Centre for Internet and Society

Indian companies need to boost encrpytion adoption rate: experts

praskrishna — 2016-08-10T14:36:05Z

Most banks do not follow Reserve bank of India’s standard 64/128-bit encryption policy due to laxity and unavailability of funds.

The article by Koustav Das was published in the Deccan Chronicle on August 9, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

A recent report by security software firm Sophos highlighted the increasing number of online attacks on Indian businesses, suggesting strong encryption policies can change the existing scenario.

As per a SophosLab research, India’s threat exposure rate has been pegged at 16.7 per cent, ranking fifth in terms of highest percentage of endpoints exposed to malware attack.

The research said cyber-criminals have developed a keen sense of luring organisations on the basis of location, language and disguise, leading to an acute increase in the number of targeted attacks.

Global Experts have explained that digital attackers have taken the aid of advanced malware including deadly ransomwares, which involve locking or capturing an organisation’s valued data and demanding money to unlock it.

In future, ransomware have been predicted to become deadlier, allowing hackers to take control of an organisation’s entire network security.

Not only financial and IT companies but Government websites also face similar obstructions due to lack of updated security tools.

Mohit Puri, Head of Pre-sales, Sophos India and SAARC, said, "India faces increased risk from cyber-criminals due to its high economic growth, which has left several companies to re-think their security strategy."

Reactive to attacks, not proactive

Though Puri mentioned that Indian enterprises have been trying to prevent such attacks, large fissures in network security have made the task easier for online criminals.

One of the major reasons for companies failing to prevent advanced cyber-attacks can be attributed to the lack of pragmatic solutions, albeit their awareness about the situation.

Puri said, “While companies are aware about security threats to our systems, we are still not there in terms of how we are trying to mitigate these threats.”

According to Sunil Abraham, Director of The Centre For Internet and Society (CIS), there are manifold issues that have led to the scenario of India’s poor online security.

He said that Indian businesses and financial organisations recognize the situation but do not want to allocate budget for updating their security infrastructure.

“The problem with cyber-security is just like smoking; people are aware of it but they do not care about the warnings. Companies know about the looming threats but need an episode to make a move towards updating their network infrastructure,” Abraham added.

Enterprises also struggle due to the absence of sufficient cyber-security professionals in the country. Abraham said, “There are uncountable software professionals in India but the story is totally opposite when it boils down to cyber-security professionals.”

Weak encryption adoption

According to technology enthusiast Blaise Crowly, Co-Founder & Head Of Security Design Gladius & Schild, "Cryptography—a broader form of encryption—can be defined as a branch of mathematical algorithms that can be used to securely protect data."

Crowly added, “It is the one of the strongest form of all defence mechanisms against cyber attacks.”

However, a Sophos assessment—State of Encryption Today—where 1,700 Indian IT managers were surveyed, showed the ignorance of companies towards integrating strong encryption tools.

Out of the total number of participants, 61 per cent felt encryption holds significant importance in protecting a company’s proprietary data.

Others had peculiar reasons—18 per cent felt that encryption would help avoid incurring additional costs after a breach and 23 per cent just wanted to avoid negative publicity of the company.

Even in case of banks, reports suggested that most banks do not follow Reserve bank of India’s (RBI) standard 64/128 bit encryption policy due to laxity and unavailability of funds.

“Indian organisations need to take a second look at their security posture and deploy up-to-date synchronized security solutions that are able to combat today’s threats as well as tomorrows,” said Puri.

Government’s role

A 2015 CIS study, titled “How India Regulates Encryption” mentioned that under section 84A of the IT Act, the government has the sole authority to prescribe modes and methods of encryption.

Though the government has not yet issued any rules in exercise of these powers, it had released earlier released a draft encryption policy on September 21, 2015. However, it failed to pass it due to wide-spread criticism regarding certain mandates in the draft.

In addition, the Internet Service Providers (ISP) License Agreement, between the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and Internet Service Providers (ISP), limit the use of encryption up to 40-bit key length in symmetric algorithms—an extremely weak standard.

Although it cannot be enforced if organisations employ third-party encryption systems, it becomes extremely expensive for them. In such a scenario, companies hesitate in using better encryption standards.

CIS Director Sunil Abraham said, “To solve the issue, the government should work towards incentivising and enforcing strong security infrastructure which will help companies get these features at a lower price.”

Adding to the aforementioned statement, Crowly highlighted that current security standards set by the government cannot adeptly counter advanced threats.

“OpenSSL, LibNaCl and similar protocols provide free implementation of encryption schemes that companies can use. The only issue is that companies and government agencies should show proper diligence in hiring experts in this field,” Crowly concluded.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-chronicle-koustav-das-august-9-2016-indian-companies-need-to-boost-encryption-adoption-rate

How India’s top firms fare in employing women and persons with disabilities

praskrishna — 2016-08-10T14:27:18Z

It is generally believed that the growth of the corporate sector in India has increased employment avenues for historically deprived sections of our society.

The article by Sachin P. Mampatta, Amritha Pillay and Ritika Mazumdar was published in Livemint on August 9, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan was quoted.

However, an examination of employment data for India’s top 100 companies by market capitalization shows that there is much scope for improvement when it comes to employment of women and persons with disabilities (PWD). In fact, the share of women and disabled employees in India’s top companies is lower than the national average for non-agricultural workers.

The analysis is based on data culled out from Business Responsibility Reports (BRR) that companies are required to file since FY13, which seeks information on the number of permanent women and PWD employees. After factoring in consistency requirements and availability of data, 60 among top 100 companies have been used to calculate these results. This is what the analysis shows.

Is women and PWD employment increasing in corporate India?

Companies did not show marked improvement in the disclosures across the three years (FY13 to FY15). In fact, they showed a slight decline in the number of women employees. Women employees as a percentage of total employees dropped from 19.62% in FY13 to 18.51% in FY15. The number was better for PWD, though only marginally so. The share of PWD employees rose from 0.73% to 0.76% of the total workforce from 2012-13 to 2014-15. Data had limited granularity. So it is difficult to tell if there were overlaps between women and PWD employees. However such overlaps, if any, are expected to be limited.

Is corporate India better than the economy at large in employing women and PWD?

How does India’s corporate sector fare in employing women compared with the rest of the economy? We used data on other workers category from census to compare this. The category of other workers includes people who are not agricultural labourers, cultivators or people who are working in an industry run from home or within the village. Broadly speaking it gives an idea about the non-agricultural workforce in the economy. Data shows that the percentage share of women in corporate India’s workforce is lower than the share of women in other categories. The gap is even bigger in case of the share of PWD. The census data is for 2011, whereas for companies, the year which had the highest percentage share among FY13, FY14 and FY15 was taken.

What explains this gap?

Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director at The Centre for Internet and Society, a non-governmental organisation that works on issues affecting the differently abled, said that skilling is one of the hurdles that affects employment for the differently abled. While skilling of PWDs is a necessary condition for employability, it is not a necessary condition. For example, a visually impaired person may not be able to use a firm’s internal software if there is no compatible screen-reader to help them know what’s on the screen. Companies feel that they would have to spend a lot of money to procure infrastructure. However, technology now often makes it fairly inexpensive to do so. There is huge lack of awareness among employers. They often believe that this would affect the bottom line, Narasimhan added.

In case of women, larger factors could be at play. Women employment in India is still subject to continuing stereotypes which sees them as homemakers, triggering results such as a decline in employment of women with increase in household incomes, as was pointed out in a 2013 Mint piece.

However, there also exists evidence to show that discrimination might be at play even within companies. For example, women and PWD employees have a lower than median share in training received at workplace in these economies. As much as 69% of the permanent work-force received training in 2014-15, according to median figures for the sample set. The number for permanent women employees is 58.76%, and 49.79% for persons with disabilities. Training included skills upgrading and safety training. Skills was given priority where available, else safety training figures were used. Not all companies provided the figures. The above figures are based on the median value for the available set.

Interestingly, there are very few cases of discrimination filed against the companies. The total number filed for all 60 companies was four in 2012-13. It dropped to one in 2013-14, and was zero in 2014-15.

People are said to be reluctant to move the courts on a large scale in such matters. They are unsure of the outcome and cases tend to drag on.

Does this mean increasing private sector dominance in the economy is retrograde?

That said, the picture is not entirely gloomy. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database shows that the share of women in private sector employment has been increasing since the 1990s. It has increased by almost 6 percentage points since 1990. However, more needs to be done. And top companies should take the lead.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/livemint-august-9-2016-sachi-p-mampatta-amritha-pillay-ritika-mazumdar-how-indias-top-firms-are-faring-in-employing-women-and-persons-with-disabilities

Aadhaar-enabled smartphones will ease money transfer

praskrishna — 2016-08-10T13:33:54Z

With its plans to make smartphones Aadhaar-enabled, the government hopes to provide users a means to do self-authentication and let businesses and banks verify the identity of their clients through their smartphones, a move that could potentially lead the way to a cashless society.

The article by Neha Alawadhi and Gulveen Aulakh was published in the Economic Times on August 10, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

"Iris and fingerprint sensors are now becoming a standard feature in smartphones anyway, and this requirement will only take a minor tweak to the operating system. Once enabled, people will be able to use phones to do self-authentication and KYC (know your customer)," Nandan Nikelani, former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, told ET, welcoming the government's plan to make smartphones Aadhaar-enabled.

ET was the first to report that on July 27 a meeting between UIDAI, which administers Aadhaar, and senior executives of smartphone-makers discussed ways to allow smartphone handsets let citizens authenticate their fingerprints and iris on the phone to get services. The most immediate use for the Aadhaar-enabled smartphones is the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the new payment system that allows money transfer between any two parties using mobile phones and a virtual payment address.

"The two-factor authentication in UPI is now being done with mobile phone as one factor, and MPIN as the second factor. But once you have Aadhaar authentication on the phone, then the second factor can be biometric authentication through Aadhaar," said Nilekani. Over time, the idea is to open Aadhaar authentication to third party apps, said another person familiar with the ongoing discussions, who did not wish to be named.

In effect, biometric and iris scan authentication could become one of the permissions a user grants to different third party apps, such as access to camera, contacts, phone book and so on. Handset makers have raised concerns about some security issues on using iris scan for Aadhar authentication. Also, companies such as Apple that have very closed ecosystems, would not be easy to get on board, several people told ET.

"The primary challenge lies in safe storing of the iris scan between the time it is captured by the camera and then sent to UIDAI server seeking authentication," said an industry insider, who is aware of the discussions, requesting anonymity. The proposal for smartphone makers includes a "hardware secure zone" where biometric data will be encrypted and sent out. It will not leave the electronic secure zone without encryption, and every phone doing Aadhaar authentication will be registered in the UID system.

"Unfortunately, from the biometric sensor the data goes to the hardware secure zone via the operating system. Therefore, the biometric data can be intercepted by the operating system before it is sent to the hardware secure zone," said Sunil Abraham, executive director at Bengaluru-based research organisation, the Centre for Internet and Society.

"The reluctance to make changes at the vendor level are mainly coming from a desire for control of biometric data for strategic and commercial purposes. Privacy and security are bogus reasons," Nilekani said, adding that both ends - the handset and the Aadhaar database -- will use the highest level of encryption.

Samsung India, which in May launched the Galaxy Tab Iris, a device that uses Aadhaar authentication, said it has taken care that its user's biometric data does not fall into the wrong hands. "We ensure that biometric data is encrypted as per UIDAI specifications in device itself for Galaxy Tab Iris," Sukesh Jain, vice president, Samsung India Electronics, told ET in an email response.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-august-10-2016-neha-alawadhi-gulveen-aulakh-aadhaar-enabled-smartphones-will-ease-money-transfer

Wikipedia launches in Tulu, its 23rd Indic language

praskrishna — 2016-08-09T13:56:00Z

Wikipedia has launched in Tulu, making it the 23rd Indian language Wiki, reports domain-b. The announcement was made at the Wikiconference India 2016 held in Chandigarh last weekend.

This was published on Medianama website on August 9, 2016.

The Tulu wiki is located at tcy.wikipedia.org, and has been in ‘incubation’ since 2008, basically still waiting to go live or active. However, it was reactivated in 2014 following meetings and workshops at the ‘World Tulu Conference’ held the same year. As of now, the Wiki has about 200 registered editors, of which it claims around 100 have more than 10 edits, with 8-10 active editors online on an average. Note that there are around 2 million Tulu speakers.

Other Indic language wikis: In September 2013, the Goa University had entered into a three year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) for building the Konkani Wikipedia, which was launched 6 months later. Similarly in August 2014, former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched the ‘Bihar on Wikipedia’ campaign inviting people of the state to write about their villages, towns, and the unique culture of the state, its history, development over the years, eminent personalities and other important aspects of the state.

Wikipedia is currently available in 23 Indian languages including Tulu, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Newari, Odia, Pali, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Note that in 2012, Wikipedians were digitizing Indian language, out-of-copyright texts online, trying to address the comparative paucity of Indic language texts online.

Wikipedia Indic language stats: As of June 2016, Wikipedia had 16 million page view per month on the Hindi wiki, with overall 106,844 articles. This is not a significant increase. According to this August 2011 report, there were 0.1 million Hindi articles on the platform, and 9 million overall views.

Ban for paid advocacy: In September last year, the editors at the English Wiki blocked 381 user accounts for ‘black hat’ editing. The platform claims that these users were engaged in undisclosed paid advocacy, the practice of accepting or charging money to promote external interests on Wikipedia without revealing their affiliation, a violation of Wikipedia’s terms of use.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/medianama-august-9-2016-vivek-pai-wikipedia-launches-in-tulu-23rd-indic-language

India's 23rd Regional Wikipedia Launches

praskrishna — 2016-08-09T03:14:58Z

A Tulu version has gone live on Wikipedia, making it the 23rd one in an Indian language to do so.

The blog post by Ranu P. was published by CCM.net on August 8, 2016. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was quoted.

Tulu, an Indian language that is popular in the southern part of the country has received its own Wikipedia version — for which over 100 editors created 1,100 articles. The announcement was made on Aug. 6 during the Chandigarh-based WikiConference India 2016 by Vishwanatha Badikana and Bharatesha Alasandemajalu, two community organizers who made an 8-year-old dream come true. The greatest hope is that the Tulu wiki will lend support to the struggling language, which is used by just over 2 million native speakers who largely reside in Karnataka. Some research even suggests that it is among the earliest of Dravidian languages, which would make it roughly 2,000 years old.

"After we became [sic] live, we will import articles from the 'incubator' site, build the 'village pump,' set up policies, administration structure, info boxes, and templates," said Dr. UB Panavaja, an engineer and a longtime supporter of regional language computing. In addition to the 23 already-launched Indian Wiki versions, which include Bengali, Manipuri, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, and Urdu, there are another 18 Indian languages that are still in the incubator stage awaiting publishing.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/ccm-august-8-2016-ranu-p-india-23-regional-wikipedia-launches

Wikipedia now available in Tulu

praskrishna — 2016-08-09T03:05:28Z

In another boost to yet another Indian language, the Wikipedia in Tulu has gone live.

This was published by domain-b.com on August 8, 2016. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was quoted.

The news was announced by two key community organisers on Saturday who helped to make an eight-year-dream come true, IANS reported.

Dr Vishwanatha Badikana, a PhD in Kannada literature in Mangalore (Karnataka) and Bharathesha, a mechanical engineer based in Muscat announced at the Wikiconference India 2016, India's second national Wikipedia meet in half a decade which is being held in Chandigarh this weekend.

Tulu, which is spoken by around 2 million speakers mostly in southwest Karnataka and in Kasaragod district of Kerala belongs to the family of Dravidian languages. According to some scholars, Tulu is among the earliest Dravidian languages with its roots going back some 2,000 years.

Wikipedia itself is available in 22 Indian languages, with Tulu becoming the 23rd. There are another one-and-half dozen Indian language Wikipedias under development at present. However, not all languages have an active wiki community.

Located at tcy.wikipedia.org, the Tulu Wikipedia had been in "incubation" since 2008 and the term was used to describe such online collaborately-crafted encyclopedias which were still waiting to go "live" or active and come online.

It was reactivated around 2014, following some meetings and workshops and the concept was also showcased that year at a "World Tulu Conference" stall in December.

"There are about 200 registered users (editors), out of which around 100 have more than 10 edits. On an average, there are about 8 to 10 active editors," Dr UB Pavanaja from the Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, and one of the mentors of Tulu Wikipedia, told The Hindu newspaper.

He further added that, "Vishwanatha Badikana, a Kannada professor, followed by Bharatesha Alasandemajalu, an engineer, are the highest contributors."

According to Pavanaja, the achievement would help create pressure on the government to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution.

Wikipedia is available in 22 Indian languages including, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Newari, Odia, Pali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The inclusion of Tulu takes the count to 23.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/domain-b-august-8-2016-wikipedia-now-available-in-tulu

India's 23rd Regional Language Wikipedia Goes Live in Tulu

praskrishna — 2016-08-09T03:02:16Z

The Tulu Wikipedia has just gone live, giving another boost to yet another ancient Indian language otherwise struggling to keep up with the times and speedily changing technology.

Originally published by Indo Asian News Service, the blog post was mirrored by NDTV on August 8, 2016.

The news was announced by two key community organisers on Saturday who helped to make an eight-year-dream come true. Dr Vishwanatha Badikana, a PhD in Kannada literature in Mangalore (Karnataka) and Bharathesha, a mechanical engineer based in Muscat, announced this while attending Wikiconference India 2016, India's second national Wikipedia meet in half a decade being held in Chandigarh this weekend.

Tulu is a language spoken by around two million native speakers mainly in southwest Karnataka and in Kasaragod district, Kerala. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Some scholars suggest Tulu is among the earliest Dravidian languages with its roots going back some 2000 years.

Wikipedia itself is available in 22 Indian languages, with Tulu becoming the 23rd. There are another one-and-half dozen Indian language Wikipedias in the incubator stage at present. Not all languages have an active wiki community.

Located at tcy.wikipedia.org, the Tulu Wikipedia has been in "incubation" since 2008. This term is used to describe such online collaborately-crafted encyclopedias which are still waiting to to go "live" or active and come online.

Around 2014, it was reactivated. Following some meetings and workshops, the concept was also showcased that year at a "World Tulu Conference" stall in December of that year.

After much work, some 1,100 articles (or 1,050 if one could ignore those which are not redirects) went live. There are currently about 100 editors who have made over 10 edits each.

"Dr Vishwanatha and Bharathesha are the number one and number two contributors," said Dr UB Panavaja, a former scientist and techie and long-term supporter of Kannada computing. Pavanaja currently looks after the CMR (Creating Movement Resources) of the Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society which works with some language groups to promote their Wikipedia presence.

"After we became live, we will import articles from the 'incubator' site, build the 'village pump', set up policies, administration structure, info boxes and templates," said Pavanaja, describing the tools that any new Wikipedia needs to set up.

Scholars like the nineteenth missionary-linguist Bishop Robert Caldwell have called this language "peculiar and very interesting". According to him, "Tulu is one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family. It looks as if it had been cultivated for its own sake."

The language has a lot of written literature and a rich oral literature such as the Epic of Siri, according to the Wikipedia itself.

In coastal Karnataka, both the Mangalore and Udupi areas today allow the language as an optional third-language in local schools.

This role in schooling makes it all the more mandatory to create encyclopaedic texts in the language, say its Wikipedia promoters. Mangalore University also has a Tulu language chair while St Aloysius's Radio Sarang community radio station broadcasts daily in this tiny language and the local All India Radio also broadcasts in the language.

Some five Kannada language representatives and one from Tulu are presently in Mohali-Chandigarh attending Wikiconference India 2016.

Indian Wikipedias include Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Newari, Odia, Pali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, besides, now, Tulu.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/indo-asian-news-service-ndtv-august-8-india-23-regional-language-wikipedia-goes-live-in-tulu

ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲೂ ಬಂತು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ

praskrishna — 2016-09-23T00:22:53Z

ಪಂಚ ದ್ರಾವಿಡ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದಾದ `ತುಳು' ಸಹ ಇದೀಗ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಎಂಟ್ರಿಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಭಾರತದ 23ನೇ ಪ್ರಾದೇಶಿಕ ಭಾಷೆಯ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆರಂಭವಾಗಿದೆ.

ಈ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಗೆ ಕಾರಕರ್ತರಾದ ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಡಾ. ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬಡಿಕಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಮಸ್ಕತ್`ನ ಮೆಕಾನಿಕಲ್ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ್ ಭರತೇಶ ಈ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನ 2016ರ ವಿಕಿ ಕಾನ್ಫರೆನ್ಸ್`ನಲ್ಲಿ ಘೋಷಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ಕೇರಳದ ಕಾಸರಗೂಡಿನ ಸುಮಾರು 20 ಲಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೂ ಅಧಿಕ ಜನರಿಗೆ ತುಳು ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಪಂಚದ್ರಾವಿಡ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದಾದ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ 2000 ವರ್ಷಗಳಷ್ಟು ಇತಿಹಾಸವಿದೆ.

The news was published by Asianet Suvarna News on August 7, 2016

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/asianet-suvarna-news-august-7-2016-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live

ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮನ್ನಣೆ!

praskrishna — 2016-09-23T00:01:44Z

ಮಂಗಳೂರು: ಇಂದಲ್ಲ ನಾಳೆ ಸಂವಿಧಾನದ ಎಂಟನೇ ಪರಿಚ್ಛೇದಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರ್ಪಡೆಯಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬ ಆಶಯದಲ್ಲೇ ಇರುವ ಕರಾವಳಿಯ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮನ್ನಣೆ ನೀಡುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಗುರುತಿಸುವಂತಾಗಿದೆ.

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಫೌಂಡೇಷನ್‍ನ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕಿ ಕ್ಯಾಥರಿನ್ ಮಹೆರ್ ಶನಿವಾರ ಪಂಜಾಬಿನ ಚಂಡೀಗಡದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ‘ವಿಕಿ ಕಾನ್ಫರೆನ್ಸ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ-2016’ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅಧಿಕೃತವಾಗಿ ಘೋಷಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಇನ್‍ಕ್ಯುಬೇಟರ್‌‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದ ತುಳು ಲಿಪಿಯನ್ನು ಈಗ ಲೈವ್ ಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ತರಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಅಂದರೆ ತುಳು ಜಾನಪದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿಷಯ ಟೈಪ್ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಸಾಕು. ತಕ್ಷಣ ಸಮಗ್ರ ವಿವರ ಅನಾವರಣಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ.

ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ 1,050 ಲೇಖನಗಳು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಕವಾಗಿವೆ. ಸುಮಾರು 200 ಮಂದಿ ಲೇಖನ ಬರೆದಿದ್ದು, 100ಕ್ಕೂ ಅಧಿಕ ಮಂದಿ ತುಳು ಲೇಖನದ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. 10ಕ್ಕೂ ಅಧಿಕ ಮಂದಿ ನಿರಂತರ ಲೇಖನ ಅಪ್‍ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್‌‌ನೆಟ್ ಅಂಡ್‌ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಯೋಜನಾ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ಡಾ. ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ಅವರ ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕ ಡಾ. ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬದಿಕಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಭರತೇಶ್ ಈ ಮನ್ನಣೆ ದೊರೆಯಲು ಶ್ರಮಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

2008ರಿಂದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಕಾರ್ಯ ಆರಂಭಗೊಂಡಿತ್ತು. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಬರೆಯಲಾಗಿದೆ. 2014 ಜನವರಿಯಿಂದ ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುವ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ವೇಗ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿದೆ.

This was published by Mumbai News World on August 8, 2016.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/mumbai-news-august-8-2016-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live

In Tulu, India's 23rd Regional Wikipedia Goes Live

praskrishna — 2016-08-08T01:27:58Z

In a major boost to ancient Indian languages, Tulu wikipedia has finally gone live.

The article by Naina Chaturvedi was published in Huffington Post on August 7, 2016. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was quoted.

According to a report in The Hindu, eight years after its launch, Tulu Wikipedia has gone live with over 1,000 articles.

The announcement was made by Katherine Maher, executive director, Wikimedia Foundation, USA, at the Wikiconference India 2016, India's second national Wikipedia meet in half a decade, held in Chandigarh on Friday.

"There are about 200 registered users (editors), out of which around 100 have more than 10 edits. On an average, there are about 8 to 10 active editors," Dr. U.B. Pavanaja from the Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, and one of the mentors of Tulu Wikipedia, told The Hindu.

He further added that, "Vishwanatha Badikana, a Kannada professor, followed by Bharatesha Alasandemajalu, an engineer, are the highest contributors."

The language is spoken by around two million native speakers, mainly in southwest Karnataka and in Kasaragod district, Kerala, The Indian Express reported.

Pavanaja, further explained how this achievement would help create pressure on the government to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution.

"After we became live, we will import articles from the 'incubator' site, build the 'village pump', set up policies, administration structure, info boxes and templates,"IANS quoted Pavanaja saying.

Wikipedia which is available in 22 Indian languages include, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Newari, Odia, Pali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, now, including Tulu making the count 23.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/huffington-post-august-7-2016-naina-chaturvedi-in-tulu-indias-23-regional-wikipedia-goes-live

Apps can give personal information to strangers

praskrishna — 2016-08-08T01:22:20Z

We love our apps. A study done last year, found that app usage in India has grown 131 per cent. But apps are notorious for accessing personal data and we’re obligingly careless with our privacy. Inadvertently, users give away third-parties access to their phone calls and right to operate cameras on their mobiles.

The article by Mebin John was published in the New Indian Express on August 8, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

Therefore, they can listen in to conversations and click photos as and when it pleases them.

“The detailed privacy policy of most of these apps run into pages and people rarely read through them,” says Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of The Centre for Internet and Society. “The policy is also loaded with tech jargon, which is lost on the general public.”

A study, done in June this year by Norton, reveals that one in two Indians have permitted access to their contacts and mobile data in exchange for free applications. Forty per cent have allowed access to their camera and browsing history, and 50 per cent given permission to send promotional text/emails.

A mobile application developer in Bengaluru, who wishes to remain anonymous, says, “App developers collect personal information of individuals and make a massive database. They then sell this data base to marketing agencies.” A database of 5 crore people pays `5,000 and this is sold over and over again.

Many application developers claim that they make large databases with the help of applications. “I have a database with email IDs of 2.5 lakh people,” says another app developer of the data he mined from one app.

Chief Technology Officer at T.I.G.E.R Innovations and Publicize Bengaluru, Geo Joy, says: “It is true that we can track an individual’s personal conversations and activities using mobile applications. I’ve heard that many applications scoop details from phone conversations for marketing purposes.”

“If you are not paying for anything, then you are the product,” Abraham puts it succinctly.

According to him, with access to your conversations or GPS, a third party could monitor your activities. It can get more specifid: with data from GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope, a developer can read your driving pattern.

Laws here are easy on developers too. Elonnai Hickok, a researcher from CIS, says, “Apart from Section 43A of the Information Technology Act, we don't have any strict laws or enforcement agencies to monitor these applications that breach the privacy of an individual.”

In India, since we don’t have a statutory body to monitor applications and their privacy violations, experts suggest individuals exercise caution.

CTO Joy suggests upgrading your operating systems. “Latest versions of all operating systems will warn you when an external medium tries to track your information,” he says. “So people who use the older versions should switch to the latest one or upgrade the software.

CE picks five permissions and how they could be misused.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/apps-can-give-personal-information-to-strangers

After eight years, Tulu Wikipedia goes live

praskrishna — 2016-08-07T10:34:21Z

Around eight years after its launch and in incubation, the Tulu Wikipedia has gone live with over 1,000 articles. It can be accessed at http://tcy.wikipedia.org

The article by Raviprasad Kamila was published in the Hindu on August 7, 2016

Katherine Maher, executive director, Wikimedia Foundation, USA, made the announcement at the three-day Wikiconference India 2016, which began at Chandigarh on Friday.

U.B. Pavanaja, program manager, Indian Languages, The Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, one of the mentors of the Tulu Wikipedia told The Hindu that the page has about 1,100 articles.

“There are about 200 registered users (editors), out of which around 100 have more than 10 edits. On an average, there are about 8 to 10 active editors,” he said, adding that Vishwanatha Badikana, a Kannada professor, followed by Bharatesha Alasandemajalu, an engineer, are the highest contributors.

Mr. Pavanaja said that a series of workshops and editathons in Mangaluru and Udupi helped its growth. “A live Tulu Wikipedia will help bring pressure on the government to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution,” he said. If the page is to be active, between five and 10 articles would have to be uploaded and at least 15 editors will have to edit it on a monthly basis, he added.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindu-raviprasad-kamila-august-7-2016-after-eight-years-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live

India's 23rd regional Wikipedia, in Tulu, goes live

praskrishna — 2016-08-07T10:31:21Z

The Tulu Wikipedia has just gone live, giving another boost to yet another ancient Indian language otherwise struggling to keep up with the times and speedily changing technology.

Originally published by IANS, it was mirrored by Business Standard on August 6, 2016.

Located at tcy.wikipdia.org, the Tulu Wikipedia has been in "incubation" since 2008. This term is used to describe such online collaborately-crafted encyclopedias which are still waiting to to go "live" or active and come online.

Around 2014, it was reactivated. Following some meetings and workshops, the concept was also showcased that year at a "World Tulu Conference" stall in December of that year.

After much work, some 1,100 articles (or 1,050 if one could ignore those which are not redirects) went live. There are currently about 100 editors who have made over 10 edits each.

The language has a lot of written literature and a rich oral literature such as the Epic of Siri, according to the Wikipedia itself.

In coastal Karnataka, both the Mangalore and Udupi areas today allow the language as an optional third-language in local schools.

Some five Kannada language representatives and one from Tulu are presently in Mohali-Chandigarh attending Wikiconference India 2016.

(Frederick Noronha can be contacted at fredericknoronha1@gmail.com)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/business-standard-august-6-2016-india-23-regional-wikipedia-in-tulu-goes-live

Why experts are worried about Aadhaar-based authentication

praskrishna — 2016-08-07T02:16:29Z

As private companies are increasingly using Aadhaar data, is the privacy and security of personal data really at risk? What do those defending Aadhaar have to say?

The post was published in Citizen Matters on August 2, 2016. Amber Sinha was quoted.

The Unique Identification numbers of Aadhaar card holders are being extensively used by government and private agencies for authentication purposes, as we have already seen in an earlier article.

There are 246 registered Authentication User Agencies in India, both government and private, which are helping organisations and individuals in executing the authentication process. In simple terms, they help the organisation that has placed the authentication request, to confirm the identity of a person during hiring, lending loans or while implementing welfare schemes.

But all does not seem well with the Aadhaar authentication process. Concerns have been raised about the privacy and security aspects and, loopholes in the law.

The amended Aadhaar Bill (now, Aadhaar Act) has a clause that allows the UIDAI to respond to any authentication query “with a positive, negative or any other appropriate response.” This move has drawn a lot of criticism from the activist fraternity. They have questioned the government on framing an Act that places the security and privacy of individual citizens at risk.

Even before the Bill was passed, legal scholar Usha Ramanathan had, in an article published in Scroll.in, expressed concern over private agencies using the Aadhaar database for authenticating the identity of an individual.

“Very little was heard about the interest private companies would have in this information data base. It is not until the 2016 Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha that we were told, expressly, that just about any person or company may draw on the Aadhaar system for its purposes. There are no qualifications or limits on who may use it and why. It depends on the willingness of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which is undertaking the project, to let them become a part of the Aadhaar system,” she wrote.

What’s crucial in the entire process is how the government is allowing private players to use Aadhaar-based information, putting the privacy of Aadhaar-holders at stake. The government is technically allowed to share the Aadhaar information with other agencies, only if the holder has given consent to sharing his information, during enrollment.

The guidelines for recording Aadhaar demographic data states: “Ask resident’s consent to whether it is alright with the resident if the information captured is shared with other organisations for the purpose of welfare services including financial services. Select appropriate circle to capture residents response as - Yes/No.”

In 2011, Citizen Matters had published a report on how people wanting to register for Aadhaar were not asked if they would agree to share their personal information. Citizens seemingly were unaware of the provision for sharing information with a third party and data operators had reportedly not asked them for their consent before marking ‘yes’ for the consent option.

There remains a regulatory vacuum

In less than four months of the enactment of the Aadhaar Act, the number of private agencies using Aadhaar database for identity authentication too has grown long. Amber Sinha, Programme Officer at the Center for Internet and Society expresses concern over the privacy implications that a project of this magnitude would lead to.

“The original idea of Aadhaar was to use it for providing services under welfare schemes. But the Aadhaar Act lets private agencies avail the Aadhaar authentication service. The scope of the Act itself doesn’t envisage sharing the data with private parties, but if any third party wants to authenticate the identity of an individual, they can use the UIDAI repository for the purpose,” he points out.

In the process, Amber says, the CIDR has to send a reply in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ format, for any request seeking to confirm the identity of an individual. The new legislation gives scope for the authorities to respond to a query with a positive, negative or any other appropriate response.

“The Aadhaar enrollment information includes demographic and biometric details. So at this stage, we do not know what that “other appropriate response” stands for. Further, while there are requirements to take the data subject’s consent under the Act, there is lack of clarity on the oversight mechanisms and control mechanisms in place when a private party collects information for authentication. The UIDAI is yet to frame the rules and the rules will probably determine this. Until the rules are framed, some of the issues will exist in regulatory vacuum,” Amber observes.

Under the current circumstances, Amber says, the responsible thing to do for UIDAI is not to make such services available until the rules are framed.

But why has the Authority then started the authentication process even before the rules have been framed? Assistant Director General of the Authentication and Application Division of UIDAI, Ajai Chandra says the rules when framed will have retrospective effect, from the date the Act was enacted.

Activists have also questioned the UIDAI for allowing private agencies to use and authenticate Aadhaar data, when the Supreme Court has restricted the use of Aadhaar. In its last order dated 15 October 2015, the Apex Court allowed the government to use Aadhaar in implementing selective welfare schemes such as PDS, LPG distribution, MGNREGS, pension schemes, PMJDY and EPFO. It makes no mention about the UIDAI using the Aadhaar data repository to provide services to private agencies.

“When the Supreme Court has restricted the use of Aadhaar number to a few specific government programmes only, how can UIDAI allow the data to be used for any other programmes, let alone by private agencies?” Amber asks.

In a very brief conversation, Reena Saha, Additional DG, UIDAI told Citizen Matters that UIDAI was acting as per the Supreme Court’s order dated October 15th. “We aren’t sharing the data with private agencies,” she said.

‘Authentication happening only with consent’

Srikanth Nadhamuni, CEO of Khosla Labs - a registered Authentication User Agency, who was also the Head of Technologies at UIDAI, rejects the accusations on the security aspect, saying that the authentication system is completely secure and foolproof.

“We have made a secure system so that there is no man in the middle taking the biometric information. The biometric information shared on the application is encrypted and neither the AUA nor the Authentication Service Agency (an intermediary between the AUA and the CIDR) can open it. Both the AUA and ASA will sign on the packet and forward it to the data repository as it is. There is no way that we can figure out what is inside the packet. Once the request reaches the data repository, they will unlock the signatures, run the authentication and reply in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or with an error code,” Srikanth explains.

ADG Chandra says that at present the CIDR is replying to authentication requests in an “yes/no” format. “We aren’t sharing the data with any agencies. Upon receiving the request for authentication, be it demographic, biometric or one time pin (OTP), a notification is sent to the registered mobile / email address of the Aadhaar holder,” he says. So if the Aadhaar holder has changed the address, phone number, email ID etc after Aadhaar enrollment, he/she should update the data with UIDAI by placing a request online or through post. This will avoid any confusion that may occur during the authentication.

Ajai Chandra further clarifies, “the private agencies seeking authentication (the Authentication User Agency) are not given direct access to the database. On receiving the request, the intermediary Authentication Service Agencies first examine the format of the authentication request. The request is forwarded to the CIDR only if it complies with the format.”

Apart from authentication, the eKYC (Know Your Customer) option also allows companies to retrieve eKYC data of the Aadhaar holder. This data includes photo, name, address, gender and date of birth (excludes mobile number and email ID). But in this case too, “eKYC data can be retrieved only with the consent of the Aadhaar card holder, the person has to be adequately informed about the retrieval and the data cannot be shared with a third party,” says Chandra.

Though Aadhaar Act allows the UIDAI to perform authentication of Aadhaar number, subject to the requesting entity paying the fee, UIDAI at present is providing the service free of cost. “We will provide free service till December 2016 and may levy the fee thereafter,” the ADG says.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bangalore-citizen-matters-august-2-2016-akshatha-why-experts-are-worried-about-aadhaar-based-authentication

Tulu Wikipedia Goes 'Live'

praskrishna — 2016-08-07T01:41:56Z

Tulu Wikipedia became live on August 5, 2016. CIS-A2K took making of Tulu Wikipedia live as one of its activity in 2014. The efforts bore fruit and Tulu Wikipedia is live now.

CIS-A2K team is thankful to all the volunteers who contributed to Tulu Wikipedia and helping it see the light of the day. We would specifically thank Dr. Vishwanatha Badikana and Bharathesha Alasandemajalu who have contributed with the most edit counts and at present are participating in the WIkiconference India.

Tulu Wikipedia page here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/tulu-wikipedia-goes-live