Centre for Internet and Society

D:coding Digital Natives - Seminar with Nishant Shah

praskrishna — 2013-03-06T05:21:27Z

Nishant Shah gave a talk on D:coding Digital Natives at Samhällsvetarhuset on February 26, 2013, from 1.15 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. The event was organized by HUMlab.

Read the original published by HUMlab.

Abstract

The discourse around youth-technology-change - digital natives, if you will - has been shaped by self explanatory buzzwords like participation, collaboration, mobilization etc. These words seem to hold a promise of revolutions and change without actually acknowledging material practices or complex relationships that young people have with technologies and visions of change. Trying to decode these words through case-studies from the Global South, this talk hopes to offer new frameworks through which digital natives can be studied and understood in emerging ICT contexts.

Bio:
Nishant Shah is the co-founder and director of research at the Bangalore-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society. He studies questions of governance, identity, planning and body at the intersections of digital technologies, law and everyday cultural practice.

He is a visiting researcher at the Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University, Germany, and an International Knowledge Partner on 'Youth, Technology and Change' with Hivos, Netherlands. He recently co-edited the four-volume book series "Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?" that captures discourse, practice and policy as it shapes and is shaped by youth driven, everyday practices of digital technologies and is currently working on looking at civic action in networked societies.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/humlab-umea-university-d-coding-digital-natives

D:Coding Digital Natives

praskrishna — 2015-05-08T12:30:14Z

Nishant Shah was invited for a public talk at the University of California, Los Angeles. He presented the work done on Digital Natives and spoke about questions of participation and resistance. The talk has been featured in the YouTube channel.

Nishant spoke about the ways by which technology revolution and change has been characterised through the question of voice (how technology has enabled for alternative voices to emerge as ways by which they can be heard), question of amplification (what 10 years ago might have been local phenomena are becoming global spectacles) and the question of power (what really happens when voice and amplification comes to an end).

Nishant said that in the last three years of revolutions we have also now witnessed this extraordinary thing where lot of promises were made of different kinds of revolution but which never materialised in terms of what they intended to. Citizen action happens but it doesn’t lead into anything concrete. One of the examples from India was the Anna Hazare’s campaign or India’s fight against corruption. There was this immense amount of campaign on the corruption in Indian bureaucracy and political society... the only instance of mass mobilisation that we saw in India in recent times apart from the cricket series...and how the campaign in seven short months has totally disappeared from public discourse.

For more, watch the video now:

Date: March 9, 2012
Time: 12 to 1 p.m.
Venue: Library Conference Center Presentation Room, University of California

Follow the video on YouTube

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives

D2E1

praskrishna — 2011-03-16T05:00:37Z

An opposition supporter holds up a laptop showing images of celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak resigned (Photo: Reuters)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/D2E1.jpg

Cyrus Mistry

praskrishna — 2012-11-30T04:41:50Z

Cyrus Mistry

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

CyFy Agenda

praskrishna — 2015-10-16T03:01:13Z

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

CyFy 2016 Agenda

praskrishna — 2016-09-13T15:06:16Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/cyfy-2016-agenda

CYFY 2016 - The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance

praskrishna — 2016-09-13T15:23:59Z

Sunil Abraham will participate as a panelist at CYFY 2016 event organized by Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi from September 28 to 30, 2016.

Into its fourth edition this year, CyFy: The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance has emerged as a global platform to discuss, debate and deliver digital policy solutions. CyFy 2015 featured nearly 110 participants from over 33 countries, with nearly 800 delegates in attendance. Prominently, the conference sessions featured several experts from Africa and the Asia Pacific, who addressed the policy priority of connecting the next billion. The 2016 iteration of CyFy will highlight the political, economic and strategic questions that underpin this imperative.

Download the Agenda

See the announcement on CYFY website or write to Samir Saran at ssaran@orfonline.org or Arun at arun.sukumar@orfonline.org for more details on the conference.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cyfy-2016-the-india-conference-on-cyber-security-and-internet-governance-4th-edition

Cyfy 2015: The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance

praskrishna — 2015-10-17T14:44:42Z

In its third year, Cyfy; South Asia’s biggest internet policy conference is being held in New Delhi, from 14-16 October, 2015. The event is organized by Observer Research Foundation at Hotel Taj Mansingh. Sunil Abraham is a panelist in the session "Protection of Intellectual Property and Business Secrets in the Knowledge Economy".

Building on its scope and scale of the previous year — over 55 speakers, from 12 countries, with 350 attendees — the conference discusses issues that affect the emerging world and developed world alike. The conversations will further and widen the debate around internet governance, security, surveillance, freedom of expression, norms of state behaviour, technology and specific societal challenges that emerging and developing countries seek to address by the effective design and deployment on these technologies. In 2015, Cyfy will bring together more experts from South Asia, in order to present new thought on the specific challenges of internet access, policy and regulation, e-governance, financial inclusion, and bottom of the pyramid solutions.

Along with its growing network of both Indian and international partners, ORF looking forward to hosting another thought-provoking and productive few days, and bridging some digital divides in contemporary internet cyber policy debates.

Protection of Intellectual Property and Business Secrets in the Knowledge Economy

Over the past decade, there has been an exponential rise in cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, and it has been recognized as an unfair predatory practice. With the rise of the globalized knowledge economy, the stability of open trading systems increasingly depends on cross-border IP protection. What is the relevance of the protection of intellectual property and business secrets for economic development and stability of the international trading system?

Download the agenda For more info visit here.

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

CYFY 2014 Event Programme

praskrishna — 2014-10-13T06:59:09Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cyfy-2014-event-programme.pdf

CYFY 2014 Brochure

praskrishna — 2014-10-13T07:03:52Z

The brochure of the event.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cyfy-2014-brochure.pdf

CYFY 2013: India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T06:50:15Z

The Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is holding the India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance at the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi on October 14 and 15, 2013. Sunil Abraham will participate in this event as a speaker.

Click to download the full details in the event brochure.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications & Technology will give the inaugural address. Shri Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor, Government of India will give the keynote address. Shri Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State, Human Resource Development, Government of India will give the dinner table address on October 14.

On the second day, October 15, Minister Jaak Aaviksoo will give the keynote address and Shri Nehchal Sandhu, Deputy National Advisor, Government of India will give the valedictory address.

List of Speakers

Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, India
Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor, Government of India
Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, India
Nehchal Sandhu, Deputy National Security Advisor, Government of India
A.P. Shah, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court
Arvind Gupta, Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India
Ashish Chauhan, CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange
C. Raja Mohan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF
Christopher Painter, Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Department Of State, USA
Dirk Brengelmann, Commissioner for International Cyber Policy, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
Eric H. Loeb, Vice President, International External Affairs, AT&T
Gabriel Siboni, Director, Cyber Warfare Program, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jaak Aaviksoo, Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia
Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Emerging Security Challenges, NATO
Joe Sullivan, CSO, Facebook
John Mallery, Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, USA
Maurizio Martellini, Secretary General, Landau Network-Centro Volta and IWG Executive Secretary, Italy
Michael Cheatham, Head U.S. Representative Office, Indo-US Science and. Technology Forum, USA
M.M.Oberoi, Indian Police Service, Joint commissioner of Police, Delhi Police, Government of India
Oleg Demidov, The Russian Center for Policy Studies, Russia
Peter Grabosky, Researcher, Australian National University, Australia
Prakash Nagpal, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing and Marketing, Narus
Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India
Ram Narain, Deputy Director General (Security), Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Government of India
Sandro Gaycken, Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Computer Science, Germany
Sean Kanuck, National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, USA
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore
Vijay Madan, Chief Mentor, Tata Teleservices (former Director, C-DOT), India
Vivke Lall, President & CEO, Reliance Industries Limited

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/india-conference-on-cyber-security-and-cyber-governance

CYFY 2013 Event Brochure

praskrishna — 2013-09-26T06:49:18Z

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

Cyberstalkers, the new bullies in town

praskrishna — 2016-07-04T02:44:39Z

The advent of social media and an increase in accessibility has led to increasing concerns with regard to cyber safety.

The article by S. Poorvaja was published in the Hindu on July 4, 2016. Pranesh Prakash gave inputs.

Bombarded with messages, poems and photographs from a cyber stalker across multiple social networking platforms, Shradha Muralidharan, a consultant in the city, said that being curt and asking the stalker to stop bothering was of no use.

“I initially did not want to engage with him as I was afraid that it would only provoke him more. But then ignoring him did not help as well and I was forced to speak to him. He, however, went ahead and contacted a host of my friends on these sites and asked them if they could introduce me to him,” she recalled.

Cyberstalking is now on the increase with people being flooded with messages and having their information online manipulated and used to threaten them with.

Vandhana,* an engineer from the city, says she thinks twice before posting content online — be it on her Instagram or her Facebook profile.

“Despite having adequate privacy tools, I later found that my photos and other information were being shared by a colleague who was on my friends’ list to his friend, who then proceeded to cyberstalk me,” she said.

What to share?

While multiple tools that social media sites offer do allow people to mute, block or even report people, Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director for the Centre for Internet and Society, said technical restrictions didn’t play much of a part in a situation where information one posts to a private audience is shared further, without their consent.

“Trust plays a large role in what you share online since someone can find a way to get around technological restrictions. While there are some violations that can be addressed by the law, a few cannot be, and it is important for people to be aware of the legal provisions that exist,” he added.

Be it social media meet-ups, Facebook friends catching up outside of the virtual world or web writers meeting to brainstorm ideas, the last five years have seen a gradual increase in such socialising and new safety concerns have cropped up.

Karthika, a chartered accountant from the city who went through an unpleasant experience of being stalked on social media sites and cyber-bullied, said that while the police were helpful when she sought them out, she was also constantly questioned as to why she was befriending people online in the first place.

“I tried not to keep mum about what was happening to me but was also simultaneously told by people that it would seem like I was drawing unnecessary attention to myself if I made public what was happening to me. More people should come forward and support the person who is getting stalked, rather than be intimidated,” she said.

The use of internet, email or any form of electronic communication to contact and harrass a person who has expressed disinterest, and to cause them trauma is what qualifies as Cyberstalking

To prevent misuse of information, social media users can use privacy tools and settings that enable them have a control on who vies their information

With smartphone apps for social media sites that have access to the user's location, caution must be exercised by the user in knowing who is privy to such information

With children being active online as well, the use of parental control softwares that helps monitor the content they share is necessary as they are vulnerable victims to stalking and cyber bullying

Knowledge about the cyber crime laws and where/whom to report incidences of the same to.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-s-poorvaja-july-4-2016-cyberstalkers-the-new-bullies-in-town

Cyberspying: Government may ban Gmail for official communication

praskrishna — 2013-09-02T04:19:53Z

The government will soon ask all its employees to stop using Google's Gmail for official communication, a move intended to increase security of confidential government information after revelations of widespread cyberspying by the US.

This article was published in the Times of India on August 30, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

A senior official in the ministry of communications and information technology said the government plans to send a formal notification to nearly 5 lakh employees barring them from email service providers such as Gmail that have their servers in the US, and instead asking them to stick to the official email service provided by India's National Informatics Centre.

"Gmail data of Indian users resides in other countries as the servers are located outside. Currently, we are looking to address this in the government domain, where there are large amounts of critical data," said J Satyanarayana, secretary in the department of electronics and information technology.

Snowden fallout

The move comes in the wake of revelations by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the US government had direct access to large amounts of personal data on the internet such as emails and chat messages from companies like Google, Facebook and Apple through a programme called PRISM.

Documents leaked by Snowden showed that NSA may have accessed network infrastructure in many countries, causing concerns of potential security threats and data breaches. Even as the new policy is being formulated, there has been no mention yet of how compliance will be ensured.

Several senior government officials in India, including ministers of state for communications & IT Milind Deora and Kruparani Killi, have their Gmail IDs listed in government portals as their official email.

A Google India spokeswoman said the company has not been informed about the ban, and hence it cannot comment on speculation. "Nothing is documented so far, so for us, it is still speculation," Google said in an email response.

A senior official in the IT department admitted on condition of anonymity that employees turn to service providers such as Gmail because of the ease of use compared with official email services, as well as the bureaucratic processes that govern creation of new accounts.

"You can just go and create an account in Gmail easily, whereas for a government account, you have to go through a process because we have to ensure that he is a genuine government user."

Last week, IT Minister Kapil Sibal said the new policy would require all government officials living abroad to use NIC servers that are directly linked to a server in India while accessing government email services. Sibal said there has been no evidence of the US accessing Internet data from India.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research firm Centre for Internet and Society, said he agrees with the government's decision to ban Gmail for official communication and that any official violating this needs to be punished.

"After Snowden's revelations, we can never be sure to what extent foreign governments are intercepting government emails," he said. Abraham, however, called the government's decision a "late reaction", as the use of Gmail and other free email services by bureaucrats has increased in the past.

"Use of official government email would also make it easier to achieve greater transparency and anti-corruption initiatives. Ministers, intelligence and law enforcement officials should not be allowed to use alternate email providers under any circumstance."

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-august-30-2013-cyberspying-govt-may-ban-gmail-for-official-communication

CyberSecurityAgreements_Infographic_04.pdf

praskrishna — 2017-04-27T14:57:45Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/CyberSecurityAgreements_Infographic_04.pdf