Centre for Internet and Society

Executive Summary

praskrishna — 2022-01-03T15:06:02Z

Executive Summary

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Exceptions and Limitations for Education

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T13:22:35Z

Lawrence Liang examines the exceptions and limitations in copyright law in this article.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/publications/exceptions-limitations-education

EVMs: How transparent is the Indian election process?

praskrishna — 2017-03-17T01:57:19Z

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have become a bone of contention after the results of the Assembly elections in five states were declared last Saturday and the BSP president Mayawati alleged tampering. The Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have called for a probe into her allegation. Social media too is abuzz with messages and videos showing how the machines can be allegedly manipulated to sway the votes in favour of a particular candidate.

The article by Smriti Sharma Vasudeva was published in the Statesman on March 14, 2017. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

Overnight, several videos on Whatsapp have surfaced wherein people can be seen explaining the "mechanism" on how to alter the votes polled for a candidate in another candidate's favour. Several similar posts and articles are doing the rounds on Facebook.

BBC added fuel to the fire when it shared a 2010 article on how 'US "Scientists" hack India Electronic Machines' . The article details how scientists at a US university say they have developed a technique to hack into Indian electronic voting machines. While the article was posted on the BBC website a day after the election results were declared, it drew considerable flak from users on Facebook who criticised the website for its 'irresponsible' act of sharing an article with a "click bait" headline just to grab eyeballs.

Amid all this frenzy, the Election Commission of India has issued statements clarifying how the entire process is transparent and fool proof and tampering with the EVMs is a far-fetched thing given the checks and balances in place. For instance, the EVMs undergo the process of randomisation wherein which machine will go to which constituency and to which booth is not known to anyone till the last moment. Similarly, before the polling starts, mock polling takes place in the presence of representatives of all the political parties and then each of these machines are tested and a satisfactory report is generated and only after that polling begins.

However, all these checks and balances still do not ensure a fool proof system if experts are to be believed.

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director for The Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives, said: "The Electronic Voting Machines used in India are the simplest, with no large operating system requirements and are not networked. Thus, from a software design perspective, these are really good and the chances of these being tampered with are bleaker. However it doesn't mean these are fool proof. Most of the developed countries do not trust these machines and these are definitely not secure enough for democratic elections.

"While there are many advantages of using EVMs in the electoral process over the traditional ballot papers, still there are many ways in which one can tamper with these machines without any technical ingenuity. The best way is to make use of the EVMs and ensure that the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) are effectively utilised to make it an overall effective system".

Recently, the Supreme Court had mandated that VVPAT machines should be used in all the polls and thus the Election Commission had installed VVPAT machines in several constituencies. However, not sure of the efficacy of this system, the Election Commission had itself raised apprehensions regarding performance of the paper-trail machine, which gives a receipt to the voter, verifying the vote went in favour of the candidate against whose name the button was pressed on the electronic voting machine.a

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-statesman-smriti-sharma-vasudeva-march-14-2017-evms-how-transparent-is-the-indian-election-process

Everyday Digital Native

praskrishna — 2012-01-07T02:19:48Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Bangalore, and HIVOS Knowledge Programme, The Hague, kickstarted the 2011 Digital AlterNatives Video Contest on 15 December 2011. With the tagline of „To Be, To Think, To Act, To Connect‟, the contest revolves around the theme of the „Everyday Digital Native‟ and asks participants to share stories on what makes their everyday life 'digital'.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/everyday-digital-native.pdf

Everyday Digital Native

praskrishna — 2011-12-23T09:16:06Z

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Events

praskrishna — 2013-06-03T09:35:50Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/events

Event Pic 1

praskrishna — 2015-03-08T05:20:39Z

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European Studies Guest Lecture

praskrishna — 2016-12-22T15:55:31Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/european-studies-guest-lecture

EU stalls treaty talks to allow copyright waiver for print disabilities

praskrishna — 2012-07-25T09:37:25Z

India and other developing countries support such a legally binding treaty, writes Priscilla Jebaraj in an article published in the Hindu on July 25, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

The European Union is holding up a treaty to allow books and other printed works to be converted into a format accessible to the visually impaired and other print disabled people without seeking the permission of the copyright holder.

India, and most other developing countries, strongly support such a legally binding treaty currently being negotiated at a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) meeting in Geneva. However, non-governmental organisation sources at that summit say that the EU is stalling the treaty by placing unreasonable restrictions on how copyrighted works are to be converted, and by whom. The EU office in Delhi and Brussels did not respond to a request for comment on their position.

"[The treaty] would allow organisations working for the blind to import and export accessible works without seeking the copyright holder's permission, since very little money is spent in developing countries on converting books into accessible formats, while they are much more readily available elsewhere," according to Pranesh Prakash of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society who is attending the summit as an NGO member. If the treaty is not finalised by Wednesday, when the meeting ends, disabled people could be forced to wait till 2014 for their next chance.

Last week, Indian delegate G.R. Raghavender pleaded with negotiators to finalise the treaty without further delay "so that we won't go back, especially the Indian delegation won't go back empty-handed, facing the 15 million blind people in India, which is almost 50 percent of the world blind population, that is 37 million."

In fact, the treaty will benefit a much larger group of print-disabled, including those who suffer from motor disabilities which prevent them from holding a book, or learning disabilities such as dyslexia, or autism, which make it hard to read. There are approximately 70 million print-disabled people in India.

Accessible formats would include Braille, electronic text and audio versions of books, making Western publishers' jittery about piracy fears. Hence, some countries are demanding stringent tracking mechanisms and legal requirements that activists say will effectively block access to disabled people in developing countries — where more than 85 per cent of them live.

"An instrument that subjects the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms by persons with visual impairments to market forces and bureaucratic practices will not work," Mr. Prakash said, in his statement to WIPO delegates. "In India, our Parliament recently passed an amendment to our copyright law that grants persons with disabilities, and those who are working for them, a strong yet simply-worded right to have equal access to copyrighted works as sighted persons."

In fact, the EU Parliament had given its unanimous approval to the treaty in February 2012. "It would be a democratic travesty if the EU’s representatives here today posed any problems to a clear road map for a binding international treaty, especially by posing unrealistic proposals with regards to authorised entities and other issues very far from consensus positions in the WIPO and in clear contradiction with the aims of the World Blind Union," said David Hammerstein, a representative of American and European consumer organisations, making a statement at the Geneva meeting.

Read the original published in the Hindu

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/eu-stalls-treaty-talks-to-allow-copyright-waiver-for-print-disabilities

EU parliament report slams US surveillance

praskrishna — 2014-02-03T06:13:55Z

Report that outlines need for stringent laws for protecting citizen privacy, democratizing Internet governance holds lessons for India, say analysts.

The article by Moulishree Srivastava and Elizabeth Roche quotes Sunil Abraham. It was published in Livemint on January 17, 2014.

A European Union (EU) parliament report that outlines the need for stringent laws for protecting citizen privacy, democratizing Internet governance and rebuilding trust between Europe and the US holds many lessons for India, analysts and policymakers say.

The US government listened into Indian communications as part of its massive global surveillance, which was exposed last year in leaks to the media. The embassies of France, Italy, Greece, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey were also subjected to the surveillance put in place after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. According to the external affairs ministry, India has registered its protest at least thrice over the issue with US authorities.

A draft report on the US National Security Agency’s surveillance programme by the European parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs states that trust between the two transatlantic partners, trust among EU member-states, and trust between citizens and their governments were profoundly shaken because of the spying, and to rebuild trust in all these dimensions a comprehensive plan was urgently needed.

"It is very doubtful that data collection of such magnitude is only guided by the fight against terrorism, as it involves the collection of all possible data of all citizens; points therefore to the possible existence of other power motives such as political and economic espionage," says the report.

The report recommends prohibiting blanket mass surveillance activities and bulk processing of personal data, and asks EU member-states, including the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands, to revise their national legislation and practices governing the activities of intelligence services to ensure that they are in line with the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It also calls on the US to revise its legislation without delay in order to bring it in line with international law, recognizing privacy and other rights as well as providing for judicial redress for EU citizens.

"The American approach to privacy regulation has been deeply flawed. The US dominance over the Internet affects the structure and substance of Internet governance and among other human rights, the right to privacy," said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit research organization. "The (EU) report, if implemented, may change the future of Internet governance by deepening the existing leadership provided by the EU in promoting their privacy standards globally."

On India’s rather restrained reaction to the spying, he said, “It is a tragedy that our politicians are not as proactive when it comes to protecting our rights. While India has only focused on changing its official email policy after the revelations of mass surveillance, it has done nothing as concrete and comprehensive as EU."

"There is neither the recognition of (the) pervasive nature of global mass surveillance, nor is there full appreciation (of) the damaging consequences," Abraham added.

J. Satyanarayana, secretary in India’s department of electronics and information technology, said the concerns over privacy are the same for India as for the EU, but declined to comment on what preventive steps the government is implementing due to security reasons. The EU report called for concluding the EU-US umbrella pact, a framework agreement on data protection in the field of police and judicial cooperation, to ensure proper redress mechanisms for EU citizens in the event of data transfers from the EU to the US for law enforcement purposes. The report asks EU policymakers not to initiate any new sectoral agreements or arrangements for the transfer of personal data for law enforcement purposes and suggests suspending the terrorist finance tracking programme until the umbrella agreement negotiations are concluded.

"EU wants to use EU-US umbrella agreement...to raise the US standards, to ensure the rights of EU citizens and perhaps all the citizens. All humans will need protection under US law as is currently the case in the EU,” said Abraham. “The prohibition of blanket surveillance that the report recommends will hopefully apply to all citizens regardless of their nationality."

The draft report goes as far as suggesting suspending Safe Harbour, the legal instrument used for the transfer of EU personal data to the US through Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple and LinkedIn, until a full review has been conducted and current loopholes are plugged. The report’s proposals and recommendations are likely to be implemented after election to the European parliament in May.

In addition to reforms in the existing systems, the report outlines the importance of development of European clouds as it notes that trust in US cloud computing and cloud services providers has been affected by the surveillance practices.

"Three of the major computerized reservation systems used by airlines worldwide are based in the US and that PNR (passenger name record) data are saved in cloud systems operating on US soil under US law...lacks data protection adequacy," states the report.

C.U. Bhaskar, analyst with the South Asia Monitor think tank, was of the view that India had “adequately” responded to the US through quiet diplomacy.

"It is unlikely that the US will give up cyber surveillance,” he said, adding, “We should acquire our own capacity to ensure adequate defensive and offensive firewalls and build up appropriate capacity for our cyber programmes."

"Given our expertise in the IT (information technology) sector, as an analyst my opinion is that we have a reasonable capacity to build up our capabilities," Bhaskar added.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/livemint-january-17-2014-moulishree-srivastava-elizabeth-roche-eu-parliament-slams-us-surveillance

EU Commissioner Hedegaard to deliver keynote address at consumer world congress

praskrishna — 2011-08-20T14:34:45Z

European Union Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, will deliver the opening keynote address to the Consumer International (CI) 19th World Congress in Hong Kong, 3-6 May, it has been announced.

With under a month to go until the event, Commissioner Hedegaard joins an illustrious list of internationally renowned speakers who will be addressing the world’s consumer movement at the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

Other leading speakers include Alan Jope, Chairman, Unilever Greater China; Sue Rutledge, Director, Consumer Protection, World Bank; Anwar Fazal, civil society leader and former CI President; James Guest, President, Consumers Union of the United States; and Gerd Leonhard, CEO, The Futures Agency.

The CI World Congress, which will be officially opened by Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, will be attended by leaders of consumer organisations from over 100 countries, together with representatives from industry, governments, inter-governmental bodies, and civil society. It is being co-hosted by CI member organisation, the Hong Kong Consumer Council.

Commissioner Hedegaard will address the role of consumers in the green economy, a key issue area in light of the overall Congress theme of ‘Empowering Tomorrow’s Consumers’. Other consumer issues that will feature in sessions across the four-day event include: financial services, corporate social responsibility, food safety, and consumer rights in the digital age.

Consumers International Director General, Joost Martens said:

"We are delighted to have Commissioner Hedegaard address the CI World Congress on an issue that is vital to the future of consumption patterns across the globe. Our event is about looking at ways in which consumer groups can help tackle the major challenges facing the world, and give them the tools to empower individual consumers to make a positive difference. Alongside the green economy and issues of sustainable consumption, we have an impressive array of world experts exploring issues of global importance to consumers; such as fair financial services, corporate responsibility and access to knowledge in the digital world."

Hong Kong Consumer Council Chairman, Professor Anthony Cheung said:

"Hong Kong is strategically positioned to hold this World Congress in Asia, which has witnessed some of the fastest growing economies as well as the rampant inflation affecting large populations of consumers. We are honoured to have the Congress held in Hong Kong and to have the opportunity to co-host this single most important world assembly of consumer leaders and advocates at a crucial juncture of time. Fresh ideas and new action are urgently called for to tackle the many pressing issues facing consumers worldwide."

Media accrediation for CI World Congress can be applied for here:

Notes to Editors:

Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in 115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere.
The Hong Kong Consumer Council (HKCC) is an independent statutory body committing itself as the trusted voice for consumer betterment towards safe and sustainable consumption in a fair and just market. Joined Consumers International (CI) in 1976, HKCC became CI Council Member in 1978 and has been the Executive Member since 1994.
Consumers International’s 19th World Congress takes place at the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre, 3-6 May. Day 1 is dedicated to fringe event with Day 2 & 3 taken up with the official programme. Day 4 is the CI General Assembly. All details are at www.consumersinternational.org/congress
The CI World Congress occurs every four to five years. It includes the General Assembly where CI’s President, Executive and Council are voted in.
The last Congress took place in Sydney in 2007. The CI World Congress was previously held in Hong Kong in 1991. The co-hosts for the event are CI’s Hong Kong member, The Consumer Council.
Full list of confirmed chairs and speakers:

Alan Jope, Chairman, Unilever in China
Alejandro Calvillo, Executive Director, El Poder del Consumidor (Mexico)
Anna Glayzer, Programme Officer (Food safety and Nutrition), Consumers International
Anthony Cheung, Chairman, Hong Kong Consumer Council
Anwar Fazal, civil-society leader and former CI President
Bart Combée, President, Consumentenbond
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, EU Commission
David Hammerstein, intellectual property advisor, Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue, and former Spanish MEP
Diana Tsui, CSR Director, KPMG
Gerd Billen, Executive Director, The Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
Gerd Leonhard, The Futures Agency
Guido Adriaenssens, Chief Executive Officer, International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT)
H C Yang, Vice President and Secretary General, China Consumers' Association
Hassan Qaqaya, Chief, Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Section, Competition Law and Policy and Consumer Protection Section, UNCTAD
Helio Mattar, Founder, Akatu Institute for Conscious Consumption (Brazil)
Indrani Thuraisingham, Head of CI Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, Consumers International
Jaiok Kim, President, Consumers Korea
James Guest, CEO, Consumers Union of United States
Jami Solli, specialist on financial services in consumer protection law
Jan Gustav Strandenaes, Senior Adviser, The Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED)
Jean Halloran, Consumers Union of United States
Jens Henriksson, International Officer, Swedish Consumers' Association
Jeremy Malcolm, Access to Knowledge Programme Coordinator, Consumers International
Jonathon Hanks, University of Cape Town
Jørgen Schlundt, Deputy Director, National Food Institute, Denmark
Justin Macmullan, Head of Campaigns, Consumers International
Lisa Gunn, Executive Director, Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defence (IDEC)
Luke Upchurch, Head of Communications, Consumers International
Niall Dunne, former Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Sustainability
Norma McCormick, Chair, ISO Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO)
Peter Kell, Chair, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
Premila Kumar, Chief Executive, Consumer Council of Fiji
Rasmus Kjeldahl, Executive Director, Danish Consumer Council
Ratna Devi, Deputy Secretary General, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA)
Rehan Saiyed, Storm Corporate Design Limited
Richard Henry Kimera, Chief Executive, Consent, Uganda
Robert Welford, Chairman, CSR Asia
Robin Simpson, Senior Policy Advisor, Consumers International
Samuel Ochieng, President, CIN Kenya and Consumers International
Stefan Larenas R, President, Organisation of Consumers and Users of Chile (ODECU)
Sue Rutledge, Director of Consumer Protection, World Bank
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society, India
Thami Bolani, Chairman, National Consumer Forum (South Africa)

Press Contact

Luke Upchurch: lupchurch@consint.org [+44 796 894 9327]

Hong Kong Consumer Council

Clara Li clarali@consumer.org.hk [+852 2856 8589]

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/eu-commissioner-keynote-address

Ethical Research Guidelines

praskrishna — 2018-10-13T12:21:48Z

The Centre for Internet and Society will endeavour to protect the physical, social and psychological well-being of those who participate in their research. The guidelines below state the necessary steps to follow while doing research.

The ethical research guideline requires CIS staff and consultants to consider and take the following steps while engaging in research.

Providing notice to the individual of the: Aims, methods, his/her right to abstain from participation in the research and his/her right to terminate at any time his/her participation; the confidential nature of his/her replies and any limits on such confidentiality.
Providing informants and other participants the right to remain anonymous.
Taking informed consent from the individual that he/she agrees to participate. If children are involved in the research, informed consent will be taken from the parents. Informed consent will entail communicating :
- Purpose(s) of the study, and the anticipated consequences of the research;
- Identity of funders and sponsors
- Anticipated uses of the data
- The degree of anonymity and confidentiality which may be afforded to informants and subjects.
Ensuring that when audio/visual-recorders and photographic records are being used, participants that are being recorded will be made aware of the use of the devices, and have the option to request that they not be used.
Ensuring that the identity and identifying information of the participant (if not already in the public domain) is destroyed at the end of project, unless the individual has consented to otherwise.
At public events organized by CIS, it will be announced and publicly posted that the event is being recorded. Individuals will be given the choice object to being recorded or their name and organization shared in conference reports, blogs, articles etc. If the individual does not object, it will be considered that they have given their consent.
The Centre for Internet and Society strictly follows a policy of No Plagiarism.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/ethical-research-guidelines

Essentials of building internet tools for inclusion

praskrishna — 2017-03-14T14:38:23Z

A talk jointly proposed by Chinmayi SK and Rohini Lakshané was selected for the Internet Freedom Festival held at Valencia, Spain from March 6 to 10, 2017. The talk held on March 6, 2017 was jointly organized by Random Hacks of Kindness, The Bachchao Project, and the Centre for Internet and Society.

For the full schedule of Internet Freedom Festival, click here. A manual titled Building Tech for Diversity and Inclusion 101 jointly authored by Chinmayi S.K., Rohini Lakshané and Willow Brugh was released during the event.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/essentials-of-building-internet-tools-for-inclusion

Essay Review: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause

praskrishna — 2012-02-10T05:53:30Z

Hivos and the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) are pleased to announce the monthly essay review event. It starts from the midnight of February 17 and ends on the midnight of February 26. Hurry! Pick any essay from the four book collective of Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? and send us your reviews.

Hivos and CIS have consolidated their three year knowledge inquiry into the field of youth, technology and change in a four book collective “Digital AlterNatives with a cause?”.

This collaboratively produced collective, edited by Nishant Shah and Fieke Jansen, asks critical and pertinent questions about theory and practice around 'digital revolutions' in a post MENA (Middle East - North Africa) world. It works with multiple vocabularies and frameworks and produces dialogues and conversations between digital natives, academic and research scholars, practitioners, development agencies and corporate structures to examine the nature and practice of digital natives in emerging contexts from the Global South.

The event invites readers from around the world to pick any one essay from the books and review it in the week of 17-26 February 2012.

Previously found reviews can be found here.

For submission guidelines, please get in touch with: Nilofar Ansher (nilofar.ansh@gmail.com)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/events/essay-review

eSpeak Punjabi

praskrishna — 2015-03-10T02:02:21Z

eSpeak Punjabi

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