Centre for Internet and Society

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praskrishna — 2013-11-29T04:43:22Z

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praskrishna — 2013-11-29T04:40:05Z

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praskrishna — 2013-11-29T04:35:50Z

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praskrishna — 2013-11-29T04:30:47Z

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praskrishna — 2013-11-29T04:27:30Z

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Article

praskrishna — 2016-02-26T16:46:19Z

Article

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Art, Science and Open Electromagnetic Spectrum Culture [ENG]

praskrishna — 2016-08-01T01:31:10Z

Sharath Chandra's practice based research in the area of Open Spectrum, in a conversation with Dr Roger Malina, Executive Director of the MIT Leonardo Press was published on the Creative Disturbance Platform. Sharath talks about his research, teaching and community activities across various institutions that he is involved with.

Podcast

Sharath Chandra Ram describes his work in art, design and open science, and information culture. He maintains the Signal Lab at the Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore, India. He describes his workshop in open radio astronomy that he held at the International Astronomical Union Commission C2, at the Parque Explora in Medellin, Colombia and his work in telecom policy and with the indian fishing communities embroiled in ownership of the electromagnetic spectrum debates – In dialogue with Roger Malina.

Sample of Sharath’s Work: http://goo.gl/X9hvx6

More info on Creative Disturbance

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/art-science-and-open-electromagnetic-spectrum-culture-eng

Art Slash Activism1

praskrishna — 2011-12-26T05:58:22Z

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Art Slash Activism 3

praskrishna — 2011-12-26T06:04:51Z

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Art installation

praskrishna — 2011-01-24T12:53:26Z

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Art in the Open Source Age — A Talk by Gene Kogan

praskrishna — 2012-12-13T06:06:34Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is hosting a talk by Gene Kogan, a programmer and digital artist, at its office in Bangalore on November 30th, 2012, from 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.

Talk Summary

The open source movement has challenged longstanding assumptions about art practice. Communities of programmers and makers have collaborated online to create mature software development kits such as Processing and OpenFrameworks, as well as websites like Instructables.com where users can document and share their process. The rapid digitization of the blueprints for creative projects have greatly lowered the barrier to getting started.

These new tools and practices have greatly influenced the workflows that artists, designers, and technologists operate with, and have upended traditional notions of authorship and copyright. Techniques manipulating existing digital content have inspired much debate over legitimacy and authenticity. This talk will critically examine this new outlook and attempt to resolve some practical issues.

Gene Kogan

Gene Kogan is an American artist and programmer currently based out of Bangalore. He is interested in performance art, generative systems, and machine learning. He writes free software for negotiating high dimensional spaces to discover the unexpected and serendipitous. He is currently based out of Bangalore.

His work can be seen on his website at www.genekogan.com. You can also follow him on twitter at @genekogan.

VIDOE

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/art-in-the-open-source-age

Arrests over Facebook posts: Why we’re on a dangerous slide

praskrishna — 2012-11-20T11:47:43Z

The most bizarre thing about the arrest of Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan on Monday over a Facebook post that questioned the wisdom of a bandh to mark Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray‘s death is that no laws were actually violated by the post.

Venky Vembu's article was published in FirstPost on November 20, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

In tone and in content, the post is remarkably restrained, particularly when compared to the rather more incendiary messages that are commonplace on social media platforms. Nor was it even halfways defamatory in the way that many rants on Twitter and Facebook have unfortunately come to be.

Yet, the Mumbai police appear to have cravenly capitulated in the face of some arm-twisting by a local Sena strongman and gone ahead to arrest the two young women on charges that seem laughable even given the extraordinarily sweeping, catch-all clauses of the Information Technology Act.

It is hard to see how Shaheen Dhada violated the two sections of the law under which she has been charged – Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (“outraging religous feelings of any class”) or even the draconian Section 66A of the IT Act (“sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.”) – with her contemplative post, or what crimes Renu Srinivasan committed in merely ‘liking’ the post.

But it is a sign of the disquieting nature of the provision of the law, and the perverse manner in which it is being implemented, that there weren’t adequate checks and balances to inhibit the wilful deployment of the law on such frivolous grounds. Ironically, the goons who actually wrecked the clinic of Dhada’s uncle haven’t been called to account.

If that is bad enough, it is doubly perverse for Kapil Sibal to claim in all innocence that he is “deeply saddened” by the arrest of the two young women and to insinuate that the IT Act, which he was instrumental in passing, was being misused on grounds of improper implementation.

The fact of it is that the IT Act that he fathered, and particularly the notorious Section 66A, was deliberately worded to give maximum potential for mischief. There have been far too many egregious instances of its misuse by discredited governments and politicians for Sibal to claim that these are random incidents of misuse of the law. Just last month, Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti had a Puducherry businessmen and anti-corruption activist hauled up by the police for a Twitter post in which the businessman alleged that Karti had “amassed more wealth” than Sonia Gandhi‘s son-in-law.

It’s important to get a sense of why the latest arrests take us further on the slippery slope towards curtailing free speech. Justice Markandeya Katju has repeatedly pointed to the egregious encroachment on the freedom of speech by this provision of law, and has been vocal in calling both politicians and policemen to account whenever the law is abused in this manner.

“It is absurd to say that protesting against the bandh hurts religious sentiments,” Katju observed in a letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister. “Under Article 19 of our Constitution, freedom of speech is guaranteed fundamental right. We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship.”

If anything, Katju argued, “this arrest itself appears to be a criminal act since under Sections 341 and 342, it is a crime to wrongfully arrest or wrongfully confine someone who has committed no crime.”

As Pranesh Prakash at the Centre for Internet and Society points out, in the context of Monday’s arrests, “This should not be seen merely as ‘social media regulation’, but as a restriction on freedom of speech and expression by both the law and the police.” Section 66A, he says, makes certain kinds of speech-activities (“causing annoyance”) illegal if communicated online, but legal if that same speech-activity is published in a newspaper.

This distinction is important, Prakash notes, since the mere fact that it was a Facebook status update “should not grant Shaheen Dhada any special immunity”. If anything, it is the fact that her update is not punishable under Section 295 of the IPC or of Section 66A of the IT Act that should give her the immunity, he adds.

With each instance in which Section 66A of the IT Act is being invoked, the potential for mischief embedded in the law is being exposed. Monday’s arrests – of two young women for crimes they did not even commit – are the most brazen instance of their abuse.

Of course, the perverse provision of law has been abused in the real world through selective and arbitrary invocation of the law. But the original sin lies in the law itself. It is the most potent threat to free speech online, and if the law isn’t amended to throw out these perverse provisions, India can kiss goodbye to any lingering pretensions to being a democracy of any sort.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/first-post-politics-venky-vembu-nov-20-2012-arrests-over-facebook-posts-why-were-on-a-dangerous-slide

Arrested for tweeting: Legitimate or Curbing Free Speech?

praskrishna — 2012-11-02T06:09:57Z

As a man in Puducherry is arrested for allegedly posting on Twitter that MR Chidambaram's son had amassed wealth more than that of Robert Vadra, we discuss whether freedom of speech is absolute.

Sunil Abraham along with Shivam Vij, Journalist and Blogger, SB Mishra, Additional DCP, Census Wing, Economic Offence Wing, Delhi Police, and Sanjay Pinto, Advocate, Madras High Court participated in this discussion aired in NDTV on October 31, 2012.

Watch the full video on NDTV

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ndtv-news-oct-31-2012-arrested-for-tweeting-legitimate-or-curbing-free-speech

Arrest of girl over Thackeray FB update a clear misuse of Sec 295A

praskrishna — 2012-11-20T12:00:53Z

The arrest of 21-year-old Shaheen Dhada over her Facebook status update questioning the shutdown of Mumbai over Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray‘s death, is a clear misapplication of section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (“outrage religious feelings of any class”), according to Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society.

The article was published in FirstPost on November 19, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

In comments to Firstpost, Prakash said that this law had been misused numerous times in the state of Maharashtra.

“Even the banning of James Laine’s book Shivaji happened under section 295 A, and the ban was subsequently held to have been unlawful. What makes this seem ironic, and almost a parodic news report, is the fact that Bal Thackeray probably violated this provision more times than most other politicians, but was only charged under it once or twice”, he said.

Dhada’s status update reportedly read, “People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that.” A friend of hers who ‘liked’ the comment was also arrested.

Prakash said that the arrest called for a discussion on the regulation of speech and expression. “It being a Facebook status update should not grant it any special immunity; the fact of that update not being punishable under s.295 A should! It isn’t regulation of social media that needs to be discussed, but regulation of speech and expression”, he said.

News of the arrest has understandably drawn a lot of attention on social media, and forums like Facebook and Twitter reflected outrage at the news.

The Times of India also reported that a mob of Shiv Sena workers attacked and ransacked the girl’s uncle’s orthopaedic clinic at Palghar, even though she withdrew her comment and apologised.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/first-post-india-nov-19-2012-arrest-of-girl-over-thackeray-fb-update-clear-misuse-of-sec-295a

Around 130-135M Aadhaar Numbers published on 4 sites alone

praskrishna — 2017-05-20T10:52:26Z

“Therefore, there is no data leak, there is no systematic problem, but, if any one tries to be smart, the law ignites into action.” – Ravi Shankar Prasad, IT Minister, in the Rajya Sabha, on 10th April 2017.

The blog post by Nikhil Pahwa was published by Medianama on May 4, 2017.

Details of around 130-135 million Aadhaar Numbers, and around 100 million bank numbers have been leaked online by just four government schemes alone: the National Social Assistance Programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA), Daily Online Payments Reports under NREGA (Govt of Andhra Pradesh), and the Chandranna Bima Scheme (Govt of Andhra Pradesh), as per a research report from the Centre for Internet and Society.

Download the report here. Read full story on Medianama website.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/medianama-nikhil-pahwa-may-4-2017-around-130-135-m-aadhaar-numbers-published-on-four-sites-alone