Centre for Internet and Society

Interns

praskrishna — 2011-08-20T23:25:59Z

Merlin Oommen has done BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from Delhi and is pursuing MA in Media Governance from Jamia Millia Islamia University. She worked as an intern in UNI, Prabhatam Advertising Pvt. Ltd., and in the Privacy project at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. Merlin can be reached @ merlinjohn_89@yahoo.co.in.

Shilpa Narani is a graduate in Journalism and previously worked as a journalist in a newspaper and news channel in Delhi. She is pursuing her masters in Media Governance from Jamia Millia Islamia University and worked in the Privacy project at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. She can be reached @ shilpa@privacyindia.org.

Sahana Sarkar is presently pursuing masters in Media Governance from Jamia Milla Islamia University. Sahana worked as an Intern in the Privacy project in CIS. Reach her @ sahana@privacyindia.org.

Noopur Raval worked as an Intern with the Centre for Internet and Society. She is a student of Arts and Aesthetics at JNU in Delhi. She can be reached at noopur.raval@gmail.com.

Glover Wright worked as an intern in CIS in the Openness project. He has contributed to the Open Government Data study. Reach him at jgw2102@columbia.edu.

Maesy Angelina works as a programme officer at Hivos, Jakarta on gender, women and development while exploring research initiatives on Digital Natives in Indonesia. She spent a month at CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise Project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. Reach her at maesy.angelina@gmail.com.

Rebecca Schild worked as an intern with the Centre for Internet and Society for a period of one year from 2009 to 2010, producing a number of blog posts. She is now based in Toronto and works with CIS for the LexUM project. Reach her at 04schild@utsc.utoronto.ca

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/people/interns

Internet, szabadon

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T09:25:49Z

A polgárjogi aktivisták konfrontálódtak és panaszkodtak, a Google és a Facebook hárított és panaszkodott az Internet at Liberty konferencián, amelyet kedden és szerdán rendezett a Google és a CEU Budapesten.

– Célunk a szabad, nyílt és biztonságos internet. A Google igyekszik maximalizálni az információhoz való szabad hozzáférést, bár néha hibázunk. Útelágazáshoz érkeztünk, valószínű, hogy az internet korlátozottabb lesz, és a felhasználókat megfosztják hatalmuktól. 2002-ben még csak négy, 2010-ben már 40 ország – köztük Irán, Törökország, Oroszország és Kína – kormánya blokkol tartalmat a neten. Azon vannak, hogy kiépítésék saját, államilag támogatott és feltehetően cenzúrázott keresőiket. A Google célja, hogy a net szabad maradjon – röviden ezt mondta David Google Drummond, a Google jogi igazgatója, egyben a Google egyik alelnöke a Google és a CEU és a Google által szervezett nemzetközi konferencián, az Internet at Liberty 2010-en kedden Budapesten.

Hát ezért kár volt ilyen messzire jönni.

De még mielőtt a hallgatóság egy emberként a laptopjába bújt volna, hogy a Farmville-ben bekkelje ki az elkövetkező két napot, szerencsére kiderült, hogy a jelenlévők között akad rengeteg polgárjogi aktivista, netes szabadságharcos és született privacymániás a világ minden részéről. Ők gondoskodtak róla, hogy személyes, országos, sőt globális volumenű panaszaikkal árnyalják a süppedő padlószőnyegből és az erdei gigantposzterből áradó, felelősségteljes corporate derűt.

„Az internet önmagában nem változtat meg semmit. Ki kell menni az utcára, és a vérünkkel kell fizetnünk!”; „Legalább mondják meg, mi a szart csinálnak!”; „Tudja maga, milyen rendőrségünk van nekünk Pakisztánban?” - ilyen és ehhez hasonló hozzászólások árnyékolták be a felelősségteljes corporate derűt. Amely a sötét fellegek ellenére egészen kedd estig kitartott; de ne szaladjunk ennyire előre.

A jó, a csúf és az illegális

Az internetes szólásszabadság története a jó, a csúf és az illegális története, mondta a konferencia első beszélgetésén Rob Faris, a Harvard Berkman internetes központjának kutatási igazgatója és a nyílt internetért ügyködő OpenNet Initiative munkatársa. A legfontosabb feladat Faris szerint eldönteni azt, hol húzódik a határ a csúf, de még törvényes, és az illegális tartalom között. Erre a legjobb példa a netes pornó helyzete az Egyesült Államokban: az USA Legfelsőbb Bírósága kétszer is megsemmisítette a betiltást célzó törvényeket, és most ott tart az ügy, hogy csak az iskolákban és a könyvtárakban elérhetetlen a pornó, egyébként alkotmányos védelmet élvez. Nem úgy, mint Indiában, de ne szaladjunk ennyire előre.

Faris szerint ugyanakkor világszerte mostanában jelennek meg az internetszabályozás második generációs módszerei, amelyek között ott vannak a szerzői jogi alapon benyújtott eltávolítási kérelmek, sőt az aktivisták és a médiaszájtok ellen intézett kibertámadások is. Az egyes országok kormányai finomítottak szűrési módszereiken, Bahreinben és Jemenben például a választások idején csak speciális szájtokat és információt blokkoltak, Argentína eljutott odáig, hogy néhány éve sikerült a Yahooból elérhetetlenné tennie a Diego Maradonára vonatkozó találatokat. Faris konklúziója: nemzetközi megoldásokra van szükség. De ne szaladjunk ennyire előre.

Panaszfal extra

Nem kellett sok idő hozzá, hogy a konferencia egyetlen hatalmas panaszfallá változzon, vicces és kevésbé vicces panaszrohamokkal. A kirgiz meghívott, Tattu Mambetalieva elmondta, hogy Kirgizisztánban kevesen neteznek, mert drága. Sunil Abraham, az indiai meghívott elmondta, hogy náluk blokkolják a pornót, különös tekintettel a Savita Bhabhi kalandjait ábrázoló képregénysorozatra [Warning: Not safe for work - adult content]. Sazad Ahmad, a pakisztáni meghívott elmondta, hogy a náluk a kormány blaszfémiára hivatkozva blokkol, de mindig kiderül, hogy politikai okok állnak a háttérben.

Egy szíriai aktivista arra panaszkodott, hogy a tunéziai kormány 12 millió dollárért vett a netes forgalom ellenőrzésére szolgáló szervert, és hogy a fejlődő országokban a tartalomszűrésre használt szoftvert nyugatról szerzik be. Egy jemeni aktivista arra panaszkodott, hogy a yemenportal.net-et blokkolja a kormányzat, és hogy a világ semmit nem tud az országban zajló tömegtüntetésekről, nem beszélve a helyi LGBT-közösségéről és a rockegyüttesekről. Tunéziában az a probléma, hogy ha tömegmegmozdulás szerveződik a neten, húszezren feliratkoznak ugyan rá, de csak tízen mennek el. Törökország több száz szájtot blokkol, köztük a YouTube-ot és a Google számos szolgáltatását (Docs, Books, Translate). Azerbajdzsánban két bloggert bebörtönöztek írásaik miatt, és azért nem engedik ki őket, mert nem számítanak újságírónak. A Facebook törli a szoptató anyákról készült képeket, és a Wikipédián az emberi anatómiát taglaló szócikkeket illusztráló fotókat egyre gyakrabban váltják fel rajzok.

Csodák csodájára a panaszok úgy pattantak le a jelen lévő politikusokról, diplomatákról és üzletemberekről, mint eltévedt golflabda a moha lepte kőkerítésről: a Facebook, a Google és a francia külügyminisztérium jelen lévő képviselői, részben tehát a közvetlen címzettek végig ügyesen hárítottak. Folyamatosan hangoztatták, milyen irtózatosan nehéz dolguk van ebben az egyre globálisabb világban, ahol diktatúrák és demokráciák között kell zsonglőrködniük, mindenkinek a kedvében járniuk, és ők mindent megtesznek ugyan, de hát Kína, ugye. Meg Irán. Főleg Irán. Így aztán nem hozott érdemi vitát a Facebook és a Google közös színpadi szereplése sem, pedig a két cég magas szinten képviseltette magát: a Google-től Drummond, a Facebooktól egyenesen Lord Richard Allan, Hallam bárója, volt brit parlamenti képviselő jött el Budapestre, akivel interjút is készítettünk [2].

Még a kritikus sem kritizál

„Nem áll szándékomban a privacy-vel kapcsolatos kritikát megfogalmazni”, mondta nekik kérdésnek látszó expozéjában Marc Rotenberg, az Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) igazgatója, akitől joggal lehetett várni, hogy rendesen megszorongatja a Google és a Facebook tökét. Rotenberg a két cég képviselőihez intézett beszédében annyit mondott, hogy nem feltétlenül hasznos a szólásszabadságot és a magánszférát két ütköző, egymással kiegyensúlyozandó területként felfogni. Szerinte a kettő inkább kiegészíti egymást: az anonim véleménynyilvánítás joga például olyan terület, ahol kéz a kézben jár a magánszférához fűződő jog és a szólásszabadság.

Rotenberg szerint még a privacy semmibe vételével folyamatosan vádolt Facebook sem az ördögtől való, olyannyira, hogy ő maga is fent van rajta. „A Facebook olyan, mint a telefon vagy az email. Használjuk csak politikai aktivizmusra, de legyünk tisztában a hiányosságaival” - mondta Rotenberg, aki szerint a kritikánál többet használ a dialógus.

Mindeközben Lord Allan of Hallam szorgalmasan jegyzetelt az általa csak fPadként emlegetett, Facebook-kék színű füzetbe, Drummond a Google-től pedig atyai stílusban oktatta: „Sok-sok hibát fognak még elkövetni – mondta a Google főjogásza a brit bárónak. – De idővel majd beletanulnak”.

A példátlan kultúrdialógus-kényszerben szinte elsikkadt az egyik legeredetibb résztvevő, Jevgenyij Morozov mondanivalója, pedig Morozov a techvilág jelenleg talán legnépszerűtlenebb álláspontját képviseli: azt hangoztatja, hogy az internet hozzásegíti a diktatúrákat ahhoz, hogy megerősítsék saját hatalmukat A belorusz származású blogger, újságíró és kutató általában szkeptikusan gondolkodik az internet demokratizáló hatásáról. Morozov, aki a tavalyi TED konferencián egész előadást [3] tartott arról, hogyan élnek vissza a diktatúrák a modern technológiai eszközök és a web általában jótékonynak tartott adományaival, azt mondja, hogy az internet egyszerre autonóm erő, és egyszerre a hatalom eszköze. A kutató szerint túlságos leegyszerűsítés a kérdést az aktivisták és a kormányok közötti harcra lebontani. Először meg kell érteni a kultúra, a vallás, a nacionalizmus közötti kapcsolatokat, és csak utána kitalálni, hogyan vonatkoztatható mindez az internetre. A tanulság: tovább kell tanulmányozni a kérdést. Morozov nézeteit nem mindenki osztotta, egy hozzászóló szerint például Iránban kifejezetten jót tesz, hogy a bloggerek fényképeznek, írnak és az anyagot feltöltik a netre, legalább el tudják mondani, hogy a világ figyeli őket. És ez már önmagában reményt kelt.

Read the original in index

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-szabadon

Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T11:14:49Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/internet-society-and-space.pdf

Internet, Society and Space in Indian City: First Report

praskrishna — 2011-08-02T06:06:25Z

This is the first report on the progress of the research on Internet, Society and Space in Indian City. The post is a collection of some of the initial focus of these studies. I have started simultaneously exploring and testing various arguments and have listed some key observations from the ones that are nearing completion.

The idea of the relationship of Internet with space throws interesting challenges from the perspective of both the theoretical premises and actual research methods followed to tease out the issue. I have been exploring the following line of inquiry in the first month and a half of the research:

To understand the broad patterns of representation of cities in Indian from both a historical (classical) traditions and contemporary popular practices
To derive the key hypothesis for the narrative research of the different persons leading to rendering of characteristics of the target group to be interviewed
To develop the method for researching issues of spacial transformations as related to mobility and change in land-use patterns

Notes from Field Studies

Representation of space in various mediums was of special interest to me, as it reveals a lot about our cities, both in terms of what physically exists and is imagined. The aim was to capture the ideas of such representations both in popular as well as formal/ classical mediums. The search started with the old part of Ahmedabad, which is the centre of trade and commerce for not only the city but also the region at large. A wholesale seller of books on medicine, the Navneet school textbook, the Anchor electrical switches, the Tullu pump motor and the Taparia screwdriver are all here in the old city. This part of the city is the heart, which supports life way beyond its own space.

The book wholesalers were of special interest to me as I was looking for the front page of the notebooks that kids use in schools. Unlike the time when I studied, the long notebooks these days are full of illustrations in the front and back cover. The bullet trains of Japan superimposed on the Eiffel tower of Paris, the natural environment and the deer chewing grass in strange oblivion, the view of the skyscraper of Singapore or a globe with a tree on top are all seemingly inconsequential images on textbooks these days. I was particularly interested in the ones that make a statement on the city and its parts or rather literally had a whiff of 'space'.

The wall posters that are sold on the streets were also analyzed for the content and focus. The cheaply printed bright coloured posters are a wonderful reflection of our society and by virtue of their content, have a pan-Indian appeal. Salman Khan soaked in blood, Katrina Kaif with pouted lips, the solitary rural lady sitting below a pine tree with her head down and singing “When will you come back my love”, a idyllic rural street with bullock carts or the view of fort area of Mumbai are some such illustrations on these posters.

This particular study of popular modes of representation raises interesting questions from the point of view of perception of space both in terms of the actual lived in experience and the meanings attached to the same.

The Nature and the Cities

The yearning for nature or rather an apparent moral quest for some kind of a harmony seems to be a prevailing attitude in lot of the popular representation that I studied. The intensity of development is often proportionate to the 'prestineness' of the nature that surrounds it. Development is seen as a clean activity in the lap of nature! But on further examination one observes a consistent effort to juxtapose nature and city life in a binary relationship. Even though mixed up together to suggest a kind of romantic co-existence, the treatment makes it obviously as two different realms.

The imagination of cities and nature as two different realms is an important concept and will be explored further.

I will return to it while describing similar city representation patterns in the historical classical traditions such as Miniature paintings.

The Made-Up Context

The range of representation needs further examination from the point of view of the perception of cities and its spaces. Large numbers of posters were actually an interesting collage that somehow brought together picturesque images of iconic building from around the world in a kind of new juxtapositions.

Authenticity does not matter, nor does context as long as it is reflective of the ‘developed’ countries. Iconic buildings like the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House or Mumbai VT terminal capture the imagination of the people as symbols of human habitation. But what is more important is the fact that these symbols almost purposefully are far removed from the context in which they are produced and consumed. This is interesting as by the virtue of its cultural, spatial and contextual differences, the representations have a dream or unreal aspects to its existence. This feeling of disconnect and the unreal is important in this form of representation as it floats as an imagination that should never ever come anywhere close to reality; A space which is so fictitious that it hardy needs to connect at all with the physical world. Similarly, many posters tried to portray the romance of the rural life of India.

The lady waiting for her lover, the village hut and the bullock cart drawn not as a reality but as symbols, juxtaposed to remind its viewers the virtues of the rural living. The caricatured symbols of rural life that are shown in these illustrations elevate the production into a fictional and surreal space that is far removed from cities where it is consumed and also very different from the vast hinterland of the country that they pretend to represent. This hyper and almost mythical representation of space is a very important condition to all these illustrations leading to interesting questions of how our city spaces are imagined. It seems that this fiction or rather the surrealist attitude is very important aspect in popular imagination of space in the Indian context.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/internet-society-space

Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities - A Call for Peer Review

praskrishna — 2015-04-06T15:52:21Z

Pratyush Shankar's research project on "Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities" is a part of the Researchers @ Work Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. His monograph explores the trajectories of transformation and perception of cities in India in context with the rise of Information Technologies for communication and presence of an active digital space.

There has been, in the fields of design and architecture, a close link between the shape and imagination of the city spaces and the dominant technologies of the time. The study of space (architecture, public places and city form) can lead to very interesting insights into the expression of the society with respect to the dominant technologies. Manuel Castells argues that space is not a mere photo¬copy (reflection) of the society but it is an important expression (Castells, 2009). Fredric Jameson, in his identification of the condition of post-modernity demonstrates how the transition into new technologies is perhaps first and most visibly reflected in the architecture, as physical spaces get materially reconstructed, not only to house the needs and peripheries of the emerging technologies but also to embody their aesthetics in their design and built form (Jameson, 1991).

Earlier technologies have led to new understandings of the notions of the public and commons. Jurgen Habermas argues on how the emergence of print cultures and technologies led to a structural transformation of the public sphere by creating new and novel forms of participation and political engagement for the print readers. Within cinema studies in India, Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Madhav Prasad have looked at the 'cinematic city' — how material conditions of the city transform to house the cinema technologies, and how the imagination of certain cities is affected by the cinematic representations of these spaces (Rajadhyaksha, 2009). Mike Davis' formulations of an 'Ecology of Fear'(Davis, 1999) and Sean Cubbit's idea of 'The Cinema Effect' (Cubitt, 2005) also show the integral relationship that technologies have with the imagination and materiality of urban spaces.

I wish to explore the trajectories of transformation and perception of cities in India in context with the rise of Information Technologies for communication and presence of an active digital space. The issue of imagination is an important one here as much as the material realities of our cities. However, to begin with one needs to look at the very idea of cities in the Indian context. The fundamental idea of a city and that of a space becomes important here and has been explored in the chapter on cities. The issue of representation as related to ideas of 'social space' and 'abstract space' (Lefebvre, 1992) has been used as a methodological framework while analyzing cities. The social space of a city here refers to the production of space that is biomorphic and anthropological. From this perspective people and history and memory along with social economic processes play a strong role in its definition. Hence, city spaces cannot be understood as a collection of building and other material production alone but rather as an act of social production involving people over a long period of time. The appropriation and representation of cities is another important concern as it creates an imagination structure and often justifies the material transformation.

The research is primarily concerned with first creating an understanding of the cities in Indian context from the point of view of their social, technological and material productions. The ideas and representations of space therefore, become critical issues of exploration to understand the nature of imagination of space with reference to Indian cities. An empirical study of issues of spatial transformation was conducted in Bangalore and Gurgaon to find certain patterns and its correlation with the present discourses on the technology and the city. The issue of perception of lived in space, cartography and myth became important issues to understand the nature of the imagination of space and positioning of the digital space. The contradiction of a networked geography with the present spatial arrangement of cities that is the centre of a larger territory becomes important shifts to be accounted for while understanding the new geography. The patterns and possibilities in these new geographies of information technologies have been understood by studying three building programmes in the city. The question of transformation and future of cities and the position of digital space in these times then became an important one to answer. The initial study concerns with laying out a framework for examining the techno-spatial discourses in cities in general while establishing the key characteristics of its narration in the Indian context.

The Researchers At Work Programme, at the Centre for Internet and Society, advocates an Open and transparent process of knowledge production. We recognise peer review as an essential and an extremely important part of original research, and invite you, with the greatest of pleasures, to participate in our research, and help us in making our arguments and methods stronger. The first draft of the monograph is now available for public review and feedback. Please click on the links below to choose your own format for accessing the document.

We appreciate your time, engagement and feedback that will help us to bring out the monograph in a published form. Please send all comments or feedback by April 5, 2011 to nishant@cis-india.org or you can use your Open ID to login to the website and leave comments to this post.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/internet-society-space-in-indian-cities-a-call-for-peer-review

Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities - A Call for Peer Review

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T10:32:32Z

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PDF

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/city-and-space

Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities

praskrishna — 2011-10-16T08:17:13Z

The monograph on Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities, by Pratyush Shankar, is an entry into debates around making of IT Cities and public planning policies that regulate and restructure the city spaces in India with the emergence of Internet technologies. Going beyond the regular debates on the modern urban, the monograph deploys a team of students from the field of architecture and urban design to investigate how city spaces – the material as well as the experiential – are changing under the rubric of digital globalisation.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/internet-society.pdf

Internet, Society & Space in Indian Cities

praskrishna — 2011-09-27T10:07:24Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/internet-society-space.pdf

Internet, social media access should not be blocked: Ban

praskrishna — 2011-12-12T04:16:25Z

Amidst a raging controversy over the federal government’s proposal to monitor content in cyber space, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said access to the Internet and various social media must not be blocked as a way to prevent criticism and public debate.

In his speech on the eve of the Human Rights Day which was released at the United Nations Information Centre, Ban said: “Today, within their existing obligation to respect the rights of freedom of assemble and expression, governments must not block access to the Internet and various forms of social media as a way to prevent criticism and public debate.”

His comments came a few days after Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said the government will take steps to stop offensive and defamatory content on Internet sites.

Ban said: “Many of the people seeking their legitimate aspirations were linked through social media.”

Sibal’s comments provoked anger and derision among Internet users. Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, said it would be “impractical on the level of scale and on the level of the objective test. What’s offensive for someone might be completely banal to somebody else,” he said. Any ham-fisted government crackdown would “have a high impact on our credibility as a democracy” and risk alienating India’s growing online community, Abraham said.

The story was published in the Oman Tribune on December 10, 2011. Sunil Abraham was quoted in this article. Read the original here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-social-media-access-should-not-be-blocked-ban

Internet, Mobile & Digital Economy Conference (IMDEC) 2013

praskrishna — 2013-10-25T06:18:25Z

FICCI, in association with the Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India is organizing Internet, Mobile & Digital Economy Conference (IMDEC) 2013 on 17th October 2013 at Federation House, FICCI, New Delhi. The theme for this year’s conference is “Internet to Equinet: Empowering a Billion Online”. Sunil Abraham is a speaker in the session on "The Internet We Want: A Multistakeholder Approach".

This was published by FICCI on their website on October 16, 2013. Download the agenda here.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister for Communications & Information Technology has kindly consented to inaugurate the conference and will deliver the keynote address during the inaugural session. Shri Nehchal Sandhu, Deputy National Security Advisor; Shri M F Farooqui, Secretary, DoT; and Mr. Fadi Chehadé, CEO, ICANN have also agreed to address the participants during the inaugural session of the conference.

The conference will deliberate on the empowerment of Indian citizens and growth of the digital economy, using internet and mobile technologies. The first conference will specifically debate on thematic and business issues as below:

Inaugural Session: Internet to Equinet: Empowering a Billion Online

Session I: The Internet We Want: A Multistakeholder View

Session II:M2M: The Internet of 50 Billion Devices

Session III: Mobile Internet is the Future: What Stands in the Way?

The conference which will include CEOs and senior government, industry and academia participants, will explore the challenges in connecting the unconnected and making them part of the global information society on one hand, while discussing the implementation and impact of new emerging technologies such as M2M. It will provide an opportunity to hear the views of various stakeholders and thought leaders in the internet, mobile and digital economy space. IMDEC 2013 is open to business leaders, economists, researchers, analysts and decision-makers from government entities, industry, academia, and international organizations.

Bhairav Acharya, Elonnai Hickok and Purba Sarkar also participated in the event.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ficci-october-17-2013-internet-mobile-digital-economy-conference-2013

Internet users fume as govt blocks 32 sites

praskrishna — 2015-01-02T13:46:25Z

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered Internet service providers to block 32 websites, in cluding popular video-sharing plat forms such as Dailymotion and Vimeo, reportedly over concerns that they are being misused by Islamic State jihadists.

The article by Jaison Lewis was published in Mumbai Mirror on January 1, 2015. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

The ban has angered free-speech proponents who allege that the Narendra Modi government is using national security as a pretext to censor online content. On Wednesday, tweets criticising the restrictions were trending on #GOIBlocks. Senior lawyer Karuna Nandy said that she would challenge the DoT order in the Supreme Court.

Apart from Dailymotion and Vimeo, Internet service providers have also been ordered to block Github and Pastebin, which are popular among programmers; Weebly, a free website creator; and Archive.org, a non-profit digital library.

Some Internet users, however, were able to access some of the sites. This could be because their Internet service providers have not yet implemented the DoT order or because the government has lifted restrictions on some web addresses, according to activists monitoring the blockage of the websites.

The order was issued under Section 69A (procedure for blocking public access) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The section allows authorities to block websites without giving any formal reason or making any public announcement.

However, Arvind Gupta, BJP's national head for information and technology, tweeted that the sites had been blocked over security concerns. "The Web sites have been blocked based on an advisory by Anti-Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti India content from ISIS.The sites that have removed objectionable content andor cooperated with the ongoing investigations, are being unblocked," he wrote.

Gupta, however, did not explain how the sites were being misused by terrorists. Some of the sites are mostly frequented by programmers looking for open-source software and codes.

Nandy, a Supreme Court lawyer who specialises in human rights litigations, criticised the ban. "I will challenge the order in the Su preme Court this week. I will seek directions to lift the secrecy surrounding such bans and also request for a right to appeal," she said.

She added that censoring the Internet was against the idea of free expression guaranteed under the Constitution. "Such steps are not good for a healthy society," she said.

Pranesh Prakash, a policy director with the Centre for Internet and Society and one of the most vocal opponents of the blockage, said that the people had the right to know why the websites had been blocked.

"We still don't know why these blocks were issued: was it an overzealous copyright lawyer who found an indulgent judge to issue an overbroad and baseless order? Or was it a public servant who wrongly directed the Department of Electronics and IT to block the sites under the IT Act? We have no idea," said Prakash, who tweeted a picture of the DoT order on Wednesday.

He added that websites were frequently blocked without clear evidence of wrongdoing. "These laws must be changed," Prakash said.

Internet users also voiced their anger over the DoT order. "This only proves ATS is an idiot. If terrorists use buses, phones & Whatspp, you'll block whole system? #GOIBlocks," Poonam Sharma tweeted.

Some users retweeted a Modi post from August 2012: "As a common man, I join the protest against crackdown on freedom of speech!"

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/mumbai-mirror-jaison-lewis-jan-1-2015-internet-users-fume-as-govt-blocks-32-sites

Internet users flay Mumbai girls' arrest over Facebook post

praskrishna — 2012-11-20T11:35:04Z

The arrest of two girls over their Facebook post on shutdown in Mumbai for Bal Thackeray's funeral on Monday again opened a can of worms with netizens calling the move a "social media hijack by the powerful and the fundamentalists". Social media was abuzz with tweets and posts about the arrest, with most referring to the arrest as yet another move to curb freedom of speech on the Internet.

This post was published by IBN Live on November 20, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

Noted journalist Gautam Chikermane tweeted "First Pondicherry businessman, now 21 year old Palghar girl. Next: all of us. Social media hijack by the powerful and the fundamentalists". Minister of State (Communications and IT) Milind Deora tweeted: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize ~ Voltaire".

Communication specialist Alyque Padamsee expressed shock at the arrest and the vandalism at the clinic of one of the girl's uncle. "I want to know how these girls have broken the law when all they said is that why should Mumbai come to a standstill. There is nothing derogatory against Thackeray. I do not see anything illegal in that," he said. Padamsee further said the Constitution provides everyone free speech and that "no one should be arrested on such flimsy grounds".

Pavan Duggal, Cyber law Expert and an advocate with Supreme Court also voiced similar views. "This is high time for the government for the review of the law. The government should amend the IT Act so as to narrow down its provisions as some of the these violate our constitutional right of free speech."

He added that it would be a bigger challenge for the prosecution to prove that the statement could incite communal disharmony and violence. "This should not be seen merely as "social media regulation", but as a restriction on freedom of speech and expression by both the law and the police," Centre for Internet and Society Policy Director Pranesh Prakash said.

The two girls--Shaheen Dhada and Renu--were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court before which they were produced today but were granted bail within hours after they furnished personal bonds. There was also an attack on the clinic of an uncle of one of them by Sena activists.

The arrests also sparked an outrage with Press Council of India chief Markandey Katju today demanding "immediate" action against police personnel involved. While Dhada was arrested for the post, Dhada's friend Renu was arrested for 'liking' the post. "Police arrested both of them under section 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes). Today, they were granted bail," their advocate Sudhir Gupta said.

The duo was arrested following a police complaint lodged by a local Sena leader. After the comment was posted, a mob of nearly 40 Shiv Sainiks allegedly barged into Dhada's uncles's orthopaedic hospital at Palghar and vandalised the place on Sunday. However, no arrests were made in connection with the attack.

Some other tweets in support of the girls read: "Hatred of minorities, liberals is an epidemic on Twitter. Law shd be harsh on hatespeak not on democratic rights of 21 year olds!Cheerio" (@sagarikaghose) and "So the girl n frnd got arrested for posting stuff on FB did Shiv sainiks get arrested for destroying the doc's hospital?? #Mumbai #Balasaheb" (@SocoMumbai).

Last month, a businessman from Puducherry was arrested on the charge of posting "offensive" messages on social media targeting Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram.

The following image was also being circulated over the Internet and is said to be the Facebook post that led to the girls' arrest:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ibnlive-news-nov-20-2012-netizens-flay-mumbai-girls-arrest-over-facebook-post

Internet users enraged over US online spying

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T04:10:05Z

India is the fifth most tracked nation by American intelligence agencies.

The article by Maitreyee Boruah was published in the Times of India on June 29, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

Have you been posting pictures and messages with gay abandon on your social networking sites or having personal discussions on instant chat or video messaging and thinking that no one other than the intended recipient(s) has access to it? Well, going by the recent revelation that government agencies, and that too from the US, have been spying on our internet usage and collating private information, even the most hardcore security settings for your online data are apparently of no use.

According to former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Edward Snowden's testimony, the US National Security Agency ( NSA) has been using major tech giants to spy on private information of users around the world. And India is the fifth most tracked nation by the US intelligence system. But isn't this a direct infringement on our right to privacy? Or are such measures the need of the hour, given the increasing incidences of terror acts across the world?

What should the Indian government do?

Recently, a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed in the Indian Supreme Court on the issue of the web snooping by the US. The PIL sought the Centre to initiate action against internet companies for sharing information with foreign authorities, which amounts to breach of contract and violation of the right to privacy.

"First, we need to urgently enact a horizontal privacy law, which articulates privacy principles and institutes the office of the privacy commissioner. Second, we need to promote the use of encryption and other privacy-enhancing technologies. The use of foreign internet infrastructure by those in public offices should be banned, except in the case of public dissemination. And last, but not the least, take action against online firms that have access to personal data of users and violate the privacy of Indian citizens through the office of the regulator," suggests Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization, Centre for Internet and Society.

Anja Kovacs, project director at the Internet Democracy Project in India, meanwhile, wants the Indian government to assert itself. "The best the Indian government can do is to demand that this kind of snooping does not happen. However, it can't ensure that such episodes won't happen in the future, as there is no enforceable global legal framework to deal with online snooping."

Era of the Big Brother?

Given the lack of legal support, does it mean that internet users have no right to privacy? "We do have a right to privacy. Unfortunately, our right is not respected. By and large, unless they use special tools to protect themselves, internet users do not have any real privacy in many countries, including India," says Anja, adding, "The right to privacy is not explicitly included in the Constitution, and the Privacy Bill continues to be pending. Also, Indian intelligence agencies are not under supervision of the Parliament, which is an important weakness in the accountability system." Echoing Anja, Sunil says, "In India, unfortunately, our right to privacy is not sufficiently protected. Indian laws are not strong enough to safeguard privacy of Internet users."

Anger in the online community

A large number of internet users who we spoke to said they were "shocked" after hearing about the US government's spying mechanism. "The recent revelation of snooping by the US government is a clear case of intrusion into our privacy. It is absolutely illegal," says 24-year-old IT professional Subodh Gupta.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-maitreyee-boruah-june-29-2013-internet-users-enraged-over-us-online-spying

Internet users

praskrishna — 2011-06-03T13:37:11Z

Internet users at a cybercafe in Bengaluru

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Internet Usage

praskrishna — 2013-05-06T08:41:09Z

Internet Usage

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