Centre for Internet and Society

CIS Logo

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T07:00:59Z

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CIS joins the the Global Commission on Internet Governance Research Advisory Network

praskrishna — 2014-03-06T05:20:43Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has joined the Research Advisory Committee for the Global Commission on Internet Governance.

Mark Raymond on behalf of Dr. Fen Osler Hampson and Dr. Patricia Lewis, as well as Dr. Laura DeNardis invited Sunil Abraham to join this network.

The Research Advisory Network for the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) is a joint project of the Centre for International Governance and Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).

The GCIG, which is chaired by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, is a two-year initiative that will present a comprehensive analysis and recommendations on the future of multi-stakeholder Internet governance. It was announced in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on 22 January 2014. The press release, list of commission members and Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

The Research Advisory Network is an indispensable component of the GCIG. It will consist of a group of distinguished scholars and experts who provide input to the Commission in several ways:

Identify and prioritize Internet governance and Internet policy related issues within the GCIG mandate;
Provide expert briefings to the members of the Commission
Conduct research and analysis on a commissioned basis, both for GCIG meeting preparatory materials and for inclusion in the companion research volume that will be issued alongside the formal commission report;
Provide peer review of written materials produced in support of the Commission’s work.

The Research Advisory Network will be led by Dr. Laura DeNardis, who has agreed to serve as the Research Director for the GCIG; will be supported by Dr. Mark Raymond at CIGI and by Ms. Caroline Baylon at Chatham House.

If you would like further information or have any questions, please feel free to contact Mark Raymond at mraymond@cigionline.org

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/cis-joins-global-commission-on-internet-governance-research-advisory-network

CIS in Top 50 Tech Blogs of India

praskrishna — 2015-10-14T06:24:44Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is on the 30th position among the top technology blogs in India.

This was published by rebateszone on October 7, 2015.

Infographic courtesy: Renuka Thakur

The world of tech blogs is getting bigger and bigger, by time people are getting more and more interested in tech related items, it’s the only reason why we have seen such significant surge in tech blogs during the past few years. So the query that becomes difficult with every minute passing is that which of the tech blogs are worth your time? To help you on this we have created a list of top 50 tech bloggers in India, These weblogs are written by pros in the field, you might find numerous lists on the internet on this particular topic but you won’t be able to find more thorough and handy list that this as we have handpicked each and every blog in this list, we have organized these blogs according to the quality of posts. The other lists that you can find on the internet are sorted according to Alexa rank or number of incoming links, they have just produced those listed for the purpose of forming a new post but this list is produced according to the quality. If you want to stay updated with technology related news, developments etc., then we would recommend you to follow the following 50 tech blogs regularly:

Sr No.	Website/Blog	Facebook	Twitter
1	fonearena.com	165,050	34,583
2	alltechbuzz.net	262,568	3,706
3	bgr.in	143,145	190,922
4	telecomtalk.info	41,205	21,080
5	medianama.com	11,238	241,121
6	techulator.com	9,703	238
7	infosys.com	696,536	164,452
8	9lessons.info	23,945	7,499
9	phoneradar.com	14,898	8,381
10	indianweb2.com	7,738	2,427
11	techpp.com	10,221	17,661
12	techlomedia.in	16,578	6,452
13	techlila.com	20,252	2,904
14	techtricksworld.com	5,331	1,726
15	makingdifferent.com	7,424	—–
16	tipsclear.com	687	15,007
17	hackpundit.com	40	315
18	ampercent.com	2,056	413
19	nirmaltv.com	26,261	6,293
20	pitechnologies.org	7,965	49
21	seotechyworld.com	9,335	4,977
22	igt.in	12,997	666
23	hacktrix.com	9,374	196
24	technodify.com	26,318	3,958
25	webtrickz.com	3,906	907
26	wpxbox.com	16,938	1,242
27	itechcode.com	2,666	4,749
28	techfishy.com	4,791	114
29	zensar.com	7,269	2,778
30	cis-india.org	—–	3,795
31	robosoftin.com	664	1,892
32	digitaldimensions4u.com	3,079	583
33	campustimespune.com	3,121	278
34	msystechnologies.com	325	455
35	techsplurge.com	3,797	1,140
36	zensoftservices.com	203	1,499
37	iltb.net	4,994	1,675
38	savedelete.com	19,978	10,728
39	minterest.org	1,033	12,867
40	thepockettech.com	22,346	12,375
41	thetechbulletin.com	2,522	1,292
42	mobientech.com	525	1,359
43	directingit.com	98	27
44	itpreneurpune.com	1,356	76
45	codemink.com	5,021	196
46	udayarumilli.blogspot.com	103	63
47	saadhvi.com	56	44
48	taraspan.com	8	310
49	cloudnowtech.com	145	55
50	keshavatech.com	2,953	18,139

Here is the Infographic for top 50 tech blogs in India:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/rebateszone-october-7-2015-top-50-technology-blogs-in-india

CIS in GNI Annual Report

praskrishna — 2013-04-25T07:31:01Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) joined the Global Network Intiative (GNI) in March 2012. Recently, GNI brought out its Annual Report. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it.


GNI participants Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet and Society (second from left) and Cynthia Wong - Center for Democracy and Technology (right) at the Google Internet at Liberty 2012 Conference, May 23, 2012. Also pictured (left to right): Dunja Mijatovic´ - OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Judy Woodruff (Moderator) - Senior Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Mohamed El Dahshan - writer, journalist. Credit: Tony Powell

GNI participants Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet and Society (second from left) and Cynthia Wong - Center for Democracy and Technology (right) at the Google Internet at Liberty 2012 Conference, May 23, 2012. Also pictured (left to right): Dunja Mijatovic´ - OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Judy Woodruff (Moderator) - Senior Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Mohamed El Dahshan - writer, journalist.
Credit: Tony Powell

An increasingly global network

"Technological development happens too quickly for us to purely depend on government regulation. Self-regulation has an important role to play in keeping up with these rapid changes … we will influence GNI norms using our Indian perspective."
Sunil Abraham

A key objective for GNI is increasing its membership across all constituencies with a focus on developing countries and emerging markets. In 2012, GNI welcomed Azerbaijani press freedom organization the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety as the global Internet governance community gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Internet Governance Forum. Their participation, alongside other new civil society participant, the Centre for Internet & Society based in Bangalore, India represents a step toward further internationalizing the GNI network. Other new members include the George Washington University Law School and Christine Bader from the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.

Click to read the GNI Annual Report
Click to read the news of CIS joining the GNI in 2012

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/gni-annual-report-mentions-cis

CIS Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015

praskrishna — 2015-09-02T17:04:31Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-human-dna-profiling-bill-2015

CIS Hosts Scanned Version of George Orwell’s Books vs. Cigarettes

praskrishna — 2011-12-01T13:31:39Z

Verbindingen/Jonctions (V/J), the bi-annual multidisciplinary festival organised by Constant is taking place on December 1, 2011. Amateur scanning of books often raises a lot of questions, around the issue of copyright. For this V/J13 is scanning George Orwell’s Books vs. Cigarettes. The essay is in public domain in Russia, India and South Africa, but not in Europe and America due to copyright issues. CIS is hosting the scanned pages of the essay in public domain.

During the morning session DIY-made book scanner and OCR-software will be used to transform the scans into text files and in the afternoon session the digital material generated in the morning will be remixed.

The main sessions can be followed online at the home page of VJ13

About VJ13

Verbindingen/Jonctions (V/J) is the bi-annual multidisciplinary festival organised by Constant. Since 1997, Verbindingen/Jonctions combines high, low and no-tech strategies from utopian, contemporary, traditional and tribal cultures, free software, feminism and queer theories. V/J is an occasion to explore the space between thinking and doing, and the festival is always a mix of activities. It is an occasion to invite radio makers, artists, programmers, academics, Linux users, interface designers, urban explorers, performance artists, technicians, lawyers and others to experience each other’s practice, and to share their interests with a broad public of visitors.

V/J13 has been developed in collaboration with Le P’tit Ciné, Recyclart, Hacker Space Brussels (HSB), QO2, Renovas, Boutique de Quartier and Yves Poliart, Myriam Van Imschoot, Piet Zwart Institute: Networked Media.

Download the scanned version (Zip files, 28091 kb)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/books-vs-cigarettes

CIS highlights changes ushered in by the Internet

praskrishna — 2013-05-22T06:06:44Z

As part of its fifth anniversary celebrations, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has organised an exhibition showcasing its accomplishments, besides a series of talks by experts on the changes ushered in by the Internet. The exhibition will remain open till Thursday.

The article was published in the Hindu on May 22, 2013.

On Wednesday, a talk will be held at 6 p.m. on “Cyber security, privacy and surveillance”. Also, Laird Brown, strategic planner and writer, and Purba Sarkar, associate producer with the cyber security film project, will make presentations on cyber security.

The valedictory will have talks by Kannada writer Chandrashekar Kambar on “Kannada in modern era”, while member of Kannada Software Committee U.B. Pavanja will speak on “From palm leaf to tablet”. This will be followed by a Carnatic music programme by Nirmita Narasimha. The CIS has also invited the public to be its auditors by displaying its account books and contracts, which shows how it has spent the Rs. 13.13 crore received from donors. The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-may-22-2013-cis-highlights-changes-ushered-in-by-the-internet

CIS Gets ITU-D Membership Certificate

praskrishna — 2013-07-11T10:08:57Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/itu-d-membership-certificate.pdf

CIS featured in the Report on Research and Funding Landscape within the Arts and Humanities in India

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T11:27:38Z

Centre for Internet and Society has been listed as an area of excellence and innovative research in this report.

Research Councils UK had undertaken a mapping exercise to gain a better understanding of the research and funding landscape within the arts and humanities in India. The India Foundation for the Arts won the tender to undertake the exercise.

The report highlights:

The challenges of definition with the term ‘arts and humanities’ and ‘social science’ in India and subsequently how this affects funding for research in these areas
The strengths, current themes and challenges of arts and humanities (and in some cases social science) research in India
The challenge of creating an accurate arts and humanities archive in India
An overview of the Indian funding and research structures
The challenge of funding fine and performing arts separately from traditional arts research disciplines
A discussion on significant shifts in theory and approaches in some of the disciplines and this impact on the current research landscape
A list of centres of excellence in arts and humanities research in India
A list of centres with potential or those which are working in innovative research areas
An outline of government, non-government and foreign funders

Click here for the Report.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/research-and-funding

CIS EPS Logo

praskrishna — 2013-08-14T10:19:10Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/logos/cis-logo.svg

CIS Completed Searches

praskrishna — 2013-10-24T10:26:42Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/completed-searches.pdf

CIS Comments to HRD Ministry on WIPO Treaty

praskrishna — 2013-12-07T04:43:08Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-comments-to-hrd-on-wipo-treaty.pdf

CIS Comments on Finance Committee Statements to Open Letters on Unique Identity

praskrishna — 2011-11-13T02:39:16Z

We from the Centre for Internet and Society had sent six open letters to the Parliamentary Finance Committee on the UID. The Committee responded through an email on 12 October 2011. Our response to the points raised is reproduced below.

Dear Members of the Finance Committee,

Since January 2011, we have sent six open letters on the Unique Identity (UID) project to the Members of the Finance Committee. The Committee has responded through an email dated 12 October 2011. This letter is in reply to the points that were raised.

Finance Committee: "Comparison between SCOSTA and the UID project are not valid since SCOSTA is fundamentally a standard for smart card based authentication and does not work for the objectives of the UID project."

CIS: We disagree with this statement. The UID Bill states that the aim of the project is to provide identification and authentication services. Biometric technology may be useful for identification. The seventh open letter [1] that we sent to the Committee last week uses basic statistical analysis to demonstrate that the FPIR has to be 10−6 or a thousand-fold greater than the current level mandated by UIDAI procurement policy in order to achieve the project goal of building a national database of unique ID's. SCOSTA based smart card technology is more appropriate for the authentication of individuals because:[2]

Authentication will be based on asymmetric keys and perhaps pass-phrase or pin. This is known as public key infrastructure, and will allow a person to protect their authentication factor, and easily replace it if compromised.
Authentication through public key infrastructure does not depend on connectivity to a centralized network. This will allow for inclusion of unconnected populations.
Authentication through public key infrastructure establishes mutual trust between citizen and state. Instead of only the citizen being made transparent to the state – the state is also made transparent to the citizens. This will lower the presence of fraudulent institutions and corrupt transactions.
Connection to a centralized server is not required for only the authentication of an individual in a transaction. This will lower the cost of transactions and lower the IT overhead costs.

Finance committee: "The UID project follows a different approach and has multiple objectives like providing identity to the residents of India, and ensuring inclusion of poor and marginalized residents in order to enable access to benefits and services."

CIS: We disagree with this statement. Biometrics do not ensure the delivery of benefits. As mentioned in our third open letter,[3] in every transaction that requires the use of the biometric based UID number, there are four points where corruption is possible and delivery of services will not take place:

The technology fails, and does not perform authentication. Lack of connectivity, electricity and non-lab conditions for biometric technology.
The authority fails and delivers a false positive or false negative.
The local agency fails to deliver the service after authentication.
The biometric fails due to biological changes, and thus the individual is denied benefits.

Finance Committee: "Eliminating the fakes, duplicates and ghost identities prevalent in other databases."

CIS: We disagree with this statement. Biometrics cannot eliminate fakes, duplicates and ghost identities. The deduplication algorithm only checks for uniqueness of biometric information. This can easily be defeated by a.) presenting a combination of two persons biometrics, b.) presenting the biometrics of foreign nationals collected remotely using the Internet, and c.) modifying biometric information using software tools like image editors. This is not a remote technological possibility since many registrars like banks have financial incentives for creating ghost identities for benami bank accounts. The deduplication algorithm and technology is completely black-box and has not been subject to any independent audit. Ideally research organisations like CIS should be provided legal immunity so that we can conduct independent audits of the deduplication technology and provide evidence for policy-makers. Since the deduplication technology has such a direct impact on the quality of citizenship – we recommend that the Finance Committee include proper independent audit provisions in the draft bill.

Finance Committee: "Provide a platform for authentication in a cost effective and accessible manner."

CIS: We disagree with this statement. As our first open letter[4] to the Finance Committee notes, biometrics are not appropriate authentication factors. In our opinion the dependency of biometrics on connectivity, deduplication, and centralized storage causes them to be more expensive than smart cards. The onus is upon the UIDAI to demonstrate that biometrics are cheaper than existing systems like magnetic cards used by credit card and debit card companies. If it was truly technologically and economically the better option, surely banks driven by such considerations would have adopted them many years ago.

Finance Committee: "UIDAI is not issuing cards or smart cards."

CIS: We agree with the statement made and that is why it would be possible to defeat the UIDAI authentication system using fevicol and wax as demonstrated by security expert, Jude Terence D'Souza.[5]

Finance Committee: "Cards can be issued by agencies that are providing services."

CIS: We agree with the statement made and that is why the UIDAI cannot claim the benefits of secure authentication. In other words, agencies providing smart cards will have a more secure authentication based on smart cards and sooner or later citizens will stop using the weaker authentication based on biometrics provided by the UIDAI.

Finance Committee: "UID authentication does not exclude smart cards – service providers can still choose to issue smart cards to their beneficiaries or customers if they want to."

CIS: We agree with this statement but that makes the whole project redundant. If service providers are forced to issue smart cards to their customers, they will have to create separate databases of pins and keys for authentication. The service provider will not be able to authenticate users through the UID system.

We are grateful to have received a response from the Finance Committee and look forward to more correspondence with the Committee. We would also be very grateful if the Committee could give us an opportunity to come to Delhi on our expense and testify before the committee on legal, technology and privacy related aspects of the project.

Yours sincerely,

Elonnai Hickok

[1].http://goo.gl/93sl2

[2].http://goo.gl/ZrEQr,http://goo.gl/jHRvq

[3].http://goo.gl/pW3Wi

[4].http://goo.gl/ZrEQr

[5].http://goo.gl/0z22h

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-finance-committee-statements

CIS Celebrates 5 Years: A Report in Udayavani

praskrishna — 2013-06-12T11:48:23Z

Udayavani on May 25, 2013, published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.

Dr. Chandrashekhara was the chief guest for the event on May 23, 2013. He gave a talk on Kannada in modern era.


Above is the report published in Udayavani on May 25, 2013

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/udayavani-may-25-2013-cis-celebrates-5-years

CIS Celebrates 5 Years: A Report in Prajavani

praskrishna — 2013-06-12T11:46:48Z

Prajavani published a report on the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations organised in Bangalore on the final day, May 23, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Kannada and IT.


Given below is the report published in Prajavani on May 24, 2013:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/prajavani-may-24-2013-report-on-cis-celebrates-5-years