Centre for Internet and Society

Spectrum Sharing

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T10:43:41Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/spectrum-sharing.pdf

Delicensed Spectrum

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T10:40:52Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/delicensed-spectrum.pdf

Growth of Telecom Industry in India (Poster)

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T10:38:59Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/growth-of-telecom-industry-in-india.pdf

Institutional Framework for Indian Telecommunication

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T10:36:08Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/institutional-framework-for-indian-telecommunication.pdf

Privacy Timeline

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T10:08:07Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-timeline.pdf

11th India Knowledge Summit 2013

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T07:15:29Z

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM) is organizing the 11th Knowledge Summit 2013 in Hotel Shangri-La, New Delhi on October 14 and 15, 2013. The Centre for Internet and Society is supporting this event.

Click to read the original published by ASSOCHAM here , read the tentative agenda here and the event brochure here.

The lack of a national-level doctrine has created an environment where we are entirely reactive in our cyber posture. Indeed, battlefield transcends physical borders and boundaries. The power of a nation-state is not required to inflict widespread damage to critical infrastructure systems; a single malicious actor can wreak havoc. The starkest difference, however, is that today both the private sector and individual citizens have unprecedented access to a myriad of infrastructure systems that can provide entry into sensitive systems – yet they are largely unaware of, and unaccountable for, their responsibilities in defending them.

As cyber networks rapidly transition from a mere utility to the undercurrent of our entire societal infrastructure, this reliance becomes a vulnerability. The modern Cyber Era demands a national-level doctrine that can be adopted by government agencies, armed forces, private sector organizations and individual citizens alike to establish a collective sense of purpose for our Cyber Security.

The Chamber is providing a forum to bring executive leaders, policymakers and academia together with the scientists and practitioners that intimately understand cyber technology to collaborate and begin a debate about the complex issues.

The time has come when we should consider not only the military impact of the new cyber world, but also what role cyber defense will hold in shaping the future of our country’s economy, education, foreign affairs policies and critical infrastructure initiatives. Only then can our government, industry, and private citizens align under common goals to shape a safe and prosperous future.

ASSOCHAM India's Apex Chamber for Commerce & Industry was set up in 1920. Today the Chamber is proud to have more than 450,000 Companies as it's esteemed Member which includes many of the big global technology companies.

ASSOCHAM is privileged to be a Member of the “Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee” set up by Ministry of Communications and IT, and the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Cyber Security set up by the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India.

The ASSOCHAM’s flagship program the Annual INDIA KNOWLEDGE SUMMIT, organized since 1999 has been Addressed in the past by Noble Laureates, as the Distinguished ‘Key Note Speaker’ including – Dr. Craig Venter, Sir Harry Kroto, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, Dr. Raj Reddy, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Dr. Kirsty Duncan, Prof. John A Pickett to name a few.

This year the 11th INDIA KNOWLEDGE SUMMIT is being organized from 14-15 October, 2013 in Hotel Shangri-La, New Delhi.

The Theme for this year’s Summit is “Cyber Era - Securing the Future”.

Registration Fees:

International Delegates: $ 200/- for both days
Indian Delegates: Rs. 5,000/- per day
Students: Rs. 2,000/- per day
The Delegate Registration Fee include:
Tea & Coffee
Copy of Background Paper /
Copy of Workshop Study Material

For more details please contact:

Ajay Sharma, Senior Director, M: 9899188488 , eMail: ajay.sharma@assocham.com
Varun Aggarwal, Joint Director, M: 9910613815 , eMail: varun.aggarwal@assocham.com
Himanshu Rewaria, Executive, M: 9654251077 , eMail: himanshu.rewaria@assocham.com
Sahil Goswami Executive, M: 9871962311 , eMail: sahil.goswami@assocham.com

Corporate Office
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
ASSOCHAM Corporate Office, 5, Sardar Patel Marg
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021
Phone: 46550555 (Hunting Line)
Fax: 01123017008/9

Email: assocham@nic.in

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/eleventh-india-knowledge-summit-2013

CYFY 2013: India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T06:50:15Z

The Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is holding the India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance at the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi on October 14 and 15, 2013. Sunil Abraham will participate in this event as a speaker.

Click to download the full details in the event brochure.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications & Technology will give the inaugural address. Shri Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor, Government of India will give the keynote address. Shri Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State, Human Resource Development, Government of India will give the dinner table address on October 14.

On the second day, October 15, Minister Jaak Aaviksoo will give the keynote address and Shri Nehchal Sandhu, Deputy National Advisor, Government of India will give the valedictory address.

List of Speakers

Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, India
Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor, Government of India
Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, India
Nehchal Sandhu, Deputy National Security Advisor, Government of India
A.P. Shah, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court
Arvind Gupta, Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India
Ashish Chauhan, CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange
C. Raja Mohan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF
Christopher Painter, Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Department Of State, USA
Dirk Brengelmann, Commissioner for International Cyber Policy, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
Eric H. Loeb, Vice President, International External Affairs, AT&T
Gabriel Siboni, Director, Cyber Warfare Program, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jaak Aaviksoo, Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia
Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Emerging Security Challenges, NATO
Joe Sullivan, CSO, Facebook
John Mallery, Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, USA
Maurizio Martellini, Secretary General, Landau Network-Centro Volta and IWG Executive Secretary, Italy
Michael Cheatham, Head U.S. Representative Office, Indo-US Science and. Technology Forum, USA
M.M.Oberoi, Indian Police Service, Joint commissioner of Police, Delhi Police, Government of India
Oleg Demidov, The Russian Center for Policy Studies, Russia
Peter Grabosky, Researcher, Australian National University, Australia
Prakash Nagpal, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing and Marketing, Narus
Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India
Ram Narain, Deputy Director General (Security), Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Government of India
Sandro Gaycken, Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Computer Science, Germany
Sean Kanuck, National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, USA
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore
Vijay Madan, Chief Mentor, Tata Teleservices (former Director, C-DOT), India
Vivke Lall, President & CEO, Reliance Industries Limited

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-conference-on-cyber-security-and-cyber-governance

CYFY 2013 Event Brochure

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T06:49:18Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cyfy-brochure.pdf

Indian biometric ID plan faces court hurdle

praskrishna — 2013-10-03T10:58:31Z

Supreme Court in India rules -- for now -- against plan to make biometric ID mandatory for receiving services.

This article by John Ribeiro was published in Computer World on September 25, 2013. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

A controversial biometric project in India, which could require people to produce their biometric IDs to collect government subsidies, has received a significant setback from the country's Supreme Court.

The court ruled this week in an interim order that people cannot be required to have the controversial Aadhaar identification to collect state subsidies, even as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government agency that manages the project, has been trying to promote the Aadhaar number as proof of identity for a variety of services including banking.

The UIDAI has said that the scheme is voluntary, but some states and agencies have attempted to link the identification to the implementation of programs such as cash subsidies for cooking gas that benefit even the middle and richer classes.

"I signed up for Aadhaar only to ensure that I continue to get a gas cylinder at reasonable rates," said an executive in Bangalore who had queued up a few months ago for an Aadhaar number. The state of Maharashtra, for example, aims to be the first state in the country to roll out Aadhaar-linked subsidy transfers to LPG (liquified petroleum gas) consumers across all the districts in the state.

Pending a final order, the court ruled that "....no person should suffer for not getting the Adhaar card inspite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory...."

UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani did not immediately agree to discuss the court order.

The Aadhaar project is the result of an executive order, and is not backed by a law passed by India's Parliament, so its legality can be in question, said Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaw expert who practices before India's Supreme Court. The project could be in violation of the country's Information Technology Act and rules which cover collection, handling and processing of sensitive personal data, he added.

Aadhaar, though said to be voluntary, could also be in violation of fundamental rights of the Indian constitution relating to right to life and privacy, as a perception is being created that the ID will be required for subsidies and benefits, Duggal added.

The government should have considered getting an enabling law passed by Parliament for the data collection as also a strong privacy law to prevent misuse of Aadhaar related data and collation of multiple databases using Aadhaar, because of the privacy issues involved and its implications on fundamental rights, said Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.

The biometric project, which collects 10 fingerprints, iris scan and other information such as name, date of birth and address, has been criticized by a number of privacy groups who worry that the data could at some point be misused by the government. There is also a risk that such large databases could be hacked, putting at risk information of people. It is not clear what are the measures taken by UIDAI to protect the authenticity and correctness of the biometric information, and prevent access by foreign powers, Duggal said.

The Aadhaar number now allows different agencies including private organizations to collect and exchange data between them, which may be useful to marketers, for example, Prakash said. Previously, it wasn't practical as the agencies would have difficulty ensuring that the information was about the same person, he added.

The Supreme Court has also ruled that illegal immigrants should not be enrolled under the Aadhaar program, which is meant to facilitate subsidized services to Indian citizens. The Aadhaar, which does not collect citizenship information, is likely to be misused by illegal migrants, activists have said.

One of the many challenges facing the Aadhaar program is that village-level politicians and influence peddlers cook up data to enroll under subsidy schemes people who are not eligible for benefits, or people who are nonexistent. The traditional paper ration card scheme and voter rolls are usually stuffed with nonexistent people or people who do not typically qualify for benefits.

Aadhaar was expected to remove these discrepancies by more accurate collection of data on people who enrolled under the scheme. But a number of users have complained that the Aadhaar cards they have received have errors in their names, addresses and other details. One newspaper reported that an Aadhaar applicant received a card that had the face of a dog in place of his photograph.

UIDAI aims to provide 600 million Aadhaar numbers to residents by 2014.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/computerworld-september-25-2013-john-ribeiro-indian-biometric-id-plan-faces-court-hurdle

Reclaim Open Learning Symposium

praskrishna — 2013-09-30T10:44:39Z

This international convening is the culmination of the Reclaim Open Learning Innovation Challenge, committed to surfacing individuals and organizations that are transforming higher education toward connected and creative learning, open in content and access, participatory, and building on a growing range of experiments and innovations in networked learning. Nishant Shah is giving a talk at this event.

Note: The event is free and open to the public. Click to read the original published by DML Research Hub. This event is sponsored and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, University of California Humanities Research Institute, located at UC Irvine and is co-sponsored by the MIT Media Lab and CALit2.

A Live recording of the panel discussion here.

Please feel free to follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #ReclaimOpen. Certain portions of the Reclaim Open Learning Symposium will be streaming live via the DML Research Hub's YouTube Channel. Please click on the "streaming live" links below for more info. All times listed below are Pacific Time.

September 26, 2013

5:00 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Welcome to Calit2 by G.P.Li and to the symposium by David Theo Goldberg

Opening Keynote Event - Conversation with John Seely Brown and Amin Saberi, moderated by Anya Kamenetz

Scientist, artist and strategist, for two decades the head of Xerox PARC, one of the country’s most innovative places, JSB is hailed as one of the premier minds bent to the work of understanding how learning evolves in a connected age. He’ll be talking with Amin Saberi, a professor of management science, computational and mathematical engineering at Stanford, and now the CEO of NovoEd, a MOOC startup offering courses from some of the world’s top business schools with the novel inclusion of small group, real-world collaborative project-based learning. Some questions we’ll take on: where are we in the MOOC hype cycle, and does it matter? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of online and offline interaction for learning?

7:30 PM (CALit2 Atrium)

Gathering - Reclaim Open Learning Reception

We invite you to join us in celebrating the opening of the Reclaim Open Learning Symposium following the Conversation with John Seely Brown and Amin Saberi

September 27, 2013

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM (CALit2 Atrium)

Reclaim Open Learning Demos + Continental Breakfast

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Reclaiming Open Learning--A Stake in the Ground

John Seely Brown, Nishant Shah, and Philipp Schmidt (Moderator)

What values are we articulating? Why does open learning matter? What is it “good for”? What are the stakes?

11:00 AM - 3:00 PM (CALit2, Room 3008)

Working Group - Reclaim Open Learning: The COURSE

Howard Rheingold

We will work all day to create a distributed multimedia open course on Reclaiming Open Learning, hacking together a syllabus, activities, assignments, competencies, and more across platforms.

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Connected Learning, Digital Arts and Humanities

Susie Ferrell, Jade Ulrich, Martha Burtis, Alan Levine, Jonathan Worth, and Liz Losh (Moderator)

Why is art important in an online learning world sometimes dominated by STEM? how does the media production of learners get facilitated and managed in distributed networks and large-scale?

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Break for Lunch

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

The Warm Body Effect

Josie Fraser, Freeman Murray and Anya Kamenetz (Moderator)

Space, place, and collocation -- what do physical presence, local communities and live social interaction mean for learners connected by the web? What power relationships and hierarchies are implied/facilitated by openness?

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Contexts & Outcomes

Howard Rheingold, Anya Kamenetz, and Mimi Ito (Moderator)

What are the broader social and economic contexts in which open learning is happening? How do questions of value and quality get negotiated? How do we define success?

4:00 PM - 4:30 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Presentation from 'Reclaim Open Learning: The COURSE'

Howard Rheingold

The working group will present their course.

4:30 PM - 5:00 PM (CALit2 Auditorium + streaming live)

Closing Remarks

David Theo Goldberg

Winners

DigiLit Leicester www.digilitleic.com | Josie Fraser (Leicester City Council), Lucy Atkins (Leicester City Council), Richard Hall (De Montfort University)

This distributed course has a local aim: increasing the ability of local teachers in Leicester to use connected learning methods to support teaching and transform learning.

Digital Storytelling 106 (DS106) ds106.us | Jim Groom, Martha Buris, Alan Levine, University of Mary Washington, United States

Based on the principle “a domain of one’s own,” Groom’s course connects registered students and open participants in an ever-evolving online community where they submit, complete and collaborate on assignments in writing, mash-ups, design, video, audio, and other media. DS106 lives online as a livestreaming radio station, a sub-reddit, a G+ group, a Twitter feed, and more.

FemTechNet femtechnet.blogspot.com | Susanna Ferrell, Jade Ulrich Scripps College, United States

FemTechNet bills itself as the first “distributed online collaborative course.” In their beta outing, students applied feminist texts to labor, digital art, and archives, drawing connections between the dichotomies of software/hardware and feminism/masculinity. They edited Wikipedia, created sculptures and images and held dialogues with others of diverse backgrounds. The course is expanding globally.

Jaaga Study jaaga.in/study | Archana Prasad, Freeman Murray, India

Jaaga is a multidisciplinary creative hub in Bangalore, India. They are piloting informal learning programs leveraging MOOC resources with volunteer facilitators in a face to face community setting, with the goal of creating market-ready computer programmers.

Photography BA Hons and Phonar-Ed www.phonar.covmedia.co.uk | Jonathan Worth, Matt Johnston, Shaun Hides, Jonathan Shaw, Coventry University, UK; David Kernohan, JISC, UK

These free and open photography classes are available in app form and deal directly with the nature of the photographer as publisher. Classroom-based but leveraging various online communities, they are expanding to a full master’s and bachelor’s program.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dml-hub-reclaim-open-learning-symposium

Youths brainstorm at social summit

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T11:08:03Z

This group of youngsters is in the process of developing a smartphone app that will help traffic police and civic agencies strengthen emergency services like ambulances and fire engines.

The event was hosted in CIS on September 21. The Times of India covered this and published the story on September 22, 2013.

"Digital signboards and phone alerts can sensitize road users and traffic cops about emergency vehicles ," says the team, which is working on creating prototypes to build emergency response systems for citizens in case of road accidents.

Trupti Chengalath, head of communications for Mahiti.org, Dipankar Nayak, a young architect and Gauri Prasad, a Class 12 student of Canadian International School are part of the team which came together at the Bangalore Social Good Jam on Saturday.

The event, organized at the Centre for Internet and Society, Domlur, saw the participation of schoolchildren, college goers, young professionals and social entrepreneurs , who focused on devising technological solutions to some of the most pressing problems faced by Indian cities . Members of Ashoka India , a global association of leading social entrepreneurs , IDEX, a six-month fellowship programme on social enterprise, and the Green Lungi Movement, were part of the session.

Meera Vijayan, consultant , Framework Change, Ashoka, told STOI, "NGOs run by fellows of Ashoka and IDEX will implement these tech-based solutions in different cities and will involve government stakeholders too. These summits have become a global conversation on how to leverage technology for social change. Bangalore was chosen for the first-of-its-kind event in India because IT runs in the blood of the city."

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-september-22-2013-youths-brainstorm-at-social-summit

CIS Signs MoU with Goa University

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T10:57:46Z

The Access to Knowledge (A2K) team from the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has signed a MOU with the Goa University.

As part of this MoU, Goa University and CIS-A2K will work together to digitize “Konkani Vishwakosh” under Creative Common license and build a Digital Knowledge Partnership in order to enhance digital literacy in the Konkani language and facilitate collaborative knowledge production and disseminate the same free of cost through Kokani Wikipedia (currently under incubation). Goa University and CIS-A2K will co-design and jointly implement relevant training programmes to achieve this objective.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/cis-signs-mou-with-goa-university

Three Years Later, IPaidABribe.com Pays Off

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T06:05:05Z

After reporting a bribe on IPaidABribe.com, one Bangalore student has had the satisfaction of seeing action taken against a corrupt public official.

This article by Jessica McKenzie was published in TechPresident on September 23, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The student, Shubham Kahndelwal, was asked to give a bribe before getting a receipt for registering for an identity card called the AADHAAR card. He at first refused, but then gave in. In response, the official gave him a receipt for his father's registration (which he had submitted along with his own) but not his. He told I Paid A Bribe that he “never knew a simple complaint could make such a difference.”

Kahndelwal elaborated:

I was in Chennai when the incident happened and after that I was furious and was searching all over to look for a complaint mechanism, when I stumbled upon IPaidaBribe.com. It is a great day and event for me and for me to share with my friends.

IPaidABribe.com was launched in August 2010 by the Bangalore-based nonprofit Janaagraha, which focuses on civic engagement and improving governance.

When first launched, there were concerns over privacy issues and protecting the users who submit complaints. On the other hand, in an interview this May with techPresident's David Eaves, Sunil Abraham, the founder of the Center for Internet & Society, pointed out that in order to make a difference, I Paid A Bribe would somehow have to close the loop.

Abraham went on:

some of the things that go on with anonymous reporting cannot happen, and to close the loop it almost needs to become a paralegal infrastructure. It has to talk to law enforcement and people have to be arrested, prosecuted and put away.

That is apparently what happened in this case. The official in question has been blacklisted and had disciplinary action taken against him.

To put the success in perspective, however, the bribe requested was Rs 2000 (US$31.95) and the bribe ultimately given was only Rs 350 (US$5.59).

Abraham also pointed out to Eaves that the real problem in India is “high ticket bribes...at the top of the pyramid.”

So while complaints from people like Kahndelwal are what keep the feeds at IPaidABribe.com constantly refreshing, they're mere drops in the bucket when compared to the millions of dollars moving in scandals like the 2G spectrum scam.

Personal Democracy Media is grateful to the Omidyar Network and the UN Foundation for their generous support of techPresident's WeGov section.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tech-president-september-23-2013-jessica-mckenzie

Goa university re-releasing Konkani encyclopaedia on Sept 26

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T05:59:07Z

The Goa University in collaboration with Centre for Internet and Societie's Access to Knowledge Programme (CIS-A2K) is re-releasing its four volume 3632 page Konkani Vishwakosh (encyclopaedia).

Click to read the original published in the Times of India on September 24, 2013.

This is being done under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0 to support the movement of open knowledge and open access, an official statement said.

The function will be held on September 26, at 10am in the conference hall of the administrative building of the Goa university.

The re-releasing of the Konkani Vishwakosh is an initiative by the Goa University to strengthen the Konkani community and language, the statement said adding that the information from the Vishwakosh will be used to write the articles on Konkani Wikipedia.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-september-24-2013-vijay-desouza-goa-university-re-releasing-konkani-encyclopaedia-on-september-26

Konkani Vishwakosh relaunch tomorrow

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T05:53:33Z

The Goa University in collaboration with Centre for Internet and Societies Access to Knowledge Programme (CIS-A2K) will relaunch its four-volume 3,632-page Konkani Vishwakosh (encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0. to support the movement of open knowledge and open access on Thursday at 10 a.m. at a function at the conference hall of its administrative building at Taleigao plateau.

The re-release is an initiative by the Goa University to strengthen the Konkani community and language. Information from the Vishwakosh will be used to write the articles on Konkani Wikipedia.

This was originally published in the Hindu on September 25, 2013.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-september-25-2013-konkani-vishwakosh-relaunch-tomorrow