Centre for Internet and Society

Confidentiality of Communications and Privacy of Data in the Digital Age

praskrishna — 2018-10-28T06:02:07Z

On September 25, 2018, Elonnai Hickok participated in a side event Confidentiality of Communications and Privacy of Data in the Digital Age organized by INCLO and Privacy International at the Human Rights Council 39th ordinary session. Elonnai spoke on artificial intelligence and privacy.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/confidentiality-of-communications-and-privacy-of-data-in-the-digital-age

conferencing

praskrishna — 2012-10-18T04:55:18Z

Conferencing

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Conference: Internet at Liberty 2010

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T10:00:01Z

This conference is being held in Budapest from 20 to 22 September 2010. It is co-sponsored by Google and Central European University. Sunil Abraham and Anja Kovacs are attending the conference.

The conference Internet at Liberty 2010 will explore creative ways to address the boundaries of online free expression, the complex relationship among technology, economic growth and human rights, ways in which dissidents and governments are using the Internet, the role of Internet intermediaries, and pressing policy and legal issues such as privacy and cybersecurity. The event will bring together grassroots global activists alongside representatives of NGOs, academic centers, governments and corporations. The Centre for Media and Communication Studies is playing a core role in the organisation of the event.

Download the agenda

For further information, see CMCS website

Also see, Internet at Liberty 2010 website.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-at-liberty-conference

Conference Report: 'Privacy Matters' Bangalore

praskrishna — 2011-02-08T05:13:24Z

On February 5th the 'Privacy Matters" conference was held at the TERI Regional Center in Bangalore. The event was a full day and centered around issues of privacy including: privacy rights of minorities, privacy and open government data, and privacy and identity.

Conference Summary

On the 5th of February, civil society, lawyers, students, NGO’s, and representatives from the IT companies gathered together at the TERI Southern Regional Center to take part in 'Privacy Matters' - a public conference held to discuss privacy issues in India, and the privacy legislation that has been proposed in the parliament. The conference was opened by Prashant Iyengar, head researcher at Privacy India. Mr. Iyengar explained the mandate of Privacy India, which is to raise awareness of privacy, spark civil action, and promote democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India.

Keynote: Ashish Rajadhyakksha, Senior fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture & Society

Mr. Rajadhyaksha delivered the keynote speech. In his presentation he focused on privacy in relation to the changing nature of the individual. He pointed out how humans are now becoming technologically enhanced individuals - in essence cybernetic organisms. These technological enhancements can be both positive and negative, but in both cases come with multiple and complicated questions of privacy, because the technological enhancements facilitate everyday life but at the same time create possible privacy violations. He further raised the point that people are not aware of these privacy implications, and thus violations of privacy are not seen as coercive acts, and people do not see their liberty as being placed at risk or challenged.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

How do we define claim rights vs. liberty rights in terms of privacy ?

How do we define our rights in terms of privacy?

Privacy and Minorities: Session I of the conference focused on the privacy rights of minorities and privacy and open government data

Zainab Bawa, CIS RAW fellow spoke on Privacy and Open Government Data. Her presentation, titled Property Rights, Privacy, and Open Government Data looked at how data by governmental agencies is handled. Her research is specifically on land records and the government. In her work she looks at:

How data bases are designed

How documents are translated into English
How hard copy documents are digitized

How information is posted

What are the privacy implications for all these processes

Shubha Chacko from Sangama spoke on the issues of sex workers and questions of privacy. Ms. Chacko opened her presentation by pointing out that there is a common conception that sex workers have no rights to privacy. She then talked about the precarious position sex workers find themselves in, because the law and society find it offensive that a sex worker brings into the public sphere what society believes is to happen in the private. Ms.Chacko also spoke on the invasive techniques that sex workers are subjected to such as HIV intervention and open disclosure of health records, and how these invasive techniques take away the privacy of sex workers. Furthermore, the nature of sex workers work means that they are not privy to the same right of anonymity that many believe is an important principle of privacy. Ms. Chacko closed her presentation by pointing out that the UID might actually bring privacy to sex workers. Closing the panel, Sahana Basavapatna spoke on refugees, the UID, and privacy. Ms. Basavapatna spoke about the difficult situation that refugees are placed in as they have no identity in India, but are also easily identified.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

How can a privacy legislation insure that when data bases are architected, they are structured in a way that is appropriate for that type of data?

How can a privacy legislation work to ensure that when records are digitized, information is not lost or manipulated?
What are ways in which the Government can post data, so that it is both open and not in violation of an individual’s privacy?

How can a privacy legislation ensure anonymity for all citizens when necessary?

Should specific steps be taken in a privacy legislation to ensure the privacy of minorities such as refugees and sex workers?

How can a privacy legislation be framed and implemented in order to not perpetuate existing societal stigmas?

Identity and Privacy: Session III of the conference focused on identity and privacy

Hamish Fraser (Partner at Truman Hoyle, Sydney, Australia) spoke on the Australia Identity card, and how, among other reasons, it was privacy concerns that squashed the identity card in Australia. Furthermore, out of the attempt to make an Australian Identity Card, the Privacy Act of 1995 was passed. Currently in Australia individuals do not have identity cards, but instead they have numbers for different services – such as a tax number, a health number, and a driver license number. These numbers are not unique, and one number for a certain service cannot be used for another service, thus the government cannot track an individual by their number. Mr. Hamish also touched on the ten principles of privacy that the Australian legislation adopts, and pointed out that though the legislation does not have strong teeth, in Australia there is a strong culture of privacy that makes the law enforceable. Michael Whitener (Principal and co-founder of VistaLaw International LLC) spoke next. His presentation titled “Science Fiction Becomes Reality, but at What Cost” focused on the privacy aspects of biometrics and changing technology.

Raman Chima, Privacy analyst for Google, was the final speaker on the panel. Mr. Chima worked to expose myths that people hold about why Google collects information, and how they use that information. For instance Google gathers limited information to develop valuable products and services, and to develop innovative products that reflect strong privacy standards. Mr. Chima also pointed out that though online tracking can have negative implications, it also has many positive implications - such as allowing spam to be stopped and tracking disease in areas. He concluded his presentation by urging citizens to become more informed, and ask for more rights. He also pointed out that privacy has yet to be spelled out and presented in a way that any person can comprehend, understand, respect, and follows

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Should a privacy legislation regulate how much access to private citizens records is the government granted?
How can a privacy legislation be drafted and implemented, so that is practical and applicable for the common citizen?
How are court regulators going to balance the privacy rights against the need for authentication?

What will be the requirements for securing storage of biometric data?

How will a legislation or privacy policy respond to security breaches?
How will legislation answer the question of what constitutes "consent"?

What privacy principles should a privacy legislation in India enforce?
Should a privacy legislation allow an individual to be “forgotten”?
How could a privacy legislation be given either legal or social teeth in India?

Privacy and Social networking Session IV of the conference focused on privacy and social networking

Ujjvala Ballal from Inclusive Planet , a social networking site for the disabled, focused her presentation on the privacy rights of the disabled. She raised the point that disabled people have been struggling for equal access rights for many years. In the process they have lost much of the privacy that they have a right to. She went on to explain that there are many privacy issues that are unique to a disabled persons. Some of which include: the disclosure of their disability, the stigma that comes along with their disability, and the denial of services based on their disability.

Gagan K. (NLSIU Law Student) spoke on Privacy Issues in Social Networking Websites. Gagan pointed out that on social networking sites privacy issues include:

Data mining

Profiling

Third party disclosure.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Should information pertaining to the disabled be held to higher standards of privacy, because of its sensitive nature?

How can a privacy legislation be drafted, so it is accessible to the disabled?

Could a privacy legislation construct regulations on the handling of data, in order to prevent profiling and discrimination?

Conclusion: the concluding session was a time for discussion and opinion sharing

From the closing session, and the above sessions many themes and questions pertaining to privacy came out that will need to be addressed when considering the way forward for a privacy legislation including:

Property rights and privacy

The right to be forgotten

Privacy rights of minorities

Privacy and open government data- how is it collected, transferred, stored, and reproduced
Privacy and foreigners (refugees, illegal migration, etc)

Recognizing privacy rights in a changing technological society

Privacy implications of biometric usage
Privacy rights superseding identification needs
Corporate privacy policies
Privacy rights and the disabled
Privacy rights and social networking

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

Conference on Standards Settings Organizations (SSO) and FRAND

praskrishna — 2015-04-25T16:15:06Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/conference-on-standards-setting-organizations-frand-schedule

Conference on Standards Setting Organisations (SSOs) and FRAND

praskrishna — 2015-04-10T15:07:38Z

Rohini Lakshané participated in this event organised by MHRD Chair on Intellectual Property Rights, Centre for Intellectual Property Rights and Advocacy (CIPRA), National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in association with Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd on March 21 and 22, 2015.

Concept Note

There is a relentless effort among public and private companies to build products that conform to national and international Standards. Among several advantages of standardization, seamless interoperability between devices from several manufacturers play an important role. Standards play an important role in spurring the Innovation culture of a country and contribute to consumer benefits. Members of the Standards Setting Organizations (SSOs) may contribute their inventions/technology while forming a Standard. Needless to say, the members of the SSOs may have chosen to procure patents for their inventions/technology, which are contributed to formation of Standards. Further, one among (i.e., winning technology) the several available technologies may be chosen as a Standard and the patents covering such winning technology is generally termed as “Standard Essential Patents” (SEPs).

Generally, SSOs have their IPR policies to (a) enable disclosure of such SEPs to the SSOs; and (b) ensure that licenses are available to standards implementers to practice such SEPs. A commonly used model or principle to ensure that licenses are available to standards implementers is generally referred to as FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-discriminatory). Even though FRAND is a widely accepted model there have been at least some genuine legal issues related to practice of FRAND in the SSOs. Legal systems, legal fraternity, and the businesses around the world are attempting to resolve these legal issues related to practice of FRAND.

Issues related to practice of FRAND are equally important to India as we are moving up the innovation value chain and embarking on a “Make in India” journey. This Conference is designed to enhance awareness on issues related to practice of FRAND and probable solutions thereof. This Conference is aimed to bring together honourable members of the judiciary, members of the law firms, legal fraternity, law students, and premier educational institutions to increase the awareness on FRAND related issues in SSOs.

Click to download the Programme Schedule

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/conference-on-standards-setting-organisations-and-frand

Conference on Safety Against Online Child Sexual Abuse

praskrishna — 2017-03-29T04:10:16Z

Japreet Grewal was a speaker at a conference on safety against online child sexual abuse which was jointly organized by CID, Telangana and the Department for Women Development and Child Welfare, Telangana on March 16 and 17, 2017 in Hyderabad.

Japreet spoke about the existing legal framework in India on online child sexual abuse and the challenges in implementing the preventive and response mechanisms to address this problem. Various stakeholders including media, police, school educators and child protection organisations attended this event.

Read the agenda here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/conference-on-safety-against-online-child-sexual-abuse

Conference on eGovernance for India: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Alternatives

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T06:09:27Z

The OECD Korea Policy Centre in partnership with the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad is organising an international conference on ‘eGovernance for India: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Alternatives’ at Hyderabad during November 6-7, 2013.

Sunil Abraham is a panelist in the session on OECD Principles on eGovernment and their applicability to the developing world and India. See the event report published by the Centre for Good Governance here.

Click to download the agenda here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/conference-on-e-governance-for-india

Conference e-Governance

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T06:08:05Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/conference-e-governance-india.pdf

Concerns raised ahead of proposed India-US trade treaty

praskrishna — 2012-06-17T07:45:37Z

As efforts are on to step-up discussions on the proposed Bi-lateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and the US , concerns are being raised on the dispute settlement mechanism between an investor and the State.

Article was published in the Business Line on June 13, 2012

The already existing bi-lateral treaties and their enforcement through investor-State-dispute mechanisms already undermine the domestic policy space and the justice system in our country, said 15 public interest organisations in a joint-letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

“The investor-State dispute clause in such agreements clearly grants foreign companies the right to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against the Government in secret arbitration forums outside the Indian judicial system,” the letter said.

Illustrating this, the letter cited recent disputes threatened by foreign investors, including: the tax-related challenge of British telecom company Vodafone; UK hedge fund; the Children's Investment Fund's threat to sue India over its policy to regulate the price of coal in India; and Russian telecom company Sistem and Norwegian telecom company Telenor's threat to sue over the cancellation of 2G licenses of their joint ventures.

India's first recorded investor-State dispute — Enron vs the Maharashtra Government — was initiated by a consortium of US companies including Enron, under the India-Mauritius BIT, which has already resulted in a billion dollar arbitration award against India, the letter said.

The Government needs to be consistent with its approach of excluding investor-to-State dispute clauses from investment agreements, reportedly under negotiation with the EU and other countries, said the letter signed by organisations across the board — the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Centre for Internet and Society and Centre for Trade and Development.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/concerns-raised-ahead-of-proposed-india-us-trade-treaty

Concerns over central snoop

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T09:33:27Z

Eyebrows have been raised at the Centre’s single-window system to intercept phone calls and internet exchanges — the desi version of the US’s surveillance programme, PRISM — that is expected to roll out this year-end.

The article by Aloke Tikku was published in the Hindustan Times on June 28, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The Rs. 400-crore project — tentatively called the Central Monitoring System (CMS) — will not only allow the government to listen to a target’s phone conversation but also track down a caller’s precise location, match his voice against known suspects’ before the call is completed and see what people have been up to on the internet.

And then, it can also use analytics to discover possible links — between suspected terrorists, criminals or just about anybody — from the internet and phone data. All this will be done from one place without keeping the internet or phone service provider in the loop — something the telecom and home ministries insist will enhance citizens’ privacy.

Both ministries also insist that the CMS won’t change the rules of the game. “The process to seek authorisation for interception will not be diluted,” a home ministry official promised.

So is everything hunky dory?

Hardly. But technology — in this case, the CMS — is a smaller part of the problem.

The bigger chunk is the process of approving “lawful interception” orders and the lack of transparency around it.

It was in December 1996 that the Supreme Court held that the State could spy on its citizens in extraordinary circumstances but, as an interim measure, made it mandatory for the home secretary to approve each and every such request. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who appeared in this case in the mid-1990s, convinced the court that it didn’t have the powers to order that a judge decide each phone-tapping case. Instead, Sibal suggested that this power remain with the executive on lines of the law in the UK. A former home secretary, however, conceded that they hardly have the time to apply their mind before signing a wiretap order.

That isn’t surprising. The home secretary approves around 7,500-9,000 interception orders every month. That means he or she has to sign an average of 300 orders every day without a break.

If he were to spend just 30 seconds on each case, he would have to keep aside four-and-a-half hours just approving interception orders every day.

An official said the ministry was considering a suggestion to pick up a fixed number of cases at random for closer scrutiny before approval.

Many believe this might not be enough. It is argued that the government — which was trying to replicate surveillance technology from the west — needs to adopt their safeguards and transparency norms too.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, said he didn’t have a problem with CMS as long as it didn’t go for blanket surveillance.

“But there is no reason why the executive — and not a judge — should have the powers to decide on phone-tapping requests,” he said. Or for that matter, why shouldn’t there be an independent audit of phone-tapping decisions, their implementation and outcome?

“The aggregated data should be put in the public domain,” Abraham said. The US has such provisions. So does Britain, which inspired Sibal to argue for retaining interception powers with the executive in the mid-1990s. It is time to follow-up on that model.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-aloke-tikku-june-28-2013-concerns-over-central-snoop

Concerns

praskrishna — 2015-10-11T05:29:07Z

Concerns

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Conceptualise AI

praskrishna — 2019-10-13T03:24:08Z

Conceptualising AI

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Concept Note: UNICEF & Nasscom Foundation Workshop on Child Online Protection

praskrishna — 2016-02-14T10:16:34Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/concept-note-unicef-nasscom-foundation-workshop-on-child-online-protection

Concept Note: Network Neutrality in South Asia

praskrishna — 2015-12-01T02:34:25Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/concept-note-network-neutrality-in-south-asia