Centre for Internet & Society

CCTVs in Public Spaces and the Data Protection Bill, 2021

Posted by Anamika Kundu and Digvijay S Chaudhary at Apr 28, 2022 02:29 AM |

This article has been authored by Ms. Anamika Kundu, Research Assistant at the Centre for Internet and Society, and Digvijay S. Chaudhary, Researcher at the Centre for Internet and Society. This blog is a part of RSRR’s Blog Series on the Right to Privacy and the Legality of Surveillance, in collaboration with the Centre for Internet & Society.

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Rethinking Acquisition of Digital Devices by Law Enforcement Agencies

Posted by Harikartik Ramesh at Apr 16, 2022 12:00 AM |

This article has been selected as a part of The Right to Privacy and the Legality of Surveillance series organized in collaboration with the RGNUL Student Research Review (RSRR) Journal.

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Comments to the draft Motor Vehicle Aggregators Scheme, 2021

Posted by Chiara Furtado, Aayush Rathi and Abhishek Sekharan at Apr 01, 2022 03:25 PM |

This submission presents a response by researchers at the Centre for Internet and Society, India (CIS) to the draft Motor Vehicle Aggregators Scheme, 2021 published by the Transport Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, (hereafter “draft Scheme”).

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Personal Data Protection Bill must examine data collection practices that emerged during pandemic

Posted by Shweta Mohandas and Anamika Kundu at Mar 30, 2022 03:15 PM |

The PDP bill is speculated to be introduced during the winter session of the parliament soon. The PDP Bill in its current form provides wide-ranging exemptions which allow government agencies to process citizen’s data in order to fulfil its responsibilities. The bill could ensure that employers have some responsibility towards the data they collect from the employees.

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Nothing to Kid About – Children's Data Under the New Data Protection Bill

Posted by Shweta Mohandas and Anamika Kundu at Mar 10, 2022 01:19 PM |

The pandemic has forced policymakers to adapt their approach to people's changing practices, from looking at contactless ways of payment to the shifting of educational institutions online.

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Clause 12 Of The Data Protection Bill And Digital Healthcare: A Case Study

Clause 12 Of The Data Protection Bill And Digital Healthcare: A Case Study

Posted by Amber Sinha at Mar 01, 2022 03:07 PM |

In light of the state’s emerging digital healthcare apparatus, how does Clause 12 alter the consent and purpose limitation model?

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How Function Of State May Limit Informed Consent: Examining Clause 12 Of The Data Protection Bill

How Function Of State May Limit Informed Consent: Examining Clause 12 Of The Data Protection Bill

Posted by Amber Sinha at Mar 01, 2022 02:56 PM |

The collective implication of leaving out ‘proportionality’ from Clause 12 is to provide very wide discretionary powers to the state.

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CIS Comments and Recommendations on the Data Protection Bill, 2021

Posted by Pallavi Bedi and Shweta Mohandas at Feb 14, 2022 04:07 PM |

This document is a revised version of the comments we provided on the 2019 Bill on 20 February 2020, with updates based on the amendments in the 2021 Bill.

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Notes for India as the digital trade juggernaut rolls on

Sitting out trade negotiations could result in the country losing out on opportunities to shape the rules.

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Submission to the Facebook Oversight Board: Policy on Cross-checks

Posted by [in alphabetical order] Anamika Kundu, Digvijay Singh, Divyansha Sehgal and Torsha Sarkar at Feb 07, 2022 12:00 AM |

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted public comments to the Facebook Oversight Board on a policy consultation.

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Launching CIS’s Flagship Report on Private Crypto-Assets

Posted by Aman Nair at Dec 10, 2021 12:00 AM |

The Centre for Internet & Society is launching its flagship report on regulating private crypto-assets in India, as part of its newly formed Financial Technology (or Fintech) research agenda. The event will be held on Zoom, at 17:30 IST on Wednesday, 15th December, 2021

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Facial Recognition Technology in India

Posted by Elonnai Hickok, Pallavi Bedi, Aman Nair and Amber Sinha at Aug 31, 2021 09:30 PM |

The Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, University of Essex, UK and the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) have jointly published a research paper on facial recognition technology. Authors, Elonnai Hickok, Pallavi Bedi, Aman Nair and Amber Sinha, examine technological tools such as CCTV and FRT which are increasingly being deployed by the government.

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Techno-solutionist Responses to COVID-19

Posted by Amber Sinha, Pallavi Bedi and Aman Nair at Aug 10, 2021 03:34 PM |

The Indian state has increasingly adopted a digital approach to service delivery over the past decade, with vaccination being the latest area to be subsumed by this strategy. In the context of the need for universal vaccination, the limitations of the government’s vaccination platform Co-WIN need to be analysed.

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Finding Needles in Haystacks - Discussing the Role of Automated Filtering in the New Indian Intermediary Liability Rules 

Posted by Shweta Mohandas and Torsha Sarkar at Aug 03, 2021 12:00 AM |

On the 25th of February this year The Government of India notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The new Rules broaden the scope of which entities can be considered as intermediaries to now include curated-content platforms (Netflix) as well as digital news publications. This blogpost analyzes the rule on automated filtering, in the context of the growing use of automated content moderation.

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The Ministry And The Trace: Subverting End-To-End Encryption

Posted by Gurshabad Grover, Tanaya Rajwade and Divyank Katira at Jul 12, 2021 12:00 AM |

A legal and technical analysis of the 'traceability' rule and its impact on messaging privacy.

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State of Consumer Digital Security in India

Posted by Pranav M B at Jul 05, 2021 12:00 AM |

This report attempts to identify the existing state of digital safety in India, with a mapping of digital threats, which will aid stakeholders in identifying and addressing digital security problems in the country. This project was funded by the Asia Foundation.

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At the Heart of Crypto Investing, There is Tether. But Will its Promise Pan Out?

At the Heart of Crypto Investing, There is Tether. But Will its Promise Pan Out?

Posted by Aman Nair at Jul 01, 2021 02:46 PM |

The $18.5 million fine levied by the New York attorney general’s office earlier this year to settle a legal dispute, raises more questions than answers.

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On the legality and constitutionality of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

Posted by Torsha Sarkar, Gurshabad Grover, Raghav Ahooja, Pallavi Bedi and Divyank Katira at Jun 21, 2021 12:00 AM |

This note examines the legality and constitutionality of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The analysis is consistent with previous work carried out by CIS on issues of intermediary liability and freedom of expression.

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Beyond Public Squares, Dumb Conduits, and Gatekeepers: The Need for a New Legal Metaphor for Social Media

Beyond Public Squares, Dumb Conduits, and Gatekeepers: The Need for a New Legal Metaphor for Social Media

Posted by Amber Sinha at May 31, 2021 10:23 AM |

In the past few years, social networking sites have come to play a central role in intermediating the public’s access to and deliberation of information critical to a thriving democracy. In stark contrast to early utopian visions which imagined that the internet would create a more informed public, facilitate citizen-led engagement, and democratize media, what we see now is the growing association of social media platforms with political polarization and the entrenchment of racism, homophobia, and xenophobia.

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Regulating Sexist Online Harassment as a Form of Censorship

Regulating Sexist Online Harassment as a Form of Censorship

Posted by Amber Sinha at May 31, 2021 09:56 AM |

This paper is part of a series under IT for Change’s project, Recognize, Resist, Remedy: Combating Sexist Hate Speech Online. The series, titled Rethinking Legal-Institutional Approaches to Sexist Hate Speech in India, aims to create a space for civil society actors to proactively engage in the remaking of online governance, bringing together inputs from legal scholars, practitioners, and activists. The papers reflect upon the issue of online sexism and misogyny, proposing recommendations for appropriate legal-institutional responses. The series is funded by EdelGive Foundation, India and International Development Research Centre, Canada.

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