The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 111 to 125.
The Asian Edge: 2012 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Summer School
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/iacs-summer-school-2012
<b>The 2nd Biannual Inter Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Summer School will be hosted in Bangalore, India by the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) with the Inter Asia Cultural Studies Consortium. The event will be held in the first and second week of August 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The IACS Summer School brings together South and East Asian experts from different disciplines as faculty for graduate and advanced research students to engage with key issues of larger social, cultural and political concerns in Cultural Studies in Asia. Any student registered in a post-graduate degree program is eligible for the IACS Summer School. There are limited seats and students will be selected based on their applications. Students registered at universities participating in the Consortium of Inter Asia Cultural Studies Institutions will be given first preference.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Summer School 2012 proposes to integrate the teaching with core IACS faculty with the larger realities of change in South and East Asia. It proposes a 10 + 4 day structure.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Core</b><b> </b><b>Course: Methodologies for Cultural Studies in Asia:</b><b> </b>The Summer School offers a 10 day core course that works through seminars, taught classrooms, tutorials, open spaces, field trips and workshops. The core course shall address questions of Cultural Identity, Modernity, Nationalism, Gender, Class, Revolution and Asianism to frame an argument about relocating methods, concepts and ideas in contemporary Cultural Studies in Asia.</p>
<table class="listing grid">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Day/Date</th><th>Time</th><th>Session</th><th>Instructors</th><th>Readings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 02<br />(Thu)<br /><br /></td>
<td>09:30-10:00</td>
<td>Introduction to Course/Orientation</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>Session 1: The Question of Knowledge<br /><br /></td>
<td>Instructors: Daniel PS Goh Nithin Manayath<br /><br /></td>
<td>The Epistemological Value of East Asian Perspective – Sun Ge<br /><br />Knowledge Production in the Era of Neo-Liberal Globalisation – Kuan-Hsing Chen<br /><br />Teaching versus Research? – Meaghan Morris<br /><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00 <br /></td>
<td>Student Presentations</td>
<td>Choi, Ji Yeon<br />Ajinkya Shenava<br />Khetrimayum M Singh<br />Vincent Chung<br />Jaime Fang-Tze Hsu<br /><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 03<br />(Fri)<br /><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>Culture Industries workshop</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>Workshop party</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 04<br />(Sat)<br /><br /></td>
<td>10:00-1:00 <br /></td>
<td>Session 2: The Question of Culture<br /><br /></td>
<td>Instructors: <br />Asha Achuthan<br />Ratheesh Radhakrishnan<br /><br /></td>
<td>Hind Swaraj – Chs IV, VI, XII, XIII – MK Gandhi<br /><br />Value Typology of Chinese Peasants and Its Transformation in Contemporary China – He Xuefeng<br /><br />An Elaborative Argumentation of a Nong-Country – Zhang Shi Zhao<br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00 <br /></td>
<td>Student Presentations</td>
<td>Annisa Beta<br />Ying-Tzu, Liu (Eva)<br />Li, Yen-Chieh<br />Sharib Aqleem Ali<br />Li, Cho Kiu (Joseph)<br /></td>
<td>Venue: 1 Shanti Road</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>6:00-8:00</td>
<td>EVENING SALON</td>
<td>Tejaswini Niranjana and Kuan-Hsing Chen</td>
<td>Venue: 1 Shanti Road</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 05<br />(Sun)<br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>HOLIDAY</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 06<br />(Mon)<br /><br /></td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>Session 3: Nationalism and Modernity<br /><br /></td>
<td>
<p>Instructor: Milind Wakankar</p>
<p>Student Presentations: <br />Mai Thi Thu<br />Baidurya Chakrabarti<br />Zhang, Bing<br />Musab Iqbal<br />Meng Hsien Lu</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>On Nation – Zhang Tai Yan<br /><br />Nationalism in India – <br />Rabindranath Tagore<br /><br />New Dominant Ideology and Changes of Urban Space in Today's Shanghai – Wang Xiaoming<br /><br />The Twilight of Certitudes: Secularism, Hindu Nationalism and Other Masks of Deculturation – Ashis Nandy</p>
<p>A National Culture for Pakistan: the political economy of a debate – Saadia Toor</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>Instructor: Madhuja M<br />Student Presentations:<br />Pan Yifan<br />Zhang Zhihui<br />Se Young Oh</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>EVENING SALON</td>
<td>Stephen Chah and Ashish Rajadhyaksha</td>
<td>Venue: Centre for Internet and Society</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 07<br />(Tue)<br /></td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>Session 4: Culture and Economy</td>
<td>Instructors: <br />Radhika P<br />Raghu Tenkayala<br /></td>
<td>
<p>In the Margin of the Capital: From ‘Tjerita Boedjang Bingoeng’ to ‘Si Doel anak sekolahan’</p>
<p>The Emergent Culture of Consumption – Chua Beng Huat</p>
<p>‘Bollywood’ 2004; When Was Bollywood – Ashish Rajadhyaksha</p>
<p>Peasant Cultures of the 21st Century – Partha Chatterjee</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00</td>
<td>Student Presentations</td>
<td>Chan Ka Yi<br />Kim Yoon Young<br />Tanna Shilpa Shirishkumar<br />Ruchi Jaggi<br />Haesook Yong</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 08<br />(Wed)<br /></td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>Session 5: Gender and Culture</td>
<td>Instructors: <br />Navaneetha Mokkil <br />Nitya Vasudevan<br /></td>
<td>Why Culture Matters – Tejaswini Niranjana<br /><br />Prostitutes Parasites and the house of state feminism – Naifei Ding<br /><br />Women and Freedom – Firdous Azim<br /><br />Letters to the Editor: The domestic violence act and conflict<br /><br />Spectralization of the Rural: Reinterpreting the labour mobility of rural young women in post-Mao China – Yan Hairong</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00</td>
<td>Student Presentations</td>
<td>Elmo I-Che Hsu<br />Pang Ka Wei (Janet)<br />Li-Fang Lai<br />Kris Yu-Shiuan Chi<br />Samia Vasa<br />Shwetha D<br />Ryu M-Rye<br />Sabreena Ahmed</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>6:00-8:00</td>
<td>EVENING SALON</td>
<td>Firdous Azim and Naifei Ding/Siddharth/Arvind in conversation</td>
<td>Venue: Alternative Law Forum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 09<br />(Thurs)</td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>FIELD TRIP</td>
<td>SURESH JAYARAM – Pettai Tour</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 10<br />(Fri)</td>
<td>10:00-1:00</td>
<td>Session 6: Understanding Popular Cultural Practice</td>
<td>Instructors: <br />Namita Malhotra<br />Nishant Shah<br /></td>
<td>Hong Kong Action film in the Indian B Circuit – SV Srinivas<br /><br />Inter-Asia Comparative Framework: Postcolonial Film Historiography in Taiwan and South Korea Kim Soyoung<br /><br />Fan Bhakti and Subaltern Sovereignty – Madhava Prasad</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>3:00-5:00</td>
<td>Student Presentations</td>
<td>Samhita Sunya<br />Khatija Sana Khader<br />Ayesha Maria Mualla<br />Antoreep Sengupta</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aug 11<br />(Sat)</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>UNWORKSHOP DAY (Writing)</td>
<td>Evening: Final Party</td>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Optional </b><b>Courses:</b><b> </b>2 Additional 4-days parallel Courses shall be offered to participants interested in specialised inquiries of their research practice.<b> </b></p>
<p><b>Course</b><b> </b><b>A.</b><b> </b><b>The</b><b> </b><b>Digital</b><b> </b><b>Subject:</b><b> </b><b>Science,</b><b> </b><b>Technology</b><b> </b><b>and</b><b> </b><b>Society</b><b> </b><b>in</b><b> </b><b>Asia</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Course Coordinator: Nishant Shah</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Course Instructors: Nishant Shah, Lawrence Liang and Ashish Rajadhyaksha</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Course</b><b> </b><b>B.</b><b> </b><b>Research</b><b> </b><b>Seminar</b><b> </b><b>on</b><b> </b><b>Technology, Culture & the Body</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Course Coordinator: Nitya Vasudevan</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Course Instructors: Tejaswini Niranjana, DING Naifei, Audrey Yue, Wing-Kwong Wong, Hsing-Wen Chang, Nitya Vasudevan</li>
</ul>
<div id="_mcePaste">
<p class="TableContents"><span>Nandy</span></p>
<p class="TableContents"><span> </span></p>
<span>A National Culture for Pakistan: the political economy of a debate – Saadia Toor</span></div>
<p class="TableContents"><span>Nandy</span></p>
<p class="TableContents"><span> </span></p>
<p><span>A National Culture for Pakistan: the political economy of a debate – Saadia Toor</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/iacs-summer-school-2012'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/iacs-summer-school-2012</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaEvent TypeInternet GovernanceResearch2012-08-02T13:23:14ZEventNovember 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2011-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the Centre for Internet and Society newsletter! In this issue we bring you the updates of our research, events, media coverage and videos of some past events organized by us during the month of November 2011.</b>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives" class="external-link"><b>Digital Natives with a Cause?</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of 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 critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Key Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-and-politics-in-asia" target="_blank">On Fooling Around: Digital Natives and Politics in Asia</a><br /> by Nishant Shah, Director-Research<br /> Youths are not only actively participating in the politics of its times but also changing the way in which we understand the political processes of mobilisation, participation and transformation, writes Nishant. The paper was presented at the Digital Cultures in Asia conference at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Links in the Chain</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/volume-8-issue-4.pdf" target="_blank">Analog Relics in the Digital Age</a>, volume 8, issue 4<br /> Guest Editor: Nilofar Ansher<br /> “The scale of inventions has not really leaped, so much as mutated. We had Twitter and Facebook ... (remember notice boards, community centers and pamphlets); they just weren’t so instant, hyperlinked and global in scale. We still use the medium of a mouthpiece and speaker to talk to each other long distance, the difference is in the changed aesthetics of the 21st century – it’s all squarish curves and scratch-proof glass that are more appealing today. Blackboards, writing material, listening devices and memory aids have undergone unprecedented transformations of function and usage, but it’s still about having a blank canvas to write upon with a chalk, pen, paper or iClick”, writes Nilofar in this issue of the Digital Natives newsletter.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Articles/Columns <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/in-search-of-the-other-decoding-digital-natives" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/in-search-of-the-other-decoding-digital-natives" target="_blank">In Search of the Other: Decoding Digital Natives</a>: Nishant Shah charts the trajectories of our research at the Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore, India) and Hivos (The Hague, The Netherlands) to see how alternative models of understanding these relationships can be built. This blog post by Nishant Shah was published in DML central on 24 October 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Staff Quoted in the Media <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/write-stuff" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/write-stuff" target="_blank">The Write Stuff</a>, Deccan Chronicle, 14 November 2011. Nishant Shah has been quoted in this article.</li>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<h2><b>Pathways for Learning in Higher Education</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Pathways Project for Learning in Higher Education is a collaboration between the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications (HEIRA) at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). The project is supported by the Ford Foundation and works with disadvantaged students in 9 undergraduate colleges in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, to explore relationships between Technologies, Higher Education and the new forms of social justice in India.</p>
<h3>Article Published by the Media</h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/learn-it" target="_blank">Learn it Yourself</a>: The peer-to-peer world of online learning encourages conversations and reciprocal learning, writes Nishant Shah. The article was published by the Indian Express on 30 October 2011.</p>
<h3>Video of Event Participated</h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/mobility-shifts-2011" target="_blank">Mobility Shifts 2011 — An International Future of Learning Summit</a>: The summit was organised by the New School and sponsored by MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla. It was held from October 10 to October 16, 2011 at the New School, New York City. Nishant Shah participated in the summit and spoke on Digital Outcasts: Social Justice, Technology and Learning in India. The video of the event is online.</li>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility" class="external-link"><b>Accessibility</b></a></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>Publication</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-handbook-in-russian" target="_blank">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> (Russian Version) <br /> Edited by Nirmita Narasimhan<br /> The e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities is now available in Russian. The handbook is a joint publication of ITU, G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with the Hans Foundation. Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union wrote the preface. Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D wrote the introduction and Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict wrote the foreword.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Post</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessible-banking" target="_blank">The case for Accessible Banking</a> by Dinesh Kaushal.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k" class="external-link"><b>Access to Knowledge</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>Key Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/a2k/jesters-clowns-pranksters" target="_blank">Of Jesters, Clowns and Pranksters: YouTube and the Condition of Collaborative Authorship</a><br /> by Nishant Shah, Director-Research, Centre for Internet and Society<br /> The idea of a single author creating cinematic objects in a well-controlled scheme of support system and production/distribution infrastructure has been fundamentally challenged by the emergence of digital video sharing sites like YouTube, writes Nishant Shah in this essay published in the Journal of Moving Images.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Posts</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/a2k/books-vs-cigarettes" target="_blank">CIS Hosts Scanned Version of George Orwell’s Books vs. Cigarettes</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Comments / Statement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/ace-7-future-work-cis-intervention" target="_blank">CIS Intervention on Future Work of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement</a>: The seventh session of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) is being held in Geneva on November 30 and December 1, 2011. Pranesh Prakash intervened during the discussion of future work of the ACE with this comment.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/ace-7-french-charter-cis-comment" target="_blank">Comment by CIS at ACE on Presentation on French Charter on the Fight against Cyber-Counterfeiting</a>: The seventh session of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Advisory Committee on Enforcement is being held in Geneva on November 30 and December 1, 2011. Pranesh Prakash responded to a presentation by Prof. Pierre Sirinelli of the École de droit de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 on 'The French Charter on the Fight against Cyber-Counterfeiting of December 16, 2009' with this comment.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/sccr-23-broadcast-cis-statement" target="_blank">Statement of CIS on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty at the 23rd SCCR</a>: The twenty-third session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is being held in Geneva from November 22, 2011 to December 2, 2011. Pranesh Prakash delivered this statement on a new proposal made by South Africa and Mexico (SCCR/23/6) on a treaty for broadcasters.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness" class="external-link"><b>Openness</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Content, Open Standards, Open Access to Law, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/openness/blog/know-your-users" target="_blank">Know Your Users, Match their Needs!</a><br /> As Free Access to Law initiatives in the Global South enter into a new stage of maturity, they must be certain not to lose sight of their users’ needs. This blog post gives a summary of the “Good Practices Handbook”, a research output of the collaborative project Free Access to Law — Is it Here to Stay? undertaken by LexUM (Canada) and the South African Legal Institute in partnership with the Centre for Internet and Society. Rebecca Schild and Prashant Iyengar from CIS were part of the research team.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/openness/events/open-access-to-academic-knowledge-at-the-iisc" target="_blank">Open Access to Academic Knowledge</a>, organised by the Indian Institute of Science and CIS at National Centre for Science Information, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on 2 November 2011. Tom Dane participated in this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/canadian-science-policy-conference" target="_blank">3rd Canadian Science Policy Conference</a>, organised by Canadian Science Policy Conference from16 to 18 November 2011 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Sunil Abraham spoke in the session on Global Implications of Open and Inclusive Innovation. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/announcement-of-wikimedia-india-program-trust" target="_blank">The Wikimedia India Program Trust</a>. A new entity, the “Wikimedia India Program Trust”, has been registered in Delhi. Sunil Abraham is one of the trustees. </li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance" class="external-link"><b>Internet Governance</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Comments / Submissions</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-finance-committee-statements" target="_blank">CIS Comments on Finance Committee Statements to Open Letters on Unique Identity</a>: The Parliamentary Finance Committee responded to the six open letters sent by CIS through an email on 12 October 2011. CIS has commented on the points raised by the Committee. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-national-policy-information-technology" target="_blank">Comments on the National Policy of Information Technology</a>: The NPIT 2011 has the laudable goal of making India a ‘knowledge economy with a global role’ by developing and deploying ICT solutions in all sectors to foster development within India and at a global level. CIS appreciates this initiative of the Department of Information Technology and offers brief comments to strengthen the draft. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-draft-national-policy-on-electronics" target="_blank">CIS Comments on the Draft National Policy on Electronics</a>: CIS submitted its comments to the request for comments put out by the Department of Information Technology on its draft 'National Policy on Electronics'.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Statement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-statement-un-cirp" target="_blank">India's Statement Proposing UN Committee for Internet-Related Policy</a>: India made its statement at the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, its proposal for the UN Committee for Internet-Related Policy was presented.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Podcast</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/openness/professor-balaram-talks-open-access" target="_blank">Professor Balaram talks Open Access</a> : Tom Dane spoke with Professor P Balaram, Director of the Indian Institute of Science about the Open Access movement. A podcast of the interview is online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-report" target="_blank">The 2nd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series — A Post-event Report</a> : The 2nd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series was organised by the Indian Journal of Law and Technology and CIS on the 21st and 22nd of May 2011 at the National Law School of India University, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore. The main theme for this year was Emerging Issues in Privacy Law: Law, Policy and Practice. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Essay in Peer Reviewed Journal</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/material-cyborgs-asserted-boundaries" target="_blank">Material Cyborgs; Asserted Boundaries</a> <br /> by Nishant Shah, Director-Research <br /> Nishant explores the possibility of formulating the cyborg as an author or translator who is able to navigate between the different binaries of ‘meat–machine’, ‘digital–physical’, and ‘body–self’, using the abilities and the capabilities learnt in one system in an efficient and effective understanding of the other. The essay was published in the European Journal of English Studies, Volume 12, Issue 2.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Articles/Columns</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/what-is-dilligaf" target="_blank">What is Dilligaf?</a> On the web, time moves at the speed of thought: Groups emerge, proliferate and are abandoned as new trends and fads take precedence. Nowhere else is this dramatic flux as apparent as in the language that evolves online. While SMS lingo – like TTYL (Talk To You Later) and LOL (Laughing Out Loud)– has endured and become a part of everyday language, new forms of speech are taking over. This article by Nishant Shah was published in GQ India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/book-of-jobs" target="_blank">The Book of Jobs</a> The man who made the computer personal, who changed the face of the digital media industry, who was inspired by Zen philosophy to create an eight-billion-dollar empire, Steve Jobs, died last month. Just a few weeks before his death, in the midst of his painful illness, he told Walter Isaacson, the man chosen to write his authorised biography, “I really want to believe that something survives”. And Isaacson wrote him a fairy tale which will make sure that Jobs will be remembered beyond the gizmos and gimmicks, writes Nishant Shah in this article published in the Indian Express on 12 November 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Staff Quoted in the Media <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/facebook-tracking-footprints" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/facebook-tracking-footprints" target="_blank">Is Facebook tracking your virtual footprints?</a> by Sheetal Sukhija in MidDay, 22 November 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/m-governance" target="_blank">M-governance gains momentum</a> by Vasudha Venugopal in the Hindu, 20 November 2011. Nishant Shah was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/bill-could-kill-internet" target="_blank">SOPA: The bill that could kill the Internet</a> by Suw Charman-Anderson in Firstpost.Technology, 16 November 2011.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/broadband-long-way-to-go" target="_blank">Broadband user base still has a long way to go</a>, by Leslie D’Monte & Deepti Chaudhary in Livemint, 15 November 2011. Sunil Abraham has been quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/maids-guards-get-fingerprinted" target="_blank">‘Not mandatory’ but maids, guards get fingerprinted</a> by Hemanth Kashyap in Bangalore Mirror, 9 November 2011. Sunil Abraham has been quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/netizen-report" target="_blank">Netizen Report: Transparency Edition</a> by Rebecca MacKinnon in Global Voices Online, 7 November 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/blocking-content-google-gets-more-requests" target="_blank">Blocking online content: Google gets more requests than govt</a> by Pallavi Polanki in Firstpost.com, 2 November 2011. Pranesh Prakash has been quoted in this article.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Posts <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/sources-cis-funding" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/sources-cis-funding" target="_blank">Sources of CIS Funding</a> by Pranesh Prakash on 9 November 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/p2p-throttling-and-dns-hijacking" target="_blank">TRAI urged to take action against P2P throttling and DNS hijacking</a> by Anand on 9 November 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/art-activism" target="_blank">Exposing Data: Art Slash Activism</a> organised by Tactical Tech and CIS at CIS office in Bangalore on 28 November 2011. Ward Smith and Stephanie Hankey (Co-founders of TTC), Ayisha Abraham (Filmmaker, Srishti School of Art Design) and Zainab Bawa (Research Fellow, CIS) gave a lecture. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/droidcon-india" target="_blank">Droidcon India, first Android Conference in Bangalore</a>, organised by CIS in collaboration with Droidcon.com, Bangalore Android User Group, MobileMonday Bangalore and Android Advices on 18 and 19 November 2011 at the MLR Convention Centre, Bangalore. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/bio-diversity-informatics-workshop" target="_blank">Western Ghats Portal: Workshop on Biodiversity Informatics</a> organised by the Western Ghats Portal team at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, 25 November 2011. Sunil Abraham spoke in the session on Scientific Commons and Policy.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/news/names-not-numbers" target="_blank">Names Not Numbers Mumbai</a>, 26 November 2011. Nishant Shah spoke in a panel on “The New Digital Individual: Is New Technology Liberating or Enslaving?”. The event was organised by Editorial Intelligence and partners which included the British Council and Financial Times, BBC World News, Mumbai first, Vodafone, Trident and Godrej India Cultural Lab.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Upcoming Events</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/dialogue-cafe" target="_blank">Dialogue Cafe @ Centre for Internet and Society</a>, 2 December 2011, Centre for Internet & Society, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-conclave" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a>, 3 February 2011, Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens New Delhi, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. This is a closed-door meeting. For participation, get in touch with Elonnai (<a href="mailto:elonnai@cis-india.org">elonnai@cis-india.org</a>).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-symposium" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a>, 4 February 2011, India International Centre, New Delhi. This is a public meeting. For participation, get in touch with Elonnai (<a href="mailto:elonnai@cis-india.org">elonnai@cis-india.org</a>).</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/events/facebook-resistance" target="_blank">Facebook Resistance Workshop at CIS</a>. This was a workshop for people to learn on how to think beyond the rules and limitations of Facebook, to tweak and play around the features and design to generate useful, creative, and funny concepts and explore how this creative intervention can be turned into a real software developed by the Facebook Resistance. </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom" class="external-link"><b>Telecom</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Column</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-path-breaker" target="_blank">Telecom Path-Breaker?</a> (by Shyam Ponappa): Does the draft National Telecom Policy-2011 reflect true brilliance or smoke-and-mirrors? It will be a game-changer if a shared network is implemented effectively, writes Shyam Ponappa in this article published in the Business Standard on 3 November 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Follow CIS on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=457&qid=46981" target="_blank">identi.ca</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=458&qid=46981" target="_blank">Facebook</a>\</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Visit us at <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" 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/november-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-24T02:37:09ZPageDecember 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2011-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of December 2011. This issue carries a special section on Freedom of Expression as there was much discussion regarding the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal’s proposal for pro-active censorship of social media.</b>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives" class="external-link"><b>Digital Natives with a Cause?</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS, India and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscapes of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and internet technologies, in emerging information societies. The collaboration has produced <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">a four book collective</a> around ‘digital revolutions’ in a post Arab spring world, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">a position paper</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">a scouting report</a> and three international workshops in <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/talking-back">Taipei</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/my-bubble-my-space-my-voice-workshop-perspective-and-future">Johannesburg</a> and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/santiago-workshop-an-after-thought">Santiago</a>.</p>
<h3>Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/the-digital-other">The Digital Other</a>: Nishant Shah raises his concerns that increasingly, Digital Natives are acting as pure consumers of technology and gadgets, and seem willing to do so. The blog post was published in DML Central, 14 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Events</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/video-contest/digital-natives-contest">Digital Native Video Contest</a>, jointly organised by CIS and Hivos. Submission guidelines and FAQs are online. Submit your proposal online by 26 January 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/events/tweet-a-review">Digital AlterNatives Tweet-a-Review</a>, 17 – 26 December 2011: 'Digital Natives with a Cause?' Project invites readers to review essays from the 'Digital AlterNatives with a Cause', a four-book collective published by Centre for Internet & Society and Hivos.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book Reviews</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/unpacking-from-shiny-packaging">Unpacking Digital Natives from their Shiny Packaging</a>: “The ‘Digital Natives’ concept is neither necessarily nor inherently positive, as YiPing Tsou highlights in her chapter Digital Natives in the Name of a Cause: From Flash Mob to "Human Flesh Search.” <i>—</i> <b>Argyri Panezi</b></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/on-natives-and-norms">On Natives, Norms and Knowledge</a>:<i> </i>“It is a text I strongly recommend, especially to those interested in the reasons behind contemporary policies that try to regulate digital activism such as the US SOPA Act.” <i>— </i><b>Philip Ketzel</b></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/twin-manifestations">Digital Native: Twin Manifestations or Co-Located Hybrids</a>: “Ben-David’s piece is a well-articulated and informed attempt to resolve two of the several conceptual fuzziness of the term Digital Native. She attempts this in a philosophical manner: trying to move away from the ontological who are Digital Natives? to an epistemological when and where are Digital Natives?”<i> </i><i>— </i><b>Samuel Tettner</b></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Pathways for Learning in Higher Education</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Pathways Project for Learning in Higher Education is a collaboration between the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications (HEIRA) at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). The project is supported by the Ford Foundation and works with disadvantaged students in nine undergraduate colleges in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, to explore relationships between technologies, higher education and the new forms of social justice in India.</p>
<h3>Workshop Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/facultyworkshop">The Digital Classroom: Social Justice and Pedagogy</a>: Nishant Shah captures some of the questions that were thrown up and discussed at the 2 day Faculty Training workshop for participant from colleges included in the Pathways to Higher Education programme, supported by Ford Foundation and collaboratively executed by the Higher Education Innovation and Research Application and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Post <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/blog/higher-education"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/blog/higher-education">Technology, Social Justice and Higher Education</a> by Nishant Shah, 7 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3><b> </b>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/events/pathways-third-faculty-workshop">Pathways 3rd Faculty Workshop & Regional Facilitators Meeting at CSCS</a>, 8–10 December 2011, CSCS, Bangalore, Nishant Shah participated in the workshop<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility" class="external-link"><b>Accessibility</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies. So far we have organised Right to Read campaigns in the four metro cities of <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-chennai">Chennai</a>, <span>Kolkata</span>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign">Delhi</a> and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/mumbai-phase-of-right-to-read-campaign">Mumbai</a>, made a <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page/blog/comments-on-copyright-and-print%20impaired">submission to amend the Indian Copyright to the HRD Ministry</a>, researched on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page/making-mobile-phones-accessible/making-phones-accessible.pdf">accessible mobile handsets in India</a>, analysed the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/working-draft">Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act</a>, and published a <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">policy handbook on e-accessibility</a> and a book on <span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities">universal service for persons with disabilities</a></span><i>.</i></p>
<h3>Publications</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities">Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities</a>: Published by G3ict and CIS in cooperation with the Hans Foundation. The book is co-authored by Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict, Deepti Bharthur and Nirmita Narasimhan.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/business-case-for-web-accessibility">The Business Case for Web Accessibility</a>: NASSCOM Foundation has published a handbook on web accessibility titled “Understanding Web Accessibility — A Guide to Create Accessible Work Environments”. Nirmita Narasimhan authored a chapter “The Business Case for Web Accessibility”<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Submission</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011">Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011</a>: CIS was part of the 27 organisations that responded to the call for comments on NTP 2011. The submission was made to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India on 9 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Interview</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nirmita">An Interview of Nirmita Narasimhan on ITU Portal</a>: ITU Girls in ICT is now online! ITU interviewed Nirmita and published her profile on their website.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Award</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award">Nirmita receives NIVH Award</a>: Nirmita Narasimhan received the NIVH Excellence Award from Justice AS Anand (retd), former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped in Dehradun on Saturday, 3 December 2011. The Tribune covered the award ceremony and published this in their newspaper on 3 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-delhi">ITU Meeting and Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a></span>, organized by the International Telecommunication Union, India International Centre, 13 – 15 March 2012. CIS is hosting the workshop in collaboration with the ITU-APT Foundation. More information and registration are available at the <span><a href="http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/edrs/ITU-T/studygroup/edrs.registration.form?_eventid=3000348">ITU website</a></span>.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k" class="external-link"><b>Access to Knowledge</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents, and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape. We prepared the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=960&qid=124241" target="_blank">India report for the CI IP Watchlist</a>, made <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=961&qid=124241" target="_blank">submission to the HRD Ministry on WIPO Broadcast treaty</a>, questioned the demonization of pirates, and advocated against laws (such as the PUPFIP Bill) that privatize public funded knowledge.</p>
<h3>Comments</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/ace-7-future-work-cis-intervention">CIS Intervention on Future Work of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement</a></span><br /> The seventh session of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) was held in Geneva on 30 November and 1 December 2011. Pranesh Prakash participated in the event and made the intervention.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/ace-7-french-charter-cis-comment">Comment by CIS at ACE on Presentation on French Charter on the Fight against Cyber-Counterfeiting</a>: Pranesh Prakash responded to a presentation by Prof. Pierre Sirinelli of the École de droit de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 on 'The French Charter on the Fight against Cyber-Counterfeiting of 16 December 2009 during the seventh session of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) held in Geneva<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Post</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/books-vs-cigarettes">CIS Hosts Scanned Version of George Orwell’s Books vs. Cigarettes</a>: Verbindingen/Jonctions (V/J), the bi-annual multidisciplinary festival organised by Constant took place on 1 December 2011. CIS hosted the scanned pages of the essay in public domain.</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness" class="external-link"><b>Openness</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Innovation and creativity should be fostered through openness and collaboration. The advent of<i> </i>Internet has radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. The Internet itself is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. Our endeavour has resulted in a report on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/front-page/blog/open-government-data-study">open government data</a>, a report on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/front-page/online-video-environment-in-india">online video environment in India</a> and a <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/front-page/blog/people-are-knowledge">film on oral citations on the Wikipedia</a><i>.</i></p>
<h3>Award</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ept-award-for-open-access">Inaugural EPT Award for Open Access</a></span>: The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development is pleased to announce the winners of a new annual award to be made to individuals working in developing countries who have made a significant personal contribution to advancing the cause of open access (OA) and the free exchange of research findings. The winner of the inaugural award is Dr Francis Jayakanth of the National Centre for Science Information, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India<i>.</i> </li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance" class="external-link"><b>Internet Governance</b></a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society has 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 partnered with Privacy International and Society in Action Group which has produced outputs in <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/privacy/privacy-banking" target="_blank">banking</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/privacy/privacy-telecommunications" target="_blank">telecommunications</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/privacy/consumer-privacy?searchterm=Consumer+Privacy+++How+to+Enforce+an+Effective+Protective+Regime+" target="_blank">consumer rights</a>,<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/privacy/privacy-media-law" target="_blank"> media law</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/privacy-sexual-minorities" target="_blank">sexual minorities</a>, etc., and submitted <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance" target="_blank">seven open letters</a> to Parliamentary Finance Committee on UID covering several aspects, feedbacks on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance" target="_blank">IT Rules</a><i>.</i></p>
<h3>Peer Review</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/streaming-on-your-nearest-screen" target="_blank">Now Streaming on Your Nearest Screen</a> by Nishant Shah, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Volume 3, Issue 1.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-society-challenges-next-steps" target="_blank">Internet and Society in Asia: Challenges and Next Steps</a> by Nishant Shah, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Volume 11, Number 1.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book Review</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/historian-wins-over-biographer" target="_blank">The Historian Wins Over the Biographer</a><i> “In Walter Isaacson's eponymous biography of Steve Jobs, the multibillion dollar man who is credited with single handedly changing the face of computing and the digital media industry, we face the dilemma of a biographer: how do you make sense of a history that is so new, it is still unfolding.” </i><br />Nishant Shah's detailed review of Steve Jobs' biography was published in the Biblio Vol. XV Nos. 11 & 12, November- December 2011</li>
</ul>
<h3>Newspaper / Magazine Articles</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/spy-in-web" target="_blank">Spy in the Web</a> The government’s proposed pre-censorship rules undermine the intelligence of an online user and endanger democracy, Nishant Shah, Indian Express, 18 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/what-is-dilligaf" target="_blank">What is Dilligaf?</a> On the web, time moves at the speed of thought: Groups emerge, proliferate and are abandoned as new trends and fads take precedence. Nowhere else is this dramatic flux as apparent as in the language that evolves online, Nishant Shah, GQ India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/surrogate-futures-scattered-temporalities" target="_blank">Of Surrogate Futures and Scattered Temporalities</a>: Nishant Shah responds to Michael Edwards through this blog post published in the Broker on 27 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Interview</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/interview-with-anne-cavoukian" target="_blank">An Interview with Dr. Ann Cavoukian</a>: Elonnai Hickok interviews Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ontario, Canada<i>.</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/when-digital-spills-into-physical" target="_blank">When the digital spills into the physical</a>: Nishant Shah tells us why flash mobs are an interesting sign of our times, and not just a passing fad. MidDay published this interview in their newspaper on 18 December 2011<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/phishing-attacks-on-rise" target="_blank">Phishing Attacks on the Rise</a>: Sunil Abraham was on the TV Channel News 9 on 2 December 2011 speaking about two visual cues to distinguish between the fake and the real websites<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/web-censorship" target="_blank">India’s dreams of web censorship</a>, Financial Time's beyondbrics, 6 December 2011, Sunil Abraham was quoted in this post<i>.</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/did-he-didnt-he" target="_blank">Did He, Didn’t He</a> by Rahul Bhatia, Open Magazine (issue: 7-14 December 2011)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/much-at-stake-for-tech-sector" target="_blank">Much at stake for tech sector in UID project</a> by Pranav Nambiar, Economic Times, 12 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/red-herring" target="_blank">On the net, red herring</a> by Javed Anwer, The Times of India, 4 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/twitter-facebook-lead-in-blogosphere" target="_blank">Twitter, Facebook take the lead in blogosphere as blog searches fall by half</a> by Ameya Chumbhale, Economic Times, 17 November 2011. Pranesh Prakash was quoted in this article<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/art-slash-activism" target="_blank">Exposing Data: Art Slash Activism </a>organised by Tactical Tech and CIS in Bangalore on 28 November 2011. Zainab Bawa, Ayisha Abraham, Ward Smith and Marek Tuszinsky gave a talk. Videos of the event are now online<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Events</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/right-to-privacy-bill-conference" target="_blank">Privacy Matters — Analyzing the "Right to Privacy Bill"</a>: Privacy India in partnership with International Development Research Centre, Canada, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the Godrej Culture Lab, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore is organising "Privacy Matters", a public conference at IIT, Bombay on 21 January 2012<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-conclave" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a>: Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Society in Action Group, Gurgaon and Privacy International, UK is organizing the High Level Privacy Conclave at the Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens in New Delhi on Friday, 3 February 2012<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-symposium" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a><span>:</span> Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Society in Action Group, Gurgaon, Privacy International, UK and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is organizing the All India Privacy Symposium at the India International Centre, New Delhi on Saturday, 4 February 2012<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/dialogue-cafe" target="_blank">Dialogue Cafe @ Centre for Internet and Society</a>, 2 Dec 2011, Kavita Philip gave a talk.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><b>Special Section on Freedom of Expression</b></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We usually cover Freedom of Expression under Internet Governance. However, this month there has been much discussion regarding the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal’s proposal for pro-active censorship of social media. This special section covers reportage and original content from CIS<i>:</i></p>
<h3>Newspaper / Magazine Articles</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/invisible-censorship" target="_blank">Invisible Censorship: How the Government Censors Without Being Seen</a> by Pranesh Prakash: The Indian government wants to censor the Internet without being seen to be censoring the Internet. The article was translated into Marathi and featured in Lokmat, 18 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/us-clampdown" target="_blank">US Clampdown Worse than the Great Firewall</a> by Sunil Abraham: If you thought China’s Internet censorship was evil, think again. American moves to clean up the Web could hurt global surfers. Sunil Abraham wrote this article in Tehelka, Volume 8, Issue 50, 17 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/unkindest-cut-mr-sibal" target="_blank">That’s the Unkindest Cut, Mr. Sibal</a> by Sunil Abraham: There’s Kolaveri-di on the Internet over Kapil Sibal’s diktat to social media sites to prescreen users’ posts. That diktat goes far beyond the restrictions placed on our freedom of expression by the IT Act. But, says Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society, India is not going to be silenced online. Deccan Chronicle, 11 December 2011<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Posts</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/online-pre-censorship-harmful-impractical" target="_blank">Online Pre-Censorship is Harmful and Impractical</a> by Pranesh Prakash: The Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal wants Internet intermediaries to pre-censor content uploaded by their users. Pranesh Prakash takes issue with this and explains why this is a problem, even if the government's heart is in the right place.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/press-coverage-online-censorship" target="_blank">Press Coverage of Online Censorship Row</a>: We are maintaining a rolling blog with press references to the row created by the proposal by the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology to pre-screen user-generated Internet content.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Radio Broadcast</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Social media sites refuse Indian censorship request: Sunil Abraham spoke to Radio Australia. Follow the broadcast <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/social-media-sites-refuse-indian-censorship" target="_blank">here</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Live Chat</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ibn-live-chat-with-pranesh" target="_blank">Is the govt bid to regulate content on the Internet a good thing?</a>: Pranesh Prakash answered questions freedom of expression vis-a-vis objectionable content live on CNN-IBN's chat feature, 7 December 2011<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/caught-in-web" target="_blank">Caught in the Web</a>: <i>“As it is the status of freedom of speech in India is in a bad shape. Sibal's new rules will only make it worse.”— </i><b>Sunil Abraham in Hindu Business Line</b>, 13 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/online-gag" target="_blank">Online gag: Existing rules give little freedom</a>: <i>“Our criticism is of the policy and not of the websites and Internet entities that are forced to err on the side of caution when faced by such notices.” — </i><b>Sunil Abraham in the Times of India</b><i>,</i> 9 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/facebook-google-tell-india-they-won2019t-screen-for-derogatory-content" target="_blank">Facebook, Google tell India they won’t screen for derogatory content</a>: <i>“Researchers sent mock take-down notices to seven sites, complaining about their content... six sites immediately deleted content. They did not even verify the validity of our flawed complaint. They over-complied.” — </i><b>Sunil Abraham in Washington Post</b>, 6 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/any-normal-human-being-would-be-offended" target="_blank">‘Any Normal Human Being Would Be Offended’</a>: <i>“</i><i>Indian law seems to state that it has global jurisdiction but that is not really true. An Indian court might give an order that is unenforceable in the United States or anywhere else.” — </i><b>Sunil Abraham in the New York Times</b>, 6 December 2011<i>.</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/it-inc-oppose-sibals-firewall-proposal" target="_blank">IT Inc oppose Sibal’s ‘great’ firewall proposal</a>: <i>“You wouldn’t want to end up with a situation where you are denied access to, say, the website of the University of Sussex because the address contains the word ‘sex’.” — </i><b>Nishant Shah in Indian Express</b>, 7 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/online-at-india" target="_blank">Online @ India</a>: <i>“I haven't yet heard of anybody in India going on a rampage because somebody in Pakistan started an 'India hate' page.” — </i><b>Nishant Shah in the Hindustan Times</b>, 10 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/private-censorship-making-online-content-disappear-quietly" target="_blank">How ‘private-censorship’ is making online content disappear, quietly</a>: <i>“Google’s self-reported compliance rate of 51 per cent shows that they are probably over-stepping the law in order to appease the Indian government’s requests.” — </i><b>Pranesh Prakash in FirstPost</b>, 15 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/chilling-it-act" target="_blank">Kapil Sibal to sterilise Net but undercover sting shows 6 of 7 websites already trigger-happy to censor under ‘chilling’ IT Act</a>, Legally India, 7 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this blog post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/2018chilling2019-impact-of-india2019s-april-internet-rules" target="_blank">‘Chilling’ Impact of India’s April Internet Rules</a> by Heather Simmons, New York Times, 7 December 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/scrub-the-internet-clean" target="_blank">Govt wants to scrub the Internet clean</a>, Livemint, 7 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/techies-angered-over-censorship" target="_blank">India's Techies Angered Over Internet Censorship Plan</a>, NPR, 20 December 2011. Pranesh Prakash was quoted in this blog post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-social-media-access-should-not-be-blocked-ban" target="_blank">Internet, social media access should not be blocked: Ban</a>, Oman Tribune, 10 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/minority-report-age" target="_blank">India entering the Minority Report age?</a>, ioL scietech. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internautas-indios-se-oponen" target="_blank">Los internautas indios se oponen a la censura a través de la Red</a>, Diario de Navarra, 7 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in the Spanish newspaper.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/technological-beasts-impossible-to-control" target="_blank">Technological beasts like Facebook, Orkut, YouTube & Google impossible to control</a> by Sunanda Poduwal & Kamya Jaiswal, Economic Times, 11 December 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in the article.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/google-vs-kapil" target="_blank">Google V/s Kapil Sibal</a> by Sundeep Dougal in Outlook, 8 December 2011. Pranesh Prakash's work at CIS has been extensively quoted in this blog post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-bid-to-censor-net-draws-flak" target="_blank">India bid to censor Internet draws flak</a> Phil Hazlewood spoke to Sunil Abraham and published this article for AFP. France 24, Khaleej Times, Physorg.com, TimesLive, Bangkok Post, Yahoo News, MSN News, Emirates 24/7, Business Live and Jakarta Globe also carried the news on their websites, 9 December 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b><i> </i></b>Videos</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-censorship" target="_blank">Censorship — A Death Knell for Freedom of Expression Online</a>: On 8 December 2011<i>, </i>NDTV aired an interesting discussion on internet censorship. Shashi Tharoor, Soli Sorabjee, Shekhar Kapoor, Ken Ghosh and Sunil Abraham participated in this discussion with NDTV's Sonia Singh<i>.</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/censor-social-networking-sites" target="_blank">FTN: Should social networking sites be censored?</a>: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal met the representatives of Facebook, Google and others seeking to device a screening mechanism. Sunil Abraham was on CNN-IBN from 10.00 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. speaking about freedom of expression in India<i>.</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/online-content-row" target="_blank">Debate: Online content row-1</a>: Sunil Abraham was on Times Now from 9.05 p.m. to 9.45 p.m. on 6 December 2011 speaking about freedom of expression in India<i>.</i><i> </i></li>
</ul>
<h3><b> </b>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/free-speech-online-in-india-under-attack" target="_blank">Free Speech Online in India under Attack? A Panel Discussion</a>, 21 December 2011. Achal Prabhala, Anja Kovacs, Lawrence Liang and Sunil Abraham gave lectures<i>.</i></li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom" class="external-link"><b>Telecom</b></a></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. In this connection, Shyam Ponappa continues to write his monthly column for the Business Standard.</p>
<h3>Newspaper Article</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/healing-self-inflicted-wounds" target="_blank">Healing self-inflicted wounds</a> by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, 1 December 2011: A spate of dysfunctional actions and retrograde developments has led to an unimaginable mess for India. Can the damage to growth prospects be undone? Does it need to be? If so, how?</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Follow CIS on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=457&qid=46981" target="_blank">identi.ca</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=458&qid=46981" target="_blank">Facebook</a>\</li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" target="_blank">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p><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><i> </i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-23T08:35:03ZPageBangalore Thinkathon Surrogacy: Bodies, States, Networks
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/bangalore-thinkathon
<b>The first workshop of the Habits of Living project will be a Thinkathon (Thinking Marathon) focused on the notion of surrogate structures that have become the visible landmarks of contemporary life and will be hosted by the Centre for Internet & Society, in Bangalore, India.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Scheduled from 26th to 29th September 2012, the event will bring together a range of multidisciplinary scholars and practitioners from the Global South. The aim of the workshop is to produce new conceptual frameworks to help us understand networks and the ways in which they inform our everyday practice and thought.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The <em>Habits of Living</em> project begins with this workshop in Bangalore because Surrogacy is central to the ubiquity and universality of contemporary networks. A surrogate is "a person or … a thing that acts for or takes the place of another" (OED). A surrogate is a "simplified" substitute that represents and wields power for another: a deputy, an authorized stand-in. In contemporary network science—widely used in (and drawn from) sociology, economics, biology, and industry—networks operate as surrogates. Surrogate structures that transcend the material boundaries of modernist concepts like Nation States and Bodies have emerged as a way by which new social, cultural, political and economic configurations get assembled. The idea of networked information societies has forced us to revisit the ways in which we understand fluid and aporetic structures that facilitate flow of ideas, capital and ideologies in the rapidly globalizing world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As the influential network scientist <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_J._Watts">Duncan Watts</a> has pointed out, "rather than going out into the world and measuring it in great detail, [network scientists] want to construct a mathematical model of a social network, in place of the real thing…" This substitution means "making drastic simplifications" in which real world phenomena are "represented in almost comic simplicity by dots on a piece of paper, with lines connecting them." These simplifications, which cause us to miss real world details, enables network scientists to "tap into a wealth of knowledge and techniques that will enable us to address a set of very general questions about networks that we might never have been able to answer had we gotten bogged down in all the messy details."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Surrogacy supports the self-referential universe that networks create, where all conditions of exteriority are obliterated and each phenomenon is explained only through its relationality with the other phenomena in that networked condition. This co-dependence promotes the idea of universalized networks which are diverse but homogeneous, and specific but replicable. Simultaneously, there is a contained analytical framework that proposes to offer a comprehensive view but only manages to mimic (Bhabha, reference) the status quo of the dominant power structures. Networks become the reified forms and functions of this condition of Surrogacy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Surrogacy is thus central to making "networks" universal at both a macro and micro level, for not only do networks stand in for other phenomena, the very basic units of network analyses, nodes and edges, depend on the substitution (and thus universalization) of actors and interactions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Intriguingly, the direction of this substitution is unstable. Modern networks stem from structures, such as electrical grids and highway systems, deliberately built to resemble nets. Remarkably, though, networks have become both constructed technical structures and actually existing phenomena that are empirically discovered. Systems biology, for instance, presumes the existence of networks in animals, from the genetic to the multi-cellular. Similarly, ecology conceptualizes food webs and less lethal animal interactions—or more precisely the potentiality of these interactions—as networks. This insistence on networks as actually existing empirical entities happens even as network scientists’ analysis itself is framed as an abstraction that replaces real world events with a mathematical model. Networks are thus both theoretical diagrams and things that exist out there. Indeed, they compromise the distinction between the constructed and the natural, the theoretical and the empirical. Like Borges’ imfamous map, the map—the surrogate—has become the territory.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Surrogacy, however, localizes as well as abstracts. A surrogate — something that stands in for more complex and often unsustainable forms of life — is often a potent being that is both temporary and unending. The surrogate emerges as an alternative form of producing specialized life and habits, while also performing a universal viability that stands in for the local specificities. Specific surrogacy networks range from:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Global networks of biological surrogacy and reproductive care that mobilize and orchestrate new conditions of labor (in all senses of the word)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Digital networks that help mobilize certain bodies and skills into the larger conditions of contemporary globalization</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">New combinations of State-Market partnerships enabled by digital and internet technologies that define the precarious conditions of life and living for the citizen subjects</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Complexes of emotional surplus and affective relationships that get codified in massive social network systems, redefining the ways in which we understand relationships and relationality</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Consortial state and state-like structures that transgress the territorial sovereignty of the nation-state and produce new forms of governance and belonging</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For the Bangalore Thinkathon, we are bringing together scholars and practioners whose work touches on at least one of these types of surrogacy in order to outline and comprehend the work networks do. With a special emphasis the emergence and proliferation of large scale networks enabled by the digital turn, the Thinkathon is designed to start a dialogue between these different un-disciplined perspectives and produce a compendium of perspectives on the changing habits of living in contemporary times.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/bangalore-thinkathon'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/bangalore-thinkathon</a>
</p>
No publisherWendy Chun & Nishant ShahResearch2012-07-20T06:08:16ZBlog EntryMarch 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2012-bulletin
<b>In this month we announced the new clusters from Researchers at Work: Locating the Mobile, Interface Intimacies and Habits of Living. </b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Research</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">New series from RAW, new Clusters now Online!</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">From 2012 to 2015, the RAW series will build research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. We hope to build knowledge networks and production of new knowledge around questions of body, governance and cultural production in the digital times that we live in. Spearheaded by experts in the field of science, technology, society and culture the clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia. <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile" target="_blank">Locating the Mobile: An Ethnographic Investigation into Locative Media in Melbourne, Bangalore and Shanghai</a><br />Larissa Hjorth (RMIT University, Melbourne), Genevieve Bell (Intel, Shanghai)<br />As yet we know little about the impact locative media is having, and will have upon people’s livelihoods and identity, or on public policy around privacy, identity, security and cultural production. Discourse in the field has opened up questions of art, innovation and experimentation. But there is a dearth of nuanced research on locative media that provides in-depth, contextual accounts of its socio-cultural and political dimensions. Not much work has been conducted into locative media as it migrates from art to the ‘messy’ area of everyday. The project seeks to address this knowledge gap by studying locative media in Bangalore, Melbourne and Shanghai.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/interface-intimacies/interface-intimacies" target="_blank">Interface Intimacies</a><br />Audrey Yue (Melbourne University) and Namita Malhotra (ALF)<br />Users of technologies often express their engagement with technologies in affective terms. The interfaces that we see all around us constantly deflect our attention, emotions and desires on to different surfaces, creating flattened universes with the promises of deep immersion. Digging deep into interfaces, to examine peoples’ relationships with the digital interfaces around them the research cluster examines: What are the affective relationships that people have with their interfaces? What goes into anthropomorphising an interface? What are the larger politics of labour, performance and ownership that surround interface design? What are the ways in which people simulate presence and connections through their interfaces? How is the human presumed in computer-human interface design? What aesthetic and political moves are we witnessing with the rise of interface mediated publics? What and who is made opaque when interfaces become transparent? When interfaces get distributed, what are the possibilities and potential for art, theory and practice to move into new forms of politics?</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living" target="_blank">Habits of Living: Global Networks, Local Affects</a><br />Wendy Chun (Professor, Brown University), Kelly Dobson, (Chair, Digital + Media, RISD, Providence), Matthew Fuller, David Gee (Reader in Digital Media, Center for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London) and Eivind Rossaak, (Associate Professor, Department of Research, National Library of Norway, Oslo).<br />This is a global collaborative project to renew the conceptual power of networks. It concentrates on changing the habits of living. The Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University will be an important locus. Habits are crucial to understanding networks not simply as broad organizational structures but also as structures created through constant actions that are both voluntary and involuntary.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video Contest</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/vote-for-digital-natives" target="_blank">Who’s the Everyday Digital Native? A global video contest finds the answer!</a><br /> CIS and Hivos are excited to announce the top five videos. The finalists will each win EUR 500. According to Nishant Shah, the 12 video proposals show that the everyday digital native does not wake up in the morning and think, ‘today I will change the world’. Yet, in their everyday lives, when they see the possibility of producing a change in their immediate environments, they turn to the digital to find networks that can start a change.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Public Lectures</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives" target="_blank">D:Coding Digital Natives</a> (Nishant Shah, University of California, Los Angeles, March 9, 2012)<br />"In the last three years of revolutions we have also now witnessed this extraordinary thing where lot of promises were made of different kinds of revolution but which never materialised in terms of what they intended to. Citizen action happens but it doesn’t lead into anything concrete." The lecture is featured in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvY__z3jN7M" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/digital-natives-and-the-myth-of-revolution" target="_blank">Digital Natives and the Myth of the Revolution: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (Nishant Shah, Annenberg School of Communication, University of South California, March 8, 2012): Nishant Shah made a presentation on 'Questioning the Radical Potential for Citizen Action'.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ignite-talks" target="_blank">5 Challenges for the Future of Learning: Digital Natives and How We Shall Teach Them</a> (Digital Media and Learning Conference on Beyond Education Technologies, Wyndham Parc 55 Hotel, San Francisco, March 1, 2012). Nishant Shah gave a ignite talk.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/questioning-the-radical-potential-of-citizen-action" target="_blank">Digital Natives and the Myth of the Revolution: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (UC Santa Cruz, Monday, March 5, 2012). Nishant Shah gave a lecture. The lecture focused more on the India against Corruption case-study rather than the theoretical framework to understanding revolutions.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Column in Indian Express</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/pinning-the-badge" target="_blank">Pinning the Badge</a><br />Nishant Shah, March 18, 2012<br />In a world of competition, badging provides a holistic way of grading and learning, where individual talents are realized and the knowledge of the group is used. A peer-2-peer system of badging, which enables learners to be critically aware not only of their own interaction with knowledge but also recognises the ways in which larger communities of knowledge — including the peers and teachers — opens up an extraordinary way of thinking about education.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Book Review...A Few Excerpts<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/an-experiment-in-social-engineering" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/an-experiment-in-social-engineering" target="_blank">An Experiment in Social Engineering: The Cultural Context of an Avatar</a><i><br />‘Engineering a cyber twin’ is an attempt to inventory the ontological features of an avatar... Ansher’s essay… eschews a simplistic binary of offline/online, preferring to focus on the domain of interaction between the two ‘personae’ of the same self</i>.<br />Pramod K. Nayar reviews Nilofar Shamim Ansher’s essay ‘Engineering a Cyber Twin’ from Digital Alternatives with a Cause? Book One: To Be.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Accessibility</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Analysis</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/analysis-of-comments" target="_blank">Analysis of Comments by WBU & IPA</a><br />Rahul Cherian provides an analysis of the comments by the World Blind Union and the International Publishers Association after the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of Copyright and Related Rights.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Organised</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-delhi" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 to 15, 2012): At the invitation of the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, International Telecommunication Union organized a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility. The Tutorial was preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility on March 13, 2012. Sunil Abraham participated in the event and was the Master of Ceremony on Day 1, March 14, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Op-ed in Economic Times</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/patented-games" target="_blank">Patented Games</a>, Sunil Abraham, March 8, 2012<br />Some prefer Steve Jobs, patron saint of perfection, others prefer Nicholas Negroponte, messiah of the masses. While Mr. Jobs may be guilty of contributing to the digital divide, Mr. Negroponte may have contributed to bridging it with his innovation: the One Laptop per Child, also known as the $100 laptop or XO.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/consumers-international-meeting-2012" target="_blank">Consumers International Global Meeting 2012</a> (Kuala Lumpur, March 8 and 9, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in the global meeting organised by Consumers International and spoke on UN Consumer Guidelines. Robin Brown, Tobias Schönwetter and Guilherme Varella were the other speakers in the session.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/freedom-of-expression-and-ipr-meeting" target="_blank">Expert Meeting on Freedom of Expression and Intellectual Property Rights</a> (London, November 18, 2011): The meeting was organized by ARTICLE 19. Nineteen international scholars, experts and human rights activists met to explore the antagonistic relationship between Intellectual Property (IP) and the rights to freedom of expression and information. Pranesh Prakash was one of the participants.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Openness</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Organised</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-camp" target="_blank">Open DataCamp — 2012</a></span> (Google, Old Madras Road, Bangalore, March 24, 2012): This was a one-day unconference for people working with data from various sectors to come together and share their projects and ideas. It was organised by the DataMeet group. Pranesh Prakash participated in the event. Google, India Water Portal, Gramener, Microsoft Research, Akshara Foundation, DataMeet, HasGeek and CIS were the sponsors.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/free-arduino-workshop" target="_blank">Free Arduino Workshop (For Beginners)</a>: (CIS, Bangalore, March 3, 2012). The workshop drew participants such as interaction designers, artists and those enthusiastic to get started with creative projects but didn’t have prior experience with electronics. About 20 people participated in the workshop.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/water-data-consultation" target="_blank">Water Data Consultation</a> (Evoma Hotel, Bangalore, March 23, 2012). Pranesh Prakash spoke on Policy Issues and Developments around Open Data. The event was organized by Arghyam.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Internet Governance</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Column in FirstPost</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/facebook-stalker-is-not-real-problem" target="_blank">Why your Facebook Stalker is Not the Real Problem</a>, Nishant Shah, March 20, 2012:We live in networked conditions. This is a statement that can now be taken at face-value, and immediately explains our highly connected, inter-meshed environments…We need to start looking at larger invasive policies exercises by the different invisible actors like the ISP, ICT ministries, corporate policies, design choices and architecture of interception that sustain the networks we so gladly embrace.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entries</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/statutory-motion-against-intermediary-guidelines-rules" target="_blank">Statutory Motion against Intermediary Guidelines Rules</a></span>, Pranesh Prakash:A <a href="http://164.100.47.5/newsite/bulletin2/Bull_No.aspx?number=49472" target="_blank">motion to annul</a> the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/intermediary-guidelines-rules" target="_blank">Intermediary Guidelines Rules</a> was moved on March 23, 2012, by <a href="http://india.gov.in/govt/rajyasabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=2106" target="_blank">Shri P. Rajeeve</a>, CPI (M) MP in the Rajya Sabha from Thrissur, Kerala. We are very glad that Shri Rajeeve has moved this motion, and we hope that it gets adopted in the Lok Sabha as well, and that the Rules get defeated, notes Pranesh Prakash.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Organised</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>India Explores the Balance Points between Freedom of Expression, Privacy, National Security and Law Enforcement (New Delhi, March 5, 2012). Sunil Abraham participated in this closed-door meeting jointly organised with the Global Network Initiative. Issues relating to freedom of expression and privacy were discussed in the meeting. </li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1627&qid=160620" target="_blank">Climate Change and Controversy Mapping</a> (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, March 19 to 21, 2012). The Devechia Centre for Climate Change, the Indian Institute of Science and CIS organized a three-day workshop with Professor Bruno Latour. Doctorate students doing empirical work in various types of ecological crisis participated in the event and experimented with some of the digital tools and methods developed within the "mapping controversies" consortium.</li>
<li>GeekUp with Erica Hagen (CIS, Bangalore, March 1, 2012). HasGeek organized a GeekUp with Erica Hagen of the GroundTruth Initiative. Erica gave a lecture on the theme: "<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1628&qid=160620" target="_blank">From Information to Empowerment: Unpacking the Equation</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1629&qid=160620" target="_blank">Cartonama Workshop</a> (CIS, Bangalore, March 2 and 3, 2012). HasGeek organized a hands-on training for managing and building location based services. Twenty-two participants attended the workshop.</li>
<li><span><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1630&qid=160620" target="_blank">Global Censorship Conference</a></span></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School is holding a conference on global censorship from March 30 to April 1, 2012, at Yale Law School. The programme is sponsored by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and Thomson Reuters. Rishabh Dara, Google Policy Fellow who worked at CIS office in Bangalore on freedom of expression and internet-related policy issues is participating in the event as a speaker in the panel on Case Studies of Censorship.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1631&qid=160620" target="_blank">What is Stewardship in Cyberspace?</a> (Innis Townhall, University of Toronto, Canada, March 18 and 19, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session “Plenary Panel and Discussions” at the second annual Cyber Dialogue.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1632&qid=160620" target="_blank">Secure IT 2012 — Securing Citizens through Technology</a> (Claridges, New Delhi, March 1, 2012): The event was co-organised by DST and NSDI, Govt. of India in partnership with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. Sunil Abraham was a panelist. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1632&qid=160620" target="_blank">video is now online</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1633&qid=160620" target="_blank">International Conference on Mobile Law</a> (ASSOCHAM House, New Delhi, March 1, 2012): Pranesh Prakash spoke in the panel on Mobiles - Privacy and Social Media on March 1, 2012.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/data-protection-experts-slam-state-for-sending-mass-smses" target="_blank">Data protection experts slam state for sending mass SMSes</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/data-protection-experts-slam-state-for-sending-mass-smses" target="_blank">Data protection experts slam state for sending mass SMSes</a><br />"<i>The state government's use of unsolicited SMS a “clear abuse of the powers afforded by elected office... elected representatives would be justified in such measures, and in utilising public funds, in the event of a disaster, or when public order, public health or national security are compromised</i>."<br />Sunil Abraham, The Statesman, March 25, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/open-access-to-govt-data" target="_blank">Open access to government data on the cards</a><br />"<i>Welcoming the approval for the NDSAP, Pranesh Prakash, said, “None of the criticisms ... CIS had sent in as part of the feedback requested on the draft have been addressed</i>."<br />Pranesh Prakash, The Hindu, March 25, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/facebook-page-mini-resume" target="_blank">Is your facebook page your mini resume?</a><br />"<i>Background checks are common as some companies deal with sensitive information. So it’s not illegal, but intrusive. I think some power relationships can be abused if they cross the social networking barrier — like a boss-employee and teacher-student relationship</i>."<br />Sunil Abraham, IBN Live, March 26, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/click-play-watch" target="_blank">Click, Play, Watch</a><br />"<i>Earlier, creative artistes depended on intermediaries like studios, TV channels and theatres to screen their work and connect with viewers. Now, they are looking at the online medium to connect with the audience directly.</i>"<br />Sunil Abraham, MidDay, March 18, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/save-your-voice-2014-a-movement-against-web-censorship" target="_blank">Save Your Voice — A movement against Web censorship</a><br />"<i>Private sector does not protect the freedom of expression</i>."<br />Daily News & Analysis, March 13, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/big-bet-on-identity" target="_blank">India’s Big Bet on Identity</a><br />"<i>There are obviously both privacy and security concerns when you’re collecting personal data from more than a billion people. “You can’t change your biometrics,”… so if they become compromised, it’s a difficult problem to fix</i>."<br />Ieeespectrum. March 2012 edition.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Telecom</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Columns in Business Standard</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/2-g-supreme-court-judgement-1" target="_blank">The 2G Supreme Court Judgment</a><br />Shyam Ponappa, March 1 and March 4, 2012<br />The Business Standard published Shyam Ponappa's two-part article deconstructing the assumptions in the Supreme Court's 2G judgment, and suggesting possible ways forward. The first one was published on March 1, 2012, and the second on March 4, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/convergence-india-2012" target="_blank">Convergence India 2012</a><br /> Yelena Gyulkhandanyan<br /> Yelena attended an event organised by the Exhibitions India Group from March 21 to 23, 2012. She shares her experiences.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with International Telecommunications Union, and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/front-page/blog/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/front-page/blog/copyright-bill-analysis" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/front-page/blog/comments-ifeg-phase-1" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-bill-2010" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/front-page/comments-draft-national-policy-on-electronics" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/comments-draft-rules" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Follow us Elsewhere</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/groups/28535315687/" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" 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-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T07:33:44ZPageJune 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of June 2012. The present issue features an updated version of the Unlicensed Spectrum Policy brief for Government of India and a report of the Privacy Matters series organised in Ahmedabad on June 16, 2012.</b>
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives">Digital Natives</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of 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 critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/bots-got-some-votes-home">The Bots That Got Some Votes Home</a> by Nilofar Ansher: The author gives us some startling updates on the "Digital Natives Video Contest" voting results declared in May 2012.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/hyper-connected-hyper-lonely">Hyper-connected, Hyper-lonely?</a> by Nilofar Ansher.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Digital Natives Newsletter</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/dn-newsletter-volume-10-issue-1.pdf">Home Alone</a>: Volume 10, Issue 1, April 2012 of the Digital Natives with a Cause newsletter features Hyper-connected, yet Hyper-lonely. It puts the spotlight on an emerging trope in society and media: the more connected we are to our gadgets, peer network and social media, the lonelier we feel.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>Op-ed in the Hindu</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/work-of-art-in-age-of-mechanical-injunctions">The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Injunctions</a> (Lawrence Liang, The Hindu, May 23, 2012): “The same ‘Ashok Kumar,' now restrained from infringing the copyright of the film, ‘3,' helped its signature song, ‘Kolaveri,’ go viral by downloading and copying it without any restraints.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns / Articles</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/digital-restrictions-management">ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ನಿರ್ಬಂಧಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ</a> (Sunil Abraham, Prajavani, June 9, 2012): Read the English translation <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/digital-restrictions-management">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/pros-and-cons-of-copyright-act">ಸೃಜನಶೀಲತೆಗೆ ಸಂದ ಗೌರವ</a> (Lawrence Liang, Prajavani, June 9, 2012): Read the English translation <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/pros-and-cons-of-copyright-act">here</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-amendment">Copyright Amendment: Bad, but Could Have Been Much Worse</a> (Sunil Abraham, Business Standard, June 10, 2012): The changes to the Copyright Act protect the disabled — but are restrictive about cover versions and web freedom.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/a-ludicrous-ban">A Ludicrous Ban</a> (Achal Prabhala and Lawrence Liang, Open Magazine, June 2, 2012): Our courts cannot be used as quack-houses to buy pills for imaginary problems. The copyright industry is not a sick patient; it’s just a hypochondriac. Films don’t fail because of piracy; they fail because they’re not worth watching. The most popular films in this country are also the most pirated, and yet they remain money-spinners. The real problem is the unbending inability of this industry to adjust to the world; to the Internet; to the life-changing technologies that human beings have witnessed and embraced and prospered by over the past two decades.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Content, Open Standards, Open Access to Law, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/oral-citations-project-on-wikimedia">Wiki goes the oral citation way</a> (Cyber Media, Chokkapan S, June 11, 2012): Achal Prabhala who serves on the board of CIS speaks about the Oral Citations Project.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Announcements</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/window-on-the-world">Window on the World</a>: Subsequent to the publishing of a peer reviewed essay titled <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/resisting-revolutions">Resisting Revolutions: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a>, CIS has been listed as one of the global organisations working on issues of participation, citizenship and new technologies along with a list of partner organisations. <a href="http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v55/n2/full/dev201217a.html">This was published by Palgrave Macmillan</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-freedom-fellows">2012 Internet Freedom Fellows</a>: The names of the 2012 Internet Freedom Fellows were announced on June 19, 2012. This was published by the <a href="http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/othr/193375.htm">US Department of State</a>. Pranesh Prakash was selected as a Fellow.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Press Coverage of the Internet Freedom Fellows Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/defense-of-fundamental-freedoms-online">Internet Freedom Fellows Program Emphasizes Defense of Fundamental Freedoms Online</a> (by Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe in DipNote, June 25, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-freedom-at-home">Internet Freedom At Home: Governments, Companies Need Accountability, Speakers Say</a> (by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch, June 22, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Peer Forum</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/peer-forum-on-internet-freedom-and-human-rights">Global Networks, Individual Freedoms: A Peer Forum on Internet Freedom and Human Rights</a>: In Connection with the 2012 Internet Freedom Fellows Program, the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva invited Pranesh Prakash to a peer forum. The event was held on June 21, 2012, from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming & Ongoing Events</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/consumer-privacy-delhi">Privacy Matters — Consumer Privacy</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, July 7, 2012): Privacy India, in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, International Development Research Centre, Society in Action Group and Privacy International, invite you to a public conference focused on discussing the challenges and concerns to consumer privacy in India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/has-geek-presents-the-fifth-elephant">The Fifth Elephant</a> (NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore, July 27 and 28, 2012): The event was organised by HasGeek and CIS. The first day covered the technology track and talks from business and industry were held on the following day.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/medical-privacy">Privacy Mattes — Medical Privacy</a> (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, Rajbhavan Complex, Baner Road, Pune, June 30, 2012): Privacy India in partnership with the Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS, Centre for Internet & Society, IDRC, Society in Action Group and Privacy International organised this event. The discussions explored the various types of medical privacy including informational privacy, physical privacy, proprietary privacy and decisional privacy.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/geek-up-with-alan-knott-craig">GeekUp with Alan Knott-Craig</a> (CIS, Bangalore, June 30, 2012): Alan Knott-Craig, founder of World of Avatar and CEO of Mxit, Africa’s largest social network gave a lecture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/events/freedom-of-expression-privacy-roundtable-discussion-goa-june-2nd">Freedom of Expression & Privacy Roundtable Discussion</a> (University of Goa, June 2, 2012): Lawrence Liang and Chinmayi Arun were participants in the discussion.</li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/connecting-people-apart">Connecting People Apart - Events Series</a></h3>
<p>Post-Media Lab organised this events series at Lüneburg/Berlin from June 20 to June 23, 2012. Nishant Shah participated in the event series as a speaker:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cpa-talktome-eorg.eventbrite.com/">Opening presentation – ‘Talk to Me’</a> (Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, June 20, 2012): Nishant Shah along with Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits made a presentation.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cpa-what-would-community-say-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/?ebtv=C">‘What Would the Community Say?’</a> (Freiraum, Lüneburg, June 21, 2012): Nishant Shah in cooperation with DialogN reflected on the experiences about the changing face of citizen action in a post-mediatised world.</li>
<li><a href="http://cpa-community-complex.eventbrite.co.uk/">The Community Complex, A Post-Media Lab conference</a> (Denkerei, Berlin, June 22, 2012): Nishant Shah was one of the participants.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Other Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-privacy-meet">India Privacy Meet</a> (Hotel LeMeridien, New Delhi, June 29, 2012): The event was organised by Microsoft, DSCI and Greyhead. Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session on Citizen Privacy.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/meeting-of-two-sub-groups-in-delhi">Meeting of the two Sub-Groups on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah</a> (Yojana Bhawan, Planning Commission, June 27, 2012). Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting. The report of the committee will be used in drafting of the new privacy bill.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/censorship-2020">CENSORSHIP 2020: The Future of Free Speech Online</a> (Communication, Culture and Technology Program of Georgetown University 2nd Floor, Car Barn, 3520 Prospect St., N.W., Washington, DC, June 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in this event organised by the Internet Society. See the original published by Communication, Culture & Technology <a href="http://cct.georgetown.edu/300237.html">here</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-rights-accessibility-regulation-ethics">Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on ‘Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics’</a> (Mirza Ghalib Hall, SCOPE Complex, New Delhi, May 3, 2012): Pranesh Prakash was a speaker in this event organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation, Association for Progressive Communications, Department of Information Technology and National Internet Exchange of India. <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-rights-accessibility-regulation-ethics">Watch the video here</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dangerous-doodles-googles-internet-at-liberty-2012">Internet at Liberty 2012</a> (Washington D.C., May 23 and 24, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a speaker in Plenary IV along with Cynthia Wong, Mohamed El Dahshan and Dunja Mijatović. Watch the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-liberty-2012">video here</a>. The event was organised by Google.</li>
<li>Google Hangout with Ashoka Fellow Sunil Abraham: Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. Sunil became an Ashoka Fellow in 1999. Watch the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/google-hangout-with-sunil">video</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/clear-and-present-danger">Clear and Present Danger: Attempts to Change Internet Governance and Implications for Press Freedom</a> (National Endowment for Democracy, Washington D.C., June 26, 2012): The event was organised by National Endowment for Democracy. Pranesh Prakash participated in it.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Overview of Google’s efforts to promote Internet Freedom and freedom of expression online, including its work on the following reports: “Google Transparency” and “Enabling Trade in the Era of Information Technologies: Breaking Down Barriers to the Free Flow of Information (California, June 28, 2012): The event was organised by Google. Pranesh Prakash participated in a meeting with Derek Slater from Google.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Stanford University Roundtable Discussion (California, June 28, 2012): IFF Fellows introduced themselves and briefly talked about their background and work in internet freedom and human rights issues. Pranesh Prakash was one of the participants.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">EFF’s legislative efforts to defend free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights (California, June 29, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in a meeting with Katitza Rodriguez, International Rights Director. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Overview of Twitter’s new censorship policies and its impact on human rights activists around the world (California, June 29, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in a meeting with Carolina Janssen, Localization Content Coordinator. This was organised by Twitter.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Best practices in utilizing Ustream’s live interactive broadcast platform to showcase human rights issues (June 29, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in this meeting organised by Ustream.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/securing-e-governance-event-report">Securing e-Governance: Ensuring Data Protection and Privacy</a> (Ahmedabad, Management Association, Ahmedabad, June 16, 2012): Privacy India in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK and the Society in Action Group, Gurgaon organised a public discussion. Prashant Iyengar and Nisha Thompson spoke at the event. A total of 30 people participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns in FirstPost</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/how-facebook-is-blatantly-abusing-our-trust">How Facebook is Blatantly Abusing our Trust</a> (Nishant Shah, FirstPost, June 27, 2012): ‘Don’t fix it, if it ain’t broken’ is not an adage Facebook seems to subscribe to... The million dollar question – or maybe a slightly reduced price, given its public listing status on the stock-exchange right now – is that while Facebook might keep us safe from other people using our data, will it also be able to keep us safe from itself?</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy">Beyond Anonymous: Shit people say on Internet piracy</a> (Nishant Shah, FirstPost, June 7, 2012): FirstPost published Nishant Shah's <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/tech/beyond-anonymous-shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy-335588.html">column</a> along with the video that CIS and ALF had made on 'shit people say about piracy' as a lead story. The post is a series of provocations around piracy, censorship and the state of Internet in India. Like all good tasting things, these observations need to be taken with a pinch of salt. But it is the hope of the author that this serves as a response to otherwise very persistent voices that have been demonizing file-sharing online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Article in the Times of India</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-web-of-our-strife">The Web of Our Strife</a> (Pranesh Prakash, The Times of India, June 2, 2012): Given the current trend of states individually wielding excessive powers over various aspects of how their citizens access and use the internet, a Committee on Internet-Related Policies may well be what is needed to safeguard democratic principles and innovation on the internet.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Podcast</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nishant-shah">An Interview with Nishant Shah</a> by Jamillah Knowles (Outriders, BBC Radio 5): “I think what we need to do is perhaps say that there is something happening with the internet in India and then maybe we can move on to figuring out what is happening to Anonymous because we had a series of challenges on freedom of speech and expression and online space in the country.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>New Fellow at CIS</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/about/people/people/fellow">Chinmayi Arun</a>, former Assistant Professor of Law at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences joined CIS as a Fellow. Chinmayi’s research focus will include privacy, free speech and access to information.</li>
</ul>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS entered into a small collaboration with Tata Telecommunications in India to celebrate the IPv6 day on June 6. CIS agreed to write 5500 word vignettes which were sent to their global database consisting of more than 900,000 users in the Asia-Pacific:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6">IPv6: The First Steps</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-embrace-the-change">IPv6: Embrace The Change</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-the-transition-challenge">IPv6: The Transition Challenge</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media Coverage (International)</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/indias-struggle-for-online-freedom">India's struggle for online freedom</a> (by Rebecca MacKinnon, Sydney Morning Herald, June 9, 2012): “If you start the drenching early on, by the time you get to 50 per cent [internet penetration], everyone will be well-behaved monkeys.”—<b>Sunil Abraham</b>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/hackers-take-protest-to-indian-streets-and-cyberspace">Hackers Take Protest to Indian Streets and Cyberspace</a> (by Shreya Shah, Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2012): “The group attacked the Web site of India’s Supreme Court even when it says it does not attack Web sites used by the common man.” — <b>Pranesh Prakash</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/war-of-india-internet">The War for India's Internet</a> (by Rebecca Mackinnon, Foreign Policy, June 6, 2012): “"On free speech I have high faith in the Indian judiciary...There is a good chance to launch a constitutional challenge.” — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>. </li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media Coverage (National)</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/no-more-blocking-of-websites">No more blocking of entire websites?</a> (by Danish Sheikh, Business Standard, June 24, 2012): CIS research on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet">Intermediary Liability in India</a> is referred to in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/are-your-biometric-i-cards-stacked-against-you">UID: Are your biometric I-cards stacked against you?</a> (by M Rajashekhar, Economic Times, June 24, 2012): "If biometrics is used as authentication factor then it would be possible for a criminal to harvest your biometrics — such as using a glass to collect fingerprints — without your conscious cooperation. Or the registrar can cache your biometrics and duplicate transactions." — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/net-loss">Net Loss</a> (Abimanyu Nagarajan, The Telegraph, June 20, 2012): “We sent takedown notices to e-commerce, content hosting, and news media sites...in most cases, we found the intermediaries were very risk averse." — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/co-spying-on-competitors-staff">Cos spying on competitors, staff: Study</a> (The Statesman, June 19, 2012): “Whether or not surveillance is legal, depends on the type... There is some private information a person will expect to remain private, and some information that is expected to be public — like Twitter feeds.” — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>.<b> </b></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/recruitment-tracker-21-students-placed">Recruitment Tracker: 21 students placed out of the 49 who sat for recruitment in Christ University’s School of Law, Class of 2012</a> (Bar and Bench News Network, June 11, 2012): CIS recruited Snehashish Ghosh.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ppos-save-placement-record-as-christ-laws-2nd-graduating-batch-hosts-fewer-law-firms">PPOs save placement-record as Christ Law’s 2nd graduating batch hosts fewer law firms</a> (by Prachi Shrivastava in Legally India, June 10, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-the-new-front-line-in-the-global-struggle-for-internet-freedom">India: The New Front Line in the Global Struggle for Internet Freedom</a> (Atlantic, June 7, 2012): CIS report on Intermediary Liability in India is quoted.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/anonymous-hackers-to-protest-indian-internet-laws">'Anonymous' hackers to protest Indian Internet laws</a> (AFP, June 8, 2012): The news was also published in <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/anonymous-hackers-call-for-protests-across-india-today-against-internet-censorship-229238">NDTV</a>, <a href="http://post.jagran.com/anonymous-to-protest-internet-policing-1339243820">Jagran Post</a>, <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-09/internet/32140515_1_internet-firms-websites-internet-companies">The Times of India</a>, <a href="http://www.livemint.com/2012/06/09185541/8216Anonymous8217-activi.html">LiveMint</a>, and <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-06-09/news/32140719_1_government-websites-anonymous-facebook-page">Economic Times</a> on June 9, 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-new-internet-watchdogs">The new Internet watchdogs</a> (Ronendra Singh, Hindu Business Line, June 12, 2012): “The Indian Government is not following the letter of the law and bypassing judicial safeguards in its crackdown on political speech...This aggressive enforcement is also having a chilling effect on access to knowledge and freedom of expression.” — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/concerns-raised-ahead-of-proposed-india-us-trade-treaty">Concerns raised ahead of proposed India-US trade treaty</a> (Hindu Business Line, June 13, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/attempts-to-censor-the-web-ill-advised">Attempts to censor the web ill-advised</a> (by Krishs Fernandes, The Times of India, June 3, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/poor-guarantee-of-online-freedom-in-india">Poor Guarantee of Online Freedom in India</a> (by Geeta Seshu, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLVII No. 24, June 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tata-communications-embraces-the-change-to-ipv6">Tata Communications embraces the change to IPv6</a> (tech 2, June 7, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-opens-doors-to-trillions-more-net-addresses">Internet opens doors to trillions more Net addresses with IPv6</a> (by Aaron Tan, techgoondu): “Despite the larger load of information, IPv6 packets are easier to handle and route, just like postcards with pin codes in their addresses are easier to deliver than those without.” — <b>Nishant Shah</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/biz-moving-to-ip-v-6">Biz moving to IPv6 but lower costs, support needed</a> (intellasia.net, June 8, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/govt-websites-to-get-new-addresses">Govt websites to get new addresses</a> (The Telegraph, June 7, 2012): “The future of our connected networks is IPv6. Not only is it more efficient and faster than IPv4, which we are currently working with, it is also more reliable and secure.” —<b>Nishant Shah</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive">Anonymous India’s Takedowns Could Be Counterproductive</a> (by Nikhil Pahwa, Medianama, June 6, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/watch-out-for-cyber-bullies">Watch out for cyber bullies</a> (by KV Kurmanath, Hindu Business Line, June 4, 2012): “It would be very useful if both the government and civil society was more aggressive in awareness raising and triggering change in behaviour. Unfortunately this is a bit like smoking — even though people are aware of the issues — they engage in risky behaviour online.” — <b>Sunil Abraham</b>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/scared-by-a-spoof">Scared by a spoof? You’ve got to be kidding me!</a> (by Dhamini Ratnam, June 3, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this article.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/protest-at-censorship">Protest@ censorship.com</a> (by Sandhya Soman, The Times of India, June 5, 2012): “There is corporate and private censorship of internet and it is being done without enough proof of who is violating the copyrights of moviemakers. If these protests create awareness about the larger issues and developments in the areas of e-governance, IT Act and copyright law, then they could be helpful.” —<b> Pranesh Prakash</b>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Telecom Knowledge Repository</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ford Foundation has given CIS a grant of USD 200,000 to build expertise in the area of Telecommunications in India over a period of two years. The programme outline, the modules covered and the profiles and bios of our expert reviewers can be <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course">found here</a>:</p>
<h3>Broadcasting</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course/contents/module-7">Module 7.2.3 (Mobile Television)</a> by Tina Mani</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course/contents/module-7-faqs">Module 7.2.3 (FAQs)</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Emerging Topics</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course/contents/contents/mobile-tv">Module 8.3 (Mobile Television)</a> by Tina Mani</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course/contents/contents/mobile-tv-faq">Module 8.3 (Mobile Television FAQs)</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/unlicensed-spectrum-policy-brief-for-govt-of-india">Unlicensed Spectrum Policy Brief for Government of India</a> (Satya N Gupta, Sunil Abraham and Yelena Gyulkhandanyan): CIS and the Ford Foundation bring you the Unlicensed Spectrum Policy brief for Government of India. The research recommends unlicensed spectrum to the Government of India based on recent developments in wireless technology, community needs and international best practices. <i>(The present report is an updated version of the draft circulated earlier)</i>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/growth-highest-priority">Growth, India's Highest Priority</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, June 8, 2012): Telecom and spectrum reforms are overdue, as are energy reforms addressing the fuel supply-power generation and distribution-sustainable tariffs chain. In terms of sequence, the next significant effort could focus on the… telecom sector. The empowered group of ministers can decisively abandon short-term government revenues in favour of user benefits, leading in time to even more government revenues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/national-telecom-policy-2012">National Telecom Policy 2012 — Issues and Concerns</a> by Snehashish Ghosh: The author throws light on some of the issues and concerns surrounding the recently passed National Telecom Policy 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-on-telecom-laws">3<sup>rd</sup> IJLT-CIS Lecture Series</a> (National Law School of India University, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore, May 27, 2012): Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Chairman and CEO, LIRNEasia gave the inaugural lecture on “Tariff Regulation in South Asia”. The presentation slides can be accessed <a href="http://lirneasia.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Samarajiva_NLSI_May121.pdf">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Foreign Press Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/telecom-success-story-turns-sour">India’s telecom success story turns sour</a> (by Simon Denyer, Washington Post, June 1, 2012): “"There are very strong economic reasons for not auctioning spectrum in developing countries.” — <b>Shyam Ponappa</b>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/">CIS</a> was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause?</a> Report with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/front-page/blog/comments-ifeg-phase-1">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-bill-2010">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/front-page/comments-draft-national-policy-on-electronics">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/comments-draft-rules">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <span><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a></span> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit our website <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/">here</a> </li>
</ul>
<p><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the 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/june-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecomResearch2012-07-25T04:56:23ZPageMay 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of May 2012! In the current issue, we bring to you updates of our latest research, event reports, videos, and media coverage:
</b>
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>Copyright Amendment Bill</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Analysis of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012</a><br />Pranesh Prakash<br />There are some welcome provisions in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012, and some worrisome provisions. Pranesh Prakash examines five positive changes, four negative ones, and notes the several missed opportunities. The larger concern, though, is that many important issues have not been addressed by these amendments, and how copyright policy is made without evidence and often out of touch with contemporary realities of the digital era. <a href="http://infojustice.org/archives/26243">The analysis was reposted in infojustice.org on May 25, 2012</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-madness">Copyright Madness</a> (Lawrence Liang and Achal Prabhala, Indian Express, May 22, 2012): India’s Copyright Act allows owners of content the right to prevent infringement through the use of injunctions, but these injunctions have to be narrowly construed and applied only to specific instances of infringement. This is to say, take down the infringing video, not the whole website, and don’t intimidate the host. When injunctions threaten freedom of speech and expression, then free speech should necessarily trump copyright claims — and the courts cannot be used as convenient shopping forums for maladies that don’t exist.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Call for Participation</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip-call-for-participation">2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: Call for Participation and Save the Date</a> (FGV Law School, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, December 15 – 17, 2012): We invite applications to attend the Congress, including proposals to chair workshops or deliver a paper or presentation related to the Congress’s theme.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/workshop-on-education-and-copyright">The International Copyright System and Access to Education: Challenges, New Access Models and Prospects for New Principles</a> (Max Planck Institute, Munich, Germany, May 14 and 15, 2012). The event was organised by the University of Minnesota and Max Planck Institute. Pranesh Prakash participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist">Will the Copyright Law Help the Starving Artist?</a>:(by Margherita Stancati, Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2012): "The singers and producers of...unlicensed versions could be jailed under the current India Copyright Act, which allows even non-commercial copyright infringers to be put behind bars."<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Wall Street Journal.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/did-sibal-just-get-arm-twisted-by-book-publishers">Did Sibal just get arm-twisted by book publishers?</a> (FirstPost, May 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s article on parallel importation of books is referred in this article.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<h3>Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/copyright-amendments">Copyright Amendments – Empowering the Print Disabled</a> by Rahul Cherian.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/faq-on-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">An FAQ on the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2012, for the Benefit of Persons with Disabilities</a> by Dr. Sam Taraporevala and Rahul Cherian.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3>Article in the Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/cancel-the-subscription">Cancel the Subscription</a> (Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, Indian Express, May 8, 2012): It has been a slow but steady move to make scholarship freely available... In India, though, there appears to be very little enthusiasm among the leaders of the science establishment. Neither the office of the principal scientific adviser nor the department of science and technology seems to have shown any interest in mandating open access to taxpayer-funded research. The National Knowledge Commission has recommended mandating open access to all publicly funded research, but it is not clear who will implement the recommendation. Right now, it is left to individuals to promote open access in India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/design-public-delhi-event-report">Design!PubliC — Third Conclave in New Delhi</a> (National Museum, New Delhi, April 20, 2012): The event was organized by the Center for Knowledge Societies in collaboration with IBM, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google and the Centre for Internet and Society. Sunil Abraham was a panelist and spoke in the session on Participation, Collaboration and Innovation. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Google Policy Fellowship</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/google-policy-fellowship">Google Policy Fellowship Programme: Call for Applications</a>: CIS is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India Fellow, who will be selected by August 15, 2012. The focus areas for the present fellowship programme include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom. The duration of the fellowship will be for about ten weeks starting from August 2012 upto October 2012. CIS will select the India Fellow. Send in your applications for the position by June 27, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-at-liberty-2012">Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom</a> (Newseum, Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest Washington, D.C., May 23 – 24, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a speaker in Plenary IV, Debate 3: In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom?</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Meeting on Internet Governance (Conference Hall No. 4009, Dept. of Electronics & Information Technology, CGO Complex, New Delhi, May 9, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in this meeting.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in Down to Earth</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing">Beyond Sharing: Towards our Digital Futures</a> (Nishant Shah, Down to Earth, May 31, 2012): The battle is not about file sharing and a petty film producer wanting to rake in the box office earnings. It is about the law’s incapacity to deal with post-analogue practices and processes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns by Nishant Shah</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-kolaveri-di">Open letter to Kolaveri Di makers: How Dare You!</a> (Nishant Shah, FirstPost, May 22, 2012): When it comes to piracy, you are sure to have an opinion. You might either make a virtue out of it, talking about cultural commons and collaborative conditions of production. Or you might vilify it as the social fault-line that is destroying the very pillars of commerce and cultural negotiations.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/private-eye">The Private Eye</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, May 14, 2012): As we move towards a data-driven future, we need to be more aware of the different kinds of data sets that we are making public and educate ourselves about the risks of this disclosure, without being carried away by the sway of meme-like behaviour and viral trends online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/do-it-rules-indirectly-lead-to-censorship-of-internet">Do IT Rules 2011 indirectly leads to Censorship of Internet</a>: Pranesh Prakash along with Dr. Arvind Gupta, National Convener, BJP IT Cell and Ms. Mishi Choudhary, Executive Director, SFLC participated in a panel discussion on censorship of the Internet on May 8, 2012. The discussion was broadcast on Yuva iTV and featured on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRIJRhpW-Bc">YouTube</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Letter</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/letter-for-civil-society-involvement">Letter for Civil Society Involvement in ITU’s WCIT</a> (by Center for Democracy and Technology): Academics and civil society groups wrote to the ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré regarding the lack of opportunity for civil society participation in the World Conference on International Telecommunications process.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton">Open letter to Hillary Clinton on Internet freedom</a> (by Sunil Abraham): This blog entry is based on a presentation made in the Internet at Liberty conference in Washington DC on May 24, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/why-this-blocking">Why this blocking di?</a> (by R Krishna, Daily News & Analysis, May 27, 2012): “<i>Unlike the Calcutta High Court order in March this year, which specified the 104 websites that should be blocked, a John Doe order doesn’t mention any specific website. In some cases, the websites are being blocked without any evidence (of copyright infringement). Courts need to be informed of what people with John Doe orders are doing. We need to be specific about what can be blocked and what can’t be.</i>”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in Daily News & Analysis</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/withdraw-india-proposal-for-un-committee-on-internet-policy">Rajeev Chandrasekhar Urges PM To Withdraw India’s Proposal For UN Committee On Internet-Policy</a> (by Anupam Saxena, Medianama, May 16, 2012): An interview that Medianama had with Pranesh Prakash is cited in this blog post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/mps-oppose-curbs-on-internet">MPs oppose curbs on internet; Sibal promises discussions</a> (Times of India, May 18, 2012): “<i>The IT minister has promised to hold consultations but the ideal way to do so would have been to scrap the rules and start from scratch...</i><i> </i><i>It's not only about language in these rules. There is a problem with provisions like the one that empowers intermediaries to remove content without notifying the user who had uploaded the content or giving users a chance to explain themselves.</i>”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Times of India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/sibal-shoot-down-motion-to-kill-it-rules">Kapil Sibal & Co shoot down motion to kill IT Rules: cite terrorism, drugs</a> (by Prachi Shrivastava, Legally India, May 18, 2012): “<i>Government is not censoring. It has created a system by which anyone can censor with impunity</i>.”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in Legally India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/vimeo-ban">Vimeo Ban: More Web Censorship</a> (by Preetika Rana, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2012): “<i>Shutting websites merely on the basis of suspicion amounts to private crackdown on free speech of the web...Why didn’t the telecom ministry repeal or object to the move, knowing that the court didn’t spell out the websites to be blocked?</i>”<br /> <b>Pranesh Prakash </b>quoted in Wall Street Journal.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/taming-the-web">Taming the Web, are we?</a> (by Javed Anwer, Economic Times, May 13, 2012): "<i>During the revolutions in Arab countries last year, protesters mobilized themselves through Twitter and Facebook. Then there are Wikileaks and Anonymous. This has made governments and politicians jittery.</i>"<b><br />Sunil Abraham</b> quoted in the Economic Times.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/rajya-sabha-nod-to-harsh-it-rules">Cordon tightens: Rajya Sabha nod to harsh IT rules</a> (Anil Sharma and Aishhwariya Subramanian, Daily News & Analysis, May 18, 2012): "<i>The trouble with Indian government's proposal to address issues such as network neutrality, privacy and freedom of expression, is top-down. Unlike other countries where internet policies have always been developed with consultation with other stakeholders, here the government imposes its will.</i>"<b><br />Sunil Abraham</b> quoted in Daily News & Analysis.<br />"<i>It is an ironical situation where India is not following domestically what it is proposing internationally</i>."<b> Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the same article in Daily News & Analysis.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/individuals-in-search-of-society">Empires: Individuals in Search of Society</a> (Marc Lafia, Huffington Post, May 18, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/cyber-appellate-tribunal-bengaluru">Cyber Appellate Tribunal in Bengaluru</a> (Deccan Herald, May 9, 2012): “<i>The state IT secretary has passed more than 80 orders. They include both cases of phishing and orders against cyber cafes for not adhering to rules under the IT Act. The Adjudicator has held that ‘section 43 of IT Act is not applicable to a body or Corporate’, after the amended IT Act came into force in 2008</i>.”<b> Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Deccan Herald.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Digital Natives</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a research inquiry that looks 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 critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Columns by Nishant Shah</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/digitally-analogue">Digitally Analogue</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, May 27, 2012): While those of us who were not born digital natives — we still remember what an audio cassette looks like and the smell of screen printing — will negotiate with the form of our access to cultural objects, it is also time to realise that being non-digital is no longer an option.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/we-are-cyborgs">We Are All Cyborgs</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 29, 2012): The cyborg reminds us that who we are as human beings is very closely linked with the technologies we use.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Citizen Action</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/resisting-revolutions">Resisting Revolutions: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (Nishant Shah, Development, Volume 55, Issue 2, May 2012): In this peer reviewed journal article, Nishant Shah looks into the radical claims and potentials of citizen action that have emerged in the last few years. He seeks to show how citizen action is not necessarily a radical form of politics and that we need to make a distinction between Resistances and Revolutions. It locates resistance as an endemic condition of governmentality within a State–Citizen–Market relationship and shows how it often strengthens the status quo rather than radically undermining it. He examines a campaign against corruption in India to see how the dissonance between the claims of the future and the practices of the present is produced in citizen action.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Course</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/course/knowledge-and-capacity-around-telecom-policy">Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India</a>: Ford Foundation has given a grant of $200,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India over a period of two years. The project involves creating a repository comprising information about telecommunications related issues and policies and online course materials designed for a multi-stakeholder audience, organising interactive public lectures and workshops around the country to disseminate information on telecom issues and using traditional and new forms of media to disseminate information to academia, civil society, policy makers and the general public.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/coming-telecom-monopoly">The Coming Telecom Monopoly</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, May 3, 2012): “The 2G judgment and Trai spectrum pricing recommendations have led to a policy that makes sense for only one survivor.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-nlsiu">3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series at NLSIU, Bangalore</a> (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, May 27, 2012): Organised by CIS in association with the Indian Journal of Law and Technology. Professor Rohan Samarajiva delivered a lecture on Tariff Regulation in South Asia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/awesom-contracts-project">The Awesome Contracts Project</a> (Geekup @ CIS, May 18, 2012): CIS co-organised the event with Has Geek. Vivek Durai, co-founder at Awesome Contracts gave a public lecture. Amith Narayan participated through Skype.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1644&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1645&qid=165304" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1646&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1647&qid=165304" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1648&qid=165304" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1649&qid=165304" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1650&qid=165304" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1651&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1652&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1653&qid=165304" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1654&qid=165304" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1655&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1656&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1657&qid=165304" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p><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/may-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-07T06:59:29ZPageApril 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2012-bulletin
<b>In this issue of our newsletter, we bring you updates of our latest research, event reports, videos, news and media coverage during the month of April 2012:</b>
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Google Policy Fellowship</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet">Intermediary Liability in India: Chilling Effects on Free Expression on the Internet</a><br />Rishabh Dara, Google Policy Fellow<br />CIS in partnership with Google India conducted the Google Policy Fellowship 2011. This was offered for the first time in Asia Pacific as well as in India. Rishabh Dara was selected as a fellow. He researched upon issues relating to freedom of expression. The results of the paper demonstrate that the ‘Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011’ notified by the Government of India on April 11, 2011 have a chilling effect on free expression.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-joins-gni">The Centre for Internet & Society Joins the Global Network Initiative</a><br />CIS officially joined the Global Network Initiative. CIS would bring to GNI in-depth expertise on global internet governance as well as online freedom of expression and privacy in India. GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan said “<i>We are delighted to add our first member based in India and welcome CIS’s engagement in support of transparency and accountability in technology</i>.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in the Hindu</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-frozen-words">Chilling Effects and Frozen Words</a> (Lawrence Liang, Hindu, April 30, 2012): “What if the real danger is not that we lose our freedom of speech and expression but our sense of humour as a nation?...One hopes that our lawmakers, even if they are averse to reading the Indian Constitution, will be slightly more open to the poetic licence granted by Kautilya.” </li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns in the Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/idea-of-the-book">The Idea of the Book</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 8, 2012): “Its future lies in a trans-media format that is ever evolving... The form of the book is going to change as it has over the last 500 years. However, the idea of the book — a receptacle that contains and records collective wisdom, information, ideas, knowledge, experiences and imagination of humankind – is here to stay.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-broken-internet-law-multistakeholderism">India's Broken Internet Laws Need a Shot of Multi-stakeholderism</a> by Pranesh Prakash. (An edited version of this article was published in the Indian Express as <a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/941491/">"Practise what you preach"</a> on Thursday, April 26, 2012.)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Reports</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/all-india-privacy-delhi-report">The All India Privacy Symposium</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012): The symposium was organised around five thematic panel discussions: privacy and transparency, privacy and e-governance initiatives, privacy and national security, privacy and banking and health privacy. Privacy India in partnership with CIS, International Development Research Centre, Privacy International, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group organised this event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-report">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a> (Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens, New Delhi, February 3, 2012): The conclave was organised around two panels: national Security and privacy and internet and privacy. Malavika Jayaram moderated the first panel discussion on national Security and privacy. Sunil Abraham moderated the second panel discussion on internet and privacy. Privacy India in partnership with CIS, International Development Research Centre, Privacy International, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group organised this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/resisting-internet-censorship">Resisting Internet Censorship: Strategies for Furthering Freedom of Expression in India</a> (Bangalore International Centre, TERI Complex, Domlur, April 21, 2012): CIS co-organised this event with the Foundation for Media Professionals. Members of Parliament, P. Rajeeve and Rajeev Chandrashekar and Member of Legislative Council, Karnataka, V.R. Sudarshan participated in the event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane">Konkan Corridor Project — A Lecture by Vasant Gangavane</a> (Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Bangalore, April 16, 2012): Well known social worker Vasant Gangavane gave a lecture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/cybernetic-vehicles">Braitenberg Cybernetic Vehicles: Workshop, Film Screening & Discussion</a> (Metaculture Media Lab, CIS, Bangalore, April 14, 2012): There was a short presentation about Braitenberg vehicles.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/giga-conference">GIGA International Conference Series - 1</a> (NALSAR University of Law, Justice City Campus, Shameerpet, Hyderabad, April 5 and 6, 2012): The Institute of Global Internet Governance and Advocacy and Department of Electronics and Information Technology organised the conference. Sunil Abraham gave a lecture on <i>Digital Natives vs. Digital Naivety</i> in the session on Internet Governance & Society.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Expert-Group on Privacy Issues (New Delhi, April 13 and 14, 2012): The Planning Commission constituted this expert group under the chairmanship of Justice AP Shah. Sunil Abraham participated in the first meeting of the sub-group on privacy issues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/privacy-internationals-trip-to-asia">Privacy International's Trip to Asia</a> (by Emma Draper in Privacy International blog): In February 2012, the Privacy International team travelled to India, Bangladesh and Hong Kong to meet with local partners in the region and speak at four conferences they had organized. The team got a chance to interview its partners in India and Bangladesh on the privacy issues facing them at the moment. This is captured in a video about contemporary privacy issues in India and Bangladesh. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/mainstream-vs-social">It’s mainstream vs social</a> (Guest column by Mahima Kaul, Sunday Guardian, April 30, 2012): “<i>If the video is judged to be 'obscene', then under s.67 of the Information Technology Act, 'causing [obscenity] to be transmitted', is also a crime</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the Sunday Guardian.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/from-cyber-india-to-censor-india">From Cyber India to Censor India: Groups challenge didactic govt</a> (by Satarupa Paul, Sunday Guardian, April 29, 2012): “<i>Instead of a court deciding what makes content illegal, private intermediaries get to decide. And there is no penalty for anyone abusing the take-down notice system,</i>”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the Sunday Guardian.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/social-media-indian-govt">Social Media 1, Indian Government 0</a> (by Heather Timmons, New York Times, April 26, 2012): “<i>Because India does not have a bilateral cyber-crime agreement with the United States (as the European Union does), getting American companies like Facebook and Google to take down or investigate the source of content that offends Indian government officials can be a slow and cumbersome process</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the New York Times. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/private-sector-censors">Private sector censors</a> (by Salil Tripathi, LiveMint, April 25, 2012): “<i>Companies which have no interest in free speech are now taking these decisions. They have the power to do so and they are using it without any sense of responsibility</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in LiveMint. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/left-may-for-once-be-right">Views | Why the Left may for once be right</a> (by Pramit Bhattacharya, LiveMint, April 23, 2012): “<i>It has become much easier in India to ban an e-book than a book</i>,”...Pranesh Prakash quoted in LiveMint. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/campaign-against-curbs-on-websites">Campaign against curbs on websites gathers steam</a> (by Arpan Daniel Varghese, IBN Live, April 23, 2012): “<i>If a company wants to target your organization’s social media network, they can keep sending fraudulent emails to you and you will have to keep deleting it unless you are ready to face litigation or government action.</i>..Sunil Abraham quoted in IBN Live.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/anti-net-censorship-echo-in-house">Expect anti-net censorship echo in house</a> (by Arpan Daniel Varghese, IBN Live, April 25, 2012): “<i>why should freedom of speech and expression be any different on the Internet?</i>”...Sunil Abraham quoted in IBN Live.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/mobilising-support-for-freedom-on-web">Mobilising support for freedom on the Web</a> (by Deepa Kurup Hindu, April 22, 2012): Rishabh Dara’s research published as part of the Google Policy Fellowship is quoted. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/draconian-it-rules">MPs to be taught ‘draconian’ IT Act Rules as India.net support galvanises for annul motion</a> (by Prachi Shrivastava, Legally India, April 23, 2012): Prachi has blogged about the Resisting Internet Censorship co-organised by CIS and the Foundation for Media Professionals in Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-arrests-professor-over-cartoon">India arrests professor over political cartoon</a> (by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, April 13, 2012): “<i>The state’s new-found aversion to non-believers has gone a bit too far</i>,”...Pranesh Prakash quoted in Washington Post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/beauty-blog-creates-furore">A beauty’s blog creates furore</a> (by Lakshmi Krupa, Deccan Chronicle, April 10, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Digital Natives</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a research inquiry that looks 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 critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Public Lecture</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ignite-talks">5 Challenges for the Future of Learning: Digital Natives and How We Shall Teach Them</a> (Wyndham Parc 55 Hotel, San Francisco, California, March 1, 2012): Nishant Shah gave a ignite talk. The video is now online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book Review...a few excerpts</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/immigrants-not-natives">Immigrants not Natives</a>: “<i>‘To Be’, ‘To Think’, ‘To Act’ and ‘To Connect’ provides many fascinating and thought-provoking insights into the possibilities for reflection, action and interaction</i>,”... Sally Wyatt, eHumanities Group, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences/Maastricht University.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-event-report">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 – 15, 2012): CIS in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India organised a two-day tutorial on Audio-Visual Media Accessibility. Sunil Abraham was the Master of Ceremony on Day 1. Ravi Shanker, Administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund, Dr. Govind, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India, Swaran Lata, Director and Head of Department, TDIL Programme, DIT, R.N. Jha, Deputy Director General (International Relations), Department of Telecommunications and Archana Gulati, Financial Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority participated in this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>New Fellow at CIS</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/about/people/people/fellow">Rahul Cherian joins CIS</a>: Disability policy activist, lawyer and co-founder of Inclusive Planet, Rahul Cherian has joined CIS as a Fellow. Rahul will be working on disability policy reform and advocacy. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>New Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip">2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest</a> (FGV Law School, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, December 15 – 17, 2012): We are pleased to announce the Second Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. The theme for this year’s Congress will be “Setting the positive agenda in motion,” and will have a special focus on developments and opportunities in the so-called “BRICS” group of emerging economies. <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip-call-for-participation">CIS is one of the six members of the Global Congress Planning Committee</a>..</li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/hacking-modding-making">Hacking, Modding & Making</a> (by Brendan Shanahan): “<i>If something has been made technologically possible, we cannot make it illegal and hope that everyone will now pretend that this is no longer technologically possible...We can't have the government checking everyone's iPod and laptop. The better move is to change the model</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in GQ.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3>Event Reports and Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/arduino-workshop-report">Arduino Workshop at CIS</a> (CIS, Bangalore, March 3, 2012). Video is now online.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/hejje-2014-together-with-kannada-technology-2">Hejje — Together with Kannada & Technology</a> (Bangalore, January 22, 2012): The event marked the first step to bring everyone working in Kannada in the IT field to brainstorm the ideas for future steps, and create a space for technological collaboration in Kannada. CIS co-organised the event with Sanchaya.net, Vishwakannada.com and Chanda Pustaka. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-government-partnership-brasilia-bangalore-meetup">Bangalore Meet-up for the Open Government Partnership Brasilia</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 17, 2012): Ananya Panda and Pranesh Prakash participated in the first annual meeting of Open Government Partnership remotely.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/design-public-delhi">Design!PubliC – Event in Delhi</a> (New Delhi, April 19 and 20, 2012): The event was co-organised by Centre for Knowledge Societies in partnership with IBM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, HeadStart, India@75, LiveMint and CIS.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/international-space-apps-challenge">International Space Apps Challenge</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 21 and 22, 2012): An international codeathon-style event took place in seven continents, CIS organised the event in Bangalore.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/build-comprehensive-ecosystems">China 3: Build Comprehensive Ecosystems</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, April 5, 2012): “Failures in electricity, transport and broadband have common strands. China's approach offers a possible alternative.”</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with International Telecommunications Union, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1644&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1645&qid=165304" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1646&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1647&qid=165304" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1648&qid=165304" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1649&qid=165304" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1650&qid=165304" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1651&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1652&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1653&qid=165304" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1654&qid=165304" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1655&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1656&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1657&qid=165304" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at www.cis-india.org</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/april-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-07T06:26:40ZPageFebruary 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/feb-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the Centre for Internet and Society newsletter! In this issue we bring you the updates of our research, events, media coverage and videos of the events organized by us during the month of February 2012!</b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Around 70 million disabled persons in India are unable to participate in information societies as lack of compliance with accessibility standards make interfaces impossible to use, and retrograde copyright and patent policies make it impossible to access knowledge. Accessibility is denied in banking services, web and mobile interfaces, etc. Material for the disabled therefore needs to be converted into accessible formats. The programme has resulted in outputs such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1497&qid=150688" target="_blank">Web Accessibility Policy Making</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1498&qid=150688" target="_blank">Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1499&qid=150688" target="_blank">Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1500&qid=150688" target="_blank">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1501&qid=150688" target="_blank">Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices</a>, etc.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1497&qid=150688" target="_blank">Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective</a>: G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society are pleased to announce the publication of a new, improved edition of the Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective. The report published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation provides an updated synopsis of the many policies that governments have implemented around the world to ensure that the Internet and websites are accessible to persons with disabilities.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1502&qid=150688" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre,New Delhi, March 14 to 15, 2012): At the invitation of the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, International Telecommunication Union is organizing a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility. The Tutorial will be preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility on March 13, 2012. The meeting will take place in the same venue and will be hosted by the Centre for Internet and Society in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Access to Knowledge</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With the emergence of digital technologies and the unprecedented growth of the Internet and other related technologies, intellectual property rights (IPRs) the questions of ownership and control of information have become crucial. The programme focuses on the inequitable distribution of IPR, royalty, outflows, and beneficiaries of intellectual property regimes, the lack of balance in current IPR regimes [local, national and international] between consumer rights and IPR-owners’/corporation’s rights. The programme has produced analyses such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1503&qid=150688" target="_blank">WIPO Treaty for the Print Disabled</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1504&qid=150688" target="_blank">WIPO Broadcast Treaty</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1505&qid=150688" target="_blank">Copyright Amendment Bill</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1506&qid=150688" target="_blank">Parallel Importation of Books</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1507&qid=150688" target="_blank">Analysis of Copyright Expansion in the India-EU FTA</a> (July 2010) by Snehashish Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Recently, the Centre for Internet and Society organised a public lecture in its office, the video is now online.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1508&qid=150688" target="_blank">Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright</a>: (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, January 30, 2012). Prof. Shyamkrishna Balganesh from the University of Pennsylvania gave a lecture on Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Openness</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The advent of the Internet has radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. Even the Internet is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. The broad rubric of the ‘Openness’ programme focuses to provide evidence based research that will help inform policy and practice of the local, national, regional, bilateral and international policies and practices around Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Video, Open Standards and Free/Libre/Open Source Software. The programme has resulted in reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1509&qid=150688" target="_blank">Open Government Data Study</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1510&qid=150688" target="_blank">Online Video Environment in India</a>, a reader on the Wikipedia titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1511&qid=150688" target="_blank">Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader</a> and a film titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1512&qid=150688" target="_blank">People are Knowledge – Experimenting with Oral Citations on Wikipedia</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Comments<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1513&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1513&qid=150688" target="_blank">Comments on Technical Standards for Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India</a> (Phase II), submitted to the e-Governance Standards Division.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Report<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1514&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1514&qid=150688" target="_blank">Francis Bags EPT Award for Open Access in Developing World</a>, (Sambasivan Auditorium, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, February 14, 2012). The award function was organized by the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development and the Centre for Internet and Society. Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam gave the welcome address. <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1515&qid=150688" target="_blank">View the video of the award function</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Interview<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1516&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1516&qid=150688" target="_blank">An Interview with Dr. Francis Jayakanth</a>: The Centre for Internet and Society conducted an email interview with Dr. Francis Jayakanth, recipient of the inaugural EPT Award for Open Access in Developing World.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1517&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1517&qid=150688" target="_blank">Free Arduino Workshop (For Beginners)</a>: (Centre for Internet and Society,Bangalore, March 3, 2012). The Centre for Internet and Society organised the Arduino workshop in Bangalore.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Governments and private corporations are engaging in human rights violations online. Many different rights are impacted by internet governance policy changes. The growing phenomenon of illegal electronic surveillance by state and non-state actors and censorship of speech online are some specific problems that the Internet Governance programme seeks to address by providing evidence based research that will help inform policy and practice of the local, national, regional, bilateral and international privacy regime in the interests of the public in sectors key to information societies with a particular focus on information technology, privacy and freedom of expression. The programme has resulted in outputs such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1518&qid=150688" target="_blank">Banking</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1519&qid=150688" target="_blank">Telecommunications</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1520&qid=150688" target="_blank">Consumer Protection</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1521&qid=150688" target="_blank">IT Act</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1522&qid=150688" target="_blank">Limitations</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1523&qid=150688" target="_blank">Copyright</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1524&qid=150688" target="_blank">Internet Protocol</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1525&qid=150688" target="_blank">Media</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1526&qid=150688" target="_blank">Sexual Minorities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1527&qid=150688" target="_blank">UID</a> and policy submissions such as, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1528&qid=150688" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1529&qid=150688" target="_blank">IT Act</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1530&qid=150688" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1531&qid=150688" target="_blank">Cyber Café Rules</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1532&qid=150688" target="_blank">Security Practices Rules</a>, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1533&qid=150688" target="_blank">Intermediary Due Diligence Rules</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy India in partnership with Privacy International, UK, the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon is pleased to bring you the draft chapters of its book on Privacy in India. These include the Country Report, Telecommunication and Internet Privacy, E-Governance Identity and Privacy, Finance and Privacy, Health and Privacy, Transparency and Privacy. The chapters are an <b>early draft</b> which is in the process of being reviewed and updated. We greatly appreciate your comments and feedback:<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1534&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1534&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy in India — An Early Draft</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1535&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1535&qid=150688" target="_blank">Personal Data, Public Profile</a>: “Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is rapidly being Googlised”, writes Nishant Shah in the Financial Express, February 13, 2012.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1536&qid=150688" target="_blank">Do we need the Aadhar scheme?</a>: “Decentralisation and privacy are preconditions for security. Digital signatures don’t require centralised storage and are much more resilient in terms of security”, writes Sunil Abraham in the Business Standard, February 1, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Reports</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1537&qid=150688" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a> (Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens, New Delhi, February 3, 2012): India is in dire need of privacy law; experts say government is ironically creating huge national security risks in attempts to prevent crime and terrorism. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1538&qid=150688" target="_blank">event was organized</a> by Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon. Sunil Abraham was a Conclave Advisor and the moderator for the session on Internet and Privacy, Malavika Jayaram moderated in the panel on National Security and Privacy, and Elonnai Hickok spoke in the session "The Way Forward".</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1539&qid=150688" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a>: (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012): Experts gathered in Delhi for a public symposium on privacy, transparency, e-governance and national security in India. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank">event was organized</a> by Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1541&qid=150688" target="_blank">webcast</a> of the event is online. Sunil Abraham was a Symposium Advisor and moderated in the panel on Privacy and Transparency. Elonnai Hickok gave the welcome address and spoke in the session, “The Way Forward”. Prashant Iyengar was the moderator for the panel on Privacy and Banking. Malavika Jayaram spoke in this panel.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Hosted</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>GeekUp with Erica Hagen (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, March 1, 2012). HasGeek organized a GeekUp with Erica Hagen of the GroundTruth Initiative. Erica gave a lecture on the theme: "<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1542&qid=150688" target="_blank">From Information to Empowerment: Unpacking the Equation</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1543&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unique ID System: Pros and Cons</a>, by Natasha Vaz.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Other Events</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1544&qid=150688" target="_blank">Cartonama Workshop</a> (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, March 2 and 3, 2012). HasGeek organized a hands-on training for managing and building location based services. The Centre for Internet and Society was a partner for this event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1545&qid=150688" target="_blank">Climate Change and Controversy Mapping</a> (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, March 19 to 21, 2012). The workshop is being organised in collaboration with the Devechia Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Bruno Latour, Dean for Research at Sciences Po, Paris will speak in this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Videos</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">View the videos of some of the recent events organised by us:<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a>, (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012). Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon, organized the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1546&qid=150688" target="_blank">Whose Data is it Anyway?</a>, (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, January 24, 2012). Centre for Internet and Society and Tactical Tech co-organised the second round of discussions of the Exposing Data series. Siddharth Hande and Hapee de Groot spoke in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1547&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy Matters — Analyzing the "Right to Privacy Bill"</a>, (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay). Privacy India in partnership with International Development Research Centre, Canada, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the Godrej Culture Lab, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and the Centre for Internet and Society organised this event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1548&qid=150688" target="_blank">Free Speech Online in India under Attack?</a>, (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, December 22, 2011). The event was co-organised with the Internet Democracy Project. Achal Prabhala, Lawrence Liang and Anja Kovacs gave a lecture on freedom of expression online in India.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><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. The programme has resulted in reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1549&qid=150688" target="_blank">India's untapped potential: Are a billion people losing out because of spectrum?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1550&qid=150688" target="_blank">India Study Tour - Report: The South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1551&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unlicensed Spectrum-Policy Brief for Government of India NTP '11</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1551&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unlicensed Spectrum-Policy Brief for Government of India NTP '11</a> by Satyen Gupta, Sunil Abraham and Yelena Gyulkhandanyan: The research paper aims to recommend unlicensed spectrum policy to the Government of India based on recent developments in wireless technology, community needs and international best practices, and seeks to demonstrate the need for and importance of unlicensed spectrum as a medium for inexpensive connectivity in rural/remote areas, as well as catalyzing innovation by being a barrier-free and cost-effective platform for the testing and implementing of new technologies.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Interview</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1552&qid=150688" target="_blank">An Interview with Stephen Song</a>: Yelena Gyulkhandanyan interviewed Stephen Song, the founder of Village Telco, an initiative to bring practical and inexpensive communication network infrastructure to rural and remote areas. He spoke about factors that catalyzed the initiative, the benefits of the network, some challenges, and the Mesh Potato.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Job Announcement</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1553&qid=150688" target="_blank">Content Developers/Trainers</a>: The Centre for Internet and Society is looking for a content developer/trainer to work on an upcoming project Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policies in India. This is a full-time position. To apply, please email your curriculum vitae along with three writing samples to <a href="mailto:yelena@cis-india.org">yelena@cis-india.org</a>. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Digital Natives with a Cause?</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by the Centre for Internet and Society, India 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. The programme has resulted in a four-book collective titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1554&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?</a> and reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1555&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? A Report</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1556&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Thinkathon: Position Papers</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1557&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives Video Contest</a>: Twenty-one candidates have been shortlisted, videos will be online soon. Voting begins from March 10, 2012. The Centre for Internet and Society is co-organising the video contest with Hivos, Netherlands.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1558&qid=150688" target="_blank">Essay Review: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause</a>: The monthly essay review for the four book collective of Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? was held from February 17 to February 26, 2012. The Centre for Internet and Society co-organized the “Essay Review” with Hivos, Netherlands.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Book Review</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1559&qid=150688" target="_blank">How to Put Up a Facebook Resistance</a>: “<i>The current discussion about Facebook's timeline is only the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a larger conflict that lurks behind it: how much direct marketing are Facebook users willing to take? How many drastic top-down changes of the user's Facebook experience are possible unless they understand that their presence on this site and what they do there is in tension with the company's goals that provides this digital environment?</i>”, Oliver Leistert reviews Marc Stumpel’s essay, "Mapping the Politics of Web 2.0: Facebook Resistance", in Digital Alternatives with a Cause Book 2: To Think, pp.24-31.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Newsletter</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1560&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy, Piracy and the Wiki Way of Web</a>: “<i>Privacy is about having more control over the personal information that we have disclosed. As we disclose more information online, we must ask who might access it and why.</i>” Nishant Shah in the Digital Natives Newsletter, volume 9, issue 2.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><b>News and Media Coverage</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1561&qid=150688" target="_blank">What is Stewardship in Cyberspace?</a>: The second annual Cyber Dialogue forum takes place March 18-19, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Sunil Abraham is a panelist in the session on Plenary Panel and Discussions.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1562&qid=150688" target="_blank">Secure IT 2012</a> — Securing Citizens through Technology: The event was co-organised by DST and NSDI, Govt. of India in partnership with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. on March 1, 2012 at Claridges in New Delhi. Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1563&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digitisation is making e-learning simple</a>: “<i>Learning should not be restricted to the Internet and interactive classroom sessions but should be made available on mobile phones through audio files as mobile penetration is much higher compared to Internet reach</i>”, Sunil Abraham in Deccan Herald, February 13, 2012. The article was written by Shayan Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1564&qid=150688" target="_blank">India debates limits to freedom of expression</a>: “<i>The government’s proposals on Web censorship would kill the vibrancy of the Internet in India</i>”, Sunil Abraham in the Washington Post, February 13, 2012. The article was written by Simon Denyer.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1565&qid=150688" target="_blank">Developing location-based services</a>, Hindu, February 26, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1566&qid=150688" target="_blank">Grooming the geek</a>: “<i>Children have to learn fine motor and social skills; tablets and other technology hinder the development of these skills</i>”, Sunil Abraham in LiveMint, February 24, 2012. The article was written by Gopal Sathe.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1567&qid=150688" target="_blank">FUEL Kannada - Workshop on Kannada Computing Terminology</a>: A two days workshop on the standardization of Kannada computing terminologies was organized on January 28 and 29, 2012 at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore under the FUEL project. The workshop was organised by Sanchaya and sponsored by Red Hat.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1568&qid=150688" target="_blank">Will open access replace costly commercial publishing models?</a>: “<i>Most scientists in India are forced to work in a situation of information poverty. Others are unable to access what Indian researchers are doing, leading to low visibility and low use of their work. Thus, Indian work is hardly cited. Both these handicaps can be overcome to a considerable extent if open access is adopted widely, both within and outside the country</i>”, Subbiah Arunachalam in the Hindu, February 19, 2012. The article was written by Vasudha Venugopal.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1569&qid=150688" target="_blank">Research papers will be available in public domain</a>: “<i>A research produced by the Tuberculosis Research Centre in Chennai which would be of great relevance to researchers, say in a university in Maharashtra, may not be even noticed by the scientists there. Both groups receive funds from the same source - Government of India - and yet what one does is not easily accessible to the other. Open Access would bridge that gap and make information available to everyone</i>”, Subbiah Arunachalam in the Hindu, February 15, 2012. The article was written by Vasudha Venugopal.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1570&qid=150688" target="_blank">OurSay: how India’s technology is cutting into corruption</a>: “<i>Print and cinema reflected the views of citizens and informed them of the visions and changes that the country was going through</i>”, Nishant Shah in Crikey, February 17, 2012. The blog post was written by Gautam Raju, co-founder and creative director, OurSayAustralia.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1571&qid=150688" target="_blank">India won't censor social media: Telecom Minister</a>: “<i>Glad that Sibal does not believe in censorship and that companies operating in India should follow local laws.” “But on the other hand he has asked them to evolve new guidelines and actively monitor user content which is not legally sanctioned. This makes him look two-faced</i>”, Pranesh Prakash in the Tribune. The article written by Salil Panchal was originally published by <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1572&qid=150688" target="_blank">AFP</a> and reproduced in the Tribune on February 14, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1573&qid=150688" target="_blank">Govt set to gain ‘back-door’ access to corporate email</a>: “<i>There are no allegations of terrorists using BES or any indication that any of the 5,000 enterprises have any links to terrorists or other banned outfits in India</i>”, Pranesh Prakash in LiveMint, February 14, 2012. The article was written by Shauvik Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1574&qid=150688" target="_blank">Indian law caught in web</a>: “<i>The Internet needs regulation but it cannot be treated as a gigantic newspaper or media channel”</i>, Pranesh Prakash; <i>“In liberal democracies like India and the US, information was taken for granted and not perceived as central to the understanding of society</i>”, Nishant Shah. Nishant and Pranesh are quoted in an article by Moyna published by Down to Earth magazine.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1575&qid=150688" target="_blank">Prometheus bound and gagged</a>: The article by Adarsh Matham was published in the New Indian Express on 20 January 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this article.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1576&qid=150688" target="_blank">Internet Curbs</a>: Sunil Abraham’s article “The Quixotic Fight to Clean Up the Web” which was published in Tehelka is referred to by Rishi Majumder in this article also published in Tehelka, Vol. 9, Issue 07, February 18, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1577&qid=150688" target="_blank">Tweeple say it pithily with hash tags</a>: “<i>Our social networking sites and writing platforms are performances of a certain kind... they allow us to convert our everyday lives into games — with rewards, actions, punishments or rules</i>”, Nishant Shah in the Hindu, February 11, 2012. The article was written by Deepa Kurup.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1578&qid=150688" target="_blank">New Bill to decide on individual’s right to privacy</a>: “<i>Tesco, a major retail chain in England, is now into E-banking… There are numerous examples of such private banking entities sharing customer information with insurance policy firms. These details are often used as markers for the kind of premium that will be set for a person</i>”, Malavika Jayaram in Tehelka, February 6, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1579&qid=150688" target="_blank">A new domain name, but concerns remain the same</a>: “<i>The rhetoric is that the Internet is global, but we've been seeing [governments say] how this information has to be regulated</i>”, Nishant Shah in the Hindu, February 5, 2012. The article was written by Karunya Keshav.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1580&qid=150688" target="_blank">Common man as crusader</a>: “<i>The movement targeted at the middle-class for whom corruption is a big issue was also the first middle-class movement in a long time.</i>” Nishant Shah in the Hindustan Times, February 4, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1581&qid=150688" target="_blank">5 things you need to know about online privacy policies</a>: “<i>India needs to have a broad and horizontal law that establishes online privacy as a right. Unlike in European countries, India doesn't have a privacy commissioner who can state the principles, interpret the data and question the online providers</i>”, Sunil Abraham in the Economic Times on February 6, 2012. The article was written by Indu Nandakumar.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1582&qid=150688" target="_blank">India needs an independent privacy law, says NGO Privacy India</a>: “<i>India doesn't have a privacy law, but there are provisions for it in different laws. During the course of the research, we found that the Indian judiciary has not been very strict in overseeing the implementation of the privacy clauses in various laws,</i>”,<i> </i>Prashant Iyengar in the Economic Times, February 2, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/privacy-speech-at-stake-in-cyberspace-1" class="external-link">Privacy, speech at stake in cyberspace</a>: “<i>The clampdown on online free speech and the roll-out of a multi-tiered blanket surveillance regime via the draconian IT Act and its associated rules in India is part of a global trend</i>”, Sunil Abraham in LiveMint, February 3, 2012. The article was written by Leslie D’Monte.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1584&qid=150688" target="_blank">Freedom of Expression in Community Media and on the Internet Understanding Connections, Finding Common Ground</a>: A meeting co-organised by the Internet Democracy Project (Delhi) and Maraa (Bangalore) with the support of the Community Radio Forum in New Delhi on 3 February 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated in this event. Anja Kovacs gave the welcome address and spoke in the session on “The Internet and Freedom of Expression.”</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1585&qid=150688" target="_blank">Google move is not good for netizens, say experts</a>: “<i>Google is doing what is good for shareholders. This is not positive for netizens</i>,” Sunil Abraham in the Hindu Business Line, January 31, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1586&qid=150688" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" 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/feb-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/feb-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T07:48:11ZPageJanuary 2012 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the Centre for Internet and Society newsletter! In this issue we bring you the updates of our research, events, media coverage and videos of events organized by us during the month of January 2012!</b>
<h2>Digital Natives with a Cause?</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS, India 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. The major outputs have been a four book collective asking questions about theory and practice around 'digital revolutions' in a post MENA (Middle East - North Africa) world, a position paper, a scouting study and three international workshops.</p>
<h3>Events Organised<b> </b> <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1038&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1038&qid=140996" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives Video Contest: The Everyday Digital Native — To Be, To Think, To Act, To Connect</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1039&qid=140996" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives Tweet-a-Review</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">'Digital Natives with a Cause?' project invites readers to review essays from the 'Digital AlterNatives with a Cause', a four-book collective published by Centre for Internet & Society and Hivos.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Digital AlterNatives: Book Reviews <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1040&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1040&qid=140996" target="_blank">Alternative Approaches to Social Change</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“<i>Observations about intangible aspects of a movement will keep a research from clinging to activism with a capital A, and start seeing a gradation in the social movement practices. It is constructive and opens the door to analyses of multi-dimensional movements such as the Blank Noise initiative (India). Drawing on methods of identifying new developments to the field of social movement, Maesy examines some aspects of it: the issue, strategy, site of action, and internal mode of organization</i>.”<br /><b>Nuraini Juliastuti</b>, Co-founder, KUNCI Cultural Studies Center</p>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. This includes persons with blindness, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, cerebral palsy and persons who do not have full control over their limbs. For these people, the material needs to be converted into alternate formats such as Braille, audio or video or electronic formats (text document, word document or PDF) which they can access using assistive technologies. Our key research has focused on a submission to amend the Indian Copyright to the HRD Ministry, publishing a policy handbook on e-accessibility, research on accessible mobile handsets in India and an analysis of the Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2010.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Journal Article</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1041&qid=140996" target="_blank">Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education</a>, published in the Journal: Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace. Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1042&qid=140996" target="_blank">Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible</a>. CIS researched, edited and published this report in partnership with G3ict and ITU. The report contains a foreword, eleven chapters, a bibliography and glossary with contributions from Deepti Bharthur, Nirmita Narasimhan and Axel Leblois.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event</h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1043&qid=140996" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a>, organized by the International Telecommunication Union, India International Centre, 14-15 March 2012. CIS is hosting the meeting. The Tutorial will be preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility (FG AVA) on 13 March 2012. This meeting will take place at the same venue and will also be hosted by CIS, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape. We prepared the India report for the Consumers International IP Watchlist, made submission to the HRD Ministry on WIPO Broadcast Treaty, questioned the demonization of pirates, and advocated against laws (such as PUPFIP Bill) that privatize public funded knowledge.</p>
<h3>Event Organised <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1044&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1044&qid=140996" target="_blank">Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright</a>: To commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary, CIS organised a public lecture. Prof. Shyamkrishna Balganesh of the University of Pennsylvania gave a lecture.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The advent of the Internet has radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. Even the Internet is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. CIS has been committed and actively campaigned for promotion of open standards, open access and free/libre/open source software.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Workshop Reports <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1045&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1045&qid=140996" target="_blank">Summary of the Minutes of the Workshop on Biodiversity Informatics</a>, organized by the Western Ghats Portal team to explore the contemporary state of biodiversity informatics at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore on 25 November 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1046&qid=140996" target="_blank">Design!PubliC — Innovation and the Public Interest</a>: On the 14th of October, 2011, the Center for Knowledge Societies organized the second edition of the Design Public Conclave, a conversation on how innovation can serve the Public Interest. The conclave was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1047&qid=140996" target="_blank">Report on the 'Open Access to Academic Knowledge' workshop</a>: On Wednesday the 2nd of November, during Open Access Week, the Indian Institute of Science in conjunction with the Centre for Internet and Society held a workshop on Open Access at the National Centre for Science Information, in Bangalore. We recorded the meeting and published it online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1048&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1048&qid=140996" target="_blank">Geekup on Open Data in Bangalore</a>: Hapee de Groot, Hivos, Netherlands gave a talk on Open Data and its use for citizen engagement.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1049&qid=140996" target="_blank">Wikipedia turns 11 today</a>: The Bangalore event, open to all Wikipedia users, contributors and enthusiasts, is being held at the Centre for Internet and Society at Domlur.<br />The Hindu, 15 January 2012</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society has 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 partnered with Privacy International and Society in Action Group which has produced outputs in banking, telecommunications, consumer rights, etc., submitted open letters to Parliamentary Committee on UID, feedbacks on NIA Bill, and IT Rules.</p>
<h3>Newspaper / Magazine Articles <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1050&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1050&qid=140996" target="_blank">Keeping it Private</a><br />As we disclose more information online, we must ask who might access it and why, writes Nishant Shah in the Indian Express, 15 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1051&qid=140996" target="_blank">Click to Change</a><br />From organising political protests and flash mobs to uploading their versions of Kolaveri Di, people brought about change with the help of the internet, Nishant Shah, Indian Express, 1 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1052&qid=140996" target="_blank">The Quixotic Fight to Clean up the Web</a><br />The ongoing attempt to pre-screen online content won’t change anything. It will only drive netizens into the arms of criminals, writes Sunil Abraham, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 04, 28 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1053&qid=140996" target="_blank">Sense and Censorship</a><br />The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills, at the US House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, appear to enforce property rights, but are, in fact, trade bills, Sunil Abraham in the Indian Express, 20 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Interview</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1054&qid=140996" target="_blank">Our Internet and the Law</a><br />Nishant Shah was interviewed by the BBC Channel 5 (Radio) for its Outriders section. Jamillah Knowles reports this. Listen to the podcast online, BBC Radio, 24 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Event Reports</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1055&qid=140996" target="_blank">Privacy Matters — Analyzing the Right to "Privacy Bill"</a><br />On January 21, 2012 a public conference “Privacy Matters” was held at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. It was the sixth conference organised in the series of regional consultations held as “Privacy Matters”. The present conference analyzed the Draft Privacy Bill and the participants discussed the challenges and concerns of privacy in India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1056&qid=140996" target="_blank">Future of Integrated Science Education in Higher Education in India</a><br />The Higher Education Innovation and Research Application (HEIRA) at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Centre for Contemporary Studies (CCS) at the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) hosted a two day workshop on 2 and 3 January 2012 on the Future of Integrated Science Education in Higher Education in India at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc. Nishant Shah participated in the workshop.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Media Coverage</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1057&qid=140996" target="_blank">Twitter’s Censorship Move Aimed at Regaining China?</a><br />"<i>The region-specific blocking was already being used on video hosting websites like YouTube and Hulu, where due to the wishes of copyright owners many videos are not available in India. Twitter is extending this technology to its tweets</i>.”<br />Pranesh Prakash in International Business Times, 28 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/google2019s-privacy-policy-raises-hackles" class="external-link">Google's privacy policy raises hackles</a> (Times of India, January 26, 2012)<br />“<i>Storing data makes it prone to misuse by authorities as well as corporations... I don't want my bakery shop owner to know what kind of medicines I buy from the nearby medical store</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Times of India, 26 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1059&qid=140996" target="_blank">Google to change privacy policy to use personal info of users</a><br />“<i>New changes are not good for a consumer's privacy</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in Punjab Newsline, 27 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tangled-web" class="external-link">Tangled Web</a><br />“<i>We did a policy sting operation wherein we sent fraudulent notices to big web sites...in one case where we asked for the removal of three comments, they removed all 13. So there is already a private censorship underway.</i>”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Week, 21 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1061&qid=140996" target="_blank">POV: Should user-generated content be monitored?</a><br />“<i>We should not fool ourselves into thinking that private sector companies like Google will defend our fundamental rights. The next Parliament session is the last opportunity for parliamentarians to ask for the revocation of the rules for intermediaries, cyber-cafes and reasonable security practices</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in afaqs, 19 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1062&qid=140996" target="_blank">Indian Internet Lawsuit Puts Spotlight on Freedom of Expression</a><br />“<i>These rules have the potential to curtail debate and discussion on the net... They allow for all sorts of subjective tests by private parties and we predicted they would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression online</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Voice of America, 19 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1063&qid=140996" target="_blank">India: obscene pics of gods require massive human censorship of Google, Facebook</a><br /> “<i>It’s difficult to establish exactly what is anti-religious: for example, the Hindu profession of belief in multiple gods is blasphemous to Muslims, Christians and Jews</i>.”<br /> Sunil Abraham in ars technica, 14 January 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/is-india-ignoring-its-own-internet-protections" class="external-link">Is India Ignoring its own Internet Protections? </a><br />“<i>The I.T. Act provides immunity to (Internet companies) and that should be the default starting position</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Wall Street, 16 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1065&qid=140996" target="_blank">India internet: clean-up or censorship?</a><br />Sunil Abraham was quoted in Financial Time’s beyondbrics, 13 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1066&qid=140996" target="_blank">Twists and turns of the SOPA opera</a><br />“<i>In terms of infrastructure, the U.S. controls critical web resources. Contrasting this to the Chinese firewall that blocks content for users within its jurisdiction, the U.S. decision to redirect a link can act as a ‘global block’</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Hindu, 15 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1067&qid=140996" target="_blank">Activists cry foul against Aadhaar</a><br />Sunil Abraham participated in the meet on Aadhaar convened by the Indian Social Action Forum.<br />The Telegraph, 12 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1068&qid=140996" target="_blank">NGO questions people's privacy in UID scheme</a><br />“<i>The UID project was allowed to march on without any protection being put in place</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Times of India, 11 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1069&qid=140996" target="_blank">Revealed: Bangalore’s Basic Instincts</a><br />“<i>If you look at the Google trend or any other website, Bangalore does not figure among the top 10 cities that surfs for porn. But that does not mean that Bangalore does not surf porn. It only means that we have a very sophisticated surfer with a very specific type. They don’t go through Google or other websites. They know how to go about it. But whether it affects their personal lives is lot more complicated</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Bangalore Mirror, 8 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/news/facebook-google-face-censorship-in-india" class="external-link">Facebook, Google face censorship in India</a><br />“<i>Traditional intellectual property rights holders like movie studios, music companies and software vendors are trying to protect their obsolete business models by pushing for the adoption of blanket surveillance and filtering technologies</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in SmartPlanet, 5 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1070&qid=140996" target="_blank">Trail of the Trolls</a><br />“<i>Trolling provokes a non-productive argument and as of now it is not considered a criminal offence anywhere in the world</i>.”<br />The Telegraph, 4 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1071&qid=140996" target="_blank">Constitution of Group of Experts to Deliberate on Privacy Issues</a><br />It has been decided to constitute a Small Group of Experts under the Chairmanship of Justice A.P. Shah, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, to identify the privacy issues and prepare a paper to facilitate authoring the Privacy Bill. Pranesh Prakash is one of the members.<br />Published by the Planning Commission, New Delhi.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1072&qid=140996" target="_blank">2011: The year India began to harness social media</a><br />“<i>We saw an increased sharing of digital content whether photos, videos, songs, news or blogs pointing to the Why This Kolaveri Di video, which went viral on YouTube with over 1.3 million views within a week of its release</i>.”<br />Nishant Shah in the Sunday Guardian, 1 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h3><b>Blog Posts</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1073&qid=140996" target="_blank">Section 79 of the Information Technology Act</a> by Pranesh Prakash</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1074&qid=140996" target="_blank">How India Makes E-books Easier to Ban than Books</a> (And How We Can Change That) by Pranesh Prakash. This was reproduced in <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1075&qid=140996" target="_blank">Medianama</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Upcoming Events</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1076&qid=140996" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a><br />Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Society in Action Group, Gurgaon and Privacy International, UK is organizing the High Level Privacy Conclave at the Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens in New Delhi on Friday, 3 February 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1077&qid=140996" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a><br />Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon, Privacy International, UK and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is organizing the All India Privacy Symposium at the India International Centre, New Delhi on Saturday, 4 February 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Events Organised</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1078&qid=140996" target="_blank">Workshop on the Standardization of Kannada Computing Terminology</a>, 28-29 January 2012, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1079&qid=140996" target="_blank">The Curious Case of Whose Data is it Anyway?</a> The second round of discussions of the Exposing Data Series was co-organized by Tactical Tech and CIS. Siddharth Hande and Hapee de Groot gave lectures.</li>
<li>"ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಜೊತೆ ಜೊತೆಗೆ..." organised in TERI, Bangalore, 22 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</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. In this connection, Shyam Ponappa continues to write his monthly column for the Business Standard.</p>
<h3><b> Article by Shyam Ponappa</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1081&qid=140996" target="_blank">Reversing India's Downward Trajectory</a><br />The country can regain growth momentum with rate cuts and telecom reforms, writes Shyam Ponappa in this column published in the Business Standard on 5 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Follow CIS on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=457&qid=46981" target="_blank">identi.ca</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=458&qid=46981" target="_blank">Facebook</a>\</li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" 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/january-2012-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T09:36:46ZPageGoogle Policy Fellowship Programme: Call for Applications
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/google-policy-fellowship
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India Fellow, who will be selected by August 15, 2012.</b>
<p>The <a class="external-link" href="http://www.google.com/policyfellowship/">Google Policy Fellowship</a> offers successful candidates an opportunity to develop research and debate on the fellowship focus areas, which include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom, for a period of about ten weeks starting from August 2012 upto October 2012. CIS will select the India Fellow. Send in your applications for the position by June 27, 2012.</p>
<p>To apply, please send to<a class="external-link" href="mailto:google.fellowship@cis-india.org"> google.fellowship@cis-india.org</a> the following materials:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Statement of Purpose</strong>: A brief write-up outlining about your interest and qualifications for the programme including the relevant academic, professional and extracurricular experiences. As part of the write-up, also explain on what you hope to gain from participation in the programme and what research work concerning free expression online you would like to further through this programme. (About 1200 words max).</li><li><strong>Resume</strong></li><li><strong>Three references</strong></li></ol>
<h2>Fellowship Focus Areas</h2>
<ul><li><strong>Access to Knowledge</strong>: Studies looking at access to knowledge issues in India in light of copyright law, consumers law, parallel imports and the interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property rights, targeted at policymakers, Members of Parliament, publishers, photographers, filmmakers, etc.</li><li><strong>Openness in India</strong>: Studies with policy recommendations on open access to scholarly literature, free access to law, open content, open standards, free and open source software, aimed at policymakers, policy researchers, academics and the general public. </li><li><strong>Freedom of Expression</strong>: Studies on policy, regulatory and legislative issues concerning censorship and freedom of speech and expression online, aimed at bloggers, journalists, authors and the general public.</li><li><strong>Privacy</strong>: Studies on privacy issues like data protection and the right to information, limits to privacy in light of the provisions of the constitution, media norms and privacy, banking and financial privacy, workplace privacy, privacy and wire-tapping, e-governance and privacy, medical privacy, consumer privacy, etc., aimed at policymakers and the public.</li><li><strong>Telecom</strong>: Building awareness and capacity on telecommunication policy in India for researchers and academicians, policymakers and regulators, consumer and civil society organisations, education and library institutions and lay persons through the creation of a dedicated web based resource focusing on knowledge dissemination.<br /></li></ul>
<h2>Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
<ul><li><strong>What is the Google Policy Fellowship program?</strong><br />The Google Policy Fellowship program offers students interested in Internet and technology related policy issues with an opportunity to spend their summer working on these issues at the Centre for Internet and Society at Bangalore. Students will work for a period of ten weeks starting from July 2012. The research agenda for the program is based on legal and policy frameworks in the region connected to the ground-level perceptions of the fellowship focus areas mentioned above.<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li><strong>I am an International student can I apply and participate in the program? Are there any age restrictions on participating?</strong><br />Yes. You must be 18 years of age or older by January 1, 2012 to be eligible to participate in Google Policy Fellowship program in 2012.<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li><strong>Are there citizenship requirements for the Fellowship?</strong><br />For the time being, we are only accepting students eligible to work in India (e.g. Indian citizens, permanent residents of India, and individuals presently holding an Indian student visa. Google cannot provide guidance or assistance on obtaining the necessary documentation to meet the criteria.<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li><strong>Who is eligible to participate as a student in Google Policy Fellowship program?</strong><br />In order to participate in the program, you must be a student. Google defines a student as an individual enrolled in or accepted into an accredited institution including (but not necessarily limited to) colleges, universities, masters programs, PhD programs and undergraduate programs. Eligibility is based on enrollment in an accredited university by January 1, 2012.<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li><strong>I am an International student can I apply and participate in the program?</strong><br />In order to participate in the program, you must be a student (see Google's definition of a student above). You must also be eligible to work in India (see section on citizen requirements for fellowship above). Google cannot provide guidance or assistance on obtaining the necessary documentation to meet this criterion.</li><li><strong>I have been accepted into an accredited post-secondary school program, but have not yet begun attending. Can I still take part in the program?</strong><br />As long as you are enrolled in a college or university program as of January 1, 2012, you are eligible to participate in the program.</li><li><strong>I graduate in the middle of the program. Can I still participate?</strong><br />As long as you are enrolled in a college or university program as of January 1, 2012, you are eligible to participate in the program.</li></ul>
<h2>Payments, Forms, and Other Administrative Stuff</h2>
<h3>How do payments work?*</h3>
<p>Google will provide a stipend of USD 7,500 equivalent to each Fellow for the summer.</p>
<ul><li>Accepted students in good standing with their host organization will receive a USD 2,500 stipend payable shortly after they begin the Fellowship in August 2012.</li><li>Students who receive passing mid-term evaluations by their host organization will receive a USD 1,500 stipend shortly after the mid-term evaluation in September 2012.</li><li>Students who receive passing final evaluations by their host organization and who have submitted their final program evaluations will receive a USD 3,500 stipend shortly after final evaluations in October 2012.</li></ul>
<p>Please note: <em>Payments will be made by electronic bank transfer, and are contingent upon satisfactory evaluations by the host organization, completion of all required enrollment and other forms. Fellows are responsible for payment of any taxes associated with their receipt of the Fellowship stipend</em>.</p>
<p><strong>*</strong>While the three step payment structure given here corresponds to the one in the United States, disbursement of the amount may be altered as felt necessary.</p>
<h3>What documentation is required from students?</h3>
<p>Students should be prepared, upon request, to provide Google or the host organization with transcripts from their accredited institution as proof of enrollment or admission status. Transcripts do not need to be official (photo copy of original will be sufficient).</p>
<h3>I would like to use the work I did for my Google Policy Fellowship to obtain course credit from my university. Is this acceptable?</h3>
<p>Yes. If you need documentation from Google to provide to your school for course credit, you can contact Google. We will not provide documentation until we have received a final evaluation from your mentoring organization.</p>
<h2>Host Organizations<br /></h2>
<h3>What is Google's relationship with the Centre for Internet and Society?</h3>
<p>Google provides the funding and administrative support for individual fellows directly. Google and the Centre for Internet and Society are not partners or affiliates. The Centre for Internet and Society does not represent the views or opinions of Google and cannot bind Google legally.</p>
<h2>Important Dates<br /></h2>
<h3><strong>What is the program timeline?</strong></h3>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>June 27, 2012</td>
<td>Student Application Deadline. Applications must be received by midnight.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>July 18, 2012</td>
<td>Student applicants are notified of the status of their applications.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>August 2012</td>
<td>Students begin their fellowship with the host organization (start date to be determined by students and the host organization); Google issues initial student stipends.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>September 2012</td>
<td>Mid-term evaluations; Google issues mid-term stipends.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>October 2012</td>
<td>Final evaluations; Google issues final stipends.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/google-policy-fellowship'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/google-policy-fellowship</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeFreedom of Speech and ExpressionPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceResearchTelecomIntermediary LiabilityCensorshipOpenness2012-05-24T15:38:28ZBlog EntryIntermediary Liability in India: Chilling Effects on Free Expression on the Internet
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society in partnership with Google India conducted the Google Policy Fellowship 2011. This was offered for the first time in Asia Pacific as well as in India. Rishabh Dara was selected as a Fellow and researched upon issues relating to freedom of expression. The results of the paper demonstrate that the ‘Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011’ notified by the Government of India on April 11, 2011 have a chilling effect on free expression.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Intermediaries are widely recognised as essential cogs in the wheel of exercising the right to freedom of expression on the Internet. Most major jurisdictions around the world have introduced legislations for limiting intermediary liability in order to ensure that this wheel does not stop spinning. With the 2008 amendment of the Information Technology Act 2000, India joined the bandwagon and established a ‘notice and takedown’ regime for limiting intermediary liability.<br /><br />On the 11th of April 2011, the Government of India notified the ‘Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011’ that prescribe, amongst other things, guidelines for administration of takedowns by intermediaries. The Rules have been criticised extensively by both the national and the international media. The media has projected that the Rules, contrary to the objective of promoting free expression, seem to encourage privately administered injunctions to censor and chill free expression. On the other hand, the Government has responded through press releases and assured that the Rules in their current form do not violate the principle of freedom of expression or allow the government to regulate content.<br /><br />This study has been conducted with the objective of determining whether the criteria, procedure and safeguards for administration of the takedowns as prescribed by the Rules lead to a chilling effect on online free expression. In the course of the study, takedown notices were sent to a sample comprising of 7 prominent intermediaries and their response to the notices was documented. Different policy factors were permuted in the takedown notices in order to understand at what points in the process of takedown, free expression is being chilled.<br /><br />The results of the paper clearly demonstrate that the Rules indeed have a chilling effect on free expression. Specifically, the Rules create uncertainty in the criteria and procedure for administering the takedown thereby inducing the intermediaries to err on the side of caution and over-comply with takedown notices in order to limit their liability; and as a result suppress legitimate expressions. Additionally, the Rules do not establish sufficient safeguards to prevent misuse and abuse of the takedown process to suppress legitimate expressions.<br /><br />Of the 7 intermediaries to which takedown notices were sent, 6 intermediaries over-complied with the notices, despite the apparent flaws in them. From the responses to the takedown notices, it can be reasonably presumed that not all intermediaries have sufficient legal competence or resources to deliberate on the legality of an expression. Even if such intermediary has sufficient legal competence, it has a tendency to prioritize the allocation of its legal resources according to the commercial importance of impugned expressions. Further, if such subjective determination is required to be done in a limited timeframe and in the absence of adequate facts and circumstances, the intermediary mechanically (without application of mind or proper judgement) complies with the takedown notice.<br /><br />The results also demonstrate that the Rules are procedurally flawed as they ignore all elements of natural justice. The third party provider of information whose expression is censored is not informed about the takedown, let alone given an opportunity to be heard before or after the takedown. There is also no recourse to have the removed information put-back or restored. The intermediary is under no obligation to provide a reasoned decision for rejecting or accepting a takedown notice.</p>
<p>The Rules in their current form clearly tilt the takedown mechanism in favour of the complainant and adversely against the creator of expression.</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>The research highlights the need to:<br />
<ul>
<li> increase the safeguards against misuse of the privately administered takedown regime</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>reduce the uncertainty in the criteria for administering the takedown</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> reduce the uncertainty in the procedure for administering the takedown</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> include various elements of natural justice in the procedure for administering the takedown</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>replace the requirement for subjective legal determination by intermediaries with an objective test</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/intermediary-liability-in-india.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Intermediary Liability in India">Click</a> to download the report [PDF, 406 Kb]</p>
<hr />
<h3>Appendix 2</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/intermediary-liability-and-foe-executive-summary.pdf" class="internal-link">Intermediary Liability and Freedom of Expression — Executive Summary</a> (PDF, 263 Kb)</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/counter-proposal-by-cis-draft-it-intermediary-due-diligence-and-information-removal-rules-2012.odt" class="internal-link">Counter-proposal by the Centre for Internet and Society: Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Due Diligence and Information Removal) Rules, 2012</a> (Open Office Document, 231 Kb)</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/counter-proposal-by-cis-draft-it-intermediary-due-diligence-and-information-removal-rules-2012.pdf" class="internal-link">Counter-proposal by the Centre for Internet and Society: Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Due Diligence and Information Removal) Rules, 2012</a> (PDF, 422 Kb)</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>The above documents have been sent to:</p>
<ol>
<li>Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Communications and Information Technology</li>
<li>Shri Milind Murli Deora, Minister of State of Communications and Information Technology</li>
<li>Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology</li>
<li>Dr. Anita Bhatnagar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology</li>
<li>Dr. Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology</li>
<li>Dr. Gulshan Rai, Scientist G & Group Coordinator, Director General, ICERT, Controller Of Certifying, Authorities and Head of Division, Cyber Appellate Tribunal </li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet</a>
</p>
No publisherRishabh DaraFreedom of Speech and ExpressionPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceResearchFeaturedIntermediary LiabilityCensorship2012-12-14T10:22:24ZBlog EntryHabits of Living: Global Networks, Local Affects
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living
<b>“Networks” have become a defining concept of our epoch. From high-speed financial networks that erode national sovereignty to networking sites like Facebook that transform the meaning of the word “friend,” from blogs that foster new political alliances to unprecedented globe-spanning viral vectors that threaten world-wide catastrophe, networks allegedly encapsulate what’s new and different. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>To understand the impact of networks, most analyses—scholarly, popular, and strategic—have focused on mapping networks. Using network tools to describe networks, this move conflates description and explanation (it assumes that simply discovering the existence of networks is enough) and transforms specific persons/things and relations into interchangeable nodes and lines in a diagram. Not surprisingly, most analyses also privilege technology as the unifying power behind networks: the term “twitter revolution,” for instance, widely used to describe events from Moldavia to Egypt, erases local political concerns in favour of an internet application. Although understanding universal characteristics of networks is important, this emphasis also risks making the concept of a “networked society” a banal cliché, incapable of addressing the differences between various “networks,” or the odd transformation of networks from a planning tool—a theoretical diagram, a metaphorical description—into actually existing phenomena, into lived experiences.</p>
<p>To renew the conceptual power of networks, <em>Habits of Living: Networked Affects, Glocal Effects</em>—a global collaborative project of which the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University will be an important locus—concentrates on changing habits of living. Habits are crucial to understanding networks not simply as broad organizational structures, but also as structures created through constant actions that are both voluntary and involuntary. As Pierre Bourdieu has famously argued, “habitus” is a “system of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function … as principles which generate and organize practices and representations that can be objectively adapted to their outcomes without presupposing a conscious aiming at ends.”<a name="fr1" href="#fn1">[1]</a>; Habits are things that individuals hold that in turn define and hold individuals: they link the individual to society through repeated actions that also tie a person’s inner state (their mind) to their outward appearance (a habit is traditionally a type of clothing). Habits are ‘man-made nature’: they are automatic seemingly instinctual and at times uncontrollable actions (for instance, drug habits) that are learned. Habits in this sense are closely aligned with “affects”: unconscious emotional responses to environmental stimulants that are central to the formation of individual perception. Thus although habits let us address similarities across human, animal, physical and non-physical realms (the characteristic growth of a crystal is a habit), habits are also uniquely personal and societal, and thus allow us to address important differences usually elided in network analyses. Habits are “glocal”: local actions that spread globally, but not necessarily universally; they spread the effects of local actions elsewhere through specific trajectories.</p>
<p>The point, to be clear, is not to oppose habits to networks, but to understand the subtleties and power of connectivity by bringing these two concepts into dialogue with one another. Habits scale from the individual to the network in a number of ways, from the twitchy 'Lifestream' checking of Twitter enthusiasts, to co-ordination arranged by mobile phone and GPS, to the very conceptual foundation of computer science for which classic problems, such as the Travelling Saleman or Dining Philosophers combine strong technical requirements of resource allocation and network design with fables about everyday life. As the work of Dr. Matthew Fuller (a foundational new media theorist / artist and co-organizer from Goldsmiths) reveals, the cross-over between the technical and the experiential is what produces value and novelty in contemporary computing. The point is also to think through habits of living as possible points of transformation and intervention: as the term habitat makes clear, they also imply a certain sheltering and practice of care, something which the SARAI collective in New Delhi has addressed in their work in new media. This notion of habitat and change has also been further addressed, specifically in terms of “the archive in motion,” by Eivind Rossaak—an international expert in film and media—and his research group at the National Library of Norway, Oslo. Their creative rethinking of the archive and the role of media technologies is crucial to understanding the radical mobilization, perpetuation and preservation of habitual media and memory practices. The work of Nishant Shah—the director of the Bangalore Center for Internet and Society and co-editor of the groundbreaking Digital AlterNatives with a Cause —highlights that, to understand how new media affects habits of living, we need to rethink assumptions about “digital natives” and imaginings of “netizens.” He has also started a far-reaching research program investigating the relationship between affect and participation. Dr. Kelly Dobson’s—chair of Digital + Media at RISD and an innovative and much lauded new media artist—work focuses on the intimate “caring” relationship between machines and humans, which emerges from mainly non-intentional interactions, such as noise and vibrations. Lastly, <em>Habits of Living: Networked Affects, Glocal Effects</em> seeks to change the focus of network analyses away from catastrophic events or their possibility towards generative habitual actions that negotiate and transform the constant stream of information to which we are exposed. (This is the focus of my current book project).</p>
<p>As the above paragraph outlines, this inter-disciplinary project will be a global interdisciplinary collaboration. This project initially emerged from discussions between members of SARAI and myself and quickly expanded to include the Center for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, the Digital + Media Department at RISD, the Bangalore Center for Internet and Society and the National Library of Norway. In addition, we plan to invite participants from: Amsterdam, Buenos Aries, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, amongst other places. At Brown, in addition to faculty in the Department of Modern Culture and Media, we would like to involve people from the Cogut Center for the Humanities, the Pembroke Center for the Study of Women, and the Watson Institute for International Studies.</p>
<p>The project, will comprise a series of workshops, artist residencies, a large public conference to be held at Brown University, and eventually leading to an edited online and a print publication. Each workshop will be attended by a core group of five scholars/artists who will participate in all the workshops and the conference, as well as group of participants that will vary according to the location. Ideally, this will continue as a three-year project, with each group playing a major role in convening the events for one year.</p>
<p>Collaborators: Wendy Chun (Professor, Brown University), Kelly Dobson, Chair, Digital + Media, RISD, Providence, Matthew Fuller, David Gee Reader in Digital Media, Center for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London and Eivind Rossaak, Associate Professor, Department of Research, National Library of Norway, Oslo.</p>
<hr />
<p>[<a name="fn1" href="#fr1">1</a>].Pierre Bourdieu. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Trans Richard Nice (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1977), 72.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living</a>
</p>
No publisherWendy Chun, Kelly Dobson, Matthew Fuller and Eivind RossaakNet CulturesResearchers at WorkResearch2015-10-24T13:38:42ZBlog EntryInterface Intimacies
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/interface-intimacies/interface-intimacies
<b>Sherry Turkle, in her book Alone Together, talked about how the digital technologies, replacing interface time with face-time, are slowly alienating us from our social networks. There has been an increasing amount of anxiety around how people in immersive and ubiquitous computing and web environments are living lives which are connected online but not connected with their social and political contexts.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>While there are instances and examples of mobilisation, social networking meets, group formations, etc. there is a growing worry that on an everyday basis, we live our lives more in the company of gadgets, ambience technologies and digital platforms than with people.</p>
<p>At the same time, users of technologies often express their engagement with technologies in affective terms, where they seem to form intimate relationships with their technologies. The interfaces that we see all around us, constantly deflect our attention, emotions and desires on to different surfaces, creating flattened universes with the promises of deep immersion. Especially as the internet becomes mobile and digital interfaces become ubiquitous – from large scale billboards to small wearable devices; from sites of work to spaces of pleasure – there is a new form of intimacy which is shaped, designed, experienced, and lived through interfaces.</p>
<p>The digital interfaces become polymorphous sites of affection, love, desire, aspiration, seduction, transgression and stability. The interface is growing so integral to our everyday lives, that we start thinking of them as metaphors through which we understand ourselves and the world that we connect to. We talk about ourselves as systems that need to be ‘upgraded’ or ‘connected’. We think of the world as a network through which we ‘recycle’ our lives and ‘connect’ to our ‘peers’. The interfaces, are simultaneously opaque and transparent – They allow us to connect to the digital other, crossing boundaries of geography and time, and they also deny us access to the actually mechanics which bring the interfaces to life.</p>
<p><em>Interface Intimacies</em> is a research cluster that is interested in digging deep into interfaces, to examine peoples’ relationships with the digital interfaces around them. What are the affective relationships that people have with their interfaces? What goes into anthropomorphising an interface? What are the larger politics of labour, performance and ownership that surround interface design? What are the ways in which people simulate presence and connections through their interfaces? How is the human presumed in Computer-Human interface design? What aesthetic and political moves are we witnessing with the rise of interface mediated publics? What and who is made opaque when interfaces become transparent? When interfaces get distributed, what are the possibilities and potential for art, theory and practice to move into new forms of politics?</p>
<p>These are the kind of questions that this research cluster seeks to address with a special focus on Asia. The intention is to build a knowledge network of researchers from different disciplines – Art, Architecture, Computer Human Interaction Design, Digital Humanities, New Media Theory, Urban Planning, Public Infrastructure Design, Software Studies, Interface Design etc. – to enter into a dialogue around Interfaces and how they define contemporary conditions of life in their contexts.</p>
<p>The project hopes to organise a workshop exploring these ideas leading to an edited anthology and a special journal issue of peer-reviewed academic scholarship. The project hopes to kick off in February 2012 and take about 18 months till completion.</p>
<p>Collaborators: Audrey Yue (Melbourne University), Namita Malhotra (ALF)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/interface-intimacies/interface-intimacies'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/interface-intimacies/interface-intimacies</a>
</p>
No publisherAudrey Yue and Namita A MalhotraInterface IntimaciesNet CulturesResearchers at WorkResearch2015-10-24T13:40:18ZBlog EntryLocating the Mobile: An Ethnographic Investigation into Locative Media in Melbourne, Bangalore and Shanghai
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile
<b>From Google maps, geoweb, GPS (Global Positioning System), geotagging, Foursquare and Jie Pang, locative media is becoming an integral part of the smartphone (and shanzhai or copy) phenomenon. For a growing generation of users, locative media is already an everyday practice. </b>
<div id="parent-fieldname-text" class="plain kssattr-atfieldname-text kssattr-templateId-blogentry_view.pt kssattr-macro-text-field-view">
<p>The transition from the analogue to the digital, from dial-up to
broadband internet access was dramatic in how it changed our notions of
space, catalysing new ways of thought and practice. In the case of
locative media the uptake is more accelerated with it already engaging
more than ten times those involved in the analogue-digital transition.
The spread and usage of locative media is fast and promises to produce
an even more dramatic transformation as the net becomes portable and
pervasive.</p>
<p>As yet we know little about the impact locative media is having, and
will have upon people’s livelihoods and identity, or on public policy
around privacy, identity, security and cultural production. Discourse in
the field has opened up questions of art, innovation and
experimentation (de Souza e Silva & Sutko 2009; Hjorth 2010, 2011).
However, there remains a dearth of nuanced research on locative media
that provides in-depth, contextual accounts of its socio-cultural and
political dimensions. Little work has been conducted into locative media
as it migrates from art and into the ‘messy’ (Dourish & Bell 2011)
area of the everyday.</p>
<p><em>Locating the Mobile</em> seeks to address this knowledge gap by
undertaking close studies of locative media in three
locations—Bangalore, Melbourne and Shanghai. We aim to capture and
analyse the multiplicities of locative media practice emerging in both
developed and developing contexts. </p>
<p>These three locations have relatively high smartphones (or copies
like shanzhai) usage and are indicative of twenty-first century
migration, diaspora and transnational practices. As one of the leading
regions for mobile media innovation (Hjorth 2009; Bell 2005; Miller
& Horst 2005), the various contested localities in the Asia-Pacific
provide a rich and complex case study for mobile media as it moves into
locative media. The three locations also show how the presence of
digital and internet technologies is ‘flattening’ the globalised
landscape and bringing about dramatic changes in the ways in which these
cities shape and develop (Shah 2010). We consider how place informs
locative media practices and how, in turn, these practices are shaping
new narratives of place. </p>
<p><em>Locating the Mobile</em> seeks to collect and analyse some of the
emergent, tacit, innovative and ‘making-do’ practices informing the
rise, and resistance to, locative media. Drawing on pertinent issues for
the present and future of locative media, Locating the Mobile aims to:</p>
<ol><li>Pioneer and develop models and templates for comprehending the implications of locative media.</li><li>Develop a nuanced and situated understanding of locative media as part of cultural practice.</li><li>Provide, through multi-site analysis, new insights into the impact of locative media upon narratives of place and belonging.</li><li>Develop socio-cultural understandings of the role locative media plays in notions of intimacy and privacy.</li></ol>
<p>By
bringing together an expert team that represent a commitment to probing
the social, cultural and community dimensions of technological
innovation, Locating the Mobile will develop methodologies that capture
the dynamic and mundane features of this emergent media practice. By
doing so, Locating the Mobile will move beyond binary debates about
surveillance and privacy or ‘parachute’ case studies of locative art
towards <strong>nuanced and complex understandings of locative media and its implication for future cultural practices</strong>.</p>
<h3>Significance and Innovation</h3>
<p>The nascent field of locative media is impacting upon cultural
practice, place-making and policy in ways we can only imagine. While
much analysis has been conducted in mobile media (Goggin & Hjorth
2009) and experimental forms of locative media/art (de Souza e Silva
& Sutko 2009), the increased ubiquity of locative media through
devices such as the smartphone will undoubtedly transform the way in
which place and mobility is articulated. Locating the Mobile seeks to
substantially expand and contextualise upon the burgeoning area of
locative media through a variety of innovative and significant ways.</p>
<p><em>Locating the Mobile</em> is<strong> original </strong>in its <strong>topic</strong>, <strong>method</strong>, <strong>outcomes</strong> and <strong>industry collaboration</strong>. <strong>Firstly</strong>,
it is significant in that it brings depth and innovation to the
emergent area of locative media, and its impact upon discourses around
mobile media in ideas of mobility and place-making. In the face of
parachute nature of many locative art research (de Souza e Silva &
Sutko 2009), Locating the Mobile is one of the first studies
internationally to explore locative media over time in specific
locations. <strong>Secondly</strong>, it deploys a variety of methods
(such as surveys, focus groups, interviews and diaries for scenario of
use, overlaid with data-mining) across different devices (mobile phone,
iPad) and platforms (Foursquare, Jie Pang) to analyse the local and
socio-cultural dimensions of use. With its team of experts in mobile
media (Hjorth, Bell and Horst), communication for development (C4D)
(Tacchi and Shah), gaming (Hjorth), social networking (Shah, Zhou and
Hjorth) as well as a range of methodologies, this three-year study will
investigate and contextualise locative media in Bangalore, Melbourne and
Shanghai. Despite its ubiquity in many locations in the Asia-Pacific
region, much of the locative media literature remains Anglophonic or
Eurocentric in focus.<strong> Thirdly</strong>, through multi-site
analysis of locative media practices we will provide innovative ways in
which to reflect upon narratives of place, belonging and
transnationalism. <strong>Fourthly</strong>, by pioneering the first
multi-site analysis of locative media over time, Locating the Mobile
will develop the much missing socio-cultural understandings of locative
media and how it impacts upon intimacy and privacy upon individual,
group and policy levels. We will now detail these four key areas of
significance and innovation. <strong>We will pioneer and develop models and templates for comprehending the implications of locative media</strong>.
In these models we actively address locative media in the transnational
context of contemporary feelings about belonging, possession, mobility,
migration, and dislocation. As locative media becomes more pervasive,
the power of its banality needs further understanding beyond ‘global’
generalisations (see www.pleaserobme.com). Like the rise of mobile media
that was accompanied by the ‘subversive user’ (Hjorth 2009), we need to
figure out the digital subject who is shaped—both historically and
socio-culturally—through the pervasive spread of locative media. As
Gabriella Coleman (2010) observes in her review of ethnographic
approaches to digital media, there are three main overlapping
categories: research on the relationship between digital media and the
cultural politics of media; the vernacular cultures of digital media;
the prosaics of digital media (and this attention to the commonplace,
the unromantic, the quotidian). In the case of locative media,
ethnographic approaches—emphasising the situated, vernacular and
prosaic—are needed in order to understand the relocations of mobility
across a variety notions: technological, electronic and psychological to
name a few. Moreover, given the relatively high proportion of Indian
and Chinese migrants in Melbourne—and migration in Bangalore and
Shanghai—exploring locative media can <strong>provide new models for conceptualising the impact of migration, diaspora, and transnationalism on place</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>We will develop a nuanced and situated understanding of locative media as part of cultural practice</strong>
through methods that deploy both qualitative (ethnographic) and
quantitative (datamining) approaches such as ‘ethno-mining’ (Anderson et
al. 2009). With the emergence of ethnomining approaches—that is,
data-based mining combined with ethnography—new models for analysing
media and mobility can be found. Locating the Mobile addresses this need
for innovative methodologies that capture the dynamic nature of
locative media by situating it within three legacies: social, cultural
and historical mediatisation. Further, Locating the Mobile seeks to
frame locative media as evolving through the cultural precepts informing
mobile media and urbanity LP120200829 (Submitted to RO) Dr Larissa
Hjorth PDF Created: 16/11/2011 Page 8 of 123 discourses. Drawing upon
case studies from a region renowned for divergent and innovative use of
mobile media (Hjorth 2009) and gaming (Hjorth & Chan 2009)—the
Asia-Pacific—Locating the Mobile seeks to understand the lived and local
dimensions of locative media and how it can inform emergent and older
forms of place-making, belonging and migration. By focusing upon this
nascent but burgeoning area in global mobile media practice—locative
media—Locating the Mobile not only places Australia as a forerunner in
innovative, original, and challenging methodologies for new media, but
also, by bringing together key industry partners, Intel, CIS and Fudan
University,<em><br /></em></p>
<p><em>Locating the Mobile</em> seeks to contextualise the research in
terms of industry and community outcomes. In this sense, Locating the
Mobile clearly addresses the National Priority 3, Frontier Technologies
(see below for more details).</p>
<p><strong>We will provide, through multi-site analysis, new insights
into the impact of locative media upon narratives of place and belonging</strong>
through our three case study locations—Melbourne, Bangalore and
Shanghai. Locative media can provide new models for conceptualising the
impact of migration, diaspora, and transnationalism on place. Although
place has always mattered to mobile media (Ito 2003; Bell 2005; Hjorth
2003), locative media both amplify, redirect and redefine practices
around place, community and a sense of belonging—phenomenon that impacts
upon cultural policy and media regulation (Goggin 2011). Along with the
digital interfaces that overlay our physical experiences as we enter
into a state of augmented reality (AR), the presence of these
cartographic, geospatial locative platforms also changes the ways in
which the cities and how we navigate with them (Shah 2010). With the
rise of locative media like Google maps we are seeing new ways to frame
and narrate a sense of place through various technological lenses
overlaying the social with the informational. This phenomenon is
especially the case with smartphones and their plethora of applications
(apps) drawing heavily upon locative media—even most photo apps come
with locative media. With locative media we see the arrival of increased
accessibility to augmented<br />reality (AR). Instead of replacing the
analogue with the digital, the physical with the virtual, they open up
‘hybrid realities’ (a term used by de Souza e Silva to describe AR
mobile games) that need new conceptual tools and located frameworks to
unravel the dynamics. We are no longer looking at just the technology
mediated hypervisual digitality but also exploring what these locative
media augment and simulate in everyday practices.</p>
<p><strong>We will develop socio-cultural understandings of the role locative media plays in notions of intimacy and privacy</strong>
and how we might comprehend locative media’s implications on individual
and cultural practices, and regulation. In the second generation of
locative media that sees it move increasingly into the mainstream,
questions about security, privacy and identity—and how these are shaped
by the local—come into focus (Dourish & Anderson 2006). For Dourish
and Anderson (2006) locative media can been viewed as a form of
‘Collective Information Practice’ that have social and cultural
implications upon how privacy and security are conceptualised. For
others such as Siva Vaidhyanathan (2011) locative media like Google maps
and street views are about a corporate surveillance. As a burgeoning
field of media practice intersecting daily life, there is a need for
in-depth situated accounts into locative media and their
cultural-economic dimensions to understand the impact they will have on
intimacy, privacy, identity and place-making. In Locating the Mobile, by
developing and implementing new hybrid models for analysing locative
media (Anderson et al. 2009), we consider the role locative media plays
in how place shapes, and is shaped by, these practices and the future
implications around cultural policy. The comparative dimension brings a
rich data-set to bear on our understanding of locative media and the
questions it may pose in the future. The outputs are significant not
only for Australian mobile communication, gaming and internet studies—by
providing a regional context for evaluating the socio-technologies—but
also demonstrates internationally Australia’s lead in ground-breaking
research into locative media (Priority 3, ‘frontier technologies’) in
arguably the most significant sites for global ICTs production and
consumption, the Asia-Pacific.</p>
<p><strong>National Research Priorities</strong>: With the rise of
smartphones becoming ubiquitous, location-based services have burgeoned.
And yet, little is known about this area and its impact upon
individuals, LP120200829 (Submitted to RO) Dr Larissa Hjorth PDF
Created: 16/11/2011 Page 9 of 123 organisations and governments. Given
this phenomenon, a comprehensive understanding of the impact upon
locative media upon notions of privacy, identity and place-making is
needed. In the twenty-first century, locative media will become an
increasingly important part of everyday life—for individuals,
communities, businesses and government agencies. Thus it is imperative
that we have a robust comparative understanding of locative media in
Australia and across the region. By conceptualising this impact within
the context of the region, Locating the Mobile ensures Australia is at
the frontier of new technologies and their impact upon future
technological practices and policies. Such an understanding is
fundamental to Australia’s technology and cultural sectors, thus
contributing to National Research Priority 3 through one of the
strongest currencies in twenty-first century global market, mobile
media, as well as contributing to the broader long-term project of
locating Australia in the region. By drawing on qualitative,
cross-cultural longitudinal research into locative media, Locating the
Mobile will document, analysis and provide future recommendations for
how locative media is impacting upon people’s experience of place and
identity. A study like this is important as it is innovative for not
only pioneering methodologies to evaluate this media phenomenon but also
to understand some of its long-term implications on how mobile media
intervenes and even reconfigures experiences and perceptions of place
which, in turn, impact upon cultural policy.</p>
<p>Collaborators: Larissa Hjorth (RMIT University, Melbourne), Genevieve Bell (Intel, Shanghai)</p>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile</a>
</p>
No publisherLarissa Hjorth and Genevieve BellNet CulturesResearchers at WorkResearch2015-10-24T13:41:47ZBlog Entry