Centre for Internet and Society

Internet Censorship, Surveillance, and Corporate Transparency

praskrishna — 2013-03-25T10:29:50Z

Google’s Dorothy Chou will be in conversation with international experts Annenberg School of Communication, St., Philadelphia, on April 3, 2013, from 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. Malavika Jayaram is participating in the event as a panelist. The event is organised by Center for Global Communication Studies and Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Read full details of the event was published on the website of Center for Global Communication Studies.

Since mid 2010 Google has been publishing data about the requests it receives from governments to remove content or hand over user data. This regularly updated Transparency Report reveals alarming trends: Government surveillance is on the rise, everywhere. Even worse, a large number of government censorship and surveillance requests are of dubious legality even according to the host countries’ own laws. In a world where citizens increasingly rely on digital products and services owned and operated by private corporations for their civic and political lives, the implications for human rights and democracy around the world are troubling.

Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst who leads Google's efforts to increase transparency about how it responds to government censorship and surveillance demands, will discuss Google's Transparency Report with Rebecca MacKinnon, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and an international panel of experts:

Ronald Lemos, the Director of the Center for Technology and Society at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Hu Yong, Associate Professor, Peking University School of Journalism and Communication

Malavika Jayaram, Fellow, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore and Annenberg CGCS;

Gregory Asmolov, PhD Candidate, London School of Economics; Global Voices "RuNet Echo" contributor and Russian social media expert.

This event is part of the cross-disciplinary, university-wide “New Technologies, Human Rights, and Transparency” project funded by the university’s Global Engagement Fund and hosted by Annenberg’s Center for Global Communications Studies in partnership with Wharton, PennLaw, Engineering, and the School of Arts and Sciences. The project aims to examine the relationship between government and corporate power in today’s digitally networked world, bringing together research partners from across the university and around the world to develop a methodology to evaluate and compare the policies and practices of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies as they affect Internet users’ freedom expression and privacy in a human rights context.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/global-asc-upenn-events-internet-censorship-surveillance-and-corporate-transparency

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop, Mysore — Coverage in Prajavani

praskrishna — 2013-03-25T08:49:20Z

A Kannada Wikipedia workshop was organized by the Centre for Internet and Society in Mysore on March 24, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event. Prajavani has published a report of the event on March 25, 2013.


Prajavani published a report of the Kannada Wikipedia workshop held at Mysore on March 25, 2013.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-report-in-prajavani

Korean Trans Cine-Media in Global Contexts: Asia and the World Event

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T10:31:35Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/korean-trans-cine-media-in-global-contexts.pdf

Korean Trans Cine-Media in Global Contexts: Asia and the World

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T10:32:40Z

This conference to be held from March 27 to 29, 2013 is being organized by Trans - Asia Screen Culture Institute, Cinema Studies, Korean National university of Arts, Korean Film Archive and Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University.

Click to read about the conference published on the website Trans-Asia Screen Culture Institute

Nishant Shah will be participating in this event as part of our collaboration with the Inter Asia Cultural Studies consortium, to launch a new research cluster around trans-cine-media in the global context along with Kim SoYoung and Earl Jackson. He will speak on "The Asian Intercourse : Reimagining the Inter-Asia moment through ‘net-porn’ In networks".

The conference is a response to what we see as a new epistemic shift, a new possibility for the reading of Korean cinema and Korean media texts. The previous “discovery” or “acceptance” of Im Kwon-Taek at Cannes, and the ambivalent Japanese obsession with “Winter Sonata” are moments in a recognition of Korean textual achievements that, at best, maintain a hierarchical (and highly circumscribed) “tolerance” of Korean cultural production. The subsequent achievements of other directors such as Pak Chan-wook and Kim Ki-duk deepened and expanded the hermeneutic situation internationally – a tendency that has continued in recent European conferences dedicated to Korean auteurs and most recently, Kim Ki-duk’s receiving the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Moreover, Korean transformations of Japanese media texts have advanced a new kind of alchemical conversation across media that engages both the present and the past in new, multi-vocal ways. Beyond these mass-media events that can capture the attention of journalists, is the years of work of the scholars involved with the decentering of film history and canon in the work of scholars such the late Paul Willemen. And in addition to the “external” legitimation of the international film festival circuit are the internal developments within Korean cinema – namely the recent resurgence of a vital and engaged independent cinema – in both fiction documentary films. These events create an environment in which we can return anew to Korean cinema- past, present, and future – to read and realize in ways not-here-to-fore possible.

These readings will include taking Korean cinema seriously on its own terms, but also to set Korean cinema in dialogue with other East Asian Cinemas in a global context.

The outcome of the conference will be contributed to the project entitled as “A Compendium of History of Korean Cinema” sponsored by National Research Foundation of Korea.

Click to download the full program.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/trans-review-korean-trans-cine-media-in-global-contexts

DML 2013 – Fourth Annual Conference

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T09:52:59Z

The fourth annual conference – DML2013 – was organized around the theme “Democratic Futures: Mobilizing Voices, and Remixing Youth Participation” and was held between March 14-16, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The Centre for Internet and Society was one of the sponsors for this event.

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine.

We had a special track that ran through the conference on "Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)". Noopur Raval was one of the 16 presenters that we had selected on the tracks. Nishant Shah was one of the members in the Conference Committee.

Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)

Whose Change Is It Anyway? sought to explore new entry points into the discourse on youth, technology and change, with a specific focus on (but not restricted to) the Global South and the last decade of citizen action. This conference track sought to fashion frameworks and structures that provide new ways of interpreting and understanding outcomes that technology mediated citizen action has to offer, as well as the future of citizen led interventions: What enables, catalyzes and moves young people to reinvent themselves as citizen actors? What are the interventions and narratives of change that fail to fit into a ‘success’ rubric, but are still significant in the processes of change they initiate? How do we understand these ‘new’ events as hybrids, connecting with existing histories, contexts, media and technologies in their regions? Is there an alternative discourse that does not necessarily adopt frameworks arising from the knowledge centers of the West? Do these discourses help challenge and rework global vocabularies by offering new ways of looking at citizen action and change? The track invited provocative hypotheses, in-depth analyses, dialogues and contestations around these ideas, through innovative interactive presentation formats. The dialogue was informed by experimental and new methods of information and knowledge production, focusing on the Global South and its larger transnational contexts at the junctures of youth, technology and change.

For more info on the event, click here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dml-hub-net-dml-2013

DML 2013 Conference

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T09:48:33Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dml-2013-conference.pdf

Namaste, Mr. Eric Schmidt

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T08:48:48Z

An article by R. Jai Krishna published in the Wall Street Journal on March 20, 2013 quotes Sunil Abraham.

Read the original published by the Wall Street Journal on March 20, 2013.

Sandwiched between a January visit to North Korea and a stop in Myanmar at the end of this week Google Inc.'s GOOG +0.42% executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, is visiting India until Thursday.

The world’s largest democracy might seem to have little in common with the two authoritarian states.

But free speech advocates say recent developments in India are troubling and observers are waiting to see whether Mr. Schmidt addresses them during two events over the next couple of days.

At issue is a debate in India over the limits to free speech. In 2011, India’s government, angered at the spread of inflammatory material online, passed a law that allows it to hold Internet companies liable for “offensive” material posted by users. Parts of the law are being challenged in India’s Supreme Court, which has yet to rule.

In December 2011, India’s then-telecoms minister, Kapil Sibal, urged Google Facebook Inc. FB -2.67% and other Internet companies to screen derogatory material from their sites. The requests came amid official anger over content that parodied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress party, as well as other leading politicians.

A journalist, Vinay Rai, subsequently filed criminal cases in a Delhi court against Internet firms including Google, alleging material they hosted was defamatory, obscene and promoted enmity among different religious and ethnic groups. The companies are challenging the validity of the case in a higher court. The lower court is expected to begin hearings next month.

Google and the others deny wrongdoing. Google has said it makes unavailable to Indian users any content that violates its terms of services or local laws.

Mr. Schmidt is unlikely to address the ongoing lawsuits. But he might take the opportunity to push India to reconsider its position on free speech, say activists.

“He will obviously make a case..but the government is unlikely to take it seriously,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. “It’s much more complicated.”

Mr. Schmidt is set to speak at two technology conferences – one organized by the country’s software industry body, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, or Nasscom, on Wednesday, and another by Google on Thursday.

Paroma Roy Chowdhury, a spokeswoman for Google India said: “The Google India team is very happy to host him here.”

Mr. Schmidt’s India visit follows his private visit to North Korea in January where he urged its officials to drop barriers to global Internet access if they hope to develop their economy. He is likely to travel to Myanmar on March 22, after his India trip.

Google is facing other legal challenges in India. They include a federal anti-trust probe on alleged anticompetitive practices by Google’s online advertising business. Google says it has done nothing wrong.

For Google, India is an important market for its Internet services as well as mobile-devices software Android.

Market research firm ComScore Inc. SCOR -0.41% said in June that Google reached 95% of online users in India. “Visitors spent 2.5 hours on Google sites, with YouTube accounting for a major share,” it said.

More and more Indians have started taking to the Internet to express their views. India has about 62 million people in urban areas using social media platforms, according to a recent study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, a trade body, and market-research agency, IMRB. That is expected to rise to 66 million by June.

Demographically, the report said, the “highest proportion’ of social media usage was among young men and college students, representing 84% and 82% of the total internet users, respectively.

Last year, New Delhi issued a series of guidelines on how government departments should use social media to reach out to people and to ensure public participation in policy framing.

The ruling Congress-led coalition government has now started embracing these networks.

For example, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram earlier this month interacted with citizens during the annual budget proposal using social media platform Google+.

For many, this was seen as a move to counter Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s use of online platforms during his successful re-election campaign late last year. Mr. Modi, widely expected to be named the prime ministerial candidate for the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, is scheduled to attend Google’s event Thursday.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wsj-r-jai-krishna-march-20-2013-namaste-mr-eric-schmidt

Reply to RTI Application on Blocking of website and Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T07:58:12Z

The Department of Telecommunications sent its reply to an RTI application from the Centre for Internet and Society. The application was sent on December 27, 2012 with reference to blocking of websites and Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951.

To
Shri Subodh Saxena
Central Public Information Officer (RTI)
Director (DS-II), Room No 1006, Sanchar Bhawan
Department of Télécommunications (DoT)
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
20, Ashoka Road, New Delhi — 110001

Dear Sir,
Subject: Information on Website Blocking Requested under the Right to Information Act, 2005

1. Full Name of the Applicant: Centre for Internet & Society

2. Address of the Applicant

Mailing Address: Centre for Internet and Society
194, 2־C Cross,
Domlur Stage II,
Bangalore 560071

3. Details of the information required

It has come to our attention that Airtel Broadband Services ("Airtel") and Mahanagar Téléphoné Nigam Limited ("MTNL") have recently blocked access to a number of domain sites for all their users across the country. Airtel has blocked Fabulous Domains (http://www.fabulous.com/), BuyDomains (http://www.buvdomains.com/) and Sedo (http://sedo.co.uk/uk/home/welcome/). MTNL has blocked Sedo (http://sedo.co.uk/uk/home/welcQme/). Subscribers trying to access this website receive a message noting "This website/URL has been blocked until further notice either pursuant to Court orders or on the Directions issued by the Department of Télécommunications". In this regard, we request information on the following queries under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005:

Does the Department have powers to require an Internet Service Provider to block a website? If so, please provide a citation of the statute under which power is granted to the Department, as well as the safeguards prescribed to be in accordance with Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.
Did the Department order Airtel or MTNL to block any or all of the above mentioned websites? If so, please provide a copy of such order or orders. If not, what action, if at all, has been taken by the Department against Airtel and MTNL for blocking of websites?
Has the Department ever ordered the blocking of any website? If so, please provide a list of addresses of all the websites that have been ordered to be blocked.
Please provide use the present composition of the Committee constituted under rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951.
Please provide us the dates and copies of the minutes of all meetings held by the Committee constituted under rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, and copies of all their recommendations.

4. Years to which the above requests pertain: 2012

5. Designation and address of the PIO from whom the information is required

Shri Subodh Saxena
Central Public Information Officer (RTI)
Director (DS-II), Room No 1006, Sanchar Bhawan
Department of Télécommunications (DoT)
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
20, Ashoka Road, New Delhi — 110001

To the best of my belief, the détails sought for fall within your authority. Further, as provided under section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act ("RTI Act"), in case this application does not fall within your authority, I request you to transfer the same in the designated time (5 days) to the concerned authority and inform me of the same immediately.

To the best of my knowledge the information sought does not fall within the restrictions contained in section 8 and 9 of the RTI Act, and any provision protecting such information in any other law for the time being in force is inapplicable due to section 22 of the RTI Act.

Please provide me this information in electronic form, via the e-mail address provided above. This to certify that I, Smitha Krishna Prasad, am a citizen of India.

A fee of Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten Only) has been made out in the form of a demand draft drawn in favour of "Pay and Accounts Officer (HQ), Department of Telecom" payable at New Delhi.

Date. Monday November 26,2012
Place: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Below is the reply received from the Department of Telecommunications for the above RTI application

Government of India
Department of Télécommunications
Sanchar Bhawan, 20, Ashoka Road. New Delhi -110 001
(DS-CelI)

No. DIR(DS-II)/RTI/2009																		Dated:ll/01/2013

To,
Centre for Internet and Society,
No. 194, 2-C Cross,
Domlur Stage II,
Bangalore - 560 071

This has reference to RTI application dated 27/12/2012 with reference to Blocking of website and Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951

In this regard it is submitted that Internet Service licensees are to follow the provisions of Information Technology Act 2000 as amended from time to time. Under Information Technology Act 2000, "Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009" were notified on 27/10/2009.(Annexure) Aforesaid notified rules describes the "Designated Officer" for the purpose of issuing direction for blocking for access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource under subsection (2) of Section 69(A) of the ACT. Wide Gazette Notification dated 20/01/2010 Group Coordinator , Cyber Law division, Department of Information Technology has been authorized and designated as "Designated Officer".

As per the directions of Group Coordinator, Cyber Law division, under Information Technology Act 2000, instructions for blocking/ unblocking of websites/URLs are issued to Internet Service Licensees.

As per the available information no instruction to Internet Service Providers has been issued for Blocking of http://www.fabulous.com/, http://www.buydomains.com/, http://sedo.co.uk/uk/home/welcome/ and http://sedo.co.uk/uk/home/welcome/ as mentioned in your RTI application.

Copies of Blocking order for which blocking instructions issued by DoT are not being provided are not provided as per Clause 16 of "Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009" which says "Strict confidentiality shall be maintained regarding all the requests and complaints received and actions taken thereof."
With reference to information (Para 4 & 5 of RTI Aplication ) on Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph Rule, 1951 , the RTI is being forwarded to Dir (AS-III) & CPIO, DoT for providing the information.
The appeal, it any, may be made before Shri Nitin Jain, DDG(DS) & Appellate Authority, Department of Télécommunications, Room No. 1201, Sanchar Bhawan, 20 Ashoka Road, Nevy Delhi-110 001 within 30 days from the date of receipt of this letter.

Encl: As above
																							(Subodh Saxena) DIR (DS-II) 011-2303 6860 011-2335 9454

Copy to:

(I) Shri Rajiv Kumar, CPIO & Director (AS-III), DoT, New Delhi

NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 27th October, 2009

G.S.R. 781 (E). — In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (z) of sub-section (2) of section 87, read with sub-section (2) of section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000 (21 of 2000), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:

Short title and commencement — (1) These rules may be called the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access and Information by Public) Rules, 2009.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Definitions. — In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires. —
(a) "Act" means the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);
(b) "computer resource" means computer resource as defined in clause (k) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Act;
(c) "Designated Officer" means an officer designated as Designated Officer under rule 3;
(d) "Form" means a form appended to these rules;
(e) "intermediary" means an intermediary as defined in clause (w) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Act;
(f) "nodal officer" means the nodal officer designated as such under rule 4;
(g) "organisation" means
(i) Ministries or Departments of the Government of India;
(ii) State Governments and Union Territories;
(iii) Any agency of the Central Government, as may be notified in the Official Gazette, by the Central Government
(h) "request" means the request for blocking of access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource;
(i) "Review Committee" means the Review Committee constituted under rule 419A of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951.
Designated Officer — The Central Government shall designate by notification in Official Gazette, an officer of the Central Government not below the rank of a Joint Secretary, as the "Designated Officer", for the purpose of issuing direction for blocking for access by the public any information generated, transmitted. received,, stored or hosted in any computer resource under sub-section (2) of section 69A of the Act.
Nodal officer or organisation.— Every organisation for the purpose of these rules, shall designate one of its officer as the Nodal Officer and shall intimate the same to the Central Government in the Department of Information Technology under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technotogy, Government of India and also publish the name of the said Nodal Officer on their website.
Direction by Designated Officer. — The Designated Officer may, on receipt of any request from the Nodal Officer of an organisation or a competent court, by order direct any Agency of the Government or intermediary to block for access by the public any information or part thereof generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource for any of the reasons specified in sub-section (1) of section 69A of the Act.
Forwarding of requests by organisation. — (1) Any person may send their complaint to the Nodal Officer of the concerned organisation for blocking of access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource:
Provided that any request other than the one from the Nodal Officer of the organisation shall be sent with the approval of the Chief Secretary of the concerned State or Union territory to the Designated Officer.
Provided further that in case a Union territory has no Chief Secretary, then, such request may be approved by the Adviser to the Administrator of that Union territory.
(2) The organisation shall examine the complaint received under sub-rule (1) to satisfy themselves about the need for taking of action in relation to the reasons enumerated in sub-section (1) of section 69A of the Act and after being satisfied, it shall send the request through its Nodal Officer to the Designated Officer in the format specified in the Form appended to these rules.
(3) The Designated Officer shall not entertain any complaint or request for blocking of information directly from any person.
(4) The request shall be in writing on the letter head of the respective organisation, complete in all respects and may be sent either by mail or by fax or by e-mail signed with electronic signature of the Nodal Officer.
Provided that in case the request is sent by fax or by e-mail which is not signed with electronic signature, the Nodal Officer shall provide a signed copy of the request so as to reach the Designated Officer within a period of three days of receipt of the request by such fax or e-mail.
(5) On receipt, each request shall be assigned a number along with the date and time of its receipt by the Designated Officer and he shall acknowledge the receipt thereof to the Nodal Officer within a period of twenty four hours of its receipt.
Committee for examinatlon of request.— The request along with the printed sample content of the alleged offending information or part thereof shall be examined by a committee consisting of the Designated Officer as its chairperson and representatives, not below the rank of Joint Secretary in Ministries of Law and Justice, Home Affairs. Information and Broadcasting and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team appointed under sub-section (1) of section 70B of the Act.
Examination of request.— (1) On receipt of request under rule 6, the Designated Officer shall make all reasonable efforts to identify the person or intermediary who has hosted the information or part thereof as well as the computer resource on which such information or part thereof is being hosted and where he is able to identify such person or intermediary and the computer resource hosting the informalion or part thereof which have been requested to be blocked for public access, he shall issue a notice by way of letters or fax or e-mail signed with electronic signatures to such person or intermediary in control of such computer resource to appear and submit their reply and clarifications, if any, before the committee referred to in rule 7, at a specified date and time, which shall not be less than forty-eight hours from the time of receipt of such notice by such person or intermediary.
(2) In case of non-appearance of such person or intermediary, who has been served with the notice under sub-rule (I), before the committee on such specified date and time, the committee shall give specific recommendation in writing with respect to the request received from the Nodal Officer, based on the information available with the committee.
(3) In case, such a person or intermediary, who has been served with the notice under sub-rule (1), is a foreign entity or body corporate as identified by the Designated Officer, notice shall be sent by way of letters or fax or e-mail signed with electronic signatures to such foreign entity or body corporate and any such foreign entity or body corporate shall respond to such a notice within the time specified therein, failing which the committee shall give specific recommendation in writing with respect to the request received from the Nodal Officer, based on the information available with the committee.
(4) The committee referred to in rule 7 shall examine the request and printed sample information and consider whether the request is covered within the scope of sub-section (1) of section 69A of the Act and that it is justifiable to block such information or part thereof and shall give specific recommendation in writing with respect to the request received from the Nodal Officer.
(5) The designated Officer shall submit the recommendation of the committee, in respect of the request for blocking of information along with the details sent by the Nodal Officer to the Secretary in the Department of Information Technology under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary, Department of Information Technology").
(6) The Designated Officer, on approval of the request by the Secretary, Department of Information Technology, shall direct any agency of the Government or the intermediary to block the offending information generaled, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in their computer resource for public access within time limit specified in the direction:
Provided that in case the request of the Nodal Officer is not approved by the Secretary, Department of Information Technology, the Designated Officer shall convey the same to such Nodal Officer.
Blocking of Information in cases of emergency.— (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in rules 7 and 8, the Designated Officer, in any case of emergency nature, for which no delay is acceptable, shall examine the request and printed sample information and consider whether the request is within the scope of sub-section (1) of section 69A of the Act and it is necessary or expedient and justifiable to block such information or part thereof and submit the request with specific recommendations in writing to Secretary, Department of Information Technology.
(2) In a case of emergency nature, tne Secretary. Department of Information Technology may, if he is satisfied that it is necessary or expedent and justifiable for blocking for public access of any information or part thereof through any computer resource and after recording reasons in writing as an interim measure issue such directions as he may consider necessary to such identified or identifiable persons or intermediary in control of such computer resource hosting such information or part thereof without giving him an opportunity of hearing.
(3) The Designated Officer, at ihe earliest but not later than forty-eight hours of issue of direction under sub-rule 2, shall bring the request before the committee referred to in rule 7 for its consideration and recommendation.
(4) On receipt of recommendations of committee, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, shall pass the final order as regard to approval of such request and in case the request for blocking is not approved by the Secretary. Department of Information Technology in his final order, the interim direction issued under sub-rule (2) shall be revoked and the person or intermediary in control of such information shall be accordingly directed to unblock the information for public access.
Process of order of court for blocking of Information — In case of an order from a competent court in India for blocking of any information or part thereof generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in a computer resource, the Designated Officer shall, immediately on receipt of certified copy of the court order, submit it to the Secretary, Department of Information Technology and initiate action as directed by the court.
Expeditious disposal of request - The request received from the Nodal Officer shall be decided expeditiously which in no case shall be more than seven working days from the date of receipt of the request.
Action for non-compliance of direction by Intermediary — In case the intermediary fails to comply with the direction issued to him under rule 9, the Designated Officer shall, with the prior approval of the Secretary, Department of Information Technology, initiate appropriate action as may be required to comply with the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 69A of the Act.
Intermediary to designate one person to receive and handle directions — (1) Every intermediary shall designate at least one person to receive and handle the directions for blocking of access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource under these rules.
(2) The designated person of the intermediary shall acknowledge receipt of the directions to the Designated Officer within two hours on receipt of the direction through acknowledgement letter or fax or e-mail signed with electronic signature.
Meeting of Review Commlttee — The Review Committee shall meet at least once in two months and record its findings whether the directions issued under these rules are in accordance with the provisions of sub-seclion (1) of section 69A of the Act and if is of the opinion that the directions are not in accordance with the provisions referred above, it may set aside the directions and issue order for unblocking of said information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in a computer resource for public access.
Maintenance of records by Designated Officer — The Designated Officer shall maintain complete record of the request received and action taken thereof, in electronic database and also in register of the cases of blocking for public access of the information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in a computer resource.
Requests and complaints to be confidential — Strict confidentiality shall be maintained regarding all the requests and complaints received and actions taken thereof.

FORM
(See rule 6(2))

A. Complaint

Name of the complainant: --_________________________________________________________________
(Person who has sent the complaint to the Ministry/Department/State Govt./Nodal Officer)
Address: ________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
City: ______________________________ Pin Code: __________________
Telephone: ________________________ (prefix STD code)
Fax (if any): _______________________
Mobile (if any): ______________________
Email (if any): __________________________________

B. Details of website/computer resource/intermediary/offending information hosted on the website
(Please give details wherever known)
URL / web address: ____________________________________
IP Address: _______________________________________
Hyperlink: ________________________________________
Server/Proxy Server address: ________________________________________
Name of the Intermediary: _________________________________________
URL of the Intermediary: __________________________________________
(Please attach screenshot/printout of the offending information)
Address or location of intermediary in case the intermediary is telecom service provider, network service provider, internet service provider, web-hosting service provider and cyber cafe or other form of intermediary for which information under points (7), (8), (9), (10), (11) and (12) are not available.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
C. Details of Request for blocking
Recommendations/Comments of the Ministry/State Govt: ________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
The level at which the comments/recommendation have been approved
(Please specify designation) ________________________________________________
Have the complaint been examined in Ministry / State Government: Y/N
If yes, under which of the following reasons it falls (please tick):
(i) Interest of sovereignty or integrity of India
(ii) Defence of India
(iii) Security of the State
(iv) Friendly relations with foreign states
(v) Public order
(vi) For preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above
D. Details of the Nodal Officer, forwarding the complaint along with recommendation of the Ministry/State Govt. and related enclosures
Name of the Nodal Officer: ___________________________________________
Designation: ______________________________________________________
Organisation: _____________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________ _________

__________________________________________________________

City: __________________________ Pin Code: _________________
Telephone: ___________________________ (prefix STD code)
Fax (if any) _____________________
Mobile (if any) ______________________
Email (if any): ___________________________
E: Any other information:
F: Enclosures:

1.

2.

3.

Date Place Signature

[No. 9(16)J2004-EC]
N. RAVI SHANKER, Jt. Secy

3855GI/09-5

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/reply-to-rti-application-on-blocking-of-website-and-rule-419a-of-indian-telegraph-rules-1951

Reply to RTI Application on the List of Nodal Officers Designated Under the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T06:30:57Z

The Centre for Internet and Society had sent an RTI to the Department of Electronics & Information Technology on December 4, 2012. The Department responded to the same through this notification on January 7, 2013. The letter sent and the notification received are reproduced below.

Shri Anil Kaushik Scientist E Office of PIO (RTI) Electronics Niketan
Department of Information Technology (DIT) Ministry of Communications and Information Technology 6, CGO Complex, New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Subject: Information on nodal officers appointed requested under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

1. Füll Name of the Applicant: Centre for Internet and Society

2. Address of the Applicant:

E-mail Address:

Mailing Address:
Centre for Internet and Society
194, 2-C Cross,
Domlur Stage II,
Bangalore-560071

3. Details of the information required:

The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 ("Rules") provides for the désignation of nodal officers under Rule 4. Rule 4 states that every Organization shall designate one of its officers as the Nodal Officer for the purpose of implementing the Rules. Rule 4 also provides that every Organization shall inform the Department of Information Technology of the désignation of such a Nodal Officer. In this regard, we request information on the following queries under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005:

Does the Department of Electronics and Information Technology maintain a list of all Nodal Officers designated under Rule 4 of the Rules?
If so, please provide me a copy of any list containing information about the Nodal Officers designated under Rule 4 of the Rules.
Years to which the above requests pertain:'

2009-2012

5. Designation and Address of the PIO from whom the information is required:
Shri Anil Kaushik Scientist E Office of PIO (RTI) Electronics Niketan
Department of Information Technology (DIT) Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
6, CGO Complex, New Delhi

To the best of my belief, the details sought for fall within your authority. Further, as provided under section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act ("RTI Act"), in case this application does not fall within your authority, I request you to transfer the same in the designated time (5 days) to the concerned authority and inform me of the same immediately.

Please provide me this information in electronic form, via the e-mail address provided above. This is to certify that I, Smitha Krishna Prasad, am a citizen of India.

(Smitha Krishna Prasad

A fee of Rs. 10/־ (Rupees Ten Only) has been made out in the form of a demand draft drawn in favour of "Pay and Accounts Officer, Department of Information Technology" payable at New Delhi.

Date: Tuesday December 4, 2012
Place: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Below is the reply received from the Department of Electronics & Information Technology:

No. 14(142)/2012-ESD
M/o Communiciations & Information Technololgy Department of Electronics & Information Technology Electronics Niketan,6, CGO Complex
New Delhi-110003

Dated: 7.1.2003

Subject: RTI application received from Shri Smitha Krishna Prasad

This is with reference to your RTI application requesting for the following information:

The Information Technology (Procédure and Safeguards for blocking for access of information by public) Rules, 2009 ("Rules") provides for the désignation of nodal officers under Rule 4. Rule 4 states that every organisation shall designate one of its officers as the Nodal Officer for the purpose of implementing the Rules. Rule 4 also provides that every organisation shall inform the Department of Information Technology of the désignation of such a Nodal Officer. In this regard, we request information on the following queries under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act,2005.

Does the Department of Electronics and Information Technology maintain a list of all Nodal Officers designated under rule 4 of the Rules?
If so, please provide me a copy of any list containing information about the Nodal Officers designated under Rule 4 of the rules.

The information as received from the custodian of the information is placed below:

Department of Electronics and Information Technology maintains a list of Nodal Officers designated under rule 4 of the Information Technology (Procédure and Safeguards for blocking for access of information by public) Rules, 2009.
A copy of list of Nodal Officer is enclosed at Annexure.

(A.K. Kaushik)
Additional Director & CPIO
(E-Security & Cyber Laws)

Centre for Internet & Society
194, 2-C Cross, Domlur Stage II
Bangalore - 560071

Annexure

List of Nodal Officers

Director, Dept. of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi
Adviser, Dept. of Biotechnology, Block-2, Room - 707, CGO Complex, New Delhi- 110003
Dy. Director General, Dept. of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Shastri Bhawan, N. Delhi-1
Jt. Secretary (Admn.), Room No. 321-A, Shastri Bhawan , N. Delhi-1
Scientist Gr. IV(6), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Anusandhan Bhavan, 2 Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001
Director (Coord), Dept. of Defence, R, No. 94, South Block, New Delhi - 110001
Director (B&C), Dept. of Defence Production, R. No. 146, B-Wing, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi
Director, DESIDOC, 405, Cresent Apartment, Pocket 2, Sector 18A, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075
Deputy Secretary (res - I), Dept. of Ex-servicemen Welfare, Room No. 237, B-Wing, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi-11
Scientist E, Room No. 3, Administrative Block, DSIR, Technology Bhavan, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi-110 016
Director, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Block-12, CGO Complex, New Delhi - 110003
Dy. Secy (Budget Monitoring), Dept. of Economic Affairs, Room No. 238-B, North Block, New Delhi-110001
Deputy. Secretary, Room 1222, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi-3
Jt. Secy. (XP), Ministry of External Affairs, R.No. 152, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
Deputy Secretary, Dept. of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, 3rd Floor, Jeevandeep, Parliament Street, N Delhi-1
Under Secretary, Min. of Food Processing Industry, Panchsheel Bhawan, Room No 117, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi - 110049
DDG (Stats), Dept. of Health & Family Welfare, 518-A, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
Jt. Director, Ministry of Home Affairs, 35, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi
Sr. Tech. Director,NIC, Room No. 108, A-Wing, Shashtri Bhawan, N. Delhi-1
JS & Legislative Counsel, Legislative Department, Min. of Law & Justice, Room No. 430A, A-Wing, Shastri Bhawan, N Delhi-11001
Deputy Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Min. of Law & Justice, Room No. 433A, A-Wing, Shashtri Bhawan, N Delhi-11001
Joint Secretary, Min. of Mines, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
Director (R&A), Min. of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Room No. 203, B-Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001
DDG (Technology) Dept. of Posts, Room No. 524, Dak Bhawan, Parliament St., New Delhi - 110016
Joint Secretary, Min. of Power, Room No. 202, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
Dy. Secretary, Dept. of Public Enterprises, Room No. 410, Block-14, Public Enterprises Bhavan, CGO Complex, N Delhi-110003
Executive Director (C&IS) Railway Board, Min. of Railways, Rail Bhavan, Raisina Road, New Delhi - 110 001
Director (Narcotics Control), Dept. of Revenue, Min. of Finance, Room No 48-A, North Block, N Delhi
Jt. Secy (T&A), Min. of Road Transport & Highways, Transport Bhawan, 1 Parliament Street, New Delhi
Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Room 428, Transport Bhavan, Sansad Marg, N Delhi-110001
Deputy Director, INSES, Indian Space Research Organisation, Antariksh Bhavan, New BEL Road, Bangalore-560231
Dy. Secy, Ministry of Steel, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi
Additional Surveyor General, International Boundary Directorate (SGO), Room 37-B, L-II Block, Brassey Avenue, Church Road, N Delhi
Asstt. Director (PG-I), Department of Telecom, Sanchar Bhawan, 20 Ashoka Road, N Delhi-1
Director, Ministry of Textile, Room No. 231, 2nd Floor, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi
Director (Admn), Min. of Urban Development,Room No. 235, "C" Wing, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
Director (IT), Ministry of Water resources, 627, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
SD(IT)-2, A&N Admin., Govt. Polytechnic Campus, Junglighat (P.O.), Pahargaon, Port Blair-744 103
Special Officer (Portal), Room No. 208, A-Block, IT&C Department, A.P. Secretariat, Hyderabad-500022
Managing Director, Bihar State Electronics Devp. Corp., Beltron Bhawan, Shastri Nagar, Patna-3
Director, Information Technology, Dept. of IT, 5th Floor, Addl. Deluxe Building, Sector-9, Chandigarh
Chief Executive Officer, CHIPS office, IT & BioTech Department, Mantralaya, D.K.S. Bhawan, Raipur-492001
Director (IT) Room No. 207-208, Secretariat, Amli, Silvassa-396 230
Principal Home Secretary, Dèlhi Secretariat, IP Estate, New Delhi-11002
DCP, Economic Offences Wing, Crime Branch, Delhi Police
Secretary (IT), Dept. of IT, Secretariat Complex, Porvorim, Goa-403521
Principal Secretary Science & Tech. Dept.. Block - 7, 5th Floor, New Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar- 382 010
Spl. Secretary, Secretariat for IT, 9th Floor, Haryana Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh
Director. Dept. of IT, STPI Building, Block-24, SDA Complex, Kasumpti, Shimla- 71009
Regional Dy. Director, Revenue & Land Reforms Department, Project Bhawan, Dhurva, Ranchi-834002
Project Officer. HRMS Project, Room No. 145-A, M.S. Building, Gate No. 2, Dr. В R Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore 560001
Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Central Secretariat, Trivandrum - 695 001
Director (Information Technology) Department of Information Technology, Administration of the UT of Lakshadweep, Kavaratti - 682 555
OSD, Department of Information Technology, Room No. 132, Vallabh Bhavan, Bhopal - 462 004
Jt. Commissioner of Police (Crime), Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai
Principal Informatics Officer, Dept. of Information & Comm. Technology, Govt. of Mizoram, Secrétariat Annex-l, Aizawl, Mizoram
Secretary IT&C, Nagaland Civil Secrétariat, Kohima - 797004
DGM. Orissa Computer Application Centre, OCAC Building, Plot N/1-7D, Acharya Nagar, PO-RRL. Bhubaneswar-751013
Director (IT), Directorate of IT, No. 505 Kamraj Salai, PRD Complex, Saram, Puducherry - 605 013
Director, Department of IT, SCO 193-95, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh
Additional Director, Dept. of IT & Communication, First Floor, Yojana Bhawan, Tilak Marg, Jaipur
Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Secrétariat, Chennai
Additional Director, Govt of Tripura, Directorate of IT, Indranagar, ITI Road, Agartala - 799 006
Special Secretary, IT & Electronics Dept., Bapu Bhawan, II Floor, No. 209, U.P. Admn. Lucknow
Uttra Portal Subject Specialist, ITDA, 93, Phase-II, Vasant Vihar, Dehradun
Executive Director (Technical), WBEIDC Ltd., Webel Bhawan, Block EP & GP, Salt lake, Sector-V, Kolkata-700091

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/arreply-to-rti-application-on-nodal-officers-from-deit

Global Partners Meeting @ London

praskrishna — 2013-03-20T06:37:48Z

Privacy International is organizing the Global Partners Meeting in London from March 22 to 25, 2013. The workshop will be held at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Sunil Abraham and Malavika Jayaram will be participating in this event.

Click to read the full details published by Privacy International here.

The meeting is an opportunity to connect global partners with each other and with researchers, human rights advocates, and privacy and technology experts from over 20 countries. This will provide an opportunity for discussion and debate, that will enrich global research and advocacy agenda for the next two years.

Workshop Overview

The purpose of the three day workshop is as follows:

To understand the privacy discourse and identify the challenges faced in advancing the right to privacy across the globe.
To consolidate our network and look for opportunities for collaboration and cross-pollination for research and advocacy initiatives.
To share experiences about research, dissemination and advocacy strategies that influence policy change.

We envisage this workshop as a launching pad for the work that Privacy International and our global partners will conduct over the next two years under the ambit of the Surveillance and Freedom: Global Understandings and Rights Development (SAFEGUARD) project, funded by the International Development

Research Centre. The focus of the SAFEGUARD project is to understand what are the threats, challenges and obstacles to, and opportunities for, the protection of privacy in developing countries.

Background to the SAFEGUARD project

Nowhere are the challenges to, and opportunities for, privacy protections as dynamic and complex as in the developing world. As these countries seek new measures to develop their economies, build social and technological infrastructures, sustain their social systems, and ensure security they need to consider what are the modern policy frameworks they require to ensure a just society. The windows around these policy frameworks are key opportunities for reflection about rights and democratic values, and in the case of this project, the protection of privacy.

The vast scope and relevance of the right to privacy in this age of technology gives rise to a myriad of challenges and issues, many of which have relevance across, as well as within, borders. This is particularly the case in the developing world, where South-South collaboration is gaining increasing currency in the development sector, and donor countries continue to contribute to and influence policy in recipient countries, particularly with respect to the adoption of new technologies. Many of the trends in developing countries – communications surveillance, biometrics and DNA databases, and identity cards – mirror those being adopted in the global North. Policy laundering and modelling, such as that witnessed with respect to counter-terrorism policies in the aftermath of 9/11 is taking hold in the context of communications surveillance laws and national ID databases. Such phenomena raise concerns not only as to the spread of practices that threaten to undermine privacy, but also with respect to the stifling of national policy discourses and legislative processes.

Conceptual framework

This projects sets out to isolate and understand the challenges to privacy in the developing world. In order to ensure that the research developed is sufficiently targeted to influence policy debates, we have identified a set of themes that cover the range of privacy-related issues and that together will give a comprehensive picture of the difficult relationship between privacy and technology. This set of themes has been developed in collaboration with our partners, who have identified those discussions around which there is perfect storm of advancing surveillance policies and technologies, poor legal and technical safeguards, and a scarcity of research and understanding. We have designed our conceptual framework accordingly.

Research questions

The legal and constitutional landscape: What laws and constitutional provisions exist to protect privacy, how are they implemented and monitored, and where are the legal and policy gaps?

Data protection: What is the state of data protection in partner countries, and what are the local and regional regulatory standards and good practices?

Communications surveillance: What communications surveillance regimes are in place, how are they designed in law and how do they operate in practice?

Adoption of surveillance technologies: Where are governments buying surveillance technologies, and how are they using them? What legal regimes are in place to establish safeguards over the use of advanced surveillance technologies? What is the state of the art in legal protections?

Political intelligence oversight: What is the nature and operation of local intelligence services, what oversight mechanisms are in place, and how can these mechanisms be implemented or enforced?

Politics, Identity, sexual and reproductive health and social sorting: To what the extent do governments misuse personal information to pursue social sorting practices?

Delivery of public services: What is the state of privacy protections in public service delivery, particularly those related to e-health systems and social protection programmes, and how can protections be improved?

ID, DNA and biometrics: What privacy risks are associated with the collection and use of personal information for ID and biometric systems?

Partners

Africa	Latin America	Asia
Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, Zimbabwe Kenyan Ethical and Legal Issues Network, Kenya Media Institute of Southern Africa, Namibia Jonction, Senegal Centre for Social Sciences Research, University of Cape Town African Platform for Social Protection, Kenya	Dejusticia, Columbia Asociacion por los Derechos Civiles, Argentina Autonomous University of Mexico State, Mexico Centro de Tecnologia y Sociedad, Universidad San Andres, Argentina, in collaboration with the Centro de Tecnologica da Escola de Direito da Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brasil Instituto NUPEF, Brazil Derechos Digitales, Chile	VOICE, Bangladesh University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Centre for Internet and Society, India Thai Netizen Network, Thailand Thai Media Policy Center, Thailand Bytes For All, Pakistan Centre for Cyber Law Studies, Indonesia Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines

Africa

Latin America

Asia

Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, Zimbabwe

Kenyan Ethical and Legal Issues Network, Kenya

Media Institute of Southern Africa, Namibia

Jonction, Senegal

Centre for Social Sciences Research, University of Cape Town

African Platform for Social Protection, Kenya

Dejusticia, Columbia

Asociacion por los Derechos Civiles, Argentina

Autonomous University of Mexico State, Mexico

Centro de Tecnologia y Sociedad, Universidad San Andres, Argentina, in collaboration with the Centro de Tecnologica da Escola de Direito da Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brasil

Instituto NUPEF, Brazil

Derechos Digitales, Chile

VOICE, Bangladesh
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Centre for Internet and Society, India
Thai Netizen Network, Thailand
Thai Media Policy Center, Thailand
Bytes For All, Pakistan
Centre for Cyber Law Studies, Indonesia
Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines

Participants

Ababacar Diop
Allan Maleche
Anna Fielder
Anthony Jackson
Arthit Suriyawongkul
Arthur Gwagwa
Ben Hayes
Ben Wagner
Benjamin Barretto
Carly Nyst
Carolin Moeller
Charles Dhewa
Claudio Ruiz
Clement Chen
Danilo Doneda
Eric King
Farjana Akter
Fieke Jansen
Graciela Sulamein
Gus Hosein
Helen Wallace
Juan Camilo Rivera
Karelle Dagon
Katitza Rodriguez
Kevin Donovan
Levinson Kabwato
Malavika Jayaram
Mathias Vermeulen
Michael Rispoli
Nelson Arteaga Botello
Pablo Palazzi
Pirongrong Ramasoota
Ramiro Alvarez Ugarte
Richie Tynan
Sam Smith
Sinta Dewi Rosadi
Shahzad Ahmed
Sinta Dewi Rosadi
Sunil Abraham
Stephanie Perrin
Tavengwa Nhongo
Vera Franz
Vicky Nida
Vivian Newman Pont

Agenda

Friday, March 22, 2013: Reception

Meet with Privacy International staff members and advisors, and workshop participants from more than 20 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Central Asia. Food and drinks will be provided.

Time: 6.00 p.m.
Location: 2nd Floor, 46 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4LR
Contact: 0207 242 2836
Getting there: Our office is a short walk 10 minute from your hotel. See Map 1 below for directions.

Saturday, March 23, 2013: Day 1 (Objectives and Reviewing the Landscape)

10:00 a.m. - Welcome Breakfast: Setting The Scene
Location: Mercure London Bloomsbury restaurant

Welcome and introduction

Overview of PI’s work in developing countries

Participant introductions

Setting the agenda

12:30 p.m. - Session 1: Reviewing The Landscape
Location: Old Building, Room 3.21, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE

Mapping privacy in constitutions

Masterclass 1: communications surveillance laws around the world

Break-out groups on assigned topics, and reporting back

2:30 p.m. - Afternoon tea

Privacy quiz

Masterclass 2: SIM card registration

Building a network: how can PI facilitate your work?

Masterclass 3: Oversight of intelligence agencies

6:00 p.m. - Drinks

7:00 p.m. - Dinner

Location: Tohbang, 164 Clerkenwell Road
http://www.tohbang.com/sub_eng/main.php

Sunday, March 24: Day 2 (Research Topics and Strategies)

Location: Old Building, Room 3.21, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE

10:00 a.m. - Recap of day one

Masterclass 4 - The UN Universal Periodic Review

Open-space - research and policy priorities

1:00 p.m. - Lunch
Location: Ship Tavern, Holborn

2:30 p.m. - Reconvene

Open space - research, dissemination and communication strategies

Wrapping up and going forward

6:00 p.m. - Dinner
Location: Wahaca, Charlotte St, http://www.wahaca.co.uk/

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/global-partners-meeting-london

Global Partners Meeting - Agenda and Info

praskrishna — 2013-03-20T06:25:09Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/global-partners-meeting-london.pdf

Indian police set up lab to monitor social media

praskrishna — 2013-03-19T09:23:12Z

Mumbai police have set up India's first "social media lab" to monitor Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites, sparking concerns about freedom of speech online.

This was published by AFP on March 18, 2013. This was also carried in Global Post on the same day. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

A specially-trained team of 20 police officers will staff the lab, which was launched over the week end and will work around the clock to keep an eye on issues being publicly discussed and track matters relating to public order.

"They will work under Special Branch. They will monitor and find out which topics are trending among the youth so we can plan law and order in a good way," police spokesman Satyanarayan Choudhary told AFP on Monday.

In November police sparked outrage and fierce debate about India's Internet laws by arresting two young women over a Facebook post criticising the shutdown of Mumbai after the death of a local hardline politician.

The pair were arrested under laws including section 66a of the Information Technology Act, which forbids "sending false and offensive messages through communication services" and can lead to three years in jail.

The case followed several arrests across the country for political cartoons or comments made online.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society research group, said the "natural reaction" was to worry about the new police lab given the way the law has been used.

"Police in the last four years have acted in an arbitrary and random fashion, often using the IT Act to settle political scores," he told AFP.

"When there's no crisis for the police, proactively keeping an eye on what people are saying or doing is overkill," he said.

Choudhary said the lab was not set to censor comments, echoing a statement made by police commissioner Satyapal Singh at the launch.

"By reading the mindset of what people are writing on various modes of communication, we will try to provide better and improved safety and security to the Mumbai citizens," Singh said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/afp-march-18-2013-indian-police-set-up-lab-to-monitor-social-media

Knowledge Repository on Internet Access

praskrishna — 2016-07-17T03:41:56Z

Ford Foundation and the Centre for Internet & Society bring you research on the origins of the Internet in India, its impact on the Indian GDP and topics and debates surrounding the Internet in today's world.

Knowledge Repository on Internet Access

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access

New $1 Billion RIC Project Casts Doubts on Aadhaar

praskrishna — 2013-04-04T08:28:51Z

The Indian Government is going ahead with a new project dubbed RIC that will effectively undermine the existing UIDAI – Unique Identification Authority of India project and will cost a whopping $1 billion.

This was published in AEG India on March 16, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The National Population Register and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are the two organizations which will capture the biometric details of the citizens and will develop the resident identity card (RIC) and create the unique identifier number (UID) popularly known as Aadhar number respectively.

Both the RIC and UID projects are designed to unify the distribution of social and welfare services to the citizens. Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of Centre for Internet and Society India, said that the ID number and the ID smartcard are both different and are not at all complementary as declared by the Indian Government previously.

The ID number and the ID smart card are two completely separate visions. They cannot be mixed up together to make some kind of salad which can be consumed partly, added Abraham.

He said that it was easy for the Indian government to proceed simultaneously with both the projects rather than cancelling the much criticized Aadhaar project.

Minister P. Karunakaran, on March 12 in the Lok Sabha, asked R.P.N. Singh, the Minister of State, to clarify the confusion over the proposed biometric identity card and the UID (Aadhaar number). The government has planned to spend more than US$1 billion to issue the Indian citizens a resident identity card (RIC) which will also feature the Aadhaar number as well.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/aeg-india-march-16-2013-new-dollar-one-billion-ric-project-casts-doubts-on-aadhar

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop

praskrishna — 2013-03-15T09:52:18Z

A Kannada Wikipedia workshop is being organized by the Centre for Internet and Society in Mysore on March 24, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja will be participating in this workshop. The one day workshop will begin at 10 a.m. in the morning and shall end at 5.00 p.m. in the evening.

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ:ಸಮ್ಮಿಲನ/೯

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಮುದಾಯ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ೨೪ರಂದು ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಿಟ್ಯೂಶನ್ ಆಫ್ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ‍್ಸ್ ಸಭಾಂಗಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೆಡೆ ಸೇರುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಕನ್ನಡದ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ಉಳ್ಳವರು, ಬ್ಲಾಗಿಗರು, ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತರು, ಲೇಖಕರು ಎಲ್ಲ ಈ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಬಹುದು.

ಸಮ್ಮಿಲನದ ಉದ್ದೇಶ

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಪರಿಚಯ
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಪಾದಕ ಆಗುವ ವಿಧಾನ
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ
ಕನ್ನಡದ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರಲೇ ಬೇಕಾದ ವಿಷಯಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿ ತಯಾರಿಸುವುದು
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಲೇಖನ ಮತ್ತು ಚಿತ್ರ ಸೇರಿಸುವುದು

ಯಾರು ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಬಹುದು

ಕನ್ನಡದ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ಉಳ್ಳವರು, ಬ್ಲಾಗಿಗರು, ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತರು, ಲೇಖಕರು, ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಗರು(ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ಉಳ್ಳವರು)

ದಿನಾಂಕ ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ಥಳ

ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಿಟ್ಯೂಶನ್ ಆಫ್ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ‍್ಸ್

ಜೆ.ಎಲ್.ಬಿ. ರಸ್ತೆ
ಮೈಸೂರು - ೫೭೦೦೦೫

ದಿನಾಂಕ: ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ೨೪, ೨೦೧೩, ಭಾನುವಾರ (ಇಡೀ ದಿನ)

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಪಟ್ಟಿ

ಸಮಯ	ಕಾರ್ಯಸೂಚಿ	ಮಾತನಾಡುವವರು	ಟಿಪ್ಪಣಿ, ಉಪಯೋಗ
೯:೫೦ ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ	ನೊಂದಣಿ		ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು/ಇ-ಅಂಚೆ/ಮೊಬೈಲ್/ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಳಕೆದಾರರ ಹೆಸರು ಜೊತೆಗೆ, ಭಾಗಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದರ ಉದ್ದೇಶವನ್ನು ಸ್ವಾಗತಕಾರರ ಬಳಿ ತಿಳಿಸಿ
೧೦:೦೦	ಸ್ವಾಗತ	ಪವನಜ	ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ಮತ್ತು ಅದರ ಪ್ರತಿಪಲಾಪೇಕ್ಷೆಗಳ ವಿವರಣೆ
೧೦:೧೫ - ೧೧:೧೫	ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ	ಪವನಜ	ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಎಂದರೆ ಏನು? ಇದನ್ನು ಸಂಪಾದಿಸುವವರು ಯಾರು ಮತ್ತು ಏಕೆ? ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಇತರೆ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳು
೧೧:೧೫ - ೧೧:೩೦	ಚಾ
೧೧:೩೦ - ೧೨:೦೦	ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್	ಕಿರಣ್ ರವಿಕುಮಾರ‍್	ಕ್ರಿಯೆಟೀವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ (Creative Commons) ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವರಣೆ.
೧೨:೦೦ - ೧೩:೦೦	ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ	ಪವನಜ	ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕ ಆಗುವುದು ಹೇಗೆ, ಸಂಪಾದಿಸುವುದು ಹೇಗೆ, ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ
೧೩:೦೦ - ೧೪:೦೦	ಊಟ
೧೪:೦೦ - ೧೪:೧೫	ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ೧೦೦೦ ಯೋಜನೆ ಪರಿಚಯ	ಪವನಜ	ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಪಟ್ಟಿ ಮಾಡಿ, ಸಮುದಾಯದ ಆಯ್ಕೆಯ ಮೇರೆಗೆ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಪಾದನೆ, ಪರಿಷ್ಕರಣೆ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಗಳ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ, ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆ
೧೪:೧೫ - ಕೊನೆಯವರೆಗೆ	ಪ್ರಯೋಗ (hands-on)	ಎಲ್ಲರೂ	ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ

ಸ್ವಯಂಸೇವಕರು

Pavanaja (talk) ೦೭:೩೭, ೧೧ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ೨೦೧೩ (UTC)
ಕಿರಣ್ ರವಿಕುಮಾರ‍್
ನವೀನ್ ಜೋಯಿಸ್

ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಲು ಇಚ್ಛಿಸುವವರು

ನೀವೂ ಭಾಗಿಯಾಗಲು ಇಚ್ಚಿಸುವುದಾದರೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರನ್ನು # ಮುಂದೆ ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಅಥವಾ ~ ಅನ್ನು ನಾಲ್ಕು ಭಾರಿ ಟೈಪಿಸಿ ಸಹಿ ಮಾಡಿ.

ಹಾಲತಿ ಸೋಮಶೇಖರ
ಮಾಲಿನಿ ಅಭ್ಯಂಕರ‍್

ಸಮ್ಮಿಲನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಹಾಯ

ಬೆಂಬಲ

ಸೆಂಟರ‍್ ಫಾರ‍್ ಇಂಟರ‍್ ನೆಟ್ ಅಂಡ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿ, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು

ಉಪಯುಕ್ತ ಕೊಂಡಿಗಳು
ಸೂಚನೆ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವವರು ಲ್ಯಾಪ್‌ಟಾಪ್, ಪವರ್ ಸ್ಟ್ರಿಪ್ (extension switchboard) ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತರಜಾಲ ಸಂಪರ್ಕ ಡಾಂಗಲ್ ತಂದರೆ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದು.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop