Centre for Internet and Society

India: Privacy Bill will likely reflect EU Directive

praskrishna — 2014-03-05T11:45:37Z

The Indian Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) called for comments - on 25 February 2014 - on a draft Privacy Protection Bill ('the Bill'). The draft Bill comes after a series of roundtable discussions in 2013. The last CIS roundtable on the Bill, on 19 October 2013, included Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the EU Article 29 Working Party and the Dutch data protection authority, and Christopher Graham, the UK Information Commissioner.

The article was published in DataGuidance on March 3, 2014.

"In its eventual form, I expect [the Bill] will be modelled to a great extent on the European Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)," Rodney Ryder, Partner at Scriboard, told DataGuidance. "The European Directive is an important model as India moves forward." Data protection in India is currently regulated by the Information Technology Act 2011, however, if enacted, the Bill would introduce the country's first comprehensive privacy regime. In 2013, the European Commission assessed India's data protection regime and decided not to award adequacy recognition at that time.

"If the Bill is introduced in the Winter Session, […] it is likely to […] come into effect either at the end of the year or early in the next year"

The draft Bill regulates collection, storage and processing of personal data, with both monetary and penal penalties yet to be determined for anyone who 'collects, receives, stores, processes or otherwise handles any personal data [except in conformity with the provisions of the Act].' It also establishes an Indian Data Protection Authority (DPA), with the power to investigate data processing and to 'give such directions or pass such orders as are necessary.'

"[Moving forward,] we expect more clarity on the role and functioning of the DPA," Ryder stated. "In the past, the Government of India has not been clear on the role of the DPA. Will this 'authority' have the independent powers and stature of the European Privacy Commissioners? [Additionally,] the complaint mechanism under the Bill requires greater clarity, precision and structure."

Divya Sharma, Legal Director at Bird and Bird LLP, commented, "Considering that India has parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in April 2014, this bill is unlikely to progress further until a new Government takes office in May 2014. […] Any legislation of this nature is unlikely to progress during this Government's tenure."

"If the Bill is introduced in the Winter Session, after due consideration, it is likely to be passed by the end of the Year and come into effect either at the end of the year or early in the next year," said Ryder.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/data-guidance-march-3-2014-india-privacy-bill-will-likely-reflect-eu-directive

ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಬಲಕೊಡುವ ಕೆಲಸವಾಗಲಿ’

praskrishna — 2014-03-05T11:33:03Z

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a 2-day workshop-cum-editathon at Sagara on March 1 and 2, 2014. Vijaya Karnataka published a report on March 2.

Read the original published in Vijaya Karnataka on March 2.

ಸಾಗರ: ಆಯಾ ಕಾಲಘಟ್ಟದ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆ ಗಳಿಗೆ ಭಾಷೆ ಸ್ಪಂದಿಸಬೇಕು. ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಾಲ ಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳನ್ನು ಇಂದು ಪ್ರಾದೇಶಿಕ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಎದುರಿಸುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಸಾಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಕ, ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಸವಾಲುಗಳಿವೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಬಲಕೊಡುವ ಕೆಲಸ ಆಗಬೇಕೆಂದು ಬರಹಗಾರ ಡಾ.ಸರ್ಫ್ರಾಜ್ ಚಂದ್ರಗುತ್ತಿ ಹೇಳಿದರು.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಟೈಮ್ಸ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ತನ್ನ ಮೊದಲ ವಾರ್ಷಿಕೋತ್ಸವದ ಅಂಗ ವಾಗಿ ಬಿ.ವಿ.ರವೀಂದ್ರನಾಥ್ ಚಾರ್ಟ ರ್ಡ್ ಅಕೌಂಟೆಂಟ್ ಕಚೇರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಹಾಗೂ ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಟ್ ಅಂಡ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿ ಸಹ ಯೋಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಶನಿವಾರ ಹಮ್ಮಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕಾರ‌್ಯಾಗಾರ ಉದ್ಘಾಟಿಸಿ ಅವರು ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರು.

ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಒಗ್ಗಿಸುವ ಕೆಲಸ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕಷ್ಟವಾದುದು. ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು, ಭಾವವನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಡುವ ಕೆಲಸ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಮಾಡಬಲ್ಲದು. ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಆಗುಹೋಗುಗಳನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಮೂಲಕ ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಯತ್ನ ಆಗಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ. ಜೀವ ವೈವಿಧ್ಯ ಕಾಪಾಡು ವಂತೆ ಭಾಷಾ ವೈವಿಧ್ಯ ಕಾಪಾಡಬೇಕು. ಸರಕಾರದ ಜಾಲತಾಣಗಳು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಇರಬೇಕೆಂಬ ಆದೇಶ ಇದುವರೆಗೂ ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನಗೊಂಡಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೇರಳದಲ್ಲಿ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ತಮಿಳು ಭಾಷೆ ಕುರಿತು 2011ರಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ್ಯಮಟ್ಟದ ಚರ್ಚೆಯಾಗಿ 140 ಪ್ರಬಂಧಗಳ ಮಂಡನೆ ಮಾಡಲಾ ಗಿತ್ತು. ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಸಮಕಾಲೀನಗೊಳಿ ಸುವ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಕೈಜೋಡಿಸಬೇಕು. ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು ಬೆಂಬಲಿಸ ಬೇಕೆಂದರು.

ಆಶಯ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಕನ್ನಡ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಪಂಡಿತ ಡಾ.ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ಮೂಲತಃ ಹವಾಯಿ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಪದವಾಗಿರುವ ವಿಕಿ ಅಂದರೆ ವೇಗ ಎಂದು ಅರ್ಥ. ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡಬಲ್ಲ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಒಂದು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ. ಎಲ್ಲರ ಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನೂ ಒಟ್ಟುಗೂಡಿಸಿ, ಅದು ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರಿಗೂ ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ದೊರೆಯುವಂತಾಗ ಬೇಕೆಂಬುದು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ವಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದರು. ತಾ.ಪಂ. ಸದಸ್ಯೆ ಜ್ಯೋತಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರು. ಕನ್ನಡ ಟೈಮ್ಸ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ಗೌರವ ಸಲಹೆಗಾರ ಬಿ.ವಿ.ರವೀಂದ್ರ ನಾಥ್ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ ಜಿ.ಟಿ.ಶ್ರೀಧರ ಶರ್ಮ, ಚಿನ್ಮಯ ಎಂ.ರಾವ್ ಹೊನಗೋಡು, ಬಿ.ಜಿ.ಮಂಜಪ್ಪ, ವಿದ್ಯಾಧರ ಚಿಪ್ಪಳಿ, ಗಣಪತಿ ಕಾನಗೋಡು, ಬಿ.ಎಸ್.ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಹಾಜರಿದ್ದರು. ಸಹನಾ ಜಿ.ಭಟ್ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸಿ, ಸತ್ಯನಾರಾಯಣಭಟ್ ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸಿ, ವೈಶಾಲಿ ವಂದಿಸಿದರು.ಅರುಣ್ ಘಾಟೆ ನಿರೂಪಿಸಿದರು.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/vijay-karnataka-march-2-2014-wikipedia-workshop-coverage

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (Coverage in Suvarna Prabha)

praskrishna — 2014-03-05T11:05:23Z

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a Kannada Wikipedia workshop on March 1, followed a by edit-a-thon on Mar 2, 2014, at Sagara. A report of the inauguration program, appeared in Suvarna Prabha, Sagara on March 1, 2014.

A scanned version of the report is given below. The event was organised by Kannada Times Sagara and co-sponsored by CIS-A2K.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage-suvarna-prabha-march-1-2014

Wikipedia Mangalore Workshop (Coverage in Prajavani)

praskrishna — 2014-03-05T11:04:24Z

Dr. U.B.Pavanaja gave a presentation on Wikipedia with a special focus on students and women at Roshini Nilaya, Mangalore on February 26, 2014. An event report was published in Prajavani the following day.

Scanned version of the report published by Prajavani on February 27 is below. The event was organised by Roshini Nilaya and co-sponsored by CS-A2K.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-workshop-mangalore-coverage-prajavani-february-27-2014

Wiki Women's Workshop

praskrishna — 2014-03-05T10:37:57Z

As part of the commemoration of the International Women's Day, International Centre Goa (ICG) in association with the Centre for Internet & Society’s Access to Knowledge team is organising a Wiki Women’s Workshop on Sunday, March 9, 2014 from 3.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. at ICG – Dona Paula.

8th March is International Women's Day and to celebrate, women in India are organizing edit-a-thons and meetups to create and expand articles of importance to women in Wikipedia in English and various Indian languages. The goal of the month-long event is to encourage more women to contribute to Wikipedia and increase representation of articles related to women in Wikipedia. The event aims at creating new articles, expanding the existing stubs and translating English articles to various Indic languages.

The main aim of the event is to get more women aware about Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Participants would be guided on "How to contribute to Wikipedia?" by a hands-on session and make the knowledge available for free.

Click here to view the poster and registration details.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/international-womens-day-2014

Internet Governance Round-table at British High Commission

praskrishna — 2014-04-01T10:32:04Z

A Internet Governance Round-table was hosted at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Delhi on March 4, 2014. Geeta Hariharan participated in the round-table.

The event aimed to bring together stakeholders from government, industry and the non-governmental sectors in India to discuss issues of Internet governance, and forms part of the UK’s commitment and interests in cyber-engagement with India.

The panel included the following members:

Julian Evans, the Acting British High Commissioner to India
Jonathan Cook, Second Secretary, Foreign Security Policy Team, British High Commission
Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, Data Security Council of India
Rahul Jain, Principal Consultant, Data Security Council of India
Vikram Tiwathia, Associate Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India
Dr. Govind, Senior Director heading the E-Infrastructure & Internet Governance Division, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India
Narayanan, NIXI
Dr. Sundeep Oberoi, TCS
M.P. Gupta, Professor & Chair, Information Systems and Centre for Excellence in E-Gov, IIT Delhi
Somnath Mitra, Xchanging
Mahima Kaul, Observer Research Foundation

The British government’s views on cyber-engagement and Internet governance were touched upon, voicing their support for a free, open and secure Internet, upholding human rights. The UK supports a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance. However, their position on the Sao Paolo meeting is as yet not officially clear.

Five broad issues were raised for discussion:

Balancing the role of government and non-government stakeholders, and the limits of governmental regulation Internet for development
Free speech and privacy v. security
Practical model of Internet governance (multi-stakeholder or multilateral)
India’s contribution, presence or expectations of the Sao Paolo meeting

The speakers raised concerns about the effectiveness of the multi-stakeholder model in light of international law built on the Westphalian model, where governments are effectively the only real law-makers and regulators. In considering whether non-governmental stakeholders (such as NGOs and think-tanks, industry and corporations, individuals) should have an equal voice in IG, concerns were raised about the representativeness of such actors, and accountability that they would have. In this regard, the future and desirability of the ICANN (and the US’ stake in it), and fora like the IGF and the UN-WGEC as platforms for participation were discussed.

While civil society involvement is imperative, government initiatives are necessary to create access to the Internet, and to ensure that the Internet is made safe and utilized for development. This obviously creates tensions between privacy and liberty, and security concerns; one of the speakers spoke of Snowden as the “elephant in the room”. Not only was a common concept of privacy non-existent at the international level, it would also be difficult to achieve (except a namesake ‘lowest common denominator’ definition), as states must account for their experiences with terrorism as well as cultural differences. For instance, the way the UK deals with privacy/security concerns in comparison with India would be very different. Finally, the possibilities and potential outcomes of the Sao Paolo meeting were touched upon without elaborate discussion on the same.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ig-round-table-british-high-commission

RightsCon 2014

praskrishna — 2014-04-08T05:04:09Z

RightsCon Silicon Valley 2014 was an incredible mixture of more than 700 attendees from more than 65 countries and 375 institutions. Pranesh Prakash and Malavika Jayaram were speakers at this event organized by RightsCon at San Francisco on March 3 and 4, 2014.

This incredible union of expertise has led to real outcomes, many of which are viewable here or as a PDF report here. Missed a session? A special thanks to all our speakers and sponsors who made 2014 so smart and productive.

Missed a session in San Francisco? Many of the videos are available for viewing. To learn more about past RightsCon conferences, head here.

Even as we continue to work diligently on the the work generated from RightsCon Silicon Valley 2014, we are looking ahead to 2015 and Southeast Asia, where we will convene civil society and key decision-makers in this rapidly evolving region. Click here to learn more about the planning for RCSEA2015.

Pranesh was invited to be on five panels, and spoke in three.

He spoke in the following sessions:

March 3 from 14:00-15:15 - Nicolas Seidler's panel on "Localizing the Global Internet: Data Centers, Traffic Rerouting, and the Implications of Post-Surveillance Policy Proposals"

March 4 from 12:00-13:15 - Paul & Bertrand's panel on "Internet and Jurisdiction: How Can Heterogenous Laws Coexist in Cross-Border Online Spaces?"

March 4 from 14:30-15:45 - Amie Stepanovich's panel on "The NSA Strikes Back: Who Really Won the Crypto Wars?"

He was also invited to the following panels:

"Toward Accountability: Reflecting on ICT Industry Action To Protect User Rights"

"Policy Laundering: Hacking the International Innovation Policy Machine"

For more info on the conference, click here. For the full list of speakers, see here.

Video

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/rights-con-2014

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (Coverage in Vijayavani)

praskrishna — 2014-04-11T10:15:45Z

Vijayavani covered the Kannada Wikipedia workshop held in Sagara.

Read the scanned version of the article published in Vijayavani below

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/vijayavani-kannada-wiki-workshop-march-3-2014

Zero Project Conference on Accessibility: Innovative Policies and Practices for Persons with Disabilities

praskrishna — 2014-03-06T08:44:00Z

Essl Foundation, the World Future Council and the European Foundation Centre convened an international conference at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria on February 27 and 28, 2014. Pranesh Prakash participated in the conference as a speaker. On February 27 he spoke on e-speak and on the following day (February 28) he spoke in a session on Copyright & the Marrakesh Treaty: Opportunities and Challenges.

The conference was attended by over 450 people. Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan had submitted two proposals, one on innovative practices (eSpeak) and one on innovative policy (India's copyright policy). Click on the links below to find more on these:

Once again, the Essl Foundation, the World Future Council and the European Foundation Centre have joined forces to convene an international conference in Vienna, Austria. On this occasion we aim to raise awareness about innovative solutions from around the world that advance accessibility for persons with disabilities. The conference seeks to strengthen the commitment of all stakeholders to promote, protect and advance the rights of persons with disabilities, and to improve their daily lives.

At the third Zero Project Conference on “Accesibility: Innovative Policies and Innovative Practices for Persons with Disabilities” parliamentarians, representatives of NGOs and foundations, academics, social entrepreneurs, disability rights activists and the business world will come together to discuss Innovative Policies and Innovative Practices and explore ways to promote and spread them to other countries.

Innovative Policies: Paving the Way

Building on the success of our conferences in January 2012 and February 2013, at this Zero Project Conference, 15 Innovative Policies will be presented. They contain promising elements, have achieved identifiable improvements on the ground and point to a positive dynamic change that can be easily replicated in many countries around the world to advance the implementation of the Convention. They overcome conditions that act as barriers to the full exercise of rights by persons with disabilities and constitute the outcome of a multilevel research and selection process.

Innovative Practices: Crucial Steps

The Zero Project team has done extensive research worldwide on the most outstanding projects. The expert network that contributed their expertise in actively nominating and evaluating projects included more than 500 persons worldwide from 120 countries.

These projects cover all areas of accessibility, including built environment, transport, products and services and ICT (information, communication and technology).

Be part of the Zero Project Network!

The Zero Project Conference gathers in Vienna the world’s leading representatives of the disability rights movement in order to facilitate a direct exchange of experiences. In this way the world’s most innovative and promising solutions are jointly identified, disseminated and further developed in order to make a noticeable improvement in the daily life and legal situation of persons with disabilities.

Join the discussion and explore possibilities and potentials on how global implementation of these exemplary solutions can be advanced!

Click here to see the programme schedule
Click here to see the speakers list

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/zero-project-conference-vienna-february-27-28-2014

Law Enforcement, National Security, and Privacy

praskrishna — 2014-02-28T05:04:32Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/law-enforcement-national-security-privacy.pdf

February 2014 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2014-04-07T07:27:46Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) welcomes you to the second issue of its newsletter (February) for the year 2014:

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Highlights
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We published revised chapters for the states of Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, as part of our National Resource Kit project.
In the concluding blog post of a three-part study Ananth Padmanabhan looks at the Indian law in the Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act, and concludes that both those laws restrain courts and private companies from ordering an ISP to block a website for copyright infringement.
Telugu Wikipedia celebrated its 10^th anniversary. An event was co-organized in Vijaywada to celebrate the same.
The second Institute on Internet and Society was held in Pune from February 11 to 17. The proceedings from the workshop are captured in a blog post.
CIS announced an Open Call for Comments for the latest draft of the Privacy Bill, 2013 prepared by Bhairav Acharya.
Forbes India published its “30 Under 30 List”. Pranesh Prakash is featured in the list.
As part of the Making Change Project, Denisse Albornoz wrote a blog post that compares the production behind a performance with the process of storytelling.
Beli gives an introduction to spectrum sharing. The post looks at GSM and CDMA, and touches upon LTE, and how they might share spectrum.

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Jobs
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CIS is seeking applications for the post of Program Officer (Access to Knowledge): http://bit.ly/1fnydB0. There are two vacancies for this post and it is full-time based in Delhi. To apply, please send your resume to Sunil Abraham (sunil@cis-india.org), Nirmita Narasimhan (nirmita@cis-india.org) and Pranesh Prakash (pranesh@cis-india.org) with three writing samples of which at least one demonstrates your analytic skills, and one that shows your ability to simplify complex policy issues.

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Accessibility and Inclusion
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As part of our project (under a grant from the Hans Foundation) on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India, we bring you draft chapters for the states of Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. With this we have completed compilation of draft chapters for 35 states.

Based upon discussion with the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) the following chapters were revised:

► National Resource Kit Chapter

The Mizoram Chapter (by CLPR, February 5, 2014): http://bit.ly/1eUSvxW
The Dadra & Nagar Haveli Chapter (by CLPR, February 6, 2014): http://bit.ly/1mv3YhJ
The Haryana Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, February 10, 2014): http://bit.ly/1dVOiKI
The Himachal Pradesh Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, February 12, 2014): http://bit.ly/1jSk03x

► Other

# Participation in Events

National Consultation on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Development Process (organized by CBM India in collaboration with United Nations Solution Exchange for Gender Community, WHO Regional office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, February 12, 2014). Anandhi Viswanathan participated in a panel discussion. She made a presentation on the National Resource Kit project: http://bit.ly/OlkHVq.
Zero Project Conference on Accessibility: Innovative Policies and Practices for Persons with Disabilities (organized by Essl Foundation, the World Future Council and the European Foundation Centre, United Nations Office, Vienna, February 27 and 28, 2014). Pranesh Prakash spoke on Affordable Text-to-Speech Software from India: http://bit.ly/1czo32s. Nominations on e-speak were recognised as examples of innovative practices and policies from India. Pranesh Prakash was also a speaker on Copyright Exception for Accessible Formats: http://bit.ly/1l8HRth.

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Access to Knowledge
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The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers and human rights, and critically examines Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, and Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software.

# Analyses

Can Judges Order ISPs to Block Websites for Copyright Infringement? (Part 2) (by Ananth Padmanabhan, February 5, 2014): http://bit.ly/1cddoKm. Analyses the law laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court on secondary and contributory copyright infringement.
Can Judges Order ISPs to Block Websites for Copyright Infringement? (Part 3) (by Ananth Padmanabhan, February 5, 2014): http://bit.ly/1g35mDg. Analyses the Indian law in the Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act.

# Participation in Events

2nd International Conference on Managing Intellectual Property Rights and Strategy (MIPS 2014) (organized by Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay with support from the Ministry of Human Resources Development IPR Chair Project, Government of India): http://bit.ly/PsPEbq.
Consultation on Institutional Arrangements for IP management under MHRD (organized by the Planning Commission and Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi, February 21, 2014). Nehaa Chaudhari participated in this consultation: http://bit.ly/1fTCoar.
National Conference on Use of Technology in Higher Education (organized by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development and Planning Commission in partnership with Microsoft Research and British Council, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, February 25, 2014): http://bit.ly/P6u78i. Nehaa Chaudhari participated in the event as a panelist in the session on "Future of Content Creation".

# Media Coverage

Pranesh Prakash: Influencing India's IP Laws (by Samar Srivastava, Forbes India, February 15, 2014): http://bit.ly/1kBzLMq.

The following has been done under grant from the Wikimedia Foundation (http://bit.ly/SPqFOl). As part this project (http://bit.ly/X80ELd), we organised 4 workshops in the month of January, published an article in DNA, and signed a memorandum of understanding with KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences to further the development of Odia Wikipedia:

►Wikipedia

# Articles / Blog Entries

Odia Language's Presence in Digital Media and Wikipedia's Role (by Subhashish Panigrahi, The Samaja, March 2, 2014): http://bit.ly/1ieF3sC.
Indian Wikimedia community coordinates Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain and Jeph Paul, Wikimedia Foundation, March 6, 2014): http://bit.ly/1cyRfqf,

# Events Co-organized

Cinemathon2014 Bangalore (organized by Pad.ma and CIS-A2K, CIS, Bangalore, February 8-9, 2014): http://bit.ly/MRRkZz.
Tewiki 10th Anniversary (organized by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia community, February 15, 2014): http://bit.ly/1iI2Pxs. T. Vishnu Vardhan and Rahmanuddin Shaikh were speakers at the event.
Cinemathon2014 Mumbai (organized by Pad.ma and CIS-A2K, CAMP Studio, Mumbai, February 15-16, 2014): http://bit.ly/P5YGL8.
Wikipedia Mangalore Workshop (organized by Roshini Nilaya and CIS-A2K, Mangalore, February 26, 2014). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja gave a presentation on Wikipedia with a special focus on students and women.

CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

# Media Coverage

Father-son duo promote Punjabi online (by Jatinder Preet, Sunday Guardian, February 1, 2014): http://bit.ly/1l87b2h.
୧୦ ବର୍ଷରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ୱିକିପିଡିଆ (Rabibara Sambad (Sunday supplement of Odia newspaper The Sambad), February 9, 2014): http://bit.ly/1igMynn. This is a feature about Odia Wikipedia's 10th anniversary and the story of a dead volunteer community reviving after 8 years.
Wikipedia Mangalore Workshop (Prajavani, February 27, 2014): http://bit.ly/1gVMG6f.

# Participation in Event

The Dynamics of Education to Employment Journey: Opportunities and Challenges (organized by KIIT School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, February 21-22, 2014). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk: http://bit.ly/1ePwqHc.

Event Organized

Wiki Women's Workshop (ICG – Dona Paula, Goa, March 9, 2014): http://bit.ly/MRRJLy. The event is being organized as part of the commemoration of the International Women's Day.

Openness

# Event Organised

Bitcoin & Open Source with Aaron Koenig (CIS, Bangalore, February 7, 2014): http://bit.ly/1fbN6mP.

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Internet Governance
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CIS is doing a project (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) on conducting research on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). So far we have organised seven privacy round-tables and drafted the Privacy (Protection) Bill. Gautam Bhatia gives an analysis of the right to privacy from a constitutional perspective. Bhairav Acharya prepared an updated version of the Privacy Protection Bill which was published for comments.

# Call for Comments

The Privacy Protection Bill, 2013 (by Bhairav Acharya, February 25, 2014): http://bit.ly/1g3TwIX. CIS announced an Open Call for Comments to the latest version of the bill.

# Articles

The Internet Way (by Nishant Shah, Biblio Vol. 19 No.8 (1&2), January – February 2014): http://bit.ly/1kBp9gJ. Dr. Nishant Shah's review of the book “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” by Bantam Press/Random House Group, London can be found on page 16.
Surveillance and the Indian Constitution - Part 3: The Public/Private Distinction and the Supreme Court’s Wrong Turn (by Gautam Bhatia, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy Blog, February 25, 2014): http://bit.ly/1kBosnw. This was originally published on Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy Blog.
Big Democracy, Big Surveillance: India's Surveillance State (by Maria Xynou, Open Democracy, February 28, 2014): http://bit.ly/1nkg8Ho.
Will You be Paid to Post a Picture? (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, February 18, 2014): http://bit.ly/P65d8L.

# Blog Entries

February 11: The Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance (by Divij Joshi, February 14, 2014): http://bit.ly/1e7drCV.
Calcutta High Court Strengthens Whistle Blower Protection (by Divij Joshi, February 24, 2014): http://bit.ly/1cG8v7t.
CIS Welcomes 52nd Report on Cyber Crime, Cyber Security, and Right to Privacy (by Elonnai Hickok, February 24, 2014): http://bit.ly/1oviMJ4.
UIDAI Practices and the Information Technology Act, Section 43A and Subsequent Rules (by Elonnai Hickok, February 25, 2014): http://bit.ly/1fbSfep.

# Events Organized

Nullcon Goa Feb 2014 — International Security Conference (organised by Nullcon, Bogmallo Beach Resort, Goa, February 12 – 15, 2014). CIS is one of the sponsors for this event: http://bit.ly/1lrBu5I.
Counter Surveillance Panel: DiscoTech & Hackathon (co-organized by CIS, MIT Centre for Civic Media Co-Design Lab, Tactical Technology Collective, Hackteria.org, and Shristi School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, March 1, 2014): http://bit.ly/NCGMyH

# Participation in Events

First Meeting of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for India Internet Governance Forum (organized by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, New Delhi, February 10, 2014). Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting: http://bit.ly/1fKu5xz.
Internet Intermediary Liability: Towards Evidence-based Policy and Regulatory Reform to Secure Human Rights on the internet (organized by Association for Progressive Communications, The Wedgewood, Melville, Johannesburg, February 10-11, 2014): http://bit.ly/1fMAEK2. Elonnai Hickok was a speaker.
Towards an Equitable and Just Internet (organized by IT for Change, New Delhi, February 14-15, 2014). Bhairav Acharya was a speaker: http://bit.ly/1cz9EDt.
Workshop on Media Law & Policy Curriculum Development (organized by the Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi and University of Oxford in support with the International Higher Education-Knowledge Economy Partnerships Programme of the British Council, February 16, 2014, National Law University, Delhi): http://bit.ly/1ovoT00. Bhairav Acharya was a speaker.
The Changing Role of the Media in India: Constitutional Perspectives (organized by School of Law, Christ University, February 28, 2014): http://bit.ly/1lB2nTO. Snehashish Ghosh moderated a session at this conference.

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News & Media Coverage
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CIS gave its inputs to the following recent media coverage:

The Dangers of Birdsong (by Namrata Joshi, Outlook, January 25, 2014): http://bit.ly/1kB8J7L.
A Tale of Two Internet Campaigns (by Deepa Kurup, The Hindu, February 11, 2014): http://bit.ly/1lDdRZy.
Dark days for the creative class in India: Siddiqui (by Haroon Siddiqui, thestar.com, February 16, 2014): http://bit.ly/1gdtgbC.
The Forbes India 30 Under 30 List (by Abhilasha Khaitan, Forbes India, February 21, 2014): http://bit.ly/1ovnvKM. Pranesh Prakash features in the list.
India ‘tea parties’ enable politicians to woo urban youth with technology (by Avantika Chilkoti, Financial Times, February 26, 2014): http://bit.ly/1cGfOMm.

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Digital Humanities
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CIS is building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia:

# Blog Entries

Defending the Humanities in the Digital Age (by Nishant Shah, DML Central, February 24, 2014): http://bit.ly/1czdZqg.
Digital Humanities in India- Mapping Changes at the Intersection of Youth, Technology and Higher Education (by Sneha PP, February 21, 2014): http://bit.ly/1qd6xo4.

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Digital Natives
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CIS is doing a research project titled “Making Change”. The project will explore new ways of defining, locating, and understanding change in network societies. Having the thought piece 'Whose Change is it Anyway' as an entry point for discussion and reflection, the project will feature profiles, interviews and responses of change-makers to questions around current mechanisms and practices of change in South Asia and South East Asia:

►Making Change Project

# Blog Entries

Storytelling as Performance: The Ugly Indian and Blank Noise 1 (by Denisse Albornoz, February 24, 2014): http://bit.ly/1jX4qBb.
Storytelling as Performance: The Ugly Indian and Blank Noise 2 (by Denisse Albornoz, February 27, 2014): http://bit.ly/1fKwQil.

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Telecom
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Shyam Ponappa, a Distinguished Fellow at CIS is a regular columnist with the Business Standard. The articles published on his blog Organizing India Blogspot is mirrored on our website:

# Newspaper Column

Centre- or State-Driven Development? (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, February 5, 2014, Observer India Blogspot, February 7, 2014): http://bit.ly/1ceuWFS.

# Blog Entry

An Introduction to Spectrum Sharing (by Beli, February 24, 2014): http://bit.ly/NZlknd.

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Knowledge Repository on Internet Access
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CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project to create a knowledge repository on Internet and society. This repository will comprise content targeted primarily at civil society with a view to enabling their informed participation in the Indian Internet and ICT policy space. The repository is available at the Internet Institute website: http://bit.ly/1iQT2UB.

►Event Organized

Institute on Internet and Society (organised by Ford Foundation and CIS, Yashada, Pune, February 11-17, 2014): http://bit.ly/1fpTdDS. Bishakha Datta, Ravikiran Annaswamy, Kingsley John, Prof. G. Nagarjuna, Nisha Thompson, Prashant Naik, Nehaa Chaudhari, Bhairav Acharya, Manu Srivastav, Dr. Abhijeet Safai, Payal Malik, Nishant Shah, Laura Stein, Sunil Abraham, Madan Muthu and Chinmayi Arun taught at the institute.

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About CIS
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The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org.

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

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2014-bulletin

Freedom of Expression and Privacy

praskrishna — 2014-02-28T04:45:52Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/freedom-of-expression-and-privacy.pdf

India ‘tea parties’ enable politicians to woo urban youth with technology

praskrishna — 2014-03-06T12:13:36Z

Babalal Patel’s tiny tea stall in southern Mumbai is a long way from Silicon Valley. It is not even that close to Bangalore, the Indian equivalent.

The article by Avantika Chilkoti was published in the Financial Times on February 26, 2014. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

But one night this month this ramshackle shop became the venue for a social media experiment that highlights the high-tech face of electioneering in India, the world’s largest democracy. A crowd gathered outside to watch two television screens showing a live broadcast with Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for the opposition Bharatiya Janata party, as he answered questions the audience submitted by text message.

Similar “tea parties” were held across the country, designed to ram home Mr Modi’s humble background as a tea seller and his technological credentials. But the nationwide event, organised using mobile technology more commonly seen in US presidential campaigns, also signals a shift in Indian politics.

For decades, political campaigns in India have centred around colossal rallies and billboard advertising. But a growing population of young people, rising internet use and the ubiquity of mobile phones mean the 2014 battle is playing out equally fiercely online.

“We are moving far ahead of saying that we are building ‘likes’ on social media,” says Arvind Gupta, head of IT and social media for the BJP. “Organisation is being done using digital. So if I’m going to tell everybody there’s an event tomorrow, it can be posted on Facebook, websites, on SMS, on WhatsApp, though the real meeting is happening on the ground.”

These techniques, which became familiar during the Arab uprisings of northern Africa, are an increasingly important part of communication strategy ahead of a national election, which must be held in the next three months, and which many believe will be close.

Mr Gupta believes parties are fighting what he calls a “postmodern election” for up to 160 - largely urban - seats of the total 543. More than half the 50-strong team working on communication for the BJP are dedicated to digital campaigning.

India’s internet user base reached a point of inflection last year, passing 200m. While that is a fraction of the 1.3bn population, prompting many to question the power of social media, use is far greater among urban and young voters, millions of whom will be eligible to vote for the first time this year.

“Social media is suddenly becoming important, not for all constituencies but for urban constituencies because for the first time the urban youth and the educated class is very much glued into the election and showing interest,” says Rajeeva Karandikar, a statistician and election analyst.

Mr Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, has adapted particularly quickly to the changing environment. He captured the public imagination by using holograms to address rallies and Google Hangouts to interact with the diaspora. He has 3.4m Twitter followers and more than 10.6m “likes” on his Facebook page, thanks in part to a slick social media team led by high-profile technology entrepreneurs. Meanwhile Rahul Gandhi, the reticent, undeclared candidate for the incumbent Congress party, does not even have a verified Twitter account.

Some were disappointed by low attendance at the national “tea parties”, but the events were lauded for being interactive and, perhaps most importantly in a country where newspaper readership remains high, grabbed column inches in local media. The audience could speak directly to Mr Modi at venues with a two-way video link and the footage was immediately available on YouTube.

“While answering each question Mr Modi has a point of view,” says Pratik Patel, 28, a chartered accountant who organised the event at his grand- father’s tea shop. “He doesn’t have two ways of looking at the same thing - this helps him to be more decisive and forward thinking.”

Social media also provides swaths of information to India’s political parties, as they copy the sophisticated data analytics used by US president Barack Obama’s campaigns.

From its offices in suburban Mumbai, the digital marketing group Pinstorm tracks what social media users are discussing at the constituency level and identifies significant supporters or critics. It describes the service as an early warning system or “social radar”, which allows parties to mobilise workers rapidly to oppose or support a point of view.
Sceptics argue, however, that social media has insufficient traction in India to affect results of the forthcoming poll. But the size of the user base does not reflect its full power. It is educated influential Indians who use these digital networks and the online debate shapes views in traditional media that reach a wider audience.

“The theory is that since the elites are connected and have more time to spare on social media, let us use social media and the internet more generally to influence discourse through these elites,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director for the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. “It’s an indirect route to the vote.”

An adviser to the Obama campaign warns, however, that, given differences in funding and the local environment, India’s politicians should be wary of using the US presidential race as a model. This year a simpler technology may prove the best tool for campaigns in India: the mobile phone.

“Folks look to the Obama campaign for this sort of stuff,” says Ethan Roeder, who worked on data for the 2008 and 2012 US presidential campaigns. “But a lot of these international campaigns would do best looking elsewhere for a model . . . No campaign in the history of the world has ever spent that much money to elect a single individual to a single office.”

India’s version is, of course, markedly cheaper, thanks to the roadside chai-wallahs and armies of volunteers, pulling in the new breed of voters.

“I have never attended a political rally in my entire life,” says Mr Patel, who helped organise Mr Modi’s nationwide “tea party”.

“If people want to connect with me they need to connect with me on social media or via email.”

Modi’s digital army

The team building the digital campaign for India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata party mixes entrepreneurs and veterans from the technology industry, rather than individuals with experience of electioneering alone.

Rajesh Jain, working on electoral technology, is well known in the industry since setting up successful businesses in online news and digital marketing. These include IndiaWorld Communications, a collection of websites which was bought in 1999 by Satyam Infoway, then India’s largest internet service provider.

He has the archetypal curriculum vitae, with a degree from one of the eminent Indian institutes of technology followed by a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York.

Arvind Gupta, who heads the BJP’s IT and social media cell, has a remarkably similar educational background - with an added stint in Silicon Valley to his name.

At the last count, the party had recruited more than 2m volunteers, who are organised online and will provide support in different ways. But there is also a younger generation of advocates who have given up good jobs to join the digital effort. Citizens for Accountable Governance is a non-profit youth organisation co-ordinating nationwide “tea parties” ahead of this year’s national election, where Narendra Modi, the party’s prime ministerial candidate, interacts with audiences at tea stalls via video link.

About 100 young professionals lead the operation and all come with impressive credentials, including jobs at prominent global consulting groups such as McKinsey, and banks such as JPMorgan.

Beyond that, Mr Modi has had a team working for him personally since he took over as chief minister of Gujarat more than a decade ago.

It is a discreet IT set-up that still functions independently of the party’s operations.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/financial-times-february-26-2014-india-tea-parties-enable-politicians-to-woo-urban-youth-with-technology

National Conference on Use of Technology in Higher Education

praskrishna — 2014-03-06T07:30:32Z

The Ministry of Human Resource and Development and Planning Commission in partnership with Microsoft Research and British Council organized a conference at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay on February 25, 2014.

Nehaa Chaudhari participated in the event as a panelist in the session on "Future of Content Creation".

Click to download the schedule.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/iitb-february-25-26-2014-national-conference-on-use-of-technology-in-higher-education

Future of Democracy

praskrishna — 2014-02-26T08:32:42Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Tactical Tech Collective invite you to a talk by Smari McCarthy at CIS office in Bangalore on Monday, March 3, 2014 at 6.30 p.m.

Smari McCarthy

Smari McCarthy is an information activist, free software developer and author. He has worked globally on issues of democratic participation, information security, access to information, civil liberties, and social and economic justice. He is a founder and a board member of the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI), founder of the Shadow Parliament Project, co-founder of the Icelandic Digital Freedoms Society, the Constitutional Analysis Support Project (CAST) and the Icelandic Pirate Party. He has worked on developing and spreading digital fabrication technology through Fab Labs and Hacker Spaces. As of August 2013, he lives in London where he works with Thoughtworks on decentralization of the Internet and counter surveillance measures for the public.

Click to download the brochure here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/future-of-democracy