Centre for Internet and Society

Access to Knowledge — September 2012 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T06:18:01Z

This is the first newsletter from the Access to Knowledge team of CIS in Delhi. The issue introduces you to the CIS Access to Knowledge program, the team members in Delhi and reports from Workshops conducted by the Wikipedia community.

Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation has awarded CIS a two-year grant of upto INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India:

Access to Knowledge Programme

The Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program has become the Access to Knowledge (A2K) programme of CIS.

CIS Office in Delhi

The A2K team consists of four members: Nitika Tandon, Shiju Alex, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval.

Statistical Report

Indic Language Wikipedias – Statistical Report (January – June 2012) (by Shiju Alex). The data for this report and analysis are based on the statistical data published at http://stats.wikimedia.org.

Wikipedia Workshops

Note: Although most of these workshops were conducted prior to the grant period, the reports for all of these were written during September, hence we are featuring these:

The First Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012).
Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Punjabi University, Patiala (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 28, 2012).
Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Amritsar (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 30, 2012).
Wikipedia Workshop in British Library, Chandigarh (by Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012).
Kannada Wiki Workshop at Tumkur University (Tumkur, Karnataka, September 15, 2012).
Wikipedia comes to Hyderabad! (by Noopur Raval, September 30, 2012). There was coverage in the Hindu on September 28, 2012.

Blog Entry

Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia (by Nitika Tandon, September 29, 2012).

About CIS

CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom.

CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

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For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-september-2012-bulletin

Habits of Living: Surrogate States, Bodies and Networks, Bangalore

praskrishna — 2012-09-28T12:40:30Z

The Centre for Internet & Society is organising the Habits of Living Workshop in Bangalore from September 26 to 29, 2012.

Schedule

26^th September, Wednesday

9:30 – Registration and Tea

10:00 – Introduction – Wendy Chun, Nishant Shah

11:00 – Pecha-kucha presentations followed by Q&A from all the participants

13:00 – Lunch

14:30 – Akansha Rastogi, Shiv Nadar Museum, New Delhi

16:00 – Oliver Lerone Schulz, Post Media Lab, Lueneburg

19:00 – Welcome Banquet @ Jaymahal Palace with other invitees

27^th September, Thursday

10:00 – Radhika Gajalla, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green

11:30 – Saumya Pant, Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad

13:00 – Lunch

14:30 – Deepak Menon, India Water Portal, Bangalore

14:00 - Joshua Neeves, Brown University, Rhode Island

16:30 – Eivind Rossaak, National Library of Norway, Oslo

19:00 – Trip to down-town Bangalore (optional)

28^th September, Friday

07: 30 – Bangalore Heritage Walk (optional)

11:30 – Maya Ganesh (via Skype), Tactical Technologies, Berlin

13:30 – Lunch

14:30 – Rijuta Mehta, Brown University, Rhode Island

16:00 – Wendy Chun, Brown University, Rhode Island

19:00 – Dinner at South Indies, Infantry Road

29^th September, Saturday

09:30 – Maesy Angelina, AusAid, Jakarta

11:00 – Renee Ridgway, NEWS, Amsterdam

12:30 – Lunch

14:00 – Gita Chadha, SNDT Women’s College, Mumbai

15:30 – Open Board: Habits of Living

17:00 – Wrap up and next steps

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/habits-of-living

Censorship makes India fall two places on global internet freedom chart

praskrishna — 2012-09-27T10:37:47Z

A recently released global report on the internet freedom rated India 39th in 2012, a slip from two places last year.

The article by Dilnaz Boga was published in DNA on September 27, 2012.

The report titled, Freedom on the net 2012 (FOTN): A global assessment of internet and digital media by Freedom House, a Washington-based monitoring group conducted a comprehensive study of internet freedom in 47 countries.

Quoting Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, the report said 309 specific items (URLs, Twitter accounts, img tags, blog posts, blogs, and a handful of websites) have been blocked by the government. But officially, the government has admitted to blocking 245 web pages for inflammatory content hosting of provocative content.

Ketan Tanna, India analyst for Freedom House told DNA, “A reflection of the downward spiral in the freedom on the net that Indians enjoy is evident in the upward revision of scores for India in the FOTN 2012 report. India was one of the only 4 of the 20 countries that “recently experienced declines” and are democracies. The other three are Mexico, Turkey and South Korea.”

Internet usage in India continues to increase, with tens of millions of new users getting online each year. According to the International Telecommunications Union, internet penetration was 10% — or about 120 million people at the end of 2011. Among internet users, 90 million were ‘active,’ accessing it at least once a month (70 million urban and 20 million rural).

The report has mentioned that in India, “amid several court cases regarding intermediaries’ responsibility for hosting illegal content, much evidence has surfaced that intermediaries are taking down content without fully evaluating or challenging the legality of the request”.

Citing an example, Tanna said in December 2011, the website Cartoons against Corruption was suspended by its hosting company after a complaint filed with the Mumbai police alleged that the site’s cartoons ridiculed parliament and national emblems. “As a result of such dynamics, large swaths of online content are disappearing, and the losses are far more difficult to reverse than the mere blocking of a website,” he added.

More common than website blocking is the removal of content based on judicial orders, government directives, and citizen complaints. This phenomenon that has increased in recent years and in some cases, targeted content on political, social, and religious topics, the report said.

The Indian authorities had submitted 68 removal requests covering 358 items between January and June 2011. According to Google, 255 items related to what it categorised as “government criticism,” while 39 involved defamation and 8 pertained to hate speech.

In January, responding to a freedom of information request, the home ministry reported that the government orders 7,500 to 9,000 phone interceptions per month, the report disclosed. Criticising this practice and the government’s disregard for the Constitution, the data revealed, “Established guidelines regulate the ability of state officials to intercept communications, but India lacks an appropriate legal framework and procedures to ensure proper oversight of Intelligence agencies’ growing surveillance and interception capabilities, opening the possibility of misuse and unconstitutional invasion of citizens’ privacy.”

As another method of controlling speech and activism online, governments have imposed temporary shutdowns of the internet or mobile phone networks during protests or other sensitive times. Localised internet shutdowns and mobile phone shutdowns occurred in India due to security concerns, the report said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dna-india-sep-27-2012-dilnaz-boga-censorship-makes-india-fall-two-places-on-global-internet-freedom-chart

Pitroda seeks to put govt information in public domain

praskrishna — 2012-09-27T05:13:05Z

In the first-ever Indian government press conference on Twitter, Sam Pitroda, adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on public information infrastructure and innovations, championed the cause of putting government information in the public domain to usher in openness and empowerment.

Surabhi Agarwal's article was published in LiveMint on September 25, 2012. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

“In India, we have the Right to Information (Act) but the information is locked up in files,” he said in a video that was uploaded on YouTube before the conference started. Pitroda said the government has various plans to build robust information infrastructure on a scale that has never been done before.

“I firmly believe that information is the fourth pillar of democracy along with (the) legislature, executive and judiciary,” he tweeted as opening remarks during the press conference titled “Democratization of information”.

	Even though Pitroda largely reiterated the government’s already announced plans in the space of digitization, the move to hold a press conference over Twitter has been largely construed as as a sign that the administration, criticised for attempting to rein in social media, is trying to come to terms with it. Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society, said too much shouldn’t be read into Pitroda holding a press conference on Twitter. One government bureaucrat available on Twitter for a fixed period doesn’t make up for the non-existence of the government on social media, he said. “They (government) should be available all the time.”

Even though Pitroda largely reiterated the government’s already announced plans in the space of digitization, the move to hold a press conference over Twitter has been largely construed as as a sign that the administration, criticised for attempting to rein in social media, is trying to come to terms with it.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society, said too much shouldn’t be read into Pitroda holding a press conference on Twitter. One government bureaucrat available on Twitter for a fixed period doesn’t make up for the non-existence of the government on social media, he said. “They (government) should be available all the time.”

The department of electronics and information technology recently issued guidelines for government agencies on improved engagement with citizens through social media. Tuesday’s press conference may spark a trend of more such engagements on social media platforms by government agencies.

Pitroda said that the public information infrastructure (PII) will include a national knowledge network that will connect 1,500 nodes for universities, colleges, research labs and libraries along with connecting 250,000 panchayats in the country through fibre optics. The information network will be operational in the next two year, Pitroda said in the YouTube video.

The government’s open data platform (http://www.data.gov.in), the beta site for which was launched some time ago, will provide access to government data and documents, he said.

Even though the government’s battles with the Internet continue over issues of regulation, which have often been construed as censorship, an increasing number of political leaders and agencies have been using the route to get their message across.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has sought to engage with people through video chat on Google+ Hangout. West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee has been using Facebook to make public her views on recent economic and political developments.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has also been communicating over Twitter in the recent past. The authorities have sought to block accounts that style themselves as belonging to the Prime Minister. Account holders have said that some of these are satirical in nature.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-september-25-2012-surabhi-agarwal-pitroda-seeks-to-put-govt-information-in-public-domain

E-Governance, Identity & Privacy

praskrishna — 2012-09-26T06:17:03Z

This chapter will look at different legislations, projects, and policies pertaining to e-governance and identity that India has put in place, and examine both the strengths and the weaknesses of these, through the lense of privacy.

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

Finance and Privacy

praskrishna — 2014-02-28T04:40:27Z

Financial privacy involves the protection of consumers from unlawful access to financial accounts by private and public bodies, and the unlawful disclosure, sharing, or commercial use of financial information.

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

Govt plans inter-ministerial panel on Internet policy

praskrishna — 2012-09-25T10:28:08Z

The government may set up an inter-ministerial panel to improve coordination among the various arms of the government on Internet-related issues such as governance, commerce and security, according to a senior government official who didn’t want to be named.

Surabhi Agarwal's article was originally published in LiveMint on September 19, 2012. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The panel will have representation from government departments including information technology, telecom, home, external affairs and commerce among others. The proposal is being considered because there are multiple stakeholders involved, said the official. The panel will be most likely be headed by the department of electronics and information technology, which is currently the policymaking body on the Internet.

Over the past year, the government has been criticized over several Internet-related issues, all of them to do with censorship. It received flak recently for the way it sought to contain the spread of hate messages over the Internet that had led to communal violence and a panic exodus by people from the north-eastern states in some cities.

Moreover, with the underlying aim of having a bigger say in global policymaking pertaining to the Internet, the government had proposed the establishment of the United Nations Committee on Internet Related Policy (UN-CIRP). The agency’s mandate will include developing and establishing international public policies relating to the Internet; coordinating and overseeing bodies responsible for the technical and operational functioning of the Internet; facilitating negotiation of treaties; undertaking arbitration and dispute resolution; and crisis management, among others.

The government has said that the intent behind proposing such a body was not to control the Internet but to develop a mechanism for globally acceptable and harmonized policy making. The move though has largely been construed as an effort by governments to regulate the Internet.

Currently, the Internet is largely governed by the not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). However, the government says ICANN is dominated mostly by the US, explaining the need for a body such as UN-CIRP.

Another government official confirmed that an inter-ministerial panel is currently being “mulled” over. This official, who also did not want to be identified, said the Internet governance policy is increasing in importance and there was a need to discuss whether the current global policymaking structure would be relevant in the next five years.

“We need to firm up the country’s stand at international forums of the Internet and an inter-ministerial committee will aid in bringing some kind of clarity,” he said.

Any proposal for better coordination between different wings of the government would be welcome, said Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society.

“The thumb rule with governance, be it international or national, is that coordination policy formulation bodies is a good idea, but we can’t damn or praise them over the process,” he said. “We have to see what coordination results out of the body.”

Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing UN-CIRP, had said that India’s proposal was made without much discussion and stakeholder consultation.

There wasn’t enough clarity about what the government trying to regulate through the body, Abraham said.

“Is it to regulate citizens or industry or government activity or for regulation around IP (intellectual property), competition, data protection, crime or tax, we don’t know,” he said.

The problem with UN-CIRP is that India would be supported by countries that are against free access to the Internet such as Cuba, China and Russia to name a few, Naresh Ajwani, a member of the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) said on Wednesday on the sidelines of a meet in Delhi on the issue.

However, the government feels that not only will UN-CIRP lead to India having a bigger role in global policymaking for the Internet, it will also help in dealing with crises better as it will lead to enhanced cooperation between nations.

Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-com-sep-19-2012-surabhi-agarwal-govt-plans-inter-ministerial-panel-on-internet-policy

Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace

praskrishna — 2012-09-25T04:47:36Z

Pervasive technologies (mass-market networked communication technologies) are transforming the way in which people across the world access knowledge media. The prices of mobile phones and netbooks have plummeted, even as penetration and use have reached near-ubiquitous levels. In many ways, these commercial devices are fulfilling the promise that socially beneficial initiatives like One Laptop Per Child were never able to fully deliver on.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/pervasive-technologies-research-proposal.pdf

ಭಾರತೀಯ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಮಸೂದೆಯ ಸೀಳುನೋಟ

praskrishna — 2012-10-03T15:42:54Z

ಭಾರತೀಯ ದಂಡಸಂಹಿತೆಯನ್ನು ೨೦೦೫ರಲ್ಲಿ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಾಡಲಾಯಿತು. ಇದರ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ಆಪಾದಿತರನ್ನು ಬಂಧಿಸಿದಾಗ ಅವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವಿಧ ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸಲು ಕಾನೂನುರೀತ್ಯಾ ಅವಕಾಶ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸುವುದು.

ದಂಡಸಂಹಿತೆಯ ಸೆಕ್ಷನ್ ೫೩ರ ಪ್ರಕಾರ, ಅಪರಾಧವನ್ನು ಸಾಬೀತು ಪಡಿಸಲು ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯ ಒದಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು “ನಂಬಲು ತಕ್ಕಮಟ್ಟಿನ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿದ್ದರೆ”, ಆಪಾದಿತನನ್ನು ಬಂಧಿಸಿದಾಗ ಆತನನ್ನು ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಒಳಪಡಿಸಬಹುದು. ೨೦೦೫ರ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯ ಮೂಲಕ, ಈ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಯ ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಇವೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸಲಾಯಿತು: ರಕ್ತದ, ರಕ್ತಕಲೆಗಳ, ವೀರ್ಯದ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಲೈಂಗಿಕ ಅಪರಾಧಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾಬ್ಗಳ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಉಗುಳು, ಬೆವರು, ಕೂದಲಿನ ಸ್ಯಾಂಪಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ಉಗುರಿನ ತುಂಡುಗಳ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ. ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಶ್ಯವೆಂದು ನೋಂದಾಯಿತ ವೈದ್ಯರು ಭಾವಿಸುವ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಅಂತಹ ಇತರ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗಳ ಸಹಿತವಾಇ ಆಧುನಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ವೈಜ್ನಾನಿಕ ವಿಧಾನಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ನಡೆಸಬೇಕು.

ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಷಾಮೀಲಾಗಿರುವುದನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಯಲಿಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಆದೇಶ ನೀಡುವುದರ ಕಾನೂನುಬದ್ಧತೆಯನ್ನು ತೊಗೊರಾಣಿ ಅಲಿಯಾಸ್ ಕೆ. ದಮಯಂತಿ ವರ್ಸಸ್ ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ ಸ್ಟೇಟ್ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರರು (೨೦೦೪ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಎಲ್ಜೆ ೪೦೦೩ – ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ) ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ ಹೈಕೋರ್ಟ್ ಎತ್ತಿ ಹಿಡಿದಿದೆ. ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಸಹಕರಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅವನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವ್ಯತಿರಿಕ್ತ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ ಮೂಡುತ್ತದೆ.

ಈ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ವೈಯುಕ್ತಿಕ ಗೌಪ್ಯತೆಯ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಿದ ಬಳಿಕ, ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಆದೇಶಿಸುವ ಮುನ್ನ, ಈ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಬೇಕೆಂದು ಹೈಕೋರ್ಟ್ ನಿರ್ದೇಶನ ನೀಡಿದೆ: (೧) ಅಪರಾಧ ಎಸಗುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತನು ಎಷ್ಟರ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿರಬಹುದು? (೨) ಅಪರಾಧದ ಗಂಭೀರತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಪರಾಧ ಎಸಗಿದ ಸಂದರ್ಭ (೩) ಆಪಾದಿತನ ಪ್ರಾಯ, ದೈಹಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ಮಾನಸಿಕ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ (೪) ಅಪರಾಧದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದನ್ನು ಖಚಿತಪಡಿಸುವ ಅಥವಾ ಖುಲಾಸೆ ಮಾಡುವ ಸಾಕ್ಷಾಧಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸುವ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಆತಂಕಕಾರಿಯಾದ ಮತ್ತು ಕಾರ್ಯಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದ ಇತರ ವಿಧಾನಗಳು ಇವೆಯೇ? (೫) ಆಪಾದಿತನು ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ನಿರಾಕರಿಸಲು ಕಾರಣಗಳೇನು?

ಸಂಸತ್ತಿನ ಅನುಮೋದನೆಗಾಗಿ ಕಾದಿರುವ ೨೦೦೭ರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಮಸೂದೆಯ ಉದ್ದೇಶವನ್ನು ಚುಟುಕಾಗಿ ಹೀಗೆ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು: “ದೇಶದ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ನ್ಯಾಯವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ ಕಿಂಚಿತ್ ಸಂಪರ್ಕಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂದವರೆಲ್ಲರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಖಲಿಸುವ “ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಬ್ಯಾಂಕನ್ನು” ರಚಿಸುವ ಮಹತ್ವಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷಿ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ.” ಅಂದರೆ, ಸಂಶಯಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು, ಕಾನೂನು ಮುರಿಯುವವರು, ಕಾಣೆಯಾದ್ವರು ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ವ-ಇಚ್ಚೆಯವರು – ಇವರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ವಿವರಗಳ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಮಾಹಿತಿ

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/cadcbecb0ca4caf-ca1cbfc8eca8ccdc8e-caaccdcb0cabcb2cbfc82c97ccd-caecb8cc2ca6cc6caf-cb8cb3cc1ca8c9f

Mind of the millennium teen

praskrishna — 2012-09-22T08:34:08Z

Say mom, did you have electricity when you were growing up?" Twelve-year-old Aditya throws a casual query at his 38-year-old mother during a power cut.

This article by Atul Sethi was published in the Times of India on September 16, 2012. Nishant Shah is quoted.

Even before the bemused mother can revert, the backup inverter springs into action and her son is once again immersed in his online game, competing against friends in multiple locations, most of whom perhaps have no idea how growing up in the 1900s — a different century for them — was like. These kids — a generation born in 2000 — would, by next year, be the millennium's first teens. Their arrival in the world roughly coincided with the dawn of the information age — the internet implosion, google search, mobile phones, glitzy malls — stuff that was not available even to their immediate predecessors growing up barely a decade before in the late 1990s.

It's a generation, then, that has seen a completely different picture of the world which has accordingly shaped its world view. That it's a smarter generation is largely due to its fascination — some would even say obsession — with technology. Arsh Srivastava, a 12-year-old student of Class VII at Chandigarh's St John's High School, says he was fascinated by mobile phones ever since he was a baby. He now uses a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone and aspires for a S3. Not surprising then, that social scientists term it a generation of 'digital natives' , who take to technology like fish to water. "You can't blame them," says Shiv Visvanathan, professor at the Jindal School of Government & Public Policy. "This is a generation that has trained in a new kind of literacy, which involves technology extensively. For them, information and technology are commodities. They'd die of boredom if deprived of either commodity."

The solution to boredom, in the tween manual, is the golden 'F' word. Facebook is the alternate world which every kid below 13 aspires to reach. What makes it cooler is that it's officially off-limits to them. But it's a restriction that's easily bypassed. Anmol, a 11-year-old from Kolkata, says most of his friends are there. Those who are not, are told off: 'Go gal'. That's 'Go, get a life dude' in tweenspeak. Once inside the inner circle, there is a sense of achievement, but only till the next new technological marvel catches their attention.

This extreme restlessness is the hallmark of a generation that has to keep pace with fast-changing technology which, many say, is leaving them with seriously low attention-spans — a problem that their teachers often have to contend with. "For teachers, the challenge is engaging them through lessons and activities that develop reflection, patience and sensitivity which can balance their moods and behaviour," says Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal of Springdale's School at Pusa Road in Delhi.

In terms of awareness, though, again facilitated by technology, this is a generation that is aggressively aware. Sexologist Prakash Kothari says that the internet — which most kids start using by the time they are 6 or 7 — has ensured that they are sexually knowledgeable much earlier. "I have had instances of parents bringing boys as young as 8 or 9, who have started masturbating after they learnt about it from the net," he says.

Because it's a generation that's maverick in its choices, and often damning in its quick judgments on brands, marketers catering to this segment can't take them for granted. Smita Jatia of Mc Donald's , a brand that many tweens have grown up on, says it's important to keep their behaviour and dynamic wants and desires in mind. "We have to constantly innovate and elevate their 'I'm lovin it' experience through menu options which can keep them happy."

Impatient and restless may be the words that older generations may use to describe the millennium's first teens, but there's no denying that they symbolize the way society, and indeed, life has changed around the world. "We live in accelerated times," says Nishant Shah of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet & Society. "The breathlessness of our times is evident in everything — from the kind of movies we make to the ways in which our news and information travel. At the end of the day, our younger generations are also products of our times."

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-times-of-india-sept-16-2012-atul-sethi-mind-of-the-millennium-teen

Entertainment industry and Internet piracy in focus

praskrishna — 2012-09-17T10:00:54Z

The first-of-its-kind initiative by the anti-piracy cell of the Kerala Police to register cases against 1,010 Internet users for uploading or downloading the Malayalam film Bachelor Party has sparked a debate between social media experts and legal puritans on what the law actually says.

Krishnadas Rajagopal's article was published in the Hindu on September 17, 2012. Pranesh Prakash and Prashant Iyengar are quoted.

Internet users and anti-monopoly advocates say the police action against movie downloaders is “questionable.” They argue how the Copyright Act, 1957, has given wide exception to those who disseminate copyright works for “personal and private use.”

Legal puritans, on the other hand, quote the same 1957 law and the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to argue that the State police have not done anything wrong.

They say the act of uploading and downloading a copyrighted cinematographic work amounts to publishing and transmitting it, respectively.

They cite Section 66 of the IT Act, 2000, that says a “hacker,” if found guilty, can get three years’ imprisonment, a fine up to Rs.2 lakh, or even both.

That’s not all. Section 43 of the same statute prescribes that a “hacker” may have to cough up Rs.1 crore in compensation in case of “damage to the computer system.”

Middle line

Some others draw the middle line about the police’s drive. They say that though downloading is as illegal as buying a pirated CD from the market and “ignorance of law is no excuse to escape prosecution under an existing law,” the sheer magnitude of registering mass cases against downloaders, probably on a global scale, is impractical.

“It is questionable whether downloading for personal use by itself constitutes an offence under the Copyright Act, 1957. The Act has created a wide exception for personal and private use,” says Pranesh Prakash, programme manager for Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance and Freedom of Speech at The Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.

The usage “personal and private use” in the Act can be better understood in the contrast — that is, downloading without any intention to “disseminate the cinematographic work to a community you are not provisionally associated to.”

Legislative intent

Prashant Iyengar, Assistant Professor and Assistant Director, Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Studies, Jindal Global Law School, says the legislative intent behind the wide exceptions given to dissemination of work in the 1957 law is actually strengthening the public domain.

“In India under the Copyright Act, we have a robust regime of fair dealing rights to ensure that information cannot be monopolised at the expense of the public’s access to information,” he says.

He refers to Section 52 of the Act that allows reproduction of literary, artistic, musical, and dramatic works for research and private uses without any “quantitative restriction” on the amount that may be copied. “However, cinematographic works do not fall under this exception,” he says.

Under Section 51, a single copy of a cinematographic work could be “imported” to India for personal and domestic use. This would not amount to copyright infringement.

“But it is currently unsettled in law whether Section 51 would protect users downloading movies for their personal use. On the other hand, if you receive a copy of a movie CD by post, this section would clearly apply,” Mr. Iyengar says.

Pavan Duggal, senior Supreme Court lawyer specialising in cyber laws, differs in his opinion. As far as he is concerned, the law is clear against copyright infringement.

He says unauthorised downloading of movies also attracts action under the IT Act, 2000. “The legal perspective is that when you upload a pirated copy, you are doing an act of publishing and when you click the ‘download’ button, you are transmitting data in an electronic format for the purpose of diminishing the value of electronic information,” he says.

“The Kerala Police have not done anything fundamentally wrong by registering cases against uploaders and downloaders. When I am creating a film, I have copyright to both cinematic and electronic versions. In case of infringement, I can act by suing for damages, injunction, in addition to exposing the person to criminal liability under the Copyright Act,” Mr. Duggal says.

However, Mr. Iyengar vehemently counters the point. He asks a “pertinent” question — how the Kerala Police conducted their probe and how the Internet Protocol addresses were obtained when Internet service providers have strict privacy obligations against disclosure of any such details, except to government authorities.

“In this case, one hears that a private investigation firm called ‘Jadoo Infotech’ was involved in conducting ‘cyber-patrolling,’ which is not authorised by any law. They would be guilty of the digital equivalent offence of ‘lurking house trespass’,” Mr. Iyengar says.

But Nandagopal Rajan, an associate editor with a technology magazine in Delhi, has a simple logic grounded in law.

“Anybody who is downloading illegally cannot seek protection. You are actually doing something illegal. On the flip side, how many people can you prosecute?” he asked.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-the-hindu-sep-17-2012-krishnadas-rajagopal-entertainment-industry-and-internet-piracy-in-focus

A multistakeholder discussion on India’s Position in the UN for Internet Governance UN Committee for Internet Related Policies (UN-CIRP)

praskrishna — 2012-09-17T09:49:26Z

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is hosting this event in New Delhi on September 19, 2012 from 10.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Sunil Abraham has been invited as a panelist.

Discussions and debate on the issue of internet governance has increased over the past few years. The entire issue of internet governance has become strikingly important for the internet users, government, Indian industry, mobile and internet service providers, internet companies, social media, civil society, academia as well as youth and women on account of the fact that internet subscriber base has already reached the 125 million mark, and is expected to increase dramatically under the targets established in NTP 2012. Unlike in telecommunications, issues related to internet and data penetration requires not just discussion between government and service providers but cooperation and dialogue amongst a host of other stakeholders – commonly known as Multistakeholder Groups.

International discourse

At a global level, after the declaration of the 2005 Tunis Agenda, there is a general agreement that internet governance structure should be dispersed, multistakeholder and bottom up rather than top down, and not controlled by a single entity. There are a number of proposals pending which seek to address internet governance issues through a multistakeholder process including at the UN, IGF and Council of Europe.

Our role as stakeholders in internet development will ideally involve a domestic perspective as well as a need for global engagement to shape the international dialogue. The decisions that are being made over the next few months at international fora, will have a deep and lasting impact on our businesses, operations, architecture, revenue streams at one level and access, diversity, cyber security, content regulation, multilingualism and management of critical internet resources at another. Government, in close collaboration with other stakeholders, has a critical role, especially relating to policy making, cyber security, spam, crisis management, digital piracy, and dispute resolution to name a few.

India’s proposal in UN for internet governance

In October 2011 the Government of India submitted a proposal for establishment of a new institutional mechanism for global internet governance by way of the United Nations Committee on Internet Related Policy (UN-CIRP). The UN-CIRP’s mandate will include inter alia tasks such as developing and establishing international public policies relating to global issues of internet; coordinating and overseeing bodies responsible for the technical and operational functioning of the internet; facilitating negotiation of treaties, conventions and agreements on internet related public policy; address developmental issues, promote and protect human rights, including the right to development; undertake arbitrations and dispute resolution where necessary and crisis management (detailed statement attached for your ready reference.)

The CIRP which finds its mandate in the Tunis Agenda 2005 (copy attached) under the process of Enhanced Cooperation will comprise of 50 member states chosen on basis of equitable geographic representations, supported by the regular budget of the United Nations, serviced by UNCTAD secretariat, reporting directly to the UN General assembly. It will ensure participation of all relevant stakeholders by establishing four advisory groups - one each for civil society, private sector, intergovernmental / international organizations, and the technical/academic community. It will also have its own research wing and keep close links with the IGF – for policy consultations and inputs.

Other countries have taken views keeping in mind their own best interest, including some who wish to continue with the existing governance process, others who seek an improvement in the existing process and those who seek a greater involvement of UN ITU in issues related to internet governance.

Multistakeholder Consultation

To have a detailed multistakeholder discussion FICCI has invited some of the most influential and informed voices for a panel discussion and interactive session with experts from 10:30 AM. to 01:00 PM. on Wednesday, 19^th September 2012, at FICCI, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi.

The panel and audience, apart from being experts will represent a multistakeholder group across various functions of the government, private sector, telecom and internet eco-system related companies, civil society, academia, legal experts, media organisations, technical community, and students and women. An equal number of experts will also intervene from the audience. The session is aimed at discussing in detail India’s proposal of UN-CIRP and provide multistakeholder inputs which will help inform and guide further dialogue at the upcoming international fora such as the 67^th UN General Assembly from September 26^th to 6^th October 2012, in New York, IGF from 6^th to 9^th November 2012 in Baku, and WCIT from 3^rd to 14^th December 2012, in Dubai.

Agenda

10.30 11.00	Registration and Networking
11.00 11.15	Introduction and Agenda Setting - by Mr. Virat Bhatia, Chairman, FICCI Communication & Digital Economy Committee
11.15 12.00	Panel Discussion
12.00 12.45	Taking stock, next steps and wrap-up by Mr. Virat Bhatia, Chairman, FICCI Communication & Digital Economy Committee

Proposed Panelists

Sl. No.	Name / Title	Representing
1.	Mr. Nitin Desai, Special Advisor to UN Secretary General on Internet Governance and Chairman of Multistakeholder Advisory Group for Internet Governance Forum (Formerly)	Internet Governance specialist
2.	Ambassador A Gopinathan, India’s Permanent Representative to UN in Geneva (Formerly)	Leading Diplomat Internet Governance
3.	Senior official from Department of Electronics & IT, Government of India *	Government
4.	Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, President, Foundation for Media Professionals, India	Media
5.	Mr. Parminder Jeet Singh, Executive Director, IT for Change	Civil Society
6.	Mr. Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Center for Internet and Society	Civil Society
7.	Mr. Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI)	ISP
8.	Mr. Naresh Ajwani, Member, NRO NC-Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC)	Industry
9.	Member of Parliament*	Politics
10.	Mr. Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)	Mobile Operators

* Invited. Confirmation awaited.

See India's Statement Proposing UN Committee for Internet-Related Policy
See the Tunis Agenda

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/multi-stakeholder-discussion-on-indias-position-in-the-un-for-un-cirp

Tunis Agenda for the Information Society

praskrishna — 2012-09-17T09:39:46Z

The Tunis Agenda dated November 18, 2005.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/tunis-agenda-for-the-information-society

The DNA Profiling Bill: Developing Best Practices

praskrishna — 2012-09-17T05:54:30Z

On the 27th of September 2012 the Centre for Internet & Society invites the public to a meeting and talk with international experts Helen Wallace from GeneWatch UK, and Jeremy Gruber from the Council for Responsible Genetics from the United States. The meeting will take place from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. at the India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi in Conference Room No. 2.

The public meeting and talk will focus on the proposed DNA Profiling Bill pending in Parliament and explore best practices concerning the collection, storage, and retention of DNA samples and best practices concerning the analysis of DNA samples and use of DNA samples as evidence in courts. Case studies from the US and the UK will be explored to understand what India can do better from the experiences of other countries.

Dr Helen Wallace

Dr Helen Wallace is Director of GeneWatch UK, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to engage members of the public in ensuring that genetic science and technologies are used in the public interest. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the social and ethical issues raised by DNA databases and is widely quoted in the UK press. Helen provided expert evidence to the applicants in the case of S. and Marper v. the UK at the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Court ruled unanimously that the indefinite retention of innocent people's DNA database records was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. She has supplied both oral and written evidence on this issue to numerous parliamentary committees including the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee and the UK Science and Technology, Home Affairs and Constitutional Committees, as well as the scrutiny committee for the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. This new Act requires the removal of about a million innocent people's records from the UK National DNA Database and the destruction of all stored biological samples.

Jeremy Gruber

Jeremy Gruber is the JD, President and Executive Director of Council for Responsible Genetics. Jeremy joined CRG in March 2009. Previously he served as the legal director of the National Workrights Institute, a human rights organization dedicated to the rights of American workers. Prior to that he served as the field director for the ACLU’s National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the Workplace. Jeremy has worked for over a decade on genetic non-discrimination legislation at the state and Federal level. He helped author and pass numerous state laws on genetic non-discrimination. Jeremy is a founder and executive committee member of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness, a group of 500 organizations that advocated for genetic non-discrimination legislation on Capitol Hill and played a major role in the recently passed Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) by Congress. He worked closely with members of Congress and staff on GINA language as well as strategy and support. He is a prolific writer on privacy issues and is often consulted by state legislatures. He is regularly featured in print, radio and television. Jeremy holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from St. John’s University School of Law and a B.A. in Politics from Brandeis University.

Forensic DNA: A Human Rights Challenge

The above video was originally posted in YouTube

Click on the links below to download the files:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-dna-profiling-bill-developing-best-practices

DNA Databases and Human Rights

praskrishna — 2012-09-17T05:39:06Z

Using DNA to trace people who are suspected of committing a crime has been a major advance in policing.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/dna-databases-and-human-rights.pdf