Centre for Internet and Society

Cos spying on competitors, staff: Study

praskrishna — 2012-06-20T08:46:38Z

Most companies are spying on their competitors and their own employees, according to a recent survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

The Statesman published this article on June 19, 2012. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it.

The survey's results raise questions about whether employees have enough privacy in the workplace. Rubbishing the survey's findings, head of the Indian Council of Corporate Investigators, Mr Kunwar Vikram Singh, said businesses are not spying but verifying facts.

The Assocham survey said almost 1,200 of 1,500 executives surveyed admitted to hiring people to spy on their employees and monitor their lifestyles. They said they watch former employees, too, especially those who had been laid off or kicked out for fraud.

In the survey, which was done between January and May this year in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, the Delhi-National Capital Region and Mumbai, about 900 top industry officials said they carry out corporate espionage, bug the offices of their rivals and plant moles in other companies. About a quarter of respondents said they have hired computer experts to hack networks and track e-mails of their rivals.

Many more respondents — 1,110 of those questioned — said they use social media sites to track their rival companies and employees. “Most of the companies have mentioned their sensitive details including their data, plans, clients’ details, products and other confidential and trade-related secrets on their page and unknowingly share the same in the social media circuit,” said Mr DS Rawat, national secretary-general of Assocham, “which is why it is the most favoured spying activity being carried out by the companies.”

The practice of companies pilfering trade secrets and ideas may be bad for the country's business environment, said Mr Rawat. It “might dampen the spirit of innovation in the long-run,” he said.

The Indian Council of Corporate Investigators’ Mr Singh, however, disputed Assocham's picture of rampant corporate espionage. “I totally deny that corporates are spying on their employees,” he said. “It is not spying. It is verification of facts.”

Mr Singh said that when companies look into their employees or other companies, for example, before they enter into joint ventures, they are just carrying out “due diligence”. He said they legally gather information needed for companies to survive. He also denied there were any privacy issues.

Mr Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, though, said there are growing concerns about privacy in the workplace, including about intense video surveillance. “Managers started to object to this,” he said. “What they started saying was it really undermines the morale of these locations ... friends and relatives would ask, 'In spite of you being so educated, it's funny your companies don't trust you at all.'”

Companies need to develop more nuanced ways to deal with these problems — perhaps something more similar to the military's multiple levels of clearance — and different ways for people to acquire and lose trust, Mr Abraham said.

Whether or not surveillance is legal, depends on the type, Mr Abraham said. There is some private information a person will expect to remain private, and some information that is expected to be public — like Twitter feeds.

There is no law against monitoring this second type, known as “clear view surveillance”, he said, and blanket legislation could clash with freedom of expression. He said an ideal law for this should include a “proportional relation to power” clause, which would limit the legal ability of the powerful to monitor, but allow individual citizens more leeway.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/co-spying-on-competitors-staff

Corporate push to Modi’s Rs.4.5-billion digital dream

praskrishna — 2015-07-16T02:26:24Z

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs. 4.5-billion digital dream seems to find favour with the corporate world, which calls it a “very progressive step” and “massive tech push”.

The article by Rakesh Kumar was published in the Statesman on July 13, 2015. Sumandro Chattapadhyay was quoted.

Modi shared his dreams at the recent Digital India Week in the capital and the event saw big names from the business world—Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Wipro Ltd chairman Azim Premji, among others—supporting the initiative.

Showing its faith in Modi’s dream, Reliance Industries is all set to invest over Rs.2.5 lakh crore in the initiative that would focus on cloud computing and mobile applications, empowering every citizen with access to digital services, knowledge and information.

The initiative could boost the IT sector, which according to NASSCOM witnesses a robust growth in 2015, with the calculated revenue for FY 2015 at $147 billion, and a growth of 13 per cent from the corresponding period 2014.

“From an IT perspective, this is a sincere approach to problem solving with growth, realism and long-term transformation at the core,” said Manish Sharma, president, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) and managing director, Panasonic India, in an exclusive interview to thestatesman.com.

“Empowering citizens with the use of IT, we believe Digital India is a massive tech push to provide electronic governance and universal phone connectivity across the country,” he added.

CEAMA and Panasonic are willing to contribute to Digital India through technological expertise and commitment.

The Indian information Technology (IT) industry is reportedly pegged at $118-billion and DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, feels the Digital India initiative could be a “game-changer”.

Commenting on PM’s pledge to bring Internet connectivity to all Indians, Rawat told thestatesman.com: “The initiative is possible, provided the implementation of the schemes is done in a mission mode.”

“The business and industry will be the major beneficiary in terms of quality of governance, which is possible through digital initiative. Besides, the industry itself has to prepare to deal with new emerging business models such as e-commerce,” he added.

Modi, at the Digital India launch, said that “e-governance will be quickly changed into m-governance, and ‘M’ does not mean Modi governance, it means mobile governance.”

Both, big corporate houses and small players hailed the PM’s remark.

“It is good initiative for the railway sector in terms of passenger amenities, online procurement and technological up gradation,” said Amit Goel of Aggarwal Engineers in an interview to thestatesman.com.

The company is active in the railway sector.

When asked how Digital India initiative would help small companies, Goel said: “It will help us in many ways. By adopting e-governance, small companies can check and bid for the online procurement and will be able to interact with the concerned department through digital technology.”

Anil Valluri of NetApp India said: “Digital India is one of the most significant transformations the country will witness by eventually connecting over a billion people of India, with technology as its focal point.”

When it comes to IT transformation, cyber security emerges as a vital issue.

Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), described the issue of digital security as the key to the “operationalisation and sustainability of the Digital India initiative”. “We expect the government not only to build administrative structures for ensuring cyber-security of the information systems, but also enable legal frameworks for protecting citizens from unlawful and unforeseen abuses of their digital identities as well as their digital assets.” Having said that, he praised the PM’s move, saying it will bring together various existing and new initiatives for building “network infrastructures for expanded public access, electronic governance systems for effective delivery of services, under the national policy umbrella of 'Digital India’”.

Rajiv Kapur, managing director, Broadcom India, pointed out another benefit of the ubiquitous broadband sector, which according to a report, faces certain challenges such as low rural penetration, stagnant data usage over the years and limited broadband services.

“It will help bring parity between the rural and urban India,” he said and added: “Today, we need solutions that allow the majority of rural Indian population to continue to stay at their homes, and not migrate to cities.”

In a knowledge economy, the biggest difference that will make an impact is education.

"Healthcare is another area where having connectivity can make big difference in quality of life," he said.

“E-delivery of governance and services is important for the efficient use of government resources, and allows for collaborative, transparent and more efficient governance," the Broadcom managing director added.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-statesman-rakesh-kumar-july-13-2015-corporate-push-modis-billion-digital-dream

Cordon tightens: Rajya Sabha nod to harsh IT rules

praskrishna — 2012-05-24T08:49:10Z

Sunil Abraham and Pranesh Prakash are quoted in this article by Anil Sharma & Aishhwariya Subramanian published in Daily News & Analysis on May 18, 2012.

The draconian intermediaries rules of the Information Technology Act that allows the government to aggressively police the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter will continue for some more time as a motion to annul them in the Rajya Sabha was defeated by the treasury benches on Thursday.

The rules that came into effect last year almost became annulled after a determined push from MPs cutting across party lines in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. However, the government barely managed to scrape through but union communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal conceded that there were problems and promised to call for a meeting to address the concerns of the MPs.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member from Kerala P Rajeeve had moved a statutory motion demanding that these rules be annulled as they violated the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. Rajeeve received enthusiastic support from the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, who made a detailed argument against the existing rules. An impressed Jaitley commended Rajeeve for involving Parliament in the process of framing the rules. Jaitley also slammed the government for trying to police the internet but stressed that like other media this could not be controlled. "In fact, if the internet had been there at that time even the Emergency would have been a fiasco," he said.

The members were keen that the motion be put to vote and the numbers in the Rajya Sabha were loaded against the government.

However, responding to Jaitley's suggestion, Sibal assured the house that the concerns of the members would be taken on board. "I request the members to write to me with their specific suggestions. I will take up the matter at a joint meeting with all the stakeholders and arrive at a solution," he said.

This pacified the members and the government ducked a potentially embarrassing situation.

Expressing his dissatisfaction with the minister's reply, Rajeeve stressed that just as there is a provision for withdrawing objectionable content from the internet within 36 hours, there should be scope for restoring it if the original author can justify it.

The debate was keenly followed by free speech activists who have been lobbying for months to get these draconian rules annulled. The Bangalore-based Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) also conducted a major sting operation to prove how absurd these rules are. They sent several fake "take-down notices" to several companies hosting internet sites. The companies went ahead and shut down some blogs and web sites without even bothering to check if the complaints had any merit.

"The trouble with Indian government's proposal to address issues such as network neutrality, privacy and freedom of expression, is top-down. Unlike other countries where internet policies have always been developed with consultation with other stakeholders, here the government imposes its will," said Sunil Abraham, executive director, CIS.

Netizens are concerned about India's bad track record when it comes to censorship and a policy for the internet. Delhi-based Anja Kovacks, from the Internet Democracy Project, feels that many of the concerns voiced by Indian government are justified. "Undoubtedly the internet presents a range of new challenges, in India as elsewhere, that need to be addressed. Many of the concerns the Indian government expresses are therefore also completely justified. But the ways in which it seeks to tackle these problems are not appropriate for a democratic nation." Kovacks believes that the current policy will impair the freedom of speech.

Ironically, while the UPA government is busy clamping down on domestic opinion, it is planning to take a far more liberal stand at an upcoming international conference on running the internet in Geneva later this year. "It is an ironical situation where India is not following domestically what it is proposing internationally," said Pranesh Prakash of CIS.

With the government holding on to its draconian rules, citizens using social networks like Twitter and Facebook or writing blogs will now have to worry about big brother watching over their shoulders.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/rajya-sabha-nod-to-harsh-it-rules

Copyrights Amendment Bill to Be Tabled in Indian Parliament – Parallel Import provisions have Been Removed

praskrishna — 2011-09-14T11:47:37Z

This week, the Indian government’s Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Parliament) will debate the Copyright Amendments Act.

The Centre for Internet and Society has raised a number of concerns – including the removal of parallel import provisions that would allowed universities and libraries to access foreign works more cheaply, the extension of copyright terms beyond those required by the TRIPS Agreement, and the introduction of technological protection measures (with stiff penalties for circumventing them).

CIS describes other provisions in the bill: Fair dealing exceptions have been extended “to all works except computer programs;” the “scope of compulsory licensing under sec 31 has been expanded from ‘any Indian work’ to ‘any work’;” and two provisions have been introduced to allow for the conversion, reproduction, and distribution of works for people with disabilities.

According to Prashant Reddy from the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on that reviewed the original legislation had strongly supported parallel imports of books. In a blog post on Spicy IP, he noted that “publishers routinely introduce old versions of books in India,” and that parallel imports would allow students to obtain newer copies at reasonable prices.

However, a news story in Live Mint reports that the publishing industry “had strongly opposed the amendments.”

This article by Mike Palmedo was published in infojustice.org on September 5, 2011. Read the original story here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/copyright-amendment-bill-in-indian-parliament

Copyright: Access to Knowledge in Free Trade Agreements?

praskrishna — 2015-10-02T03:36:53Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copyright-access-to-knowledge-in-fta.pdf

Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives

praskrishna — 2016-03-31T16:28:22Z

A two day workshop on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives was organized by MHRD Chair on Intellectual Property Rights, Centre for Intellectual Property Rights and Advocacy, and National Law School of India University in Bangalore on March 4 and 5, 2016. Nehaa Chaudhari spoke in 2 sessions: Exception & Limitations to Copyrighted Works and WIPO Initiatives.

Click to download programme schedule

Nehaa Chaudhari presentations can be accessed here: The Library Exception: Fair Dealing for Libraries and WIPO Initiatives.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/copyright-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives

Copyright Law: More Than A Moral Obligation

praskrishna — 2012-08-13T03:59:47Z

It was a cozy and warm atmosphere in a bookstore in South Delhi — with plenty of cushions thrown on the floor — that I attended a delightful book launch for children. The book was displayed prominently, along with some fabulous original illustrations done by the author, from which the book illustrator had been “inspired”. I clicked some photographs with my smartphone. The publishers, based in another city, couldn't attend the event. So, I thought why not mail it to them, they are fraternity. Soon, a newsletter popped into my mailbox from the same publisher, with a lovely write-up of the book launch accompanied by my photographs, but with no acknowledgement given to me. I was disappointed.

This column by Jaya Bhattacharji Rose was published in Business World on August 9, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

After pondering over it, I decided to bring it to the publisher’s notice. To me, it was the principle of recognising the IPR (intellectual property rights) of the creator and giving due credit that I felt was at stake here. This was the reply I received, “So sorry. It was a slip up as I had said that you should be acknowledged. But since that is not the usual practice — simply because no one had asked — it was overlooked.” An apology received and accepted. I did not stop at that. I requested that in the next newsletter it should be rectified and on the blog, the photographs uploaded should go with credits.

To explore larger issues surrounding copyright, and for publishers in general, management of copyright is a very important part of their business. In May 2012, the Indian Parliament passed a few amendments to the Copyright Act. (It is still a bill, at the time of writing this column.) A victory to a large extent for the music industry, but it has made very little difference, so far, to the publishing industry. Plus, the debate surrounding Clause 2(m) of the Indian Copyright Act is still an open chapter. As per the clause, a book published in any part of the world can easily be sold here. Thus, diluting the significance or infringing upon an exclusive Indian edition. The Parliament Standing Committee investigating the pros and cons of Clause 2(m), made a “forceful recommendation” for its amendment, but it was not included in the bill. So the HRD Minister has referred it to an NCAER expert committee constituted.

However, another amendment relevant to the publishing industry has been the increase in copyright term for photographs. “This will make using older photographs impossible without hunting down the original photographer,” says Pranesh Prakash, a lawyer and copyright expert and programme manager at Centre for Internet and Society. “So far, things have worked well because sepia-tinted photographs have generally become part of the public domain. But now, only photographs by photographers who died before 1951 are part of the public domain. This has shrivelled up the public domain in photographs since it is even more difficult to trace the photographer (and date of death) than to estimate the age of a photograph, determining whether a photograph is in the public domain is laden with uncertainty. The use of historical photos in books (and Wikipedia) will be badly affected.”

Having been a publisher for years, I tend to be very careful about issues involving copyright. Dig deep and you will find anecdotes that illustrate the crying need for understanding copyright issues. For example, an illustrator submitting files to a reputed art director could be told that the illustrations are not up to mark. Unfortunately, when the book is published, the ‘new’ illustrations are pale imitations of the original line drawings submitted by the illustrator.

Or for that matter, a playwright being asked to create a script, but is never acknowledged or even paid the royalty due since the director believes that the core idea for the play is hers. ‘The playwright merely gave it a form’ is a common retort. Or, a couple of editors discovering their original research (and highly acclaimed globally) has been blatantly plagiarised by a well-known writer and published by an equally prominent publisher. Despite having marshalled all the necessary evidence, the editors are unable to file a case, since the court fee is a percentage of the damages sought and is beyond their reach. So, these cases stagnate with no redressal and the creators are left frustrated and angry.

The core issue is, how many professionals in the publishing eco-system actually know what is copyright or how to exercise their rights? After all, it is only a concept, albeit a legal one, which gives the creator of an original work exclusive right(s) to it for a limited period of time. Establishing and verifying the ownership to copyright is a sensitive issue. A good example of how an organisation can facilitate, disseminate, inform and empower a literary community on IPR and related topics is the Irish Writers Union.

According to their website, it is “the representative organisation for one of the major stakeholders in any discussion about copyright: Irish authors. While we understand that copyright legislation might be a barrier to innovation in certain industries, the IWU believes that any change to copyright law must be managed in such a way as to ensure that no damage is done to Ireland’s literary activity. ...literature earns hard cash for Ireland. Both in the form of its contribution to the €2bn annual gain from cultural tourism and in the considerable revenues deriving from the success of sales of Irish works, Irish publishing and writing is an activity that should not be jeopardised by any legal change that weakens the value of copyright ownership to the creators of original literary works. ...We note that if anything, copyright law in regard to literature should be strengthened to protect rights holders.”

As Shauna Singh Baldwin, a Canadian-American novelist of Indian descent, comments upon the significance of copyright in an e-mail conversation with me, “The breath of the individual creator, his/her imagination and speculation gives life to a work of art. To create something new, you take ideas from many sources, recontextualise them, find unexpected connections between them, and create something new — and beautiful. If we continue to be ashamed of our own imaginations and so fearful of mistakes that we must copy the tried and true, we will never create, only innovate.”

As for the rejoinder and photo credits I had requested for my photographs, the publisher implemented it immediately. And I was glad.

Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is an international publishing consultant and columnist.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-businessworld-in-jaya-bhattacharji-rose-august-9-copyright-law

Copyright bill restricts Net access

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T10:21:40Z

Law to curb piracy may fetter creativity

The government introduced the copyright amendment bill in the Rajya Sabha on April 19. The bill gives independent rights to authors, film directors and musicians and makes it difficult for Internet users to access works protected by copyright.

G R Raghavender, registrar of copyrights, said the amendments are necessary as the Copyright Act of 1957 gives minimum protection to writers and artists against commercial exploitation of their works through the Internet.

Under lock without key

But the bill lacks clarity on some aspects. For instance, it introduces technological protection measures (tpms)—locks that restrict access to copyrighted material and help the copyright holder decide how his or her work should be used.

The bill allows users to bypass the lock if it is for a purpose not prohibited by the law, such as research. But for that the user should have the means to unlock the tpm. The bill assumes the users would know how to bypass the lock but that need not be the case, said Pranesh Prakash, of the non-profit Centre for Internet and Society.

The Spanish law, for instance, requires copyright holders to help legitimate users access their work.

Shamnad Basheer, who teaches intellectual property law at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, said tpm is an added restriction and not required. “India is not obligated to import tpms into its copyright law as it is not a member of the World International Property Organization internet treaties (the amended bill conforms to these treaties). Raghavender said tpms are a must for curbing piracy.

The bill evoked mixed reactions in the film and music industry. Abhishek Chaubey, director of the recently released film Ishqiya, said the bill would put creative people in a stronger position. But Hiren Gada who runs the production house, Shemaroo Entertain-ment, is against directors getting copyrights. “It is against the fundamental principle of the film business; directors don’t share losses with producers if a film flops,” he pointed out. Dhruv Jagasia, manager of the music band Indian Ocean, said he was not sure if the bill would be implemented effectively as in the US where “cheques arrive by mail if one’s track is played on the radio”.

Print impaired get short shrift

Non-profits working for the physically challenged said the bill does not address certain handicaps. Rahul Cherian of www.inclusiveplanet.com, an online platform for print impaired, said the bill permits conversion of printed material only to special formats like Braille and sign language, not mainstream formats like audio tapes and text with large font size. “There are about 70 million print disabled persons in India. Those affected by cerebral palsy, dyslexia and visually impaired persons who do not know Braille, would need to access material in mainstream formats. The bill does not benefit them,” said Cherian. He added the bill allows only organizations working for disabled to seek licence to publish works in mainstream formats. Educational institutions, self-help groups and physically challenged individuals can’t obtain the licence.

While copyright amendment bill seeks to protect intellectual property, there are people who think it fetters creativity. “Copyright is a fairly recent phenomenon and should not be considered natural. Were that the case, the entire cultural history of humanity would not have occurred,” said Shuddhabrata Sen of the Centre for Study of Developing Societies. Swaraj Paul Barooah, researcher at the Nalsar university of law in Hyderabad, said, “In a developing country like India the emphasis should be on adapting and improvising on the works in the public domain.”

Given the circumstances, should the copyright on Mahatma Gandhi’s works be renewed. The copyright for his writings expired in 2009. Former governor of West Bengal and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi said there was nothing to lament. “The expiration of the copyright term should be the beginning of responsible access and use. It would be important in the computer age to use his manuscripts with great responsibility because no one can sue the user under the copyright law,” he said.

The bill has been referred to the standing committee of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for vetting.

Read the original in Down to Earth

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/copyright-bill-restricts-net-access

Copyright

praskrishna — 2013-06-03T06:34:04Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copyright

Copy, Left And Right

praskrishna — 2012-05-23T06:37:53Z

Copyright laws are becoming more rigid and anti-sharing. But copyleft has a solution.

The article by Shruti Yadav was published in Outlook Business on February 19, 2011. Pranesh Prakash was quoted in this article.

Underlying some of the most ancient Indian literature is a unique concept—sruti, or divine revelation. Much of this Vedic literature is supposed to have been revealed by the Gods to sages, who then passed it on orally from generation to generation till the formation of the written word, when it was codified. By claiming this divine connection, the authors didn’t just immortalise themselves and their works, they also renounced ownership of it. They presented themselves as humble storytellers, who needed the audience to tell the story again and again to keep it alive, just like the Gods needed them to tell it for the first time.

The transfer of knowledge freely wasn’t limited to India. In the ancient systems of medicine, schools of art, mythology and folklore, there is striking and frequent cross-referentiality across civilisations. Of course, knowledge was at a premium even in these societies, but no one claimed ownership of it.

Then, as increasing democratisation of knowledge threatened established political, religious and commercial interests, the western world awoke to the necessity of copyright, which evolved as a protection for monopolies over technology, research and works of art, and now is strangling even those who produce the work in the first place. So, after transferring the copyrights to their work, people often find that their lives are dictated to by studios, publishers and software companies, through complex and rigorous laws that concentrate on profiteering to the exclusion of everything else, including the freedoms of the author and the user.

It is in the assertion of the freedom, of both the source of the work, and its users, that copyleft is becoming the voice of a growing number of people. The copyleft movement can be said to have been started by Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), who developed the GNU operating system that, with the incorporation of the Linux kernel made free by its proprietor Linus Torvalds, became Gnu/Linux. His General Public Licence (GPL) is the byword in protecting user freedom.

So, what is copyleft? It is a form of copyright, but unlike copyright that reserves all rights related to a work, copyleft allows users to copy, modify and distribute the work, with the rider that the resulting copies come with the same freedom. Creative Commons, the non-profit global organisation that helps people copyleft their work, calls this ShareAlike.

Sharing is a contentious issue today. Because of digital technology, which allows us to copy and share virtually free of cost, knowledge and art are easily and cheaply accessible. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a stricter regime that routinely criminalises schoolchildren for downloading the latest songs from the Internet. If you buy a car, and lend it your friend, can the car company claim you are a criminal? But it is the technicality of making a copy for the purpose of sharing that makes a vice out of a natural human impulse. As Karsten Gerloff, President, FSF Europe, puts it, “When laws clash with common sense, on such an enormous, global scale, we don’t need to change common sense. We need to change the laws.” A purist when it comes to freedom, Stallman echoes this sentiment in stronger words, “Laws against sharing are attacks on society. "Anyone who tries to stop people from sharing has declared himself the enemy of us all.”

Richard Stallman, Founder and President, Free Software Foundation

Copyright Protects Work... Or Does It?

Two arguments often misused to justify the strict, all-rights-reserved policy of copyright are that it prevents plagiarism and incentivises innovation and creativity. The argument of plagiarism can easily be dismissed. As Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager, Centre For Internet And Society points out, “No licence can take away the right of a person to be identified with his or her work. The moral rights of a person are non-transferable.” The second argument is more insidious.

When Nina Paley released her critically acclaimed animation film, Sita Sings The Blues, she chose a Creative Commons By-SA licence. This means anybody could copy, modify and distribute the work under the same licence. Paley says, “I wanted my film to reach the widest audience...ShareAlike would prevent the work from being ever locked up. It’s better than Public Domain; works are routinely removed from the Public Domain via privatised derivatives.” So copyright doesn’t really protect the work; often people who decide its destiny have not even made it in the first place. In fact, Gerloff points out, “Copyright makes it possible for individuals to appropriate traditional stories and mythical characters as Disney has done with the folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm and others. Anyone who tries to return those characters to the popular imagination is immediately torn apart by a screaming horde of Disney lawyers.” So, is it an incentive for the artist, the software-maker, or the scientist?

Of course, there is a financial aspect of the question. Most people who use copyleft licences do not become millionaires overnight. But they do make money. Within a year of her film’s release, Paley made $132,000, recovering about half the cost of production. The money came from donations, awards, screenings, merchandising and sharing of revenue by people who made derivative works. Best of all, Paley could choose her revenue models, without restricting her audience. Compare this with lyricist Javed Akhtar being banned by the Film Federation of India for lobbying in Parliament for better royalty for lyricists and composers—the new law proposes to improve their lot by giving them 12.5% each, while 75% still goes to the producers.

How Copyleft Helps

On the economic side of the argument for copyleft is also the fact that making a work available for others to modify leads to improved quality and saves costs of duplication of work. Android is an example of sharing driving innovation, though, according to Stallman, it compromises the spirit of free software, as many phones with Android systems don’t let users install modified versions of the software but let software companies do so. Finally, free market logic should make absolute copyright redundant. As Paley points out, “Copyright is an artificial monopoly. Monopolies are inherently at odds with competition and free trade."

While knowledge-based economies are still reluctant to give up their old habits, legislators in countries like India have to make a choice. Shishir K Jha, Project Leader, Creative Commons India, says, “We need to take a view: do we want to make information scarce or easily available? Because this has implications in many areas—education, health, R&D."

Artists who copyleft their work do make money; they distribute their work without restricting its audience.

In the Mahabharata, the tribal boy Eklavya wants to learn archery from Dronacharya—the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas—who has vowed to teach only the royal princes. Determined, Eklavya makes a clay statue of his revered teacher and learns on his own, soon becoming the best archer in the kingdom, even better than Arjun, Dronacharya’s favourite student. So what does the teacher do when he finds out? As guru-dakshina, (the obligatory payment for teaching), he asks for Eklavya’s right thumb, thus cutting him off (literally) from his self-taught skill.

Those seeking to establish a knowledge monopoly often operate through a set of cruel and unfair laws. Should we stop sharing?

Licences for Freedom

Bridging the gap between Copyright and Public Domain.

Art Libre: Allows users to copy, modify and incorporate a creative work, including for commercial use, as long as subsequent versions are licenced under the same or a compatible licence. The user must specify if the original is modified and credit the original artist. A creative work may be physical or digital—text, sound, video—anything over which the maker has a copyright.

GNU/ GPL: Allows users to copy, modify and incorporate the work, including for commercial purposes. The licence is passed on automatically with subsequent versions. A person can’t compromise user freedom by using a GPL software as part of a version that is licenced under conditions (or is subject to legislations) that infringe on the rights granted by the GPL licence. In case of a clash, the use of the GPL software is simply invalid.

Creative Commons (CC) has several licences, which are essentially combinations of a few standard criteria:

Attribution: Maker’s name.
Share-alike: The stipulation that copies, modifications or derivatives be passed on under the same conditions.
Derivatives: The licencee can chose whether or not to allow derivatives of his work.
Comercial use: The licencee can choose whether or not to allow copies, derivatives and subsequent versions to be used for commercial use.

As a result, we have six types of licences:

CC BY or Attribution
CC BY-SA or Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-ND or Attribution-NoDerivatives
CC BY-NC or Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC-SA or Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-ND or Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

Paley warns: Use a truly Free licence, such as ShareAlike or ArtLibre. NEVER use a “non-commercial” or “no-derivatives” licence. Those are not copyleft and are incompatible with Free Culture.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/copy-left-and-right

Copy 'N' Paste: Ausstellung

praskrishna — 2013-08-28T09:36:53Z

Dr. Nishant Shah was a speaker at this event hosted by Post Media Lab on August 12, 2013. He spoke on "About the Violence of Knowledge Cartels".

Click to see the flier of the event here.

Agenda

18:00 : Opening »Fumus & Nebula« >

+ Rolf Grossmann, audio^[+] – Institut für Kultur und Ästhetik Digitaler Medien (ICAM) >

Grußwort, Ulrich Petersen, Direktor Musikschule Lüneburg >

18:30 : Prolog, Oliver Lerone Schultz, Post-Media Lab

18:50 : »Urheberrecht in der digitalen Welt« Philipp Otto, irights >

19:15 : »About the Violence of Knowledge Cartels« Nishant Shah, Centre for Internet and Society >

19:30 : Vorstellung der Exponate: »Videomixtape« Jule von Hertell > // »cool clear water« Monika Jarecka > // »G-Cloud« Ulrike Wilkens

ca. 20 : Ending »Fumus & Nebula«

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/postmedialab-august-12-2013-copynpaste-ausstellung

Cool Jobs | Parmesh Shahani, Head, Godrej India Culture Lab

praskrishna — 2013-01-17T05:55:47Z

The man behind Mumbai’s most original ideas space on being a cross-pollinator

The following interview was published in LiveMint on January 4, 2013.

The Vikhroli catalyst

Parmesh Shahani, a former editorial director of Verve magazine, thought up the Godrej India Culture Lab, a cultural ideas platform, after becoming a TED Fellow in 2009, realizing then that Mumbai, or India, has no space that encourages cross-pollination of ideas around contemporary society, anthropology and culture.

Shahani, the author of Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love And (Be)Longing in Contemporary India, has earlier managed research for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) think tank related to media convergence.

Ever since Godrej’s Nisa Godrej took up his idea, the Godrej India Culture Lab has hosted a conference called Urban (Re)imagination—which it launched in 2011—talks by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and MIT economist Abhijit Banerjee, film screenings and book readings on themes as diverse as Calcutta jazz and jugaad. Shahani says he works on weekends and looks forward to Monday mornings. Edited excerpts from an interview:

What exactly does your work involve?
My work involves identifying interesting people and ideas and then connecting them to each other—either through public talks, conferences, salons or other means of interaction. There are certain themes I am interested in exploring, such as what it means to be modern and Indian today, what it means to be young or urban, and to be connected through technology. My work often feeds directly into the larger Godrej group efforts. We have a campaign called Godrej LOUD—Live Out Ur Dreams—on MBA campuses across India with excellent results.

What is the best part of your job?

It doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like a calling, a mission, and is an incredible adventure. Each day is different—and fun. It enables me to use all the different aspects of my mind, and tap into my global networks to focus on how we are looking at the changes taking place in contemporary India. I love meeting other people who are on the same mission—the people at Gateway House, India’s first foreign policy think tank, or the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, or people like Rikin Gandhi from Digital Green that trains farmers to use cameras to record their best practices and share it with each other.

What are your challenges and what more do you want to bring into the Lab?

At this moment we are more of a sandbox and catalyst. I’d like us to start producing original research soon by having full-time experts on board. We have recorded videos of all our talks of the past two years; they will go up on our website, which is under development. Finally, I’d like to attract more audiences to our events and efforts. We’ve already put our Godrej campus at Vikhroli, Mumbai, on the cultural map of the city.

What has been your favourite project here?

My favourite project has got to be the recent Museum of Memories that I curated in an abandoned 60,000 sq. ft Godrej warehouse on 15 December 2012, in collaboration with other city organizations like Junoon, Visual Disobedience, Brown Paper Bag, as well as loads of performers, artists and musicians from the city. It was a pop-up one-day only event with performances, music, theatre, tea, yoga, live art, graffiti, videos, dance, robots, alternate reality games, and more. The event bridged different spaces and it will remain very special.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/livemint-january-4-2013-sanjukta-sharma-cool-jobs

Converting Indian Slacktivists Takes (Offline) Time

praskrishna — 2011-08-04T09:07:16Z

No matter how much attention an online protest campaign might appear to be getting in terms of likes, fans or retweets, it’s rarely likely to be able to draw even a fraction of its Internet supporters to a street protest. That’s as true in India as anywhere else in the world, it appears.

The New Delhi Slut Walk, also known as Besharmi Morcha (Shameless Protest), publicized itself in good part through websites that generated a lot of media coverage, including on this site, as well as through debates. But it apparently didn’t live up to expectations, some Indian news reports said.

A story in the business daily Mint said over 2,000 people pledged on Facebook to show up. Police put the turnout at 700 people, including 400 police and 200 reporters, but protest organizers put the number of people who were there, including cops and the press, at around 1,000. Mishika Singh, a coordinator for the demonstration, said perhaps 500 people actually did the walk. The campaign said that they got about as many people as they were expecting.

So what does it take to turn "slacktivism" — as some call online support that extends largely to clicking on a petition, forwarding an e-mail or “liking” something on Facebook—into activism?

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society, says "conversion" — getting passive online supporters to graduate to the next step, such as customizing an email to an MP — takes additional time and organizing, and at least some of this must happen offline.

He said the perception among many that the Arab uprisings earlier this year were Twitter-driven was oversimplified and happened in part because it was harder for reporters outside the country to be aware of on-the-ground organizing efforts.

"Social media organizing was more by the diaspora population in order to keep international attention on the issue," he said. “If the Internet was so important, when they blocked Internet sites it would have seriously undermined the offline organizing but it didn't."

With causes that are viewed as more difficult—or that have a higher personal cost to the participant perhaps—conversion can be even more difficult, Mr. Abraham said, saying he wasn’t surprised by the numbers reported at Slut Walk.

"It’s a new cause. It’s not an established organization," he said. "They didn’t have a lot of time."

Mr. Abraham offered the Anna Hazare-guided Indian Against Corruption campaign as one of India’s better online organizing efforts.

"I think the Anna Hazare campaign is so far the most effective” online, said Mr. Abraham. “If you notice they are much more organized in terms of designing the funnel of incremental actions."

He said they had laid out obvious next steps for those willing to do a bit more, like calling an Indian Against Corruption cellphone number to register for updates and information.

"They also have offline activities and meetings in other cities as well," he said.

Yet even on days in April when the India Against Corruption protest Facebook page was racking up 100,000 members, the number of people at the sit-in site in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi during Mr. Hazare’s fast against corruption were roughly a twentieth of that each day.

Still, Mr. Abraham said that politicians probably shouldn’t dismiss online activists, even if they can’t muster the numbers that traditional protesters like farmers groups or trade unions can.

Mr. Abraham suggested that while India’s broadband users may number less than 10% of the population, many of them are probably well-connected—both technologically and politically speaking—and influential on others they communicate with.

"Even a small number on the streets should count as an important political signal,” said Mr. Abraham. “Some of us are more connected than others."

He also said India’s slacktivists didn’t appear to be greater slackers than their counterparts in other countries, noting that getting a person to graduate from thought to action is extremely difficult in most cases.

"If 1,000 people read your newspaper, 100 will say I should write to the editor because I really disagree with the columnist, and one person will actually write," said Mr. Abraham. "Conversion is very low for these kinds of altruistic activities. For a discount sale perhaps you would get more people."

Note: Correcting the statistics about broadband penetration.

This article by Tripti Lahiri was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 2, 2011. The original can be read here.

Photo courtesy Manan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/converting-indian-slacktivists

Convergence India 2012

praskrishna — 2012-03-30T04:24:12Z

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

Convergence India

praskrishna — 2012-03-30T04:58:47Z

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