Centre for Internet and Society

Privacy International's Trip to Asia

praskrishna — 2012-04-25T09:58:12Z

In February 2012, the PI team travelled to India, Bangladesh and Hong Kong to meet with our local partners in the region and speak at four conferences they had organized. We also got the chance to interview our partners in India and Bangladesh on the privacy issues facing them at the moment - this video is the result of those conversations.

PI spent the first half of February in Asia, visiting our regional partners and speaking at events. Our trip began in Delhi, where the Centre for Internet and Society (in collaboration with the Society in Action Group) had organized two consecutive privacy conferences – an invite-only conclave on Friday 3rd February and a free symposium open to the public on Saturday 4th February. The conclave consisted of two panels, the first focusing on the relationship between national security and privacy, the second on privacy and the Internet. We were seriously impressed with the calibre of the speakers CIS and SAG had gathered – the panels included a Supreme Court Advocate, a Member of Parliament and the Former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (the Indian equivalent of MI-6 and the CIA) – but Gus and Eric held their own!

The All India Privacy Symposium the next day was partly intended as a public showcase of the amazing research Privacy India, CIS and SAG have conducted over the past two years, including consultations in Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Chennai and Mumbai. The event was organized into five panels: Privacy and Transparency, Privacy and E-Governance Initiatives, Privacy and National Security, Privacy and Banking, and Privacy and Health. A few themes recurred throughout the day – perhaps the most prominent being the repeated allegation that the Indian government's technological illiteracy is putting its citizens at risk. One panellist described how an RTI (right to information) request had recently revealed that the government had no idea how many of its own computers had been hacked or how much data had been stolen – even though this information has been in the public domain since the Wikileaks diplomatic cable releases.

On Sunday, our IDRC funder in Delhi very kindly lent us his beautiful house for a PrivAsia strategy meeting. We chatted about how the Indian project had gone thus far, and the sort of activities our partners would like to undertake over the next couple of years. Their main priority at the moment is India's proposed UID (Unique Identification) project, which is riddled with flaws, inconsistencies and logical gaps. The project is also extremely expensive, with estimates ranging from just under $4 billion to $33 billion. Our partners strongly oppose the programme in its current form, and are exploring a number of strategies for fighting it - we'll keep you appraised of their progress...

PI then parted ways – Gus headed to Hong Kong and Eric and I flew to Dhaka to meet up with Simon and Ahmed Swapan of Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE), our partner in Bangladesh. We spent a day at the VOICE offices, getting extremely jealous of their huge kitchen and the fact that they all sit down to a freshly cooked lunch every day. That evening, Ahmed took us to a book fair, which was much livelier than we were expecting! It was held outside and was packed with people socialising, eating deep-fried crayfish and (occasionally) perusing the books and pamphlets on display. The fair is apparently an annual event and VOICE have had their own stand there for the past few years.

The following day was the National Convention on the Right to Privacy and Data Protection, organized by VOICE and a group of other Bangladeshi NGOs. We were delighted by the turnout - over 80 people showed up to listen and to voice their own opinions - but Ahmed was unsurprised, explaining that privacy was a hot topic in Bangladesh at the moment. Several issues were clearly extremely controversial, and the debate became very heated when it turned to the relationship between privacy and the right to information (recently enshrined in law in the RTI Act 2009). It was amazing to see how passionate people were, and how eager to improve things. The debate was presided over by retired Justice Golam Rabbani, who urged the government to create a national tribunal for the protection of the citizen's right to privacy.

Gus spent a brief 36 hours in Hong Kong but was able to participate in a symposium run by our partners at Hong Kong University's Faculty of Law. The participants at the symposium included the Privacy Commissioner of Hong Kong, academics and industry experts from China, Macau and Taiwan, and guest speakers from Switzerland and Canada. The slides of many of the presentations are available online. Apparently the level of sophistication in the academic research that is now starting to influence the legislative environment in Hong Kong and China is astonishing.

Trips like these are exhausting but invaluable - they allow us to see the PrivAsia work in action rather than hearing about it in emails and phone calls, and to discuss progress and problems face-to-face. Eric and Gus are already looking forward to Pakistan in April...

This blog post by Emma Draper was published on the Privacy International blog

Watch the video about contemporary privacy issues in India and Bangladesh below

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/privacy-internationals-trip-to-asia

The Centre for Internet & Society Joins the Global Network Initiative

praskrishna — 2012-04-25T09:13:50Z

The Global Network Initiative (GNI) is pleased to announce its newest member, the Centre for Internet & Society based in Bangalore, India. A technology policy research institute, CIS brings to GNI in-depth expertise on global Internet governance as well as online freedom of expression and privacy in India.

"We are delighted to add our first member based in India and welcome CIS’s engagement in support of transparency and accountability in technology," says GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan. "GNI's Principles for responsible company behavior apply globally, but require an appreciation of unique local contexts if they are to take hold. CIS will provide invaluable insight as we consider opportunities to work with India's burgeoning ICT industry."

"India’s ICT sector is one of the most dynamic worldwide, " says CIS Executive Director Sunil Abraham, "but rapid technological advances have raised anxieties around issues including hate speech, political criticism, and obscene content at a time when Indian institutions for the protection of free expression are under strain. We look forward to working with GNI's member organizations on these challenging issues."

CIS an independent, non-profit, research organization which is involved in research on the emerging field of the Internet and its relationship to the society, CIS brings together scholars, academics, students, programmers and scientists to engage in a large variety of Internet issues. CIS also runs different academic and research programs and is receptive to new ideas and collaborations, projects and campaigns for the public.

Leslie Harris, GNI Board Member and President and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology says: "The addition of CIS not only increases GNI’s global reach, it significantly enhances the initiative’s capacity around shared learning and policy engagement, not just in India, but on internet policy around the world."

Click to read the original published on the Global Network Initiative website.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-joins-gni

High Level Privacy Conclave Program

praskrishna — 2012-04-17T07:54:06Z

The agenda and speakers from the privacy conclave program.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-conclave-agenda.pdf

High Level Privacy Conference Report

praskrishna — 2012-04-16T12:43:07Z

The conference was organised in Delhi.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-conference.

All India Privacy Symposium - Profiles & Speakers

praskrishna — 2012-04-16T12:16:40Z

The agenda and profiles of speakers of the event organised in Delhi.

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

Bangalore Meet-up for the Open Government Partnership Brasilia

praskrishna — 2012-04-12T13:18:28Z

The international Open Government Partnership (OGP) is holding its first annual meeting on April 17 and 18, 2012. Representatives from over 50 member countries will gather in Brasilia to celebrate the progress that has been made to date, to exchange best practices, and to grow and strengthen the global collaborative network of open government leaders. Bangalore meet-up at CIS on April 17, 2012 from 5.30 p.m to 7.30 p.m.

Those who work on open government initiatives but unable to attend in person, can still participate remotely. OGP has tied-up with a number of external partners to make arrangements for people to participate in the event online. There will be live webcasts, interviews and chats. Viewers will be able to pose questions to those being interviewed and will be polled in real-time to see who is watching, where they are, what their interests are and what are their thoughts on the programme.

The two day meeting offers an opportunity for open government advocates throughout the world to connect with local civic activists and public officials as well as those working on similar problems in other countries.

The Centre for Internet & Society is hosting the Bangalore meet-up on April 17 and 18, 2012. Get together to watch the live video stream, engage in conversations via live chat, or on Twitter and Facebook for discussing plans to move open government forward in your region.

Click for the full list of countries participating in the event.

8:30-9:30 am Registration & Coffee

9:15-9:30 am Official photo of OGP Member Government Heads of Delegation and Steering Committee Members

9:30-10:15 am Opening Remarks and Welcome

The Honorable Dilma Rousseff, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States of America
The Honorable Jakaya Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania
The Honorable Nika Gilauri, Prime Minister of Georgia

10:15-10:45 am Setting the Stage for the Age of Open: OGP 2012

Minister Jorge Hage, Brazil
Under Secretary of State María Otero, United States
Warren Krafchik, International Budget Partnership

10:45-11:15 am Coffee and Networking

11:15-12:30pm Plenary: Using Transparency to Transform Lives Online and Offline

Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar, United States
Gautam John, Akshara Foundation and TED Fellow, India
Elisabeth Ungar Bleier, Transparency International, Colombia
Juliana Rotich, Co-Founder of Ushahidi, Kenya

Moderated by Samantha Power, The White House, United States

12:30-1:30 pm Innovation Village of Regional Government, Private Sector, and Civil Society organizations advancing Open Government

1:30-2:45 pm Lunch and Networking.

Lunch will be provided onsite at the conference center.

2:45-5:30 pm Open Government on the Move: The OGP Country Action Plans in Two Parts

In Part I and Part II of regional breakout sessions, government ministers and leading civil society activists will discuss country action plans and how to promote a race to the top on open government in each region. Highlights from each panel will be transcribed. Moderators will encourage discussion with the audience following comments from panelists. Governments not presenting in Part I will present in Part II of the regional sessions, from 4:30 to 5:45pm. Participants presenting in Part II are encouraged to attend the session of their choice during Part I and vice versa.

2:45-4:00pm Country Action Plans PART I

South America, I

Government of Chile
Government of Colombia
Government of Uruguay
Government of Brazil
Maria Ferrari Fontecilla, Participa, Chile
Edison Lanza, CAInfo, Uruguay

Moderated by Juan Pardinas, IMCO, Mexico

Central America and Caribbean

Government of Honduras
Government of Guatemala
Government of El Salvador
Government of Dominican Republic
Jose Ricardo Barrientos Quezada, ICEFI, Guatemala
Carlos Hernandez, Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa, Honduras

Moderated by Vonda Brown, Open Society Foundation, United States

Africa, I

Government of Liberia
Government of Ghana
Government of South Africa
Alison Tilley, Open Democracy Advice Center, South Africa
Vitus Azeem, Ghana Integrity Initiative, Ghana

Moderated by Rakesh Rajani, Twaweza, Tanzania

Asia

Government of Mongolia
Government of the Republic of Korea
Government of Indonesia
Government of Philippines
Dorjdari Namkhaijantsan, Open Society Foundation, Mongolia
Vincent Lazatin, Transparency and Accountability Network, Philippines

Moderated by Suneeta Kaimal, Revenue Watch Institute

Central Europe

Government of Romania
Government of Bulgaria
Government of the Slovak Republic
Government of Czech Republic
Gergana Jouleva, Access to Information Program Foundation, Bulgaria
Andra Teodora, Fundatia Soros Romania

Moderated by Martin Tisne, Omidyar Network, United Kingdom

Western Europe, I

Government of Norway
Government of Sweden
Government of Denmark
CSO Representative TBD
CSO Representative TBD

Moderated by Tim Kelsey, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom

Southern Europe, I

Government of Albania
Government of Montenegro
Government of Croatia
Government of Macedonia
Katarina Ott, Institute of Public Finance, Croatia
Vuk Maras, MANS, Montenegro

Moderated by Warren Krafchik, International Budget Partnership

Baltics

Government of Latvia
Government of Lithuania
Government of Estonia
Rura Mrazauskaite, Transparency International, Lithuania
Linda Austere, Center for Public Policy, Latvia

Moderated by Liia Hanni, E-Governance Academy, Estonia

4:00-4:30 pm Coffee and Networking

4:30-5:45 pm Country action plans PART II

South America, II

Government of Peru
Government of Paraguay
Government of Mexico
Miguel Pulido, Fundar, Mexico
Samuel Rotta, Proetica, Peru

Moderator TBD

North America

Government of Canada
Government of the United States
Patrice McDermott, Openthegovernment.org Coalition, United States
Toby Mendel, Center on Law and Democracy, Canada

Moderated by Tara Hidayat, Government of Indonesia

Africa, II

Government of Tanzania
Government of Kenya
John Ulanga, The Foundation for Civil Society, Tanzania
George Kegoro, International Commission of Jurists, Kenya

Moderated by Zohra Dawood, Open Society Foundation South Africa

Middle East

Government of Israel
Government of Jordan
Professor Tamar Hermann, Israeli Democracy Institute, Israel
CSO representative TBD

Moderated by Anthony Richter, Transparency and Accountability Initiative

Northeastern Europe

Government of Ukraine
Government of Moldova
Serghei Ostaf, National NGO Council, Moldova
Khmara Oleksii, Civic Partnership for Supporting OGP in Ukraine

Moderated by Tom Blanton, National Security Archive, United States

Western Europe, II

Government of the United Kingdom
Government of the Netherlands
Government of Spain
Government of Italy
Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation, United Kingdom
Marjan Besuijen, Hivos, Netherlands

Moderated by Alan Hudson, ONE Campaign

Southern Europe, II

Government of Greece
Government of Malta
Government of Turkey
CSO representative TBD
CSO representative TBD

Moderated by Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen, Government of Norway

South Caucasus

Government of Armenia
Government of Georgia
Government of Azerbaijan
Eka Gigauri, Transparency International Georgia
Galib Abbaszade, National Budget Group, Azerbaijan
Liana Doydoyan, FOI Centre, Armenia

Moderated by Jonas Moberg, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Norway

5:45-6:30 pm First Day Closing Remarks

7:00-9:30 pm Celebrating Open Government: A Reception hosted by the Government of Brazil and Omidyar Network.

The reception is onsite at the Convention Center.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

9:00-10:00 am OPENING Plenary: Responsibility and Challenges that Come with Openness

Walid al-Saqaf, YemenPortal.net & Alkasir, Yemen
Minister Francis Maude, United Kingdom
Secretary of State Ben Abbes, Tunisia
Fernando Rodrigues, Folha de São Paulo, Brazil

Moderated by Alex Howard, O’Reilly Media, United States

10:00-10:30 am Coffee and Networking

10:30-12:30 pm Thematic Breakout Sessions: Paths to Openness

Participants choose one of five breakout sessions to attend in the morning block of thematic discussions. Follow Sessions 1 or 2 in the morning and afternoon blocks for in-depth discussions on one topic, explored from three perspectives: government, civil society, and the private sector.

Access to Information: Government Perspectives

Vania Vieira, CGU, Government of Brazil
Dr. Ali M. Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, Government of Azerbaijan
Government of Liberia
Pierre Boucher, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Government of Canada

Moderated by Laura Neuman, The Carter Center, United States

Lessons Learned in Service Delivery: Government Perspectives

Minister Mathias Chikawe, Government of Tanzania
Ms. Marie Munk, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economy and the Interior, Government of Denmark
Government of Estonia (invited)
Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Government of Kenya

Moderated by Mark Robinson, DFID/Transparency and Accountability Initiative, UK

Networking Mechanism Affinity Group: Open Data Portals

Steve Davenport, AidDATA, United States
Tim Kelsey, Director of Transparency & Open Data, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
Marko Rakar, Windmill, Croatia
Eric Gunderson, Development Seed, United States

Moderated by Abhinav Bahl, Global Integrity/OGP Networking Mechanism

Networking Mechanism Affinity Group: Public Finance Management and Fiscal Transparency

Iara Pietricovsky, INESC, Brazil
Secretary Butch Abad, Government of Philippines
Dr. Brian Wrampler, Boise State University, United States

Moderated by Nicole Anand, Global Integrity/OGPNetworking Mechanism

Advancing Open Government through Knowledge Exchange

Roberto Perez, IACC, Latin America, invited
Ms. Stela Mocan, Director e- Government Center, Government of Moldova
Miguel Pulido, Fundar, Mexico
Prayoga Wiradisuria, President's Delivery Unit, Government of Indonesia
Eric Braverman, McKinsey, United States

Moderated by Han Fraeters, World Bank Institute

12:30-2:00 pm Lunch and Networking.

Lunch will be provided onsite at the conference center.

2:00-4:00 pm Thematic Breakout Sessions: More Paths to Openness

Participants choose one of five breakout sessions to attend in the afternoon block of thematic discussions.

Access to Information: Civil Society and Private Sector Perspectives

Panel I: Civil Society Perspectives

Karin Lissakers, Revenue Watch Institute
Alison Tilley, Open Democracy Advice Center, South Africa
Ivan Pavlov, Freedom of Information Foundation, Russia
Karina Banfi, Alianza Regional Por La Libre Expresion e Informacion, Latin America

Moderated by Helen Darbishire, AccessInfo Europe, Spain

Panel II: Private Sector Perspectives

Alexandre Gomes, SEA Technologia, Brazil
Chris Taggart, Open Corporates, United Kingdom
Jose Francisco Compagno, Ernst and Young
Ginny Hunt, Google, United States

Moderated by Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation, United Kingdom

Lessons Learned in Service Delivery: Civil Society and Private Sector Perspectives

Part I: Civil Society Perspectives

Jose Ricardo Barrientos Quezada, ICEFI, Guatemala
Felipe Heusser, Ciudadano Inteligente, Chile
Nikhil Dey, MKSS, India
Harvey Lowe, Canadian Council on Social Development, Canada

Moderated by Rakesh Rajani, Twaweza, Tanzania

Part II: Private Sector Perspectives

Philip Ashlock, OpenPlans/Open311, United States
Jorge Soto, Citivox, Mexico
Tom Steinberg, MySociety, United Kingdom, invited
Michael Gurstein, Center for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training, Canada

Moderated by Rakesh Rajani, Twaweza, Tanzania

Open Government and Legislatures

Part I: Legislative Perspectives

Representative Paulo Pimenta, Brazil
Denis Russo,Votenaweb, Brazil
Laura Alonso, Legislature of City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cristiano Ferri Soares de Faria, e-Democracy Program Director, Brazilian House of Representatives, Brazil

Moderated by Gherardo Casini, Head of Global Center for ICT in Parliaments, United Nations

Part II: Civil Society Perspectives

Andrew Mandelbaum, National Democratic Institute, United States
John Wonderlich, Sunlight Foundation, United States
Danardono Siradjudin, Indonesian Parliamentary Center, Indonesia
Melissa Ortiz Masso, Latin American Network on Legislative Transparency, Latin America

Moderated by Tiago Peixoto, World Bank Open Government Specialist

Measuring for Impact: How to build the case for Open Government

Rolf Alter, OECD, France
Nikos Passas, Northeastern University, United States/Greece
Jorge Garcia-Gonzalez, Director of Technical Secretariat of MESICIC, Organization of American States, Latin America
Harlan Yu, Princeton University, United States

Moderated by Martin Tisne, Omidyar Network, United Kingdom

Learning from Country Consultations to Date: New Strategies for Public Engagement

Samuel Rotta, Proetica, Peru
Chris Vein, The White House, United States
Khmara Oleksii, Civic Partnership for Supporting OGP in Ukraine
Government of Philippines, invited

Moderated by Warren Krafchik, International Budget Partnership, United States

4:00-4:30 pm Coffee and Networking

4:30-5:00 pm Report from Working Group on Meeting Outcomes

5:00-6:00 pm OGP at Home: Closing Remarks with OGP Leadership

Vice-Minister Luiz Navarro, Brazil
Samantha Power, White House, United States
Warren Krafchik, International Budget Partnership
Tim Kelsey, Director of Transparency and Open Data, Cabinet Office United Kingdom

Note: Brazil's local time is approximately eight and half hours behind us. The welcome address on April 17th starts at 9:30 A.M (B.R.T) which is approximately 5:00 P.M (I.S.T).

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-government-partnership-brasilia-bangalore-meetup

Resisting Internet Censorship: Strategies for Furthering Freedom of Expression in India

praskrishna — 2012-06-21T05:29:02Z

The Centre for Internet and Society and the Foundation for Media Professionals invite you to an open discussion on 'Resisting Internet Censorship: Strategies for Furthering Freedom of Expression in India' at the Bangalore International Centre on April 21, 2012, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The discussion will be moderated by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

Participants include:

P. Rajeeve, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha, CPI(M))
Rajeev Chandrashekar, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha, Independent) [tbc]
V.R. Sudarshan, Member of Legislative Council, Karnataka (Congress)
Na. Vijayshankar, Cyber Law College
Mahesh Murthy, Pinstorm
B.G. Mahesh, OneIndia.in
Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Centre for Law and Policy Research
Siddharth Narain, Alternative Law Forum
Ram Bhat, Maraa
S. Senthil, FSMK [tbc]
Deepa Dhanraj [tbc]
Arati Chokshi, People's Union for Civil Liberties (Karnataka) [tbc]

Immediate Background:

Member of Parliament P. Rajeeve has introduced a motion in the Rajya Sabha calling for the Internet censorship law passed last year ("Intermediary Guidelines Rules") to be annulled. This motion will be taken up once the Budget Session 2012 reconvenes, and will need the support of the majority of both Houses to be passed. Apart from this, we have seen multiple cases in the past few months of flagrant abuse of the speech laws, especially the Information Technology Act, including the removal of CartoonsAgainstCorruption.com, the arrest of M. Karthik, a 20-year-old atheist from Hyderabad, and of Prof. Ambikesh Mahapatra from Kolkata for 'defamatory' cartoons of Mamata Banerjee, both under s.66A of the Information Technology Act. We need to develop strategies to combat this over-eagerness by authorities to abuse speech laws.

More Detailed Background:

Internet censorship has been in India ever since VSNL brought internet connectivity to Indians in the mid-1990s, when websites were blocked through executive fiat. In 2000 the Information Technology Act was passed, and while it had a provision on electronic publication of obscene materials, it did not contain any provisions for blocking of websites. Still, Rules were made under the Act under which the government blocked numerous websites.

In 2008 the Act was amended, bringing more transparency to the censorship regime. Unfortunately, cases like the CartoonsAgainstCorruption.com and the disparity between censorship statistics published by Google and the official statistics revealed under RTI by the Department of Information Technology show a large amount of extra-legal censorship happening.

In February 2011, the DIT published draft rules that were severely criticised by many MPs, including Rajeev Chandrashekar, P. Rajeeve, Mahendra Mohan, and Kumar Deepak Das, organizations including CIS, Software Freedom Law Centre, IAMAI, and companies like Google India. Many MPs, including Rajeev Chandrashekar and P. Rajeeve, raised concerns about the draft. In April 2011 disregarding all these concerns, the government pressed ahead with the Rules. These rules allowed any person to get content removed from the Internet by writing to any 'intermediary' (like Rediff, BSNL, Google, Facebook, etc.) within 36 hours, with no questions asked, and no intimation to the content owner (hence no question of challenge), and once again made internet censorship as unaccountable as it was pre-2008, only with the power to censor in the hands of every citizen, rather than just a few government officials.

In May 2011, due to the backlash in the media, with negative editorials in prominent newspapers, Mr. Kapil Sibal indicated in an interview that the rules would be revisited. From August 2011 onwards there was a crackdown on several web companies, including Indiatimes, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook, with the government asking them to proactively monitor online content and remove what it deemed objectionable material. Since then, a number of egregious cases of censorship through filing of intimidatory FIRs and lawsuits have been happening.

The Organisers

The Foundation for Media Professionals is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, set up in April 2008, by a group of Indian journalists with diverse media backgrounds and work experiences. Though we are traditionally referred to as journalists, we have decided to call ourselves differently to emphasise the importance we place on professionalism, so that we can be true to our vocation as watchdogs of society.

This is not a forum for the media executive who might be into marketing, management or space selling. Nor is membership open to amateurs, for whom journalism is a hobby and not the main source of income. As journalists we cannot be politically neutral. Ours is not a sterile craft that seeks merely to entertain or inform. We confess to just one prejudice: liberty. In pursuing that principle, the Foundation shall be non-partisan, while welcoming members of all political persuasions.

Our intention is to strive towards the nobility of our calling and its high-minded purpose. We will try to inculcate and amplify best practices. We will debate issues impinging on our profession. We shall recognise and reward excellence.

The Centre for Internet and Society was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different research programmes on topics such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, Telecom, Digital Natives and Digital Humanities.

The programmes have resulted in research outputs: monographs such as Re: Wiring Bodies, Porn: Law, Video, Technology, Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities, Archives and Access and the Last Cultural Mile; reports such as Digital Natives with a Cause? A Report, Digital Natives with a Cause? Thinkathon: Position Papers, Open Government Data Study, and Online Video Environment in India ; analyses such as WIPO Treaty for the Print Disabled, WIPO Broadcast Treaty, and Copyright Amendment Bill ; books such as Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? and e-Accessibility Handbook for Persons with Disabilities; a reader on the Wikipedia titled Critical Point of View; other outputs such as Banking, Telecommunications, Consumer Protection, IT Act, Limitations, Copyright, Internet Protocol, Media, Sexual Minorities and UID.

We have participated in forums like WIPO, FICCI, IGF, and gave policy submissions to various ministries and departments of the Government of India including the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Telecom on policies like NIA Bill, IT Act, National Policy on Electronics, Cyber Café Rules, Security Practices Rules, Intermediary Due Diligence Rules, and Interoperability Framework for e-Governance.

VIDEOS

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/resisting-internet-censorship

Braitenberg Cybernetic Vehicles: Workshop, Film Screening & Discussion

praskrishna — 2012-07-30T13:13:31Z

The Metaculture Media Lab at the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore is organizing a fun event, next Saturday, April 14, 2012. The event will begin at 2.30 p.m. and will end at 6.00 p.m.

A tentative schedule of the event in three parts:

A short presentation about Braitenberg Vehicles :
It is based on a thought experiment by Italian cyberneticist, in his book : ''Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology'' where 'vehicles' with simple sensorimotor capabilites display interesting life-like behaviour WITHOUT the need for internal memory, representation of the environment, or inference. (Basically none of the task based hyper robotic coding/processing) Read more about it here on the wiki page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braitenberg_vehicle
This will be followed by a quick Hands-on-proactive-workshop, where we will build some simple Braitenberg Vehicles, using common motors, wheels, and light sensors, and watch them interact and play with each other.
- The Technically inclined might ( Well If you don't know electronics, the block digram will be self explanatory anyway) have fun teaching eachother how to couple motors with light sensors. Designers can also contribute to the interaction paradigm/visuals. While others may chill in the shady part of the lawn with juice, until the vehicle action starts)
Finally, a film screening followed by a short discussion about it , revisiting our ideas about robots, autonomous vehicles, transport, society and policy, possibly moderated by volunteers/students/citizen researchers in this field, in a dialogue with the rest of the audience.

Additionally , if anyone want to build their own vehicles to take home, please email yelena@cis-india.org (by April 10) for instructions on what to pick up from SP Road.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/cybernetic-vehicles

Design!PubliC — Event in Delhi

praskrishna — 2012-04-11T11:45:04Z

Centre for Knowledge Societies in partnership with IBM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, HeadStart, India@75, LiveMint, and the Centre for Internet & Society is organizing the third edition of Design!PubliC event in Delhi on April 19 and 20, 2012.

Design Public is a high-level conversation among a select group of thinkers, decision-makers and opinion-leaders who seek to transform India into an innovation society. It brings together influential actors from all sectors of society to deliberate the best ways in which innovation can serve the public interest. The larger goal of the Conclave is to serve as an enabling platform for building the necessary partnerships and consortia that will bring this agenda to practical realization.

This third edition of the Design Public Conclave is focused on issues of trust and participation and how they relate to innovation. We will be addressing key questions like:

How can we overcome deficiencies in trust and participation to better facilitate innovation?
How can we better imagine India as an innovation society?
How can we build smarter cities and ensure sustainable urban development?
What does rural innovation really mean and how do we do it?
What are the necessary consortia and cross-sectoral alignments for driving innovation?

The Panelists

	Aditya Dev Sood Aditya Dev Sood is Founder and CEO of the Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS), an innovation consulting firm that provides design services of a kind that Indian industry never thought it would even need — User Research, User Experience Design, Design Strategy and Innovation Management. Through his consulting work, and also through his writings and his public presentations, Aditya offers a compelling vision of the central role of design and innovation for emerging economies such as India. The focus on his firm has remained on lower income and rural groups, and through contractual consulting engagements it has sought always to bring about market successes as well as the greater societal good. Dr. Sood is a Fulbright scholar with two doctorates from the University of Chicago and a wide range of disciplinary competencies, gained through a long and diverse education, including Architecture, Art History, Critical Theory, Comparative Literature, Sanskrit Philology, Philosophy of Language, Cultural Anthropology, Social Theory and Political Economy.
	Arun Maira Arun Maira is a Member of the National Innovation Council, a part of the National Planning Commission of the Government of India. In addition to being a prolific author on leadership and organization transformation, as well as the future of India, he has worked as an experienced consultant for companies all over the world and for a diversity of industries, from automobiles and pharmaceuticals to international agencies for economic development. Prior to joining the National Planning Commission, Arun Maira worked with the TATA Group in India, the Boston Consulting Group, Save the Children in India, the Axis Bank Foundation, and CII’s National Councils, among many others. He received his M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Physics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.
	Aditya Mishra In addition to leading a sales team for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd., Aditya Mishra began his own not-for-profit company to promote entrepreneurship in India called Headstart. Headstart is run by volunteers dedicated to creating space for and promoting innovation in India by fostering individual entrenpreneurs, research, and the adoption of new technology. Aditya advises early stage start-ups and incubators through Startup Saturdays events to aid in the development of products and service, busines planning, and sales and marketing. Headstart is headquarted in Bangalore, but through the Headstart Network of entrepreneurs, academics, and industry professionals, activities are carried out in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, and Kolkata.
	Sukumar Ranganathan Sukumar Ranganthan was a founding member of Mint, a business paper of the Hindustan Times in association with the Wall Street Journal. Launched in 2007, Mint brings “Clarity in Business News” to readers across the country. He has worked in several capacities in business news, from Marketing Editor at The Hindu Business Line to Managing Editor of India’s leading business magazine, Business Today. In addition to a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Sukumar holds a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering and another Master’s in Mathematics.
	Bhairavi Jani After graduating from Miami University, Ohio, USA, and working with KPMG Consulting in Washington D.C., Bhairavi Jani returned to India in 2001 and began her career in business. After setting up and scaling up a fourth party logistics company, Bhairavi accepted the role of Director for all companies under the SCA Group in 2005, which manages shipping, customs, warehousing, logistics, and IT. As Group Director, she works with different teams from the respective companies withing the Group, providing them strategic advice. In addition to being a successful businesswoman, Bhairavi has worked closely with the late C. K. Prahalad on India@75 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a grassroots initiative for realizing an inclusive, sustainable, and developed India by 2022. It works to accelerate India’s transformative into an economically vital, technologically innovative, and socially and ethically vibrant global leader. Having served as a National Chairman of Young Indians, CII, Bhairavi has since 2011 taken a five year hiatus from her own businesses to serve as Executive Director for India@75.
	Ashwin Mahesh Ashwin Mahesh is a professor of Public Policy at IIM Bangalore, but his innovative ideas and dedication to service has brought him outside academia. In 1998, he co-founded India Together, an online magazine of public affairs, policy, and development in India. He has also started Mapunity, an independent R&D company designed around reversing the trend of government lagging behind technology. Ashwin Mahesh has a PhD in atmospheric remote sensing from the University of Washington, and he does research in exploring the expanding role of technology & IT in urban traffic management.
	Yamini Aiyar Yamini Aiyar is the founder and director of the Accountability Initiative, an organization working to strengthen accountability and engagement in Indian governance, which has received praise from Indian government officials and even President Obama. She is also presently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, focusing on understanding accountability tools in order to institutionalize accountability methods and strengthen public service delivery systems. Prior to the Accountability Initiative, Aiyar worked at the World Bank and the Ford Foundations in New Delhi. She holds a MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and M.A. in Social and Political Sciences from St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, and a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Stephens College, Delhi University.
	Scott Burnham Scott Burnham is a creative director, writer, and designer who has worked on strategies for cities to use design to reprogram relationships. He has created several projects for European cities including Urban Play for Amsterdam with Droog Design and Bairro Criativo for Porto, Portugal. Currently, Burnham directs the Trust Design project for Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design, exploring the relationship between trust and design from products and shared urban spaces. He is the editor of a special 4-issue publication series with Volume Magazine, and a guest lecturer at Design Academy Eindhoven. In addition to writing and speaking, Burnham worked as the Creative Director for the UK’s Urbis Center for Urban Culture from 2003-2006.
	Samanth Subramanian Samanth Subramanian is a journalist who has written pieces for The New York Times, Mint, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the Hindu, and many others. Though he prefers long-form narrative articles, he also has written several shorter pieces, as well as a non-fiction book Following Fish: Travels around the Indian Coast, which won the 2010 Shaki Bhatt First Book Prize. He currently writes for the New York Times’ India Ink blog. Subramanian completed his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University in journalism and received his Master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
	Sunil Abraham Sunil Abraham is the Executive Director of The Centre for Internet and Society, which aims to criticaly engage with the interaction between the internet and the public, including concerns of digital pluralism, public accountability, adn pedagogic practices. While serving on the board of directors for CIS, Sunil has worked on many projects exploring the internet and information. He has been elected an Ashoka fellow, where he explored the democratic potential of the internet, and was granted a Sarai FLOSS fellowship as well. For the United Nations, Sunil managed the International Open Source Network for the Asia-Pacific Development Information Program between 2004 and 2007. The next year, he managed ENRAP, Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in the Asia-Pacific region, which worked to share knowledge amongst the projects and stakeholders of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
	Shanker Annaswamy Shanker Annaswamy is the Managing Director for IBM India Private Limited, and Regional General Manager of IBM in India and South Asia. He is responsible for all sales, marketing, services, and delivery in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. In addition to holding a senior position in IBM, Annaswamy has been President and Chief Executive Officer for GE Medical Systems in South Asia, Managing Director of Wipro-GE Medical Systems, and Adviser with the Ministry of Health for the Sultanate of Oman. He currently serves as Chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) National Committee on Intellectual Property Owners, having previously co-chaired CII’s advisory committee on its National Innovation Mission. In 2009, BusinessWeek listed Annaswamy among India’s 50 Most Powerful People. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Madras University and a Diploma in Business Management Education from the All India Management Association, New Delhi.
	Ashok Alexander Ashok Alexander is Director of Avahan, the Global Health Program’s HIV prevention initiative in India, which was founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2003. As Director, he works with India’s federal and state governments, NGOs, and corporate partners. Before joining Avahan, Alexander worked in Hong Kong, the United States, and India for 24 years. After joining McKinsey & Company in New York, he moved to India to become the head of its New Delhi office. In addition, he has extensive experience working with NGOs, being a leader in the creation of the American India Foundation (AIF) and serving on the Board of Advisors. Alexander holds graduate degrees in economics and management from Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
	Jeby Cherian Jeby Cherian is the Strategy Leader of IBM in India and South Asia, and also serves on the India Leadership Team. He provides guidance to IBM’s Corporate Development team in India, leads and positions IBM’s Security solutions portfolio to the Government of India, and provides executive sponsorship for growing the High End Server business in India. Before this, Cherian worked in Bangalore with IBM’s Global Solutions Delivery Center and with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Finance Transformation services. Cherian is a CPA with a Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
	Pankaj Jhunja Pankaj Jhunja, now General Manager of Design for Tata Motors, has had the opportunity to work in a diversity of businesses each with different responsibilities and complexities of products. Before Tata Motors, Jhunja worked for Dilip Chhabria Design (DC) specializing in Custom Built Cars, Homeflow Inc. in Pune as Product Manager, and with Renault Nissan India in Mumbai as General Manager Design. Jhunja holds a Bachelor’s degree from the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, and a Master’s degree in Design from IIT Mumbai.
	Chakshu Roy Chakshu Roy is a lawyer who heads technology initiatives at PRS Legislative Research (PRS), New Delhi. PRS is a unique initiative that provides non-partisan analysis to all Members of Parliament in India. Chakshu is developing a comprehensive technology strategy to engage large sections of the population in the policy process. He has conceptualised and developed India’s only online database of all state laws. Chakshu has conducted capacity-building workshops for over 1000 journalists on tracking the work of legislators. He specialised in real estate law and commercial agreements before joining PRS. He has earlier worked in corporate law with the Chamber of Law, New Delhi. He holds bachelors degrees in Commerce and Law from Delhi University.
	Ekta Ohri Ekta Ohri is the Head of Project Operations at the Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS). She holds experience of applying ethnographic and user experience research methods as well as principles of design thinking for addressing a variety of innovation challenges in emerging economies – ranging from improving rural public health delivery systems, providing financial services to the poor and bridging their information and communication gaps through telecommunications to enhancing urban mobility and luxury experiences. As the head of innovation at CKS, she works with different teams providing them strategic advice around innovation approaches, developing context (urban or rural) specific research methodologies and analyzing research insights in ways that leads to concepts that create maximum value for the users, as well as disseminating some of these ideas in the public domain through publications. Ekta has multi-disciplinary background in Architecture (Sushant School of Art and Architecture), Visual and Critical Studies (California College of the Arts), and Anthropology (Northwestern University) and is particularly interested in exploring linkages between design, culture and lived experiences.
	James Crabtree James Crabtree is the Mumbai Correspondent for the Financial Times since November 2011. He covers Indian corporate news and social and political trends in the country’s financial capital. James joined the FT in 2010 and was previously the Comment Editor based in London.He was previously an editor and essayist at Prospect. Before returning to journalism, James worked as policy advisor in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, and also for various think tanks. He has also spent a number of years living in the US, first as a Fulbright Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and then living in Washington, working as a senior policy advisor at the New Democrat Network, another think tank. James is a trustee of the charity mySociety.org, one of the UK’s most innovative technology organisations.
	Theo JJ Groothuizen Theo JJ Groothuizen is currently the Counsellor for Science and Technology at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New Delhi India. He is member of the steering committee of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2008. Born in 1949 in the Netherlands, he graduated in industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, and is since 1986 principle of Landmark Design Holding (Netherlands and Switzerland). Groothuizen served as executive board member of International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) and the Association of Dutch Designers (BNO) and as advisor for the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA). He was active in several international advisory boards and was tutor in international design workshops, initiated international exhibitions and has been invited as speaker, guest lecturer and jury member all over the world. He is fellow of the Foundation Design for the World, advisor for the European Institute for Design and Disability (EIDD) and honorary member of the BNO. He taught at the Delft University of Technology and served as member of its External Research Advisory Board. He also taught at the Design Academy and functioned as international curator of the Gwangju Design Biennale 2005.
	Sam Pitroda Sam Pitroda is an international figure known for his strong support in India’s communications revolution and redefining the role that technology can play in India by linking it to better delivery of services to the underprivileged. He has long worked in government, business, and innovation in India. He served as Technology Advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, is founder and CEO of C-SAM, Inc., with offices worldwide, and chaired the National Knowledge Commission from 2005-2008. Now, in addition to Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure & Innovations, chairman of India’s National Innovation Council, charting the roadmap for India’s ‘Decade of Innovation.’ Pitrota completed his Master’s in Physics and Electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University and subsequently received another Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In 2010, he also received and Honorary degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
	Darshana Gothi Chauhan Darshana is an architect and urban designer. She has varied experience in designing new towns, regeneration of town centres, transport action plans and urban extension projects. She is passionate about participatory planning and the approach of empowering local people to create better cities. Darshana is currently working at Urban Initiatives in London as a Managing Consultant. Her recent works at UI include Southall Big Conversation, a public consultation process in a culturally diverse area in London . Darshana is also the Chapter Development Manager of INTBAU India, a charitable organisation promoting traditional architecture and urbanism in India . As part of INTBAU India, she has been instrumental in organising public consultation events backed with intensive baseline and capacity building work for the regeneration of the inner city of Pune in India. Darshana has simultaneously worked on projects for other consultancies such as The Max Lock Centre, London . Her works at Max Lock include a Spatial Planning Framework for Kaduna , a city of 3 million people for the Central Government of Nigeria. She has previously worked with the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements in Bhutan to develop the master plan for a new administrative capital in East Bhutan as part of Christopher Charles Benninger Architects.

Agenda

Day 1: Certificate in Innovation Management

Venue: CKS House, New Delhi: 19th April, 2012

09.30 a.m. Icebreaker Dialogue
Participants will introduce themselves briefly and talk about their perceptions of innovation and its application in their work. A CKS member will aggregate the thoughts that emerge from the audience in order to articulate the multiple definitions of innovation that emerge. This will be followed by a quick call out on the value of innovation.

10.30 a.m. Analysis of Innovation Case Studies
CKS Innovation Experts will present various case studies of innovation in order to present the different tools, approaches and stages of innovation.

12.40 p.m. UDE Approach to Innovation
CKS Innovation Experts to present the U-D-E approach to innovation and demonstrate different uses of the Innovation Cycle.

01.15 p.m. Wrap Up and Invitation to Innovation Consultations
CKS Innovation Trainers conclude the morning's session and invite participants to sign up for Innovation Consultations post lunch at the Chaia Innovation Campus.

02.15 p.m. Innovation Consultations
Participants meet mentors on a one to one basis to receive consultation on how they can apply this approach in the specific context of their work or a particular challenge? Where are the opportunities to apply the approach and what value can that have?

Day 2: Design Public Conclave

Venue: National Museum, New Delhi: 20th April, 2012

09.45 a.m. Word of Welcome
Aditya Dev Sood, Center for Knowledge Societies, gives a word of welcome and short introduction to the logic of the conclave.

10.00 a.m. Crises of Trust are Crises of Creativity, Design, and ultimately of Innovation
by Samanth Subramanian, Scott Burnham and Yamini Aiyar
This opening panel will address questions of trust and participation in the wake of the global spring. How can institutions respond creatively to include the networked public? What are the inter-relationships between trust, creativity, design and innovation and why are these important for our future?

11.00 a.m. Participation, Collaboration, Innovation
by James Crabtree Ekta Ohri, Sunil Abraham, Ashwin Mahesh and Aditya Mishra
Crises of trust are often linked to failures of participation and inclusion. How can activists and critics of institutions be more creative in their approaches so as to restore and repair the public trust? What channels for feedback and more substantive modes of participation must be created so as to promote innovation through dialogue and collaboration?

12.00 p.m. Imagining India as an Innovation Society
by Aditya Dev Sood, Ashok Alexander, Shanker Annaswamy, Sukumar Ranganthan and Arun Maira
This panel brings together industry and government experts to imagine the values, behaviors, ways of working, societal institutions and diverse other dimensions of society that would have to change in India to transform it into an innovation society. But first, what is an innovation society? Do we understand this correctly?

02.00 p.m. Breakout One: Smarter Cities
by Darshana Gothi Chauhan, Ekta Ohri and Jeby Cherian
Jeby Cherian of IBM will lead this breakout session on smarter Urban Management and Civic Administration.

02.00 p.m. Breakout Two: How can we do Rural Innovation better?
What should or could we mean by Rural Innovation? Is this the same old thing as jugaad, indovation and tinkering? This panel brings together designers and innovation experts to talk with management thinkers to describe the specific steps and stages involved in innovation processes and how they could apply in rural areas. What do steps individuals and organizations need to take to reeducate or empower decision makers at all levels in different sectors in India to bring about an awareness, understanding and orientation towards innovation?

02.00 p.m. Breakout Three: 50 Steps to an Innovation Society
by Theo JJ Groothuizen Bhairavi Jani
Bhairavi Jani will lead this thematic breakout session on specific steps governments, corporations, social agencies, academics and individual citizens can take to better imagine and then build an Innovation Society.

03.30 p.m. Mutual Presentations
Breakout sessions will cross-report to one another.

04.00 p.m. Concluding Plenary: What Do We Need to Do To Build an Innovation Society?
by Chakshu Roy Aditya Dev Sood Bhairavi Jani
This plenary session will include leading thinkers from government and media along with sectoral experts to discuss specific steps we must now undertake in order to work towards innovation in different domain and activity areas. In some ways this is the most challenging and important session of the day, for it will lay out the next steps and future path of the Design Public process.

06.00 p.m. Wrap-Up and Word of Thanks
Aditya Dev Sood gives a few concluding remarks and concludes the day with a vote of thanks to all advisors, sponsors, partners, speakers and participants at the Design Public Conclave.

07.00 p.m. Dinner
All participants are invited to a dinner and celebration of 10 years of CKS at the Chaia Innovation Campus in Chattarpur Enclave, New Delhi. Transportation will be provided.

For registration, click here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/design-public-delhi

A beauty’s blog creates furore

praskrishna — 2012-04-11T03:50:47Z

Her first Tamil poetry anthology Otraiyilaiyena (As a single leaf) saw three editions and the second one Ulagin Azhagiya Muthal Penn (The first beautiful woman in the world) invited mixed reactions like Iyal Poetry Award and a call for a ban by Hindu Makkal Katchi. Parathaiyarul Raani (Queen of sluts) her third collection was a reaction to all the moral policing.

Lakshmi Krupa's article was published in Deccan Chronicle on April 10, 2012

While her film Sengadal The Dead Sea was stopped from being screened to the public, until the Supreme Court’s Appellate tribunal intervened with regional censor board for the film clearance, groups like the Makkal Kalai Ilakiya Kazhagam attacked her beliefs. Adding to this list is the latest revelation that the Principal Secretary of IT Department of the Tamil Nadu government requested that her blog be blocked along with a host of others.

In a text sent from A.K. Kaushik, Additional Director & CPIO Cyber Laws & E-Security in response to an RTI petition on Website Blocking, it was reported that Leena’s blog http://ulaginazhagiyamuthalpenn.blogspot.com was requested to be blocked on 21.07.2010 by the Principal Secretary, IT Department.

This recent revelation has led to an outrage over the fact that artists and activists like Leena have had to constantly knock on the doors of the legal system to exercise the most basic of their rights. In an interview from London where she is currently the Charles Wallace Visiting Scholar at the University of London, Leena says, “Center for Internet and Society in Bengaluru that works towards upholding Civil Liberties Online, had obtained a list of all websites that were sought to be blocked by Governmental authorities with the use of Right to Information Act.

They sent me all the details on how my blog was one amongst them as the Principal Secretary, IT Department, Govt of TN had asked for it to be blocked. As the Internet’s role in free speech becomes increasingly prevalent, tactics to control the Internet are growing more refined each year. Methods of accessing private data and censoring content vary between countries, but all maintain an element of oppression. We, who are concerned about civil liberties should wake up to the secret missions of our government on Internet Censorship and protect freedom of speech online.”

Leena’s blog has been in the center of controversies before too. “Hindu Makkal Katchi, the right wing moral police lodged a police complaint to ban my poetry collections and ban my blog ulaginazhagiyamuthalpenn. blogspot.com. They went to every possible media house and were making threat calls and there were discussions on the alleged obscenity in my poems. They even wanted the Iyal International Poetry Prize and Sirpi Literary Awards to be revoked.”

Leena’s poetry challenges fanatic minds. “My poetry has a feminist agenda and it is just not about equal rights for women. It is a socialist, anti-institutional political movement which calls for women to break the code, destroy capitalism, live their sexuality and witch hunt every possible patriarchal design. I am not amused about the fact that my poetry gave jitters to ultra blasphemous right and left wingers,” she concludes.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/beauty-blog-creates-furore

Konkan Corridor Project — A Lecture by Vasant Gangavane

praskrishna — 2012-04-13T13:49:32Z

Well known social worker Vasant Gangavane will be giving a public lecture on the Konkan Corridor Project at Ashoka Innovators for the Public in Bangalore on April 16, 2012. The lecture will focus on the role of Information & Communication Technology for total rural transformation by inclusive integrated development with no change of land ownerships. The event is co-organized by Ashoka Innovators for the Public and the Centre for Internet and Society.

Citing examples from the 117 village clusters in the regions of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga districts of Maharashtra the lecture hopes to throw light on questions like what is a village cluster, what does it mean to urbanize one village cluster and what do we need to do to urbanize one village cluster, how will we organize and coordinate the project. This apart the vision, status and action plans of the Konkan Corridor Project, the skills development in each cluster, intensive agriculture in each cluster, farm produce processing, water conservation in the project area, rivers in the project area, energy, transportation, industry, science communication, and self administration in each clusters will also be discussed.

Vasant Gangavane

In the 1970s Vasant Gangavane, a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management and Wharton, returned to his village in Konkan, Maharashtra, to give his people what he felt they needed most — the knowledge to manage their natural resources. In the process, he set up several models of rural development. Gangavane found that the rate at which people migrated out of the Konkan was very high, despite the fact that the area was rich in natural resources. He studied the area and realised that land improvement and watershed development were key issues. He conducted a series of experiments in agriculture, dairy and poultry farming before setting up the Gokul Prakalp Pratishthan (GPP) in 1978. With the Maharashtra government's comprehensive watershed management programme (COWDEP), Gangavane's Pratishthan afforested 400 hectares of land in Vilye village with mango and cashew trees. Gangavane then acquired 40 acres of wasteland in the village and built water conservation structures called Gokul bandharas. This resulted in the wells in the area being recharged and ensured enough drinking water for 25 families.This model was later adopted by the Indo-German Watershed Programme.

When Gangavane's project began, the village of Vilye was bereft of young people. Its young had migrated. Now there is reverse migration and 3,000 people have benefited from the programme. The village has been transformed — water runoff has been arrested and afforestation has changed the look of the village.

After the watershed programme, Gangavane formulated a theoretical plan for model villages called the Gokul project. The aim was communication and knowledgesharing. A participatory rural appraisal is also done to explore natural resource availability, potential and use. The awareness is meant to empower people and convince them that watershed programmes can address problems of poverty and inequity. Gangavane believes that with this knowledge, and with the resources available, a small family in the area can live sustainably.

Gangavane's Pratishthan has set up an Ashramshaala at Laanja, Ratnagiri district, which is a tribal residential school, where 300 children are provided free boarding and lodging up to the secondary level. GPP has also introduced computer education in schools. For his work Gangavane was awarded the Vanashree award, Vasantrao Naik Pratisthan award and the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award.

Download the presentation here [PDF, 228 KB]

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane

Government washes hands of Google's new privacy policy

praskrishna — 2012-04-10T09:40:55Z

The government has more or less washed its hands of internet giant Google's new privacy policy that is being criticised in Europe and elsewhere, but wants Indian residents to watch out for themselves, writes Jayadevan in this article published in the Economic Times on April 10, 2012.

Google's new privacy policy provides information on how personal information is collected, processed and secured, as required by relevant Indian laws. "The end users, however, need to fully understand the privacy policy of Google, the consequences of sharing their personal information and their privacy rights before they start using online services," Sachin Pilot, India's minister for information technology, stated in Rajya Sabha on March 30.

Ever since Google came out with a unified privacy policy in January, it has been facing criticism from many users and privacy advocates, especially in Europe where privacy is a fundamental right. The new policy unified separate privacy polices relating to nearly 60 of Google's services.

The new policy also lets the separate Google services, such as Gmail, Google Search or Youtube, share data among each other. In Europe, Google is facing potential sanctions or even fine over its new privacy policy.

Section 43A of the India's amended Information Technology Act (2000) has established a legal framework for data privacy protection in the country. The rules notified last year explain security practices to be followed and the need for guarding sensitive personal information. The Act also requires Indian corporations to publish a privacy policy.

"Google has published a Privacy Policy on their website," said the minister. "Any change in the privacy policy is not within the purview of amended Information Technology Act 2000," Pilot added. Venkatesh Hariharan (Venky), head of public policy and government affairs at Google India, has left the company last month and did not want to comment.

According to the Pilot, while France's independent privacy watchdog, the CNIL (nationale de I'informatique et des libertes) has said that the changes to Google's privacy policy do not comply with the European law, rectification of conflict between Google, an American company and European directive on data protection is not within the purview of the Indian government.

CNIL, the data protection watchdog in France had asked Google to answer 69 questions including what it does with the data collected from users and how long it is retained to better understand the consequences of the new policy for Google users.

Experts agree Google privacy policy is in compliance with Sec 43A of IT Act but cautioned that it may not be enough. "Section 43A does not have all the privacy safeguards that exist for citizen in developed countries," said Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Centre for Internet and Society.

Abraham advocates the creation of a privacy commissioner. "It is important to have a independent and autonomous regulator who can respond on a proactive basis when confronted with evidence of abusive practices," he said.

Legal provisions will have to enable the creation of such a regulator, says cyber law expert Vakul Sharma. "You can not create a regulator out of thin air. You should have legislation for privacy. In India we do not have any such legislation," said Sharma.

The IT act classifies information into two - personal information and sensitive personal information. Safeguards under the section 43A and rules apply to sensitive personal information which includes biometric information, information related to health, passwords, sexual orientation and financial information among others.

"Users must be aware that Google's new policy does not have room for categorization according to Indian laws," says Sharma. "It is a plain vanilla document. The users need more," he added.

Read the original published in the Economic Times on April 10, 2012. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/govt-washes-hands-of-google-privacy-policy

Look Who’s Chasing... The Twitter God

praskrishna — 2012-04-10T09:24:52Z

The celebrity isn’t the known face, it’s the Twitter handle that gets the following, writes Arpita Basu in this article published in Outlook's April 2012 issue. Sunil Abraham is quoted in this article.

If Abhishek Asthana felt the jitters as he prepared to face an internship interview on his B-school campus, this 35-character nugget of information would have lifted his spirits: He had a fan on the interview panel. “One of the panelists asked me, ‘Are you the same @GabbbarSingh from Twitter? I’ve been following you for a long time’!” recalls Abhishek, still chuffed. At 25, and in just over two years on Twitter, this Gabbbar Singh’s answer to ‘Kitne aadmi the?’ would be a formidable 19,540. That’s his follower count: people who hang on to his every word, retweeting, replying and generally relishing the irreverence that has made stars out of tweeters like Abhishek.

Twitter, the microblogging site that turned six last month, has raised a smart brood of commentators who go from politics to policies to pop culture and back, riding on 140 characters, trailed by a few thousand followers. Neither netas nor abhinetas, they are rabble-rousers and opinion-makers in their own right. Executives, entrepreneurs, tech geeks, students and creative types, these are ordinary people who have found anything but ordinary fame on the strength of their one-liners alone.

Take @BollywoodGandu, a blockbuster of a Twitter handle with a 57,000-strong audience, including, till recently, big-ticket followers like Karan Johar and Abhishek Bachchan. “They unfollowed me for reasons only they know,” shrugs the man behind the tweets, who’s used to having celebs follow him and then dropping him when they “don’t like” what he writes (Here’s a teaser: “Aishwarya looks like a mannequin in #Robot posters. Oh wait, on second thought, that kinda makes sense”.) The 30-year-old tweet icon, an industry insider who swears by Amol Palekar comedies, relishes the effect he has on filmwallahs; film crews have been known to scroll through his timeline during shooting breaks. “It makes me want to storm in like Russell Crowe in Gladiator and yell ‘Are you not entertained?’!” he adds dramatically.

Entertained, yes. Enlightened? You bet. These new stars on the media horizon, explains Sunil Abraham, executive director, Centre for Internet and Society, “provide information, comments, and a sense of humour and cynicism that is missing from mainstream media”. With Twitter launching its Hindi version in September last year, language too is no longer a barrier. Again, on this turf, the threshold for entry is much lower. “Unlike TV,” Abraham elaborates, “where you have to look and dress a certain way and then say something interesting, these tweeters hold people’s attention sitting in their homes. We don’t even know what they look like.”

Which only makes them more relatable. After all, they are swimming in the same fish bowl as everyone else, right? And feeling the same fears when the water rises too high above the head. Only, they express it way better. Snappy, sharp and always questioning, their unforgiving, emperor-has-no-clothes approach scores with people fed up with what Twitter veteran Ramesh Srivats calls “curated mainstream media”.

Photograph by Amit Haralkar

Varun Grover @JayHind 11724 followers
Famous tweet Keep army busy. Give them an IPL team of their own.

It’s no wonder that popular media wants a piece of them too. Varun Grover, a 32-year-old engineer-turned-satirist whose witty observations made the Twitter handle @JayHind a hit, landed a TV deal: to script, along with his team, the spoofy The Late Night Show on Colors. “Tweets are my research; a scratchboard for the gags,” Varun reveals. The show, which carries forward JayHind TV’s online sketches, looks at current goings-on with a shovelful of salt. “Having grown up in Lucknow, analysing politics came naturally to me,” says Varun.

There’s more that comes naturally to the Tweet brigade—the art of getting Twitterverse’s 12 million inhabitants (that’s just counting India) to listen, for one. Writer and IT professional Arnab Ray @greatbong (see accompanying column) recalls how his legion of followers grew over three years, drawn in by his “funny, spontaneous, politically incorrect tweets that honour no holy cows”. “I am not a celebrity, so there was no opening day surge for me,” Arnab quips, conceding that his reputation as Greatbong the blogger preceded him on Twitter. For Rake$£ Jhunjhunwala ['Fake Jhunjhunwala'] @jhunjhunwala too, tweeting about blog posts got his foot in the door back in 2009, when very few had warmed to Twitter in India. Today, some 43,000-odd Tweeple prick up their ears to catch what this trader-investor, video-gamer and combat sports freak has to say during his “recreation hours”. Blogging also helped Priyanka Sachar @twilightfairy increase her tweet-worth. Priyanka passed up eleven-and-a-half years as a computer engineer to become a fine art wedding photographer, and regularly tweets links to her work. She hardly blogs now, having “lost patience with lengthy posts”, and can’t say enough about the mercurial nature of Twitter, though her strike rate of 70-plus tweets on a good day says enough.

Photograph by Narendra Bisht

Priyanka Sachar @twilightfairy 14913 followers
Famous tweet ...markets are full of Easter eggs already. On Navratre. That’s the way the Indian cookie crumbles.

“We have to stay in the moment. Or if possible, before the moment,” offers Utsav Chakraborty @SatanBhagat, who counts power-lister Anand Mahindra amongst his fans. The 21-year-old media grad, “bottom-tier stand-up comic” and er... not the biggest fan of Chetan Bhagat, distills the essence of a quality tweet: “A view is just a view without analogies and wordplay. No one likes raw chicken. You have to marinate, cook, season, garnish and serve it on a warm plate. We’re all assembly line gourmet chefs.”

Each, though, has perfected his or her own specialty dish, be it satire, humour, current affairs, business dos, boudoir don’ts.... Then there is Twitter’s tryst with literature—Twisters. Twitter stories penned, like their nomenclature, by Arjun Basu, a Montreal-based writer and publishing veteran in his 40s, whose Twitter readership stands at 1,46,895 and counting. “After my first tweet wishing I had ordered another vodka on a flight, I wrote a story, which came in at 140 characters with some editing. Within a day, I had written a few and then I became a bit obsessed.” That’s understating it: Arjun has written 5,000 Twisters since. One of them—“They tolerated the ennui of their jobs, bought off by promises of spectacular riches sometime in the future. At retirement, they bought guns”—has been made into an award-winning short film, Life. He hopes to compile his Twisters into a book—or at least put them on posters or coffee mugs.

Another compilation of tweets worth a shot—@Kweezzz trivia. Conscientiously hosting tweet-sized quizzes on everything from Guatemalan currency to the inventor of earmuffs to the actress whose “toothbrush fell in the toilet”, Kweezzz is instant food for the brain.

There’s grist for gossip mills too. Malini Agarwal @MissMalini has much to reveal about “Bollywood and the Bombay party circuit unplugged”. With tidbits from fashion shows, who-wore-it-best couture contests, and shirtless celeb twitpics (sample this: “Lean, mean and undressed Rana Daggubati”) she keeps her tweet wattage high. Devotees leave posts at her shrine on the hour.

Photograph by Nilotpal Baruah

Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats 35798 followers
Famous tweet Two weapons against corruption: Lokpal and Chappal

For Ramesh Srivats, it’s all in a day’s work to have fans come up to him to say hello. Characteristically, he makes light of it: “My bald head makes me easy to recognise!” Utsav’s celeb moment translates into “an occasional free meal or a job offer”. “Other than that, my ‘celebrity’ mostly extends to Linkedin and Google+ invites,” he says modestly.

For some Twitterati, think Pragmatic Desi, The Comic Project, Bombay Addict and C_gawker, it’s enough for just the pseudonyms to be recognised. They refuse to step out from behind their famous handles. Hear it from BollywoodGandu: “I never thought anonymity would be a criterion for popularity, but I was wrong. As Indians, our first response to anyone usually is ‘Tu kaun hai?’. And when you don’t know the answer, it adds to the mystery,” he says. It adds on immunity too, as you throw that virtual chappal. Anonymity and accountability are, after all, inversely linked. Social scientist Shiv Visvanathan insists that the freedom of expression which Twitter affords exists only up to a point: “If you keep making outrageous comments, there will come a quiet point when people will say ‘See you later’. The loudmouths disappear over time. What works best is self-policing.”

Photograph by Jignesh Mistry

Abhishek Asthana @GabbbarSingh 19540 followers
Famous tweet No. of hours you spend wearing shorts in a day/no. of hours wearing trousers = work/life balance index

Besides its obvious merit, the anonymous Twitter handle is also a great creative opportunity. No wonder the handles, alter-egos for their owners, are attention magnets themselves. Abhishek recalls how starting the Gabbbar Singh account to write a blogpost about a Twitter-savvy cast of Sholay, got him 50 followers in five minutes flat, and a thousand in 20 days.

Bollywood Gandu’s irresistible handle, he says, was inspired by a meeting with “a certain Bollywood star and his/her friends (read chamchas)”. He adds, “The irony is that the real ‘gaali’ in my handle is ‘Bollywood’.” Many in his Twitter circle would have noted that already. Twitter’s wit wagon, after all, is teeming with like-minded tweeple, befriending each other, following each other. Ashish Shakya, for instance, follows Gursimran Khamba and Overrated Outcast, who, in turn follow him; Ramesh Srivats and Lakshmipathy Bhat @bhatnaturally follow each other. Yes, it is a small world. But by no means a closed one. Most of them also follow those who could become potential ‘material’ for tweets. JayHind follows news sites to keep himself updated, just as diligently as he keeps up with “unintentionally funny people who falter almost daily” (read celebs).

With the variety and versatility on offer, it’s a goldmine out there for anyone who can keep pace with a tweet a minute. The format helps, of course, as Abraham points out: “It forces people to be brief. You don’t have to wade through too much information to find the next big thing.” Or star. After all, in the democratic republic of Twitter, all it takes to go from voice in the wilderness to vox popular is to say something worthwhile. And find people who’ll gladly repeat it after you.

Read the original in Outlook

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/look-who-s-chasing-twitter-god

International Space Apps Challenge

praskrishna — 2012-04-10T05:18:14Z

The International Space Apps Challenge is an international codeathon-style event that will take place over a 48 hour period in cities on all seven continents – and in space – on the weekend of April 21-22, 2012. The event embraces collaborative problem solving with a goal of producing solutions to global challenges. The Centre for Internet & Society is organising the event in Bangalore.

Background

On September 20, 2011, President Obama, together with other heads of state, endorsed the principles of the Open Government Partnership – a new multilateral initiative to promote transparency, participation and collaboration between governments and citizens. Since then, 52 countries have joined the global partnership.

NASA is working with organizations around the world on the International Space Apps Challenge as part of the United States’ domestic commitment to the Open Government Partnership.

How it Works?

Participants such as concerned citizens, discipline experts, engineers, scientists, and software code developers attend events hosted in cities around the world. At these events, individuals collaborate with others by forming teams focused on solving a particular challenge. The teams compete with other teams around the world to utilize publicly available data to design innovative “solutions” to a pre-determined series of global “challenges.” The challenges are collected prior to the event from supporting organizations.

Challenges

Challenges are grouped into four broad categories:

Software Development
Open Hardware
Citizen Science Platforms!
Data Visualization!

It’s not just about smart phone applications! The International Space Apps.

Challenge will provide solutions that:

Address strategic exploration needs!
Address strategic social needs (life on Earth)

To date, 50+ challenges have been submitted. These challenges are being vetted with development communities such as the Yahoo! Developer Network to refine them prior to the event.

Benefits

Some benefits of the International Space Apps Challenge include:

Visible demonstration of a government’s interest in using publicly available data, in partnership with others, to address global needs.
Opportunity for citizens in countries with little or no investment in space exploration to contribute to space exploration through open source, open data, and code development.
Promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education by encouraging students from around the world to utilize publicly available data for solutions to global challenges.
Encouragement of international partnership and mutual understanding.
Demonstration of commitment to the principles of the Open Government Partnership.

Sample Event Agenda

	Saturday, April 21
09:00	Registration
10:00	Schedule and logistics announcements
10:30	Subject Matter Expert briefing
11:00	Begin developing
12:30	Lunch break 13:30 Developing continued
16:30	Optional progress briefing, more developing
18:30	Dinner break
20:00	More developing
	Sunday, April 22
10:00	Logistics briefing & updates
10:15	Begin developing
12:00	Submission Deadline
12:00	Lunch break
13:30	Presentations
15:00	Judges Voting
15:30	Awards
16:00	Post event social

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the International Space Apps Challenge?
The International Space Apps Challenge is a 2 day technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need.
When will it take place?
The International Space Apps Challenge will take place on all seven continents – and in space - on 21-22 April 2012.
Who is leading the Challenge?
On September 20, 2011, President Obama, together with other heads of state, endorsed the principles of the Open Government Partnership – a new multilateral initiative to promote transparency, participation and collaboration between governments and citizens. Since then, 52 countries have joined the global partnership. NASA is working with other organizations around the world on the International Space Apps Challenge as part of the United States’ domestic commitments to the Open Government Partnership.
Who can participate in the Challenge?
Anyone can participate in the International Space Apps Challenge. It requires individuals with a broad range of skills. We are looking for engineers, technologists, scientists, designers, artists, educators, students, entrepreneurs – anyone who has a passion for changing the world and is willing to contribute.
Why should I participate in the Challenge?
You should participate in the Challenge because the toughest challenges of the world are not one nation’s alone, and this is a unique opportunity to develop technology to reach the human race and make the world a better place. Additionally, the Challenge is an opportunity to:
1. Demonstrate a commitment to the principles of the Open Government Partnership.
2. Exercise a government’s interest in using open data and technology, in partnership with others, to address global needs.
3. Engage citizens in countries with little or no investments in space exploration to contribute to space exploration through open source, open data, and code development.
4. Promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education by encouraging students from around the world to utilize open technology for solutions to global challenges.
5. Encourage international partnership and mutual understanding.
What challenges will be addressed at the event?
Challenges are in development from a wide variety of sources inside and outside of NASA. An initial set has been posted on the site and the community is invited to help develop them collaboratively there. New challenges will continue to be added on a weekly basis in anticipation of the event. To discuss contributing additional challenges or datasets, contact alicia.llewellyn-1@nasa.gov.
Where will the Challenge take place?
Locations in which events are currently planned to be held include San Francisco, US; Tokyo, Japan; Melbourne and Canberra, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Exeter and Oxford, UK; Nairobi, Kenya; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and McMurdo Station, Antarctica. There will be additional events throughout the world and participation by astronauts on the International Space Station.
What is a codeathon?
A codeathon is a unique event that brings together citizens interested in collaborating on the development solutions that address critical challenges. A codeathon celebrates software development in its most positive context—using minimal resources and maximum brainpower to create outside- the-box solutions in response to interesting problems. Codathons are technology development marathons, drawing on the talents and initiative of the best and the brightest software developers, engineers, designers and technologists from around the world, who volunteer their time to respond to real- world problems with solutions than can have immediate impact. The International Space Apps Challenge is a “codeathon-style” event.
Is the event limited to just software development?
No! Participants in the event will collaborate to build software, open hardware, data visualization, and citizen science platform solutions that contribute to space exploration and solve global challenges that focus on improving life on earth.
What happens at the event?
At the events, individuals collaborate with others by forming teams focused on solving a particular challenge. The teams compete with other teams around the world to utilize publicly available space and data to design innovative “solutions” to a pre- determined series of global “challenges.”
What about licensing and IP rights?
All solutions built at the event must be submitted under a license that permits the free and open dissemination of the work. NASA and the other supporting organizations do not own the rights to nor are committed to utilize any solution developed during the event.
Who organizes the events in each city?
Each event is led as a collaboration between organizations who work together to host an event, mobilize the developer community and contribute to the overall success of the International Space Apps Challenge.
How can organizations get involved?
There is still an opportunity to participate in the International Space Apps Challenge and contribute to an event in your country. We are looking for organizations who are interested in supporting events in cities around the world, as well as for subject matter experts who can share their expertise at the event, either in person or remotely. To express interest in supporting an event in your country, contact elizabeth.sabet@secondmuse.com or kristen.m.painting@nasa.gov

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/international-space-apps-challenge

Hacking, Modding & Making

praskrishna — 2012-04-09T09:51:41Z

Seeber's electronics laboratory is a room in a unit he shares with his mother. Every available space is taken up with teetering towers of electronic parts, writes Brendan Shanahan for GQ.

Like subprime lending or the line at the motor registry, patent and copyright laws control all our lives but no one really understands them. In the world of DIY Tech, however, it is not a subject that can be ignored.

" If they are infringing on patents then it's a question you have to ask within the individual jurisdiction," says Abraham. "In many jurisdictions design many not have protection. Whether it's legal or illegal is an open question."

At its heart Abraham's argument is pragmatic: the developing world, especially China, is too big to stop. Companies can fight patent wars in every world territory, hire private detectives, pressure governments and prosecute consumers who buy rip-off products, but, ultimately, they won't win. The genie is out of the bottle.

"If something has been made technologically possible, we cannot make it illegal and hope that everyone will now pretend that this is no longer technologically possible," says Abraham. "We can't have the government checking everyone's iPod and laptop. The better move is to change the model."

Abraham has many suggestions for making copyright law more flexible to benefit manufacturers and consumers. One thing is certain: in a world in which Amazon, not even five years after the launch of the Kindle, is now selling more e-books than all hard copy books combined, and technology such as 3D printing will soon be standard, it would be unwise to cling to old certainities. The music industry may come to be regarded as merely the canary in a digital coalmine of failed industries.

Read the full post here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/hacking-modding-making