Centre for Internet and Society

Cover Letter for DNA Profiling Bill 2015

praskrishna — 2015-09-02T17:05:57Z

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

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

August 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2015-10-27T00:25:02Z

We are happy to share with you the eighth issue of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) newsletter (August 2015). The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters.

Highlights

Researchers at Work programme has published a book titled Digital Activism in Asia Reader exploring in detail digital activism in Asia. The Reader was edited by Nishant Shah, P.P. Sneha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay with support from Anirudh Sridhar, Denisse Albornoz, and Verena Getahun. The pre-publication drafts of two sections written by Sumandro Chattapadhyay for the third volume (2000-2010) of the Asia Internet History series edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon have been posted for open-review process. As part of the 'Studying Internets in India' series, RAW published blog entries on Governing Speech on the Internet and Mock-Calling - Ironies of Outsourcing and the Aspirations of an Individual. NVDA team conducted a workshop at Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind, Varanasi from August 26 to 28, 2015. Eighty five students and 13 teachers took part in the training programme. NVDA team had conducted another workshop earlier in Nashik. The workshop was conducted in June. A batch of 17 Special Educators and teachers of the blind attended the workshop. Maggie Huang, Arpita Sengupta and Paavni Anand as part of the Pervasive Technologies project co-authored a research paper that seeks to compare the publicly available information on the websites of music collective management organizations ("CMOs") operating within India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Amulya Purushothama, Nehaa Chaudhari and Varun Baliga in a blog entry have delved into the question of what the mandate of the Sectoral Innovation Council is, what its activities are, and what vision for IPR development in India has it put forth. An RTI Application has been filed by CIS to attain information on these issues. In a blog post, Amulya Purushothama announced our new MHRD IPR Chair Series and has charted the sequence of events, starting from the establishment of MHRD IPR Chairs, to discussions surrounding their purpose and functioning, to concerns surrounding the lack of information about the IPR Chairs, the first round of RTIs that CIS had filed in regard to this and the responses it solicited. Subhashish Panigrahi interviewed Prateek Pattanaik. Prateek has not just digitized as many as 54 Odia-language poetry dating early 18th century but has also annotated, both poetic and prosaic translation in his blogs "Sri Jagannatha" and "Utkal Sangeet". He has also published a complete book "Kisora chandranana champu" on Odia Wikisource. A recent entrant into the Odia Wikimedia community, Prateek is also the youngest Odia Wikimedian. Rohan George and Elonnai Hickok in a blog post analyzed consent, big data and data protection that examines in detail why the principle of consent is providing us increasingly less of an aegis in protecting our data. Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda and Vanya Rakesh on behalf of CIS submitted a clause-by-clause comments on the Human DNA Profiling Bill that was circulated by the Department of Biotechnology on June 9, 2015. Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Tarun Krishnakumar co-authored an article titled Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology. The article was published by Observer Research Foundation, Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2. Elonnai Hickok in a blog post titled A Review of the Policy Debate around Big Data and Internet of Things has done an analysis as to how regulators and experts across jurisdictions are reacting to Big Data and Internet of Things. The Supreme Court of India has deemed it fit to refer the question of the very existence of a fundamental right to privacy to a Constitution Bench to finally decide the matter, and define the contours of such right if it does exist. Vipul Kharbanda analyses this in a blog entry. Experts and regulators across jurisdictions are examining the impact of Big Data practices on traditional data protection standards and principles. This will be a useful and pertinent exercise for India to undertake as the government and the private and public sectors begin to incorporate and rely on the use of Big Data in decision making processes and organizational operations. Elonnai Hickok has provided an initial evaluation of how Big Data could impact India's current data protection standards. Elonnai Hickok has provided a comparison of Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 vs. the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015, CIS's main recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill, Sub-Committee Recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill, and the Expert Committee Recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill. CIS submitted its comments to the non-paper on the UNGA Overall Review of the Implementation of the WSIS outcomes, evaluating the progress made and challenges ahead. In a policy brief, Vipul Kharbanda has analyzed the different laws regulating surveillance at the state and central level in India and calls out ways in which the provisions are unharmonized. The brief then provides recommendations for the harmonization of surveillance law in India. Hardnews interviewed Sunil Abraham about the future of the internet in India. The article was published in their August edition. Shyam Ponappa in an Op-ed published by Business Standard has given an analysis on the reasons of the number of dropped calls on our mobile phones.

Accessibility and Inclusion

Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing a project on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here. The project on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India got over and the compilation has been printed.

NVDA and eSpeak

Monthly Updates

August 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; July 31, 2015).

Event Reports

Training in eSpeak Marathi (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind; Nashik; June 22 - 23, 2015). The workshop was held in the month of June but the report got published later in August.
Training in eSpeak Hindi (Organized by NVDA team; Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind; Varanasi; August 26 - 28, 2015).

Access to Knowledge

As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

Pervasive Technologies

Blog Entries

Methodology: Patent Landscaping in the Indian Mobile Device Market (Rohini Lakshané; November 10, 2014). This blog post published last year has been recently updated.
Comparative Transparency Review of Collective Management Organisations in India, United Kingdom and the United States (Maggie Huang, Arpita Sengupta and Paavni Anand; August 1, 2015).

Other (Copyright and Patent)

Blog Entries

CCI Participation at the Upcoming 3rd International Conference on IPR and Competition (Amulya Purushothama; August 5, 2015). CIS wrote to the Competition Commission of India Chairman on August 5, 2015 about participation at a conference organised by Ericsson and concerns regarding conflict of interest. We also had several other NGOs sign on to the letter.
MHRD IPR Chair Series: Introduction (Amulya Purushothama; August 10, 2015). Aditya Garg assisted in research and writing.
National IPR Policy Series: What Have the Sectoral Innovation Councils Been Doing on IPR (Nehaa Chaudhari and Varun Baliga; August 13, 2015). Amulya Purushothama assisted with research and writing.

Media Coverage

Competition Commission of India chariman's participation in Assocham conference raises conflict of interests (Rema Nagarajan; The Times of India; August 6, 2015).
Assocham event sparks row over conflict of interest by CCI (Dilasha Seth and Deepak Patel; Business Standard; August 6, 2015).

Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).

Blog Entry

Odia Wikisource has a new Wikisourcer, and he is the youngest in the Odia Wikimedia community! (Subhashish Panigrahi; August 21, 2015).

Events Co-organized

Annamaya Library edit-a-thon (Organized by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia Community; August 6, 2015; Andhra Loyola College; Vijaywada).
International Workshop on Digitization and Archiving (Organized by CIS-A2K and Wikipedia Community; August 19 - 21, 2015). Rahmanuddin Shaik was one of the trainers.

FOSS

Participation in Events

Workshop on digital collaborations in Tamil-language, Tamil Virtual Chennai (Organized by Tamil Virtual University, Anna University Campus, Chennai; August 8 - 9, 2015). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja atttended this event.
Open Innovation, entrepreneurship, and our digital future (Organized by iSpirit; Bangalore; August 13, 2015). Rohini Lakshané attended the event. Rohini wrote a report on this .

Media Coverage

CIS gave its inputs to the following:

Telugu Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at ALC (Eenadu; August 6, 2015)
Telugu Wiki Edit-a-thon in ALC (Eenadu; August 6, 2015)
Rare Telugu religious and historical work preserved at Annamacharya library to come on Wikisource! (The Hans India; August 7, 2015).
ಗ್ರಾಮೀಣ ಪ್ರದೇಶದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಪ್ರಗತಿಯಿಂದ ದೇಶದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಪ್ರಗತಿ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. (Mangalorean.com; August 13, 2015).
ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ಬಳಸಿ: ಡಾ.ಪವನಜ (Karavali Karnataka; August 14, 2015).
ಬೆಳ್ತಂಗಡಿ:ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೂ ಲಭ್ಯ ಇರುವ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ಹಾಗೂ ಮುಕ್ತ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ-ಪವನಜ (SahilOnline; August 14, 2015).
Talamaddale on August 23 (Hindu; August 16, 2015).

Internet Governance

As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.

Privacy

Article

Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology (Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Tarun Krishnakumar; Observer Research Foundation, Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2 ; August 19, 2015).

Submission

CIS Comments and Recommendations to the Human DNA Profiling Bill, June 2015 (Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda and Vanya Rakesh; August 27, 2015).

Blog Entries

Policy Paper on Surveillance in India (Vipul Kharbanda; August 3, 2015).
Comparison of the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 with: CIS recommendations, Sub-Committee Recommendations, Expert Committee Recommendations, and the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 (Elonnai Hickok; August 10, 2015).
Right to Privacy in Peril (Vipul Kharbanda; August 13, 2015).
Responsible Data Forum: Discussion on the Risks and Mitigations of releasing Data (Vanya Rakesh; August 26, 2015).
Are we Throwing our Data Protection Regimes under the Bus? (Elonnai Hickok and Rohan George; August 29, 2015).
Supreme Court Order is a Good Start, but is Seeding Necessary? (Elonnai Hickok and Rohan George; August 29, 2015).

Big Data

Blog Entries

Big Data and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011 (Elonnai Hickok; August 11, 2015).
A Review of the Policy Debate around Big Data and Internet of Things (Elonnai Hickok; August 17, 2015).

Participation in Event

The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data (Co-organized by Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan; August 24 - 25, 2015). Sharat Chandra Ram was granted the Young Scholar Award 2015 to attend theYoung Scholar Workshop followed by main CPRSouth2015 conference (Communication Policy Research South) conference.

Free Speech and Expression

Submission

CIS submission to the UNGA WSIS+10 Review (Jyoti Panday; August 9, 2015),

Cyber Security

Upcoming Event

Bangalore Chapter Meet of DSCI (Co-organized by DSCI and CIS; September 26, 2015). Melissa Hathaway, Commissioner, Global Commission for Internet Governance and Sunil Abraham will be speaking at this event.

Telecom

CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

Op-ed

Those Dropped Calls (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; August 5, 2015 and Organizing India Blogspot; August 6, 2015).

Researchers at Work

The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

Books

Digital Activism in Asia Reader (edited by Nishant Shah, P.P. Sneha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, with support from Anirudh Sridhar, Denisse Albornoz, and Verena Getahun; August 8, 2015).

Books Chapters

Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia - Open Review (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; Asia Internet History Vol. 3, edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon). Comments are invited.
Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in India - Open Review (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; Asia Internet History Vol. 3, edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon). Comments are invited.

Accepted Paper Abstract

Studying the Emerging Database State in India: Notes for Critical Data Studies (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; August 2, 2015). The paper has been provisionally accepted.

Blog Entries

Mock-Calling - Ironies of Outsourcing and the Aspirations of an Individual (Sreedeep; August 6, 2015).
Governing Speech on the Internet: From the Free Marketplace Policy to a Controlled 'Public Sphere' (Smarika Kumar; August 28, 2015).

News & Media Coverage

CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Why the DNA Bill is open to misuse: Sunil Abraham (Kanika Datta; Business Standard; August 1, 2015)
Porn ban: People will soon learn to circumvent ISPs and govt orders, expert says (Karthikeyan Hemalatha; The Times of India; August 2, 2015).
Indian government orders ISPs to block 857 porn websites (John Ribeiro; IDG News and PC World; August 2, 2015)
India blocks access to 857 porn sites (BBC; August 3, 2015).
India launches crackdown on online porn (James Crabtree; Financial Times; August 3, 2015).
Proxies and VPNs: Why govt can't ban porn websites? (Siladitya Ray; August 3, 2015; Hindustan Times)
Nanny state rules porn bad for you (Anahita Mukherji; The Times of India; August 4, 2015).
Ban on pornography temporary, says government (Business Standard; August 4, 2015)
Porn block in India sparks outrage (Australian; August 5, 2015).
Indian Porn Ban is Partially Lifted But Sites Remain Blocked (Sean Mclain; Wall Street Journal; August 5, 2015)
Genetic Profiling: Is it all in the DNA? (Ullekh N.P.; The Open Magazine; August 7, 2015)
India partially lifts Porn Ban? (Nazhat Khan; DESI blitz; August 7, 2015)
Net Neutrality: India is a Key Battleground (Abeer Kapoor; Hardnews; August 10, 2015)
Stats from 2014 reveal horror of scrapped section 66A of IT Act (Aloke Tikku; Hindustan Times; August 20, 2015).
The seedy underbelly of revenge porn (Sandhya Soman; The Times of India; August 23, 2015).
The new tattler in town (P. Anima; Hindu Businessline; August 28, 2015).

About CIS

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the mediation and reconfiguration of social and cultural processes and structures by the internet and digital media technologies.

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Access to Knowledge - E-Mail: a2k@cis-india.org
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► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, Access to Knowledge, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2015-bulletin

Annexure 5

praskrishna — 2015-08-29T16:33:01Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/annexure-5.pdf

Annexure 9

praskrishna — 2015-08-29T16:31:16Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/annexure-9.pdf

Annexure 8

praskrishna — 2015-08-29T16:27:13Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/annexure-8.pdf

Annexure 6

praskrishna — 2015-08-29T16:23:52Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/annexure-6.pdf

Annexure 7

praskrishna — 2017-02-17T15:56:33Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/annexure-7.xls

The new tattler in town

praskrishna — 2015-09-26T16:31:00Z

WhatsApp messages, and in particular ‘admins’ of WhatsApp groups come under pressure as rumour-mongering catches the attention of the police.

The article by P. Anima was published in the Hindu Businessline on August 28, 2015. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

In early August, Solapur in southeast Maharashtra was gripped by a strange fear. Like most small towns, Solapur rarely makes the headlines except when drought deepens. That changed as alarmed villagers in almost all of the district’s 11 tehsils camped outdoors day and night, on the look out for an unseen enemy. “In the bastis (villages), residents kept night vigils, sitting around a fire,” Deepak Homkar, a local journalist, recalls. Rumours were flying thick — of theft, widespread looting and possible kidnapping of children. And all of it over WhatsApp, the instant messaging app. Similar scenes were reported from Ahmedabad a month earlier. Rumours of dacoity and terrorist attacks spread panic in areas around Ahmedabad. Arrests were made of those who had allegedly sent fear-mongering texts, but the damage had already been done.

With over 800 million, and growing, active users worldwide, WhatsApp is popular among the 160 million smartphone users in India too. Neatly slotting lives into groups of friends, work and family, it allows users to flit in and out of interactions. But a fair amount of trouble-making is also springing up from the app.

In Solapur, the police tasked with putting the rumours to an end had visited bastis, narrowed down the suspected smartphone users and randomly checked their WhatsApp messages. “We found these rumours on some, not other [phones],” says a police official. After 36 hours of search, 16 young men were held under IPC 505 1(B) for spreading alarm and fear in Pandharpur tehsil alone. It included those who allegedly sent the message and several ‘admins’ (those who open and manage the group accounts). After being questioned and warned against repeating such texts, the men were let off.

The complicity of the WhatsApp admin, whether as a passive onlooker or whether they forwarded the messages themselves, remains hazy. “It is possible that some admins may have forwarded the text, but I spoke to at least one who was held only because he managed the group,” says Homkar.

Are the admins culpable in such situations? “Not at all,” say internet experts, if the admin has had nothing to do with the fear-mongering texts. But if the admin has forwarded a potentially harmful message, he/she is accountable like anyone else. “It is then an act done knowingly,” says Prasanth Sugathan, counsel at the Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre. “The act of forwarding makes you accountable. The burden of truth is on you,” he adds. Chinmayi Arun, research director at Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi, pitches in, “Just being an inactive administrator of a large group, who may not be able to vet all of its content, is very different from forwarding rumours. People who forward rumours should be responsible enough to at least highlight their doubtful veracity.”

However, if the admin is unconnected to the group activities, he cannot be held for merely starting the group, they say. “Unless, of course, you have started it for an illegal activity or to cause an offence,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bengaluru-based The Centre for Internet and Society. The WhatsApp admin, they point out, is a mere intermediary. One who isn’t vested with any power, except to add or remove members from the group.

Twenty-three-year-old Hrishikesh, from Dhanbad, is currently admin in six groups. In three, he is one among multiple admins. He hardly keeps tab on the goings-on in this space and is not acquainted with all members, he says. “A WhatsApp admin has no control, no facility to moderate or tweak a message,” says Sugathan. Abraham trots out Section 79 of the IT Act. “It gives the admin immunity from liability that emerges from content posted by the members,” he says. The best way to track the original senders in such cases, he says, is to rope in the help of the telecom department, the other intermediary (in the case of WhatsApp, the owner Facebook) and blend it with some ‘old-fashioned’ detective work.

“Counter bad speech with good speech,” says Abraham, and that is often the best way to deal with rumour-mongering. Instances like those at Solapur and Ahmedabad have been rare, he reasons. “Such stuff can be dealt better with education rather than regulation. All types of nuisance shouldn’t be regulated. The cost of implementing new laws and training police personnel for it is not cheap. In these cases, SMSes from the police could go to every single mobile user in the district, telling them the rumours are false.”

Sugathan concurs with this. Facebook, radio and other mass media should be used by the police to quell rumours, he says. He points out that in the aftermath of the 2011 London riots, although social media was blamed for aggravating the situation, there were ample warnings against shutting it down during such times. “Blocking the medium is blocking an avenue for information. One cannot arrest each and every person. So educating people works better,” says Sugathan. Some like Abraham consider these hiccups inevitable in our evolving use of social media. A new technology is often considered sacrosanct and reliable. “From repeated exposure emerges critical understanding. It will take us another five years to know that Wikipedia is not the source of truth.”

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-businessline-august-28-p-anima-the-new-tattler-in-town

The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data

praskrishna — 2015-09-07T13:48:37Z

Sharat Chandra Ram was granted the Young Scholar Award 2015 to attend the Young Scholar Workshop (August 24 - 25, 2015) followed by main CPRSouth2015 conference (Communication Policy Research South) conference (26th - 28th August 2015) - "The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data" that was co-organized by the 'Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. The agenda for Young Scholar 2015 pre-conferernce workshop can be accessed here. The CPR South 2015: Conference Programme agenda can be accessed here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-changing-landscape-of-ict-governance-and-practice-convergence-and-big-data

Conflict of interest cloud over CCI chief

praskrishna — 2015-08-23T16:27:14Z

The chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and three of the six commission members are participating in a conference organised by Assocham and sponsored by private companies like Ericsson, trade associations and two legal firms specialising in intellectual property cases. This, civil society organisations argue, raises issues of conflict of interest in a quasi-judicial body like CCI participating in a conference organised by private parties that have cases before the commission.

The article by Rema Nagarajan was published in the Times of India on August 7, 2015.

For instance, the event partner Ericsson is facing CCI investigations on matters related to standard essential patents (SEPs), one of the conference topics, and issues related to licensing of technologies on fair and equitable terms.

The vice president and head of the legal section of Ericsson also has a speaking slot in the inaugural event. The brochure clearly states that the event partner on payment of Rs 5 lakh gets several privileges including a speaker's slot in the inaugural and business sections.

Several civil society organisations including Alternative Law Forum, Centre for Internet and Society and IT for Change from Bangalore, Knowledge Commons Collective, National Working Group on Patent Laws, and Software Freedom Law Centre from Delhi have written to the CCI protesting against its participation in the conference.

In their letter to CCI chairperson Ashok Chawla, they pointed out that the day-long conference titled Interface between Intellectual property (IP) and Competition Law, being held in a five star hotel on August 7, was focusing on issues being adjudicated by CCI. While Chawla is listed in the brochure as giving the inaugural address, CCI members GP Mittal and MS Sahoo are chairing two technical sessions and a third member SL Bunker is giving a special address at the valedictory function.

Other speakers include Rajiv Aggarwal, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, representatives of Google, Intel, Microsoft, the UK IP Office, senior advocates from three Indian law firms specialising in IP and representatives of international law firms and consultancy firms.

"It is a well-set precedent that judicial and quasi-judicial bodies never directly or indirectly discuss matters pending before them. The conference is centred on discussing issues that are currently under the investigation of CCI along with commercial entities, including one which is facing the investigation," stated the letter adding that all the judicial or quasi-judicial bodies were expected to avoid not only actual conflict of interest but also perceived conflict of interest.

The civil society signatories pointed out that the event was not an academic event but a commercial one organised by a chamber of commerce along with the industry with clear commercial objectives. "The participation of CCI in the event would compromise the credibility and independence of CCI. Therefore, CCI as a guardian of public interest should not be subject to the lobbying efforts of IP owners. Providing privileged access to lobbying efforts of private enterprises like Ericsson, Qualcomm, Microsoft and Intel would cast a dark shadow on the neutrality of CCI," stated the letter requesting Chawla not to participate in the conference and to direct CCI members and CCI staff involved in investigations to avoid participation.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-times-of-india-august-7-2015-rema-nagarajan-conflict-of-interest-cloud-over-cci-chief

Letter questions the propriety of CCI’s participation in ASSOCHAM conference

praskrishna — 2015-08-23T15:27:25Z

Serious concerns relating to conflict of interest have been raised against participation of CCI at the ASSOCHAM IP conference to be held soon.

The article was published in Tehelka on August 7, 2015.

A group of civil society organisations have through their letter to the CCI raised concerns over the imminent participation in the ASSOCHAM IP conference. The group comprises of bodies like Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, IT for Change, Bangalore, Knowledge Commons Collective, National Working Group on Patent Laws and Software Freedom Law Centre, New Delhi.

These organisations have asked the chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Ashok Chawla, not to participate in the 3rd International Conference on Intellectual Property Law and competition Law organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM). According to the letter sent by the civil society addressed to the CCI chairman, which is in possession of LiveLaw.in, two concerns were raised primarily demanding CCI to stay away from the conference scheduled to take place on 7th July at New Delhi.

“The participation of CCI at this conference raises serious concerns of conflict of interest,” read the letter. The primary concern cited was involvement of Ericsson in the conference. “CCI’s sharing of platforms with private actors would compromise the credibility and independence of CCI. As you know the event partner i.e. Ericsson is currently facing three CCI investigations on matters related to SEPs and issues related to licensing of technologies on fair and equitable terms. Ericsson is not only an event partner but also giving a speech at the inaugural session.”

Secondly, the focus of the conference, which happens to be currently part of CCI investigation, has ruffled some feathers. The letter states: “The themes of the conference clearly fall under the on-going investigations of CCI against Ericsson. Participation of CCI in any form in a conference organised by the financial support of Ericsson, which is facing three CCI investigations, would clearly send out a very wrong message regarding the integrity and independence of CCI.”

CCI’s participation in the conference would be a departure from the well set precedent that judicial and quasi-judicial bodies never directly or indirectly discuss matters pending before them. “The conference is centred on discussing issues that are currently under the investigation of CCI along with commercial entities including the one, which is facing the investigation,” the letter further added.

Civil society organisations also advised the CCI to avoid not only actual conflict of interest but also the perceived conflict of interest in this case. CCI earlier ordered investigations against Ericsson based on the complaint from three mobile manufactures viz. Micromax, Intex and iBall. This was in regard to the discriminatory practices of Ericsson in charging royalty while issuing license to Standard Essential Patents (SEP), which are necessary to manufacture mobile phones and tablets.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/tehelka-august-7-2015-letter-questions-propriety-of-cci-participation-in-assocham-conference

The seedy underbelly of revenge porn

praskrishna — 2015-09-27T14:25:43Z

Intimate photos posted by angry exes are becoming part of an expanding online body of dirty work.

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on August 23, 2015.

Three lakh 'Likes' aren't easy to come by. But Geeta isn't gloating. She's livid, and waiting for the day a video-sharing site will take down the popular clip of her having sex with her vengeful ex-husband. "Every other day somebody calls or messages to say they've seen me," says Geeta.

She is not alone. Two weeks ago, law student Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj Whatsapped women he knew asking if any of them had come across cases of online sexual harassment. In a few hours, his phone was filled with tales of harassment by ex-boyfriends and strangers. Instances ranged from strangers publishing morphed photographs on Facebook, to ex-husbands and boyfriends circulating intimate photos and videos on porn sites. Of the 40 responses, around 25 were cases of abuse by former partners. "I have heard friends talking about the problem, but never realized it was this bad," says Bhardwaj.

These days, revenge is best served online - it travels faster and has potential for greater damage. But despite the widespread nature of the crime, many targets hesitate to complain for fear of being shamed and blamed. "A 15-year-old girl is going to worry about how her parents will react if she talks about it," says Chinmayi Arun, research director, Centre for Communication Governance at Delhi National Law University. There is also fear of harassment by the police, says Rohini Lakshane, researcher, Centre for Internet and Society. Worst of all is the waiting. "Even if a police complaint is filed, it takes ages to find out who shot it, who uploaded it and where it is circulated. Such content is mirrored across many sites," she says.

Geeta is familiar with the routine. Her harassment started with photographs sent to family, friends and colleagues. After an acrimonious divorce, several videos were released in 2013. "There were some 25-30 videos on various sites.

After an FIR was filed, the police wrote to websites and some of the links were removed," says Geeta, who has been flagging content on a popular site, which has not yet responded to her privacy violation report. "My face is seen clearly on it. People even come up to me in restaurants saying they've seen it. How do I get on with my life?" asks a distraught Geeta. She also recently filed an affidavit supporting the controversial porn ban PIL in a last-ditch effort to erase the abuse that began after her divorce.

The cyber cell officer in charge of her case says he had got websites to shut down several URLs but was thwarted by the repeal of section 66A of the IT Act that dealt with offensive messages sent electronically. When asked why section 67 (cyber pornography) of the same act and various sections in the criminal law couldn't be used, the officer says that only 66A is applicable to the evidence he has. "I asked for more links and she sent them to me. We'll see if other sections can be applied," he says. Lawyers and activists, argue that existing laws are good enough like sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354C (voyeurism), 354D (stalking) and 509 (outraging modesty) of the IPC.

Though there are no official statistics for what is popularly referred to as 'revenge' porn, there is a flood of such images online. Lakshane, who studied consent in amateur pornography for the NGO-run EroTICs India project in 2014, found clandestinely shot clips to exhibitionist ones where faces are blurred or cropped.

Social activist Sunita Krishnan has raised the red flag over several video clips, including two that show gang rape, which were circulated on Whatsapp. Some of the content she came across showed familiarity between the man and woman, indicating an existing relationship. In one clip, the man says: "How dare you go with that fellow. What you did it to him, do it to me."

Most home-grown clips end up on desi sites with servers abroad, making it difficult to take down content. Some do have a policy of asking for consent of people in the frame. But Lakshane, who wanted to test this policy, says when she approached one website that has servers abroad saying that she had a sexually explicit video, the reply was a one-liner asking her to send it. "They didn't ask for any consent emails," she says. In lieu of payment, they offered her a free account on another file-sharing site, which seemed to partner with the site. With no financial links to those submitting videos, sites like these make money out of subscriptions from consumers, or ads.

A few months ago, the CBI arrested a man from Bengaluru for uploading porn clips, using high-end editing software and cameras. Kaushik Kuonar allegedly headed a syndicate and was supposed to be behind the rape clips reported by Krishnan. "I am skeptical of the idea of amateur porn being randomly available across the Internet. There seem to be people like the man in Bengaluru who are apparently sourcing, distributing and making money out of it," says Chinmayi Arun. "He had 474 clips, including some of rape," adds Krishnan.

Social media companies, meanwhile, say they're working with authorities to prevent such violations. Facebook spokesperson says the company removes content that violates its community standards. It also works with the women and child development ministry to help women stay safe online. Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Reddit have promised to remove links to revenge porn on request, while countries like Japan and Israel have made it illegal.

In India, the National Commission for Women started a consultation on online harassment but is yet to submit a report. In the absence of clarity, activists like Krishnan endorse the banning of porn sites. Not all agree with sweeping solutions. Lakshane says sometimes a court order helps to get tech companies to act faster on requests as in the case of a 2012 sex tape scandal where Google removed search results to 360 web pages. Also, the term 'revenge' porn, she says, is a misnomer as the videos are meant to shame women. "These are not movies where actors get paid. Somebody else is making money off this gross violation of privacy."

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-times-of-india-sandhya-soman-august-23-2015-the-seedy-underbelly-of-revenge-porn

Stats from 2014 reveal horror of scrapped section 66A of IT Act

praskrishna — 2015-09-26T07:28:13Z

An average of six netizens were arrested every day in 2014 for posting offensive content online under section 66A of the Information Technology Act, a draconian and much abused law no longer in use.

The article by Aloke Tikku was published in the Hindustan Times on August 20, 2015. Pranesh Prakash gave inputs.

A first-of-its-kind set of statistics compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau reveals that 2,402 people, including 29 women, were arrested in 4,192 cases under section 66A — which was struck down in March by the Supreme Court that ruled that it violated the constitutional freedom of speech.

These arrests made up nearly 60% of all arrests under the IT Act, and 40% of arrests for cyber crimes in 2014. It was also a little less than twice the number of people caught red-handed accepting bribes the same year.

“These statistics are shocking. I had assumed there may be a few hundred cases, at worst,” said Shreya Singhal, on whose petition the top court had scrapped the provision.

“It validates the judgment even more than when it was delivered,” said Singhal, a law student.

Quite like Rinu Srinivasan – one of two Mumbai girls arrested in 2012 for a Facebook post regarding Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackrey’s death — nearly half of those arrested (1,217) were in the 18-29 age group. This included nine girls. Another 1,015 were in the 30-44 age group while 166 were between 45 and 59 years old.

The now-repealed section 66A prescribed a three-year jail term for online content that could be construed to be offensive or false.

This is the first time the NCRB has collected detailed statistics on cyber crimes, listing out the number of cases registered under each section of the IT Act.

A government official conceded that the large number of cases registered under section 66A meant that the Centre’s guidelines — issued after a public outcry in November 2012 against its misuse — had served little purpose. In May 2013, the Supreme Court too put its weight behind the guidelines and made it legally binding on them.

In these guidelines, the Centre had made prior approval of an inspector general of police-rank officer mandatory for all arrests under section 66A. “Either this rule wasn’t followed or the IGPs did not rise to the occasion,” the official said.

The NCRB did not give a state-wise break-up of arrests under section 66A.

But in terms of cases registered, Uttar Pradesh led the pack with 898, followed by Karnataka (603), Assam (377), Maharashtra (375), Telangana (352), Rajasthan (291), Kerala (229), Punjab (123) and Delhi (137).

“It was “unconscionable that 2,402 persons were arrested in 2014, and many made to languish in jail, under a provision that we now know to have been unconstitutional,” said Pranesh Prakash at the Bengaluru-headquartered research and advocacy group, Centre for Internet and Society.

“Even after the Supreme Court laid down more stringent ad-hoc guidelines on arrests under Section 66A, it is clear they were not effective in the least: 860 charge-sheets were filed by the police under Section 66A in 2014,” the policy director at CIS said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-august-20-2015-aloke-tikku-stats-from-2014-reveal-horror-of-scrapped-section-66-a-of-it-act

Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology

praskrishna — 2015-08-19T02:24:57Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-technology.pdf