Centre for Internet and Society

Political Economy, Activism and Alternative Economic Strategies

praskrishna — 2013-08-05T05:59:45Z

The fourth annual conference in political economy was organized by the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam at the Hague from July 9 - 13, 2013.

Nishant Shah participated as a speaker and presented the paper on Citizen Action in the Time of Network. Click to read the full details of the conference here.

About the Conference

The financial crisis revealed its first signs over five years ago, on August 9, 2007, when BNP Paribus suspended payment on three of its funds. It has since morphed into the deepest US and then world economic crisis since the Great Depression. The “green shoots” of recovery of some Third World economies, that the IMF had acclaimed in 2010, had withered within a year. By 2012 it was admitted that the “world recovery had stalled”, as even the handful of large, better-performing, developing economies slowed. But, ever upbeat except when imposing adjustment, the IMF predicts not only an improved 2013 but continual yearly growth over the following four years as well.

Yet, the world’s largest economy remains stuck. While even the weak economic growth in the USA looks good by comparison with Europe, measured unemployment remains around 8%. Home loss, homelessness, poverty and hunger remain at their highest levels in decades. Nor is there a prospect of a recovery across Europe. The northern economies, and especially Germany, that until now have performed better in the core- periphery division of the continent, have stagnated, inevitable perhaps given the prolonged implosion of the economies of their most important foreign customers. There is a particularly severe crisis of youth unemployment. And the stagnation of the economies of the First World has caused a sharp slowing of growth in their BRIC counterparts and the few other better-performing Third World economies that the recovery Pollyannas had projected for several years as the engines that would drive the world rebound. Popular discontent has manifested itself in varieties of ways, from the Arab Spring to the renewal of Latin American left radicalism. In the global North, it has erupted in the form of the movements of the Indignados in Spain, Occupy Wall Street in the USA, and popular resistance in Greece. Whilst the Greek political system has been transformed beyond recognition but without resolution of the ongoing economic and political crisis, action in the rest of the North has appeared to have limited lifespan and effects, even with polls showing very high dissatisfaction with the current economic and political situation. It is striking how no broadly supported political movements have arisen, successfully promoting and engaging in a struggle for alternative economic policies. And, in their absence, finance has slowly , if not rapidly, and surely restored its economic, political and ideological hegemony over everything from our daily lives to our longer-term prospects, from the environment to our social and economic prospects.

The ongoing economic and political crises place two related questions on history’s agenda. In the face of the dismal failure of the continuing, mostly overt neoliberal policies to resolve the deep problems, what alternative economic strategies should be pursued? And a more radical form of that same question, are alternative economic structures and an entirely different system of economic structures and practices necessary? The second question is concerns the sorts of actions that must be engaged to move the political process on to a path of alternative outcomes, from mild reforms to major transformation (and the connection between the two).

The 2013 Annual Conference of IIPPE will focus on these questions. In doing so, it will need to acknowledge: the breadth and depth of discontent and the more or less spontaneous protest and conflict against the consequences of the crisis; how struggles have been conditioned by the crisis and the failure to resolve it without either determining their form and strength, their diversity and their complex dependence on non-economic factors; and the lack of strength, unity and coherence of oppositions and posing of alternatives. In this light, the conference will bring together scholars from all strands of political economy and heterodox economics, in seeking to engage debate with political parties and other progressive organisations in order to explain the incidence of struggles and how they might best be supported in bringing about broader, deeper and more unified responses to the crisis. In particular, it will be necessary to interrogate how continuing general conceptualisations, such as financialisation and neoliberalism, can (or cannot) be put to these purposes, when set against the diverse experiences of, and response to, the crisis.

Read the original published at the IIPPE website.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/iippee-july-8-2013-fourth-annual-conference-in-political-economy

Privacy (Protection) Bill, 2013

praskrishna — 2013-07-03T09:39:11Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-protection-bill-2013-amendments.pdf

India- EU FTA: A Note on the Copyright Issues (PDF)

praskrishna — 2013-07-03T06:46:21Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/india-eu-fta-copyright-issues.pdf

Governance in the age of internet and fta

praskrishna — 2013-07-03T05:00:20Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/governance-in-the-age-of-internet-and-fta.pdf

Internet and Open Public Data

praskrishna — 2013-07-03T04:53:25Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/internet-and-open-public-data-ppp.pdf

Whose Change is it Anyway?

praskrishna — 2013-07-02T15:41:46Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/whose-change-is-it-anyway.pdf

WIPO reaches agreement on treaty for blind

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T09:59:29Z

Officials at the World Intellectual Property Organisation have reached an agreement to provide wider access to books for the visually impaired in different countries, a long-pending demand of the World Blind Union and activist groups.

The article by Pankaj Mishra was published in Livemint on June 26, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

If officially approved, the treaty will help distribution of specially formatted books for the blind and visually impaired in different countries by removing copyright law hurdles. For instance, US-based Bookshare, which is an online library for people with sight disabilities, has about 200,000 books in its collection, but only about 75,000 of them can be distributed in the UK because of copyright restrictions.

According to the Intellectual Property Watch website that track international policy on the subject, the agreement was reached over the weekend in Marrakesh, Morocco, where a conference to facilitate access to published books for people with sight disabilities is being held.

“The text, which has not been presented to the conference plenary, nor adopted yet, also addresses the issue known as ‘the Berne gap’, which refers to countries which are not part of international treaties governing copyright, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the WIPO Copyright Treaty,” the website said in a report on 24 June.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India has 63 million visually impaired people, of whom about 8 million are blind.

Experts such as Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society said Indian negotiators played a crucial role in pushing for these amendments.

“India’s copyright law after the latest amendment has a very robust exception for the disabled. It is disability neutral and works neutral. We must applaud the Indian negotiators for exporting Indian best practice to global copyright policy. India continues to be a leader in WIPO when it comes to protecting the public interest and facilitating access to knowledge,” said Abraham.

The treaty, which promotes sharing the books in any format for the blind or visually impaired, is expected to alleviate the “book famine” experienced by many of the WHO-estimated 300 million people suffering from such disability in the world, Intellectual Property Watch said.

“The treaty however is both disability specific, i.e. the visually impaired, and works specific, mostly targeted at ending the book famine,” Abraham said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/livemint-pankaj-mishra-june-26-2013-wipo-reaches-agreement-on-treaty-for-blind

Biometrics or bust? India's Identity Crisis

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T09:49:48Z

Malavika Jayaram is speaking at an event organized by the Oxford Internet Institute on July 2, 2013. The talk will be held at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 1 St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS.

This info was published on the Oxford Internet Institute website.

India's mammoth biometric ID project, which has registered around 270 million people and is yet to be fully realized, is already the worldís largest such endeavor. It is marketed as a potential game-changer both domestically (where it is touted as a silver bullet to solve most problems) and internationally (where countries wait and watch this experiment before importing it into their own jurisdictions). Alongside all the hype about the scale of the scheme, its potential for transforming the delivery of services and the scope for private participation in traditionally state-controlled functions, there are fears of function creep, of subversion to create new types of fraud and corruption, of increased profiling and targeting, and of a citizenry becoming transparent to its government in an unprecedented way, all in the name of ambiguous benefits and the rhetoric of inclusion.

The government praises the ease and efficiency of centralized databases, the promise of technology (including the myth of biometrics uniquely and unambiguously identifying people in a foolproof way) and the construction of the identified self. However, there is growing awareness of the dangers of joined-up databases resulting in exclusion rather than inclusion, and persecution rather than democratization.

The scheme is technically voluntary, but with the provision of benefits, goods and services being increasingly linked to the scheme, it will soon become impossible to function in India without a biometric ID. If every facet of everyday life is linked to this single number, it renders all claims of voluntariness meaningless. The lack of information self-determination in a biometrically mediated universe has important ramifications for anonymity, free speech and the maintenance of an essential private sphere.

In this talk, Malavika will provide an overview of the scheme as well as the debate around privacy and autonomy that it has triggered, framed against the backdrop of a larger civil liberties crisis. She will also describe Indiaís efforts to craft new privacy and data protection legislation.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/biometrics-or-bust-indias-identity-crisis

Concerns over central snoop

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T09:33:27Z

Eyebrows have been raised at the Centre’s single-window system to intercept phone calls and internet exchanges — the desi version of the US’s surveillance programme, PRISM — that is expected to roll out this year-end.

The article by Aloke Tikku was published in the Hindustan Times on June 28, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The Rs. 400-crore project — tentatively called the Central Monitoring System (CMS) — will not only allow the government to listen to a target’s phone conversation but also track down a caller’s precise location, match his voice against known suspects’ before the call is completed and see what people have been up to on the internet.

And then, it can also use analytics to discover possible links — between suspected terrorists, criminals or just about anybody — from the internet and phone data. All this will be done from one place without keeping the internet or phone service provider in the loop — something the telecom and home ministries insist will enhance citizens’ privacy.

Both ministries also insist that the CMS won’t change the rules of the game. “The process to seek authorisation for interception will not be diluted,” a home ministry official promised.

So is everything hunky dory?

Hardly. But technology — in this case, the CMS — is a smaller part of the problem.

The bigger chunk is the process of approving “lawful interception” orders and the lack of transparency around it.

It was in December 1996 that the Supreme Court held that the State could spy on its citizens in extraordinary circumstances but, as an interim measure, made it mandatory for the home secretary to approve each and every such request. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who appeared in this case in the mid-1990s, convinced the court that it didn’t have the powers to order that a judge decide each phone-tapping case. Instead, Sibal suggested that this power remain with the executive on lines of the law in the UK. A former home secretary, however, conceded that they hardly have the time to apply their mind before signing a wiretap order.

That isn’t surprising. The home secretary approves around 7,500-9,000 interception orders every month. That means he or she has to sign an average of 300 orders every day without a break.

If he were to spend just 30 seconds on each case, he would have to keep aside four-and-a-half hours just approving interception orders every day.

An official said the ministry was considering a suggestion to pick up a fixed number of cases at random for closer scrutiny before approval.

Many believe this might not be enough. It is argued that the government — which was trying to replicate surveillance technology from the west — needs to adopt their safeguards and transparency norms too.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, said he didn’t have a problem with CMS as long as it didn’t go for blanket surveillance.

“But there is no reason why the executive — and not a judge — should have the powers to decide on phone-tapping requests,” he said. Or for that matter, why shouldn’t there be an independent audit of phone-tapping decisions, their implementation and outcome?

“The aggregated data should be put in the public domain,” Abraham said. The US has such provisions. So does Britain, which inspired Sibal to argue for retaining interception powers with the executive in the mid-1990s. It is time to follow-up on that model.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-aloke-tikku-june-28-2013-concerns-over-central-snoop

Travel Insurance Policy

praskrishna — 2018-10-13T12:29:42Z

The Centre for Internet and Society will offer overseas travel insurance policies only for people of Indian origin or those having Residential visas/ permits, OCI, or PIO cards.
The Centre for Internet and Society will provide overseas travel insurance from “Travel Companion”.
“Travel Companion” will provide complete medical and health coverage to the Indian nationals traveling overseas.
The Centre for Internet and Society will not provide travel insurance for domestic travel.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/travel-insurance-policy

Technology, Power, and Revolutions in the Arab Spring

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T08:36:57Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore cordially invites you to a talk by Prof. Ramesh Srinivasan on technology, power and revolutions in the Arab Spring. The talk will be held in CIS office on July 2, 2013 from 6.00 p.m. onwards.

Ramesh Srinivasan

Ramesh Srinivasan, Associate Professor at UCLA in Design and Media/Information Studies, studies and participates in projects focused on how new media technologies impact political revolutions, economic development and poverty reduction, and the future of cultural heritage. He recently wrote an op/ed at the Washington Post explaining the complex nature of social media in revolutions and riots, such as those in Egypt and in London, and also a column for the Post’s Sunday Outlook section on the 5 Myths of Social Media. Additionally, he has written multiple front page articles for the Huffington Post, including a piece on Internet Freedom for the Huffington Post. He has had his work featured on the front page of the UCLA and USC websites.

Recent public outreach has built on his response in the New Yorker (from his blog: http://rameshsrinivasan.org) to Malcolm Gladwell’s writings critiquing the power of social media in impacting revolutionary movements. He has worked with bloggers, pragmatically studying their strengths and limitations, who were involved in recent revolutions in Egypt and Kyrgyzstan, as discussed in a recent NPR interview. He has also collaborated with non-literate tribal populations in India to study how literacy emerges through uses of technology, and traditional Native American communities to study how non-Western understandings of the world can introduce new ways of looking at the future of the internet. His work has impacted contemporary understandings of media studies, anthropology and sociology, design, and economic and political development studies. He has given several major invited talks, including recently at LIFT in 2009 (http://vimeo.com/5520100). He holds an engineering degree from Stanford, a Masters degree from the MIT Media Lab, and a Doctorate from Harvard University. His full academic CV can be found at http://rameshsrinivasan.org/cv

See Prof. Ramesh Srinivasan's blog page

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/technology-power-and-revolutions-in-arab-spring

Terms of Website Use

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T07:16:15Z

Parties and Ownership

These Terms of Website Use ("Terms") is made between the Centre for Internet & Society ("CIS") and you.
In these Terms, all references to "you" or "user" shall mean the end-user accessing the Website, its contents and using the services offered through the Website. "Service providers" mean independent third party service providers. All references to "we", "us" and "our" shall mean CIS.
The domain name www.cis-india.org ("Website") is owned by CIS. CIS offers this web site, including all information, tools and services available from this site, to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all the terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here. Your use of this site indicates that you have read, acknowledged and agreed to these Terms.

Due Diligence

These Terms are published in compliance with Rule 3(1) of the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified by the Central Government in the Gazette of India Extraordinary vide Notification GSR 314(E) on 11 April 2011 ("Intermediaries Rules"). These Terms constitute an electronic record for the purposes of the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act").
You agree that you will not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that:
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- contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource; or,
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You agree that in the event of any non-compliance with these Terms, we have the right to immediately terminate your access or usage rights to this Website and our services and/or remove any information that is, or is deemed by us to be, non-compliant.

Use of this Website

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Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Definitive Agreement

This Website is controlled, operated and administered within India. We do not make any representation that materials on this Website are appropriate or available for use at other locations outside India and access to them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. You may not use this Website in violation of Indian laws. If you access this Website from locations outside India, you are responsible for compliance with all local laws. These Terms shall be governed by the laws of India, without giving effect to its conflict of laws provisions. You agree that the courts at Bangalore shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with your use of this Website and these Terms.
These Terms constitute the entire and definitive agreement between you and us with respect to your use of this Website. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to give effect to the intent of these Terms, and the remainder of these Terms shall continue in full force and effect.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/website-use

Privacy Policy

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T06:25:37Z

Preliminary

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") states the internal policy of the Centre for Internet & Society ("CIS") with regard to the collection, storage, security, processing and disclosure of personal data.
This Policy constitutes compliance with the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 that were notified by the Central Government in the Gazette of India vide Notification GSR 313(E) on 11 April 2011.

Collection of Personal Data

CIS will not collect any personal data that is not necessary for the achievement of a purpose that is connected to a stated CIS function.
CIS will not collect any personal data without obtaining the prior consent of the person to whom it pertains. CIS may obtain such consent in any manner, and through any medium, but will not employ threats, duress or coercion to obtain such consent.
Personal data collected in respect of a grant of consent by the person to whom it pertains will, if that consent is subsequently withdrawn for any reason, be destroyed or anonymised.

Storage of Personal Data

CIS will not store any personal data for a period longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, or, if that purpose is achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, for any period following such achievement or cessation.
Any personal data collected in relation to the achievement of a purpose will, if that purpose is achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, be destroyed or anonymised.
CIS may store personal data for a period longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, or, if that purpose has been achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, for any period following such achievement or cessation, if –
- the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such storage;
- it is required to be stored under the provisions of applicable law; or
- it is the subject of a pending legal proceeding.

Processing of Personal Data

CIS will not process any personal data that is not necessary for the achievement of the purpose for which it was collected unless the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such processing.

Security of Personal Data

CIS will not collect, store or process any personal data in the absence of measures, including, but not restricted to, technological, physical and administrative measures, adequate to secure the confidentiality, secrecy, sanctity and safety of the personal data, including from theft, loss, damage or destruction.
Any person who collects, stores or processes any personal data on behalf of CIS will be subject to a duty of confidentiality and secrecy in respect of it.
CIS will, if the confidentiality, secrecy, sanctity or safety of any personal data collected, stored or processed by CIS is violated by theft, loss, damage or destruction, or as a result of any disclosure contrary to the provisions of this Policy, notify, to the extent possible, the person to whom the personal data pertains.

Disclosure of Personal Data

CIS will not disclose to any person to whom any personal data does not pertain, or otherwise cause any such a person to receive, the content or nature of that personal data, including any other details in respect thereof, unless the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such disclosure. CIS may obtain such consent in any manner, and through any medium, but will not employ threats, duress or coercion to obtain such consent.
CIS may disclose personal data with a person to whom it does not pertain, whether located in India or otherwise, for the purpose only of processing it to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, if such a disclosure is pursuant to an agreement that binds the person receiving it to same or stronger measures in respect of its storage, processing and disclosure as are contained in this Policy.
If the disclosure of any personal data is necessary to –
- prevent a reasonable threat to national security, defence or public order; or
- prevent, investigate or prosecute a cognisable offence;
CIS may, upon receiving an order in writing from a judicial authority or law enforcement officer, disclose the personal data that is the subject of the order without seeking the consent of the person to whom it pertains.
CIS may, to the extent possible, notify the person to whom any personal data pertains of its disclosure and the identity of the person it was disclosed to, and any other details in respect thereof.

Accuracy of Personal Data

CIS will reasonably afford any person whose personal data is collected, stored or processed by CIS the opportunity to review it and, where necessary, rectify anything that is inaccurate or not up to date.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/privacy-policy

Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Policy

praskrishna — 2020-07-29T06:59:09Z

Preliminary

This Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Policy ("Policy") states the internal policy of the Centre for Internet & Society ("CIS") with regard to non-discrimination at the workplace and equal opportunities during recruitment.
This Policy is internal to CIS and is meant to provide a safe, diverse and comfortable workplace at CIS. This Policy is not legally mandated and, therefore, is not judicially enforceable in India. This Policy is without prejudice to any anti-discrimination provisions of applicable law including, but not restricted to, the provisions of:
- Article 17 of the Constitution of India;
- the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955,
- the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989;
- the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013;
- Sections 354 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; and,
- the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

Non-discrimination

CIS will not adversely discriminate, and prohibits other adverse discrimination at the workplace, on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, descent, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age or any of them ("Discrimination Characteristics"). CIS will not condone any adverse discrimination against any person on its premises, whether that person is in its employment or otherwise.
Any person who believes himself or herself to have been subjected to adverse discrimination on the basis of the Discrimination Characteristics is encouraged to bring the matter to the attention of the Diversity Committee of CIS at the earliest practical opportunity. No person will be punished, retaliated against, or limited in employment or other opportunity for exercising anything set out in this Policy, or for filing a complaint, furnishing information for, or participating in an investigation, or any other activity related to the administration of this Policy.
Any adverse discrimination or other action or behaviour that constitutes a violation of law will be reported to the police.

Equal Opportunities

CIS provides equal opportunities to its employment, consultancy or otherwise without regard for the Discrimination Characteristics. All actions of CIS with regard to its employees, consultants, advisors, interns and staff, including but not limited to those relating to compensation, benefits, transfers, leave, layoffs, training, education, and assistance, will be made without regard for the Discrimination Characteristics.
Notwithstanding anything contained in the previous paragraph, if CIS reasonably believes that its employment, workplace or premises do not adequately represent the balance of diversity of persons who share one or more of the Discrimination Characteristics, it may, with the aim only of redressing that imbalance, take positive discriminatory action in respect of persons who share that aspect, or those aspects, of the Discrimination Characteristics that are sought to be adequately represented.
Any person who believes himself or herself to have been subjected to adverse discrimination, or impermissible positive discrimination, on the basis of the Discrimination Characteristics is encouraged to bring the matter to the attention of the Diversity Committee of CIS at the earliest practical opportunity.

Diversity Committee

The Interim Diversity Committee of CIS is comprised of:

Pallavi Bedi
Torsha Sarkar
Gurshabad Grover

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/non-discrimination-equal-opportunities-policy

Organisational Policies

praskrishna — 2025-04-30T17:53:02Z

CIS policies and guidelines on research, prohibition of sexual harassment, privacy, travel insurance, and terms of website use are available below.

Centre for Internet and Society

Political Economy, Activism and Alternative Economic Strategies

Privacy (Protection) Bill, 2013

India- EU FTA: A Note on the Copyright Issues (PDF)

Governance in the age of internet and fta

Internet and Open Public Data

Whose Change is it Anyway?

WIPO reaches agreement on treaty for blind

Biometrics or bust? India's Identity Crisis

Concerns over central snoop

Travel Insurance Policy

Technology, Power, and Revolutions in the Arab Spring

Ramesh Srinivasan

Terms of Website Use

Parties and Ownership

Due Diligence

Use of this Website

Information on this Website

Trademarks, Copyright and Other Proprietary Rights

Disclaimer of Warranties

Limitation of Liability

Indemnification

Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Definitive Agreement

Privacy Policy

Preliminary

Collection of Personal Data

Storage of Personal Data

Processing of Personal Data

Security of Personal Data

Disclosure of Personal Data

Accuracy of Personal Data

Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Policy

Preliminary

Non-discrimination

Equal Opportunities

Diversity Committee

Organisational Policies

Ethical Research Guidelines

Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Policy

Privacy Policy

Travel Insurance Policy

Terms of Website Use