managing director of Hachette India, on the issue of parallel importation of books into India. We thought it would be in the public interest to publish a substantive part of that conversation. In this post he points at great length how our arguments are faulty. While we still believe that he doesn't succeed, we hope this will clarify matters a bit.</b>
<h2>Nature of disagreement</h2>
<p>There is essentially fundamental disagreement on principle and definition-and I guess there will always be if you knock actual knowledge and see things as abstract philosophical (and legal) points. Why I think detailed knowledge is necessary is precisely illustrated at the logic (or lack thereof actually) employed by the Ministry. And then there is to me the fundamental problem of disregarding the author's wishes (for no greater good).</p>
<h2>Second hand books and libraries</h2>
<p>The comparison is not the same. Both (second-hand and libraries) have had a first sale where the copyright holder has got his/her basic right-the designated royalty. (I have explained earlier how export royalties and remainder royalties are much lower and results in losses to the author.) So here we come back to the basic philosophy-who has greater right on deciding on creative works? The creator or the government? A just answer would be the creator provided commercial dissemination fulfilled society's needs-which in India's case would be availability and right pricing keeping in mind socio-economic needs. Both are happening through local publishing and pricing of imports. But parallel imports would take away that right an author has of deriving a rightful income as per existing norms in all mature markets (including India so far). We are heading towards being a mature market and this has come about only because we are in the self-perpetuating framework of publishing, writing, and cultural development.</p>
<p>So the argument is that second hand books and libraries foster reading without depriving the author of rightful royalty or ruining the market.</p>
<p>Parallel importation does both. There is every reason to know that this will happen-that's exactly the substantiation we are offering. And the advocates of parallel importation have none to offer-pricing (where is it high, and by how much should it come down?), what is not freely available and at special prices? So for what reason do we want the existing law-also made by lawmakers-to change the stated remit of exhaustion from national to international.</p>
<p>No book publisher objects to libraries or even second hand books. But they are objecting to parallel importation. So leave it to them to decide. It is a tad patronizing to tell us what will help us, without having a shred of actual knowledge.</p>
<h2>Helping libraries and disabled</h2>
<p>This is completely false. No library needs to import from Amazon. And if it is a public library then they are wasting taxpayer money. Almost any book in the world they will still get at a special price through Indian publishers or distributors. There are societies for the disabled to whom publishers give rights at almost no cost. The UK has a law that a copy must be made available at near cost for disabled. By all means have such a law here. Why try and use parallel importation as an excuse for this?</p>
<h2>Flexibility in the law</h2>
<p>To your point: "Even if prices don't fall, it is good to have the flexibility for libraries to import four copies of a book that students need and isn't being made available in India. That flexibility is crucial, for availability, and just on principle, and not just for the sake of prices". By all means pass the law that gives the libraries the right to import 5 copies of any book they want. Publishers won't gripe at that. Libraries would still get it cheaper here than Amazon but that's the libraries' call.</p>
<h2>Law should promote fairness and equity, not perpetuate a particular business model</h2>
<p>No disagreement here. But the contention is that it will result in exactly the opposite. Sure, so let the lawmakers demonstrate they have done due diligence and outline evidence for their assumptions and how it will promote fairness and equity. What is unfair right now and what is not equitable? And how this law will address that. Why do other markets have it, and why should we not? On no count is there any detailing-just three false assumptions-availability, pricing and current editions.</p>
<p>Equally one can't have the law being made the proverbial ass because the lawmakers won't do their homework.</p>
<h2>Export and remainder royalties are lower</h2>
<p>I explained export vs domestic royalties in my first rebuttal. Not just remainders. Remainders are near zero royalties. Export surplus even pre-remainders are low royalty-against the author's wishes. And parallel importation will result in further loss of royalties from loss of sales of the hitherto legitimate edition.</p>
<h2>Why anti-dumping laws will not be practical</h2>
<p>Firstly there will be 40,000-plus titles to track, and the damage would have been done by the time you invoke the law. And assuming we want to invoke anti-dumping law, what parameters will be fixed? what discount are you going to fix? What quantity? I'll explain why this will never work. There are no real averages to draw lines and say this much and no more for either discount or price or quantity. To understand why we need to understand cost to price structures. Indian publishing (both publishing and imports) is low margin. Our books are priced to market; that means from cost our mark up is 2.5 times for imports and about 3-4 on average for local publishing-to enable the prices you see. Abroad it is 8-10 times from cost. To enable low pricing in India, we already have overseas terms that exceed 70% discounts, going into 'net pricing' for the ones that we pick to push big. Once the market is opened up, you will have two things-(a) targeted remainders as against the minor trickle now and (b) surplus clearance or even targeted sale to undercut the existing lawful edition. And I repeat the point that these remainders and 'targeted exports' can still end up undercutting the local edition. Not significantly enough to cause a change in pricing pattern (no benefit to consumer), but enough to undermine existing industry structures.</p>
<p>And yes, parallel importation (the current trickle) does see enforcement the logical way (by which I mean that the intensity of the problem merits the level of redressal). So far (believe me, each of us keeps tabs) we have 'unaware imports' and 'deliberate imports'. It is an irritant but is gradually reducing as the market matures. And the unaware ones are easily remedied by a simple letter asking for infringing stock to be withdrawn. In fact 8 out of 10 cases this simple letter works. For the deliberate ones, as I said earlier, it's just one or two where the impact is not worth the cost. Our margins do not allow us to hire expensive lawyers. But the moment it touches key brands or high revenue, legal action is taken.</p>
<h2>Market expansion</h2>
<p>Again the inherent assumption that this is some 'fat cat' lobbying protest. For once the lawmakers need to apply themselves-why is everybody from Penguin & Hachette (biggest) to Zubaan and Yatra (amongst smallest) all opposing it? Similarly from Crossword (large chain) to 'The Bookshop' in Jor Bagh (small independent), nobody wants this. Why? Surely that must speak for something? The only ones it will benefit are the remainder stalls you see (of which there must be about 25-30 all over the country). But over time every bookshop will be forced to keep this kind of stocking eroding current shelf space (they will have no choice). This is not market expansion.</p>
<h2>Pricing drop</h2>
<p>The other thing being ignored is that it's not just short term spoiler pricing. When one thinks in purely theoretical terms and says "open up, prices will drop", one is also not factoring in that the composition of what is stocked will changed. It's no longer <em>status quo</em> at reduced prices. That's the key to a mature market, that what the market needs is available-from bestsellers to literary works to philosophical works-balancing commercial and cultural needs and at prices the market can afford. So sure we can sit back and say we don't care if the history and philosophy shelves are eroded, if local publishing shrinks, let market forces prevail and let there be just foreign mass market novels and old editions (which will flow in by the thousand). But I'd like to hear the government say that.</p>
<h2>Not just about copyrighted books but about all copyrighted materials</h2>
<p>Yes, and we're not commenting about the others (other materials, i.e.) because we do not know enough. But we cannot have one size fits all if there are legitimate grounds to think about otherwise. Why is there a redressal of authors' needs in the music and film industry and a total disregard of books? Why were there panels created to discuss and thresh the whole thing through for films, and no detailed consultation at all for the books industry?</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-rebuttal'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-rebuttal</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshConsumer RightsCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2011-08-04T04:47:12ZBlog EntryIndian Law and "Parallel Exports"
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indian-law-and-parallel-exports
<b>Recently, a lawyer for the publishing industry made the claim that allowing for parallel importation would legally allow for the exports of low-priced edition. Here we present a legal rebuttal of that claim.</b>
<p>Recently, on publisher/editor/writer Divya Dubey's blog, Saikrishna Rajagopal, a highly respected copyright lawyer and founding partner of Saikrishna & Associates, <a class="external-link" href="http://dearddsez.blogspot.com/2011/01/thomas-abrahams-rebuttal-to-why.html">claimed that</a> we had misconstrued the law with regard to export of books from India, and that allowing for parallel importation would harm that.</p>
<p>Mr Rajagopal writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The fundamental legal infirmity that I find in Mr. Prakash’s argument are twofold:<br />1. That current Indian Law allows export of low priced editions;<br />2. That the proposed proviso would not include within its scope 'exports'.</p>
<p>1. As regards the argument that current Indian Law allows export of low priced editions, the two John Wiley cases of the Delhi High Court of May 2010, make it abundantly clear that current Indian Copyright Law precludes export of low priced editions. Pertinently, an appeal was preferred in one of the Wiley cases and was dismissed. These judgments are therefore final now and therefore authoritatively, interpret Indian Copyright Law as it stands today.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I was wrong regarding the question of export of low-priced editions. There are are two Delhi High Court judgments which came out in May 2010 on export of books, holding that export of Low-Priced Editions meant for India to countries outside is unlawful (<em>John Wiley & Sons Inc. & Ors v. Prabhat Chander Kumar Jain & Ors</em> and <em>John Wiley & Sons Inc. & Ors v. International Book Store & Anr</em>). However, in the first judgment Justice Manmohan Singh clearly held that it would be unlawful to export without permission of the rights owner regardless of whether we followed the doctrine of national exhaustion (disallowed parallel importation) or the doctrine of international exhaustion (allowed parallel importation), and the "the question of exhaustion of rights of owner in copyright does not arise at all".[1] Thus Mr. Rajagopals's fears are, thankfully, unfounded.</p>
<p>Mr. Rajagopal continues:</p>
<blockquote>2. As regards Pranesh’s argument that the proposed amendment does not cover ‘exports’, this argument is completely specious. In order to determine at what stage a copyright owner loses its right to control further sale and distribution of a copyrighted product, the statute itself needs to be looked into to determine what standard of exhaustion of rights has been contemplated. If the proposed proviso becomes law, it would be a clear indicator to a Court that Indian Copyright Law follows international exhaustion, namely, that once a product is legitimately sold anywhere in the world market, the copyright owner loses/exhausts the right to control further distribution and sale, including export and import. It is because the copyright owner exhausts rights globally that the proposed amendment is allowing for genuine copies of books sold in the international market, to be legally imported into India. This being the case, there is almost unanimity amongst IP Lawyers that export of low priced editions would also be considered legal, in view of the proposed amendment. This is not just our Indian view, but also the view of other international IP experts who have had an opportunity to look at the implications of this proviso.<br /></blockquote>
<p>The copyright owner, under a proper appreciation of the Indian law,
never has the right to control "further sale and distribution" (as per s.14(a)(ii) of the Copyright Act), contrary to Mr. Rajagopal's assertion. Once a
copy is in circulation (e.g., is sold), the copyright owner no longer has the exclusive
right to put that copy into circulation, nor to control its further sale /
distribution in any manner. This is the limitation on the owner's right that allows libraries exist. This is how second-hand book shops exist. If this limitation of the copyright owner's right did not exist, libraries and second-hand book shops would need to take permissions from the owner for each copy of each book that they lend or sell.</p>
<p>Imports and exports are two distinct things. India's following of the principle of "international exhaustion" means that the right to first sale is exhausted <em>in India</em>, when the work is legally published anywhere <em>internationally</em> (i.e., regardless of where that copyrighted work is legally published). The principle of international exhaustion doesn't not exhaust the right of first sale <em>internationally</em>—the word "international" is used to indicate where the <em>publication</em> has to take place for exhaustion to occur, and not where the <em>exhaustion</em> takes place. After all, Indian law on a matter cannot determine whether a book can or cannot be sold anywhere else in the world (which is precisely what it would do if it is to hold that rights are exhausted internationally by virtue of a book being printed in India).</p>
<p>Having done research on this point for the past week, I have not been able to come up with any legal articles or cases to directly oppose Mr. Rajagopal's claim that the legality of book exports from a country can depend on whether it follows national or international exhaustion. It is such a novel claim that no one has made it so far, and so no one has thought to oppose it. I know of no other IP lawyers in India or internationally who agree with
Mr. Rajagopal's claim that allowing for parallel importation in India will have
an impact on the exports of low-priced editions from India.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most pertinently, when the Wiley judgments which related to export of low priced editions, were being pronounced in Court, the Hon’ble Judge casually remarked that the law laid down in cases may soon become redundant if the proposed legislation comes into force.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As noted above, the judge specifically stated in the written judgment itself that as per the court's reasoning, the question of whether the export of low-priced editions is legal is not related to the question of exhaustion of rights of the owner: "<em>. . . as the express provision for international
exhaustion is absent in our Indian law, it would be appropriate to
confine the applicability of the same to regional exhaustion. Be that as
it may, in the present case,</em> <em>the circumstances do not even otherwise
warrant this discussion </em>. . . <em>the question of exhaustion of
rights of owner in the copyright does not arise at all</em>". </p>
<p>To get a little bit more technical, Justice Singh rules that there is a difference between first sale (exhaustion) vis-a-vis the owner and first sale vis-a-vis the licensee. He states that only rights of the licensee have been exhausted, and that the rights of the owner being exhausted do not even arise. But he is quite clear that this difference would apply regardless of whether we follow international exhaustion or national exhaustion.</p>
<strong>Update (2011-02-15): </strong>For the tabularly inclined, here's a summary of what it means for a country to follow "national exhaustion" or "international exhaustion":
<div align="center"> </div>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center"><br /></td>
<td align="center">What "Exhaustion" Means<br /></td>
<td align="center"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="center">Where copyrighted work is first circulated<br /></th>
<th align="center">Where right of circulation is exhausted <br /></th>
<th align="center">What this is termed<br /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center">In any country<br /></td>
<td align="center">In all countries<br /></td>
<td align="center">[- Not possible.<br /><br />- Law in one country<br />can't dictate law in another.<br /><br />- Exhaustion of right of circulation<br />
"in all countries" can only be <br />
declared so through an <br />
international treaty<br />
(e.g., the way TRIPS makes a book<br />copyrighted in all countries if <br />it is copyrighted in any country)<br /><br />- Art. 6 of TRIPS doesn't allow for this interpretation.]<br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><strong> In any country<br /></strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Domestic territory<br />
</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>International exhaustion<br />
</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"> Domestic territory<br /></td>
<td align="center">In all countries<br /></td>
<td align="center">[- Not possible.<br />
<br />- Law in one country <br />can't affect law in another.<br /><br />- Exhaustion of right of circulation<br />
"in all countries" can only be <br />declared so through an <br />international treaty<br />(e.g., the way TRIPS makes a book<br />
copyrighted in all countries if <br />it is copyrighted in any country)<br /><br />- Art. 6 of TRIPS doesn't allow for this interpretation.]<br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><strong> Domestic territory<br />
</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Domestic territory<br />
</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>National exhaustion<br />
</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Thus it is seen that the "national" or "international" exhaustion only determines the question of where the book has to be first circulated for exhaustion to happen. It can never change <em>where</em> the right of first circulation is exhausted (which in either case can only happen at a territorial level). </p>
<p>The implication of the right of circulation being exhausted world-wide is that no country can by law prevent parallel importation. The TRIPS Agreement, via Article 6, decided to give each country the right to choose to allow or disallow parallel importation. This was despite a great effort by developing countries to get international exhaustion codified as the worldwide norm.</p>
<p>To make this even more clear, I propose the following thought experiment.<br /><br /><strong>X</strong> - national of <strong>New Zealand</strong>, which follows international exhaustion.<br /><strong>Country 1</strong> - a country that follows national exhaustion / doesn't allow parallel imports<br /><strong>Country 2</strong> - a country that follows national exhaustion / doesn't allow parallel imports<br /><strong>Country 3</strong> - a country that follows international exhaustion / allows for parallel imports<br /><br /></p>
<ul><li>Example 1: If <strong>X</strong> buys a book from <strong>Country 1</strong> and sells that book in <strong>Country 2</strong>, he is in violation of <strong>Country 2</strong>'s laws, regardless of the laws in <strong>New Zealand</strong> and <strong>Country 1</strong>.</li><li>Example 2: If <strong>X</strong> buys a book from <strong>Country 1</strong> and sells that book in <strong>Country 3</strong>, he is <em>not</em> in violation of the law (either in <strong>New Zealand</strong> or in <strong>Country 3</strong>).</li><li>Example 3: If <strong>X</strong> buys a book in <strong>New Zealand</strong> and sells that book in <strong>Country 2</strong>, he is in violation of <strong>Country 2</strong>'s laws, regardless of the laws in <strong>New Zealand</strong>.</li><li>Example 4: If <strong>X</strong> buys a book in <strong>New Zealand</strong> and sells that book in <strong>Country 3</strong>, he is <em>not</em> in violation of the law (either in <strong>New Zealand</strong> or in <strong>Country 3</strong>).</li></ul>
<p><br />If one takes "international exhaustion" to mean that the right is exhausted in <em>every country</em>, then <strong>Example 3</strong>
would be wrong. But that would be absurd, since we know from experience
that it is correct: Buying a book in New Zealand and selling it in the
United Kingdom (which follows national/regional exhaustion) is unlawful. So obviously "international exhaustion" doesn't mean that.</p>
<p>Similarly, if one takes "national exhaustion" to mean that after sale a book cannot be exported, that
would imply that <strong>Example 2</strong> is faulty. But we know from
experience that this is not so: Buying a book in the United Kingdom and selling it in New Zealand is lawful. So obviously "national exhaustion" doesn't mean that.</p>
<p>Thus, it is only the act of import that is ever affected by the question of national vs. international exhaustion, and never exports.</p>
<h3>Notes</h3>
<p> [1]: Justice Manmohan Singh writes: "As per my opinion, as the express provision for international
exhaustion is absent in our Indian law, it would be appropriate to
confine the applicability of the same to regional exhaustion. Be that as
it may, in the present case, the circumstances do not even otherwise
warrant this discussion as the rights if at all are exhausted are to the
extent to which they are available with the licensees as the books are
purchased from the exclusive licensees who have limited rights and not
from the owner. In these circumstances, the question of exhaustion of
rights of owner in the copyright does not arise at all." (Para 104).</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indian-law-and-parallel-exports'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indian-law-and-parallel-exports</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshConsumer RightsCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2011-08-04T04:47:07ZBlog EntryJanuary 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! It gives us immense pleasure to present regular updates on the progress of our research on the mainstream Internet media. In this issue of we bring our latest project updates, news and media coverage:</b>
<h2><b>Researchers@Work</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects have been published on the CIS website for public review:</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>Digital Natives</b></h2>
<p>CIS has interest in developing Digital Identities as a core research area and looks at practices, policies and scholarships in the field to explore relationships between Internet, technology and identity.</p>
<h3>Column on Digital Natives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following article was published in the Indian Express recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/h2E3Jd">Is That a Friend on Your Wall?</a> [published in the Indian Express on 9 January 2010]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Workshop</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from the 8 to 10 February. Open Call and FAQs for the workshop are online:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/emKslL">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – An Open Call</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eCu2it">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – Some FAQs</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry by Maesey Angelina</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Maesy Angelina is a MA candidate on International Development, specializing in Children and Youth Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is working on her research on the activism of digital natives under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme. She spent a month at CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise Project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The latest is:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hjbzB0">The Digital Tipping Point</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h92qtI">Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Citizen Media Outreach</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fgOaHa">Accessibility in Telecommunications</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Copyright, patents and trademarks are the most important components on the Internet. CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Our latest endeavour has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/igNQMW">New Release of IPR Chapter of India-EU Free Trade Agreement</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although there may not be one centralised authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cybercrime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” Within the larger field of Internet governance, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue forum that was instituted by the WSIS processes and that is their only formal outcome, has fast emerged as one of the key institutions. As the definition quoted above indicates, a unique feature of the field of Internet governance is that, unlike many other governance spheres, it does not only involve governments. Historically, not only governments but also the technical community and private players have played a crucial role in the development of the Internet. In the context of the IGF, that role is not only explicitly acknowledged but also institutionalised as the IGF formally brings together governments, private players and civil society actors from all areas of and organisations involved in Internet governance. Moreover, now that the open and egalitarian potential of the Internet is increasingly under attack, this unique nature of the IGF, in addition to its WSIS roots, has made it a prime venue to remind stakeholders in all areas of Internet governance of the commitment they have made earlier to building a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” (WSIS Geneva Principles, Para 1). CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has the following shape:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fOB4sL">Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace</a><b> </b></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Privacy</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS has undertaken many new and exciting projects. One of these, "Privacy in Asia", is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and is being completed in collaboration with Society and Action Group. "Privacy in Asia" is a two-year project that commenced on 24 March 2010 and will complete within two years from the commencement date, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties. The project was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote an over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from "Privacy in Asia" CIS is also participating in the " Privacy and Identity" project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation and managed by the Centre for Study of Culture and Society. The project is a research inquiry into the history of Privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like <i>Aadhaar</i>. The "Privacy and Identity" project started in August 2010.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eWxry1">Privacy Matters — Conference Report</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gocDqf">An Open Letter to the Finance Committee</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy-UIDdec17">Does the UID Reflect India?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Staff Update</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prashant Iyengar is a lawyer and legal scholar who has worked extensively on intellectual property issues particularly focusing on copyright reform and open access. He is a past recipient of an Open Society Institute fellowship for research into Open Information Policy, and has been affiliated with the Alternative Law Forum – a collective of lawyers in Bangalore engaged in human rights practice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prashant joined the Centre for Internet and Society as a lead researcher in the Privacy India project recently.</p>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this.</p>
<h3>Column</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/grwFzq">The policy langurs</a> [published on 6 January 2011]</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>News & Media Coverage</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hcNWgX">Civic hackers seek to find their feet in India</a> (Livemint, 24 January 2011) and (IndiaInfoline, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/ihsya0">A Tweet and a poke from the CEO</a> (Livemint, 24 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/g19Yrv">Clicktivism & a brave new world order</a> (Mail Today, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eiyWsT">Would it be a unique identity crisis</a>? (Bangalore Mirror, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gnJNzc">Nel suk dei nativi digitali. Perché gli studenti 2.0 hanno bisogno di una bussola per orientarsi</a> (Il Sore24 ORE, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fvn4Fw">A Refreshing Start!</a> (Verveonline, Volume 19, Issue 1, January, 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/glcDk1">Getting Connected</a> (Livemint, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eN0Njz">Knowledge Warriors</a> (Il Sore24 ORE, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/f5m3fg">Nishant Shah Quoted in Livemint 2011 Tweet-out</a> (Livemint, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eti5N2">Digital Natives with a Cause? - Workshop in Chile seeks participants</a> (Bahama islands info, 30 December 2010)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h1YBgf">Mothers discuss kids, music, fashions, on Net</a> (The Hindu, 26 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h2>
<ul>
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<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomIntellectual Property RightsAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-30T11:25:44ZPageWhy Parallel Importation of Books Should Be Allowed
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-of-books
<b>There has been much controversy lately with some publishers trying to stop the government from amending s.2(m) of the Indian Copyright Act, clarifying that a parallel import will not be seen as an "infringing copy". This blog post argues that the government should, keeping in mind the larger picture, still go ahead and legalise parallel imports.</b>
<p>[Updated Wednesday, February 2, 2011, to respond to <a class="external-link" href="http://dearddsez.blogspot.com/2011/01/thomas-abrahams-rebuttal-to-why.html">Thomas Abraham's extensive and thoughtful rebuttal</a> of the earlier version this post.]</p>
<p>First off, here is the controversial clause, with the proposed amendment (the insertion of a "proviso", in legalese) being emphasised in bold font-face:</p>
<h2>The amendment<br /></h2>
<blockquote>
<p>2(m) "infringing copy" means,—</p>
<p> (i) in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a reproduction thereof otherwise than in the form of a cinematographic film;</p>
<p> (ii) in relation to a cinematographic film, a copy of the film made on any medium by any means;</p>
<p> (iii) in relation to a sound recording, any other recording embodying the same sound recording, made by any means;</p>
<p> (iv) in relation to a programme or performance in which such a broadcast reproduction right or a performer's right subsists under the provisions of this Act, the sound recording or a cinematographic film of such programme or performance, if such reproduction, copy or sound recording is made or imported in contravention of the provisions of this Act;</p>
<p><strong>Provided that a copy of a work published in any country outside India with the permission of the author of the work and imported from that country shall not be deemed to be an infringing copy.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some claim that this amendment to s.2(m) ("provided that... copy") has the potential to
destroy the publishing industry. The most lucid explanation of this was in a recent op-ed by Thomas Abraham
in the Hindustan Times, very ominously titled <a class="external-link" href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/652735.aspx">The Death of Books</a>. However it seems to us that the publishing
industry—especially foreign publishers with distributorships in India—don't want to open
themselves up to competition in the distribution market, and are opposing this most commendable move.</p>
<h2>What is parallel importation?<br /></h2>
<p>Before getting into explanations of why allowing for parallel importation is good, and how the arguments otherwise fall short, we should examine what parallel importation is. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Parallel import, insofar as copyright is concerned, involves an “original” copyright product (i.e. produced by or with the permission of the copyright owner in the manufacturing country) placed on the market of one country, which is subsequently imported into a second country without the permission of the copyright owner in the second country. For instance, the copyright owner of a book produced in India places the book on the market in India. A trader buys 100 copies of the book from India and imports them to China without the permission of the copyright owner of the book in China. This act of the trader bringing the books into China is called parallel import, the legality of which depends on the copyright law of the importing country (namely China in this example)." (Consumers International, <em>Copyright and Access to Knowledge: Policy Recommendations on Flexibilities in Copyright Laws</em> 23 (2006).)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some fear-mongers try to equate parallel importation with
'anarchy' in markets, and some confusedly claim that this amendment would allow <em>infringing</em> copies of books
would be permitted. That is simply not true. For parallel importation to be said to happen, the sale must itself be legal. If it is an an illegally sold copy (a pirated copy of a book, for instance) that is imported, then it will count as a black market import—not as a parallel import. Allowing for parallel imports will only dismantle
monopoly rights over importation, and the amendment makes
that amply clear.</p>
<h2>Harms on existing books of not allowing parallel importation</h2>
<p>Libraries/second-hand bookshops/consumers have no way of knowing if a book was originally imported legally or not, since there is no easy way of telling a parallel-ly imported copy apart from a exclusively imported copy. If one of them, even unknowingly buys/sells a foreign edition about which they am not sure and it turns out it was not legally imported (and there are literally thousands of such books, and I personally own at least a couple dozen foreign editions bought from various second-hand bookshops) then they are committing copyright infringement.</p>
<p>This precisely was argued by the library associations and others in <em>amici</em> briefs to the US Supreme Court in the <em>Costco v. Omega</em> case. For instance, the <a title="http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/pdfs/09-10/08-1423_PetitionerAmCu3LibraryAssns.pdf" href="http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/pdfs/09-10/08-1423_PetitionerAmCu3LibraryAssns.pdf" rel="nofollow">brief
for the the American Library Association, the Association of College
and Research Libaries, and the Association of Research Libraries in
Support of Petitioner</a> argues that:</p>
<blockquote>By restricting the application of [the first sale doctrine] to copies manufactured in the United States, the Ninth Circuit’s decision threatens the ability of libraries to continue to lend materials in their collections. Over 200 million books in U.S. libraries have foreign publishers. Moreover, many books published by U.S. publishers were actually manufactured by printers in other countries. Although some books indicate on their copyright page where they were printed, many do not. Libraries, therefore, have no way of knowing whether these books comply with the Ninth Circuit’s rule. Without the certainty of the protection of the first sale doctrine, librarians will have to confront the difficult policy decision of whether to continue to circulate these materials in their collections in the face of potential copyright infringement liability. For future acquisitions, libraries would be able to adjust to the Ninth Circuit’s narrowing of [the first sale doctrine] only by bearing the significant cost of obtaining a “lending license” whenever they acquired a copy that was not clearly manufactured in the United States. <br /></blockquote>
<p>and, the <a title="http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/pdfs/09-10/08-1423_PetitionerAmCu6NonProfitOrgs.pdf" href="http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/pdfs/09-10/08-1423_PetitionerAmCu6NonProfitOrgs.pdf" rel="nofollow">brief
for the Public Knowledge, American Association of Law Libraries,
American Free Trade Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association in
Support of Petitioner</a> states:</p>
<blockquote>The uncertainty created by the Ninth Circuit’s holding [against parallel importation] will harm used bookstores, libraries, yard sales, out-of-print book markets, movie and video game rental markets, and innumerable other secondary markets. Owners of copyright works or goods containing copyrighted elements manufactured abroad will be unable to dispose of these products without authorization at the risk of liability under copyright law’s extensive damages provisions. Furthermore, the chilling effects of the Ninth Circuit’s holding will extend beyond works manufactured abroad. Owners of copies of works will be unable to determine whether they are protected by [the first sale doctrine], as they will not always know where their goods were manufactured. Copyright holders will have little incentive to make clear the location of manufacturing of their copyrighted works,3 as greater uncertainty means a greater ability to sell the right to distribute the goods within the United States. Secondary market sellers who cannot afford to purchase this right will be unable to do business unless they are prepared to engage in lengthy and expensive litigation with an uncertain result. A wide variety of important secondary markets in copyrighted works and goods with copyrighted elements will suffer without the protection of the first sale doctrine.<br /></blockquote>
<h2>Benefits of parallel importation</h2>
<h3>Dismantling distribution monopoly rights<br /></h3>
<p>The benefits that will accrue from allowing for parallel importations
are huge. Currently a large percentage of educational books in India
are imported, but with different companies having monopoly rights in
importation of different books. If this was opened up to competition,
the prices of books would drop, since one would not need to get an
authorization to import books—the licence raj that currently exists
would be dismantled—and Indian students will benefit. This is
especially important for students and for libraries because even when
low-priced editions are available, they are often of older editions.</p>
<p>Allowing people to import goods without permissions (with appropriate duties) is taken for granted in all other areas, so why not copyrighted works? After all, it is not the act of publication that gets affected, but the right of exclusive distribution. And if that goes away after first sale internationally, that's not a bad thing at all.</p>
<p>Generally, there are two main benefits of allowing for parallel importation: faster introduction of the latest international releases into the domestic country, and lowered prices by decreasing the costs imposed by a monopoly right over distribution.</p>
<p>All the foreign books that an online bookseller like Flipkart delivers in India are procured from international sources. Without parallel importation, Flipkart will have to ask for permission from the book publishers for each foreign book each time it makes a sale. This would cripple Flipkart's business model.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Helping book publishers</h3>
<p>Book publishers will be benefited by parallel importation, just as they are benefited by the existence of libraries and second-hand book stores. Libraries and second-hand book stores help with market segmentation, providing access to people who can't afford expensive books at much lower rates, often free. However, the existence of second-hand book stores in almost every city in India—I have personally bought second-hand books everywhere from Jhansi (Leo Tolstoy's <em>War and Peace</em>) to Delhi's Darya Ganj market (Edmund Wilson's <em>Letters on Literature and Politics</em>)—does not prevent me from buying books first hand. Indeed, Wilson's <em>Letters</em> is out of print, and cannot be bought in a store like Crosswords or Gangaram's.</p>
<p>Why do I emphasise second-hand books and libraries? They are artefacts of something variously known as the "first sale doctrine" or the "doctrine of exhaustion" in copyright law: After the first sale of a book, subsequent sales, rentals, etc., cannot be controlled by the copyright owner. Parallel importation is simply a matter of applying this doctrine to the first sale of the book internationally rather than its first sale in India. </p>
<p>Thus we see that the existence of second-hand books, libraries, and parallel imports, are all dependent on the same rule of copyright law: the first sale doctrine. This doctrine is enshrined in s.14(b)(iv) of the Indian Copyright Act, and has been interpreted by the Delhi High Court to mean first sale in India. The present amendment changes that to mean first sale internationally.</p>
<p>The introduction of the modern "public library" in the mid-19th century
led to a surge in literacy, readership, and book sales, and not a
decline. Similarly, there is no reason to suppose that allowing parallel importations will lead to a decline in book sales.</p>
<h3>Helping libraries and the print-disabled<br /></h3>
<p>Even currently, many people buy books directly from abroad and have them shipped to India. This is especially necessary for libraries whose patrons—scholars and students—very often need access to the latest books. Currently, libraries often buy books from abroad from Amazon, Flipkart, Alibris, etc. Such acts, within a strict reading of the law, are not legal, since they fall afoul of s.51(b)(iv), since the import is not for the "private and domestic use" of the libraries. This is also of especial concern for organizations working with print-disabled individuals, since the number of books legally available domestically in formats accessible by the print-disabled is very small, and often need to be imported.</p>
<h3>Helping all consumers<br /></h3>
<p>An excellent report was prepared in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.consumersinternational.org/news-and-media/publications/copyright-and-access-to-knowledge">2006 by Consumers International</a>, in which they studied the costs of textbooks in eleven countries, including India, by average purchasing power of each country's citizens, instead of absolute cost. Based on that study, and a detailed investigation of international treaties on copyright and the flexibilities allowed in them, Consumers International recommended that India should amend our law to make it clear that parallel importation of copyrighted works is legal (on page 51 of the report).</p>
<h2>Rebutting objections</h2>
<p>I will address a few specific objections raised by Mr. Abraham, Nandita Saikia, and others.</p>
<h3>1. Authors' won't lose out on royalties<br /></h3>
<p>Authors do not lose out on royalties because of parallel importation, just as they do not lose out on royalties because of libraries, nor because of second-hand book stores.
For parallel importation to take place, the books have to be purchased
legally, and that first sale itself ensures that authors are paid royalties. </p>
<p>Of
course, publishing contracts often have a clause that remaindered books will
not garner royalties. But in that case, the problem is not parallel importation,
but the overstocking and subsequent <a class="external-link" href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Remaindered_book">remaindering of books</a>. The authors wouldn't be paid (or would be paid very little) for remaindered books even if the books weren't imported into India. Parallel importation
does not in any way change that.</p>
<p><strong>Indian authors</strong></p>
<p>There is a worry that an Indian author would be hit if remaindered copies of his/her books started entering the Indian market. That would mean that foreign publishers had overstocked that Indian author's book, i.e., that the expectation from the book was much higher than the actual demand. If this happens infrequently, then the author hasn't much to worry about (since remainders aren't a big problem). If it happens frequently, then firstly the publisher should re-adjust to the market and realize that demand is low. Secondly, the author needs to worry more about quality of the book (and whether it caters to foreign audiences) than the possible effects that the availability of cheaper copies of that book would have.</p>
<h3>2. Remaindered books are in publishers' control<br /></h3>
<p>India has amongst the cheapest book prices in the world. Then why would book publishers be wary of even cheaper books overrunning the Indian market? The reason, Mr. Abraham tells us, is <a class="external-link" href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Remaindered_book">remaindered books</a>. He believes that remaindered books have the potential to destroy the Indian book
market. Remaindering of books has been happening for decades. If remaindered books haven't already
destroyed all book markets worldwide, then it is unlikely that they will
do so suddenly just because parallel importation of books is permitted
in India.</p>
<p>Remainders happen because of a miscalculation by the publisher: expecting more demand than was actually present. What happens with that excess stock is controlled by the publishers. They can choose to pulp them, burn them, or even push them into other channels of commerce that Mr. Abraham points out exist in the mature, frontline markets where remaindering happens:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And the reason why they have not destroyed book markets worldwide is because the mature markets exist with multiple strands (chains and high street stores, independents, direct sellers, online sellers, and supermarkets)—so a direct seller will sell the same book a high street store is selling at a much reduced price without it affecting the business of each strand. Each strand is discrete and price sensitivity does not matter the same way. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since those multiple strands of commerce exist, each of which would enable the seller to get a better profit (being in a developed country) than in India, there is no reason to fear overrunning of the market with remainders.</p>
<h3>3. Dumping of books should be tackled separately<br /></h3>
<p>An extension of the remaindered books concern is that of India becoming a land where all books will be dumped. This hasn't happened in case of countries like New Zealand,
Mexico, Chile, Egypt, Cameroon, Pakistan, Argentina, Israel, Vietnam, South Korea,
Japan, and a host of other countries, all of which allow for parallel importation of books. In a 1998 judgment, the United States Supreme Court, <a class="external-link" href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Quality_King_v._L%27anza">some parallel imports of copyrighted goods were legal</a>.
That ruling did not cause the downfall of the US book market, despite
cheaper books being available outside the US. Australia has allowed for
parallel importation of books in one form or another since 1991 (when
the law was changed to allow for all parallel of all books that weren't
introduced in the Australian market within 30 days of it being released
elsewhere in the world). New Zealand did a study after removing the ban
on parallel importation, and declared that cheaper books were available
on a more timely basis than previously. None of these countries have
been overrun by grey market books.</p>
<p><strong>Customs laws are better suited</strong></p>
<p>Even assuming that this fear is well-founded, copyright law is not the best way to deal with the problem. Dumping of books should be regulated by customs laws (anti-dumping and countervailing duties). Using copyright law to regulate apprehended book dumping practices (which might not even happen) is like using a trawler hoping to catch only shrimp: it is naive to think that there won't be unintended <a class="external-link" href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bycatch">bycatch</a>, and the consequences can be disastrous for the knowledge environment in case of books.</p>
<p>Customs laws are more flexible because they are imposed by the executive, and unlike copyright law, can be more easily changed as per requirements. So even if copyright law allows for parallel importation of copyrighted works, a special case can be made out by publishers in case of trade publishing, for instance, and that can be targetted specifically by imposing duties. However, the inverse cannot happen, since we are not aware of any mechanism whereby libraries, consumers and others can get to 'override' the provision in the Copyright Act.</p>
<p>Additionally, these duties can be made to operate only if the book is already being sold in India; these duties can be made to operate only on new books. A ban on parallel importation, on the other hand will apply equally to books that are out of print, to books that the original copyright owner has not even granted an exclusive Indian distributorship and are not even being sold in India. It goes right to the heart of freedom of speech, which the Supreme Court has held includes the right to receive information.</p>
<h3>4. Non-printing of low-priced editions for India because of "unsecure"
market won't happen<br /></h3>
<p>Parallel importation, which is what the amendment to s.2(m) allows for,
affects only importation. It does not in any way affect publication in
India or exports. Exporting low-priced Indian editions to countries which allow for parallel importation of books, is currently of doubtful legality. [Update: Earlier an incorrect claim was made in this post that such export was legal. The legal status is not that clear. While there is a Delhi High Court case that makes exports of low-priced editions illegal in the context of sale to the United States, it specifically states that the decision <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indian-law-and-parallel-exports" class="external-link">does not depend on whether India allows for parallel importation or not</a>.] The
amendment does not change that position, for reasons explained at greater length <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indian-law-and-parallel-exports" class="external-link">in a separate post</a>. The incentives to print
low-priced editions hence does not decrease. If anything it will increase
because currently books that are not available as low-priced editions
cannot be imported without exclusive licensing, and with a change in this position, the incentive to compete in the form of low-priced editions will increase.</p>
<p>Indeed, even before that 2009 Delhi High Court judgment prohibiting exports to the United States, many low-priced editions were being printed in India. And even before the 2005 Bombay High Court judgment prohibiting parallel imports, many low-priced editions were being printed in India. This won't change, regardless of the law, because India is an increasingly profitable and expanding market, and low-priced editions are a necessity in this market due to lower average income.</p>
<h3>5. Rhetoric flourish and the law: Open and closed markets<br /></h3>
<p>Mr. Abraham asks how many authors one can name from open markets like Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, as a sign of the 'history of creativity' in each of these countries and territories. It might be just as well to ask how many authors he can name from closed markets like Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Jordan, and Ukraine. One's ability to name authors from a country has less to do with the open/closed nature of its market and more to do with one's general knowledge.</p>
<p>Additionally, the 'mature' markets which he wishes India to emulate—United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia—are more ambiguous on parallel importation than he would have us believe. In the United States, the legality of a segment of parallel importation of copyrighted goods reached the United States Supreme Court in <em><a class="external-link" href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Quality_King_v._L%27anza">Quality King v. L'anza</a></em> in 1998, in which the court held in favour of the importer. </p>
<p>The question reached the US Supreme Court again last year in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/costco-v-omega/"><em>Costco v. Omega</em></a>, but the court split on it 4-4, and <a class="external-link" href="http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/2010/12/16/costco-omega-libraries-and-copyright/">did not deliver a binding precedent on parallel importation</a>. Thus, for all intents and purposes, under copyright law, the United States is an open market. </p>
<p>In the United Kingdom, as per European Union law, <a class="external-link" href="http://a2knetwork.org/reports2010/uk">parallel importation is permitted from anywhere within the EU</a>. And in Australia, parallel importation of parallel goods is largely allowed, with <a class="external-link" href="http://a2knetwork.org/reports2010/australia">some conditions to encourage faster publishing in Australia of foreign books.</a></p>
<p>Most importantly, none of the markets held up as role models are developing countries. India is. This makes all the difference, as the Consumers International report underscores.</p>
<h2>Standing Committee consultations</h2>
<h3>Lack of wide consultation<br /></h3>
<p>On one point we are in complete agreement with Mr. Abraham, which is his point regarding lack of adequate consultation. While there was a good amount of consultation during the drafting stage, when a wide-ranging public consultation was held in 2006, this was not repeated in 2010 by the Standing Committee. Further, the Standing Committee only gave fifteen days for responses to its call for comments.</p>
<h3>Publishers were represented<br /></h3>
<p>While Mr. Abraham states that only the Authors Guild was represented before the Standing Committee, by going through the report prepared by it, we see that the Federation of Indian Publishers and the Association of Publishers in India were also called to testify before the Standing Committee. </p>
<h3>Libraries, students, consumers were not represented</h3>
<p>However, while the authors supported it, and the publishers opposed it, no one got to hear the voice of the readers, the students, the libraries, the book buyers. For instance, not a single consumer rights organization or library association was called before the Standing Committee. Internationally, organizations like Consumers International, the International Federation of Library Associations, and EIFL (an international library organization) are invited to meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization and their views are taken with seriousness as they are a very important part of the copyright environment.</p>
<h3>Department's and Standing Committee's reasoning</h3>
<p>We reproduce below four paragraphs from the Standing Committee's report, which elucidate many of the reasons for going in for this particular amendment.</p>
<blockquote>7.10<br />All the reservations/objections raised by the various stakeholders [including the Federation of Indian Publishers and the Association of Publishers in India, whose objections are quoted in an earlier paragraph of the report -ed.] were taken up by the Committee with the Department with the intent of having full understanding of the background necessitating the proposed amendment and its exact impact on the various stakeholders. As clarified by the Department, the main purpose of this amendment was to allow for imports of copyright materials (e.g. books) from other countries. It was in accordance with Article 6 of the TRIPS Agreement relating to exhaustion of rights whereunder developing countries could facilitate access to copyright works at affordable cost. Exhaustion of rights (popularly called as parallel import) was a legal mechanism used to regulate prices of IPR protected materials. This was viable only if the price of the same works in the Indian market was very high when compared to the price in other countries from where it was imported to India. <br /><br />7.11<br />Committee's attention was drawn to the fact that majority of educational books used in India were imported from other countries particularly from US and EU. There was an increasing tendency by publishers to give territorial licence to publish the books at very high rates. The low price editions were invariably the old editions than the latest ones. This provision would compel the Indian publishers to price the works reasonably so that it would not be viable for a distributor to import same works to India from other countries. This would also save India foreign exchange on the payment of royalties (licence fee) by the Indian publishers to foreigners. <br /><br />7.12<br />Committee was also given to understand by the representatives of the publishing industry that Scheme of the Copyright Law was entirely different from the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Patent Act, 1970. The application of the standards and principles of these two laws through the proposed amendment of section 2(m) would completely dismantle the business model currently employed, rendering several industries unviable. On a specific query in this regard the Department informed that the concept of international exhaustion provided in section 107 A of the Patent Act, 1971 and in section 30 (3) of the Trademarks Act, 1999 and in section 2 (m) of the copyright law were similar. This provision was in tune with the national policy on exhaustion of rights.<br /><br />7.13 <br />After analysing the viewpoints of all the stakeholders along with the clarifications given thereupon by the Department, the Committee is of the view that proposed inclusion of the proviso in the definition of the term 'infringing copy' seems to be a step in the right direction, specially in the prevailing situation at the ground level. <strong>The present practice of publishers publishing books under a territorial license, resulting in sale of books at very high rates cannot be considered a healthy practice.</strong> [Emphasis added.] The Committee also notes that availability of low priced books under the present regime is invariably confined to old editions. It has been clearly specified that only those works published outside India with the permission of the author and imported into India will not be considered an infringed copy. Nobody can deny the fact that the interests of students will be best protected if they have access to latest editions of the books. <strong>Thus, apprehensions about the flooding of the primary market with low priced editions, may be mis-founded as such a situation would be tackled by that country's law.</strong> [emphasis added.] The Committee would, however, like to put a note of caution to Government to ensure that the purpose for which the amendment is proposed, i.e., to protect the interest of the students is not lost sight of.<br /></blockquote>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>It is clear that allowing for parallel imports is not likely to hurt publishers, but will result in an expansion of the reading market. It is mainly foreign publishers' monopoly rights over distribution which will be harmed by this amendment, while Indian
publishers, Indian authors, and Indian readers, especially students, will stand to gain. Furthermore, in the long run, even foreign publishers will stand to gain due to market expansion. Any legitimate worries that publishers may have are better dealt with under other laws (such as the Customs Act) and not the Copyright Act.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-of-books'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/parallel-importation-of-books</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshIntellectual Property RightsCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2019-02-01T17:41:26ZBlog EntryNew Release of IPR Chapter of India-EU Free Trade Agreement
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/july-2010-ipr-india-eu-fta
<b>A draft of the IPR chapter of the EU-India FTA, made publicly available now for the first time, provides insight into India's response in July 2010 to several EU proposals on intellectual property protection and enforcement.</b>
<p>A draft of the IPR chapter of the EU-India FTA, made <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/upload/india-eu-fta-ipr-july-2010/at_download/file" class="external-link">publicly available for the first time</a> (PDF, 296Kb), provides insight into India's response in July 2010 to several EU proposals on intellectual property protection and enforcement.
The consolidated draft which was prepared to serve as the basis of talks that took place from July 12-14, 2010, in New Delhi, reveals parties' negotiating stances in response to preliminary positions put forth earlier (see <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bilaterals.org/spip.php?article17290">IPR Chapter May draft</a>).</p>
<p>In particular, this draft reflects India's rejection of many EU proposals that would require India to:</p>
<ul><li>exceed its obligations under the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), e.g by providing data exclusivity for pharmaceutical products; <br /></li><li>impose radical enforcement provisions, such as liability of intermediary service providers, border measures for goods in transit, and raised norms for damages and injunctions; or <br /></li><li>require legislative change, e.g., on data protection, and to accommodate the full EU demands on geographical indicators. <br /></li></ul>
<p>
A chart compiled by CIS comparing proposed language by India and the EU in several provisions with TRIPS can be found <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/india-eu-fta-chart.pdf" class="internal-link" title="New Release of IPR Chapter">here</a> (PDF, 402 Kb).</p>
<p>Sources close to the negotiations have also confirmed that during the July talks India reiterated its refusal to go beyond TRIPS, and its refusal to discuss issues that require changes to Indian law. India appears to have also reiterated that it could not finalise FTA copyright provisions before passage of the Copyright Amendment Bill in the Indian Parliament.</p>
<p>
It is hard to assess the current state of the negotiations on IP or to measure the outcomes of subsequently held talks without access to recent drafts, a public record of deliberations, or the schedule of full and intersessional rounds taking place. However, from press and other statements attributed to the European Commission and Indian officials after the December 2010 EU-India Summit in Brussels, it appears that:</p>
<ul><li>
both parties plan to conclude the FTA, the biggest ever for the EU, by Spring 2011; <br /></li><li>the EU has not relaxed its pursuit of at least some "TRIPS plus" provisions such as data protection for pharmaceuticals <br /></li><li>a mutually agreed solution to India's WTO case against the EU over the seizure of generic medicines may be round the corner. Its impact on the FTA is open to speculation. <br /></li></ul>
<p>Because the India-EU FTA is likely to set a new precedent for future trade agreements between developed and developing countries, and with enormous stakes for patients across the globe, India and the EU need to get it right and ensure no provision runs counter to the interests of millions of citizens.</p>
<p>For further information about the text, contact Malini Aisola <malini.aisola@gmail.com> or Pranesh Prakash <pranesh@cis-india.org></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/july-2010-ipr-india-eu-fta'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/july-2010-ipr-india-eu-fta</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshAccess to MedicineIntellectual Property RightsIntermediary LiabilityAccess to Knowledge2011-09-22T12:34:05ZBlog EntryDecember 2010 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! It gives us immense pleasure to present regular updates on the progress of our research on the mainstream Internet media. In this issue of we bring our latest project updates, news and media coverage:</b>
<h2><b>Researchers@Work</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs arising from these projects are now online for public review:</p>
<p><b>Pornography & the Law</b><br />This monograph attempts to unravel the relations between pornography, technology and the law in the shifting context of the contemporary. Deadline for review expires on 15 Jan 2011.<a href="http://bit.ly/f1sQsi"><br />http://bit.ly/f1sQsi</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Re:wiring Bodies<br /></b>Dr. Asha Achutan historicises the attitudes, imaginations and policies that have shaped the Science-Technology debates in India, to particularly address the ways in which emergence of Internet Technologies have shaped notions of gender and body in India. Deadline for review expires on 15 Jan 2011.<a href="http://bit.ly/gYCP1C"><br />http://bit.ly/gYCP1C</a></p>
<p><b>The Leap of Rhodes or, How India Dealt with the Last Mile Problem — An Inquiry into Technology and Governance</b><br />The project has fed into many different activities in teaching, in examining processes of governance and in looking at user behaviour. The deadline for peer review expires on 15 Jan 2011.<a href="http://bit.ly/iiYJp1"><br />http://bit.ly/iiYJp1</a></p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<p><b>Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h3lWzS">From the Stock Market to Neighbourhood Mohalla</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hU6GTL">Transforming Urbanscapes: ATM in cities</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Queer Histories of the Internet</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hqrjqc">A Detour: The Internet and Forms of Narration: A Short Note</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>Digital Natives</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS has interest in developing Digital Identities as a core research area and looks at practices, policies and scholarships in the field to explore relationships between Internet, technology and identity.</p>
<h3>Columns on Digital Natives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following articles were published in the Indian Express recently:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/ig08Dr">Make a Wish</a> [published on 19 December 2010]</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hRHUYu">Play Station</a> [published on 5 December 2010]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Workshop</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from the 8 to 10 February. Open Call and FAQs for the workshop are online:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/emKslL">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – An Open Call</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eCu2it">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – Some FAQs</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Publication</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Position papers from the Thinkathon conference held at Hague from 6 to 8 December have been published:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eVYR2h">Digital Natives with a Cause? Thinkathon: Position Papers</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.</p>
<h3><b>National Award</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nirmita Narasimhan got a National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India on 3 December 2010. The award was presented by Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of India under the Role Model category. The event was telecast live on Doordarshan.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fKG9MH">Nirmita Narasimhan wins National Award</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Conference Report</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An international conference on Enabling Access to Education through ICT was held in New Delhi from 27 to 29 October 2010. The full report of the conference is published online:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eDHXyq">Enabling Access to Education through ICT - Conference Report</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://goo.gl/ddMBN">Accessibility at CIS – Looking back at 2010</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/igUi8H">G3ict-GW Global Policy Forum: "ICT Accessibility: A New Frontier for Disability Rights"</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Copyright, patents and trademarks are the most important components on the Internet. CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Our latest endeavour has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/glBYTS">Problems Remain with Standing Committee's Report on Copyright Amendments</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/hq9OZO">CIS Submission on Draft Patent Manual 2010</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Openness</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS believes that innovation and creativity should be fostered through openness and collaboration and is committed towards promotion of open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software, its latest involvement have yielded these results:</p>
<h3>Reports</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eKUKIY">Call for Comments for Report on the Online Video Environment in India</a></li>
<li><a href="http://goo.gl/wr8Td">Call for Comments for Report on Open Government Data in India</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Event</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hQAUkg">Wikipedia Meetup in Bangalore, This time in TERI</a></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Privacy</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing a couple of projects, one Privacy in Asia which is supported by Privacy International, UK and the other on Privacy and Identity which is funded by Ford Foundation and managed by the Centre for Study of Culture and Society. The project is a research inquiry into the history of privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like <i>Aadhar</i>.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hYUmVK">The Privacy Rights of Whistleblowers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hcP9lI">UID & Privacy - A Call for Papers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/esjtL7">Should Ratan Tata be Afforded the Right to Privacy?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h0Vdz3">DSCI Information Security Summit 2010 – A Report</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this.</p>
<h3>Articles by Shyam Ponappa</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fNADQo">Take 'Model T' for Telecom</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>News & Media Coverage</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/h8TJwF">An online community platform for people with different needs</a> (Sify News, 12 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fF3Y6V">Self-regulation in media and society meet to gain legal perspectives</a> (Indiantelevision.com, 13 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/e3gZGz">This Is All India Radia</a> (Outlook, 6 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gYrF7h">'Pakistan' hackers target India's top police agency</a> (Google News, 4 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gBMFzY">Intellectual Property Rights as seen in a graphic novel</a> (TimeOut Bengaluru, 1 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fa4qcy">The Niira Radia Tapes: Scrutinizing the Snoopers</a> (The Wall Street Journal, 29 November 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gWEkKw">Mobile banking set to get a boost from IMPS</a> (The Hindu, 28 November 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gjyNbF">UID elicits mixed response</a> (Deccan Herald, 23 November 2010)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/hcrAd2">Time to bury e-mail?</a> (DNA, 21 November 2010)</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Follow CIS on <a href="http://identi.ca/main/remote?nickname=cis">identi.ca</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28535315687">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://www.cis-india.org">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Looking forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to write to us for any queries or details required. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please do write to us and we will unsubscribe your mail ID from the mailing list.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2010-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-07T11:28:02ZPageProblems Remain with Standing Committee's Report on Copyright Amendments
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sc-report-on-amendments
<b>The Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (under which ministry copyright falls) recently tabled their report on the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 before Parliament. There is much to be applauded in the report, including the progressive stand that the Committee has taken on the issue of providing access by persons with disabilities. This post, however, will concern itself with highlighting some of the problems with that report, along with some very important considerations that got missed out of the entire amendment debate.</b>
<h2 id="internal-source-marker_0.7517305351026772">Fair Dealings and Intermediary Liability</h2>
<p>The
amendments make a number of changes to s.52(1) of the Act, including to
the fair dealing provisions under s.52(1)(a), and introduction of two
new sub-sections (s.52(1)(b) and (c)) with s.52(1)(c) introducing a
modicum of protection for intermediaries involved in "transient and
incidental storage for the purpose of providing electronic links, access
or integration" (but only if the copyright holder has not expressed any
objections, and if the intermediary believes it to be non-infringing).
The provision allows the intermediary to ask the person complaining
against it to provide a court order within 14 days, since the
intermediary is in no position to determine the judicial question of
whether the copyright holder holds copyright and if the third party has
violated that copyright. However this provision was opposed tooth and
nail by the copyright holders' associations that dominated the
representations, while intermediaries and consumers remained woefully
under-represented before the Standing Committee.</p>
<p>Predictably,
the Standing Committee dealt a blow against intermediaries and
consumers by asking the government to review the "viability of the
duration of 14 days... by way of balancing the views of the stakeholders
as well as the legal requirement in the matter". They recommended a
relatively minor change of changing the phrase "transient and
incidental" to "transient or incidental". By doing this, they failed to
address the concerns raised by Yahoo India, Google India, and also
failed to acknowledge the submissions made by 22 civil society
organizations (available here:
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/upload/copyright-bill-submission).</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Technological Protection Measures and Rights Management Information Provision</h2>
<p>The
amendments aim to bring about two new criminal provisions, and seek to
make circumvention of technological protection measures (digital locks)
and alteration of rights management information (which are embedded into
digital files and signals) illegal.</p>
<p>The Standing Committee heard a number of organizations on technological protection measures, which <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tpm-copyright-amendment">we had argued</a>
are harmful as they a) cannot distinguish between fair dealing and
infringement, and b) are harmful even if a legal right to circumvent for
fair dealings is provided because the technological means to circumvent
doesn't necessarily exist. (Imagine a law that says that breaking a
lock using lock-breaking implements isn't a crime if it is done to enter
into your own house. Such a law doesn't help you if you can't get your
hands on the lock-breaking implements in the first place.) The Indian
Broadcasting Federation, the Business Software Alliance, and the Motion
Picture Association (which represents six studios, all American), the
Indian Music Industry, and the Indian Performing Right Society Limited
all felt that this provision did not go far enough. The Motion Picture
Association, for instance, wants not just controls over that which
copyright covers</p>
<p>Yahoo
India and Google India on the other hand thought that provision went
too far. Google made it clear that they thought having criminal
repercussions for circumvention was clearly disproportionate. Thus, a
clearer split is established between old media companies; the old media
companies clutching on to straws that they feel will save them from
adapting their business practices to the digital environment, and online
companies that understand the digital environment better having a
markedly different idea.</p>
<p>Currently
section 65B (read with the definition of "Rights Management
Information" in section 2(xa)) of the proposed amendments ensures that
Rights Management Information cannot be used to spy on users. The Indian
Reprographic Rights Organization however believes that this is wrong:
it believes that copyright owners should have the ability to track users
without their consent. Yahoo India, on the other hand, believes that
this is a harmful provision, and state that "the imposition of criminal
and monetary liability could adversely affect consumers", and cites the
instance of difficulties that would be faced by "entities engaged in
creating copies of any copyright material into a format specially
designed for persons suffering from disability" because of the language
of the provision that requires knowledge instead of intention. The
committee responds to this by summing up with a tautology, stating:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The
Committee is of the view that the parties responsible for distribution
or broadcasting or communication to the public through authorized
licence from the author or rights holder and who do not remove any
rights management information deliberately for making unauthorized
copies need not worry about this provision as long as their act is as
per the framework of this provision.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><br /></h2>
<h2>Implications of Standing Committee's Report Unclear</h2>
<p>Many of the comments made by the Standing Committee are unclear. On compulsory licensing, the committee states:</p>
<blockquote>The
Committee also takes note of the proposed amendments in section 31 A
relating to compulsory licence in unpublished Indian works. The
provision of compulsory licence for orphaned works available under this
section is proposed to be extended to published works as well. Like in
the case of section 31, extension of applicability to all foreign works
(including film, DVDs, etc.) could be violative of Berne Convention and
TRIPS Agreement and seem to fall short of the minimum obligations
imposed by such instruments. The Committee is of the view that future
implication of proposed amendment in Section 31A vis-à-vis India's
commitment to international agreement needs to be free from any
ambiguity so as to prevent any negative fallout.<br /></blockquote>
<p>However,
the usage of the phrase "could be violative" leaves it unclear whether
the Standing Committee believes the proposed amendments to be violative
of the TRIPS Agreement or not. All that the Standing Committee says is
that the provision needs to be unambiguous, and that TRIPS compliance
must be ensured. That word of caution does not directly rebut the
government's contention that the proposed amendment is TRIPS-compliant.</p>
<p>Similarly,
the Committee's views on increase of copyright term for cinematograph
films is unclear. While commenting on the clause that introduces the
term increase (as part of the proposal to include the principal director
as an author of the film along with the producer), the Committee
states:</p>
<blockquote>It,
therefore, recommends that the proposal to include principal director
as author of the film along with producer may be dropped altogether.<br /></blockquote>
<p>While
this presumably means that the proposal to increase term is also being
rejected, that is not made clear by the Committee's comments.</p>
<h2><br /></h2>
<h2>Increased Copyright Duration, Expansive Moral Rights and Other Negative Changes</h2>
<p>In
the submission of CIS and twenty-one other civil society organizations
to the Standing Committee, we highlighted all of the below concerns.
However, our submission was not tabled before the Standing Committee
for reasons unknown to us.</p>
<ul><li><strong>WCT
and WPPT compliance</strong>: India has not signed either of these two treaties,
which impose TRIPS-plus copyright protection, but without any
corresponding increase in fair dealing / fair use rights. Given that
the Standing Committee has recommended against some aspects of WCT
compliance (such as the move to change "hire" to "commercial rental")
and that without such changes India cannot be a signatory to the WCT, it
is unclear why other forms of WCT compliance (such as TPMs) should be
implemented.</li><li><strong>Increase
in duration of copyright</strong>: The duration of copyright of photographs and
video recordings is sought to be increased. The term of copyright for photographs is being increased from sixty years from creation to sixty years from death of the photographer. This will
significantly reduce the public domain, which India has been arguing for
internationally, especially through its push for the Development Agenda at the World Intellectual Property Organization.<br /></li><li><strong>Moral
rights</strong>: Changes have been made to author’s moral rights (and
performer’s moral rights have been introduced) but these have been made
without requisite safeguards.</li><li><strong>Version
recordings</strong>: The amendments make cover version much more difficult to
produce, and while the Standing Committee has addressed the concerns of
some in the music industry, it hasn't addressed the concerns of artists
and consumers.</li></ul>
<h2><br /></h2>
<h2>Criminal Provisions, Government Works, and Other Missed Opportunities</h2>
<p>The
following important changes should have been made by the government,
but haven't. While on some issues the Standing Committee has gone
beyond the proposed amendments, it hasn't touched upon any of the
following, which we believe are very important changes that are required
to be made.</p>
<ul><li><strong>Criminal
provisions</strong>: Our law still criminalises individual, non-commercial
copyright infringement. This has now been extended to the proposal for
circumvention of Technological Protection Measures and removal of Rights
Management Information also.</li><li><strong>Government
works:</strong> Taxpayers are still not free to use works that were paid for by
them. This goes against the direction that India has elected to march
towards with the Right to Information Act. A simple amendment of
s.52(1)(q) would suffice. The amended subsection would except "the
reproduction, communication to the public, or publication of any
government work" as being non-infringing uses.</li><li><strong>Copyright
terms</strong>: The duration of all copyrights are above the minimum required by
our international obligations, thus decreasing the public domain which
is crucial for all scientific and cultural progress.</li><li><strong>Educational exceptions</strong>: The exceptions for education still do not fully embrace distance and digital education.</li><li><strong>Communication
to the public</strong>: No clear definition is given of what constitute a
‘public’, and no distinction is drawn between commercial and
non-commercial ‘public’ communication.</li><li><strong>Internet
intermediaries</strong>: More protections are required to be granted to Internet
intermediaries to ensure that non-market based peer-production projects
such as Wikipedia, and other forms of social media and grassroots
innovation are not stifled.</li><li><strong>Fair
dealing and fair use</strong>: We would benefit greatly if, apart from the
specific exceptions provided for in the Act, more general guidelines
were also provided as to what do not constitute infringement. This would
not take away from the existing exceptions.</li></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sc-report-on-amendments'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sc-report-on-amendments</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshAccess to KnowledgeCopyrightIntellectual Property RightsIntermediary LiabilityTechnological Protection Measures2011-09-06T07:50:12ZBlog EntryNovember 2010 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! </b>
<h3><b>News Updates</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The internet’s new billion: New web users — in countries like Brazil and China — are changing the culture of the internet.<a href="http://bit.ly/hKUb5n" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/hKUb5n</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">‘Piracy is now a mainstream political phenomenon': “Piracy has become a mainstream political phenomenon,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society in the city. The piracy that he was referring to was not the piracy of the high seas but the piracy of intellectual property.<a href="http://bit.ly/gMC1Br" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/gMC1Br</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Open standards policy in India: A long, but successful journey: Last week, India became another major country to join the growing, global open standards movement. After three years of intense debate and discussion, India's Department of IT in India finalized its Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance, joining the ranks of emerging economies like Brazil, South Africa and others. This is a historic moment and India's Department of Information Technology (DIT) deserves congratulations for approving a policy that will ensure the long-term preservation of India's e-government data.<a href="http://bit.ly/dGo6Qo" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/dGo6Qo</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Information, the world's new capital - Digital Natives: Information is the new capital and currency of the world, Nishant Shah, of the India-based Digital Natives with a Cause, told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, 10 November 2010, as the three-day workshop on digital and internet technologies that brought together young delegates from nine African countries ended in Johannesburg, South Africa. "If the 20th century was the age of the industrial revolution, the 21st century is now actually the age of the knowledge information," Shah said.<a href="http://bit.ly/dpXIKY" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/dpXIKY</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">What it means to be a child today: They move seamlessly between reality and virtual reality. The digital landscape they inhabit comprises generations — not of family — but of technology such as Web 2.0, 3G, PS4 and iPhone5. Their world has moved beyond their neighbourhood, school and childhood friends to encompass a 500-channel television universe, the global gaming village, the endless internet. These are the children born in the last decade and half — possibly the first generation that has never known a world without hi-tech.<a href="http://bit.ly/cz3nBJ" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/cz3nBJ</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Report: Digitally Open: Innovation and Open Access Forum, 23 Oct 2010, Doha, Qatar: A summary of the event "Digitally Open: Innovation and Open Access Forum" held in Doha.<a href="http://bit.ly/catHoi" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/catHoi</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">DOC 2.0: A Resources Sharing Mela by NGO Documentation Centres: A Resource Sharing Mela and Meet of DCM (Document Centres Meet) at the Centre for Education & Documentation in Domlur, Bangalore.<a href="http://bit.ly/dnwQMf" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/dnwQMf</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Wi-Fi Direct promises range, bandwidth higher than Bluetooth: Sharing, printing and connecting for Wi-Fi devices is going to be more convenient than ever with soon-to-be-launched technology Wi-Fi Direct, which enables devices to connect to each other without a conventional Wi-Fi hub. This article by Ramkumar Iyer was published in the Hindu on 31 October 2010.<a href="http://bit.ly/aUul9f" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/aUul9f</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property: Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property charts the rise of the access to knowledge movement, a movement in which Open Society Foundations have played a key role. It maps the vast terrain of legal, cultural, and technical issues that activists and thinkers aligned to the movement negotiate every day.<a href="http://bit.ly/9nkQFM" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/9nkQFM</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Social Mashup!: Save the Date Join us to meet India’s most passionate, innovative, and curious start-up social entrepreneurs for two groundbreaking days of conversations, connections and inspiration. This event will be held on 2-3 December 2010 at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.<a href="http://bit.ly/bKKcar" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/bKKcar</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "> Digitally Open: Innovation and Open Access Forum: Promoting Openness in Today's Digital World<a href="http://bit.ly/961Ieg" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/961Ieg</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Crisis for identity or identity crisis?: The hurry with which the government is pushing its most ambitious project to assign a number (UID) to every citizen without any feasibility study or public debate has raised many questions. <a href="http://bit.ly/8Zt9mf" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/8Zt9mf</a></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Upcoming Event</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Identity, Identification and Media Representation in Video Game Play: An Audience Reception Study: Adrienne Shaw from the Annenberg School of communications, who is a visiting fellow at MICA is giving a public talk on research on representation in video games on 27 November 2010 at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.<a href="http://bit.ly/909xkU" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/909xkU</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Research</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">My Bubble, My Space, My Voice Workshop - Perspective and Future<br />The second workshop for the “Digital Natives with a Cause?” research project named “My Bubble, My Space, My Voice” took place at the Link Center of Wits University, in Johannesburg, South Africa from 6 November 2010 to 9 November 2010. Samuel Tettner, Digital Natives Co-cordinator shares his perspective on the workshop.<a href="http://bit.ly/bPX6Xd" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/bPX6Xd</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Archive and Access: Call for Review<br />The Archive and Access research project by Rochelle Pinto, Aparna Balachandran and Abhijit Bhattacharya is a part of the Researchers @ Work Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. The project that attempts to look at the ways in which the notion of the archive, the role of the archivist and the relationship between the state and private archives that has undergone a transition with the emergence of Internet technologies in India has been put up for public review. <a href="http://bit.ly/d4o809" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/d4o809</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Just Where We Like It<br />The micro space for status updates might become the new public space for discussion. Nishant Shah's column on Digital Natives was published in the Sunday Eye of the Indian Express on 21 November 2010.<a href="http://bit.ly/96cK8q" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/96cK8q</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Taking It to the Streets<br />The previous posts in the Beyond the Digital series have discussed the distinct ways in which young people today are thinking about their activism. The fourth post elaborates further on how this is translated into practice by sharing the experience of a Blank Noise street intervention: Y ARE U LOOKING AT ME?<a href="http://bit.ly/ciyiiR" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/ciyiiR</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Talking Back without "Talking Back"<br />The activism of digital natives is often considered different from previous generations because of the methods and tools they use. However, reflecting on my conversations with The Blank Noise Project and my experience in the ‘Digital Natives Talking Back’ workshop in Taipei, the difference goes beyond the method and can be spotted at the analytical level – how young people today are thinking about their activism.<a href="http://bit.ly/bHAvDE" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/bHAvDE</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Beyond the Digital' Directory<br />For the past few months, Maesy Angelina has been sharing the insights gained from her research with Blank Noise on the activism of digital natives. The ‘Beyond the Digital’ directory offers a list of the posts on the research based on the order of its publication.<a href="http://bit.ly/b3TK3C" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/b3TK3C</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">First Thing First<br />Studies often focus on how digital natives do their activism in identifying the characteristics of youth digital activism and dedicate little attention to what the activism is about. The second blog post in the Beyond the Digital series reverses this trend and explores how the Blank Noise Project articulates the issue it addresses: street sexual harassment. <a href="http://bit.ly/cM1HFf" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/cM1HFf</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Change has come to all of us<br />The general focus on a digital generational divide makes us believe that generations are separated by the digital axis, and that the gap is widening. There is a growing anxiety voiced by an older generation that the digital natives they encounter — in their homes, schools and universities and at workplaces — are a new breed with an entirely different set of vocabularies and lifestyles which are unintelligible and inaccessible. It is time we started pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a digital native.<a href="http://bit.ly/9J82YY" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/9J82YY</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities<br />The Centre for Internet and Society is proud to announce the launch of its first publication, the “e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities" in collaboration with the G3ict (Global Initiative for Inclusive Information Communication Technologies) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union), and sponsored by the Hans Foundation. The handbook is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union has written the preface, Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D has written the introduction and Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict has written the foreword.<a href="http://bit.ly/gfKNYO" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/gfKNYO</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<ul>
<li>Statement of CIS on the Work of the Committee in the 21st SCCR<br />The twenty-first session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights was held in Geneva from 8 to 12 November 2010. Nirmita Narasimhan attended the conference and represented the Centre for Internet and Society.<a href="http://bit.ly/fJVNPI" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/fJVNPI</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We’ve All Got Some Baggage<br />America’s newest trade agreement is not going to kill only iPods. The article appeared in the Tehelka Magazine Vol 7, Issue 45, Dated November 13, 2010 <a href="http://bit.ly/cVrpWd" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/cVrpWd</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Consumer Privacy - How to Enforce an Effective Protective Regime?<br />In a typical sense, when people think of themselves as consumers, they just think about what they purchase, how they purchase and how they use their purchase. But while doing this exercise we are always exchanging personally identifiable information, and thus our privacy is always at risk. In this blog post, Elonnai Hickok and Prashant Iyengar through a series of questions look through the whole concept of consumer privacy at the national and international levels. By placing a special emphasis on Indian context, this post details the potential avenues of consumer privacy in India and states the important elements that should be kept in mind when trying to find at an effective protective regime for consumer privacy.<a href="http://bit.ly/eEs5Qx" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/eEs5Qx</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS Responds to Privacy Approach Paper<br />A group of officers was created to develop a framework for a privacy legislation that would balance the need for privacy protection, security, sectoral interests, and respond to the domain legislation on the subject. Shri Rahul Matthan of Tri Legal Services prepared an approach paper for the legal framework for a proposed legislation on privacy. The approach paper is now being circulated for seeking opinions of the group of officers and is also being placed on the website of the Department of Personnel and Training for seeking public views on the subject. The Privacy India team at CIS responded to the approach paper and has called for the need for a more detailed study of statutory enforcement models and mechanisms in the creation of privacy legislation.<a href="http://bit.ly/eVTwVC" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/eVTwVC</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy and Banking: Do Indian Banking Standards Provide Enough Privacy Protection<br />Banking is one of the most risky sectors as far as privacy is concerned due to the highly sensitive and personal nature of information which is often exchanged, recorded and retained. Although India has RBI guidelines and legislations to protect data, this blog post looks at the extent of those protections, and what are the areas that still need to be addressed.<a href="http://bit.ly/flq09V" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/flq09V</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy and Telecommunications: Do We Have the Safeguards?<br />All of you often come across unsolicited and annoying telemarketing calls/ SMS's, prank calls, pestering calls for payment, etc. Do we have any safeguards against them? This blog post takes a look at the various rules and regulations under Indian law to guard our privacy and confidentiality.<a href="http://bit.ly/hnTwKp" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/hnTwKp</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Privacy, Free/Open Source, and the Cloud<br />A look into the questions that arise in concern to privacy and cloud computing, and how open source plays into the picture.<a href="http://bit.ly/awpCyF" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/awpCyF</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy Concerns in Whole Body Imaging: A Few Questions<br />Security versus Privacy...it is a question that the world is facing today when it comes to using the Whole Body Imaging technology to screen a traveller visually in airports and other places. By giving real life examples from different parts of the world Elonnai Hickok points out that even if the Government of India eventually decides to advocate the tight security measures with some restrictions then such measures need to balanced against concerns raised for personal freedom. She further argues that privacy is not just data protection but something which must be viewed holistically and contextually when assessing new policies.<a href="http://bit.ly/9rvQPt" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/9rvQPt</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">American Bar Association Online Privacy Conference: A Report<br />On 10 November 2010, I attended an American Bar Association online conference on 'Regulating Privacy Across Borders in the Digital Age: An Emerging Global Consensus or Vive la Difference'. The panelists addressed many important global privacy challenges and spoke about the changes the EU directive is looking to take. <a href="http://bit.ly/dy41zc" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/dy41zc</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">3G Life<br />You can video chat, stream music and watch TV on your phone. Offering high-speed internet access, 3G would change the world of mobile computing. Nishant Shah's article was published in the Indian Express on 14 November 2010.<a href="http://bit.ly/gyxaW2" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/gyxaW2</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Ideology and ICT Policies<br />For better policies, decision-makers need to know their own and others’ biases, and consider what others are doing, writes Shyam Ponappa in an article published in the Business Standard on 4 November 2010. <a href="http://bit.ly/dbl3Ai" target="_blank"><br />http://bit.ly/dbl3Ai</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Looking forward to your feedback. Please feel free to write to us for any queries or details required. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please do write to us and we will unsubscribe your mail ID from the mailing list.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2010-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAW2012-08-07T11:46:10ZPageStatement of CIS on the Work of the Committee in the 21st SCCR
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sccr-cis-statement
<b>The twenty-first session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights was held in Geneva from 8 to 12 November 2010. Nirmita Narasimhan attended the conference and represented the Centre for Internet and Society.</b>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society is pleased to note the collective intent on the part of member states to find a solution to the lack of accessible reading materials for persons with print disabilities around the world, as evidenced by the number of proposals which have been put forward since the past SCCR. It is clear that member states have been applying their minds to this problem and have presented us with several possible options, which they believe would adequately address this issue. We would however like to take this opportunity to remind them, that disability groups, from both developed and developing countries, who have been grappling with this issue for decades, have been unitedly stressing the urgent need for a legally binding international instrument as the only effective solution to achieve results at a global level.</p>
<p>I would like to very quickly put forward a few thoughts for the consideration of this committee:</p>
<ul>
<li>We believe, that there should be an international treaty harmonising exceptions and limitations for access to reading materials for persons with print disabilities, and that achieving this should be the first priority for work in this committee</li>
<li>Limitations and exceptions are important for promoting access to knowledge, encouraging creativity and furthering the overall development of humankind and hence, should be the subject matter of serious discussions at WIPO; WIPO should play an important role in the development of international copyright law to facilitate greater access to knowledge and information, especially in the context of digital technologies</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Limitations and exceptions on all issues which further the development Agenda of WIPO, including exceptions for the print disabled, education, libraries and other issues, must be discussed amongst member states without delay in the forthcoming meetings of this committee</li>
<li>We feel that there may be some merit in reserving separate sessions for discussing each issue, since this would facilitate more focused and comprehensive deliberations in an expeditious manner</li>
</ul>
<p>Hence, we would like to urge member states to begin work on all these issues, ordering them on the basis of their maturity, with a view to achieving concrete outcomes, which should be informed by the collective wisdom of stakeholders affected by these instruments as to what are the ground realities prevailing in their countries.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sccr-cis-statement'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sccr-cis-statement</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaIntellectual Property RightsAccess to Knowledge2014-05-29T06:57:29ZBlog EntryWe’ve All Got Some Baggage
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/some-baggage
<b>America’s newest trade agreement is not going to kill only iPods. The article appeared in the Tehelka Magazine Vol 7, Issue 45, Dated November 13, 2010
</b>
<p><b>EARLIER LAST</b> week, a group of renowned academics in the United States wrote a letter to President Obama criticising his administration for the secrecy with which a new trade agreement, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), was being negotiated. They argued that the agreement that has immense public interest implications, including freedom of speech and expression, privacy, access to medicines and access to technology, has been conducted only with the interests of large corporations in mind. The first official release of the draft text of this treaty took place only in April 2010, and since then there has not been a single public meeting to invite comments on the text. So what is the deal on ACTA, also known in some circles as the ‘iPod killer’ agreement, and why should we in India be concerned about it? To get a sense of the importance of ACTA, it would be useful to understand briefly the history of negotiations on multilateral agreements on intellectual property.</p>
<p>The establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the successful conclusion of the negotiations of the TRIPS agreement set a minimum standard for intellectual property laws across the world. In the absence of an international standard, countries have far more flexibility in creating national laws that may be more suited to the development or technological needs of their society, and this is especially for developing countries hoping to create indigenous technological capabilities.</p>
<p>The best example of this perhaps is the rise of the generic pharmaceutical industry in India. Till the Patent Amendment in 2005, India did not recognise the grant of a product patent for drugs, and only allowed a process patent. This enabled pharmaceutical companies in India to import expensive drugs, reverse engineer them and create cheaper alternatives. And it is through this that India became a country that not only produced affordable medicines, but also exported them to many other countries, particularly in Africa.</p>
<p>After India became a member of the WTO and a signatory to the TRIPS agreement, it was obliged to change its patent laws to recognise product patents on drugs. It is clear then that the establishment of a multilateral venue for the creation of common norms can often act against the interests of developing countries that have much less of a bargaining power. This was particularly true in the early days of the WTO.</p>
<p>However, as countries like India, China and Brazil grew in strength and others also started getting a better sense of how developing countries could play the multilateral game, the very mode that was supposed to guarantee the protection of the interests of the global north became the basis through which other countries started articulating their own concerns. In 2004 for instance, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) adopted a proposal for the establishment of a Development Agenda. This declaration proposed by Brazil and Argentina and supported by many countries of the southern hemisphere sought to bring development concerns into the agenda of the WIPO, thereby limiting the absolute rights of owners of intellectual property and argued for a more equitable global IP regime.</p>
<p>Two weeks after WIPO’s September 2007 adoption of the Development Agenda, the US, European and Japanese officials announced that they would seek to negotiate a new agreement in order to “set a new, higher benchmark for enforcement that countries can join on a voluntary basis”. Thus began the negotiations around the Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement.</p>
<p>ACTA is a new and separate international agreement dedicated to the enforcement of intellectual property. While some alleged that it was an effort to address existing limitations in the TRIPS agreement, it actually creates a wide range of policing powers. The two biggest concerns about ACTA include the creation of a new global IP enforcement regime by granting powers to customs officials to act as watchdogs for IP infringement. This essentially means that customs officials have the right to inspect any electronic device, including computers, hard drives and music devices, for copyright infringing materials. A scary proposition for anyone who travels. While apparently there are discussions over whether personal use items will be exempt, the fact that the agreement is being negotiated in such secrecy means that we don’t really know what the implications actually are. The second area of concern is the fact that ACTA dramatically intervenes in the creation of Internet policy — notably in regard to the liability of ISPS, search engines and other third parties to charges of ‘contributory’ infringement.</p>
<div class="pullquote">A pirated DVD is very different from a spurious drug, which is very different from a fake Gucci bag, and yet ACTA treats them all alike</div>
<p><b>THE PRIMARY</b> supporters of ACTA include the US, the European Union, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore and the UAE. Notably absent are many of the industrialised middleincome countries that have been the principal targets of the US and European enforcement concern in the past decade: Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and China.</p>
<p>ACTA introduces a confusing language that deliberately attempts to bring things together that are not related. A pirated DVD is very different from a spurious drug, which is very different from a fake Gucci bag, and yet ACTA brings them all under the ambit of counterfeit goods. The negotiations of ACTA highlight the fact that the US and some countries in Europe have realised that multilateral venues like the WTO and WIPO are no longer the happy hunting grounds of hegemonic aspirations, and that it makes more sense now to have an agreement that is initiated by powerful countries who then use a bilateral mode of coercion to have countries sign on and then make it a multilateral agreement.</p>
<p>The classic mode of coercion, followed for instance by the US, has been the annual United States Trade Representative (USTR) reports that rank countries on the basis of their IP enforcement. Based on their assessment, they place countries on different watch lists, and these are backed by trade sanctions against a country. India and China have consistently made it to the priority watch list for the past 10 years, and using a carrotand- stick approach, the USTR makes recommendations for changes in national laws. It seems the failure to create norms at multilateral forums necessitated the creation of forums like ACTA, which when combined with the USTR, are used to exert pressure that can convert countries resistant to a dominant IP system into accepting higher norms on a voluntary basis.</p>
<p>Read the original <a class="external-link" href="http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=Ne131110We_ve_All.asp">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/some-baggage'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/some-baggage</a>
</p>
No publisherlawrenceIntellectual Property RightsAccess to Knowledge2014-05-29T07:22:29ZBlog EntryOctober 2010 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! </b>
<h3><b>News Updates</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Internet, szabadon<br />A polgárjogi aktivisták konfrontálódtak és panaszkodtak, a Google és a Facebook hárított és panaszkodott az Internet at Liberty konferencián, amelyet kedden és szerdán rendezett a Google és a CEU Budapesten.<a href="http://bit.ly/dwNhRw"><br />http://bit.ly/dwNhRw</a></li>
<li>Hogyan szűrik a kormányok az internetes tartalmakat?<br />Az internet szabadságáról tartanak háromnapos konferenciát Budapesten a Google és a Közép-Európai Egyetem (CEU) szervezésében. Kedden az internetes tartalmak szűrése volt a legfontosabb téma a rendezvényen.<a href="http://bit.ly/aFApER"><br />http://bit.ly/aFApER</a></li>
<li>Konferencia az internetes szólásszabadságról Budapesten<br />Az internet és szólásszabadság viszonyát vitatják meg Budapesten, a Közép-Európai Egyetem és a Google szervezte, háromnapos konferencián<a href="http://bit.ly/9evwE4"><br />http://bit.ly/9evwE4</a></li>
<li>How the UID project can be a cause for concern<br />The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), headed by Nandan Nilekani, is the UPA government's most ambitious project, where one billion Indians are branded with a unique identity number.<a href="http://bit.ly/bl7INY"><br />http://bit.ly/bl7INY</a></li>
<li>In new Facebook features, a comeback for community<br />Nearly 750 tweets bombard the web every second. Internet traffic is growing by 40 per cent a year. People post 2.5 billion photos on Facebook every month. Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded on YouTube. But who owns all that data? Until now, big business was in complete control and used the data to monetise operations. But all that is set to change. With Facebook launching two new features, ‘Groups' and a ‘Download your information,' the community is making a comeback.<a href="http://bit.ly/arEi4V"><br />http://bit.ly/arEi4V</a></li>
<li>Stiff Resistance Dogs India's ID Plan <br />An article about the UID project by Indrajit Basu in Asia Times Online.<a href="http://bit.ly/bMcOSs"><br />http://bit.ly/bMcOSs</a></li>
<li>Data Activism and Grassroots Empowerment in India<br />Glover Wright of the Center for Internet and Society talks about Data Activism and Grassroots Empowerment in India at the Innovate/Activate Unconference in New York Law School on 24 September 2010.<a href="http://bit.ly/alnjsn"><br />http://bit.ly/alnjsn</a></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Upcoming Events</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Enabling Access to Education through ICT<br />ICT workshop in Delhi....Registrations open! <a href="http://bit.ly/9flyEK"><br />http://bit.ly/9flyEK</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Network Culture: Archaeological and Artistic Interventions Public Seminar – Talk by Kristoffer Gansing and Linda Hilfing<br />Kristoffer Gansing and Linda Hilfling will give a talk on Network Culture on 8 November 2010 in the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.<a href="http://bit.ly/cEmOZw"><br />http://bit.ly/cEmOZw</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Research</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">City in the Internet 1: Geography Imagined (Part 1) <br />“The estuaries that flirt with the land mass before they finally perish in the vast deep blue ocean beyond were perfect in their shape and grace. And you know what; from top it appears like a surreal landscape that is so restive and peaceful, almost heaven. The countryside is actually very beautiful”, says Pratyush Shankar in his latest blog post. A random conversation between two persons discovering the joys of seeing our existence through Google Earth!<a href="http://bit.ly/9klUn1"><br />http://bit.ly/9klUn1</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A Digital Native coordinating Digital Natives<br />Samuel Tettner, joined CIS as a Research Coordinator for the Digital Natives project. He has written a blog entry about his experiences in the project.<a href="http://bit.ly/cpJMQq"><br />http://bit.ly/cpJMQq</a></li>
<li>You Are Here<br />Geo-tagging applications are creating new and impromptu communities of true, says Nishant Shah in his column on Digital Natives in the Indian Express.<a href="http://bit.ly/a64kj7"><br />http://bit.ly/a64kj7</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">નિશાંત શાહ: ડિજિટલ પેઢીનો ઉદય<br />‘ડિજિટલ નાગરિક’ તેમને કહેવામાં આવે છે જેણે સામાન્ય જનજીવનમાં ડિજિટલ ટેક્નોલોજીના પ્રવેશ થઈ ગયા બાદ જન્મ લીધો છે. ડિજિટલ નાગરિકો દરેક જગ્યાએ છે. હવે સમય આવી ગયો છે કે આપણે એ જાણવાનો પ્રયાસ કરીએ કે આ લોકો કોણ છે, તેઓ શું કરી રહ્યા છે, તેઓ પોતાના અંગે શું વિચારે છે અને કેવી રીતે તેઓ કશું પણ જાણ્યા વગર આપણા ભવિષ્યને નવો આકાર આપવાનું કામ કરી રહ્યા છે. (A column by Nishant Shah in the Gujarati newspaper Divya Bhaskar)<a href="http://bit.ly/9HnyBa"><br />http://bit.ly/9HnyBa</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause?— Workshop in South Africa—FAQs<br />The second international Digital Natives Workshop "My Bubble, My Space, My Voice" will be held in Johannesburg from 7 to 9 November 2010. Some frequently asked questions regarding the upcoming workshop are answered in this blog entry.<a href="http://bit.ly/c1XJHO"><br />http://bit.ly/c1XJHO</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The silent rise of the Digital Native<br />In late August, this year, the world shook for many when they went online (on their computers, PDAs, iPads, laptops) and realised that the comfortable zone of talking, chatting, sharing and doing just about everything else, had suddenly, without a warning, changed overnight (or afternoon, or morning, depending upon the time-zone they lived in). With a single change in its privacy and location settings, Facebook, home to billions of internet hours consisting of relationships, friendships, professional networks, social gaming, entertainment trivia, memories and exchanges, allowed its users to geo-tag themselves when on-the-move.<a href="http://bit.ly/bHY72Y"><br />http://bit.ly/bHY72Y</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The geek shall inherit the earth<br />Demystifying the mysterious -agents changing the world around you...A column on Digital Natives by Nishant Shah in the Indian Express.<a href="http://bit.ly/aq2BqY"><br />http://bit.ly/aq2BqY</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives Workshop in South Africa - Call for Participation<br />The African Commons Project, Hivos and the Centre for Internet and Society have joined hands for organising the second international workshop "My Bubble, My Space, My Voice" in Johannesburg from 07 to 09 November 2010. Send in your applications now!<a href="http://bit.ly/d0rl7E"><br />http://bit.ly/d0rl7E</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Broad-basing Broadband<br />Education and training through the Internet need Commonwealth Games-like crisis management, says Shyam Ponappa in an article on broadband for education and training published in the Business Standard on 7 October 2010.<a href="http://bit.ly/dnMtpU"><br />http://bit.ly/dnMtpU</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2010-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-07T12:02:11ZBlog Entry