Centre for Internet and Society

Global Congress Session

praskrishna — 2016-04-10T04:13:21Z

Global Congress Session

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

Global Congress On IP and Public Interest Adopts Principles for Negotiations

praskrishna — 2014-01-13T08:32:25Z

A recent conference on intellectual property and the public interest concluded with the adoption of public interest principles to guide international trade negotiations and international organisations.

This article by William New was published in the Intellectual Property Watch on January 6, 2014.

The Open African Innovation Research (Open A.I.R.) conference and the Global Congress on IP & the Public Interest took place in Cape Town, South Africa from 9-13 December. The conference hosted by the University of Cape Town was funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Germany’s Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), among others.

Principles adopted at the conference included transparency, preservation of rights within international agreements such as national flexibilities, protection for internet service providers, strengthening of the public domain, and access to knowledge and to medicines.

The event included a fairly diverse representation, and not all participants necessarily signed on to the principles that emerged from the event.

According to infojustice.org, some 200 people have signed the “Global Congress Declaration on Public Interest Principles for International IP Negotiations,” which is available here.

The declaration calls for “’a positive agenda in international intellectual property law making’ which would include a more open negotiating process, respect for stakeholders’ social and economic welfare, and preserve states’ freedoms to protect access to knowledge goods,” infojustice.org said.

In particular, the declaration took aim at the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) being negotiated by 12 countries led by the United States. It urged negotiators of the TPP and future negotiations to ensure the “ongoing release of proposed legal provisions for public comment and maximize the ability of all interested persons and organizations to observe and participate in negotiation processes.”

Other principles, which echo debates at international organisations in Geneva, include ensuring that nations: retain sovereignty to take actions in their public interest without constraint from intellectual property rights, be able to use anti-circumvention measures without liability, and that IP enforcement measures be “reasonable and proportional.”

Additional principles called for avoiding “the creation of new dispute resolution fora parallel to, and that may conflict with, the multilateral system,” and ensuring that IP agreements are “consistent with international law, including international human rights law and the Convention on Biological Diversity.”

Finally, the declaration said: "We record our serious concerns about the closed and secretive processes being used for current international negotiations while acknowledging the efforts of some countries to promote positive proposals within them."

Statement on Global Fund IP Policy and Generics

Also at the Cape Town event, a statement was adopted raising concern over a policy being considered by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that would establish tiered pricing for medicines.

“We note with growing concern the weakening of the Global Fund’s support for expanding access to safe, affordable generic medications as the answer to unaffordable essential drugs,” the statement said. “We are extremely concerned about the recent announcement of a ‘blue-ribbon Task Force’ on tiered-pricing of medicines in middle-income countries.”

In addition, the statement raised concern about a new Global Fund partnership with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations on “fake medicines.” It said the effort could create confusion in consumers’ minds about generic medicines. For them, the best approach would be “strong drug regulatory agencies together with effective technology transfer.”

"The Global Fund should retain its public interest focus and disentangle the interests of public health from the interests of those who claim intellectual-property over drugs," it said. "Regressive policy suggestions and public campaigns that undermine generic competition are counter to the Fund’s public mission."

Open A.I.R.

One aspect of the Open A.I.R. project is that the fellows who have been trained over the past few years now will go out and spread the word.

Seble Baraki, legal researcher at the Justice and Legal Systems Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, told Intellectual Property Watch, “I go and tell people what I’ve learned and see how it is going to help” on issues like health or branding to ensure high quality products.

"By being here, I think I have brought the issue of IP in my government," she said. For instance, they have a conference on law and development with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and she has consistently mentioned that they should include something on development and IP. Now, they have agreed to do it, she said.

From studying in the North (Sweden), she had a certain idea about intellectual property. "Being part of this project helped me to see how to look at how to use IP from a public interest and development perspective.

Now, she said, she plans to go home and look at how it really makes a difference in her city, to see how IP can be used. Being part of this project, she added, "changed how you think about IP."

Other Highlights

The weeklong conference was packed with speakers and activities, and involved many of the leading figures in the public interest movement related to intellectual property rights. It also involved a first-time training on traditional knowledge related to IP rights.

The death of South African leader and “father” Nelson Mandela profoundly impacted the meeting. For example, a participant from Côte d’Ivoire said he was going to “live tweet” a journey through Mandela’s whole life, traveling from country to country.

Separately, Diane Peters, general counsel at Creative Commons, suggested a focus on a positive agenda, not taking away the right of another. There are ways to structure a dialogue so that everyone’s needs are addressed, she said.

“We are all part of some ecosystem,” she said, thinking and learning from the ideas of others. Limitations and exceptions are a right, Peters said. Authors should recognise that they also are re-using others’ ideas, same for the people who re-use and remix. “I’m really happy with how the dialogue-shaping is going,” she said.

Peters also said Creative Commons takes the view that their licences are not an answer to the problems of the copyright system. (CC licences include the version used by Intellectual Property Watch allowing re-use of our content for non-commercial purposes with attribution).

[Update: Creative Commons recently issued a policy statement on copyright reform].

The Struggle for Balance

Discussions during the week showed the diversity of topics and interests in fields affected by intellectual property rights. There were few vocal champions of the IP system, but there also was no blanket condemnation of it. Rather, discussions were attempts to address specific opportunities within IP, or concerns about its effects in certain cases. Not everyone held the same view and there were some debates during the week.

But given the variety and number of advocates from different sectors, such as the access to medicines and access to knowledge movements, there were some rallying cries around certain issues.

One relatively common area was the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), as concerns are high about raising IP protection levels without the participation of public interest groups. A speaker asserted that the United States is using the TPP to target BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as it did in the negotiations for the 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

There also were a number of discussions about the meaning of “open,” in issues like open access, open education, and open source. On a related note, Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore, India-based Centre for Internet and Society, said there are different types of open standards, and that using digital signatures instead of biometrics gives a decentralised system that protects human rights.

One speaker said they had been struck during the week by the need for a South-South network. Another asked how developing countries can use IP frameworks that have been predetermined in the North and that are not appropriate.

Participants repeatedly expressed positive attitudes about such a large and high-energy gathering (which the beautiful setting did nothing to diminish), allowing endless networking opportunities. But there was an urgency about the gathering for many, as global efforts to strengthen the IP system are working against their goals.

“We are seeing an assault on pretty much every single level,” one public health advocate said at the closing session. “Even when we win” and are able to advance the cause for access to medicines, the judges have been trained by the North (meaning with a pro-IP slant) and “turn the whole thing over.”

George Washington University Prof. Susan Sell described the “forum-shifting” that occurs with forces seeking to strengthen global intellectual property rules, as they seek international organisations where they can effect change in their favour. She likened it to a “cat and mouse” situation. She also said that IP policy is not an end in itself, but is public policy.

A participant from Jordan said that country did not play “cat-and-mouse” very well as when it signed its bilateral free trade agreement with the United States it took in all the bad aspects of the US copyright law.

Another speaker said the IP system does not encourage innovation for need but rather innovation for profit. He said governments in countries with strong rights holders are “captured,” and that governments need to be recaptured. He said organisations like the Gates and Clinton foundations are promoters of strong IP protection. Developing countries, activists, need to stop being the mouse, he said, and “start becoming the dog that chases the cat.”

“How do we forum-shift to all of the spaces we can win,” another speaker asked later, “[and] push the IP maximalist agenda to where we are not always on the defensive?”

“We are seeing an assault on pretty much every single level,” said a third. “Even when we win and are able to insert an agenda for [access to medicines], the judges have been trained by the North and turn the whole thing over.”

The mood, as Sell characterised it, is that “we can never stop and congratulate ourselves too much, because it just keeps coming.”

The annual event will continue next December, this time in Kuala Lumpur.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ip-watch-january-6-2014-william-new-global-congress-on-ip-and-public-interest-adopts-principles-for-negotiations

Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015

praskrishna — 2015-05-01T16:48:59Z

Sunil Abraham is a panelist at this event.

Opening session

Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, will open the conference, followed by an introduction by Bert Koenders, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, host of the GCCS. The conference will start with a strategic discussion among representatives of all stakeholders on the most important current developments in cyberspace. A panel consisting of high-level government officials and private sector and civil society leaders will sketch the main opportunities, dilemmas and challenges facing the further evolution of the internet. All main issues of the conference will be touched upon: internet governance and multistakeholder cooperation, freedom and privacy online, the digital divide, the internet as enabler for social and economic development, cyber security and cybercrime. The panel will address questions such as:

How should we balance freedom, security and economic development and innovation in cyberspace?
How do we guarantee an open, free and secure internet?
What are the responsibilities of the various stakeholders in cyberspace, e.g.: what role should governments vis a vis the private sector play in protecting privacy online?
How can we improve cooperation between governments, private sector and civil society in cyber-related matters?
How can we maintain and improve trust by consumers in the internet?
How can we stimulate research and development, and interdisciplinary academic cooperation in order to strengthen cyberspace?

The panel will be followed by ministerial statements.

Moderator: Riz Kahn, Founder and CEO of Global Media Productions

Panellists:

Mireille Ballestrazzi, President of Interpol
Vint Cerf, Vice-President of Google
Nnenna Nwakanma, World Wide Web Foundation
Fadi Chehadé, CEO ICANN
Yurie Ito, Director of Global Coordination Division for the JPCERT/CC

12:30 to 13:15 None

Side Event: Lunch panel on 'Cyber warfare and jus in bello'

The International Committee of the Red Cross, with the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will organise a short side-event on 'Cyber warfare and jus in bello' during the Thursday lunch break of the conference. This panel will focus on the use of cyber operations as means and methods of warfare during armed conflict, namely cyber warfare. It will give participants insights into the challenges that cyber warfare creates for the application and interpretation of international humanitarian law (IHL). The panel will touch upon issues such as the potential human cost of cyber warfare; the protection that IHL affords to infrastructure essential to the civilian population against cyber attacks; the challenges that the dual use of cyberspace creates for the principle of distinction; or the legal review of cyber weapons.

The panel should support participants in gaining a better understanding on whether the relevant IHL norms, in particular the rules governing the conduct of hostilities, appear to be sufficiently clear in light of the specific characteristics and foreseeable human cost of cyber warfare.

13:15 to 14:45 Livestream available

Scenario-based Policy Discussion

An interactive discussion ensures all participants are aware of the urgency of the challenges we face in cyberspace. The discussion is based on a fictitious but realistic scenario which presents dilemmas we face in cyberspace. See the teaser on youtube. Panellists representing governments, private sector and civil society will be asked to come up with concrete solutions to the issues posed in several short film clips. The entire audience will be able to react to the scenario and to the proposed solutions.

Moderator:

Riz Kahn, Founder and CEO of Global Media Productions

Panellists-VIP Panel:

Klaas Dijkhoff, State Secretary for Security and Justice of the Netherlands
Robert Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada
Pedro Huichalaf, Vice Minister for Telecommunications of Chile
Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust
Eelco Blok, CEO of KPN
Cheri McGuire, Vice President, Global Government Affairs & Cybersecurity Policy of Symantec Corporation
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society

Panellists - CyberSpace Perspective Panel:

Giuseppe Targia, Vice President Security of Nokia
Gerard Hartsink, Vice-Chair of the Digital Economy Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
Guillaume Poupard, Director General of the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d’Information (ANSSI)
Coen Vermeulen, Division Director Cash and Payment Systems of the Dutch Central Bank

15:00 to 16:15 Livestream available

Prolonged Opening Session

Ministerial statements.

15:00 to 16:15 Livestream available

FOCUS SESSION : International peace and security in cyberspace

The use of cyber operations has become a new challenge in the field of international peace and security. How can international political cooperation be reinforced and international law applied in order to avoid conflicts and maintain a stable cyberdomain?

It is likely that cyber capabilities will be part of future conflicts and, below the threshold of armed conflict, there is a growing risk of cyber attacks by state and non-state actors. The use of this tool is incentivized by low entry costs, high potential gains and low political and legal risks in case of discovery. Given the unique attributes of this tool and the difficulty of verifying behavior, there is the potential for mistaken attribution, miscalculation and unintended escalation in a time of crisis. The threats and risks must not be exaggerated, but the increasing use of cyber operations potentially creates instability and mistrust in international relations. Uncertainty and insecurity raise the spectre of a cyber arms race, which would be even more destabilizing.

The need for international cooperation to reduce these risks is clear. This is a strategic challenge for states that transcends the technical and operational level. It is also a challenge in which the private sector must be a part of any solution, given its ownership over most of the global cyber infrastructure. Although sometimes described as “wild West” characterized by normative ambiguity, cyberspace is not sui generis. Much work has been done to affirm the applicability in cyberspace of existing international law and norms for State conduct, in which especially the 2013 the report of the Group of Governmental Experts stands out as a landmark achievement.

Against this background, the fundamental challenge is to further develop a sustainable international cyber stability “regime”, both between states and non-state actors, and to work out how this connects into the overarching regime complex for managing global cyber activities. This focus is relevant for all countries and companies, not just for the ‘cyber great powers’.

1. How to develop international security and stability within the regime complex for managing global cyber activities
2. What are the responsibilities of States towards other States that follow from the application of international law and the principle of State sovereignty to State activities in cyberspace?
3. What norms or additional measures of self-restraint or mutual assistance can States and companies implement to create a more stable cyberspace?

Speakers:

The Hon. Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia
Mr. Christopher Painter, Coördinator for State Department United States of America
Chen Xu H.E. Ambassador Ministry of Foreign Affairs People’s Republic of China
Arvind Gupta H.E. Deputy National Security Adviser India
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Estonia (to be confirmed)
Mr. Matt Thomlinson, Vice President of Security Microsoft United States of America
H.E. Mrs. Amina Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Kenya

Moderator:

Joseph S. Nye, Professor University Distinguished Service Professor Harvard Kennedy School of Government United States of America

Professor Joseph S. Nye is the author of The Regime Complex for Managing Global Cyber Activities, which was written as part of his participation in the Global Commission on Internet Governance.

15:00 to 16:15 Livestream available

Parallel Session : The Ethics of Algorithms - From Offensive Content to Self-Driving Cars

From search engine results to predictive policing, algorithms are determining and shaping ever more parts of our lives. This new type of governance has a name: algorithmic regulation. What are the ethical responsibilities of those architecting algorithms and for us as a society?

Algorithms are used to decide who should be hired, or who should be flagged as a suspect; which news gets highlighted and which stories disappear from social media feeds. The subjective decisions by institutions and companies who design computer algorithms to process information, also known as ‘algorithmic regulation’, may directly interfere with freedom of speech. Ensuring that such algorithms are in line with human rights standards will be a challenge for governments and companies in the coming years.

This is why this session brings together leading experts from academia, technology and civil society to discuss the ethical dimensions for those architecting algorithms and for us as a society.

Background information: Ethics of Algorithms

Panellists:

Ben Wagner, director Centre for Internet & Human Rights (moderator)
Jillan York, Policy Director freedom of expression Electronic Frontier Foundation
Richard Allan, Director of Policy in Europe, Facebook
Frank LaRue, Director of European Operation, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Kave Salamatian, Professor of computer Science, University of Savoie
Joe McNamee, Executive Director, European Digital Rights
Frank Pasquale, Professor of law, University of Maryland, Francis King Carey School of Law

15:00 to 16:15

Parallel Session : CSIRT Maturity

The cyber threat landscape is constantly changing and the responsibility to prevent, detect and respond to incidents is ever more challenging. To remain effective and to be able to meet these rapidly evolving challenges, Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) must evolve continuously. The cyber domain is not limited by political borders and most cyber threats cannot be adequately addressed by any single CSIRT. Therefore international cooperation with a view to reaching higher levels of CSIRT maturity is essential. During this session (among other things) the “Quick Scan CSIRT Maturity” as well as the “Toolkit CSIRT Maturity” will be demonstrated.

Moderator:

Wout de Natris, Consultant, De Natris Consult/MKB Cyber Advies Nederland

Speakers:

Baiba Kaskina, General manager CERT Latvia
Aart Jochem, Head of Monitoring and Response, National Cyber Security Center - NL
Jordana Siegel, Director, International Affairs, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, US Department of Homeland Security

Panellists:

Maarten van Horenbeeck, Chairman, Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST)
Steve Purser, Head of Core Operations Department ENISA
Jean Robert Hountomey, CEO AfricaCERT

15:00 to 16:15

Parallel Session : Cybercrime, jurisdiction and hosting

Cybercrime is a growing problem for people, business and the economy. This parallel session will focus on the problem of cybercrime and the specific problems that law enforcement organisations encounter in addressing it. For cybercriminals, the rewards can be substantial, while the risk of being caught is limited. The risk can further be decreased by using the complex nature of the internet and by spreading criminal activity across different jurisdictions. The reselling of hosting services can hamper the efficient acquisition of digital evidence and other relevant data. Furthermore, criminals often know which countries have limited legal possibilities or technical capacity for effective law enforcement.

In this parallel session the participants will discuss possible options to prevent criminal safe havens. How can we prevent criminals from abusing the complex and international nature of the internet to avoid law enforcement? How do criminals use the complex and international nature of the internet, cloud services and bad hosting for their criminal activity? Considering the loss of location of data and services, what policies could help overcome the problems connected to the territory-based concept of jurisdiction? In a multistakeholder cyber environment, how can hosting providers, cloud services and other private organisations help to prevent criminal safe havens from emerging?

Moderator:

Jamie Saunders, Director, National Cyber Crime Unit, United Kingdom

Speakers:

Sergey Lozhkin, researcher Kaspersky Labs
Zahid Jamil, Barrister-at-law, Jamil & Jamil, Pakistan
Angela McKay, Director of Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy, Microsoft
Bert-Jaap Koops, Professor of Regulation & Technology at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), the Netherlands
Koen Hermans, Public Prosecutor, Eurojust

16:45 to 18:00 Livestream available

FOCUS SESSION : A secure place for business and people

To help fight the abuse of the internet, cooperation between different international stakeholders is key. This cooperation is explored by discussing the various roles and responsibilities of businesses, governments and citizens/consumers.

Even after 30 years, the internet is still unlocking extraordinary potential within societies. Unfortunately, along with this extraordinary potential are equally unbelievable threats. The rise of consumer broadband has greatly increased the power of botnets to launch crippling denial of service (DoS) attacks on servers, infect millions of computers with malware, steal identity data, send out vast quantities of spam, and engage in click fraud and extortion. As a result, botnets are considered a primary security threat of the internet today, threatening businesses and people worldwide.

Moderator: Riz Khan, Founder and CEO of Global Media Productions

Panellists:

Mr. Hiromichi Shinohara, Senior Executive VP and CTO of NTT
Mr. Christian Rivierre, VP International Development Thales
Mrs. Kathryn Brown, President and CEO of Internet Society
Mr. Rob Wainwright, director Europol
Jan Kleijssen, Director Information Society and Action Against Crime, Council of Europe
Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General Council of Europe
Mr. Han Moraal, Chairman of the GPEN Committee (Global Prosecutors E-crime Network) at International Association of Prosecutors (IAP)
Mr. Raphael Koffi, Head of Telecommunication/ICT Division, Ecowas, Nigeria
Mr. Peter Lord, Director of Technology Policy of Oracle, special advisor to Commission on the Digital Economy of the International Chamber of Commerce

16:45 to 18:00 Livestream available

Parallel Session : Rethinking the social impact of new cyber technologies

As in the recent past, the coming months will be characterized by exciting new technological developments in the cyber domain becoming adopted in our everyday lives. Many of these innovations have great potential in improving and enhancing matters in areas such as healthcare, education or business. Just think of the enormous potential being unlocked by wearable computers, drone technology or brain-computer interface!

Policymakers, however, often lag behind in estimating the social impact of these innovations, both in validating their potential and their disadvantages. At the GCCS2015 various stakeholders will therefore sit down to discuss the impact of today’s and tomorrow’s technological developments in the cyber domain, thereby looking for fitting policy answers to the social issues (security, privacy, ethics) raised.

Speakers:

Erik Huizer, Chief Technology Officer at SURFnet, part-time professor Internet Applications University of Utrecht
Philip Brey, professor of philosophy of technology and chair of the department of philosophy, University of Twente
Gry Hasselbalch, founder of Mediamocracy

Demo's:

Wladimir Mufty, product manager at SURFnet
Joost Damen, IT Engineer and Young Talent Program participant at SURFnet.

16:45 to 18:00 Livestream available

Parallel Session : Clarifying the application of existing international law in cyberspace

This panel discussion will put forward a range of perspectives on the future progressive development of the application of international law in cyberspace. This panel will bring together legal specialists from academia or think tanks from key cyber states and other stakeholders.

Objectives:

To promote in-depth discussion on a number of questions related to the application of existing international law, both above and below the threshold of armed conflict.
To facilitate an airing of views, not to resolve these issues or to reach consensus.
To inform the thinking of the international community as they continue to discuss the specifics of applying international law to the cyber domain.

Participants:

Ben Baseley-Walker, Programme Lead, Emerging Security Threats program, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (moderator)
Professor Michael N. Schmitt, Professor of Public International Law, Exeter University
Mr. Laurent Gisel, Legal Adviser, International Committee for the Red Cross
Professor Tang Lan, Deputy Director, Insitute of Information and Social Development, China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations
Mr Kriangsak Kittichaisaree, United Nations, member of the International Law Commission

16:45 to 18:00

Parallel Session : Towards 21st century internet standards

While modern internet standards are of crucial importance to protect cyberspace, the limited uptake of security related internet standards seems systemic. The structural inability to shed troublesome legacy internet technology, and upgrade to more secure and reliable 21st century alternatives, is by now seriously affecting the usability, robustness and scalability of the internet. This in turn significantly affects growth opportunities as well as hollowing out user trust.

Why is it so hard to migrate the internet to more modern internet standards? What are the underlying economic factors that come into play, and what are the possibilities for e.g. governments to positively influence market externalities? What can we do to create and leverage awareness of suppliers and users? How can we raise the bar to a cybersecurity level which is better in line with the global business and societal importance of the internet?

This parallel session is centred around the issue of spurring adoption of modern internet standards in cyberspace, and highlighting some interesting approaches and best practices - including the initiative internet.nl which will be launched during the GCCS.

It will be an interactive session, delving deep into the issue together with renowned speakers and panellists representing governments, civil society, academia, business, and the internet technical community. We will discuss the role of different stakeholders with regard to the adoption, promotion and implementation of modern internet standards - and discuss approaches to finally start moving the needle.

Moderator

Gerben Klein Baltink, Chairman of Platform Internet Standards and co-owner SME Cyber Advise Netherlands

Panellists

Olaf Kolkman, Chief Internet Technology Officer at Internet Society International
Melissa Hathaway, Senior Advisor Project on Technology, Security, and Conflict in the Cyber Age at Belfer Center, Harvard University
Jonne Soininen, Head of Software Industry Initiatives at Nokia Networks
Demi Getschko, Chief Executive Officer at Brazilian Network Information Center
Ramsés Gallego, Security Strategist & Evangelist at Dell Software
Michiel Leenaars, Director at Internet Society Netherlands

16:45 to 18:00

Parallel Session : Building Public Private Cooperation in Cyber Security

For a more secure cyberspace, partnerships are essential for the security and resilience of our infrastructures. Sharing good practices in public private partnerships can help managing the collaborative cyber risks in a domain where the threat landscape is continuously changing.

Main goals of the session:

Inform: Showing the importance of (international) public-private partnerships
Practice: Sharing international good practices in public private partnerships (incl conditions, issues, lessons learned and the next steps)
Activate: Sharing information to create an international community on cooperation

Moderator:

Roderik van Grieken, founder and director of the Dutch Debate Institute

Speakers:

Hans Henseler, Managing Director Tracks Inspector
Mari Ichikawa, counsellor, National center of Incident readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) Japan
Joanne Trimble, Head of International Engagement | CERT-UK
Igor van Gemert – Senior Business Consultant , Alliander
Fernando Sanchez, Director National Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection, Ministry of the Interior, Spain.
Auke Huistra, International Corporation

Documents:

Cyber Security of Industrial Control Systems
Crucial processes in most critical infrastructures, and in many other organisations, rely on the correct and undisturbed functioning of Industrial Control Systems (ICS). A failure of ICS may both cause service disruptions, and result in safety risks to people and or the environment. Therefore, the cyber security and resilience of ICS is of utmost importance to society as a whole, to utilities and other critical infrastructure operators, and to organisations which use ICS. This document first and foremost, provides private and public sector executives with an Executive Summary outlining the ICS risk and challenges. This document appeals to the executive leadership of organisations to address the clear and present cyber security danger to their organisations and our societies as a whole.
From Awareness to Action: Bridging the gap in 10 steps
This interactive website presents the results from The Grand Conference 2014, “Building a Resilient Digital Society”. The website captures the most salient points that have been raised by the high-level stakeholders from the private, public, and knowledge domains during the interactive debates about necessary steps to enhance cyber resilience across all levels of society.
Sharing Cyber Security Information
When discussing cyber security in an international context, information sharing in a public-private-participation context is one of the most heard suggested solutions for increasing cyber resilience. However, there is a world, if not a universe, between the concept of information sharing and the practice of doing it. This Good Practice booklet contains the Dutch experiences, knowledge and lessons learned concerning information sharing.
Summary Report of the Meridian Conference 2014
The Meridian Conference 2014, a conference for government officials responsible for Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP), was held from 12 to 14 November, 2014, in Tokyo, Japan.
As a deliverable of the Meridian Conference 2014, the Summary Report of the Meridian Conference 2014 was developed to present key findings for CIIP.

18:15 to 19:00 Livestream available

Global Forum on Cyber Expertise

Founding partners will launch the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise: a global platform that contributes to cyber capacity building. The GFCE stimulates new funding streams and the sharing of expertise and experiences in the field of cyber security, cyber crime, data regulation and e-development. By matching supply and demand, countries that lack knowledge in certain cyber areas can benefit from the knowledge and expertise that will be provided by countries and companies with more experience in cyber matters. The GFCE will be launched officially with the adoption of a political declaration that emphasises the need for more capacity building, exchanges of best practices and strengthened international cooperation.

Moderator: Riz Khan, Founder and CEO of Global Media Productions

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/global-conference-on-cyber-space-2015

Global Charter: Promoting Global Digital Inclusion through ICT Procurement Policies & Accessibility Standards

praskrishna — 2016-01-03T05:26:44Z

The Centre for Internet & Society was a signatory to this initiative.

This was published by G3ict.

Foreword

G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communications Technologies (“ICTs”), whose mission is to promote the full implementation of the dispositions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("CRPD”) relative to the accessibility of ICTs,

Considering that Accessibility, Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination are among the fundamental principles of the CRPD, the realization of which in the digital age is conditioned by the availability of accessible ICTs,
Taking into account that the CRPD specifically recognizes the accessibility of information and communication technologies (ICTs) both as a right (Article 9) and as an enabler of other human rights as prescribed in other articles of the Convention.
Noting that its articles 4(a) to 4(d) under "General obligations" further require that States Parties adopt appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure these rights are met and to refrain from any act or practice that is inconsistent with the Convention and that public authorities and institutions are in particular required to act in conformity with the Convention.
Acknowledging that the procurement of ICTs for use by the public that are not usable and accessible by persons with disabilities may be deemed to be in contravention of the Convention.
Recalling that Reporting Guidelines to States Parties should include legislative and other measures taken to ensure access by persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation and to information and communications; technical standards and guidelines for accessibility, as well as the use of public procurement provisions and other measures that establish compulsory accessibility requirements.

Offers the attached charter for signature by leaders of Civil Society, International Organizations and the Private Sector to further the progress and momentum of international cooperation in establishing public procurement policies and standards in compliance with the CRPD.

Charter

We believe that governments should use their purchasing power to support the innovation of accessible technology and the creation of more robust accessible technology markets in every country.

We encourage governments at all levels and around the world to promote the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and older persons by adopting effective policies for the public procurement of accessible ICT and an international accessibility standard to support them.

Public Procurement as an Inclusion Strategy

Public procurement processes have gained increased attention as an effective policy tool to promote the accessibility of information and communications (ICT) equipment, software, applications, and services purchased by governments or government-funded programs. Global interest in the positive effect of public procurement is in part the result two well-known accessibility public policy activities; Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the United States (governing the federal government purchase of accessible electronic and information technology) and in Europe, the Public Procurement Directive of 2014 in combination with EN 301 549 (the European accessibility standard developed to support the public procurement of accessible ICT products and services in Europe). However, G3ict research and analysis show that to date only 33% of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) have enacted some type of policy on the procurement of accessible ICT.

Everyone Benefits from the Procurement of Accessible ICT

Public procurement of accessible ICT can advance equality and non-discrimination for persons with disabilities. Governments that purchase accessible ICT are better able to provide inclusive services to all citizens. Because governments are large employers, their investments in accessible ICT products and services help to create inclusive workplaces and support the employment of people with disabilities. Procurement policies strengthen the local technology industry in a country. They lead to greater innovation, competition, and choice for accessible technology. They drive the creation of new development tools for accessible technology and better accessibility training for technology professionals. Procurement policies create positive ripple effects into the broader consumer ICT marketplace.

The Tools Available for Success

G3ict, working with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and with global experts from civil society and industry has created a model procurement policy as resource for governments wanting to ensure that their technology purchases support digital inclusion. There exists today a comprehensive technical standard, EN 301 549, that was developed by experts specifically for public procurement. It defines accessibility across all types of disability and technology. The ITU has created a training course to support procurement officials as they implement accessibility into their procurement work.

If your organization would like to be part of this Global Charter for Accessible ICT Procurement, please send us an email globalcharter@g3ict.org.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/global-charter-promoting-global-digital-inclusion-through-ict-procurement-policies-accessibility-standards

Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression

praskrishna — 2011-04-04T07:17:59Z

The Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, Human Rights Law Network, Delhi and the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore are pleased to invite you to a public lecture by Mr. Frank La Rue, President of the Central American Institute for Studies of Social Democracy and UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression on March 4, 2011, 6 pm at the Constitutional Club in New Delhi.

Frank La Rue

Mr. La Rue is the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He has worked on human rights for the past 25 years. He is the founder of the Centre for Legal Action for Human Rights (CALDH), both in Washington DC and Guatemala, which became the first Guatemalan NGO to bring cases of human rights violations to the Inter-American System. CALDH was also the first Guatemalan NGO to promote economic, social and cultural rights. Mr. La Rue also brought the first genocide case against the military dictatorship in Guatemala. As a human rights activist, his name was presented to the Nobel Peace Prize committee in 2004.

La Rue has previously served as a Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala, as a Human Rights Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala and as a consultant to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He is President of Instituto Demos in Guatemala City. La Rue holds a BA in Legal and Social Sciences from the University of San Carlos, Guatemala and a postgraduate degree in U.S. foreign policy from Johns Hopkins University.

The entrance is free. Refreshments will be served from 5.30 pm onwards.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/global-freedom-expression

Global Censorship Conference

praskrishna — 2012-03-30T11:34:07Z

The Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School is holding a conference on global censorship from March 30 to April 1, 2012, at Yale Law School. The programme is sponsored by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and Thomson Reuters.

"This conference is the first major event for the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression, and it brings together an exciting group of thinkers from law, political science, computer science, business and the non-profit sector to discuss the lessons of the past few years,” explained Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin, director of the Abrams Institute and the Information Society Project. “We think the study of free expression in the digital age should be international and interdisciplinary."[1]

Rishabh Dara, Google Policy Fellow who worked at CIS office in Bangalore on freedom of expression and internet-related policy issues is participating in the event as a speaker in the panel on Case Studies of Censorship. The panel will explore recent instances of censorship in the United States, Egypt, Syria, Brazil, and India and the common themes and important differences that emerged.

This conference will consider how censorship has changed in a networked world, exploring how networks have altered the practices of both governments and their citizens. Panels will include discussions of how governments can and do censor and how speakers can command technical and legal tools to preserve their ability to speak. The conference will conclude with a discussion of new controversies in censorship, including laws designed to prevent online bullying and intellectual property infringement.

Agenda

Friday March 30, 2012

2:00	Begin Registration
3:15 – 4:45	The Means of Change, Familiar and New (co-sponsored by Sponsored by the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights) In the popular story of the political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa, information technology stands out as the new factor that was critical to rapid mass mobilization for demanding change. The media have been credited with making popular demands for change contagious. Enthusiasts for the potential of technology to foster progressive change have labeled these apparently sudden developments a Facebook revolution. Governments responded by seeking to curtail the use of mobile phones and the Internet. What role has technology played in igniting, sustaining and shaping recent political changes in the Arab world? Anupam Chander, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis and Director, California International Law Center Rebecca MacKinnon, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation John Pollock, journalist
5:00– 6:30	Keynote Lecture (co-sponsored by Sponsored by the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights) Irwin Cotler, Canadian Parliament, former Attorney General of Canada
6:30– 9:00	Reception for Panelists of the Global Censorship Conference

Saturday March 31, 2012

9:00 – 10:00	Registration and Breakfast
10:00– 11:30	Panel One: Old and New Forms of Censorship Years ago, activists met in person to plan protests and quietly shared subversive texts. Now, events can be planned over social networking sites, and arguments for change are posted online. How have governments responded to these changes? How have activist practices and governments’ reactions changed the way we conceptualize censorship? Jack Balkin, Yale Law School Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law School Navid Hassanpour, Yale Political Science Deptartment Rebecca MacKinnon, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
11:45 – 1:15	Panel Two: Technical Architectures of Censorship There are a number of choke points across the Internet and a number of different censorship mechanisms that can be deployed at various points across the network. Censorship can be executed at the router level, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level, the Internet Content Provider (ICP) level, or the device level. Additionally, countries can employ a number of different technologies at each level. This panel will explore the many technical options for censorship and the strategic value of different choices. Laura DeNardis, Associate Professor of Communication at American University, and Affiliated Fellow, Information Society Project at Yale Law School Nagla Rizk, American University in Cairo Hal Roberts, Fellow at Berkman Center for Internet & Technology Ashkan Soltani, Independent Researcher and Consultant on Privacy and Security
1:15 – 2:15	Lunch
2:15 – 3:45	Panel Three: Case Studies of Censorship In the wake of censorship both domestically and abroad, many questions emerged about how the censorship was executed, what effects it had, if and how activists were able to route around the it, and how, if it all, it was eventually stopped. This panel will explore recent instances of censorship in the United States, Egypt, Syria, Brazil, and India and the common themes and important differences that emerged. Sherwin Siy, Deputy Legal Director and the Kahle/Austin Promise Fellow at Public Knowledge Lina Attalah, Journalist, Managing Editor of Al-Masry Al-Youm Anas Qtiesh, Blogger, Editor of Global Voices Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza, Vice-Coordinator of the Center for Technology & Society (CTS) at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) Law School Rishabh Dara, Researcher at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
4:00 – 5:30	Panel Four: Technical Methods of Circumventing Censorship New technology may provide governments with new tools to censor, but it also creates opportunities for speakers and “hactivists” everywhere. How can individuals evade identification online and access blocked content? Can activists circumvent attempts to shut down the internet during periods of political unrest? What new methods are being developed to preserve free speech online? Roger Dingledine, The Tor Project Peter Fein, Telecomix Alex Halderman, University of Michigan, Dept. of Computer Science Sascha Meinrath, Open Technology Initiative Director, New America Foundation Wendy Seltzer, Senior Fellow, Information Society Project at Yale Law School
6:00 – 9:00	Dinner for Speakers

Sunday, April 1, 2012

9:00 – 9:30	Breakfast
9:30 – 11:00	Panel Five: Legal Solutions to Censorship Given the way censorship technologies have slowly crept into acceptable use because of concerns like piracy, child pornography, or national security, there is much debate about the role and capacity of law in combatting these new, digital forms of government censorship, domestically and internationally. This panel will discuss if and how legal solutions to censorship can be deployed most effectively. Derek Bambauer, Brooklyn Law School Jim Dempsey, Vice President of Public Policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology Molly Land, New York Law School Linda Lye, ACLU Northern California Jillian York, Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
11:15 – 12:45	Panel Six: New Controversies in Censorship Does new technology change the appropriate scope of free expression rights? Can policing intellectual property infringement burden free speech interests? Does surveillance ever have a censoring effect? This panel will wrestle with whether a variety of government activities constitutes inappropriate censorship or necessary actions to protect the public interest. Rebecca Bolin, Fellow at Information Society Project, Yale Law School Mark MacCarthy, Vice President for Public Policy, Software and Information Industry Association; Adjunct Professor, Communication, Culture and Technology Program, Georgetown University Preston Padden, Senior Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center and an Adjunct Professor at the University Of Colorado's Law School and Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program David Post, Temple University, Beasley School of Law Christopher Soghoian, Graduate Fellow, Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, Indiana University
12:45	Bagged Lunch Available

[1].Global Censorship Conference to be Held March 30-April 1 at Yale Law School | Yale Law School, last accessed on March 30, 2012, http://www.law.yale.edu/news/15140.htm

Read the original posted in Yale Law School website

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

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2017

praskrishna — 2017-05-16T05:51:45Z

The Centre for Internet & Society along with Prakat Solutions and Mitra Jyothi is co-hosting the Global Accessibility Awareness Day in Bengaluru on May 18, 2017.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is celebrated across the world on the 3rd Thursday in May every year to create an awareness in making technology accessible and usable by persons with disabilities. While people may be interested in the topic of making technology accessible and inclusive, the reality is that they often do not know how or where to start, Awareness comes first.

The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) access/inclusion and people with different disabilities.

To mark this day, Prakat Solutions will be hosting an event filled with lightning talks, workshops and a lot of other activities. You can also view a series of short videos about why accessibility is important with contributions from some of the greatest minds in accessibility today.For us as a company, Global Accessibility Awareness Day is quite special. Other awareness days that we participate in focus on a specific group of people. Today, is not about a specific group of people, today is about each and every one of us.

Watch the Video on What is GAAD

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/global-accessibility-awareness-day-2017

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD 2013)

praskrishna — 2013-05-09T04:27:04Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is pleased to invite you to participate in the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in Bangalore on May 9, 2013. The event begins at 4.00 p.m. and will end by 7.00 p.m.

The purpose of the day is to get people talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) accessibility and users with different disabilities. The target audience of GAAD is the design, development, usability, and related communities who build, shape, fund and influence technology and its use. While people may be interested in the topic of making technology accessible and usable by persons with disabilities, the reality is that they often do not know how or where to start. Awareness comes first.

This will be an opportunity for you to understand the importance of accessibility and how accessibility impacts several users and increase your customer base. This event will consist of presentations by Accessibility professionals in the industry, hands on demonstrations of how people with disabilities use technology and an opportunity to meet peers in the industry.

Agenda

16.00 16.20	Opening remarks by Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society
16.20 17.00	Accessibility - What, Why and How? by Vivek Gaikwad, Lead Accessibility Expert, Informatica
17.00 17.40	Test for Accessibility by Lavanya Lakshman, Yahoo!
17.40 18.00	Demonstrations of assistive technologies
18.00 18.20	Q & A with panelists
18.20 19.00	Wrap up, networking and refreshments

There will be panel discussions with the following speakers:

Vivek Gaikwad, Lead Accessibility Expert, Informatica
Lavanya Lakshman, Yahoo!
Rama Chari, Director, DEOC
Anasuya Das, Mitra Jyothi
Srividya Vaidyanathan - Multimedia

About the Speakers

Vivek Gaikwad	Vivek is an individual, passionate about accessibility, who digs out all the possible ways to make an application accessible to persons with disabilities. For past 7 years, he is consistently doing R&D on how to make applications, games, e-learning and mobile apps which are built in various technologies/platforms such as Flash, HTML, iOS and Android, PDF, etc., accessible. His emphasis is on providing feasible accessibility solutions by understanding the scenario and the compliance required. His various roles so far in his career such as a developer, tester, trainer and consultant apprehends in finding the exact fit solution for any accessibility related issue. This also helps in understanding and filling the gap between management and the delivery team for accessibility projects. He doesn't work only for compliance of any product, but tries to make it 100 per cent accessible for all the users. Vivek also loves trekking and getting involved in creative things.
Srividya Vaidyanathan	Srividya has a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from NIT Warangal and is currently working as a Consultant for the Centre for Internet & Society. She more than 13 years of experience in the software industry with TCS, Oracle etc with her latest stint being a co-founder of PixelMat Software a company that makes development of pure native mobile apps easier. A very hands-on mom who loves to play ball with her son in her free time.
Lavanya Lakshman	Lavanya has done BE in Electronics Engineering and MS in Networking from Symbiosis, Pune. She has close to 10 years of experience with over 5 and a half years with Yahoo alone. She is working as principal engineer on font end development and works mainly on platform products varying from user profile experience to application development network. She is currently working on Geo Platform for serving location based experience across Yahoo. She has submitted papers in various forums which includes: White paper titled “Strategic Choice of Test Automation Framework”. This was selected for plenary presentation at SteP-IN Summit 2009. White paper titled “A New Era of Accessibility Testing”. This was selected for publication at the USID Conference 2009. White paper titled “Accessibility: An Emerging field of Usability” for Step-IN Summit 2010.
Rama Chari	Rama Chari has about two decades of work experience in the field of disability. She started her career as an Educator for children with disabilities in the rural community based project of Action for Ability Development & inclusion (AADI) (Formerly, Spastics Society of Northern India (SSNI), She prepared children with disabilities for integrating them into regular schools in the villages of Haryana. She then joined National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), a leading national level advocacy organisation. At NCPEDP, she headed the Legislation, Networking and Communication Units. As part of the core management team of NCPEDP, she played an important role in bringing about several policy changes vis-à-vis disability in the country. In November 2005, she took up a consultancy with Infosys BPO, for setting up their Equal Opportunity Programme. In July 2007, she along with four other professionals set up DEOC. She is serving as an Honorary Board Member of ARUNIM, a marketing initiative for promoting products and services made by disability groups and NGOs. She is also part of the NCPEDP’s National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability, which focuses on advocacy for appropriate policies in the country. She is also a Core Group Member of the Disability Forum of Confederation of Indian Industry – Karnataka Chapter. She has travelled widely and has made several presentations on the subject, in national and international conferences / seminars.
Anusuya Das	Anusuya graduated in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University in 2004, and worked as a Software Engineer for 2½ years. Later, she changed her field and completed Masters Degree in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, Mumbai University. During the 2 years, she gained valuable experience and insight while working for various causes such as Child labour, Disaster Management and Disability. Since 2010, she is working as Chief Coordinator at Mitra Jyothi, Bangalore. It is an NGO working towards the education, training and empowerment of the visually impaired. She is mainly handling the DAISY production unit, Braille Transcription Centre and Digital Talking Book Library at Mitra Jyothi, and is a certified trainer in DAISY content creation.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/global-accessibility-awareness-day-2013

Glenda's presentation at W3C

praskrishna — 2011-04-06T00:56:11Z

powerpoint presentation file

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/presentation-file-w3c

Glenda's presentation

praskrishna — 2011-04-05T17:02:14Z

powerpoint presentation

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/presentation-from-w3c-hyderabad

Giving out your fingerprint for Aadhar payments is as bad as telling the seller your banking password

praskrishna — 2017-02-07T16:09:53Z

PRS India recently released a report card enlisting the status of all the major policy announcements made by the President on India in his address to the Parliament on 23 February 2016. The policies cover all the major sectors including economy and finance, industry and manufacturing, governance and legal reform, skill development, science and innovation among others.

The blog post by Nimish Sawant was published by First Post Tech 2 on February 3, 2017. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

Ever since the current government has come into power, there has been a concerted effort to take India on the information highway with technology-backed initiatives. Projects such as Digital India, Smart City Project, Startup India to the latest policy announcements post the demonetisation on 8 November 2016, a lot of has been said about technology.

But there are still areas of improvement, for instance we are yet to have a privacy and data protection law, there is an alarming shortage of cybersecurity experts and we have seen our fair share of government as well as personal data being under jeopardy in the years gone by.

Pranesh Prakash, policy director of the Centre for Internet and Society, has his reservations against the speed at which we are moving towards the dream of a digitised India, without covering the core policies on security, legal frameworks and more. Here is what Prakash has to say.

“All in all, we in India are in a really precarious situation when it comes to Digital India, especially from a legal and regulatory perspective. While the push for digitisation is to be welcome, it should make this more convenient for citizens and that can’t be accomplished by forcing digitisation on people without giving them options.

The Planning Commission put together a group of experts chaired by Justice AP Shah, which came out with a report on privacy principles which were to inform a privacy and data protection law that the government was to introduce in Parliament. That report came out in 2012. In 2017, we are no closer to a privacy and data protection law. The data security practices at the levels of the government and of the private sector are very worrying.

For instance, the Narendra Modi app, which is operated by the BJP, for many months was leaking the personal details of more than 7 million users.

Another example: the government, as per press reports, is going ahead with using fingerprints for authentication of Aadhaar Enabled Payment Systems (AEPS) transactions. While the security architecture of AEPS might in itself be good, the idea of providing your fingerprints to merchants for financial transactions is a terrible idea since that is like asking you to give your bank password to a merchant, and the merchant can reuse that password, and you can’t ever change the password.

Last year Symantec revealed that for more than two years a cyberespionage project (that Symantec called “SuckFly“) had penetrated deep into Indian systems, including Indian government and banking systems. Yet, the government didn’t conduct an enquiry about this and reassure the public on actions being taken to mitigate this.

So while digitisation initiatives are great, there also needs to be a concerted effort to have a secure framework, and there has to be an ease in onboarding the non tech-savvy population as well.”

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/first-post-february-3-2017-nimish-sawant-giving-out-your-fingerprint-for-aadhar-payments-is-as-bad-as-telling-the-seller-your-banking-password

Girls just wanna have... a voice

praskrishna — 2014-04-01T11:21:47Z

Many Indian women have taken to Twitter, the micro-blogging site, to air their views. And some of them have become social media celebrities by virtue of their wise and witty tweets. Prasun Chaudhuri looks at the women who matter in India’s Twitterverse.

The article was published in the Telegraph on March 8, 2014. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

Everyone knows that movie stars like Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, media celebs like Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media who hang on to their every word. But Malini Agarwal, Priyanka Sachar? Vidyut Kale? You may not have heard of them otherwise, but these women are rockstars of India’s Twitterverse too — not because they are famous in their day jobs, but because their tweets have that special something that keeps the followers coming.

Take Malini Agarwal (@MissMalini), a former radio jockey and head of digital content for Channel V in India, who has over 2,00,000 followers on Twitter. In fact, she has a larger-than-life presence on virtually all social media platforms. Agarwal tweets about Bollywood, the fashion world and the Page 3 circuit. Her Twitter bio says: “She who controls the spice, controls the universe. Bollywood, Fashion & Lifestyle with a Desi Girl Twist.” This “desi girl” with the insider’s take on the glamour world is now an industry of sorts. She has her own website called missmalini.com in which she has employed nine enthusiastic young bloggers — “a happy mix of Bollywood Junkies, Fashionistas and Party Animals” representing “the young, modern (and pretty!) face of India”.

Far removed from the glamour circuit is Vidyut Kale (@Vidyut), a stay-at-home mom raising an infant with cerebral palsy. She has over 14,000 followers for her unusual takes on “issues of socio-political interest”. Says Kale, who describes herself as an “intellectual anarchist”, “Twitter is just amazing because I can actually comment on something and get instant replies. I think I get followed mainly because I say what many will tiptoe around, and that can feel like a big relief when an issue is bugging you badly.”

Her “firebrand” tweeting — on women’s issues, politics, and indeed, pretty much everything under the sun — has turned her into quite a celebrity and she often gets invited to speak at events. Even though she avoids most of these “real-life” gatherings, sometimes her fans force her to attend them. She says, “I have been paid travel expenses to attend an event when I said I couldn’t afford the travel. I have been interviewed, I have had people make an effort to understand a [social] cause if I bring it up.”

Clearly, a social media platform like Twitter has become a fantastic forum for women — a section of society that has traditionally been voiceless. Those who shine on it, says Sunil Abraham, Centre for Internet and Society (a Bangalore-based organisation that researches the impact of digital media), do so by virtue of their “authentic voice”. He adds, “Unlike in the traditional media, there’s no editor to moderate their views and they don’t have any guidelines to follow.” In other words, what their fans get to read or see are unfiltered views — something that’s often missing in mainstream media. Besides, their tweets are often edgy and politically incorrect. And men — and women — fed on the traditional image of women propagated by the mainstream media, find that refreshing and engaging.

Adds social media enthusiast and avid blogger Harsh Ajmera, “People appreciate the bold and politically incorrect approach of these Twitter stars, as opposed to the sugar-coated comments aired in news channels and various other media outlets.” Agrees Kale, “Unlike in lengthy blog posts or newspaper columns, it is easier to make comments on news or challenge views through Twitter. It also enables direct interaction with readers.”

Ask Chinmayi Sripada (@chinmayi), a Chennai-based singer whose bold and frank tweets have earned her more than 2,40,000 Twitter followers. And a fair number of trolls and abusive enemies too. When she spoke out in support of Tamil Nadu fishermen who were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy, she was flooded with abusive tweets that were tantamount to sexual harassment. But she took on her abusers (one of them was a professor at a top fashion institute) head on. “I filed a case under Section 66A of the IT Act and they were in jail for about two weeks. That was when I saw the full extent of cyber bullying on the basis of caste and community.”

Of course, Sripada doesn’t owe her fame to Twitter alone. She is a popular playback singer in south India and got famous across India for her recent Bollywood hit in Chennai Express. “I haven’t become famous because of social media. I am recognised primarily as a singer.”

Actress and former Miss India Gul Panag (@GulPanag) is yet another Twitter star who was already a celebrity. But with a staggering 7,84,000 followers, and with tweets that are unfailingly sharp and intelligent, maybe her Twitter stardom outshines her Bollywood one. A recent survey by an agency named her as one of the most influential persons on the micro-blogging site. News anchor Barkha Dutt — one of the country’s top media celebrities — also boasts a whopping 12.3 lakh followers.

But Kaveri Ahuja (@ikaveri) is a regular wife and mom who has gone on to become a Twitter celeb. A cancer survivor, her takes on everyday life and the stories of her battle against colorectal cancer (“I love a good fight. How else would I have kicked the big C’s butt?”) attract over 25,000 followers. She even runs a separate Twitter handle for her fan club (@ikaverifc). “Being recognised on Twitter has expanded my offline social circle as well. I can count many online friends as my real-life friends now,” she says.

One of India’s earliest Twitter stars was Priyanka Sachar. If her real name doesn’t ring a bell, her Twitter handle, @TwilightFairy, might. This erstwhile IT professional and part-time wedding photographer left her day job riding on the fame earned by her 140-character tweets. Her quirky takes on a wide range of topics — ranging from everyday outrages (“Bought passionfruit cake for parents’ anniversary from jaypeehotels and got long human hair baked in it for free. Never again!”) to instant reaction to news (“Sahara boss gets ink on his face. Reminds me of school time ink pen wars!”) — are lapped up by her 21,000+ followers.

Thanks to her fame on Twitter, she is often recognised by strangers. “It is a strange experience and I really don’t know how to react, except to say ‘yes, that’s me, how did you know!’… Twitter has made sure that so many interesting (and seemingly inaccessible) people are accessible instantly.” Apart from these “life-altering changes”, she keeps getting invited to some activity or the other, organised by brands that regularly invite “influencers”. “The recognition on Twitter/social media has affected me in massive ways. I left my IT industry job in order to figure out if I can take up a different profession and be a freelancer. And the moment I left my job, an opportunity landed straight in my lap, simply because of my Twitter id! I got offered a job as a social media consultant at a digital media agency,” she says.
So have social media platforms such as Twitter really done wonders for women’s empowerment? Yes and no.

According to Sachar, Twitter did offer unprecedented freedom of speech in its early days. But now that a lot of politicians and political parties have come on board and the Indian IT laws are being tweaked, tweets can be misused by anyone in power. “Even though one can say what one wants, people do tread a tad more cautiously compared to, let’s say, two year back,” says Sachar.

Chinmayi agrees. “There is nothing called total freedom of speech. Even if one chooses that path, the trolls are waiting to see who can be cut to size. I am guarded about what I write on social media.”

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/telegraphindia-march-8-2014-girls-just-wanna-have-a-voice

Girls in ICT Day 2013 — Nirmita Narasimhan Felicitated

praskrishna — 2013-06-20T05:35:54Z

The ITU-APT Foundation of India with support from CMAI - Association of India Communication and Infrastructure organized the "Girls in ICT Day" to pay tribute to the contribution of young women in ICT in India on May 7, 2013 at FICCI Auditorium, Tansen Marg, New Delhi.

Nirmita Narasimhan got a felicitation on this event.

Anil Prakash, Secretary General, ITU-APT Foundation of India wrote a 'thank you' letter to Nirmita for participating in this event. The text of the letter by Anil Prakash is reproduced below:

Thank You for attending the Girls in ICT day 2013
Dear Ms. Narasimhan,
On behalf of ITU-APT Foundation of India and CMAI, I take this opportunity to thank you for your precious time and for participating in the panel discussion at the "Girls in ICT Day 2013", held on 7th May 2013 at FICCI Auditorium, Tansen Marg, New Delhi. Your thoughtful deliberation on the subject was well appreciated and encouraged by the participants. The opening address by...Rita Teaotia, Addl, Secretary, DoT and concluding address by ... Eun-Ju Kim, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office in Asia Pacific had added a great significance to the programme.

The programme was a great success and over 150 participants including international dignitaries, ambassadors, ministers from foreign countries, students, young professionals, civil society & government representatives and the industry acknowledged the awards given to young girls who have contributed in the development of ICT and made a difference with their untiring enthusiasm, determination and working against all odds to make a difference.

The success of the programme has encouraged us largely as this was the first time the event was celebrated in India and henceforth we plan to celebrate it on an annual basis and pay our tribute to the young women achievers in the field of ICT.

We once again thank you for your valuable contribution and look forward to your continued support in future.

Thanking You,
Anil Prakash
Secretary General
ITU-APT Foundation of India
Suite 115, Gagandeep, 12 Rajendra Place
New Delhi-110008
Tel. +91-11-2575 7128

Below is a group picture of participants at the Girls in ICT event in Delhi. The winners are seen holding on to their certificates.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/girls-in-ict-day-2013-in-delhi

Girls in ICT Day

praskrishna — 2013-04-22T11:15:57Z

The Centre for Internet and Society and Mitra Jyothi is glad to invite you to celebrate Girls in ICT day on April 25, 2013 at the Mitra Jyothi auditorium in Bangalore. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja will give a talk on Social Media and Kannada Language for Women with Disabilities. The event will begin at 2 p.m. and end at 5 p.m.

Celebrated on the 4th Thursday of April every year, International Girls’ in ICT Day is an initiative backed by ITU Member States in ITU Plenipotentiary Resolution 70 (Guadalajara, 2010) to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

About the Speaker

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja holds a Master’s degree from Mysore University and Ph.D. from Mumbai University. He has vast experience and has dedicated himself fully for the cause of Computer and Indian languages. He is one of the oldest editors of Kannada Wikipedia.

Click to download the invite (PDF, 118 Kb)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/girls-in-ict-day

Girls in ICT (Event Invite)

praskrishna — 2013-04-22T11:13:38Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/girls-in-ict-event-invite.pdf