Centre for Internet and Society

Links in the Chain - Volume X, issue 3

praskrishna — 2012-12-05T07:33:34Z

Digital Natives newsletter, Volume X, issue 3.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/changing-face-of-citizen-action.pdf

Linking India

praskrishna — 2019-06-05T13:56:52Z

Linking India

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/LinkingIndia.jpg

Linking Facebook use to free top-up data

praskrishna — 2016-02-14T12:33:17Z

Just before the Trai notification, the Ambani brothers signed a spectrum sharing pact and they have been sharing optic fibre since 2013.

The article was published in the Deccan Chronicle on February 14, 2016. Pranesh Prakash gave inputs.

Some people argue that Trai should have stayed off the issue since the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is sufficient to tackle Net Neutrality harms. However it is unclear if predatory pricing by Reliance, which has only nine per cent market share, will cross the competition law threshold for market dominance? Interestingly, just before the Trai notification, the Ambani brothers signed a spectrum sharing pact and they have been sharing optic fibre since 2013.

Will a content sharing pact follow these carriage pacts? As media diversity researcher, Alam Srinivas, notes: “If their plans succeed, their media empires will span across genres such as print, broadcasting, radio and digital. They will own the distribution chains such as cable, direct-to-home (DTH), optic fibre (terrestrial and undersea), telecom towers and multiplexes.”

What does this convergence vision of the Ambani brothers mean for media diversity in India? In the absence of net neutrality regulation could they use their dominance in broadcast media to reduce choice on the Internet? Could they use a non-neutral provisioning of the Internet to increase their dominance in broadcast media? When a single wire or the very same radio spectrum delivers radio, TV, games and Internet to your home — what under competition law will be considered a substitutable product? What would be the relevant market?

At the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), we argue that competition law principles with lower threshold should be applied to networked infrastructure through infrastructure specific non-discrimination regulations like the one that Trai just notified to protect digital media diversity.

Was an absolute prohibition the best response for Trai? With only two possible exemptions — i.e. closed communication network and emergencies — the regulation is very clear and brief. However, as our colleague Pranesh Prakash has said, Trai has over-regulated and used a sledgehammer where a scalpel would have sufficed. In CIS’ official submission, we had recommended a series of tests in order to determine whether a particular type of zero rating should be allowed or forbidden. That test may be legally sophisticated; but as Trai argues it is clear and simple rules that result in regulatory equity. A possible alternative to a complicated multi-part legal test is the leaky walled garden proposal. Remember, it is only in the case of very dangerous technologies where the harms are large scale and irreversible and an absolute prohibition based on the precautionary principle is merited.

However, as far as network neutrality harms go, it may be sufficient to insist that for every MB that is consumed within Free Basics, Reliance be mandated to provide a data top up of 3MB.

This would have three advantages. One, it would be easy to articulate in a brief regulation and therefore reduce the possibility of litigation. Two, it is easy for the consumer who is harmed to monitor the mitigation measure and last, based on empirical data, the regulator could increase or decrease the proportion of the mitigation measure.

This is an example of what Prof Christopher T. Marsden calls positive, forward-looking network neutrality regulation. Positive in the sense that instead of prohibitions and punitive measures, the emphasis is on obligations and forward-looking in the sense that no new technology and business model should be prohibited.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-chronicle-february-14-2016-linking-facebook-use-to-free-top-up-data

Linking Example

praskrishna — 2013-05-04T15:49:45Z

Linking Example

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/LinkingExample.png

LinkedIn will help people in India train for semi-skilled jobs

praskrishna — 2017-02-24T01:51:20Z

Microsoft has launched Project Sangam, a cloud service integrated with LinkedIn that will help train and generate employment for middle and low-skilled workers.

The article by John Ribeiro of IDG News Service was mirrored on CIO blog on February 21, 2017. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

Microsoft has launched Project Sangam, a cloud service integrated with LinkedIn that will help train and generate employment for middle and low-skilled workers.

The professional network that was acquired by Microsoft in December has been generally associated with educated urban professionals but the company is now planning to extend its reach to semi-skilled people in India.

Having connected white-collared professionals around the world with the right job opportunities and training through LinkedIn Learning, the platform is now developing a new set of products that extends this service to low- and semi-skilled workers, said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event on digital transformation in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Project Sangam, which is in private preview, is “the first project that is now the coming together of LinkedIn and Microsoft, where we are building this cloud service with deep integration with LinkedIn, so that we can start tackling that enormous challenge in front of us of how to provide every person in India the opportunity to skill themselves for the jobs that are going to be available.”

LinkedIn also plans a placement product for college graduates that will help students finds jobs regardless of whether they studied at top universities or not, Nadella added.

Microsoft announced earlier in the day its Skype Lite, a version of Skype that consumes less data. The company is also offering a ‘lite’ version of LinkedIn, reflecting the need for vendors to factor in low Internet bandwidth, usually running on low-cost and inadequately featured smartphones, when designing products for markets in countries like India.

LinkedIn Lite works on 2G links and is four times faster than the original LinkedIn client, Nadella said.

A large number of low-skilled and semi-skilled workers that Microsoft is targeting with its Sangam project still use feature phones, which will likely be a challenge as Microsoft tries to popularize the service.

Nadella has also backed a controversial Indian government sponsored project to use biometric data collected from over 1 billion people as an authentication mechanism for a variety of services offered by both the government and the private sector.

The project, called India Stack, aims to use a biometric system, called Aadhaar, to facilitate the digital exchange of information. Microsoft said on Tuesday that Skype Lite would support Aadhaar authentication, pointing out to potential uses of the technology such as for verifying the identity of a candidate for a video job interview. Project Sangam too offers authentication using Aadhaar.

Skype Lite is another example of how India Stack is driving the company’s innovation agenda, Nadella said in Mumbai. He announced in Bangalore on Monday that the company's end user products including Windows would be "great participants in the India Stack."

The Aadhaar project has been criticized by privacy activists for collecting biometric information such as the fingerprints and iris scans of people in a central database, which could be misused by both governments and hackers who might get access to the data.The government has been trying to extend the use of Aadhaar, initially designed for the distribution of government benefits and subsidies, to a variety of financial and other services.

"It is indeed shameful that Microsoft is supporting the centralized surveillance project of the Indian government which has dramatically increased the fragility of the Indian information society,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization, the Centre for Internet and Society.

"As Indian citizens we must realize that Microsoft will have our biometrics or our authentication factors that can be used to frame us in crimes or clean out our bank accounts," he added.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/idg-cio-february-21-2017-john-ribeiro-linkedin-will-help-people-in-india-train-for-semi-skilled-jobs

LinkedIn Privacy Note

praskrishna — 2018-05-29T15:12:03Z

LinkedIn Privacy Note

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/LinkedInPrivacyNote.jpg

linda

praskrishna — 2010-10-19T12:33:26Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Linda.jpg

Limits to Privacy

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T10:28:59Z

In this chapter we attempt to build a catalogue of these various justifications, without attempting to be exhaustive, with the objective of arriving at a rough taxonomy of such frequently invoked terms. In addition we also examine some the more important justifications such as “public interest” and “security of the state” that have been invoked in statutes and upheld by courts to deprive persons of their privacy.

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

Limitations and Flexibilities

praskrishna — 2015-11-24T14:47:23Z

Limitations and Flexibilities

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/Flowchart.png

Light Blue

praskrishna — 2012-11-02T15:22:01Z

Light Blue Phone

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/LightBlue.png

Library and Information Professionals Summit 2015

praskrishna — 2015-02-07T11:46:05Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/library-and-information-professionals-summit.pdf

Library and Information Professionals Summit (LIPS) 2015

praskrishna — 2015-02-07T12:21:27Z

Nehaa Chaudhari participated as a panelist at the Library and Information Professionals Summit, 2015 at NLU-Delhi. The event was jointly organized by Society for Library Professionals, National Law University Delhi with UN Information Centre for India & Bhutan and Special Library Association (USA), Asian Chapter.

Nehaa Chaudhari was on a panel discussing Internet Technology and Challenges for Libraries in IPR Regime. Here presentation can be seen here. For more info click here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/library-and-information-professionals-summit-2015

Leveraging Mobile Network Big Data for Development Policy: Opportunities & Challenges

praskrishna — 2015-12-16T01:31:11Z

Amber Sinha participated in this event held at IRDC, New Delhi on November 2, 2015. The event was organized by LIRNEasia.

As part of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) distinguished lecture series, Sriganesh Lokanathan, Team Leader- Big Data Research at LIRNEasia gave a talk in Delhi (Ramalingaswami Conference Hall, International Development Research Centre, 208 Jor Bagh, New Delhi 110003) on Monday, 2nd November 2015. Sriganesh spoke on the topic of “Leveraging mobile network big data for developmental policy: opportunities & challenges.”

Program:

11.00 a.m.: Welcome and introductions: Dr. Anindya Chatterjee, Asia Regional Director, IDRC

11.05 a.m.: Talk by Mr Sriganesh Lokanathan, Team Leader, Big Data Research, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka

11.40 a.m.: Discussions and Q & A

12.15 p.m.: Closing remarks: Phet Sayo, Senior Program Officer, IDRC

See the programme details published by LIRNEasia.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/leveraging-mobile-network-big-data-for-development-policy-opportunities-challenges

Letter questions the propriety of CCI’s participation in ASSOCHAM conference

praskrishna — 2015-08-23T15:27:25Z

Serious concerns relating to conflict of interest have been raised against participation of CCI at the ASSOCHAM IP conference to be held soon.

The article was published in Tehelka on August 7, 2015.

A group of civil society organisations have through their letter to the CCI raised concerns over the imminent participation in the ASSOCHAM IP conference. The group comprises of bodies like Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, IT for Change, Bangalore, Knowledge Commons Collective, National Working Group on Patent Laws and Software Freedom Law Centre, New Delhi.

These organisations have asked the chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Ashok Chawla, not to participate in the 3rd International Conference on Intellectual Property Law and competition Law organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM). According to the letter sent by the civil society addressed to the CCI chairman, which is in possession of LiveLaw.in, two concerns were raised primarily demanding CCI to stay away from the conference scheduled to take place on 7th July at New Delhi.

“The participation of CCI at this conference raises serious concerns of conflict of interest,” read the letter. The primary concern cited was involvement of Ericsson in the conference. “CCI’s sharing of platforms with private actors would compromise the credibility and independence of CCI. As you know the event partner i.e. Ericsson is currently facing three CCI investigations on matters related to SEPs and issues related to licensing of technologies on fair and equitable terms. Ericsson is not only an event partner but also giving a speech at the inaugural session.”

Secondly, the focus of the conference, which happens to be currently part of CCI investigation, has ruffled some feathers. The letter states: “The themes of the conference clearly fall under the on-going investigations of CCI against Ericsson. Participation of CCI in any form in a conference organised by the financial support of Ericsson, which is facing three CCI investigations, would clearly send out a very wrong message regarding the integrity and independence of CCI.”

CCI’s participation in the conference would be a departure from the well set precedent that judicial and quasi-judicial bodies never directly or indirectly discuss matters pending before them. “The conference is centred on discussing issues that are currently under the investigation of CCI along with commercial entities including the one, which is facing the investigation,” the letter further added.

Civil society organisations also advised the CCI to avoid not only actual conflict of interest but also the perceived conflict of interest in this case. CCI earlier ordered investigations against Ericsson based on the complaint from three mobile manufactures viz. Micromax, Intex and iBall. This was in regard to the discriminatory practices of Ericsson in charging royalty while issuing license to Standard Essential Patents (SEP), which are necessary to manufacture mobile phones and tablets.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/tehelka-august-7-2015-letter-questions-propriety-of-cci-participation-in-assocham-conference

Letter on WGEC

praskrishna — 2014-01-07T09:12:16Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/letter-on-wgec.pdf