November 2019 Newsletter

by Admin — last modified Dec 31, 2019 02:53 PM

CIS newsletter for November 2019

Highlights for November 2019
If you think that Indian languages are as important as international languages, like English, then, you are on the same page with this article. Suswetha Kolluru and Nitesh Gill explains this in their blog posts published in multiple languages: English, Punjabi, Hindi and Telugu. Gurshabad Grover was nominated through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to be a member of the Advisory Group AG) on Open Source Software for ISO/IEC JTC 1. CIS is a partner on the project 'Gender, Health Communications and Online Activism in the Digital Age'. The project is lead by Dr. Carolina Matos, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Media in the Department of Sociology at City University. Ambika Tandon, Policy Officer at CIS, conducted fieldwork for the project in May and June 2019 as a research assistant. Dr. Carolina Matos's presentation can be accessed here. The need for intervention in the cybersecurity imagery in media publications was realised during a brainstorming workshop that was conducted by CIS with illustrators, designers, and cybersecurity researchers. Towards this CIS compiled a handbook introducing Cybersecurity Visuals Media. CIS, along with Design Beku launched the Cybersecurity Visuals Media Handbook. This handbook has been conceived to be a concise guide for media publications to understand the specific concepts within cybersecurity and use it as a reference to create visuals that are more informative, relevant, and look beyond stereotypes. Anusha Madhusudhan authored a research paper titled "Blockchain: A primer for India". The paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of existing research and major debates surrounding Blockchain technology and its developments in select jurisdictions with a specific focus on India. Vipul Kharbanda authored a research paper titled Draft Security Standards for The Financial Technology Sector in India. This document includes draft information security standards, which seek to ensure that not only the data of users is dealt with in a secure and safe manner but also that the smaller businesses in the fintech industry have a specific standard to look at in order to limit their liabilities for any future breaches. Pukhraj Singh, a cyber threat intelligence analyst who has worked with the Indian government and security response teams of global companies authored a guest blog post titled "Before cyber norms, let’s talk about disanalogy and disintermediation". Pukhraj looks at the critical fissures – at the technical and policy levels – in global normative efforts to secure cyberspace. CIS was acknowledged in the final report of the Global Commission on Stability of Cyberspace.

CIS and the News

The following articles and research papers were authored by CIS secretariat during the month:

India’s Role in Global Cyber Policy Formulation (Arindrajit Basu; Lawfare; November 7, 2019). The article was reviewed and edited by Elonnai Hickok and Justin Sherman.
The Telecom Crisis is an NPA Problem (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; November 7, 2019).

CIS in the News

CIS secretariat was consulted for the following articles published during the month in various publications:

Why having more CCTV cameras does not translate to crime prevention (Manasa Rao; News Minute; September 3, 2019). Published on the CIS website on December 5, 2019.
Activists demand judicial probe into WhatsApp snooping (K.V. Kuramath; Hindu Businessline; November 1, 2019).
Cyber law experts asks why CERT-In removed advisory warning about WhatsApp vulnerability (Megha Mandavia; ET Tech.com; November 4, 2019).
WhatsApp spy attack and after (Theres Sudeep; Deccan Herald; November 6, 2019).
Should online political advertising be regulated? (P.J. George; Hindu; November 8, 2019).
India facial recognition: How effective will it be? (Al Jazeera; November 8, 2019).
Proposals to regulate social media run into multiple roadblocks ( Saumya Tewari and Abhijit Ahaskar; Livemint; November 27, 2019).

Access to Knowledge

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.

Wikipedia

Under a grant from Wikimedia Foundation we are doing a project for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

Blog Entries

Project Tiger 2.0 (Suswetha Kolluru and Nitesh Gill; November 22, 2019). in English
Project Tiger 2.0 (Suswetha Kolluru and Nitesh Gill; November 22, 2019). in Punjabi
Project Tiger 2.0 (Suswetha Kolluru and Nitesh Gill; November 22, 2019). in Hindi
Project Tiger 2.0 (Suswetha Kolluru and Nitesh Gill; November 22, 2019). in Telugu

Internet Governance

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. As part of internet governance work we work on policy issues relating to freedom of expression primarily focusing on the Information Technology Act and issues of liability of intermediaries for unlawful speech and simultaneously ensuring that the right to privacy is safeguarded as well.

Freedom of Speech & Expression

Under a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, CIS is doing research on the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government and contribute studies, reports and policy briefs to feed into the ongoing debates at the national as well as international level. As part of the project we bring you the following outputs:

Blog Entry

Reliance Jio is using SNI inspection to block websites (Gurshabad Grover and Kushagra Singh, and edited by Elonnai Hickok; November 7, 2019).

Participation in Events

Roundtable Discussion on Intermediary Liability (Organized by SFLC and the Dialogue; New Delhi; October 17, 2019). Tanaya Rajwade participated in a roundtable discussion on intermediary liability.

Gender

Blog Entry

Project on Gender, Health Communications and Online Activism with City University (Ambika Tandon; November 28, 2019).

Cyber Security

Research Paper

Introducing the Cybersecurity Visuals Media Handbook (Handbook concept, content and design by: Padmini Ray Murray and Paulanthony George; Blog post authored by: Saumyaa Naidu and Arindrajit Basu; With inputs from: Karan Saini; Edited by: Shweta Mohandas; November 15, 2019).

Blog Entry

Before cyber norms, let’s talk about disanalogy and disintermediation (Pukhraj Singh; November 15, 2019).

Information Technology / Financial Technology

Research Papers

Draft Security Standards for The Financial Technology Sector in India (Vipul Kharbanda with inputs from Prem Sylvester; November 15, 2019).
Blockchain: A primer for India (Anusha Madhusudhan; with inputs from Karan Saini and Mira Swaminathan; edited by Elonnai Hickok, Siddharth Sonkar and Aayush Rathi; November 18, 2019).

Blog Entry

Event Report: Consultation on Draft Information Technology (Fintech Security Standards) Rules (Anindya Kanan; reviewed and edited by Vipul Kharbanda, Elonnai Hickok and Arindrajit Basu; November 12, 2019).

Privacy

Under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC we are doing a project on surveillance. CIS is researching the history of privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like Aadhar. As part of our ongoing research, we bring you the following outputs:

Participation in Event

IETF106 (Organized by IETF; Singapore; November 16 - 22, 2019). Gurshabad Grover participated in the meeting.

Researchers@Work

The researchers@work programme at CIS produces and supports pioneering and sustained trans-disciplinary research on key thematics at the intersections of internet and society; organise and incubate networks of and fora for researchers and practitioners studying and making internet in India; and contribute to development of critical digital pedagogy, research methodology, and creative practice.

Event Organized

Domestic Work in the ‘Gig Economy’ (Organized by CIS and Domestic Workers’ Rights Union; November 16, 2019; Student Christian Movement of India, Mission Road, Bangalore).

Telecom

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.

Monthly Blog

The Telecom Crisis is an NPA Problem (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot; November 7, 2019).

About CIS

CIS is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.

Follow CIS on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cis_india
Twitter - Access to Knowledge: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Twitter - Information Policy: https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: [email protected]
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: [email protected]
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

Support CIS:

Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

Collaborate with CIS:

We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at [email protected] (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at [email protected] (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at [email protected].

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.