Centre for Internet and Society

Echolink

praskrishna — 2013-05-05T04:59:02Z

Echolink

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EC guidelines on social media: Welcome move, but not enough

praskrishna — 2013-11-19T10:18:51Z

With election season close by and the growing ubiquity of social media, the Election Commission of India’s recent guidelines for how candidates and political parties must conduct themselves on social media are a well-intentioned step. But are these guidelines enough to regulate how online media is used by parties and candidates, given the kind of proxy wars that are played online? For now, not really.

This article was published in the First Post on November 1. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

For the first time time, the EC is seeking detailed expenditure records, and disclosure of all authentic social media accounts of every candidate. The guidelines have also looked at online advertising and the EC has asked that all ads by political parties should be pre-certified before they are released online. In fact, Firstpost’s Pallavi Pollanki had reported even before the guidelines were published that the EC was working towards monitoring the use of social media. You can read the full story here.

Currently, however, the guidelines don’t take into account, content posted by persons other than candidates and political parties. The last paragraph of the EC’s order states, “As far as the content posted by persons other than candidates and political parties is concerned, the Commission is considering the matter in consultation with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology on practical ways to deal with the issue, in so far as they relate to, or can be reasonably connected with, the election campaigning of political parties and candidates.”

The nature of the web is such that possible to create many IPs, change Twitter handles, create new user ids on public discussion forums. Thus it becomes very hard to gauge who is a volunteer/ just another ordinary supporter or who is a paid supporter. Even the EC acknowledges that.

Sunil Abraham, Director of the Centre for Internet and Society based in Bangalore, has a valid point on this. He says, “The guidelines only regulate the social media accounts of politicians and their parties. It does not regulate social media content published by others. This basically means that the EC needs to develop sophisticated tools to detect astroturfing, sock puppetry, meat puppetry and other forms of manipulation of the networked public sphere. Without these tools it would not be possible to tell when politicians and political parties use proxies to circumvent the guidelines.”

Astroturfing, for instance is when a site or an independent entity claims to be completely neutral and in favour of a political message without revealing its funding source. Very often software is used to create many online avatars. Sometimes it’s one person with many online identities which is also known as sock puppetry.

So yes, there might be online content or websites that claim to be independent and supports or mocks a particular leader but it might not always be possible to know who is financing them. While the EC might be able to keep a tab on official Twitter handles and Facebook and perhaps other few that are revealed by the party, it will be very hard to pinpoint proxy accounts, websites etc.

For example when it comes to a leader like Modi, there are many websites that are pro and anti-Modi. One in particular which defends Modi is called Godhra Riots the True Story and seeks to tell what it claims is the true tale behind the Godhra riots. When you type Godhra Riots, it is the number two search result in Google. In the About Us section, the website claims to be run by well-wishers of humanity and gives only a vague idea of its owner.

The site tries to absolve Modi, but since it doesn’t claim to be run by any political party, it doesn’t come under the purview of the EC’s guidelines and there is no reason to reveal who runs or funds it.

Counter to that is another website called Truth of Gujarat, which seeks to reveal the truth behind Narendra Modi’s development and other claims. The work published on the site bears bylines prominently but there is no easy way of knowing who finances the site and its research. The fact is that everyone claims to be represent a certain version of the truth on the web and when you don’t know the source, it becomes deeply problematic.

There’s also the question of Internet trolls who are largely un-touched by the guidelines. And there’s no denying that trolls do form a large part of the online political discourse in India.

We asked Ishan Russel, the managing partner for The Image People, a firm that specialises in political campaign management, if the guidelines are insufficient to deal with trolls.

He wrote, “Social media has ensured that a lot more people are expressing their opinion plus the added advantage of anonymity makes it easy for trolling. The days of the political class laying down the agenda are perhaps over… To try and regulate every comment is impossible, the best perhaps the EC can ensure is that no hateful campaigning happens online.”

EC also wants pre-certification for online advertising. But Sunil feels that pre-certification is overkill. He says, “This will greatly reduce the agility required by political parties on social media. Post facto notification would have been a sufficient measure to ensure compliance with the guidelines and other regulations of the EC.”

Ishant however says that pre-certification is good especially for video-based content, “In cases where for example a video ad is used it is good perhaps to pre-screen it so that it does not violate any norms.” He feels it is necessary to ensure that the online space remains fair too.

It would be fair to say that for now while the EC’s guidelines were much-needed but given the way the Internet works, they still have a long way to go.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/firstpost-november-1-2013-shruti-dhapola-ec-guidelines-on-social-media

Eating with Phone

praskrishna — 2012-02-09T09:08:22Z

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

eAccessibility Workshop 2013

praskrishna — 2013-12-26T10:47:22Z

Directorate of Information Technology (DIT), in association with Mahaonline Limited (MoL) and NIXI has organized a workshop on eAccessibility on November 19-20, 2013 at Mumbai and Pune. The Centre for Internet and Society is one of the trainer organisations for the event.

See the original published by the Directorate of Information Technology, Government of Maharashtra. Link to the event page.

For this workshop, DIT is inviting developer communities and Software companies primarily working on Government of Maharashtra websites (which are citizen-centric, high-traffic, high impact and important ones), to teach them about accessibility and try to make their websites/application compliant to WCAG 2.0 Level A. It may be noted that Maharashtra’s egovernance policy 2011 specifies that websites/applications should be WCAG 2.0 Level A compliant.

The primary aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the importance of creating accessible web sites and to educate the developers of these web sites on how to incorporate accessibility features into new as well as existing web sites. The training will comprise both theory-oriented and practical (Hands-on) sessions on their own websites.

Topics for workshop:

Sensitization, what is accessible computing, how disabled interact with computer/web, WCAG, Basic principles of web accessibility, assistive tools/products

Implementation methods : HTML Markup validation, Treatment of Links, Page structure/Content, Menu, Images, Forms, Colour, Table, CSS, Keyboard, PDF, etc.

Managing and maintaining accessibility, Access policy design etc.

Targeted Audience for the Hands-On Training:

The participants would be experience technical professionals already involved in developing high traffic/high impact important web sites for Mahatrashtra government clients, with good knowledge of HTML, XML, CSS, etc. The sessions would give hands-on training to the participants, to make the applications / websites they are working on, “Accessible”.Participants can be:

Web designers, Software Developers, Business Analyst & System Analysts working on Government of Maharashtra Projects

Developers nominated by NIC DIOs for District specific sites

About Trainer Organisations

he trainers will be specialists in web accessibility. We have coordinated with Three Front-Runner organizations in India working on Accessibility, namely The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Barrierbreak and Advanced Blind Student LearningCentre, Univ. Of Pune, to participate in this workshop as CO- TRAINERS.

Please read more about these three organizations.

Workshop Schedule

The schedule of the workshop (to be conducted simultaneously in Mumbai and Pune Locations:

Workshop	Schedule	Highlights
Main Workshop	19-20 Nov 2013	Theory and Hands-on sessions by trainers
Follow up workshop	Second week of December 2013 (Date to be finalized during main workshop)	Review of compliance work done by participating companies and certification of websites for e-Accessibility, followed by Concluding session.

Parallel Tracks and Participant Groups

This workshop will be conducted jointly in Mumbai & Pune and would be achieved by associating with co-trainer organizations with participant-grouping as described below:

Co-Trainer	Group to be alloted	Seat Capacity
The Centre for Internet and Society	Mumbai: Group A	20
Barrierbreak Ltd.	Mumbai: Group B	20
Advanced Technology Blind Student's Learning Centre, University of Pune	Pune: Group C	20

Group A and B: Participants from Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur etc.
Group C : Participants from Pune and adjoining cities.

Location preference of the participants shall be asked at the time of registrations. It will be confirmed depending upon seat-availability, on first-come-first-serve basis.

Follow-up Workshop / Concluding session

There will be a followup workshop (1 day), which shall be important milestone for the entire initiative. During this, First half shall be devoted for compliance-check and actual certification of Websites by Trainer/faculty members. In second half of the day, DIT and MoL would invite larger group of stake-holders, namely concerned Secretaries / HoD of client Organizations.

Expected Outcome of the workshop

At the end of the workshop, as tangible output, it is expected that the sites taken up during the workshop shall be made more accessible, to have larger compliance factor for WCAG 2.0 level A. As part of one of the outcome of the workshop, it is expected that 25 to 30 inaccessible government web sites shall be retrofitting with accessibility features, to make them compliance to WCAG 2.0 Level A.

Cost of participation

Registered participants can attend this workshop free-of-cost.

All Other Costs (Travelling, Lodging, Boarding etc.) are to be borne by the participants/attendees.

Venue Details

Location	Groups	Seat Capacity
Mumbai : Mahaonline Sion Office	A and B	40 (20+20)
Pune: Mahaonline Training Academy Premises	Group C	20

Registrations

The companies working for govt. clients have to register their staff (who are working on a set of websites) for this workshop using following link:

URL: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/eAccessibility_workshop

Maximum 4 staff member can be nominated by a company. For a website, maximum 2 persons can be nominated. The decision of DIT/MoL about selection of a website/participant for this workshop shall be final and binding.

Contact Details

Email: payal.bulani@mahaonline.gov.in
Phone: (022) 6707 7000 Ext 103
Fax: (022) 2402 0507

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/e-accessibility-workshop-2013

Eaccessibility Handbook

praskrishna — 2011-11-10T09:37:08Z

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

Eaccessibility

praskrishna — 2013-07-29T10:31:06Z

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

e2

praskrishna — 2016-02-19T02:37:07Z

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e1

praskrishna — 2016-02-19T02:29:59Z

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E-Governance, Identity & Privacy

praskrishna — 2012-09-26T06:17:03Z

This chapter will look at different legislations, projects, and policies pertaining to e-governance and identity that India has put in place, and examine both the strengths and the weaknesses of these, through the lense of privacy.

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

E-Governance Interoperability Framework — Meeting in Iraq

praskrishna — 2011-08-18T05:04:49Z

A meeting to create a plan of action for the development of e-Governance Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) in Iraq and include formulation of an e-GIF policy and technical document within the larger framework of public sector modernization, was held from 25 to 27 January 2011. Sunil Abraham was the main resource person for this meeting.

Mr. Abdul Kareem Al-Samaraii, Minister of Science and Technology and Mr. Peter Bachelor, Deputy Country Director, UNDP gave the opening remarks.

E-GIF Meeting Agenda, ERBIL, 25-27 January 2011

Tuesday 25/1/2011
	08:30 – 09:00 Opening Remarks H.E. Mr Abdul Kareem Al-Samaraii, Minister of Science and Technology Mr. Peter Bachelor/ Deputy Country Director, UNDP 09:00 – 10:00 e-GIF overview Introducing the GIF: Benefits of Interoperability for e-Governance GIF Context GIF Technical Content: Standard Categorisation How we can Develop Effective GIF Policy Document and GIF Action Plan: Presentation on GIF templates (GIF text and action Plan) that required to be filled by the end of the workshop 10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break 10:30 – 12:00 Survey and base-line for Map of existing and proposed e-governance and ICT4D projects. User Interface and accessibility Storage and database schema Multi-modal input and output Access control and security Network schema Document flow and work-flow Discussion on specific challenges and opportunities faced when attempting interoperability. 12:00 – 13:30 Discussion on the co-existence of the GIF with existing/proposed laws and policies E-governance and ICT4D Copyright Patents (software only) FOSS/Open Standards/Open Content/Open Data Privacy and Data Protection Right to Information/Freedom of Information/Access to Information/Public Information 13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break 14:30 – 16:00 Discussion on definition of “Open Standards” Existing definitions of Open Standards RAND, FRAND and Royalty Free De Facto and De Jure Standards Standards Setting Organisations Governance of Standards Single Standard vs. Multiple Standards Relationship between FOSS and Open Standards Review of international best practice European Union US Brazil Russia India Indonesia China 16:00 – 16:15 Coffee Break 16.15 - 17.45 Discussion on degree of openness Hardware/Software/File Formats Maturity of the standard Adoption in Iraq Policy Objectives of the GIF Neutral playing-field / vendor independence Obsolescence Data convergence Cost-reduction Domestic ICT industry
Wednesday 26/1/2011
	08:30 – 10:00 Discussion on Organisational Architecture to Interoperability: Enterprise Architecture Service Oriented Architecture Example on Germany’s Slandered and Architecture of E-Government Application (SAGA) that contain both the architecture and standard for interoperability / or any other relevant example 10.00 - 10.30 Coffee Break 10.30 - 13.00 Governance of the Government Interoperability Framework: Creating the GIF Organisational Structure: Authority/Agency/Ministerial Committee/Adjunct to the President/Prime Minister's office. Light vs. Heavy regulation: Broad principles vs. Lists approach [Inclusion lists, exclusion lists, least common denominator approach] Exemptions and Limitation: Reactive vs. proactive. Formal vs. informal. Versioning: Mechanism and time-frame for revising the GIF. Pre-determined Monitoring of Compliance: Agency responsible and protocol to be observed. Random vs. blanket approach. Sanctions: Design of remedies and punitive measures to discourage non-compliance. Incentives: Design of awards and prizes for those who comply first, most, at the least-cost, etc. Documentation and Public Consultation: How will the process of developing, implementing and monitoring the GIF incorporate public consultation and be documented. Capacity Building 13.00 - 14.00 Lunch Break 14.00 - 15.30 Discussion on specific standards for the GIF [categorization based on Indian GIF] with a focus on current problem areas (G2G, G2B) Presentation And Archival Domain Data Integration Domain Data Interchange Domain 15.30 - 15.45 Coffee Break 15.45 - 17.15 Discussion on specific standards for the GIF [categorization based on Indian GIF] with a focus on (G2C) and local Governorates and emerging areas Presentation And Archival Domain Data Integration Domain Data Interchange Domain
Thursday 27/1/2011	08.30 - 11.30 Unplanned time for collaborative work on the text of the GIF Draft of E-GIF Action Plan and Working Groups 11.30 - 12.00 Coffee Break 12.00 - 14.00 Review on e-governance plan of action Out of GIF scope 14.00 - 14.30 Workshop Closing Session and Looking Forward

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/e-gif-iraq-meeting

E-governance hopes rise as India crosses 1 billion transactions

praskrishna — 2013-10-29T04:48:58Z

Government agencies and departments, regarded as bywords for inefficiency and red tape, have recorded over a billion e-governance transactions so far this year, watershed for the world's largest democracy that is betting on technology to cure its ills.

The article by J Srikant was published in the Economic Times on October 29, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

"It is an important milestone for India's e-governance initiative," said J Satyanarayana, secretary in the department of electronics and information technology. "With better accessibility and more projects getting completed, this number should keep rising."

Among states, Gujarat topped the list with around 389 million transactions while online payment for utility and government services was the most used government service with about 258 million transactions clocked in the year.

India is in the middle of implementing a large-scale e-governance programme which includes a vast information technology network to facilitate speedy delivery of public services. The most important of these are 31 'mission mode' projects being implemented by the central governments and states. Technology researcher Gartner estimates that government will spend Rs 36,800 crore on IT products and services in 2013. The most high-profile e-governance scheme is the unique identity project Aadhaar being implemented by former InfosysBSE -0.04 % CEO Nandan Nilekani. The biometric-linked scheme is targeting to enroll 600 million people by 2014.

A year ago, the country successfully commissioned an e-passport project where digitisation of applications and internal files vastly improved the time taken to issue new passports.

"Reaching a billion transactions with just about 100 million internet users is a commendable achievement and we should celebrate it," said Sunil Abraham, executive director of Centre for Internet and Society. "E-governance is a tough area to work in, not just in India but across the globe. So this performance should make us positive."

With more parts of the country getting connected through the National Optic Fibre Network, industry watchers expect more citizens to be accessing government services over the internet. The project aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. The network has been launched in pockets of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura, with some 80,500 transactions already recorded.

"This number (one billion) is a reflection of the increasing access of internet in the country and the acceptance of technology change happening," said Sanjoy Sen, senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. "E-governance helps in reducing cost and bottlenecks for the user and also brings down the time to get the work done. It is an important factor in today's economy."

Experts said that although it is working well for India, there are still certain steps that government needs to take to maintain the pace of expansion.

"Government should look at financially incentivising setting up of cyber cafes in rural India as these are an important aspect of improving the accessibility," said Abraham.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/economic-times-october-29-2013-j-srikant-e-governance-hopes-rise-as-india-crosses-1-billion-transactions

e-DIRAP Google+ Hangout on Open Government

praskrishna — 2013-08-08T04:20:31Z

The e-DIRAP Hangout on Open Government was held on Thursday, July 25, 2013. The Hangout brought together nine professionals from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines to discuss open government initiatives in their respective countries, the challenges they face, and open source tools for open government.

Watch the Video below

The following panelists participated in the hangout. Sunil Abraham was one of them:

Danny Butt, Research Fellow in Participatory Public Space, University of Melbourne, Australia
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society, India
Venkatesh Hariharan, Director, Knowledge Commons, India (previously, Head of Public Policy at Google India)
Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay, Indonesia (also Steering Committee Member of Open Government Partnership)
Yanuar Nugroho, Director and Expert Adviser to the Head of the President's Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), Indonesia -- to be confirmed
Tomoaki Watanabe, Executive Research Fellow, Centre for Global Communications, International University of Japan (also Executive Director of Common Sphere - the host of Creative Commons Japan, and Co-founder of Open Knowledge Foundation Japan)
Shita Laksmi, Program Manager, Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiative, Hivos Regional Office Southeast Asia
Alvin B. Marcelo, Co-chair, Asia eHealth Information Network

Moderator: Khairil Yusof, Co-founder, Sinar Project, Malaysia (also e-DIRAP team member)
e-DIRAP Hangout Coordinator: Christine Apikul

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/e-dirap-google-hangout-on-open-government

E-Consultation on Cyber Security, Justice, and Governance Begins!

praskrishna — 2014-12-04T23:36:27Z

Sunil Abraham facilitated the e-consultation on "Internet access, the freedom of expression online, and development in the Global South" at the event organized by the Hague Institute for Global Justice.

This was originally published on the website of the Hague Institute for Global Justice on November 4, 2014.

On 3 November 2014, The Hague Institute launched its first e-consultation, which seeks to contribute to the work of the Commission on Global Security, Justice, and Governance. This is the first of a series of e-consultations on topics relevant to the research and policy agenda of the Commission.

This consultation brings together over 75 international cyber security and cyber governance experts and seeks to build on the high-level Expert Consultation on Cyber Security, Justice, and Governance hosted by The Hague Institute, The Stimson Center and the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi on 18 October 2014 following the conclusion of the India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance.

The consultation was chaired by Dr. Jane Holl Lute – a Commissioner, and President and CEO of the Council on Cyber Security and Former U.S. Deputy-Secretary for Homeland Security. Speakers included former Deputy National Security Advisor of India, Ambassador Latha Reddy and Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society, Mr. Sunil Abraham.

A summary of the expert discussion can be read here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hague-institute-for-global-justice-november-4-2014-e-consultation-on-cyber-security-justice-and-governance-begins

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities - Daisy

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T12:46:42Z

the daisy zip file

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/e-accessibility-daisy

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Russian Version)

praskrishna — 2012-04-26T10:04:08Z

The e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities is based upon the online ITU-G3ict e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities (www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org) which was released in February 2010. This is the Russian translation of the same.

The Toolkit and its companion handbook have contributions from more than 60 experts around the world on ICT accessibility and is a most valuable addition to policy makers and regulators, advocacy and research organisations and persons with disabilities on the implementation of the ICT dispositions of the CRPD.

The handbook is a joint publication of ITU, G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with The Hans Foundation. The book is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Preface by Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union. Introduction by Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D. Foreword by Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict.

UNIC Moscow (United Nations Information Centre - Moscow) has translated the English version of the kit to Russian. For more information on the translation initiative by UNIC Moscow, click here.

Download the Russian version here (PDF, 1045 kb)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-kit-in-russian