Centre for Internet and Society

DPR Establishment of National IP Rights

praskrishna — 2014-06-26T12:23:50Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dpr-establishment-national-ip-rights.pdf

Downloading from GPS

praskrishna — 2012-02-14T09:29:27Z

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

Down to Earth 4

praskrishna — 2011-03-16T05:14:05Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/D4E4.jpg

Down to Earth 3

praskrishna — 2011-03-16T05:09:02Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/D3E3.jpg

Down to Earth 2

praskrishna — 2011-03-16T05:04:38Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/D2E2.jpg

Down to Earth 1

praskrishna — 2011-03-16T04:54:45Z

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DoT Reportedly Orders Blocking of 32 Websites Including GitHub, Archive.org, SourceForge

praskrishna — 2015-01-02T14:51:39Z

Many users on Twitter are claiming that several websites, including many software development resources such as GitHub and SourceForge, along with research resources like the Internet Archive have all been blocked on order of the Department of Telecom.

The story was published in NDTV on December 31, 2014. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

A letter circulating online shows a list of 32 URLs that ISPs have reportedly been ordered to block, with most of these URLs being entire websites, instead of specific webpages that's usually been the case with such blocks in the past.

We tried to verify the users' claims, but on both our office broadband network, and also on Airtel and Vodafone 3G networks, all the sites were opening properly at the time of writing. Interestingly, many of the sites failed the load at the first try, but simply hitting refresh once solved the problem.

This does not mean that blocking is not happening - it is possible that the order has been sent recently, and will take some time to be fully implemented. Here is the email which purportedly shows the list of the 32 blocked URLs, as posted by Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director of the Center for Inernet and Society:

No information is available at present to confirm if blocking is truly happening, or why, but we are trying to ascertain the exact details and will update this story with the information as soon as possible.

However, there is some partial confirmation because both Pastebin and the Internet Archive have tweeted about blocking from India.

Such blocks in the past have been due to John Doe orders but the fact it is targeting software development sites like Github and Sourceforge is strange - the John Doe orders have specifically been used to block piracy of films, and blocking off sites that have no connection to movies makes no sense.

Arvind Gupta, the National Head of the BJP IT cell also took to Twitter, stating that these websites were being blocked for security reasons, based on the advice of the Anti-Terrorism Squad. According to Gupta's Tweets, the sites were being unblocked as soon as they removed "objectionable materials", allegedly related to ISIS.

It's extremely unusual that a government decision is being communicated by a political party official - if the Department of Telecom is blocking sites, then it should be the one to communicate and clarify these events. However, so far, it has not issued any statements, and neither has the IT Ministry.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-december-31-2014-dot-reportedly-orders-blocking-of-32-websites-including-github-archiveorg-sourceforge

Dot Bharat domain to roll out on August 21

praskrishna — 2014-09-08T07:08:32Z

Web addresses are set to get multilingual in India. Soon you will be able to type in addresses in a web browser in the Devnagri script – with “dot bharat” standing in for the currently common “dot in” domain to begin with. The roll-out of the same begins on August 21.

This was originally published by IANS and mirrored in Firstpost on August 19, 2014. Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

In the 90-day “sunrise period” of the roll-out those with registered trademarks will be able to register domain names in languages that use the Devnagri script, such as Hindi, Marathi, Boro, Dogri etc. After the sunrise period, it will be thrown open to regular users of the internet.

The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), an autonomous non-profit organisation, is responsible for peering of ISPs and routing the domestic traffic within the country. The NIXI and the government’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have worked on enabling this country code top level domain (ccTLD) of dot bharat. They say more such domains in different scripts and languages will eventually follow.

Currently, one can find content in various languages online. However, the URLs or web addresses are in English. With this rollout, even URLs would be in Hindi or Marathi. “Once the sunrise period runs smoothly, we will introduce other languages in other scripts such as Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu etc. There is no timeline set for it yet, but we hope there will be enough pressure with the adoption of the Devnagri domains to implement it soon,” says Mahesh Kulkarni, program coordinator at the C-DAC, heading the language technology group.

A few government websites too will be a part of the launch next week by the union minister of communications and information technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad. “For example, the pmindia dot gov dot in will be pradhanmantri dot sarkar dot bharat,” says Dr Govind, CEO of NIXI.

While some quarters have welcomed the introduction of the new domain, others are doubtful of its success given the low internet penetration and low literacy rate in the country. A June 2014 report from research firm eMarketer, India had the third largest online user-base globally after China and the US but had the lowest internet penetration growth in Asia Pacific at 17.4%. Osama Manzar, who heads the Digital Empowerment Foundation, suggests getting more people and public institutions online rolling out local language domain names.

“This is not a bad move, but I doubt and wonder if it will encourage people to buy domain names in Indian languages. Is it in sync with the national digital infrastructure? It is important that the government encourage every department and village panchayat to get online with a website along with this,” says Manzar.

Sahitya Akademi-winning Hindi writer Uday Prakash finds the Devnagri domain a welcome move, but stresses on the importance of making quality content in regional languages available online. “It’s a good step and will help those who are not comfortable with English. However, the problem remains that most of the content online is in English. If I search for Robin Williams in English, I will find hundreds of webpages. But if I google the same name in Devnagri, I’ll hardly find anything,” says Prakash.

On the other hand, there is also the view that the move towards a multilingual web need not follow a set path. “If a poor person buys a mobile phone before he build a toilet, who are we to judge? It is a market phenomenon. Like a jigsaw, some pieces of the puzzle may be worked out in advance. There are things like Indic input keyboards, text to speech and speech to text that need to be in place before an Indic language speaker can have the same experience as an English language user of the internet,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research organization Center for Internet and Society.

In October 2013, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) delegated generic top level domains in Arabic, Chinese and Cyrillic scripts. This was under the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) fast track process of the ICANN, which began in 2009, inviting requests from countries for territory names in scripts other than Latin. Meanwhile domestically, the union government has made a push for the use of local languages.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/tech-first-post-dot-bharat-domain-to-roll-out-on-august-21

Dorothy

praskrishna — 2011-01-24T12:59:32Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/parmesh06.jpg

Dont hang up on this one

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T11:42:41Z

Is 3G the next twist in the mobile phone growth story?

The ubiquitous mobile phone is the story of the decade that just passed us by. Now with the superfast 3G technology set to storm the market, consumers are eagerly awaiting faster data access and multimedia services, and it isn't time to hang up on the Indian telecom story.

From a clunky walkie-talkie like device that was nearly as exclusive as the landline, to an “anywhere, anytime” device that doubles as your computer, browser, map or even digital cash, the mobile phone has taken rapid strides in recent years.

In early 2000, Karnataka and Maharashtra led the mobile phone growth. However, experts often differ on when exactly the cellphone “explosion” began and what triggered it. Is it low-cost, mass market handsets that made it possible for just about anyone to “be connected” or the sophisticated smart phone that brought hitherto unforeseen experiences onto the mobile? Further, like mobile phone manufacturers, service providers too have been involved in a fierce price war to woo customers.

Sustained growth

According to an April 2010 TRAI report, there are 601.22 million wireless phone connections in the country and a teledensity (phones per 100 people) of over 50.98.

While wireless connections are growing by nearly three per cent every month, wireless connections declined by 0.4 per cent in April.

So what will 3G do that will change the way we connect to our devices?

Currently, our mobile phones are devices that we use to talk, stay connected — even feel safe in this instant connectivity — click or transfer pictures, listen to music or capture videos. “The future will be about livelihood applications.

Services, which have thus far focussed on how to get money from consumers' pockets, will move towards evolving ways to put money back in their pockets,” says S.R. Raja, president and co-founder of Mobile Monday.

Mr. Raja alludes to services in the agricultural sector or existing commerce-based applications that will get a boost once 3G enters.

For instance, he points to a Sasken Technologies pilot initiative in rural Tamil Nadu which helps women's self-help groups sell their produce by providing access to pricing details, thereby eliminating middlemen.

While larger services and societal applications in the field of e-learning and telemedicine are likely to pick up, for the common user it means access to live video and multimedia content. The 3G rollout will transform the way we use our cellphone, experts say.

Scepticism

However, others are sceptical and far less optimistic about this “radical change” and believe that the 3G take-off may not be as smooth as people would like to believe.

“3G may not deliver in the short-term for the ordinary Indian. Smart phones are still expensive. Data services will be expensive as telecom operators will try to recoup what they spent on the spectrum auction,” says Sunil Abraham, researcher and director of the Centre for Internet and Society.

The Government should start considering spectrum a public good and additionally consider open or shared spectrum to lower costs for projects run by public institutions or non-governmental organisations. Only then will the poor of India transcend SMS, he adds.

Read the original article in the Hindu

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dont-hang-up

Don't dive headlong into money-making schemes on the internet

praskrishna — 2017-02-07T15:02:24Z

If you do fall victim to fraud, file your complaint at RBI's Sachet web site.

The article by Sanjay Kumar Singh was published in the Business Standard on February 7, 2017. Udbhav Tiwari was quoted.

By now you have surely read the news about a Noida-based company called Ablaze Info Solutions, which is said to have defrauded about 700,000 people of Rs 3,700 crore. In this scheme, participants first had to pay a substantial subscription fee to join it, after which they were compensated for clicking on links. There were also incentives for bringing in other members, which made it akin to a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme. Experts advise that investors should do the due diligence before putting their money in such schemes. According to cyber experts, this scheme took off because the activity it was pursuing was a legitimate one per se. There is an entire industry on the Internet, wherein you can earn money by clicking on links: This improves the traffic on websites and allows them to demand higher advertising rates. Many websites outsource the task of improving traffic to third parties, which in turn recruit people in countries like India for the task. You can also earn money through activities like filling up forms, answering surveys, etc.

The mistake participants made in this case was to join the scheme without exploring other options. "Many players would have offered a similar level of compensation without demanding a subscription fee. Moreover, the very fact that the company was demanding a substantial subscription fee should have made people suspicious," says Udbhav Tiwari, policy officer, Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru. Before participating in such money-making schemes, spend time doing a detailed background check of the company's credentials, especially if the promised returns are realistic or not. "If the return offered by the company is high compared to the market rates of return, or the company is new, you should be extra cautious. Check various blogs and forums on the internet for possible complaints against the company and its key stakeholders," says Mukul Shrivastava, partner, fraud investigation and dispute services, EY India.

If you join such a programme, be warned the moment the company defaults on payments, delays them, or avoids your queries. Stop all interactions with it and lodge a complaint with the police. If the company had used forged documents, especially the ones claiming that the scheme had the approval of a regulator like Sebi, submit them.

You can also file a complaint at Sachet, a website set up by the Reserve Bank of India (see box). Another option is to contact the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. As the police take up a case usually when many complaints pour in against an entity, motivate other victims to complain, too. The state fights the case on your behalf. Your task after complaining is to cooperate with the investigation and depose in court. Nowadays victims can be compensated under the Criminal Procedure Code as well. They also have the option to file a civil suit for recovering their money.

Finally, there is a need for new laws to tackle online frauds. "There is a gap both in terms of legislation and effective enforcement. We only have a central 1978 Act for Prize Chits and allied rules in states, which need to be updated," says Nishant Joshi, partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

Word box
Turn to Sachet

RBI has launched a website, sachet.rbi.org.in, where you can complain if you have been cheated by an entity that has illegally collected money from you
The website also provides information on legitimate entities that are authorised to collect money
Many regulators and enforcement agencies take up the complaints filed on this site
Investors don’t have to know the regulator under whose jurisdiction the company they want to complain against falls
You will get an email informing you about the regulator/entity that will take up your case

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-sanjay-kumar-singh-february-7-2017-dont-dive-headlong-into-money-making-schemes-on-the-internet

Domain Name System Forum 2014

praskrishna — 2014-07-03T09:03:07Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/domain-name-system-forum.pdf

Does this click with you?

praskrishna — 2015-09-27T10:07:00Z

While the web caters to customers who purchase basic lifestyle products, the app is ideal to make impulsive shopping decisions.

The article by Parshathy J. Nath was published in the Hindu on September 1, 2015. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

Netizens were caught by surprise when online retail giant Flipkart announced that they were going the app-only way. Some grumbled and a few rejoiced. There were debates on its pros and cons. However, a few days ago, Flipkart revoked the decision because it wanted to assess the impact of this move on sales in big-ticket categories. But the debate continues.

Bangalore-based techie Diljeet Kaur feels the app makes shopping a lot easier. “I shop on the app for everything — from mobile chargers, laptop, mobile covers and kitchen appliances to books and even water bottles. In case I am not happy, I click on the return option. They call up immediately, pick up the item within 48 hours and refund the amount to my account. What more can one ask for?”

Rachna Binani, who owns a toy store in Madurai, also says shopping has become faster with the app. “A mobile phone is with you for 18 hours a day. But, you can’t lug a laptop around everywhere you go.” Prasannan B., an HR General Manager in Madurai, agrees. “A year ago, I would not have chosen a mobile app over a website, because it was not as advanced. But, now things have changed.”

But, some prefer the website to the app. Like Paulami Guha Biswas, an avid online book shopper from Hyderabad, who says, “Browsing becomes difficult when you are shopping through an app. On a website, you can open multiple tabs and compare prices and discount rates in peace. The screen is also bigger.”

While the web caters to customers who purchase basic lifestyle products, the app is ideal to make impulsive shopping decisions. Says Jaishree S. Santhosh, CEO of a Coimbatore-based educational institution, “I prefer to do random window shopping through a website and stick to apps when it comes to my regular Flipkart and Amazon shopping. Because when I use apps, I need to log in and share my personal information. I would prefer to do that only with two or three sites and not every virtual shopping platform.”

However, apps are redefining our shopping culture and experience. With efficient data-tracking systems, these apps record the customer’s buys. “The app keeps throwing images of products that interest you, based on your purchase history. This can be a little creepy at times,” says Jaishree. “It seems like it can read your mind. I do not like it getting too personal with me. Moreover, it tempts me to buy things that I otherwise would not have thought of buying.”

The personalised shopping experience can be both a boon and bane. According to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based research organisation, “It is a terrible development from the perspective of the online user’s rights. Apps violate user privacy. Moreover, they waste your phone’s memory, storage and battery.”

Even though mobiles and apps are popular among the youth, young entrepreneurs from the online world are still hesitant to venture into the app domain. Nilisha Bhimani, a 28-year-old online entrepreneur who runs www.stayfabulous.com, says she cannot even imagine making her portal app-only. “Mine is a fashion portal. And with fashion shopping, one would want to open multiple windows and compare products. It is difficult to do this on our phones.”

However, Nilisha thinks that it is a good move from Flipkart to have sparked off this debate. “It sounds like a well-thought-out strategy. More so, since surveys point out that there are increasingly more people doing mobile transactions.”

According to an article published in Business Insider on August 24, a study conducted by Internet & Mobile Association of India and KPMG found out that India is projected to have 236 million mobile Internet users by 2016. Flipkart’s move could be a response to the large influx of smart phones into the Indian mobile market, feels Ashish Jhalani, founder of eTailing India, an e-commerce knowledge platform and advisory. “We will be the second-largest smartphone market in the world soon, but that does not mean we are ready for an app-only strategy. Our consumer base is still getting used to shopping online and to ask them to use only one interface to shop is a little premature. I believe, in the long term, this strategy will work, but there is still some time for that.”

And, how will elders in the society, who also constitute a large section of online customers, cope with change? Suchi Dalmia, a business woman from Coimbatore, says that even though her mother shops online, she is still not comfortable with it. “And on top of it, if we open up an app-only shopping system, it is going to hit her hard. A retail giant like Flipkart stands the risk of losing a big chunk of their clientele with this move.”

(With inputs from Soma Basu, Shilpa Sebastian R. and Nikhil Varma)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-september-1-2015-parshathy-nath-does-this-click-with-you

Does Size Matter? A Tale of Performing Welfare, Producing Bodies and Faking Identity

praskrishna — 2014-06-04T09:45:49Z

Malavika Jayaram gave a talk.

This was published by the website of Berkman Center for Internet and Society

Big Data doesn’t get much bigger than India’s identity project. The world’s largest biometric database - currently consisting of almost 600 million enrolled - seduces with promises of inclusion, legitimacy and visibility. By locating this techno-utopian vision within the larger surveillance state that a unique identifier facilitates, Malavika will describe the ‘welfare industrial complex’ that imagines the poor as the next emerging market. She will highlight the risks of the body as password, of implementing e-governance in a legal vacuum, and of digitization reinforcing existing inequalities. The export of technologies of control - once they have been tested on a massive population that has little agency and limited ability to withhold consent - transforms this project from a site of local activism to one with global repercussions. By offering a perspective that is somewhat different from the traditional western focus of privacy, she hopes to generate a more inclusive discourse about what it means to be autonomous and empowered in the face of paternalistic development projects. She will highlight, in particular, the varied ways in which the project is already being subverted and re-purposed, in ways that are humorous and poignant.

About Malavika

Malavika is a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, focusing on privacy, identity and free expression. She is also a Fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, and the author of the India chapter for the Data Protection & Privacy volume in the Getting the Deal Done series. Malavika is one of 10 Indian lawyers in The International Who's Who of Internet e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers directory. In August 2013, she was voted one of India’s leading lawyers - one of only 8 women to be featured in the “40 under 45” survey conducted by Law Business Research, London. In a different life, she spent 8 years in London, practicing law with global firm Allen & Overy in the Communications, Media & Technology group, and as VP and Technology Counsel at Citigroup. She is working on a PhD about the development of a privacy jurisprudence and discourse in India, viewed partly through the lens of the Indian biometric ID project.

Podcast

Watch the podcast at this link.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/harvard-university-may-13-2014-does-size-matter

Documentation and Wikipedia Contribution — A One Day Workshop

praskrishna — 2013-11-12T04:20:37Z

On November 14, the CIS-A2K team is organizing a one day orientation workshop on 'Documentation and Wikipedia Contribution' at the Kalinga Institute of Social Studies (KISS), Bhubaneswar from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ରୁ

ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରସ୍ଥିତ ଆଦିବାସୀ ଆବାସିକ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ KISS (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚୁଟ ଅଫ ସୋସିଆଲ ଷ୍ଟଡିଜ)ଠାରେ ଏଠାକାର ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଆଦିବାସୀମାନଙ୍କର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି ଓ ଜନ‌ଜୀବନ ବାବଦରେ ଅନେକ ଗବେଷଣାଭିତ୍ତିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଏକାଧିକ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବାର ଏକ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରାଯାଇଛି । ପ୍ରାରମ୍ଭିକ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟାୟରେ ଏହି ନ‌ଥିକରଣ ତିନୋଟି ଭାଷାରେ (ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ଇଂରାଜୀ ଓ ହିନ୍ଦୀ)ରେ କରାଯାଇ KISS ୱେବସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଯିବ । ଏହି ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସମୂହ ଜ୍ଞାନ‌କୋଷ ପରିସରରେ ଥିବାରୁ ଏସବୁକୁ ଉଇକିକରଣ କରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସବୁକୁ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ କରିବା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହି ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାର ଆୟୋଜନ କରାଯାଇଛି । ନ‌ଭେମ୍ବର ୧୪ (ଗୁରବାର‌) ଦିନ ସକାଳ ୧୧:୦୦ ରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଥିବା ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ୧୨ ଜଣ ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ୩୨ ଜଣ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଯୋଗଦେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ଓ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବାବଦରେ ତାଲିମ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରିବେ ।

Click to read the full details published on the Wiki meta page here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution