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World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/unesco-world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development
<b>The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) had published a book in 2014 that examines free speech, expression and media development. The chapter contains a Foreword by Irina Bokova, Director General, UNESCO. Pranesh Prakash contributed to Independence: Introduction - Global Media Chapter. The book was edited by Courtney C. Radsch.</b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Foreword</h2>
<p class="Marge" style="text-align: justify; ">Tectonic shifts in technology and economic models have vastly expanded the opportunities for press freedom and the safety of journalists, opening new avenues for freedom of expression for women and men across the world. Today, more and more people are able to produce, update and share information widely, within and across national borders. All of this is a blessing for creativity, exchange and dialogue.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the same time, new threats are arising. In a context of rapid change, these are combining with older forms of restriction to pose challenges to freedom of expression, in the shape of controls not aligned with international standards for protection of freedom of expression and rising threats against journalists.</p>
<p class="Marge" style="text-align: justify; ">These developments raise issues that go to the heart of UNESCO’s mandate “to promote the flow of ideas by word and image” between all peoples, across the world. For UNESCO, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that underpins all other civil liberties, that is vital for the rule of law and good governance, and that is a foundation for inclusive and open societies. Freedom of expression stands at the heart of media freedom and the practice of journalism as a form of expression aspiring to be in the public interest.</p>
<p class="Marge" style="text-align: justify; ">At the 36<sup>th</sup> session of the General Conference (November 2011), Member States mandated UNESCO to explore the impact of change on press freedom and the safety of journalists. For this purpose, the Report has adopted four angles of analysis, drawing on the 1991 <i>Windhoek Declaration</i>, to review emerging trends through the conditions of media freedom, pluralism and independence, as well as the safety of journalists. At each level, the Report has also examined trends through the lens of gender equality.</p>
<p class="Marge" style="text-align: justify; ">The result is the portrait of change -- across the world, at all levels, featuring as much opportunity as challenge. The business of media is undergoing a revolution with the rise of digital networks, online platforms, internet intermediaries and social media. New actors are emerging, including citizen journalists, who are redrawing the boundaries of the media. At the same time, the Report shows that the traditional news institutions continue to be agenda-setters for media and public communications in general – even as they are also engaging with the digital revolution. The Report highlights also the mix of old and new challenges to media freedom, including increasing cases of threats against the safety of journalists.</p>
<p class="Marge" style="text-align: justify; ">The pace of change raises questions about how to foster freedom of expression across print, broadcast and internet media and how to ensure the safety of journalists. The Report draws on a rich array of research and is not prescriptive -- but it sends a clear message on the importance of freedom of expression and press freedom on all platforms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To these ends, UNESCO is working across the board, across the world. This starts with global awareness raising and advocacy, including through <i>World Press Freedom Day</i>. It entails supporting countries in strengthening their legal and regulatory frameworks and in building capacity. It means standing up to call for justice every time a journalist is killed, to eliminate impunity. This is the importance of the <i>United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity</i>, spearheaded by UNESCO and endorsed by the UN Chief Executives Board in April 2012. UNESCO is working with countries to take this plan forward on the ground. We also seek to better understand the challenges that are arising – most recently, through a <i>Global Survey on Violence against Female Journalists</i>, with the International News Safety Institute, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and the Austrian Government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Respecting freedom of expression and media freedom is essential today, as we seek to build inclusive, knowledge societies and a more just and peaceful century ahead. I am confident that this Report will find a wide audience, in Member States, international and regional organizations, civil society and academia, as well as with the media and journalists, and I wish to thank Sweden for its support to this initiative. This is an important contribution to understanding a world in change, at a time when the international community is defining a new global sustainable development agenda, which must be underpinned and driven by human rights, with particular attention to freedom of expression.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Executive Summary</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Freedom of expression in general, and media development in particular, are core to UNESCO’s constitutional mandate to advance ‘the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication’ and promoting ‘the free flow of ideas by word and image.’ For UNESCO, press freedom is a corollary of the general right to freedom of expression. Since 1991, the year of the seminal Windhoek Declaration, which was endorsed by the UN General Assembly, UNESCO has understood press freedom as designating the conditions of media freedom, pluralism and independence, as well as the safety of journalists. It is within this framework that this report examines progress as regards press freedom, including in regard to gender equality, and makes sense of the evolution of media actors, news media institutions and journalistic roles over time.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This report has been prepared on the basis of a summary report on the global state of press freedom and the safety of journalists, presented to the General Conference of UNESCO Member States in November 2013, on the mandate of the decision by Member States taken at the 36th session of the General Conference of the Organization.<a href="#fn*" name="fr*">[*]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The overarching global trend with respect to media freedom, pluralism, independence and the safety of journalists over the past several years is that of disruption and change brought on by technology, and to a lesser extent, the global financial crisis. These trends have impacted traditional economic and organizational structures in the news media, legal and regulatory frameworks, journalism practices, and media consumption and production habits. Technological convergence has expanded the number of and access to media platforms as well as the potential for expression. It has enabled the emergence of citizen journalism and spaces for independent media, while at the same time fundamentally reconfiguring journalistic practices and the business of news.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The broad global patterns identified in this report are accompanied by extensive unevenness within the whole. The trends summarized above, therefore, go hand in hand with substantial variations between and within regions as well as countries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development" class="internal-link"><b>Download the PDF</b></a></p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr*" name="fn*">*</a>]. 37 C/INF.4 16 September 2013 “Information regarding the implementation of decisions of the governing bodies”. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002230/223097e.pdf; http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002230/223097f.pdf</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/unesco-world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/unesco-world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development</a>
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No publisherpraneshFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2016-02-17T17:03:42ZBlog EntryWorld Press Freedom Day 2017
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-press-freedom-day-2017
<b>Udbhav Tiwari represented the Centre for Internet & Society at the World Press Day event organised by UNESCO and the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) at UNESCO House, New Delhi on May 3, 2017.</b>
<p class="gmail-m_1334623882080896793moz-forward-container" style="text-align: justify; ">The event had the release of two reports, one on Violence against Journalists in South Asia and one of Internet Shutdowns in India, with a panel accompanying the last one. The panel was quite interesting, with perspectives from Osama Manzar and a Editor from The Hoot standing out in particular about how social media websites are being used for rapid response governance and how these bans negatively affect those attempts. The agenda for the event is attached to this email.</p>
<p class="gmail-m_1334623882080896793moz-forward-container" style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/human-rights-versus-national-security.pdf">Click to read</a> about the Internet Shutdown report from the event.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-press-freedom-day-2017'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-press-freedom-day-2017</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet FreedomInternet Governance2017-05-20T02:52:39ZNews ItemWorld Narrow Web
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/world-narrow-web
<b>Censorship and how govt reacts to it may push us to country-specific networks, writes Pranesh Prakash in an article published in the Indian Express on 4 February 2012. </b>
<p>Twitter, a popular micro-blogging service, recently announced that “[today] we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world”. In a move a few weeks ago, Blogger, Google’s blogging service, in effect announced something similar, by saying that default they would redirect Blogger users trying to get to Blogspot.com addresses (like <a class="external-link" href="http://example.blogspot.com">http://example.blogspot.com</a>) to their respective country sites (like <a class="external-link" href="http://example.blogspot.in">http://example.blogspot.in</a>). Twitter’s announcement was greeted with much disapproval by many Twitter users, as a move towards censorship, with some talking (on Twitter) about a boycott. Blogger’s move was hidden away, deep within a help page, and is being noticed now, and is causing quite a stir as caving in to censorship. Are these concerns justified? Before answering that question, let’s look at what the platforms’ announcements really say.</p>
<p>Twitter has given itself the ability to withhold specific tweets and users in particular countries where that content is legally required to be removed (generally with a court order). Their earlier option, they inform us, was to block the offending tweets and users in all countries. Apart from this, they will publish a notice for each tweet/ user that is blocked in a country. They will also be proactively publishing every removal request they receive at ChillingEffects.org, which allows us to hold them to account and question their decision to remove tweets.</p>
<p>Google, by redirecting you to the country-specific Blogger, is allowing for country-level removal of both blogs and individual blog posts. However, they also note that you can circumvent this by using a special “no redirect” address. Google currently forwards all search-related removals, but does not do so for Blogger-related requests, and all copyright-related complaints to ChillingEffects.org. Google does publish aggregate data relating to censorship of Blogger, on which free-speech advocates have been asking them to provide more granular information.</p>
<p>There are three problems. First, while Twitter was just as open to repressive governments’ requests last week, by making this change, they are advertising this fact to such governments. Thailand has noted it, and has congratulated Twitter.</p>
<p>Second, as Rob Beschizza, managing editor of the website Boing Boing, pointed out, there have been no instances of political content having been removed by Twitter. Even British courts’ super-injunctions (injunctions on speech, that prevent you from mentioning the fact that there is an injunction) were defeated by Twitter users, which only showed that attempts to censor material results in even more attention being drawn to it (which is popularly known as the “Streisand Effect”). So, does this now mean that Twitter will start applying local laws to judge “valid and applicable legal requests”, instead of American laws? What if the law is as bad as that which exists in India, where they are required to remove content within 36 hours based on any affected person’s complaint — without a court order? Will they still act on it? If they don’t, will the government or courts order Twitter.com to be blocked in India, finding it liable for illegal omissions?</p>
<p>Third, this trend points increasingly to the fact that we are witnessing a Balkanisation of the Web as more countries start asserting their sovereignty online. As Chinese dissident journalist Michael Anti pointed out recently, it seems we now need visas (read “circumvention techniques”) to visit the international Web. But even then, there is no longer a singular “international” Web, but an Indian Web and a Guatemalan Web, and an Angolan Web. And the government’s recent proposal of requiring companies to locate their servers in India is a move towards this (apart from being a move towards killing cloud computing).<br /><br />That having been said, the reality is that the CEOs of Google, Google India, and Microsoft have been summoned to appear in Indian courts for allowing their users to publish material which they don’t know about, which is in a sealed envelope (and most of the accused companies haven’t been shown yet), and which they weren’t even asked once to remove.<br /><br />The Intermediary Guidelines Rules passed by the Department of Information Technology in April 2011 do not require the user, whose content it is, to be told that there is a complaint, nor to be given a chance to defend themselves. It does not even require public notice that the content has been removed.</p>
<p>The truth is, the transparency around censorship that Google and Twitter are providing is far better than what most other companies are providing. For instance, Big Rock, an Indian DNS provider, suspended the CartoonsAgainstCorruption.com web address on the basis of a seemingly not legal request by the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch, and did so without any public notice and without even informing the cartoonist whose web address it was. At least Google and Twitter are pushing back against non-legal requests, and refusing to remove content that doesn’t violate local laws. Single-mindedly criticising them will only put off other companies from following in their footsteps.<br /><br />Instead of criticising those who are actually working towards transparency in censorship, we should encourage them and others, push intermediaries not to cave in to unreasonable censorship requests, prevent them from over-censoring on their own, and push hard for the government to incorporate their best practices as part of the Intermediary Guidelines Rules.</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/world-narrow-web/907579/1">The original article was published in the Indian Express</a></p>
<p> </p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/world-narrow-web'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/world-narrow-web</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshGoogleFreedom of Speech and ExpressionTwitterInternet GovernanceFeaturedCensorship2012-03-27T16:00:24ZBlog EntryWorld Library and Information Congress 2018
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-library-and-information-congress-2018
<b>Swaraj Paul Barooah was a speaker at two panels during the World Library and Information Congress 2018 (WLIC2018), organised by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in Kuala Lumpur on August 26 and 27, 2018.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Swaraj's first panel, titled "Intellectual Freedom in a Polarised World" was selected as one of 9 sessions to be live-streamed and recorded, out of 249 sessions in total. The recording can be accessed on <a class="external-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HujFHQn1zY">YouTube</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Session 123 Intellectual Freedom in a Polarised World - Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Committee (SI)</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chair: Martyn Wade, United Kingdom</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In many national contexts, citizens are seen to be either “with the government or against it,” leaving little opportunity to freely and safely express more nuanced views of current social, political or economic issues. While notable authoritarian regimes quite transparently monitor and limit societal discussion, others, ostensibly democratic, may work in practice to blunt potentially unfavourable social commentary on the pretence of defending political stability or public morality. IFLA’s Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Committee explores this phenomenon--and the potential role of civil society and information professionals in advancing freedom of expression--through the experience and insights of an NGO leader, an academic public intellectual, and an officer of UNESCO.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Presentations</p>
<ol>
<li>Internet and the freedom of expression in Indonesia: opportunity and challenges - Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, University of New South Wales; former Executive Director of the ELSAM human rights organization (Indonesia), Australia</li>
<li>Freedom of Expression in Malaysia - Azmi Bin Sharom, Faculty of Law, University of Malaysia, Malaysia</li>
<li>What's up with WhatsApp - polarisation and lynchings in India - Swaraj Paul Barooah, The Centre for Internet and Society, India</li>
<li>How to align national laws with international standards on freedom of expression? - Ming-Kuok Lim, Programme Specialist for Communication and Information, UNESCO, Indonesia</li>
</ol>
<p><br /><b>Session 140 To Have and not to Hold: The End of Ownership - CLM and FAIFE</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The shift from buying physical library media to licensing digital content has profound impacts on the way libraries acquire and give access to content. From e-books that can disappear at the whim (or the mistake) of the owners of a server far away, to the limits on sharing and archiving imposed by some contracts. From the potential monitoring of reader behaviour, to the criminalisation of those who simply want to improve user experience. The dominance of digital media in information provision has both broadened the field of information to which we have access, but potentially made it shallower in terms of the use that libraries, and their users, can make of it. The joint CLM-FAIFE session will look at the question of the end of ownership from a legal and an ethical point of view, drawing on the experience and knowledge of the two communities.</p>
<ul>
<li>Tomas A. Lipinski, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA – The Limits of Licensing.</li>
<li>Ann Okerson, Centre for Research Libraries, Chicago, USA – The Possibilities of Licensing.</li>
<li>Swaraj Paul Barooah, Centre for Internet and Society – The Balance among Licenses and Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright.</li>
<li>Brent Roe - Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada – Privacy Concerns and Other Side Effects of Licensing.</li>
<li>Jonathan Hernandez-Perez, Researcher, Instituto de Investigaciones Bibilotecologicas, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico (Invited) – Special Issues in the Developing World; Open Access as a Recapturing of Ownership.</li>
</ul>
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<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-library-and-information-congress-2018'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/world-library-and-information-congress-2018</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2018-08-31T02:23:29ZNews ItemWorkshop Report - UIDAI and Welfare Services: Exclusion and Countermeasures
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-report-uidai-and-welfare-services-august-27-2016
<b>This report presents summarised notes from a workshop organised by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) on Saturday, August 27, 2016, to discuss, raise awareness of, and devise countermeasures to exclusion due to implementation of UID-based verification for and distribution of welfare services.</b>
<p> </p>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society organised a workshop on "UIDAI and Welfare Services: Exclusion and Countermeasures" at the Institution of Agricultural on Technologists on August 27 in Bangalore to discuss, raise awareness of, and devise countermeasures to exclusion due to implementation of UID-based verification for and distribution of welfare services <strong>[1]</strong>. This was a follow-up to the workshop held in Delhi on “Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges” at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, JNU on May 26th and 27th 2016 <strong>[2]</strong>. In this report we summarise the key concerns raised and the case studies presented by the participants at the workshop held on August 27, 2016.</p>
<h2>Implementation of the UID Project</h2>
<p><strong>Question of Consent:</strong> The Aadhaar Act <strong>[3]</strong> states that the consent of the individual must be taken at the time of enrollment and authentication and it must be informed to him/her the purpose for which the data would be used. However, the Act does not provide for an opt-out mechanism and an individual is compelled to give consent to continue with the enrollment process or to complete an authentication.</p>
<p><strong>Lack of Adherence to Court Orders:</strong> Despite of several orders by Supreme Court stating that use of Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for the purpose of availing benefits and services, multiple state governments and departments have made it mandatory for a wide range of purposes like booking railway tickets <strong>[4]</strong>, linking below the poverty line ration cards with Aadhaar <strong>[5]</strong>, school examinations <strong>[6]</strong>, food security, pension and scholarship <strong>[7]</strong>, to name a few.</p>
<p><strong>Misleading Advertisements:</strong> A concern was raised that individuals are being mislead in the necessity and purpose for enrollment into the project. For example, people have been asked to enrol by telling them that they might get excluded from the system and cannot get services like passports, banks, NREGA, salaries for government employees, denial of vaccinations, etc. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has ordered Aadhaar not be mandatory, yet people are being told that documentation or record keeping cannot be done without UID number.</p>
<p><strong>Hybrid Governance:</strong> The participants pointed out that with the Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as Aadhaar Act, 2016 ) being partially enforced, multiple examples of exclusion as reported in the news are demonstrating how the Aadhaar project is creating a case of hybrid governance i.e private corporations playing a significant role in Governance. This can be seen in case of Aadhaar where we see many entities from private sector being involved in its implementation, as well as many software and hardware companies.</p>
<p><strong>Lack of Transparency around Sharing of Biometric Data:</strong> The fact how and why the Government is relying on biometrics for welfare schemes is unclear and not known. Also, there is no information on how biometric data that is collected through the project is being used and its ability as an authenticating device. Along with that, there is very little information on companies that have been enlisted to hold and manage data and perform authentication.</p>
<p><strong>Possibility of Surveillance:</strong> Multiple petitions and ongoing cases have raised concerns regarding the possibility of surveillance, tracking, profiling, convergence of data, and the opaque involvement of private companies involved in the project.</p>
<p><strong>Denial of Information:</strong> In an RTI filed by one of the participant requesting to share the key contract for the project, it was refused on the grounds under section 8(1) (d) of the RTI Act, 2005. However, it was claimed that the provision would not be applicable since the contract was already awarded and any information disclosed to the Parliament should be disclosed to the citizens. The Central Information Commission issued a letter stating that the contractual obligation is over and a copy of the said agreement can be duly shared. However, it was discovered by the said participant that certain pages of the same were missing , which contained confidential information. When this issue went before appeal before the Information Commissioner, the IC gave an order to the IC in Delhi to comply with the previous order. However, it was communicated that limited financial information may be given, but not missing pages. Also, it was revealed that the UIDAI was supposed to share biometric data with NPR (by way of a MoU), but it has refused to give information since the intention was to discontinue NPR and wanted only UIDAI to collect data.</p>
<h2>Concerns Arising from the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Implementation of PAHAL (DBTL) Scheme</h2>
<p>A presentation on the CAG compliance audit report of PAHAL on LPG <strong>[8]</strong> revealed how the society was made to believe that UID will help deal with the issue of duplication and collection as well as use of biometric data will help. The report also revealed that multiple LPG connections have the same Aadhaar number or same bank account number in the consumer database maintained by the OMCs, the bank account number of consumers were also not accurately recorded, scrutiny of the database revealed improper capture of Aadhaar numbers, and there was incorrect seeding of IFSC codes in consumer database. The participants felt that this was an example of how schemes that are being introduced for social welfare do not necessarily benefit the society, and on the contrary, has led to exclusion by design. For example, in the year 2011, by was of the The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Amendment Order, 2011 <strong>[9]</strong>, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas made the Unique Identification Number (UID) under the Aadhaar project a must for availing LPG refills. This received a lot of public pushback, which led to non-implementation of the order. In October 2012, despite the UIDAI stating that the number was voluntary, a number of services began requiring the provision of an Aadhaar number for accessing benefits. In September 2013, when the first order on Aadhaar was passed by court <strong>[10]</strong>, oil marketing companies and UIDAI approached the Supreme Court to change the same and allow them to make it mandatory, which was refused by the Court. Later in the year 2014, use of Aadhaar for subsidies was made mandatory. The participants further criticised the CAG report for revealing the manner in which linking Aadhaar with welfare schemes has allowed duplication and led to ghost beneficiaries where there is no information about who these people are who are receiving the benefits of the subsidies. For example, in Rajasthan, people are being denied their pension as they are being declared dead due to absence of information from the Aadhaar database.</p>
<p>It was said that the statistics of duplication mentioned in the report show how UIDAI (as it claims to ensure de-duplication of beneficiaries) is not required for this purpose and can be done without Aadhaar as well. Also, due to incorrect seeding of Aadhaar number many are being denied subsidy where there is no information regarding the number of people who have been denied the subsidy because of this. Considering these important facts from the audit report, the discussants concluded how the statistics reflect inflated claims by UIDAI and how the problems which are said to be addressed by using Aadhaar can be dealt without it. In this context, it is important to understand how the data in the aadhaar database maybe wrong and in case of e-governance the citizens suffer. Also, the fact that loss of subsidy-not in cash, but in use of LPG cylinder - only for cooking, is ignored. In addition to that, there is no data or way to check if the cylinder is being used for commercial purposes or not as RTI from oil companies says that no ghost identities have been detected.</p>
<h2>UID-linked Welfare Delivery in Rajasthan</h2>
<p>One speaker presented findings on people's experiences with UID-linked welfare services in Rajasthan, collected through a 100 days trip organised to speak to people across the state on problems related to welfare governance. This visit revealed that people who need the benefits and access to subsidies most are often excluded from actual services. It was highlighted that the paperless system is proving to be highly dangerous. Some of the cases discussed included that of a disabled labourer, who was asked to get an aadhaar card, but during enrollment asked the person standing next to him to put all his 5 fingers for biometric data collection. Due to this incorrect data, he is devoid of all subsidies since the authentication fails every time he goes to avail it. He stopped receiving his entitlements. Though problems were anticipated, the misery of the people revealed the extent of the problems arising from the project. In another case, an elderly woman living alone, since she could not go for Aadhaar authentication, had not been receiving the ration she is entitled to receive for the past 8 months. When the ration shop was approached to represent her case, the dealers said that they cannot provide her ration since they would require her thumb print for authentication. Later, they found out that on persuading the dealer to provide her with ration since Aadhaar is not mandatory, they found out that in their records they had actually mentioned that she was being given the ration, which was not the case. So the lack of awareness and the fact that people are entitled to receive the benefits irrespective of Aadhaar is something that is being misused by dealers. This shows how this system has become a barrier for the people, where they are also unaware about the grievance redressal mechanism.</p>
<h2>Aadhaar and e-KYC</h2>
<p>In this session, the use of Aadhaar for e-KYC verification was discussed The UID strategy document describes how the idea is to link UIDAI with money enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the beneficiaries without any reason or justification for the same. It was highlighted by one of the participants how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) believed that making Aadhaar compulsory for e-KYC and several other banking services was a violation of the Money Laundering Act as well as its own rules and standards, however, later relaxed the rules to link Aadhaar with bank accounts and accepted its for e-KyC with great reluctance as the Department of Revenue thought otherwise. It was mentioned how allowing opening of bank accounts remotely using Aadhaar, without physically being present, was touted as a dangerous idea. However, the restrictions placed by RBI were suddenly done away with and opening bank accounts remotely was enabled via e-KYC.</p>
<p>A speaker emphasised that with emerging FinTech services in India being tied with Aadhaar via India Stack, the following concerns are becoming critical:</p>
<ol><li>With RBI enabling creation of bank accounts remotely, it becomes difficult to to track who did e-KYC and which bank did it and hold the same accountable.<br /><br /></li>
<li>The Aadhaar Act 2016 states that UIDAI will not track the queries made and will only keep a record of Yes/No for authentication. For example, the e-KYC to open a bank account can now be done with the help of an Aadhaar number and biometric authentication. However, this request does not get recorded and at the time of authentication, an individual is simply told whether the request has been matched or not by way of a Yes/No <strong>[11]</strong>. Though UIDAI will maintain the authentication record, this may act as an obstacle since in case the information from the aadhaar database does not match, the person would not be able to open a bank account and would only receive a yes/no as a response to the request.<br /><br /></li>
<li>Further, there is a concern that the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System being implemented by the National Payment Corporation of India (NCPI) would allow effectively hiding of source and destination of money flow, leading to money laundering and cases of bribery. This possible as NCPI maintains a mapper where each bank account is linked (only the latest one). However, Aadhaar number can be linked with multiple bank accounts of an individual. So when a transaction is made, the mapper records the transaction only from that 1 account. But if another transaction takes place with another bank account, that record is not maintained by the mapper at NCPI since it records only transactions of the latest account seeded in that. This makes money laundering easy as the money moves from aadhaar number to aadhaar number now rather than bank account to bank account.</li></ol>
<h2>Endnotes</h2>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/uidai-and-welfare-services-exclusion-and-countermeasures-aug-27">http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/uidai-and-welfare-services-exclusion-and-countermeasures-aug-27</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges">http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/beta/images/the_aadhaar_act_2016.pdf">https://uidai.gov.in/beta/images/the_aadhaar_act_2016.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> See: <a href="http://scroll.in/latest/816343/aadhaar-numbers-may-soon-be-compulsory-to-book-railway-tickets">http://scroll.in/latest/816343/aadhaar-numbers-may-soon-be-compulsory-to-book-railway-tickets</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[5]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/linking-bpl-ration-card-with-aadhaar-made-mandatory/article9094935.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/linking-bpl-ration-card-with-aadhaar-made-mandatory/article9094935.ece</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[6]</strong> See: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-scam-Bihar-to-link-exams-to-Aadhaar/articleshow/54000108.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-scam-Bihar-to-link-exams-to-Aadhaar/articleshow/54000108.cms</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[7]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/cs-calls-for-early-steps-to-link-aadhaar-to-ac.html">http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/cs-calls-for-early-steps-to-link-aadhaar-to-ac.html</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[8]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.cag.gov.in/sites/default/files/audit_report_files/Union_Commercial_Compliance_Full_Report_25_2016_English.pdf">http://www.cag.gov.in/sites/default/files/audit_report_files/Union_Commercial_Compliance_Full_Report_25_2016_English.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[9]</strong> See: <a href="http://petroleum.nic.in/docs/lpg/LPG%20Control%20Order%20GSR%20718%20dated%2026.09.2011.pdf">http://petroleum.nic.in/docs/lpg/LPG%20Control%20Order%20GSR%20718%20dated%2026.09.2011.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[10]</strong> See: <a href="http://judis.nic.in/temp/494201232392013p.txt">http://judis.nic.in/temp/494201232392013p.txt</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[11]</strong> Section 8(4) of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 states that "The Authority shall respond to an authentication query with a positive, negative or any other appropriate response sharing such identity information excluding any core biometric information."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-report-uidai-and-welfare-services-august-27-2016'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-report-uidai-and-welfare-services-august-27-2016</a>
</p>
No publishervanyaDigital PaymentData SystemsResearchers at WorkUIDInternet GovernanceSurveillanceBig DataAadhaarWelfare GovernanceBig Data for DevelopmentDigital ID2019-03-16T04:34:11ZBlog EntryWorkshop on the Unique Identity Number (UID), the National Population Register (NPR) and Governance: What will happen to our data?
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-on-the-uid-and-npr
<b>On March 2nd, 2013, the Centre for Internet and Society and the Say No to UID campaign organized a workshop to discuss the present state of the UID and NPR schemes. Some of the questions which were addressed included ´How do the UID and NPR impact citizenship´, ´Why and how is national security linked to UID/NPR´, and ´What is the relationship between UID and Big Data´. </b>
<hr />
<p><i>This research was undertaken as part of the 'SAFEGUARDS' project that CIS is undertaking with Privacy International and IDRC</i>.</p>
<hr />
<p class="italized" style="text-align: justify; "><i>“The UIDAI will own our data...When we hand over information, we hand over the ownership of that data...”</i>, stated Usha Ramanathan, legal researcher and human rights activist.She also pointed out that, although the UID has been set up by an executive order, there is no statute which legally backs up the UID. In other words, the collection of our data through the UID scheme is currently illegal in India, hinging only on an executive order. However, Usha Ramanathan stated that if the UID scheme is going to be carried out, it is highly significant that a statute for the UID is enacted to prevent potential abuse of human rights, especially since the UIDAI is currently collecting, sharing, using and storing our data on untested grounds.</p>
<blockquote class="italized"><i>´What is alarming is that the Indian government has not even attempted to legalize the UID! When a government does not even care about legalizing its actions, then we have much bigger problems...” </i></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The NPR is legally grounded in the provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and in the Citizenship Rules 2003 and it is mandatory for every usual resident in India to register with the NPR. Even though the collection of biometrics is not accounted for in the statute or rules, the NPR is currently collecting photographs, iris prints and fingerprints. Concerns regarding the use of biometrics in the UID and NPR schemes were raised during the workshop; biometrics are not infallible and can be spoofed, an individual´s biometrics can change in response to a number of factors (including age, environment and stress), the accuracy of a biometric match depends on the accuracy of the technology used and the larger the population is, the higher the probability of an error. Thus, individuals are required to re-enrol every two to three years, to ensure that the biometric data collected is accurate; but the accuracy of the data is not the only problem. The Indian government is illegally collecting biometrics and as of yet has not amended the 2003 Citizenship Rules to include the collection of biometrics! As Usha Ramanathan stated:</span></p>
<blockquote class="italized" style="text-align: justify; "><span> </span><i>“It´s not really about the UID and the NPR per se...it´s more about the idea of profiling citizens and the technologies which enable this...”</i></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>In his presentation, Anant Maringanti, from the Hyderabad Urban Labs and Right to the City Foundation, stated that even though seventy seven lakh duplicates have been found, no action has been taken, other than discarding one of them. Despite the fact that enrolment with the UID is considered to be voluntary, children in India are forced to get a unique identification number as a prerequisite of going to school. Anant emphasized that the UID scheme supposedly provides some form of identity to the poor and marginalised groups in India, but it actually targets some of the most vulnerable groups of people, such as HIV patients and sex workers. Furthermore, though Indians living below the poverty line (BPL) are eligible for direct cash transfer programmes, apparently registration with the UID scheme is considered essential to determine whether beneficiaries belong in the BLP category. This is problematic as individuals who have not enrolled in the UID or do not want to enroll in the UID could risk being denied benefits because they did not enroll and thus were not classified in the BPL category. Anant also pointed out that, linking biometric data to a bank account through the UID scheme is basically exposing personal data to fraud. Anant Maringanti characteristically stated: </span></p>
<blockquote class="italized"><span> </span><i>“I wish the 100 people applying the UID scheme had UIDs so that we could track them...!”</i></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Following the end of the workshop on the UID and NPR schemes, CIS interviewed Usha Ramanathan and Anant Maringanti: <iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P1CdCkdKtcU" width="250"></iframe> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The workshop can be viewed in two parts: <iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o7X1Af5Jw3s" width="250"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rSFYOfvtOr8" width="250"></iframe> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-on-the-uid-and-npr'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-on-the-uid-and-npr</a>
</p>
No publishermariaSAFEGUARDSInternet GovernancePrivacy2013-07-12T15:28:50ZBlog EntryWorkshop on Python
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-python
<b>A workshop on Python will be organized at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) Bangalore office on April 14, 2018. </b>
<p>The workshop will be conducted by Bharath Kumar, who works at AppSecCo, Bangalore. He is also volunteering with CIS on the Cyber Security project. <span>Those of you who intend on attending the workshop, please fill up this short questionnaire by Thursday, as Bharath will be using the responses </span><span>to finalise the content for the workshop. <a class="external-link" href="https://bharathkumar7.typeform.com/to/JjWE1w">Fill the questionnaire here</a>.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-python'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-python</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminPythonEventInternet Governance2018-04-10T14:59:29ZEventWorkshop on Public Open Wi-Fi Pilot
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-public-open-wi-fi-pilot
<b>Pranesh Prakash was a speaker at the Workshop on Public Open Wi-Fi Pilot organized by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on July 25, 2017. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper on “ Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks” on 13th July 2016 realizing the importance of public Wi-Fi networks as complementary to existing landline and cellular mobile infrastructure in improving broadband penetration and adoption in the country. A few of the important issues pointed out in the consultation paper for a successful, scalable and sustainable public Wi-Fi infrastructure in the country include (i) technical interoperability and seamless connectivity of Wi-Fi networks (ii) innovative payment, commercialization, and monetization models; and (iii) collaborative partnerships between various entities of the ecosystem. For more info <a class="external-link" href="http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/TRAI_WiFi%20_Pilot_Workshop_17072017_0.pdf">click here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Pranesh's talk was based on two submissions: <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-to-trai-consultation-on-proliferation-of-broadband-through-public-wifi-networks">Proliferation of Broadband through Public WiFi Networks</a> and <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-trai-note-on-interoperable-scalable-public-wifi">Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks</a> made earlier to TRAI.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-public-open-wi-fi-pilot'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-public-open-wi-fi-pilot</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet Governance2017-08-04T02:14:13ZNews ItemWorkshop on Media Law & Policy Curriculum Development
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/workshop-media-law-and-policy-curriculum-development
<b>Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi and University of Oxford in support with the International Higher Education-Knowledge Economy Partnerships Programme of the British Council is organizing this workshop on February 16 at National Law University in Delhi.</b>
<p>Chinmayi Arun is a speaker and Bhairav Acharya will be speaking at this event.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Timing</th><th>Programme</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.00 <br />10.10</td>
<td>
<p>Welcome Address<br />Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Registrar & Professor of Law, National Law University, Delhi</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.10<br />10.15</td>
<td>Introduction to the Project<br />Chinmayi Arun, Research Director, Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.15<br />10.45</td>
<td><b>Session 1: Introductory Material</b><br />The Media Landscape, Media & Democracy<br />Lead discussants: Aloke Thakore, Kanamma Raman, Sukumar Muralidharan and Vibodh Parthasarathi<br />Freedom of Expression & Freedom of Press<br />Lead discussants: Arudra Burra, Bhairav Acharya, Manav Kapur and Sukumar Muralidharan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.45<br />11.30</td>
<td>Session 2: Media Law<br />The State and the Media (Sedition, Contempt of Court, Parliamentary Privilege and Reporting Court Proceedings)<br />Geeta Seshu, Jawahar Raja, Manav Kapur, Praveen and Sukumar Muralidharan<br />Citizen, Society and the Media (Defamation, Obscenity, Public Order & Communal Harmony and Privacy)<br />Arudra Burra, Bhairav Acharya, Jawahar Raja, Praveen and Saurav Datta</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11.30<br />11.45</td>
<td>Tea</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11.45<br />12.15</td>
<td>Session 3:<br />Media Content & Regulatory Mechanism and Public Service Broadcasting<br />Media Carriage, Pluralism, Ownership & Cross Ownership<br />Lead discussants: Aloke Thakore, Geeta Seshu, Saurav Datta and Vibodh Parthasarathi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12.15<br />12.45</td>
<td>Session 4: Converged Media, Globalised Media and the Internet<br />Lead discussants: Aloke Thakore, Abhinav Srivastava, Geeta Seshu Kanamma Raman and Sukumar Muralidharan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12.45<br />13.30</td>
<td>General Feedback about accessibility, structure and other miscellaneous factors</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/workshop-media-law-and-policy-curriculum-development'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/workshop-media-law-and-policy-curriculum-development</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2014-02-17T10:25:54ZNews ItemWorkshop on Feminist Information Infrastructure
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-may-9-2019-workshop-on-feminist-information-infrastructure
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) organised a workshop on feminist infrastructure in collaboration with Blank Noise and Sangama, on 29th October, 2018. The purpose of the workshop was to disseminate the findings from a two-month long project being undertaken by researchers at Blank Noise and Sangama, with research support and training from CIS. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A group of five researchers, one from Blank Noise and four from Sangama, presented their research on different aspects of feminist infrastructure. The workshop was attended by a diverse group of participants, including activists, academics, and representatives from civil society organisations and trade unions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Feminist infrastructure is a broadly conceptualised term referring to infrastructure that is designed by, and keeping in mind the needs of, diverse social groups with different kinds of marginality. In the field of technology, efforts to conceptualise feminist infrastructure have ranged from rethinking basic technological infrastructure, such as feminist spectrum , to community networks and tools for mobilisation . This project aimed to explore the imagination of feminist infrastructure in the context of different marginalities and lived experiences. Rather than limiting intersectionality to the subject of the research, as with most other feminist projects, this project aimed to produce knowledge from the ‘standpoint’ of those with the lived experience of marginalisation.</p>
<hr />
<p>This report by Ambika Tandon was edited by Gurshabad Grover and designed by Saumyaa Naidu. The full report can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/feminist-information-infrastructure">downloaded here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-may-9-2019-workshop-on-feminist-information-infrastructure'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-may-9-2019-workshop-on-feminist-information-infrastructure</a>
</p>
No publisherambikaGenderInternet Governance2019-07-09T15:35:24ZBlog EntryWorkshop on Enabling Information Systems for Local Governance
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-enabling-information-systems-for-local-governance
<b>This event was organized by Jamia Milla Islamia at Tagore Hall in New Delhi on September 18, 2014. Sunil Abraham was a participant.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The One day workshop brings together practitioners, researchers and thinkers from the overlapping fields of IT, sociology and governance to seek mechanisms for involvement of local communities as active participants in information systems for governance. Conventional technological models are based on certain apriori assumptions on how engineers and designers expect people to use technologies as well as the social universe in which the information systems function. Social scientists and ethnographers on the other hand, concern themselves with how people use and interpret technologies and tend to have a better understanding of the role of technologies in the everyday life of users.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first panel concerns itself with how these two diverse and possibly complementary ways of approaching technologies may synergise as a combined sociotechnical process rather than a purely technological one. Another useful way to understand the information systems as inherently socio-technical amalgamations is to examine the “informational model” – or the concepts, categories, and relationships – underlying the systems.Describing the systems in terms of their informational models enables people who understand issues of governance to speak to technologists on a common platform. Thus, the idea in the second panel is to discuss whether there is a need to rethink the mechanisms for building information models for local governance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some of the questions relevant to the workshop are:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> What is the role of local communities in information systems for governance? How can local participation in governance be enabled/enhanced?</li>
<li>What are some of the existing applications and mechanisms for creating the concepts, categories, relationships, rules and constraints (the information model) used in building information systems for governance and is there a need to rethink them? </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Workshop Program - 18 Sep 2014</span></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>9:30-10:00</b> - Registration</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>10:00-10:15</b> - Introduction to the Symposium</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>10:15-11:45 - </b> Panel 1: Community Participation in IT Processes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Information systems for governance generally involve many different kinds of users and stakeholders. The presentations in this panel are reflect how the role that these communities play at different stages of the technical process shape the conceptualization and outcomes of these diverse systems.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Atanu Garai (Fellow, Society for New Communications Research, Bubhaneshwar): Mechanisms of Community Enrollment in mHealth</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Jagdish Mitra (CEO, CanvasM,A Tech Mahindra Company) – Arriving at Saral Zindagi: A suite of mobile applications to ease consumer life styles.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chair: Dr Biswajit Das, Director, Centre for Culture Media and Governance (CCMG), Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Discussant: Dr. Richa Kumar (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Delhi)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>11:45-12:00</b> – Tea/Coffee break</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>12:00-13:30 - </b> Panel 2: Community Representation in Information Modelling.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This panel describes the (often) implicit "Information Model" underlying IT enabled systems of governance. Making these models explicit also opens up the discussion of how social concepts and categories may be included as part of the model.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Dr Vignesh Ilavarasan P (Department of Management Studies, IIT-Delhi) – Information Models for Service Delivery in the Telecom Sector</li>
<li>Ravi Shukla (CCMG, JMI)–Prototyping Community Participation in Informational Models.</li>
<li>Chair: Dr. Arul Chib (NTU, Singapore)</li>
<li>Discussant: Sunil Abraham (CIS, Bangalore) </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>1</b> <b>3:30-14:30</b> – Lunch</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>14:30 - 16:00 – Focus Group Workshop - </b> Mechanisms for Community Participation in Information Systems.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The current research with communities around the Jamia Nagar area is taken as a case study. Participants are divided into two groups, the "process" group which is to suggest ways for community involvement in the process, and the "informational model" structure group. Each group is to suggest 5 ways in which communities can participate in IT systems.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">List of People in the Second Half (there maybe more/different people):</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Atanu Garai, P Vignesh, Ravi Shukla, Arul Chib, Sunil Abraham, Amit Prakash, Vibodh Parthasarathi, Pankaj Aggarwal, Biswajit Das. </li>
<li> Chair: Amit Prakash - I will speak to him beforehand about this. </li>
<li> Introducer: Ravi Shukla (5 Mins) - Q & A (10 mins) </li>
<li> Group Sessions (these can be in different parts of the same room) - it will require writing pads, pens , two white boards and markers/busters. Time is 20 mins. </li>
<li> Group 1 (Processes and Procedures to Involve Communities in Information Systems): </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Facilitator: Arul Chib </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Participants: Atanu Garai, Pankaj Aggarwal, Vibodh Parthasarthi </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This group builds on their own experiences and comes up with 5 suggestions on how the IT process can be made more inclusive. This could mean - what are the different stages at which communities may get involved and how - as well as new ways of involvement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Group 2 (Inclusion of Communities in Information Models)</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Facilitator: Ravi Shukla </li>
<li> Participants: P Vignesh, Sunil Abraham </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This group builds on their experiences to come up 5 suggestions on how community voices and concerns may be included in the Information Model. This could mean for instance - how to include minority voices in the model, or other factors of geography, culture, scale and temporality.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After this there are 10 minutes of presentation each by one representative from each group (this gives other people the space to wind-up/present).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This is followed by a summary by the discussant (Arul Chib) followed by discussion and winding up/ thanks giving by VP. (30 + 5 mins)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-enabling-information-systems-for-local-governance'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-enabling-information-systems-for-local-governance</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet Governance2014-09-30T08:18:42ZNews ItemWorkshop on Digital Security for Journalists
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-digital-security-for-journalists
<b>The Foundation for Media Professionals and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) are jointly hosting a workshop on 'Digital Security for Journalists' in New Delhi on January 16, 2015.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="fsl">This workshop will be a hands-on training — so all journalists are strongly encouraged to bring their laptops and smartphones — on how to assess security threats, how to protect your sources, how to prevent your ISP from snooping on your communications, and how to harden your computer's security.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="fsl"><span class="fsl"><span class="text_exposed_show">This workshop furthers CIS's work as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, and the space for this workshop has been provided by the Times of India.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="fsl"><br /></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-digital-security-for-journalists'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-digital-security-for-journalists</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaDigital SecurityEventInternet Governance2015-01-15T14:07:16ZEventWorkshop on Democratic Accountability in the Digital Age (Delhi, November 14-15)
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-democratic-accountability-in-the-digital-age-delhi-november-14-15
<b>IT for Change, along with Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), is organising a two day workshop on ‘Democratic Accountability in the Digital Age’. The workshop will focus on evolving a comprehensive policy approach to data based governance and digital democracy, grounded in a rights and social justice framework. It will be held at the United Service Institution of India, Delhi, during November 14-15, 2016. The CIS team to participate in the workshop includes Sumandro Chattapadhyay (speaker), Amber Sinha (speaker), Vanya Rakesh (participant), and Himadri Chatterjee (participant).</b>
<p> </p>
<p>The workshop aims to:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Discuss the institutional norms, rules and practices appropriate to the rise of ‘governance by networks’ and ‘rule by data’ that can guarantee democratic accountability and citizen participation, and</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Articulate the steps to claim the civic-public value of digital technologies so that data and the new possibilities for networking are harnessed for a vibrant grassroots democracy.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>We hope the workshop can create a civil society coalition that can build effective strategies for legal and policy reform to further participatory democracy in the digital age. On the first day, the workshop will set the context through knowledge sharing and thematic presentations and discussions. On the second day, we aim to concretize strategies for collective action to further democratic accountability in the digital age.</p>
<hr />
<h4><a href="http://itforchange.net/mavc/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Workshop-Agenda-Democratic-accountability-in-the-digital-age-14-to-15-Nov-2016-2.pdf">Workshop Agenda</a> (PDF)</h4>
<h4><a href="http://itforchange.net/mavc/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Background-note-for-workshop-on-Democracy-in-Digital-Age-Sep21.odt">Background Note</a> (ODT)</h4>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-democratic-accountability-in-the-digital-age-delhi-november-14-15'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-democratic-accountability-in-the-digital-age-delhi-november-14-15</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroDigital IDDigital GovernancePrivacyUIDInternet GovernanceAccountabilityDigital IndiaAadhaarWelfare GovernanceE-GovernanceDigital Rights2016-12-15T09:27:22ZEventWorkshop on Cybersecurity Illustrations
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-cybersecurity-illustrations
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is organizing a workshop to engage with the design community in order to examine, explore, and expand this visual narrative of cybersecurity.</b>
<h2>Concept Note</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The notions around cybersecurity are deeply influenced by the visual associations available on it in the public sphere. The existing imagery on cybersecurity usually consists of stereotypical visual elements such as a silhouette of a man, binary codes, locks, etc. The dark colour palette in these visuals primarily comprising shades of blues and greens adds to the masculine imagery. The conception of the term is limited by these images. The Centre for Internet and Society hence, plans to engage with the design community in order to examine, explore, and expand this visual narrative of cybersecurity. CIS is organising a workshop on the 15th of November, in collaboration with a design collective in order to brainstorm ideas on creating illustrations for cybersecurity that shift the focus from coding to the human aspects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Presently, the visuals suggest only data breaches when it comes to cybersecurity. Several nuanced concepts such as the implication on more vulnerable populations are not reflected in the images. The illustrations can also present the different stakeholders in the cybersecurity ecosystem. The workshop would be directed at generating more dialogues on cybersecurity through visuals.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Agenda</h2>
<ul>
<li>10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: Introduction and Presentation of the Brief</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Brainstorming session (ideation and suggestions from participants for keywords)</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Lunch</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: Breakaway session in groups (creation of draft illustrations)</li></ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/workshop-on-cybersecurity-illustrations.pdf">Download the file to read more</a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">You can find the event report <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/workshop-on-cyber-security-illustrations" class="internal-link" title="Workshop on Cyber Security Illustrations">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-cybersecurity-illustrations'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/workshop-on-cybersecurity-illustrations</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminEventInternet Governance2018-12-10T06:13:50ZEventWorkshop on Cyber-Ethics: Values-driven Innovative Solutions
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-cyber-ethics-values-driven-innovative-solutions
<b>Arindrajit Basu moderated a discussion on Cyber-Ethics at Swiss Nex (Consulate General of Switzerland, Bangalore on 28 June 2019. The event was organized by the Embassy of Switzerland.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Cyber-space – the virtual reality – influences all countries in the world and all sectors of society. The cyber-world of e-mails, e-commerce, e-government, e-education, e-music, e-prosecutors, artificial intelligence, crypto-currencies are daily reality, with new opportunities. On the other hand, cyber-bullying, cyber-criminality, cyber-security, cyber-war etc. are great challenges.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Cyber-ethics looks for values-driven innovative solutions to these challenges and opportunities between freedom and privacy, security and peace. Switzerland is a world leader in innovation, India is a world leader in information technologies. How can both countries strengthen ethical, values-driven solutions for the cyber-world? Indian and Swiss Experts present challenges and solutions.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Programme</h3>
<p class="Standard">10.00 Registration & welcome tea n coffee</p>
<p class="Standard">10:30 <b>Welcome remarks</b></p>
<p class="Standard"><b>Mr.Sebastien Hug</b>, CEO, swissnex India and Consul General of Switzerland</p>
<p class="Standard">10:35 <b>Keynote address: Cyber-Ethics between Global Values and Contextual Interests</b></p>
<p class="Standard"><b>Prof. Dr. H.C. Christoph Stückelberger</b>, Founder and President of Globethics.net, Visiting Professor of Ethics in Nigeria, Russia, China</p>
<p class="Standard">11:05 <b>Moderated panel discussion</b></p>
<p class="Standard"><i>Moderator</i>: <b>Arindrajit Basu, </b>Senior Policy Officer, Center for Internet and Society,</p>
<p class="Standard"><i>Panelists</i>:</p>
<p class="Standard"><b>Dr. Pavan Duggal</b>, Founder and President of the International Commission on Cyber Security Law, Advocate at Supreme Court of India</p>
<p class="Standard"><b>Dr Siobhán Martin</b>, Deputy Head, Leadership, Crisis and Conflict Management, Geneva Centre for Security Policy</p>
<p class="Standard"><b>Mr Sameer Chothani</b>, Managing Director - Group Technology, India, UBS</p>
<p class="Standard">12:15 Q&A</p>
<p class="Standard">12:45 Networking lunch</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-cyber-ethics-values-driven-innovative-solutions'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-cyber-ethics-values-driven-innovative-solutions</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminCyber SecurityInternet Governance2019-07-06T00:51:20ZNews Item