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Health Data Management Policies - Differences Between the EU and India
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/health-data-management-policies
<b>Through this issue brief we would like to highlight the differences in approaches to health data management taken by the EU and India, and look at possible recommendations for India, in creating a privacy preserving health data management policy. </b>
<p>This issue brief was reviewed and edited by Pallavi Bedi</p>
<hr />
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Health data has seen an increased interest the world over, on account of the amount of information and inferences that can be drawn not just about a person but also about the population in general. The Covid 19 pandemic also brought about an increased focus on health data, and brought players that earlier did not collect health data to be required to collect such data, including offices and public spaces. This increased interest has led to further thought on how health data is regulated and a greater understanding of the sensitivity of such data, because of which countries are in varying processes to get health data regulated over and above the existing data protection regulations. The regulations not only look at ensuring the privacy of the individual but also look at ways in which this data can be shared with companies, researchers and public bodies to foster innovation and to monetise this valuable data. However for a number of countries the effort is still on the digitisation of health data. India has been in the process of implementing a nationwide health ID that can be used by a person to get all their medical records in one place. The National Health Authority (NHA) has also since 2017 been publishing policies that look at the framework and ecosystem of health data, as well as the management and sharing of health data. However these policies and a scattered implementation of the health ID are being carried out without a data protection legislation in place. In comparison, Europe, which already has an established health Id system, and a data protection legislation (GDPR) is looking at the next stage of health data management through the EU Health Data Space (EUHDS). Through this issue brief we would like to highlight the differences in approaches to health data management taken by the EU and India, and look at possible recommendations for India, in creating a privacy preserving health data management policy.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Background</h2>
<h3>EU Health Data Space</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The EU Health Data Space (<b>EUHDS</b>) was proposed by the EU Council as a way to create an ecosystem which combines rules, standards, practices and infrastructure, around health data under a common governance framework. The EUHDS is set to rely on two pillars; namelyMyHealth@EU and HealthData@EU, where MyHealth@EU facilitates easy flow of health data between patients and healthcare professionals within member states, the HealthData@EU,faciliates secondary use of data which allows policy makers,researchers access to health data to foster research and innovation.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1"><sup><sup><span>[1]</span></sup></sup></a> The EUHDS aims to provide a trustworthy system to access and process health data and builds up from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), proposed Data Governance Act.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2"><sup><sup><span>[2]</span></sup></sup></a></span></p>
<h3><span>India’s health data policies: </span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The last few years has seen a flurry of health policies and documents being published and the creation of a framework for the evolution of a National Digital Health Ecosystem (NDHE). The components for this ecosystem were the National Digital Health Blueprint published in 2019 (NDHB) and the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM). The BluePrint was created to implement the National Health Stack (published in 2018) which facilitated the creation of Health IDs.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3"><sup><sup><span>[3]</span></sup></sup></a> Whereas the NDHM was drafted to drive the implementation of the Blueprint, and promote and facilitate the evolution of NDHE.<a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4"><sup><sup><span>[4]</span></sup></sup></a> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The National Health Authority (<b>NHA</b>) established in 2018 has been given the responsibility of implementing the National Digital Health Mission. 2018 also saw the Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (<b>DISHA</b>) which was to be a legislation that laid down provisions that regulate the generation, collection, access, storage, transmission and use of Digital Health Data ("DHD") and associated personal data.<a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5"><sup><sup><span>[5]</span></sup></sup></a> However since its call for public consultation no progress has been made on this front.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Along with these three strategy documents the NHA has also released policy documents more particularly the Health Data Management Policy (which was revised three times; the latest version released in April 2022), the Health Data Retention Policy (released April 2021), and the Consultation Paper on Unified Health Interface (UHI) (released March 2021). Along with this in 2022 the NHA released the NHA Data Sharing Guidelines for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PM-JAY) India’s state health insurance policy. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>However these draft guidelines repeat the pattern of earlier policies on health data, wherein there is no reference to the policies that predated it; the PM-JAY’s Data Sharing Guidelines published in August 2022 did not even refer to the draft National Digital Health Data Management Policy (published in April 2022). As stated through the examples above these documents do not cross-refer or mention preceding health data documents, creating a lack of clarity of which documents are being used as guidelines by health care providers. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>In addition to this the Personal Data Protection Bill has been revised three times since its release in 2018. The latest version was published for public comments on November 18, 2022; the Bill has removed the distinction between sensitive personal data and personal data and clubbed all personal data under one umbrella heading of personal data. Health and health data definition has also been deleted; creating further uncertainty with respect to health data as the different policies mentioned above rely on the data protection legislation to define health data. <br /></span></p>
<h3><b><span>Comparison of the Health Data Management Approaches </span></b><span><br /> </span><span>Interoperability with Data Protection Legislations </span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><span><br /></span></b><span>At the outset the key difference between the EU and India’s health data management policies has been the legal backing of GDPR which the EUHDS has. EUHDS has a strong base in terms of rules for privacy and data protection as it follows, draws inference and works in tandem with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The provisions also build upon legislation such as Medical Devices Regulation and the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation. With particular respect to GDPR the EUHDS draws from the rights set out for protection of personal data including that of electronic health data.<br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The Indian Health data policies however currently exist in the vacuum created by the multiple versions of the Data Protection Bill that are published and repealed or replaced. The current version called the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 seems to take a step backward in terms of health data. The current version does away with sensitive personal data (which health data was a part of) and keeps only one category of data - personal data. It can be construed that the Bill currently considers all personal data as needing the same level of protection but it is not so in practice. The Bill does not at the moment mandate more responsibilities on data fiduciaries<a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6"><sup><sup><span>[6]</span></sup></sup></a> that deal with health data (something that was present in all the earlier versions of the Bill) and in other data protection legislation across different jurisdictions and leaves the creation of Significant Data Fiduciaries (who have more responsibilities) to be created by rules, based on the sensitivity of data decided by the government at a later date.<a href="#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7"><sup><sup><span>[7]</span></sup></sup></a> In addition to this the Bill does not define “health data”, the reason why this is a cause for worry is that the existing health data policies also do not define health data often relying on the definition mentioned in the versions of Data Protection Bill. </span></p>
<h3><span>Definitions and Scope</span></h3>
<p><span>The EUHDS defines ‘personal electronic health data’ as data concerning health and genetic data as defined in Regulation (EU) 2016/679<a href="#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8"><sup><sup><span>[8]</span></sup></sup></a>, as well as data referring to determinants of health, or data processed in relation to the provision of healthcare services, processed in an electronic form. Health data by these parameters would then include not just data about the status of health of a person which includes reports and diagnosis, but also data from medical devices. <br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>In India the Health Data Management Policy 2022, defines “Personal Health Records” (<b>PHR</b>) as a health record that is initiated and maintained by an individual. The policy also states that a PHR would be able to reveal a complete and accurate summary of the health and medical history of an individual by gathering data from multiple sources and making this accessible online. However there is no definition of health data which can be used by companies or users to know what comes under health data. The 2018, 2019 and 2021 version of the Data Protection Legislation had definitions of the term health data, however the 2022 version of the Bill does away with the definition.<br /></span></p>
<h3><span>Health data and wearable devices</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>One of the forward looking provisions in the EUHDS is the inclusion of devices that records health data into this legislation. This also includes the requirement of them to be added to registries to provide easy access and scrutiny. The document also requires voluntary labeling of wellness applications and registration of EHR systems and wellness applications. This is not just for the regulation point of view but also in the case of data portability, in order for people to control the data they share. In addition to this in the case where manufacturers of medical devices and high-risk AI systems declare interoperability with the EHR systems, they will need to comply with the essential requirements on interoperability under the EHDS. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>In India the health data management policy 2022 while stating the applicable entities and individuals who are part of the ABDM ecosystem<a href="#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9"><sup><sup><span>[9]</span></sup></sup></a> mention medical device manufacturers, does not mention device sellers or use terms such as wellness applications or wearable devices. Currently the regulation of medical devices falls under the purview of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (DCA) read along with the Medical Device Rules, 2017 (MDR). However in 2020 possibly due to the pandemic the Indian Government along with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) issued two notifications the first one expanded the scope of medical devices which earlier was limited to only 37 categories excluding medical apps, and second one notified the Medical Device (Amendment) Rules, 2020. These two changes together brought all medical devices under the DCA as well as expanded the categories of medical devices. However it is still unclear whether fitness tracker apps that come with devices are regulated, as the rules and the DCA still rely on the manufacturer to self-identify as a medical device.<a href="#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10"><sup><sup><span>[10]</span></sup></sup></a> However, this regulatory uncertainty has not brought about any change in how this data is being used and insurance companies at times encourage people to sync their fitness tracker data.<a href="#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11"><sup><sup><span>[11]</span></sup></sup></a></span></p>
<h3><span>Multiple use of health data </span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The EUHDS states two types of uses of data: primary and secondary use of data. In the document the EU states that while there are a number of organisations collecting data, this data is not made available for purposes other than for which it was collected. In order to ensure that researchers, innovators and policy makers can use this data. the EU encourages the data holders to contribute to this effort in making different categories of electronic health data they are holding available for secondary use. The data that can be used for secondary use would also include user generated data such as from devices, applications or other wearables and digital health applications.However, the regulation cautions against using this data for measures and making decisions that are detrimental to the individual, in ways such as increasing insurance premiums. The EUHDS also states that as the data is sensitive personal data care should be taken by the data access bodies, to ensure that while data is being shared it is necessary to ensure that the data will be processed in a privacy preserving manner. This could include through pseudonymisation, anonymisation, generalisation, suppression and randomisation of personal data.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>While the document states how important it is to have secondary use of the data for public health, research and innovation it also requires that the data is not provided without adequate checks. The EUHDS requires the organisation seeking access to provide several pieces of information and be evaluated by the data access body. The information should include legitimate interest, the necessity and the process the data will go through. In the case where the organisation is seeking pseudonymised data, there is a need to explain why anonymous data would not be sufficient. In order to ensure a comprehensive approach between health data access bodies, the EUHDS states that the European Commission should support the harmonisation of data application, as well as data request. <br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>In India, while multiple health data documents state the need to share data for public interest, research and innovation, not much thought has been given to ensuring that the data is not misused and that there is harmonisation between bodies that provide the data. Most recently the PMJay documents states that the NHA shall make aggregated and anonymised data available through a public dashboard for the purpose of facilitating health and clinical research, academic research, archiving, statistical analysis, policy formulation, the development and promotion of diagnostic solutions and such other purposes as may be specified by the NHA. Such data can be accessed through a request to the Data Sharing Committee<a href="#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12"><sup><sup><span>[12]</span></sup></sup></a> for the sharing of such information through secure modes, including clean rooms and other such secure modes specified by NHA. However the document does not mention what clean rooms are in this context. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The Health Data Management Policy 2022 states that Data fiduciaries (data controllers/ processors according to the data protection legislation) can themselves make anonymised or de-identified data in an aggregated form available based in technical processes and anonymisation protocols which may be specified by the NDHM in consultation with the MeitY. The purposes mentioned in this policy included health and clinical research, academic research, archiving, statistical analysis, policy formulation, the development and promotion of diagnostic solutions and such other purposes as may be specified by the NDHMP. The policy states that in order to access the anonymised or de-identified data the entity requesting the data would have to provide relevant information such as name, purpose of use and nodal person of contact details. While the policy does not go into details about the scrutiny of the organisations seeking this data, it does state that the data will be provided based on the term as may be stipulated. <br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>However the issue arises as both the documents published by the NHA do not have a similar process for getting the data, for example the NDHMP requires the data fiduciary to share the data directly, while the PMJay guidelines requires the data to be shared by the Data Sharing Committee, creating duplicate datasets as well as affecting the quality of the data being shared. </span></p>
<h3><b><span>Recommendations for India </span></b><span><br /> </span><span>Need for a data protection legislation:</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>While the EUHDS is still a draft document and the end result could be different based on the consultations and deliberations, the document has a strong base with respect to the privacy and data protection based on the earlier regulations and the GDPR. The definitions of what counts as health data, and the parameters for managing the data creates a more streamlined process for all stakeholders. More importantly the GDPR and other regulations provide a way of recourse for people. In India the health data related policies and strategy documents have been published and enforced before the data protection legislation is passed. In addition to this India, unlike the EU has just begun looking at a universal health ID and digitisation of the healthcare system, ideally it would be better to take each step at a time, and at first look at the issues that may arise due to the universal health ID. In addition to this, multiple policies, without a strong data protection legislation providing parameters and definitions could mean that the health data management policies only benefit certain people. This also creates uncertainty in terms of where an individual will go in case of harms caused by the processing of their data, and who would be the authority to govern questions around health data. The division of health data management between different documents also creates multiple silos of data management which creates data duplication and issues with data quality. </span></p>
<h3><span>Secondary use of data</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>While both the EUHDS and India's Health Data Management Policy look at the sharing of health data with researchers and private organisations in order to foster innovation, the division of sharing of data based on who uses the data is a good way to ensure that only interested parties have access to the data. With respect to the health data policies in India, a number of policies talk about the sharing of anonymised data with researchers, however the documents being scattered could cause the same data to be shared by multiple health data entities, making it possible to identify people. For example, the health data management policy could share anonymised data of health services used by a person, whereas the PMJAY policy could share data about insurance covers, and the researcher could probably match the data and be closer to identifying people. It has also been revealed in multiple studies that anonymisation of data is not permanent and that the anonymisation can be broken. This is more concerning since the polices do not put limits or checks on who the researchers are and what is the end goal of the data sought by them, the policies seem to rely on the anonymisation of the data as the only check for privacy. This data could be used to de-anonymise people, could be used by companies working with the researchers to get large amounts of data to train their systems, </span></p>
<p><span>train data that could lead to greater surveillance, increase insurance scrutiny etc. The NHA and Indian health policy makers could look at the restrictions and checks that the EUHDS creates for the secondary use of data and create systems of checks and categories of researchers and organisations seeking data to ensure minimal risks to an individual’s data. </span></p>
<h2><b><span>Conclusion</span></b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>While the EU Health data space has been criticised for facilitating vast amounts of data with private companies and the collecting of data by governments, the codification of the legislation does in some way give some way to regulate the flow of health data. While India does not have to emulate the EU and have a similar document, it could look at the best practices and issues that are being highlighted with the EUHDS. Indian lawmakers have looked at the GDPR for guidance for the draft data protection legislation, similarly it could do so with regard to health data and health data management. One possible way to ensure both the free flow of health data and the safeguards of a regulation could be to re-introduce the DISHA Act which much like the EUHDS could act as a legislation which provides an anchor to the multiple health data policies, including standard definition of health data, grievance redressal bodies, and adjudicating authorities and their functions. In addition a legislation dedicated to the health data would also remove the existing burden on the to be formed data protection authority. </span></p>
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<div id="ftn1">
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><sup><sup><span>[1]</span></sup></sup></a><span> “</span><span>European Health Data Space</span><span>”, European Commission, 03 May 2022,https://health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/european-health-data-space_en </span></p>
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<div id="ftn2">
<p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2"><sup><sup><span>[2]</span></sup></sup></a><span>“</span><span>European Health Data Space</span><span>”</span></p>
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<div id="ftn3">
<p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3"><sup><sup><span>[3]</span></sup></sup></a><span> “National Digital Health Blueprint”, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India, https://abdm.gov.in:8081/uploads/ndhb_1_56ec695bc8.pdf</span></p>
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<div id="ftn4">
<p><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4"><sup><sup><span>[4]</span></sup></sup></a><span> “National Digital Health Blueprint”</span></p>
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<div id="ftn5">
<p><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5"><sup><sup><span>[5]</span></sup></sup></a><span> “Mondaq” “DISHA – India's Probable Response To The Law On Protection Of Digital Health Data” accessed 13 June 2023,https://www.mondaq.com/india/healthcare/1059266/disha-india39s-probable-response-to-the-law-on-protection-of-digital-health-data</span></p>
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<div id="ftn6">
<p><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6"><sup><sup><span>[6]</span></sup></sup></a><span>“The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022”, accessed 13 June 2023 , https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/The%20Digital%20Personal%20Data%20Potection%20Bill%2C%202022_0.pdf</span></p>
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<div id="ftn7">
<p><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7"><sup><sup><span>[7]</span></sup></sup></a><span>The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022</span></p>
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<div id="ftn8">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8"><sup><sup><span>[8]</span></sup></sup></a><span> Regulation (EU) 2016/679 defines health data as “Personal data concerning health should include all data pertaining to the health status of a data subject which reveal information relating to the past, current or future physical or mental health status of the data subject. This includes information about the natural person collected in the course of the registration for, or the provision of, health care services as referred to in Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) to that natural person; a number, symbol or particular assigned to a natural person to uniquely identify the natural person for health purposes; information derived from the testing or examination of a body part or bodily substance, including from genetic data and biological samples; and any information on, for example, a disease, disability, disease risk, medical history, clinical treatment or the physiological or biomedical state of the data subject independent of its source, for example from a physician or other health professional, a hospital, a medical device or an in vitro diagnostic test. </span></p>
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<div id="ftn9">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9"><sup><sup><span>[9]</span></sup></sup></a><span> For creating an integrated, uniform and interoperable ecosystem in a patient or individual centric manner, all the government healthcare facilities and programs, in a gradual/phased manner, should start assigning the same number for providing any benefit to individuals.</span></p>
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<div id="ftn10">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10"><sup><sup><span>[10]</span></sup></sup></a><span> For example a manufacturer of a fitness tracker which is capable of monitoring heart rate could state that the intended purpose of the device was fitness or wellness as opposed to early detection of heart disease thereby not falling under the purview of the regulation.</span></p>
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<div id="ftn11">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11"><sup><sup><span>[11]</span></sup></sup></a><span>“</span><span>Healthcare Executive” “GOQii Launches GOQii Smart Vital 2.0, an ECG-Enabled Smart Watch with Integrated Outcome based Health Insurance & Life Insurance, accessed 13 June 2023<br /> </span><a href="https://www.healthcareexecutive.in/blog/ecg-enabled-smart-watch"><span>https://www.healthcareexecutive.in/blog/ecg-enabled-smart-watch</span></a><span> </span></p>
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<div id="ftn12">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12"><sup><sup><span>[12]</span></sup></sup></a><span> The guidelines only state that the Committee will be responsible for ensuring the compliance of the guidelines in relation to the personal data under its control. And does not go into details of defining the Committee.</span></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/health-data-management-policies'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/health-data-management-policies</a>
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No publishershwetaHealth ManagementPrivacyInternet GovernanceCovid19Digitisation2023-07-10T16:36:25ZBlog EntryDeployment of Digital Health Policies and Technologies: During Covid-19
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/deployment-of-digital-health-policies-and-technologies-during-covid-19
<b>In the last twenty years or so, the Indian government has adopted several digital mechanisms to deliver services to its citizens. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digitisation of public services in India began with taxation, land record keeping, and passport details recording, but it was soon extended to cover most governmental services - with the latest being public health. The digitisation of healthcare system in India had begun prior to the pandemic. However, given the push digital health has received in recent years especially with an increase in the intensity of activity during the pandemic, we thought it is important to undertake a comprehensive study of India's digital health policies and implementation. The project report comprises a desk-based research review of the existing literature on digital health technologies in India and interviews with on-field healthcare professionals who are responsible for implementing technologies on the ground.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The report by Privacy International and the Centre for Internet & Society can be <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/deployment-of-digital-health-policies-and-technologies" class="internal-link"><strong>accessed here</strong></a>.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/deployment-of-digital-health-policies-and-technologies-during-covid-19'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/deployment-of-digital-health-policies-and-technologies-during-covid-19</a>
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No publisherpallaviPrivacyDigitalisationDigital HealthDigital KnowledgeInternet GovernanceDigital MediaDigital TechnologiesDigitisation2022-07-21T14:49:56ZBlog EntryOpen Workshop on 'Digital Empire(s): Perspectives from Asia and Africa
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/open-workshop-on-digital-empire-s-perspectives-from-asia-and-africa
<b>Monish will be a part of a collaborative network which is organising an open workshop on 'Digital Empire(s): Perspectives from Asia and Africa', on December 4, 2019 at Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) Delhi.</b>
<p>Click to view the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/digital-empires.pdf">agenda</a>.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/open-workshop-on-digital-empire-s-perspectives-from-asia-and-africa'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/open-workshop-on-digital-empire-s-perspectives-from-asia-and-africa</a>
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No publisherAdminInternet GovernanceDigitisation2019-11-13T14:36:03ZNews ItemIndic Wikisource Community Consultation 2018 report at Asomiya Pratidin ePaper- Highest Circulated Assamese Daily
http://editors.cis-india.org/indic-wikisource-community-consultation-2018-report-at-asomiya-pratidin-epaper-highest-circulated-assamese-daily
<b>Indic Wikisource Community Consultation 2018 report at Asomiya Pratidin ePaper- Highest Circulated Assamese Daily</b>
<p><em>Volunteers from various Indic Wikisource projects took part in a discussion organized by Centre for Internet and society: access to knowledge (CIS:A2K) in Kolkata recently. Dr. Gitartha Bordoloi participated in this consultation on behalf of the Assamese Wikisource which included other Indic languages like Bengali, Odia, Marathi, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu and Sanskrit. It is worth mentioning here that Wikisource is another important project like Wikipedia, Wiktionary etc operated by Wikimedia Foundation. Anyone can contribute to this wikisource project which stores copyright-free books, plays, lyrics, speeches, translated works etc. Such works are first scanned and digitalized and then converted to unicode so that everything becomes searchable. Assamese Wikisource (<a href="http://as.wikisource.org/" target="_blank">as.wikisource.org</a>), started in 2013, so far includes various literary works of Guru Sankardeva and Madhavdev, Jyotiprasad Agarwala, Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Padmanath Gogain Baruah, Chandraprasad Agarwala, Amulya Barua, Dandinath Kalita etc. Measures to popularize Wikisource among masses, increasing numbers of readers and contributors, correct techniques to digitalize a book etc were discussed at the event in Kolkata.</em></p>
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<p><em>Translated from Assamese by Dr. Gitartha Bordoloi </em></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/indic-wikisource-community-consultation-2018-report-at-asomiya-pratidin-epaper-highest-circulated-assamese-daily'>http://editors.cis-india.org/indic-wikisource-community-consultation-2018-report-at-asomiya-pratidin-epaper-highest-circulated-assamese-daily</a>
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No publisherjayantaCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeIndic WikisourceBooksDigitisationWikisourceIndic ComputingWorkshopIndic Scripts2018-12-10T15:08:56ZNews ItemDr. Prerna Prabhakar - Impact of Digitisation of Land Recods in Rural India (Delhi, July 07, 5 pm)
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/firstfridayatcis-dr-prerna-prabhakar-impact-of-digitisation-of-land-recods-in-rural-india-july-07
<b>It is our priviledge to annouce that Dr. Prerna Prabhakar will be the speaker for the July #FirstFridayAtCIS event. Dr. Prabhakar is an Associate Fellow with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). She is involved in a project that looks at the digitisation of land records in India and its impact on land ownership across the country. In the talk, she will evaluate the impact that digitisation of land records has had in parts of rural India. If you are joining us, please RSVP at the soonest as we have only limited space in our office.</b>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Dr. Prerna Prabhakar</strong></h3>
<h4>Associate Fellow, <a href="http://www.ncaer.org/" target="_blank">National Council of Applied Economic Research</a> (NCAER)</h4>
<p>Dr. Prabhakar's primary research area is in International Economics. She has done extensive work on trade and primarily the linkages between trade and environment and regional trade integration for developing economies.
She has a MSc in Economics from TERI University and a PhD from the Department of Business, University of Delhi. Her PhD thesis was on international trade, environment and regional integration. She has also worked in a South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) funded Project titled “Carbon Embodied Trade and Trade Resistances: Evidence from South Asian Countries”. Earlier, she worked as a Research Assistant with Dr. Ram Upendra Das at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).</p>
<p>Profile on NCAER Website: <a href="http://www.ncaer.org/expert_details.php?pID=331" target="_blank">External Link</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>RSVP</strong></h3>
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDGA98huSMREYi9Tet4dGftqrlgrOlu9HqDgAM0JcVq3j84A/viewform?embedded=true" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" height="666" width="600">Loading...</iframe>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Location</strong></h3>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d876.157470894426!2d77.20553462919722!3d28.550842498903158!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x834072df81ffcb39!2sCentre+for+Internet+and+Society!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sin!4v1493818109951" frameborder="0" height="450" width="600"></iframe>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/firstfridayatcis-dr-prerna-prabhakar-impact-of-digitisation-of-land-recods-in-rural-india-july-07'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/firstfridayatcis-dr-prerna-prabhakar-impact-of-digitisation-of-land-recods-in-rural-india-july-07</a>
</p>
No publishersaikatLand Records#FirstFridayAtCISDigitisationResearchers at WorkEventE-Governance2017-07-06T10:51:19ZEventComments on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report
<b>This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society, India (“CIS”) on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report published on March 30th by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
</b>
<p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-a12fe2b3-c746-4c1a-0287-1814414668af"><br /></strong></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">1. PRELIMINARY</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society, India (“CIS”) on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report published on March 30th by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">CIS is thankful for the opportunity to put forth its views.<br class="kix-line-break" />This submission is divided into three main parts. The first part, ‘Preliminary’, introduces the document; the second part, ‘About CIS’, is an overview of the organization; and, the third part contains the ‘Comments’.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">2. ABOUT CIS</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">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, freedom of speech and expression, intermediary liability, digital privacy, and cybersecurity.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">CIS values the fundamental principles of justice, equality, freedom and economic development. This submission is consistent with CIS' commitment to these values, the safeguarding of general public interest and the protection of India's national interest at the international level. Accordingly, the comments in this submission aim to further these principles.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3. Comments</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.1 General Comments</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">As a non-profit organisation we recognize the importance of the efforts by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to make the data you collect available to the public in open formats with relevant information about reliability of statistical estimates.</p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify;">We at CIS have recently released a report titled “Information Security Practices of Aadhaar (or lack thereof): A documentation of public availability of Aadhaar Numbers with sensitive personal financial information”. We encountered several central and state government departments collecting socioeconomic data from citizens, linking it with Aadhaar and even publishing them in exportable data formats like EXCEL and MS ACCESS Databases. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">While we understand this issue primarily concerns to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the lack of standards around information/statistical disclosure are a general threat to transparency in a democracy and privacy of individuals. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Going through the report we understand the committee is unable to prescribe a standard for other ministries and departments until they try and pilot these standards within Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This delay in prescribing the standards can be really dangerous in the current circumstances of massive data collection by government departments and linking all the databases with a unique identifier, Aadhaar Number. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">At the same time we understand the importance of data dissemination to be carried out and we recommend the following for improving the standards around data disclosure control.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.2 Integrity of Information and Data</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We agree with the committee that the error rates need to be kept in mind while designing practices to convert raw data. But we request the process of changes being made be actively measured and documented. In case of errors being computed, guidelines can be made to decrease the possibilities of misinterpretation of errors causing loss of integrity of information. Statistics are important for decision making in governance, errors in computations can be biased towards millions of people. Statistical biases are important to be looked into while converting data from its raw format to make sure there are no damage caused by information.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.3 Data Security</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">One of the important issues around storage and publication of Aadhaar information is the lack of masking standards. With the availability of data from multiple departments, it is possible to reconstruct identification details by linking data from multiple databases. It is recommended to bring masking standards while personally identifiable micro data is being published. There is an urgent need for departments to also look at auditing access to information and tracking sharing of information. It is recommended the department digitally signs all the information and documents being published or shared by them to keep track of who had accessed the information and verifying the authenticity of information.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We request the department to define what exactly is “usage for statistical purposes only” and recommend standards to control and restrict usage of information for this purpose. It is important they design frameworks or mechanisms to allow others to report violations around this. This process should be transparent and documented heavily.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.4 Anonymization of microdata</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We recommend the data being collected be anonymized at source to evade the possibility of the accidental disclosure of personally identifiable information. While the current anonymization efforts have been helpful, with steady increase in data mining and classification algorithms and practices it is recommended to evolve the standards around this area.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.5 Data Dissemination</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Data dissemination is an important aspect for district statistics officers, we recommend they actively communicate their work through monthly newsletters, quarterly workshops to help improve the conversations around statistics and at the same time engage with the users who would benefit from the data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We also recommend that data when being published includes metadata of collection, modification, storage and other important information. Also the information needs to be published in open formats which does not require proprietary software to be used to open them. At the same time data should be published in multiple formats like CSV, XLS, PDF,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">The committee also recognizes the need for having data users part of discussions around important decisions and be part of committees. We would like the department to recognize our efforts and consider us for future committee representations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Thank you for this opportunity and we look forward to work with you in future.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report</a>
</p>
No publisherSrinivs Kodali and Amber SinhaCall for CommentsDigital AccessOpen DataOpen Government DataData ProtectionData GovernanceAadhaarDigitisationInformation SecurityOpennessInternet GovernanceData Management2019-03-13T00:28:44ZBlog Entry(Updated) Information Security Practices of Aadhaar (or lack thereof): A documentation of public availability of Aadhaar Numbers with sensitive personal financial information
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/information-security-practices-of-aadhaar-or-lack-thereof-a-documentation-of-public-availability-of-aadhaar-numbers-with-sensitive-personal-financial-information-1
<b>Since its inception in 2009, the Aadhaar project has been shrouded in controversy due to various questions raised about privacy, technological issues, welfare exclusion, and security concerns. In this study, we document numerous instances of publicly available Aadhaar Numbers along with other personally identifiable information (PII) of individuals on government websites. This report highlights four government projects run by various government departments that have made sensitive personal financial information and Aadhaar numbers public on the project websites.
</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Read the updated report: <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/information-security-practices-of-aadhaar-or-lack-thereof/" target="_blank">Download</a> (pdf)</h4>
<h4>Read the first statement of clarification (May 16, 2017): <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/clarification-on-information-security-practices-of-the-aadhaar-report/" target="_blank">Download</a> (pdf)</h4>
<h4>Read the second statement of clarification (November 05, 2018): <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/clarification-on-the-information-security-practices-of-aadhaar-report" target="_blank">Link to page</a> (html)</h4>
<hr />
<p><em>We are grateful to Yesha Paul and VG Shreeram for research support.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>In the last month, there have been various reports pointing out instances of the public disclosure of Aadhaar number through various databases, accessible easily on Twitter under the hashtag #AadhaarLeaks. Most of these public disclosures reported contain personally identifiable information of beneficiaries or subjects of the non UIDAI databases containing Aadhaar numbers of individuals along with other personal identifiers. All of these public disclosures are symptomatic of a significant and potentially irreversible privacy harm, however we wanted to point out another large fallout of such events, those that create a ripe opportunity for financial fraud. For this purpose, we identified benefits disbursement schemes which would require its databases to store financial information about its subjects. During our research, we encountered numerous instances of publicly available Aadhaar Numbers along with other PII of individuals on government websites. In this paper, we highlight four government projects run by various government departments with publicly available financial data and Aadhaar numbers. Our research is focussed largely on the data published by or pertaining to where Aadhaar data is linked with banking information. We chose major government programmes using Aadhaar for payments and banking transactions. We found sensitive and personal data and information very easily accessible on these portals.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/information-security-practices-of-aadhaar-or-lack-thereof-a-documentation-of-public-availability-of-aadhaar-numbers-with-sensitive-personal-financial-information-1'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/information-security-practices-of-aadhaar-or-lack-thereof-a-documentation-of-public-availability-of-aadhaar-numbers-with-sensitive-personal-financial-information-1</a>
</p>
No publisherAmber Sinha and Srinivas KodaliDigital IDPrivacyNDSAPData ProtectionAccountabilityFeaturedData GovernanceAadhaarDigitisationHomepageInternet GovernanceData Management2019-03-13T00:29:01ZBlog EntryP.P. Sneha - Mapping Digital Humanities in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/papers/mapping-digital-humanities-in-india
<b>It gives us great pleasure to publish the second title of the CIS Papers series. This report by P.P. Sneha comes out of an extended research project supported by the Kusuma Trust. The study undertook a detailed mapping of digital practices in arts and humanities scholarship, both emerging and established, in India. Beginning with an understanding of Digital Humanities as a 'found term' in the Indian context, the study explores the discussion and debate about the changes in humanities practice, scholarship and pedagogy that have come about with the digital turn. Further it inquires about the spaces and roles of digital technologies in the humanities, and by extension in the arts, media, and creative practice today; transformations in the objects and methods of study and practice in these spaces; and the shifts in the imagination of the ‘digital’ itself, and its linkages with humanities practices. </b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Download: <a href="https://github.com/cis-india/website/raw/master/docs/CIS_Papers_2016.02_PP-Sneha.pdf">Mapping Digital Humanities in India</a> (PDF)</h4>
<hr />
<h2>Foreword</h2>
<p>What different forms do digital humanities (DH) research and expertise take around the world? My colleagues and I investigated this question for our report on <a href="https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub168" target="_blank"><em>Building Expertise to Support Digital Scholarship: A Global Perspective</em></a>. In some places, we struggled to find resources on local practices in DH, but fortunately in India we could draw upon the excellent work of P.P. Sneha and the Centre for Internet and Society. In a series of insightful blog posts, Sneha explored the implications of technology for humanities scholarship and surveyed digital humanities practices in India.</p>
<p>Now Sneha has brought this work together in “Mapping Digital Humanities in India.” Rather than falling into naive boosterism or superficial critique, this report plumbs deep questions about humanistic knowledge in a digital age: What do we make of textuality in a digital environment? How might digital tools and platforms contribute to conflicts about authority? How does digital infrastructure affect how humanities research can be practiced? Sneha probes the complexities of these questions, drawing from theorists such as Benjamin, Derrida and Foucault as well as digital humanities scholars such as Franco Moretti and Patrik Svensson.</p>
<p>From this strong theoretical foundation, “Mapping Digital Humanities in India” explores specific challenges and possibilities for DH in India, synthesizing rich interviews with a range of Indian scholars. Sneha notes that digital humanities is in an “incipient stage” in India, given the persistence of the digital divide in much of the country, the association of the term with a specific history in the Anglo-American context, and concerns about the uncritical embrace of technology. The report highlights several Indian projects that demonstrate how technology can be used to create and disseminate humanistic knowledge. Creating online resources in Indic languages poses challenges, especially inputting languages and translating between them. To create an online variorum of Nobel prize-winning author Rabindranath Tagore’s works, Bichitra had to develop a Bangla character set. Bichitra enables readers to collate texts at the level of the chapter/canto, paragraph/stanza or word. In the realm of film and video, Indiancine.ma (which archives Indian films from the pre-copyright period) and Pad.ma (which houses found and deposited audio, video, and allied materials) offer powerful annotation tools and open up the archive into a space
for interpretation and collaboration.</p>
<p>As digital humanities scholars attempt to move past a limited, Anglo-American perspective, “Mapping Digital Humanities in India” provides a model for how we can understand local practices in DH and connect them to ongoing discussions about humanistic knowledge. Through this report, readers can navigate central issues in digital humanities, explore the Indian context, and critically examine culturally based assumptions about DH practices.</p>
<p><em>- <strong>Lisa Spiro</strong>, Executive Director, Digital Scholarship Services, Rice University, Texas, USA</em></p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Executive Summary</h2>
<p>In the short time span that the term ‘digital humanities’ (henceforth DH) has been around in the Indian academic landscape, it had generated much discussion and debate about the changes in humanities practice, scholarship
and pedagogy that have come about with the digital turn. What are the spaces and roles of digital technologies in the humanities, and by extension in the arts, media, and creative practice today? How has it transformed objects and
methods of study and practice in these spaces? What does it tell us about the relationship between the humanities and technology? Perhaps most importantly, what is our imagination of the ‘digital’ itself, and how does it shape
our humanities practices?</p>
<p>These are but a few of the questions that this study on mapping key conversations and actors around the term DH tries to explore in some detail. While the study began as an attempt to understand the growing interest
around the term itself in India, its scope has extended to explore what specific contexts and conditions are in place in India that give it critical purchase. Five universities now offer various programmes in DH in India - ranging from a Master’s degree to certificate courses, and there have been several workshops, winter schools, seminars and one national level consultation over the last five years. Academic and applied practices focus on building of digital archives, film studies, game studies, textual studies, cultural heritage and critical making
to name just a few. While these efforts have managed to create a growing interest in DH, there is still a lack of consensus on what exactly constitutes the field in India. Thus, questions around definition, ontology, and method
remain pertinent, as does the need for recognition by the national academic bureaucracy.</p>
<p>Context is another important factor here - most global narratives of DH reiterate a predominantly Anglo-American narrative that draws from a history in the field of humanities computing, as well as a crisis in higher education,
particularly in the humanities and liberal arts. The efforts to map different histories of DH in the last couple of years, seen in the emergence of fields such as postcolonial DH and feminist DH, then point to diverse locations, and more intersectional perspectives from which the discourse around the field is being shaped. This is an important opportunity to better contextualise the debates around the digital as well – where conditions and hierarchies of access and usage, transition from analogue to the digital, and the notion of ‘digitality’ itself
need to be defined and understood better. In India, with initiatives such as the Digital India programme, and the increasing push for the adoption of digital technologies in every sphere from education to governance, and now a steady push towards a digital economy, there is already a tremendous amount of investment in the idea of the digital by a diverse group of stakeholders. These advancements, and the enthusiasm, must be read within the context of a rather chequered and uneven history of the growth of science and technology in India, the advent of the internet and adoption of ICT4D, and existence of digital divides at different levels. The changing higher education system in India, and criticism around a profit-driven model of education, along with the entry of a large number of private actors in the field in the form of MOOCs and other online platforms in the last few years also contribute to this growing interest in DH, as also much of its criticism. In fact, the global discourse on DH and its
linkages with shifts in government funding has seen increasingly polarized positions, with many humanities scholars being uncertain about the political or critical stake of the field, and a concern about the its focus on certain kinds of methods and skill sets at the expense of more traditional ones.</p>
<p>In India, the discourse around DH has largely remained within an academic context so far, although emerging creative practices in art, design and media may have been asking questions of a similar nature for some time now. These include efforts to understand changes in objects of enquiry from analogue to digitised and born digital artifacts, and the need for new methods of work and study that are necessitated by these new digital objects. The process of ‘digitisation’ itself is one fraught with several challenges, and demands a closer look – what are tools, resources and skills available for digitisation or creation of new digital cultural artifacts, and the context that facilitates their creation and active use in humanities research and practice. The ‘text’ as the
primary cultural artifact or object of enquiry in the humanities, has undergone several changes with digitisation. Working with digital texts that are fluid and networked, and most often in languages other than English bring forth
several new questions that are not only technological but also conceptual. The emergence of new digital cultural archives and online repositories, owing to the (marginally) increased access to internet and digital technologies and the growth of a culture that facilitates collecting and sharing, has greatly expanded the scope of engagement with these questions. The archive in fact forms a significant part of the discourse around DH in India - the challenges and prospects offered by digital cultural artifacts are quite diverse, ranging from modes of documentation, preservation and curation to dissemination over online spaces, and there is a need to understand these in greater detail. Infrastructure emerges as an important political and conceptual question here – while an interest in technological advancement and innovation, and the growth of a culture of free and open access to knowledge to some extent has helped facilitate work in the humanities at large, the lack of access to funding, expertise, and of course adequate, and advanced physical and technological infrastructure , such as computational methods often limits the kind of work that can be done with digital artifacts.</p>
<p>The implications of these changes for the study and practice of humanities are several, particularly with respect to traditional methods of pedagogy and scholarship. The access to resources like Wikipedia and devices like the mobile phone have facilitated a move towards more distributed, non-hierarchical, and individualised models and practices of learning, which simultaneously are premised upon new kinds of centralisation, hierarchies, and aggregation of information. The need to develop new forms of digital pedagogy as well as creating more spaces for such conversations within and outside the academic context would be crucial here. This growth of digitally-engaged
humanities practice raises pertinent questions about how exactly the “digital turn” is transforming the humanities, its practice and politics. DH being an interdisciplinary field also offers the possibilities to engage with creative, often alternative practices that exist at the margins of mainstream academia, thus trying to encourage collaborative work across different domains of expertise. The inherited separation of disciplines, or even humanities and technology as suggested by the term DH, may then be contentious here, as it creates the
opportunity to explore a twinned history of humanities and technology.</p>
<p>While the field of DH in India continues to develop slowly but surely, and hopefully widely, as more institutions and individuals become engaged with DH and related works, these key questions around its history, methods, and scope will continue to remain pertinent over the next years. For us at the Centre for Internet and Society, studying DH at this historical juncture when the Indian state is rushing towards embracing the “digital” provides a critical lens to understand and engage with the reconfigurations in modes and practices of arts and humanities scholarship and pedagogy in particular, and digital economies of knowledge in general.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>CIS Papers</h2>
<p>The CIS Papers series publishes open access monographs and discussion pieces that critically contribute to the debates on digital technologies and society. It includes publication of new findings and observations, of work-in-progress, and of critical review of existing materials. These may be authored by researchers at or affiliated to CIS, by external researchers and practitioners, or by a group of discussants. CIS offers editorial support to the selected monographs and discussion pieces. The views expressed, however, are of the authors' alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/papers/mapping-digital-humanities-in-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/papers/mapping-digital-humanities-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppHigher EducationDigital KnowledgeCIS PapersDigital HumanitiesEducation TechnologyMapping Digital Humanities in IndiaDigitisationDigital ScholarshipRAW ResearchResearchers at Work2016-12-31T05:56:49ZBlog EntryWorkshop on Big Data in India: Benefits, Harms, and Human Rights (Delhi, October 01)
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/big-data-in-india-benefits-harms-and-human-rights-oct-01-2016
<b>CIS welcomes you to participate in the workshop we are organising on Saturday, October 01 at India Habitat Centre, Delhi, to discuss benefits, harms, and human rights implications of big data technologies, and explore potential research questions. A quick RSVP will be much appreciated.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Workshop invitation: <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/big-data-in-india-invitatation-to-workshop/at_download/file">Download</a> (PDF)</h4>
<h4>Workshop agenda: <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/big-data-in-india-workshop-agenda/at_download/file">Download</a> (PDF)</h4>
<hr />
<p>In the last few years, there has been an emergence of the discourse of big data viewing it as an instrument not just for ensuring efficient, targeted and personalised services in the private sector, but also for development, social and policy research, and formalising and monetising various sections of the economy. This possibility is premised upon the idea that there is great knowledge that resides in both traditional and new forms of data made possible by our digital selves, and that we may now have the capability to tap into that knowledge for insights across diverse sectors like healthcare, finance, e-governance, education, law enforcement and disaster management, to name but a few. Alongside, various commentators have also pointed to the new problems and risks that big data could create for privacy of individuals through greater profiling, for free speech and economic choice by strengthening monopolistic tendencies, and for socio-economic inequalities by making existing disparities more acute and facilitating algorithmic bias and exclusion.</p>
<p>From a regulatory perspective, big data technologies pose fundamental challenges to the national data regulatory frameworks that have existed since many years. The nature of collection and utilisation of big data, which is often not driven by immediate purpose of the collected data, conflict with the principles of data minimisation and collection limitation that have been integral to data protection laws globally. This compels us to revisit existing theories of data governance. Additionally, use of big data in public decision-making highlights the question of how algorithmic control and governance must be regulated. This raises concerns around taking determining a balanced position that recognises the importance of big data, including for development actions, and ensures unhindered innovation with simultaneous focus on greater transparency and anonymisation to protect individual privacy, and various big data risks faced by population groups. In order to answer these questions, we need to begin with identifying the different harms and benefits of big data that could arise through its use across sectors and disciplines, especially in the context of human rights.</p>
<p>This workshop is designed around an extensive study of current and potential future uses of big data for governance in India that CIS has undertaken over the last year. The study focused on key central government projects and initiatives like the UID project, the Digital India programme, the Smart Cities Challenge, etc.</p>
<p>We will initiate the workshop with a detailed presentation of our findings and key concerns, which will then shape the discussion agenda of the workshop. We look forward to discuss aspects of big data technologies through the entry points of harms, opportunities, and human rights.</p>
<p>The final session of the workshop will focus on identifying key research questions on the topic, and exploring potential alliances of scholars and organisations that can drive such research activities.</p>
<p>We look forward to making this a forum for knowledge exchange for our friends and colleagues attending the discussion and discuss the opportunity to for potential collaboration.</p>
<p><strong>RSVP:</strong> Please send an email to Ajoy Kumar at <<a href="mailto:ajoy@cis-india.org">ajoy@cis-india.org</a>>.</p>
<p><strong>Organisers:</strong> Amber Sinha <<a href="mailto:amber@cis-india.org">amber@cis-india.org</a>> and Sumandro Chattapadhyay <<a href="mailto:sumandro@cis-india.org">sumandro@cis-india.org</a>>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/big-data-in-india-benefits-harms-and-human-rights-oct-01-2016'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/big-data-in-india-benefits-harms-and-human-rights-oct-01-2016</a>
</p>
No publishervanyaDevelopmentBig DataInternet GovernanceDigital SecurityDigital IndiaDigitisationDigital subjectivitiesBiometricsBig Data for DevelopmentE-GovernanceDigital Rights2016-09-28T05:53:55ZEventAvailability and Accessibility of Government Information in Public Domain
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/availability-and-accessibility-of-government-information-in-public-domain
<b>The information provided on most Government websites such as Acts, notifications, rules, orders, minutes of meetings and consultations, etc. is usually in the form of electronic documents. However, these lack authenticity and accessibility and cannot be (text) searched., This policy brief identifies the problem areas with the current work flow being used to publish documents and proposes suitable modifications to make them easy to locate, authentic and accessible.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prepared by Sunil Abraham, Nirmita Narasimhan, Beliappa, and Anandhi Viswanathan and with inputs from Dipendra Manocha, Saksham, and Deepak Maheshwari, Symantec. Download the text as<b> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/policy-brief-availability-accessibility-govt-information-public-domain.pdf" class="external-link">PDF here</a></b>. (96 Kb)</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Problem Statement</b>: The information published on most government websites exist in the form of document files [including but not limited to the Acts, Rules and Regulations, Government Orders and Notifications, Consultation Papers, Reports etc.] which, even when published, more often than not lack authenticity and accessibility and cannot be (text) searched.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Analysis: The current workflow towards publishing documents on government websites is broadly as follows:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The document is born digital – that means it is created on a computer.</li>
<li>The document is printed.</li>
<li>The document is stamped with the official seal and signed in ink by the authorized person(s).</li>
<li>The paper document is scanned.</li>
<li>The scanned image is converted into a PDF file.</li>
<li>The document is uploaded on the website and thereby published in the public domain.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In fact, at times, even gazette notifications and other printed documents are also scanned as images.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This approach has numerous problems, including the following:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>First and foremost, such a practice is against the letter and spirit of Section 4 (1) (a) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1] </a>that inter alia, mandates every public authority to “maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated”.</li>
<li>This does not realize the enabling provision of the Information Technology Act, 2000<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a> which gives legal sanctity to digital signatures. The digital image of a physical signature is not a digital signature in the eye of the law, though at times it is mistakenly believed to be so.</li>
<li>This does not address the problem of repudiation. That means a government official can say “I didn't sign that document” and there is no way to tell whether what he or she is saying is true. One of the key features of digital signatures is non-repudiability.</li>
<li>Scanned images of printed text cannot be searched for specific text (character, word or phrase) even by people without disabilities but for people with disabilities, the documents become totally inaccessible since the accessibility software cannot parse such scanned images – against the underlying tenets and objectives of the National Universal Electronic Accessibility Policy 2013.<a href="#fn3" name="fr3">[3] </a></li>
<li>As an extension, content of such documents cannot be indexed by search engines (such as Google, Bing and Raftaar, etc.) and hence, unlikely to be located even if technically the same are in the public domain.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Proposed Solution</b>: The following work flow is proposed for publishing documents electronically on government websites:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The document is born digital by preparing it in or through a computer system. Documents in Indian languages should be produced using Unicode based fonts.</li>
<li>The government official authorized to sign the same, must sign it digitally.</li>
<li>The document is uploaded in an open standard based format such as EPUB using a content management system and made available on the website such that it is available, accessible, indexable and searchable.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This will ensure democratization of information in its truest sense – making available information to the public at large and ensuring that it can be easily located and remains accessible to one and all.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The process of formatting should be standardized in such a way that semantics (such as heading styles, lists and tables) can be added to the text of the document. The Web Style Guide provides information on good practices for creating well-structured documents:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Standardizing the formatting process by creating different templates for different types of documents will ensure uniform accessibility of the documents as well as provide a standard look and feel across government documents.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India became a global pioneer by making the legal provision for computerised, indexed and duly catalogued public records. It is high time that India takes the lead by living up to the legislative intent under the Right to Information Act, Information Technology Act and the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, and thereby establishes a global best practice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Admittedly, legacy documents should also be converted electronically to accessible formats though before such a rendering, due editorial oversight may be necessary along with use of technologies such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR).</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]. Government of India. The Right to Information Act, 2005. No. 22 of 2005. Retrieved on November 30, 2014 from <a class="external-link" href="http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm">http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]. Government of India. The Information Technology Act, 2000. No. 21 of 2000. Retrieved on November 30, 2014 from <a class="external-link" href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/itbill2000.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/itbill2000.pdf</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr3" name="fn3">3</a>]. Government of India. National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility. 2013. Retrieved on November 30, 2014 from <a class="external-link" href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/National Policy on Universal Electronics(1).pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/National Policy on Universal Electronics(1).pdf</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/availability-and-accessibility-of-government-information-in-public-domain'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/availability-and-accessibility-of-government-information-in-public-domain</a>
</p>
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