Centre for Internet and Society

JNU - Reply and report - 10.3.15 (1).pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-31T15:04:53Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/JNU%20-%20Reply%20and%20report%20-%2010.3.15%20-1.pdf

JNU - Replies to RTI - 24.2.15 (1).pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-31T15:03:12Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/JNU%20-%20Replies%20to%20RTI%20-%2024.2.15%20-1.pdf

JNU - Receipt of RTI, request for payment - 26.3.15 (1).pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-31T15:01:15Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/JNU%20-%20Receipt%20of%20RTI-%20request%20for%20payment%20-%2026.3.15%20-1.pdf

Internet L@w

praskrishna — 2016-05-30T02:07:00Z

Vanya Rakesh will attend the Internet law course organized by the University of Geneva from 20 June 2016 to 1 July 2016 as part of the Geneva Summer School.

Study Internet Law in Geneva, where the World Wide Web was born!

Topics that will be covered include cybersecurity, digital privacy and online surveillance, free speech, consumer protection, legal issues of social media, dangers of cloud computing, Internet and telecom infrastructure, intellectual property, antitrust, and much more...

This is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the framework of an Internet law clinic and to discuss cutting edge Internet law and policy issues with academics, practitioners, representatives of global policy makers, international organizations and leading institutions, including the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

For its first and second sessions (in June 2014 and 2015), the Internet l@w summer school welcomed participants from very diverse background and countries including Argentina, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lithuania, Ukraine and the US.

Discover an international city in the heart of Europe. Participate in an exciting social programme, including excursions and social gatherings, and build a global network of new friends as well as of Internet law and policy experts.

A video testimony of participants to the 2014 edition is available here!

Equivalence of 6 ECTS credits.

Please note: Changes to the draft program may be made at any time prior to the start of the course.

More Info, click here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/internet-l-w

CPRsouth 2016 – Young Scholars Programme

praskrishna — 2016-05-30T02:01:21Z

Rohini Lakshané, Amber Sinha and Vidushi Marda have been selected to attend the two-day Young Scholars' Programme to be held in Zanzibar, Tanzania in early September this year. The programme is a part of the CPRSouth conference.

Read the original announcement published by CPRSouth here.

Following highly successful joint Afro-Asian CPR conferences in Mauritius in 2012, and India in 2013, CPRafrica and CPRsouth formally merged under the banner of CPRsouth in 2014. Since then, CPRsouth has hosted conferences in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa (2014), and at the Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence at Yuan Ze University, Taiwan (2015).

This year’s conference is co-hosted by COSTECH and TCRA in Zanzibar, and will include sessions on cutting-edge developments on ICT policy and regulation in the South and discussion of the research-policy interface.

30 Young Scholars from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region will be selected to participate in a tutorial programme taught by recognised scholars and practitioners from Africa and Asia, and they will attend the main conference thereafter.

Tutorials are scheduled to be held on the 6^th and 7^th of September 2016, prior to the main CPRsouth conference.

Who will qualify?

Masters/PhD students in Economics, Public policy, Communications and Journalism
Officers of government/regulatory agencies undertaking ICT policy research, developing/gathering indicators (monitoring and evaluation)
Staff of private companies in the communication industries working in regulatory affairs
Officers in NGOs/INGOs working in policy and regulation
Researchers from think tanks, university research centres
Journalists covering communication public policy and regulation

Seminar

The seminar will cover a number of topics of the two days, such as:

policy analysis using supply-side or demand-side data;
ICT impact analysis;
convergence, net neutrality;
funding broadband network extension, open access networks, spectrum;
sector and competition regulation;
research to policy interventions;
Internet governance – privacy, surveillance, human rights online; and
introduction to big data, open data.

(2016 tutorial programme still to be confirmed)

Previous tutorial presentations can be accessed at http://www.cprsouth.org/

Application deadline: 22 April 2016

Application guidelines

Applications should be submitted via this link by 22 April 2016, and must contain the following:

one-page curriculum vitae; and
one-page write-up outlining why you wish to become an African or Asia-Pacific based expert capable of contributing to ICT related policy and regulatory reform in the region

Applicants’ write-ups and biographies should be in a single word document, and named: CPRsouth2016_YoungScholar_ApplicantLastName.

Kindly note: Late applications and applications that do not conform to the prescribed format above will automatically be disqualified.

Review Criteria

Applications will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

content of application;
evidence of interest in, and commitment to, policy-relevant research for Africa or the Asia-Pacific region;
quality of writing; and
gender and country representation

The selection committee may contact your supervisor or mentor before making the final selections.

Candidates selected to participate in the tutorial programme must:

provide a one-page research proposal upon acceptance onto the tutorial programme
participate in all tutorial sessions
participate in the entire CPRsouth 2016 conference

Funding

Selected young scholars who are passport holders of, and travelling from, low and middle income countries within the Asia Pacific and Africa (as classified by the World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/country-and-lending-groups#Low_income) will be provided with:

lowest-cost economy airfare to conference destination (less USD 150 registration fee);
ground transfers between the conference venue and airport; and
twin sharing accommodation on bed and breakfast basis, 5 lunches and 1 dinner for the duration of the conference and tutorials (6 – 10 September 2016). Not all meals are covered.

The registration fee for young scholars to attend the conference and tutorials is USD150, and airfares will be reimbursed less this registration fee. Participants will be required to cover:

transport to and from airports in their home countries;
visa fees (if any);
meals not provided; and
any other incidental costs

As the registration fee is so low and should be met personally even if there is no institutional support for attendance of the course and conference, please note that only under exceptional circumstances of extreme financial hardship may the organisers consider a waiver of the conference registration fee. Such waivers will be considered on a case-by-case basis and only where a scholar would otherwise be prevented from attending the YS programme and conference.

Visas

Letters of invitation will be provided for purposes of visa applications after participant selections have been made. Participants are responsible for securing their own visas to enter Tanzania, and are strongly advised to initiate visa approval procedures immediately on receipt of confirmation of their participation.

Kindly direct all enquiries to Ondine Bello: admin@researchictafrica.net orinfo@CPRsouth.org

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cprsouth-2016-2013-young-scholars-programme

National Conference on Competition & IPR in ICT, Telecom & Mobile Sets

praskrishna — 2016-05-30T01:50:19Z

Rohini Lakshané and Anubha Sinha attended this conference held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on May 18, 2016. The event was organized by CMAI.

This was a specific conference dedicated to Make in India especially Mobile, Telecom and role of Competition v/s IPR. The speakers were from CCI, Industry and Legal luminaries. There is a need to arrive at balance between Competition and IPR. The conference was aimed to address the issues of IPRs v/s competition, role of SSO in standard settings, SEP’s contentions, basis of FRAND negotiations and need to recommend to Government to form an appropriate policy that is suitable for Make in India.

The conference focused on the need to discuss these issues with all the stakeholders and come out with appropriate status on the date and its relevance on Make in India and appropriate recommendations to the government. Further details of the conference can be accessed here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/national-conference-on-competition-ipr-in-ict-telecom-mobile-sets

India's Proposed Map Law Prompts Outcry

praskrishna — 2016-05-29T09:30:31Z

In India, proposed legislation to ban use of maps or satellite images of the country without approval from the government has led to an outcry and triggered an online campaign called “Save The Map.”

The article by Anjana Pasricha was published in Voice of America on May 17, 2016. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

The controversy is not just over stiff penalties of up to $15 million for a wrong depiction of India’s borders, but that in a digital era, the law would potentially disrupt a host of businesses and start-ups such as taxi-hailing services.

Reasons

The draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill seeks to regulate the use of mapping and satellite data for two reasons: secure the country’s strategic installations from enemies and terrorists and ensure that its political boundaries are correctly depicted. The government says it will not create barriers to business.

But Internet experts say the sweeping proposed law will affect ordinary people using mobiles and laptops, all new-age companies such as food-delivery and e-commerce, apps, as well as Apple and Google map products.

Nikhil Pahwa, founder of the website MediaNama, calls location data the core fabric of all digital services.

“What the government has ended up doing is making pretty much every single app illegal because they all use geospatial data and they wont have a license. If you take a photograph, it has location data. If you use Uber to hail a cab, it uses maps and it shows taxi cabs on the map. If I WhatsApp my location to a friend to pick me from a particular location, I am generating geospatial information,” he said.

Nikhil Pahwa, founder of the website MediaNama, calls location data the core fabric of all digital services.

Complications for ordinary citizens

The draft law requires anyone wanting to use, publish or own maps or geospatial data to apply for a license, which will be considered by a security vetting committee.

The Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society (CIS) has also slammed the new bill, saying it takes India back more than three decades when businesses were governed by a maze of bureaucratic licenses and permits.

“What it does, it puts in place a license raj for all use of mapping technologies. That just does not make sense. No other country in the world has this regressive mapping law,” said Pranesh Prakash at CIS.

Internet opposition

A volunteer-led internet campaign called “Save The Map” led by Bangalore-based tech experts, is steadily gathering momentum. It is calling on people to petition the government against the bill in its present form. It seeks to replicate an extremely successful campaign called “SavetheInternet” which built public opinion and put pressure on the government to ensure equal access to the internet.

The government has sought to calm the growing concerns, saying the bill is only in a preliminary stage and it has invited feedback and suggestions from the public until June 4.

Officials point to India’s growing security concerns, specially since an armed attack at a strategic air base in Pathankot in northern India earlier this year, allegedly mounted by Pakistan-based terrorists. Speaking to an Indian newspaper, Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said the bill is necessary because “India as a responsible country must have provisions to secure its boundary and territory.

However Prakash of CIS points out that the new bill will not necessarily prevent terror groups from getting hold of geospatial data to target Indian installations because they don’t need maps generated inside India to access such information.

“They need satellite imagery and they need maps, period. Now this law does not actually prevent such maps from being created, it does not prevent satellite images of India being captured. What it does is prevent Indians from doing so. So it won't prevent foreign-based terrorists, especially state-backed terrorists, from attacking India,” he said.

Internet and public policy experts agree that the government could impose restrictions on mapping and satellite images of strategic and sensitive locations in the country.

Huge fines

The eye-popping fines of up to $15 million and jail terms of up to seven years proposed for incorrect depiction of India’s borders have also caused surprise.

India has always insisted maps should show Kashmir in the north, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan and the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast, which China claims, within Indian political boundaries.

Foreign magazines and newspapers which failed to do so were only allowed to circulate in the country after the words “Boundaries of India shown in this map are not correct” were stamped over maps that did not conform to India’s interpretations of its borders.

Google already offers slightly altered versions of its maps inside India, showing the disputed regions of Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.

Independent political analyst Ajoy Bose said New Delhi has long been very sensitive over how these two territories are depicted. “It has always been a source of annoyance to successive governments, but this government being ultranationalist in nature is very particular about India’s geographical boundaries being correctly shown, and therefore it is taking much more drastic action,” he said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/voice-of-america-may-17-2016-anjana-pasricha-india-proposed-map-law-prompts-outcry

Honorable CJI please answer some easy questions

praskrishna — 2016-05-29T08:27:25Z

Living in democracy has been blessing to all of us born post 1947 but certain questions keep surfacing. Since you are the highest seat in the hierarchy of judicial system therefore the onus lies with you to clear the haze and allow the citizens respite from their doubts.

The article by Alka Vasudeva was published in State Times on May 19, 2016. Pranesh Prakash's blog post was mentioned.

First of all you make us understand the benefit of archaic laws established by imperialist mindset of British. The recent judgment regarding the defamation law is really upsetting. The bench feels that a person is half dead when defamed where as in our country the life of dignity cease to exist for 25% of the population.

The particular case of keeping Article 499 saves the honor of the elite. As per this judgment anyone is not free to express the discontentment with the system. Moreover it is leaving a loophole in the judicial system as in 2015 the honorable court struck off Article 66A.

When I was reading a blog post by Pranesh Prakash, who is a Policy Director with the Centre, and is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a degree in Arts and Law, I realized that 499 is very similar in nature to 66A.

For reference some part of his post is copied and pasted as such with no editing as the sole purpose has been to re confirm the reasons as to why clinging on to this Defamation law is futile exercise as its twin has already been scrapped.

“Section 66A which punishes persons for sending offensive messages is overly broad, and is patently in violation of Art. 19(1) (a) of our Constitution. The fact that some information is “grossly offensive” (s.66A(a)) or that it causes “annoyance” or “inconvenience” while being known to be false (s.66A(c)) cannot be a reason for curbing the freedom of speech unless it is directly related to decency or morality, public order, or defamation (or any of the four other grounds listed in Art. 19(2)). It must be stated here that many argue that John Stuart Mill’s harm principle provides a better framework for freedom of expression than Joel Feinberg’s offence principle. The latter part of s.66A(c), which talks of deception, is sufficient to combat spam and phishing, and hence the first half, talking of annoyance or inconvenience is not required. Additionally, it would be beneficial if an explanation could be added to s.66A(c) to make clear what “origin” means in that section. Because depending on the construction of that word s.66A(c) can, for instance, unintentionally prevent organizations from using proxy servers, and may prevent a person from using a sender envelope different from the “from” address in an e-mail (a feature that many e-mail providers like Gmail implement to allow people to send mails from their work account while being logged in to their personal account). Furthermore, it may also prevent remailers, tunneling, and other forms of ensuring anonymity online. This doesn’t seem to be what is intended by the legislature, but the section might end up having that effect. This should hence be clarified.”

It is pertinent to mark that “what statements are defamatory and the span of defenses varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but there is common agreement in all jurisdictions that statements that are unflattering, annoying, irksome, embarrassing or hurt one’s feelings are not actionable.”

Court in various cases held that for proving the clause of defamation it is pertinent to prove the means read of the defendant. Here, it is to be taken into consideration “that if a statement is made with a good intent and is for a good purpose, it cannot be said to be a case of defamation even if it contains allegations against a party”.

Across the countries Defamation law protects an individual’s reputation or feelings from unwarranted attacks. There is little dispute that defamation laws can serve a legitimate purpose and it is recognized internationally as a valid grounds for restricting freedom of expression. A good defamation law – one which lays the groundwork for striking a proper balance between the protection of individuals’ reputation and freedom of expression – aims to protect people against false statements of fact which cause damage to their reputation.

Surely the bench of learned judges might have some considerations other than the dignity of human being. The logic to use such words rest in the fact that as per this law a person can be penalized with financial fine or prison term.

Can reputation be purchased with money? No is the immediate and firm replying when this question is tossed among the scholars. Can the dent on the image of a person repaired by sending the accuser behind the bars? Can the damages claimed in terms of money establish the image again?

If the courts think that only rich spare the time to sue someone using defamation case then there is going to be need of separate courts only to deal with huge pile of such cases almost every day.

Spending eight years in prison with label of MACOCA offence Sadhvi Pragya Singh has been acquitted of the charges. Now it means that the entire list of officers engaged in the exercise to falsely implicate her in Malegaon bomb blast case is either going to be put behind the bars or forced to shell out some whopping amount as penalty. Practically both the measures are going to prove futile as those who believed in her innocence they continue to do so even today and those who heard her name for the first time through news channel debates are either unconcerned or they may keep the suspicion intact.

For elaboration let us talk about Hindi cine star Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Both had been in the limelight for wrong reasons but it hardly reflected on their fan following.

Rajiv Gandhi died in 1991 but people have not been able to give him the clean chit in Bofors deal case. Lalu Yadav might have been instrumental in winning the elections for Bihar but his reputation is associated with fodder scam.

If the law is sustained then greater injustice is done towards millions who keep waiting for dates as these rich influential class keeps the courts busy with their bundles of defamation suits.

Here in our country where cases of physical abuse are very high and ignored the continuity of this law seems to be mockery. In our society there is reluctance to accept the survivor of a sexual assault and character assassination is handy how come the monitory compensation restores the lost self esteem? It is a big question.

Though under pressure of public outrage the Nirbhaya Fund was constituted but even today the conservative think tanks exist that do not talk with respect about the brave girl Jyoti. Her rapists are behind bars and one of them freed too. Does it mean the half population of fairer sex does not count when it comes to Reputation? Why the rapists are not held accused and tried under Article 499?

The civil courts are also brimming with cases as every now and then in the offices the employees are put under suspension or terminated citing ” verbal brawl ” as violation of code of conduct . In certain cases the employees daring to seek information using RTI law are also implicated with charges of defamation. Is it acceptable in the democratic set up? Is it not encroaching by legal force the employees’ right to express resentment at work place? Is this law not entangling the procedure?

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/news-state-times-may-19-2016-alka-vasudeva-honorable-cji-please-answer-some-easy-questions

Suckfly Attacks National Stock Exchange Tech Vendor, Among Others

praskrishna — 2016-05-29T08:07:00Z

A cyber espionage group attacked an Indian IT firm that provides support to India’s largest stock exchange. It’s one of many attacks in the recent past.

The blog post by Rohit Pathak was published in the Quint on May 21, 2016. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

For 24 months now, several Indian government and private organisations have been victims of highly-targeted and sustained cyberattacks by Suckfly. Cyber security firm Symantec has been tracking Suckfly since April 2014 and believes it is a Chinese cyber-espionage group. According to Symantec, Suckfly uses stolen digital certificates to breach the internal networks of Indian organisations.

While Symantec has declined to name any of the victims, it says the high-profile targets include one of India’s largest financial institutions, an e-commerce company and its primary shipping vendor, a leading Indian IT company, two government organisations, and an American health care provider’s Indian business unit.

So far, the highest infection rate has been at a government organisation responsible for implementing network software across various ministries and departments of the Indian central government. Symantec’s investigation report says Suckfly uses custom malware called Backdoor.Nidiran to orchestrate the attacks. While Suckfly had used the same backdoor in its previous campaigns in other countries, in India the post-infection activity was significantly higher.

“We should be aware that this attack isn’t yet over. Suckfly has been targeting organisations since at least May 2014, and it very likely continues to have access to governmental and corporate servers in India thanks to the Nidiran backdoor,” says Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society.

He added that, “Depending on what access Suckfly got, the damage could be anything from them having conducted fraudulent financial transactions to obtaining classified governmental secrets.”

It is as yet unclear what data has been exfiltrated by Suckfly, but the fact that no organisations have reported this to their customers shows that the current laws with regard to data security and data breaches are inadequate.

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society

In a detailed email exchange with Bloomberg Quint, Symantec’s security experts describe how Suckfly operates, its motives, and what Indian entities can do to protect themselves.

Suckfly’s Modus Operandi

In 2015, between 22 April and 4 May, Suckfly conducted a multistage attack on an Indian e-commerce company.

It first identified a user – an employee of the e-commerce company – to attempt its initial breach into the e-commerce company’s internal network.

Symantec says, “We don’t have hard evidence of how Suckfly obtained information on the targeted user, but we did find a large open-source presence on the initial target. The target’s job function, corporate email address, information on work-related projects, and publicly accessible personal blog could all be freely found online.’

Suckfly then exploited a vulnerability in the employee’s operating system (Windows) that allowed it to bypass the User Account Control and install the malware. It’s likely that Suckfly used a spear-phishing email to gain entry.

Having entered the employee’s system, Suckfly gained access to the employee’s account credentials and then used them to access the victim’s account and navigate the e-commerce company’s internal corporate network as though it were the employee.

Suckfly’s final step was to exfiltrate data off the victim’s network and onto Suckfly’s infrastructure.

Weekends Off

The attack took place over 13 days, but Symantec discovered that Suckfly was active only Monday to Friday. There was no activity from the group on weekends. This could be because the attackers’ hacktools are command line driven and can provide insight into when operators are behind keyboards actively working.

Suckfly’s Motives?

According to Symantec, “Suckfly targeted one of India’s largest e-commerce companies, a major Indian shipping company, one of India’s largest financial organizations, and an IT firm that provides support for India’s largest stock exchange. All of these targets are large corporations that play a major role in India’s economy. By targeting all of these organisations together, Suckfly could have had a much larger impact on India and its economy. While we don’t know the motivations behind the attacks, the targeted commercial organisations, along with the targeted government organisations, may point in this direction. Symantec’s research shows that Suckfly is well-equipped to carry out targeted attacks for years while staying off the radar of security organisations.”

Symantec refused to name the victims and when contacted, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) said its systems were secure and that it had not heard of any such attack on any of its tech vendors.

In the last two years, from 2013 to 2015, the total number of reported cyber breaches worldwide have increased 25%. India is amongst the most vulnerable – ranking third on the list of countries that have faced financial intrusion.

Smokescreen is a cybersecurity firm and CEO Sahir Hidayatullah claims virtually every large company in India has been compromised to varying degrees already.

Strategic economic advantage and intellectual property theft are the primary motivators for nation state attackers targeting energy, pharma, and manufacturing. Attacks against the financial sector are more commonly done by financially-motivated cybercriminals, however, nation state attackers have an interest here as well – being deeply embedded into critical systems affords opportunities for both mass data collection as well as the ability to cripple financial systems if required. All major governments aspire to have this offensive capability and are in various stages of having developed it already.Sahir Hidayatullah, CEO, Smokescreen

Over the last few months, our decoy detection network in India has seen an up-tick in targeted attacks specifically aimed at companies in banking, energy, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. Manufacturing has seen the single largest increase in targeted attempts to compromise infrastructure. We have seen a large increase in ‘malware-less’ attacks including the use of stolen credentials on VPN systems.

More worrisome is that over the last year, we have conducted breach-readiness assessments for many of the large names in these verticals, and in every instance, the internal controls were unable to detect and respond to our simulated attacks in time. According to our assessment, none of them are prepared to withstand a targeted attack.

According to a 2015 survey conducted by PWC spanning 250 Indian companies, 72% of the respondents claimed they faced some sort of cyberattack over the last year. 63% claimed intrusions lead to financial losses and 55% claimed there was loss of sensitive information. But the worrying number is this – 78% have no cyber incident response plan. That’s good news for Suckfly and its comrades.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-quint-rohit-pathak-may-21-2016-suckly-attacks-national-stock-exchange-tech-vendor-among-others

How tech brings self-reliance to students with disabilities

praskrishna — 2016-05-29T07:47:30Z

Rakshit Malik, 18, has every reason to be pleased with himself. He just scored 96.4% in his Class 12 exam -the third-highest score in CBSE's disabled category.

The article was published by the Times of India on May 29, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan gave inputs.

He treats his visual impairment matter-of-factly: "My ability is stronger than my disability". A humanities student who wants to specialize in history, Malik learns by listening. He hears the material, pauses, and assimilates it. "While we found audio versions of NCERT textbooks in Classes 9 and 10, they are not available for Classes 11 and 12," says Malik, who then used his own method. "Mama recorded herself reading out my textbooks".

This year, there was merely a 12-mark difference between the student who topped the disabled category and the highest scorer in the exam. In many cases, learning outcomes are aligning, and advances in assistive technology have something to do with the trend. While it is still essential to know Braille, the system of reading raised dots by touch is falling out of use in many parts of the world. In the US, fewer than 10% of the visually impaired read Braille. Now, digital screen readers and magnifiers, and text-tospeech apps make sure that a blind student and a sighted one are on the same page. "Tactile diagrams can be used to teach geography , science and other subjects that require visual aids," explains Nirmita Narasimhan, accessibility expert and policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society , Bangalore.

As more learning material is put online, students have it much easier than they did a generation ago. They also get study notes from peer-to-peer forums.

According to the 2011 census, 2.21% of the Indian population -around 26.8 million -have some form of disability . On paper, the state is committed to supporting these students, and to providing aids and appliances, access to material, scribes and readers; and easing exam processes.In practice, it is far from smooth, explains Diana Joseph of the Fourth Wave Foundation, a Karnataka NGO that bridges the gap between government and students with the Nanagu Shaale programme."Each integrated education resource trainer has to oversee 30 schools. So it's often perfunctory . For example, they may supply hearing tools, without explaining that the battery must be replaced."

Over the last five years, there has been progress in both technology and policy. Copyright restrictions have been lifted for the use of the disabled. Textbooks have been proactively digitized. But ultimately , success depends on the mundane but critical matter of the right standards, explains Dipendra Manocha, who leads the DAISY for All project in India. DAISY, or Digital Accessible Information System, is an international standard for printed material that can be read in Braille, large print, audio, etc on a computer or mobile phone. By contrast, something scanned as an image file can't be read.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-times-of-india-may-29-2016-how-tech-brings-self-reliance-to-students-with-disabilities

India Seeks to Limit Use of Maps and Satellite Images

praskrishna — 2016-05-28T12:38:45Z

Indians are discussing a plan to ban use of maps or satellite images of the country without approval from the government.

The plan’s critics have launched an online campaign called “Save The Map.” They say the proposed ban could affect many new businesses and services that use technology. The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill would require anyone who wants to use, publish or own maps or geospatial data to seek official permission. A special security committee would consider such requests. Indian officials say the proposed law would help protect military bases from enemies and terrorists. They deny it would cause problems for businesses.

But Internet experts say the law would affect anyone who uses mobile phones, laptop computers and online companies, such as ride services. They also fear that the ban would affect computer software programs and Apple or Google Map products. The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore also has criticized the bill. It says the measure would return India to where it was more than 30 years ago -- when businesses were forced to get licenses from government officials before they could begin to operate. Pranesh Prakash works at the center.

“What it does (is) it puts in place a license raj for all use of mapping technologies. That just does not make sense. No other country in the world has this regressive mapping law.” Technology experts from Bangalore launched the “Save The Map” campaign. It is calling on Indians to demand that the government change the planned law. The campaign is hoping to copy a successful campaign called “Save The Internet,” which pressured the government to ensure equal access to the Internet.

Indian officials have sought to calm critics, saying the bill is not final. The government has asked people to give ideas on how it should be changed by June 4. Officials note the country is dealing with an increasing number of security issues, including an attack at an air base in northern India earlier this year. Terrorists based in Pakistan were said to have carried out the attack. Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju told a newspaper that the law is needed because India must have ways to “secure its boundary and territory.”

But Prakash notes that the measure would not stop terrorists from using geospatial data from sources outside India. “They need satellite imagery and they need maps, period. Now this law doesn’t actually prevent such maps from being created, it doesn’t actually prevent satellite images of India being captured. What it does is prevent Indians from doing so. So it actually won’t prevent foreign-based terrorists -- especially state-backed terrorists -- from attacking India.” Internet and policy experts say the government would not be able to stop others from creating maps or satellite images of sensitive locations in the country.

I’m Anne Ball.

Anjana Pasricha reported this story from New Delhi for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Read the original published by Voice of America on May 27, 2016

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/voice-of-america-may-27-2016-india-seeks-to-limit-use-of-maps-and-satellite-images

Train the Trainer 2016

praskrishna — 2016-05-28T07:29:23Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS-A2K) team is organizing the Train the Trainer programme at its office in Bengaluru from June 15 to 17, 2016.

After two successful iterations of Train the Trainer in 2013 and 2015, CIS-A2K is planning to organize the third iteration of the program. The exact dates and venue of the event have not been decided still, but like our previous iterations, this year also be a 3-days' residential program.

What's new in TTT 2016

Extensive feedback gathering: The planning of TTT 2016 started in mid-April when we started contacting TTT 2015 participants for their ideas and suggestions to design this year's Train-the-Trainer program. We asked them a number of questions such as "what could be improved in the last TTT?, how can be improve this year's TTT etc." We'll reach mailing lists and village pumps for for further inputs. Based on all these suggestions and feedback, this year's TTT will be designed.
MWT session: Based on the feedback we have received, it seems the participants are interested to learn some topics which were previously discussed during MWT. So, MWT sessions many be included in this year's program.

Registration

Note: Participants will be selected based on their on wiki and off wiki activities and their responses to the questions asked in the Google form. In order to fulfil this objectives, preference will be given to Wikimedians who are applying for the first time.

Please fill this form to apply to join this year's Train-the-Trainer event. Please write your answers in details. We may contact you if we need further details.

Clarification

In the Google form above you'll find these terms

Pre-event works: The exact pre-event work has not been fixed yet, but it may something like preparing presentation or draft-plan to improve your Wikiprojects.
Post-event works: Post-TTT you'll work to execute your plans, and conduct outreach activities. You will be in touch with CIS-A2K and share your progress and activities.

Program schedule has not been prepared yet. We expect to announce the program schedule at least 7 days before the event.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/events/train-the-trainer-2016

NLS dt. 21.04.2015.pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-27T14:55:02Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/NLS%20dt.%2021.04.2015.pdf

Point 3.pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-27T14:14:38Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/Point%203.pdf

RTI response dt. 18.12.2014.pdf

praskrishna — 2016-05-27T12:50:14Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/RTI%20response%20dt.%2018.12.2014.pdf