News & Media

CIS highlights changes ushered in by the Internet

praskrishna — 2013-05-22T06:06:44Z

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

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

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

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

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

NGO invites public to peruse its accounts

praskrishna — 2013-05-21T14:38:38Z

Domlur-based The Centre for Internet and Society opens its books for anyone to see and track every rupee of the Rs 13.13 crore it received from donors.

This article by Vandana Kamath was published in the Bangalore Mirror on May 18, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

In an unusual but ‘clean’ way of celebrating its fifth anniversary, a city-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) has invited the general public to inspect its books of accounts, check out its list of donors and view contracts. At a time when several NGOs are under the scanner for trying to shroud financial transactions in secrecy, The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a non-profit research organisation that defends consumer rights on the Internet, has upped its policy of transparency a notch.

Located in Domlur and largely patronised by Bangalore’s tech community, CIS’s books of accounts will be available for public scrutiny during its fifth anniversary celebrations from May 20 to 23 and will show how the NGO has spent the Rs 13.13 crore it has received from donors since its launch.

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, CIS executive director Sunil Abraham admitted that the move was to dispel any lingering doubts on the motives of his organisation. “These days, many NGOs have been in the news for misappropriation of donations,” Abraham said. “We want to keep our books of accounts open to the public. Apart from details like salaries drawn by each board member, many other details like contractual obligations with entities, details of donors and official travel expenses by board members can also be obtained. Anybody can walk into our office and ask to see the accounts. A photocopy of all the details will also be given to them at the earliest.”

In fact, a recent debate in the Rajya Sabha centred on the lack of transparency among NGOs receiving contributions from overseas after the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was passed in 2010. With 17 donors, a majority of who are from overseas, CIS ensures that every rupee obtained is well spent and accounted for.

“We have made public a list of donors and their share of contributions to our society,” Abraham said. “This will give everybody a clear picture of the funds we receive and where and how it is being spent.”

CIS is primarily funded by the Kusuma Trust, The Wikimedia Foundation and The Hans Foundation among others. The society was founded in 2008 and has 17 staff of whom four are based in Delhi and the rest in Bangalore. The society also has seven distinguished fellows and five fellows.

It conducts policy research programmes on topics like accessibility, access to knowledge, openness, internet governance and telecom. The society has churned out 641 research items in five years that include essays, books and blog entries on the topics. It has also conducted research on the accessibility of the e-governance system and has suggested ways to make it more disabled-friendly.

As part of its anniversary celebrations, the society will hold a four-day event in its office starting May 20 that will include an exhibition showcasing its activities so far. Various artists like Kiran Subbaiah, Tara Kelton, Navin Thomas and Abhishekh Hazra are expected to participate and give live demonstrations.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-18-2013-ngo-invites-public-to-peruse-its-accounts

A lifetime of five years on the internet

praskrishna — 2013-05-20T09:04:28Z

Centre for Internet and Society observes its fifth anniversary on Sunday.

The article by Subir Ghosh was published in DNA on May 19, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted in this.

Five years is a long time in the internet space. The past five years, certainly, has been. And so has it been for the Centre for Internet and Society that completes five years here.

When a group of citizens got together to come under a platform called CIS five years ago, they had wanted to work on policy issues about the internet that had a bearing on society. They, in fact, still do; except that the new media space itself has undergone a metamorphosis. Five years ago social media was just starting off, few people had smart phones, and online speech was not a burning issue.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of city-based CIS, affirms this, and goes on to assert: “Five years ago, privacy was not a mainstream concern. Today, many different actors and stakeholders are interested in the configuration of the draft Privacy Bill. We first warned the public about the draconian measures in the IT Act during the 2008 amendment. Four years later, many more people are familiar with problematic sections and are adopting various strategies to amend the Act and it’s associated rules.”

Likewise, five years ago, people dismissed “shared spectrum” as a pipe dream; today “shared spectrum” is mentioned in the National Telecom Policy. CIS usually thinks ahead, and works on a range of issues.

“For internet adoption in India to grow dramatically from the dismal statistics today, we need to ensure continued access to cheap devices and affordable and ubiquitous broadband,” says Abraham.

“With Ericsson suing Micromax for Rs100 crore, the mobile wars have come to India. If we have to protect innovation in sub-100 dollar devices, we need to configure our patent and copyright policy carefully.”

But since CIS works primarily on policy issues, shouldn’t it have been based in Delhi rather than in Bangalore? “We do have a small office in Delhi. But we are headquartered in Bangalore because we need to keep learning from technologists and the technical community,” explains Abraham.

When an organisation calling itself the Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org) observes its fifth anniversary, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that many of the activities related to the anniversary celebrations (May 20-23) have precious little to do with the internet, and is more about society itself. And yes, an entire evening is devoted to Kannada. There’s a talk by Chandrashekhara Kambara on ‘Kannada in the modern era,’ and another by UB Pavanaja titled ‘From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada’.

“We are looking at the complete eco-system. For instance, during the digitalisation of TV in India, what will happen to the internet? Do TV promoting policies undermine the growth of broadband? On the second day we look at the connection between another older technology - cinema and the Internet.”

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet

CIS anniversary

praskrishna — 2013-05-06T07:28:07Z

The Centre for Internet and Society will celebrate five years of its existence with an exhibition showcasing its works and accomplishments.

This was published in Hindu Business Line on May 5, 2013

The exhibition will be held concurrently at both Bangalore and Delhi offices from May 20 to 24, 2013, said a press release.

“To promote transparency, we're getting the general public to be our auditors by throwing open our account books and contracts which show how we have spent the Rs 8.3 crore received from our donors.”

The exhibition will also see artists like Kiran Subbaiah, Tara Kelton, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra, among others exhibiting their works, as well as lectures.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-business-line-may-5-2013-cis-anniversary

Is free speech an Indian value?

praskrishna — 2013-04-30T07:18:10Z

Is freedom of speech and expression deeply accepted in Indian society? Or is it merely a European cultural import that made its way along with the English language and appeared in the Constitution because of the founding fathers' genius? Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya reviews Freedom Song, a film and connects the dots.

Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya's blog post was published in India Together on April 27, 2013. Snehashish Ghosh is quoted.

Debates on freedom of speech can be traced back to the earliest evolutions of human society, but if there is a time which could be considered most apposite for this debate to come to the fore and dominate public thought and discourse, this surely would be it for Indian society.

From the banishment of literary icons such as Salman Rushdie to repeated assaults on artists and cartoonists seeking to express their viewpoints through their art, and even the gag on the common man’s voice in traditional and new media, freedom of speech and expression has found itself under fire increasingly and in the most alarming of ways.

Is India as a nation becoming more intolerant of contrarian perspectives, or is it merely that voices seeking to stifle dissent are now amplified, thanks to a greater number, as well as newer forms, of media covering this debate?

Can India really achieve free speech in the way that its founding fathers conceived of and constitutionalized it?

These are the questions probed in Freedom Song – a 52-minute documentary from the Public Services Broadcasting Trust, co-directed by veteran journalist, author and academic Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Professor Subi Chaturvedi.

Freedom Song, the film

Interestingly, since the time Freedom Song was conceived of and filmed, the clamp-down or attacks on free speech in India have only become more frequent and flagrant. This was made much before the time that Salman Rushdie, in almost a repeat of the 2010 Jaipur Lit-fest incident, was stopped by the state from attending the screening of Midnight’s Children in Kolkata; or when two young girls from Palghar in Maharashtra were arrested by the police merely because one of them had questioned on Facebook the derailment of normal life in Mumbai following Balasaheb Thackeray’s death and the other had ‘liked’ it; or even before the long-awaited Kamal Hassan film Vishwaroopam was banned for purportedly offending the sensibilities of a religious community in a few scenes, which the director eventually had to agree to censor in order to ensure that his creation could reach the audience.

Freedom Song, the documentary, chronologically precedes all of these as well as the debate and outrage over sociologist Ashish Nandy’s remarks on corruption and backward castes; yet, when one sees it now, recalls the numerous incidents highlighted in the film, and hears the debates that rage on, the larger context and culture that has facilitated the perpetuation of suppression become clearer. It also drives home, disturbingly, the alarming regularity with which speech and expression have been muffled. It can thus be seen as a commentary on the gradual but consistent build-up to the current climate where there is an almost systematic and continuous crackdown on free speech whenever it inconveniences the powers-that-be.

Gags on expression - recent incidents

In July 2010, when T.J. Joseph, a professor of Malayalam at the Newman College in Thodupuzha (Ernakulam district) in Kerala was arrested by police following a controversial examination question set by him, allegedly containing disparaging remarks about the Prophet Mohammad. He was released on bail but suspended from his post following protests by Islamic organizations. But suspension wasn’t the last of Joseph’s tribulations: he was brutally attacked by a gang of men who chopped off his hand at the wrist with an axe. He was also stabbed in the arms and legs. While Joseph’s hand was stitched back in a 16-hour-long operation, even as he was recuperating, his college terminated his services on grounds that he had offended the religious sentiments of students. He was also stripped of all benefits and pension.

Curiously, Joseph himself distances the entire incident from the issue of freedom of expression. In his conversation with the film-makers he says that whatever happened could be interpreted as attempts to meddle with and dilute academic independence in the state. “The incident is not related to the issue of freedom of expression...external attempts to break down communication between students and their teacher was at the core of the entire episode,” says Joseph. Even Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, who hails from the state himself, attributes this incident to the act of some anti-social fringe elements who masquerade as representatives of a particular community. But these arguments from the victim himself, and an eminent authority, cannot resolve the question of his expulsion from service. Nor can they address the fact that the atmosphere of tolerance in the country is such that anti-socials can hijack as simple an academic exercise as question-setting to their advantage and perpetrate such atrocities.

A more recent incident highlighted in the documentary is the arrest and detention of Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of Chemistry in Jadavpur University of West Bengal for forwarding a set of cartoons that allegedly defamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Shortly after the dismissal of Union Railway Minister, Trinamool’s Dinesh Trivedi, and his replacement by Mukul Roy, the widely-circulated cartoon showed Roy and the CM having a conversation along the lines of one in a very popular Satyajit-Ray film, conspiring to get rid of Trivedi.

Ambikesh was not the creator of this cartoon – as he himself says, he received it on a forwarded email. Amused by it, he wanted to share it with his friends. Thus he forwarded it again to over 60 members of his housing co-operative society, some of whom happened to have affiliations to the party in power. This action led to the professor being arrested and charged under IPC Sections 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), Section 500 (defamation) and Section 66 A of the IT Act (causing offence using a computer). He had to spend a night in jail before he was released on bail the following afternoon.

However, charges against the professor have since been dropped and the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) ruled that the state police were indeed guilty of harassing the professor (and one of his colleagues, who had also been arrested).

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, co-director of Freedom Song

Muffling creativity

One thing that stands out pretty sharply in Freedom Song is the deep angst shared by the creative fraternity in the country over the assault on free speech. Perhaps, by dint of being that section of society which is most inclined to spontaneous and non-conformist expression, they also constitute one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to being restrained or gagged.

One of the darkest chapters of suppression of artistic expression in India relates to the forced exile of iconic painter M F Hussain during the last days of his life, after being targeted for his nudist depictions of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Sadly, as artist Arpana Caur points out, such waves of intolerance or fanaticism fail to factor in either subjective value judgments (how deeply Hussain must have loved Hindu culture and mythology to actually apply his creative instincts to bring it alive) or objective facts (that the nudist paintings were actually done in the ancient Khajuraho tradition of figurative depiction, it was not something Hussain had developed).

Often, the gag on works by artists and writers has transcended to direct discrimination against the person himself. The state of West Bengal banned exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen’s book “Dwikhandito” in 2003 on fears that it would stoke communal disharmony. When human rights activists challenged the decision in Court and managed to win rulings on her behalf, the writer herself was banished from public life in the state. She was unceremoniously asked to leave the state in 2007, after violent protests against her by fundamentalists. Much later in 2012, even after the political reins in the state had changed hands, the launch of her book at the Kolkata Book Fair was cancelled upon threats of protest.

One of the most heart-rending is the story of Pakistani singer Ali Haidar, who confesses to being almost brainwashed, in one of his weakest moments, by radical elements into believing that the loss of his child was in fact a retribution for him having taken up music as a profession.

The feeling of anger, frustration and even a sense of bewilderment among the artists, writers and performers interviewed in the documentary is almost palpable. As Rajiv Lochan, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art, says, “Freedom of expression, creative freedom…in simple words, that is the only freedom you are born with...” The unuttered question of how anyone can take that away from you hangs heavy in the silence.

If artists are the most vulnerable, they are also perhaps the most resilient. In the context of the various cartoon controversies that this nation has seen and the proscriptions of cartoonists from Shankar to Aseem Trivedi, eminent political cartoonist Sudhir Tailang says, “We cartoonists know only one way of protest, which is the most peaceful, Gandhian way…you do what you want, we’ll draw a cartoon…and more cartoons… we’ll flood you with cartoons.”

The defiance and rejection of censorship is also strongly voiced by noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, who talks of the various forms of attack and insult that she has been subjected to for her unconventional presentations and activism, but asserts that despite all of it, she feels it is her “dharma to go on.”

The language barrier

Perhaps unwittingly, Freedom Song tends to favour the premise that freedom of speech as a principle in India is largely a preoccupation among the English-educated, intellectual and creative segments of the populace. Even the musical score that has played such a dominant part in invoking the spirit of freedom throughout the film seems to underline that - from the refrains of Bob Marley’s ‘Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom,’ to the remixed pop version of ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ that one hears in parties and joints in India’s westernized urban landscape.

How attuned to the issue of free speech is the wide majority of India, the section that still follows vernacular media and are relatively distanced from the constructs of Anglo-Saxon influence? The verdict on the linguistic divide does not emerge with clear certainty when we talk to intellectuals or thought leaders from various parts of the country.

In the words of academic Subhoranjan Dasgupta, a professor at the Kolkata-based Institute of Development Studies, mainstream Bengali media has played a big role in highlighting transgressions of freedom of speech and expression every time it has occurred, irrespective of the political regime in power at the time.

"Whether in the case of the ban on Taslima Nasreen or the arrest of Professor Mahapatra, local media - and especially two widely-followed dailies, the Anandabazar Patrika and Ei Shomoy - have been audibly vocal and consistent in their coverage of these incidents," says Dasgupta. "Irrespective of political ideologies, the common man in Bengal knows that Taslima Nasreen got a raw deal or that what happened to the professor was not acceptable," he adds. Ostensibly, the role of local media in such public consciousness cannot be written off. In a way, it might not be an exaggeration to say that the voices of these publications have been instrumental, to a large extent, in ensuring that these issues grab the eyeballs of the largest number possible, and hence gain traction.

And yet, a completely different picture emerges as one reaches out to another part of the country. Badri Seshadri, Publisher, New Horizon Media - a Chennai-based company that publishes books in Tamil, and an active blogger, feels that notions of freedom, or free speech, are essentially offshoots of the modern era which have found a voice in our country primarily through English media.

Seshadri goes back to the freedom struggle in India when many among the noted thought leaders and freedom exponents wrote both in English and the local language. In those days, the discourse on freedom of thought and expression were perhaps more at par across spheres. But with the dying trend of bilingual writing, intellectual writing increasingly gravitated towards English. Today, the gulf between English writers and regional writers has become so huge in his state that even the most fundamental of issues are discussed in vocabularies that cannot bridge the schism. Issues pertaining to secularism and democracy are viewed with a completely different lens in vernacular media, and those pertaining to liberalism, not at all.

"Take the case of the most recent ban on Kamal Hassan's Vishwaroopam," points out Seshadri; "this was not a film made in Hindi or English that you could assume to be emotively disconnected from the Tamil mindspace. It was a film that had been made by one of the cult film personalities of the region, and yet even as the national English media followed this issue and consistently questioned the violation of an individual's right to creative freedom, deliberations in local channels and publications were strangely muted and focused only on whether or not the disputed scenes in the film could be considered to be offensive to the Islamic community. The larger debate on whether one has the right to offend, in an impersonal way, was completely missing." Those who want to toe the line of liberalism either through their writing or new media are dismissed as harbouring "fancy" ideals or pandering to Western sensibilities.

Guhathakurta, himself, disagrees with the claim that free expression is essentially a Western construct or that debates around it are restricted to the chattering classes in plush drawing rooms. “It is something that concerns every common man,” he says, referring to the case of Laxmi Oraon, the teenaged tribal girl who was stripped, beaten and molested in the streets of Guwahati, where she had been part of a peaceful protest rally, seeking the inclusion of 80 lakh Adivasis living in Assam in the ST category. Traumatised and deeply angered by the brutal injustice meted out to her and the lack of legal redress, Laxmi eventually even contested the Lok Sabha elections, points out the director in order to elucidate the struggle that even the most marginalized take part in to press for their fundamental rights.


A still from the documentary Freedom Song. Pic: PSBT India via Youtube

"Reasonable” restrictions

Despite the continuous infringements on artistic and even individual expression, what emerges from the film is not a blanket wave of intolerance that is engulfing society but rather certain powerful groups with vested interests who are driven either by fanaticism for their ideologies or by the lure of political mileage to raise voices against freedom. In the age of 24x7 channels, their voices gain in both volume and pitch and new media enables greater visibility and debate around it.

As Tharoor says, “The government has the lowest level of tolerance possible because it cannot be seen as offending anybody who is held precious by any segments of Indian society.”

Veteran journalist Saeed Naqvi points out, “You have a whole link between the politician, the vote bank and the proprietor. Therefore, the freedom of the press, while this trio exists, is under threat.”

But having said all of the above, it is also clear that defining freedom, especially in an absolute sense, is in itself a huge challenge that most of society acknowledges. More so, in the context of Article 19 (2) of the Constitution which itself allows the state to impose “reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right...in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”

Senior journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai are quoted in the documentary, expressing their support for such ‘reasonable restrictions’ to combat the spread of expression or opinion that fuels divisiveness or hatred in society. But the fact remains that such restrictions not only add a qualifier to freedom as enshrined in the founding principles, but also create the larger question of ‘who decides?’

Young India however would prefer to see Article 19 (2) as an enabler rather than as a veto. As Apar Gupta, an advocate of the Supreme Court says in the film, he would like to believe that the incorporation of “reasonable restrictions” was done with a view to ensuring that the Constitution does not remain a static document and does not apply only to fixed definitions of facts and circumstances. Certainly not with the objective of curbing any form of dissent or deviation from convention.

Fali S. Nariman, senior advocate to the Supreme Court and a constitutional jurist, also points out very pertinently that the range of restrictions in 19(2) does not include public interest.

Reality does not bear that out though; especially when one looks at the many recent instances of arbitrary impositions of Sec 66A of the IT Act in booking individuals for expression of their opinion and stances through channels offered by new media and Internet. The documentary in itself does not delve deep into the challenges and threats to freedom of expression that have emerged in the FB/Twitter era, perhaps because many of the most volatile and controversial cases surrounding freedom of speech on the Internet occurred after the film was made. But a new debate is brewing in India, especially after the Palghar incident or the arrest of a Puducherry businessman for allegedly posting 'offensive' text on the micro-blogging site Twitter about the son of an Union Minister.

Snehashish Ghosh, a lawyer and Policy Associate at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, says, “Essentially, there are eight restrictions on freedom of speech and expression as enumerated in Article 19(2) of the Constitution. The Supreme Court in many cases has held that these reasonable restrictions should be construed narrowly and with due regards to the value of freedom of speech in a democratic society. Section 66A in its current form goes well beyond the restrictions laid down under Article 19(2). Therefore, it is liable to be struck down for being in violation of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.”

Snehashish also feels that technologically, in the present time, it would be near-impossible to 'monitor' the Internet. As far as regulations are concerned, there are laws already in place which ensure the implementation of reasonable restrictions. For example, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 already covers offenses such as incitement of violence, obscenity, criminal intimidation and outraging religious sentiments. The laws which are being applied offline are well equipped to deal with offenses committed online. There is no need to have extraordinary laws where ordinary laws suffice.

But in a country that appears to grow increasingly thin-skinned with time, the import of such logic could well be lost.

Access and freedom

Interestingly, Freedom Song begins with a series of frames capturing the widely different and divergent faces of Indian society, fast moving scenes juxtaposing the educated, affluent sections of urban India against the child who performs on sidewalks to earn his bread or the old emaciated man getting his night’s sleep on the pavement. The clear correlation between access – to basic needs, education and media – and the very consciousness of freedom is hard to ignore.

“Freedom to me is the ability to do what I want, where no one tells me to do anything” says one child on screen, evidently from an English-speaking, relatively privileged background; but one cannot help feeling that his coherence and articulation on freedom would be hard to come across in the children on the streets who are filmed in some of the previous shots.

The point that access to the very basic necessities of life is a necessary condition for freedom of expression is driven home by social activist Ram Bhat in the documentary, who says that despite the technologies aiding free expression, and the profusion of players in this debate, talk of freedom of speech will be pointless unless the problem of access is solved. In its absence, such freedom will remain the privilege of a few.

On balance, in all the voices that emerge from our conversations, and the many more episodes that Freedom Song, the documentary narrates, the only thing that can be concluded without doubt is the challenge of establishing freedom as a perennial or permanent concept in a country as complex and diverse as India. A truly effective and desirable state of free speech and expression can only evolve out of a continuous, fearless, rational dialogue between society and its stakeholders, in which all voices are expressed and heard.

Whether India, as a whole, can facilitate such a dialogue is going to be the moot question in the times to come.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/india-together-april-27-2013-satarupa-sen-bhattacharya-is-free-speech-an-indian-value

Mixed Reactions Among Participants In WIPO Talks On Treaty For The Blind

praskrishna — 2013-04-25T08:08:47Z

At the close of this week’s negotiating session for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and visually impaired persons, some governments, including upcoming host Morocco, expressed disappointment in the outcome of a three-day drafting session, as it left so much for the diplomatic conference. But most said they are optimistic that solutions can be found.

The article by William New was published in Intellectual Property Watch on April 22, 2013. CIS is quoted.

An informal session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was held from 18-20 April. The diplomatic conference (top-level political negotiation) will be held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 17-28 June. The session concluded a draft treaty text with numerous areas lacking agreement (IPW, WIPO, 22 April 2013).

A delegate from Morocco said at the meeting closing that he had “mixed feelings” about the outcome of the three days and was “somewhat disappointed” by the inability to remove brackets in text, signifying areas of disagreement.

“Marrakesh will be the last chance” to agree on this treaty, he warned. “There will be no room for mistakes. In Marrakesh, we will be in front of the entire international community.” Even with pressure from creators and artists, the membership must persist with this “humanitarian gesture,” he said, adding, “We must conclude, in Marrakesh, a treaty.”

A delegate from Honduras, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), cited concern about a “backward trend” occurring in the talks, increasing the risk of failure in Morocco.

The Egyptian delegate said the results “make us worried” for Marrakesh, as new proposals are still coming up at this late stage. “We are going with many difficulties,” he said, stressing the importance of the humanitarian side “rather than the cost and gain criterion.”

But Algeria, on behalf of the African Group, praised the treaty as “an excellent basis for Marrakesh.” Nigeria, which was active on the part of the African Group, also restated the commitment to accomplish a treaty that will be “meaningful to those who need it,” as well as to creators. “The interests are competing but not irreconcilable,” the delegate said.

The United States said the aim is to have a treaty that will lead to a solution for the blind while protecting the “world’s authors.” But there are “simply too many brackets and too many options for us to be comfortable,” he said, so everyone should be prepared to show flexibility.

Rights Holders’ Concern for Protection

Rights holders such as publishers whose works will be exported have sought to explain their concern about a treaty whose purpose would be to allow copyrighted content to circulate freely. Among their concerns is that the accessible formats may be usable by sighted readers and may make it back upstream to developed country markets. They also are viewing the approximately 280 million blind and visually impaired persons worldwide as a potential market.

The International Publishers Association said they are fully committed to a treaty that will address the problem and work on the ground, and that the only accusations of bad faith have come from NGOs, not member states. The international publishers’ community wants access for visually impaired persons, “not only on paper but in reality,” he said.

A representative of the Association of American Publishers told Intellectual Property Watch that negotiators were close to a consensus document two years ago but that industry concerns had gradually increased its complexity. He said publishers “have never opposed this treaty,” and that nothing is stopping nations from adopting limitations and exceptions at the national level. More than 50 countries already have some form of limitations and exceptions, he said, while others consider that it would “politically useful” to have a treaty saying that adoption of such limitations and exceptions is an international norm.

Publishers also understand the need for flexibility for countries to adopt such provisions in suitable ways to their national systems. But in order to agree, publishers wanted it clear that such provisions adhere to international laws, including the 3-step test, which places strict conditions on the use of the limitations and exceptions. Also, this instrument must include a mechanism for accountability, a process for dealing with an authorised entity that is not complying.

“The objectives of this treaty can be attained within the established international framework,” he said.

In creating the first-ever treaty on exceptions to copyright, representatives of a range of rights holders sought to ensure that it will not harm to their existing system. In the hallways of WIPO, they expressed concern that this treaty not set a precedent of exceptions that would erode copyright. Concern over precedent led lobbyists to come not only from the publishing industry but also the film industry.

A representative of the International Video Federation implied that even if a deal is struck on a treaty, governments won’t ratify it if they do not like what it says. The treaty “needs incentives for as many ratifications as possible,” he said, and addressing commercial availability is one way to offer an incentive.

Any instrument needs to provide as much certainty as possible, he added. Fair use and fair practices are not a familiar notion in international copyright law and should not be mentioned in this treaty, he said, adding that members are “absolutely free” to do what they want on fair use.

A Motion Picture Association representative said at closing that the industry has “unambiguous support” for the treaty, but that it rejects what it sees as “attempts to roll back” other treaties. “Attempts to hijack” the treaty talks “cannot be tolerated,” he said.

A Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) representative responded that this was “hypocritical” of the MPA as it has “hijacked the political process to turn this into some kind of ACTA exercise,” referring to the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiated a couple of years ago.

NGO Concerns about Lost Focus

As described by the World Blind Union (WBU), which contributed to the initial treaty concept, the new treaty is expected to: “Allow specialist organisations to make accessible copies of books in all signatory countries; Make it legal to send accessible books across national borders; Still respect copyright law: it is not an attack on publishers!; Make more books available for blind people.”

But the WBU raised alarm at the close of this week’s session. Fred Schroeder, first vice president of the WBU, said in the statement, “The purpose of this treaty is to ensure access to books for blind people and help end the ‘book famine’ we face. WBU is alarmed that some of the negotiators have focused their efforts almost exclusively on crafting language around copyright protections that have nothing to do with the ability of authorized entities to produce books for the blind and visually impaired.”

“The shift away from a treaty for the blind to a treaty focussed on rights holder protections has taken up precious negotiating time which should be directed at ensuring a treaty that makes it possible for materials to be shared internationally,” he said. “For example, the negotiators have spent considerable time talking about the concept of commercial availability when, in practice, there is no reason why an authorized entity would spend its limited resources to duplicate works in formats that already exist.” A WBU representative noted in the plenary meeting earlier that the treaty is about exceptions and does not require restating details of existing treaties and rights but rather just could make reference.

An Indian delegate asked, “Is this a WIPO treaty on access to published works for [visually impaired persons], or a WIPO treaty on the protection of the 3-step test?” He said the treaty is critical for India, which has 40 percent of the world’s blind and visually impaired people. The treaty would give the important cross-border access to accessible format books and work as a stimulus for Indian publishers to publish in those formats as well.

Jonathan Band, a Washington, DC attorney speaking on behalf of the Library Copyright Alliance, told negotiators that there are now possibly 10 references to the 3-step test in the draft text, and only one indirect reference to the principle of fair use and fair dealing. But those latter principles are found in some 45 national laws, making it a widely adopted norm, he said. Overall, the treaty has become far too complicated for countries to use, and has strayed from the original idea of having a simple template and structure.

A representative of the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) in India, said: “There is nothing in these provisions that would convert infringement by sighted people under the pretence of this treaty magically into lawful acts. And, indeed, there are multifarious ways of infringing copyright without such resort to this treaty. Yet, these very same onerous requirements (such as the “commercial availability” requirement) and bureaucratic processes will unrealistically increase transaction costs for the visually impaired and render infructuous the very purpose of this treaty.

The CIS representative cast particular blame on the European Union for going against the demands of the European Parliament to address the ‘book famine’ of the blind and visually impaired, and to live up to international obligations on disabilities. “The EU, and a few countries of Group B, including the United States, have been slowly bleeding this treaty to death through over-legislation and bureaucracy.”

“Here is what it boils down to,” he continued. “[W]hen it comes to the economic rights of copyright owners, current international law insists that there be no formalities, yet when it comes to the human rights of visually impaired person to access information – a right specifically guaranteed to them under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – some delegates in this room wish to ensure as many formalities as possible.”

The representative of KEI told negotiators that for the “non-Berne” clause, they would be better off to use the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) than Berne. He said TRIPS is more balanced, recognises the first-sale doctrine (which says copyright expires after sale of the item), and has other flexibilities. KEI also said in its closing remarks that the purpose of the treaty is to help visually impaired people, and anyone outside the treaty is subject to copyright law already.

A WBU representative told negotiators that the treaty must have a practical application for solving the lack of materials for blind people, especially in developing countries. “We are here to solve a human rights problem,” he said. “Our goal is not a treaty, but rather a treaty that will solve access” to published works.

As one delegate put, members will feel pressure to do whatever it takes to conclude a treaty because whoever stands in the way of this effort for blind people “will be branded as a villain.”

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/ip-watch-william-new-april-22-2013-mixed-reactions-among-participants-in-wipo-talks-on-treaty-for-the-blind

CIS in GNI Annual Report

praskrishna — 2013-04-25T07:31:01Z

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


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

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

An increasingly global network

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

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

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

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

Untangling the web of India's 'ungovernable' Net

praskrishna — 2013-04-16T06:06:20Z

India sells itself as a tech hub, outsourcing IT experts to the world. At home, it dreams of "equity on the Net." But millions remain unconnected and digital surveillance is on the rise.

This was published in Deutsche Welle on April 15, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

The Indian government has a dream. It dreams of the "Equinet" - a time when "there shall be equity on the Net."

"The Internet must not just be a platform for the privileged - the Internet must become an inclusive platform," India's communications minister Kapil Sibal says. "In fact, my vision is that the Internet should ultimately become the Equinet. In other words, all those, no matter which station in life they belong to, should have access to the Internet, and that can only happen if all the elements of the Internet are such that people can access them at affordable costs."

India has the third highest number of people on the Net, with about 150 million people connected.

But with a population of 1.2 billion, 150 million is not that many. Internet penetration languishes at around 10 percent, while in the United States and China - the top two countries in world rankings - Internet penetration is at 78 and 40 percent, respectively.

Like in America… in 1994

It's a fact that Google chairman Eric Schmidt highlighted on a recent tour of India, among other Asian countries.

"The Internet feels [in India] like in America in 1994," he says. "It is crucial for India to invest and enable fast fiber Internet connectivity within the country, between the country and the other countries."


While touring Asia, Schmidt said India seemed to have "rested on its laurels" after early success in the IT sector

You would think that connectivity would be better in India. The country prides itself on being a tech hub, with its centers of excellence in places like Bangalore. It has outsourced information technology specialists globally for over ten years.

Communications minister Sibal insists the government is investing where it can, saying India will connect 250,000 villages with fiber optics in the "next year or so."

"The networks should be in place, the fiber optics should be in place, [connectivity] should be efficient and of high speed, and above all, the access to handsets, which is really the key - unless handsets are affordable and accessible to ordinary people, you will not get the kind of penetration that you want from the Internet," he adds.

However, for some, there are even greater challenges for India than poor connectivity and bad infrastructure.

All eyes on you

In mid-March, police in India's financial capital Mumbai launched the country's first "Social Media Lab."

Mumbai police say they will use it to monitor and track "which topics are trending among the youth so [they] can plan law and order in a good way."

The Mumbai Social Media Lab comes amid concerns over "moral policing" of the Net by Indian authorities, and censorship - especially where comments involve political figures. The Times of India reports numerous requests by authorities to have content removed by Google and Twitter. There have also been arrests under the remit of a controversial section - 66A - of India's IT Act.

Sibal denies India wants to censor the Net. If people have been arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act, it's because police officials have either misread the law, or acted independently, he says.

"Yes, but I would say, from where does this emanate? Does it emanate with a complete understanding at the top?" asks V.C. Vivekanandan, director of the Institute of Global Internet Governance and Advocacy.


Indian communications minister Kapil Sibal says "Internet governance is an oxymoron"

"There are various, multiple layers of governance in a huge country like India, where people could be enthusiastic in their own way about thinking what is right and wrong," says Vivekanandan. "So, I don't really see censorship as such, but they would like to have discourse in a model which was pre-Internet."

Tracking private lives

But in other areas, India is showing itself to be very comfortable in the Internet age - and where it has its eyes fixed on the future.

"From what I can tell, the social media monitoring cell in Mumbai is perhaps one of the more benign components because it isn't keeping track of private communications," says Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore.

However, the Indian government plans to track everybody's online activities - that means anything that uses the Internet as a communication network.

"There are very many other projects like the unique identification (UID) and the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) that will keep track of private communications," says Abraham.

The UID is the Indian government's centralized biometric identity management system, which will connect more than 20 databases that 12 intelligence and law enforcement agencies will be able to access.

"These databases include banking records, telecommunications records and travel records [among other things]," says Abraham. "So, it's a very large scale attempt by the Indian government to place citizens under 360 degree blanket surveillance."

Internet governance is an oxymoron

But how these moves square with Sibal's vision of the Equinet is hard to see.


This Delhi laywer, Mohit Sharma, is one of only 11 percent of Indians who are connected to the Internet

The communications minister believes Indians will not be dissuaded from using the Net.

"The fact that 150 million people are on the Net is evidence of the fact that they are not scared, and if you go to Twitter today, there are more abuses on Twitter than perhaps you can find anywhere else in the world," says Sibal.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the government thinks this is a good thing. But Sibal insists he is against Internet governance - in fact, he says "Internet governance is an oxymoron."

"How can you govern something that cannot be governed? Because anybody can say anything on the Net," says Sibal. "So, there should be an element of self-regulation. Just as we interact with each other in civilized society, similarly people on the Net should also interact with each other with self-restraint."

But the CIS's Sunil Abraham isn't convinced.

"If one listens very carefully to what the minister says, he says you cannot regulate the Internet. But you can regulate what citizens do on the Internet," he says. "You can regulate what corporations do on the Internet. And you can also regulate what the government does on the Internet."

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/d-w-april-15-2013-untangling-the-web-of-indias-ungovernable-net

Wikipedia Workshop in Mangalore — Report in Kannada Prabha

praskrishna — 2013-04-16T04:11:11Z

A workshop was conducted for students of Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangalore by Dr. U.B.Pavanaja on April 9, 2013. Kannada Prabha published a report about this on the following day, April 10, 2013.

Below is a scanned version of the report published in Kannada Prabha on April 10, 2013:

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/kannada-prabha-april-10-2013-mangalore-wikipedia-workshop-report

KP Rao feted

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T16:47:29Z

KP Rao who had designed fonts for Indian languages including Kannada and devised the first phonetic keyboard driver for Indian languages, was felicitated at a programme organised at Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management on Tuesday, reports DHNS from Mangalore.

This was published by Deccan Herald on April 10, 2013. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja was quoted.

Speaking after the felicitation, he said the biggest challenge in those days was to display and print the characters of our languages.

The computers used and spoke only one language. The system of putting in Indic text phonetically was his invention and all keyboard softwares for Indian languages use this method.

Kannada wikipedia editor UB Pavanaja said Rao had created a mechanism for feeding Indic characters into computers. Later, he released a free software for Kannada called 'Sediyapu,' he said.

Below is a scanned version of the report published in the Deccan Herald:

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-april-10-2013-kp-rao-feted

Regulating Social Media: Unrealistic, Impossible, Necessary?

praskrishna — 2013-04-30T16:50:13Z

The Press Council of India Chairperson Justice Markandey Katju calls for regulating social media, saying it will prevent offensive material coming into the public domain. But is it really necessary to regulate the social media? If yes, is it possible to do it?

This was published by NDTV on April 11, 2013.

NDTV aired a discussion by Ashwin S Kumar, Co-editor, Columnist, The Unreal Times; Kunal Majumder, Assitant Editor, Tehelka.com and Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society on April 11, 2013 in response to Justice Katju's comments on bringing 'social media' under the Press Council of India.

Pranesh Prakash laid out four brief points:

'Social media' allows coffee house discussion and toilet wall scrawls to seem like print publications, but it's a mistake to treat it the same way we do print publications. The UK is now planning on using prosecutorial flexibility to refrain from prosecuting simple offensive speech on social media.
The same laws should apply online as they do offline (but how the apply, can differ), and that is currently the case. Most content-related offences in the IPC, etc., are offences online as well as offline.
Editors and journalists exist for most print publications and broadcast programmes, while that isn't true for most 'social media'. So guidelines applicable to the press mostly won't be applicable online.
Electronic publications (like Medianama, The Daily Dish, Huffington Post) which consider themselves engaged in a journalistic venture present a special problem that we do need to have a public conversation about.

Video

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary

Vote: Will Social Media Impact the Election?

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T08:30:59Z

As India enters election mode, social media has become one of many platforms where possible prime ministerial candidates are being scrutinized.

The article by R. Jai Krishna was published in the Wall Street Journal on April 15, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

On top of the list are Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, who recently acquired the Twitter monikers #Pappu (“naïve”) and #Feku (“boastful”), respectively, following a string of public appearances observers saw as evidence they will be leading their respective parties in the upcoming national election.

A recent study found that social media could influence the electoral outcome in as many as 160 out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.

(These are constituencies where 10% of the voting population uses Facebook, or where the number of Facebook users is higher than the winning candidate’s margin of victory at the last election.)

	“No contestant can afford to ignore social media in the next Lok Sabha elections,” argued the study, put together by IRIS Knowledge Foundation, a Mumbai-based research group, and the Internet and Mobile Association of India, a trade body. Others are more skeptical. “The study assumes that users will behave homogenously, which isn’t true,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. While calling the study’s findings “ambitious,” Mr. Abraham said it was important to recognize the political power of Facebook, which could be used as a social platform but also to “plan a revolution.” But India’s Internet penetration is low: only 150 million people out a population of 1.2 billion go online, according to the IRIS-IAMAI study. The study estimates the number of social media users in the country is around 62 million, and that it may increase up to 80 million by time of national elections, which have to happen by May 2014.

“No contestant can afford to ignore social media in the next Lok Sabha elections,” argued the study, put together by IRIS Knowledge Foundation, a Mumbai-based research group, and the Internet and Mobile Association of India, a trade body.

Others are more skeptical. “The study assumes that users will behave homogenously, which isn’t true,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.

While calling the study’s findings “ambitious,” Mr. Abraham said it was important to recognize the political power of Facebook, which could be used as a social platform but also to “plan a revolution.”

But India’s Internet penetration is low: only 150 million people out a population of 1.2 billion go online, according to the IRIS-IAMAI study. The study estimates the number of social media users in the country is around 62 million, and that it may increase up to 80 million by time of national elections, which have to happen by May 2014.

Indian political parties have started wising up to the power of online campaigning. Ahead of state elections in Uttar Pradesh last year, for instance, parties including the winning Samajwadi Party, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party turned to social media ranging from Facebook to YouTube as well as to blogs and smartphone apps to promote their candidates and their agenda.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/wall-street-journal-april-15-2013-r-jai-krishna-vote-will-social-media-impact-the-election

Social media may influence 160 LS seats in 2014

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T07:13:52Z

Social media is likely to influence politics and elections in 160 of India’s 543 Parliament constituencies, making Facebook and Twitter users the nation’s newest voting bloc, a new study suggests.

This article by Zia Haq was published in the Hindustan Times on April 12, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

In these mostly urbanizing constituencies, social-media usage is now “sufficiently widespread” to influence the outcome of a general election slated for 2014, the study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and supported by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), indicates.

On April 4, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s high-profile address to the Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading business forum, was trending topmost on Twitter in India that day, some posts by rivals mocking him.

A series of lectures by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, a presumptive PM, this week too garnered strong social-media attention, with his and Gandhi’s supporters competing online to run the other down.

A deeply polarizing figure still, Modi is often accused of watching over a carnage that killed nearly 2000 people in 2002, mostly Muslims. Yet, he has pulled off a stunning online strategy to showcase Gujarat as India’s Guandong, a south China province with top GDP rankings and investment.

Research shows that social media is more persuasive than television ads. Nearly 100 million Indians, or more than Germany’s population, use the Internet each day. Of this, 40 million have assured broadband, the ones most likely to have at least one social media account.

“Unlike Obama, who used social media directly for votes, Indian politicians have tended to use it more to mould public discourse,” says Sunil Abraham, the CEO of The Centre for Internet and Society.

That is likely to change in 2014. Not surprisingly, Modi became the third politician globally, a fter Obama and Australian PM Julia Gillard, to host a political conference on Google+ hangout.

Chief ministers in states are also leveraging social media. Bihar has unveiled a re-branded campaign called, “Bihar ka haq” or Bihar’s Rightful Cause, on Facebook.

Social-media-impacted constituencies, according to the study, are those where Facebook users are more than the victory margin of the winner in the last Lok Sabha election, or where such users account for over 10% of the voting population.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-zia-haq-april-12-2013-social-media-may-influence-160-lok-sabha-seats-in-2014

India takes its first serious step toward privacy regulation – but it may be misguided

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T06:39:05Z

The world’s second-most populous nation may be on the cusp of embracing privacy legislation. After several false starts the Indian government appears ready to accept the need for some form of regulation.

This blog post by Simon Davies was published in the Privacy Surgeon on April 9, 2013. The Centre for Internet and Society recently published a draft Citizens privacy bill which is mentioned in this post.

Well, maybe this is a slightly optimistic view. A more accurate portrayal might be “the Indian government appears ready to accept the principle of some form of regulation”.

There is actually no agreed policy position across government on the question of privacy and data protection, but the Planning Commission last year established an Expert Group under the chairmanship of the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, A.P.Shah. Justice Shah’s subsequent report is being considered and a draft Bill has been created.

Shah’s report provided a convincing body of evidence – both at the domestic and the international level – for the creation of national regulation.

It called for the formation of a regulatory framework and set out nine principles that could form a foundation for the next stage. These principles – reflecting the basis of law in other countries – have been generally accepted by Indian stakeholders as a sound frame of reference for progress.

However although the nine principles are supported, the precise nature of any possible regulation is still very much in flux.

There’s a long way to go before consensus is established on a overall type of regulatory framework. Having said that, India is closer than ever to seeing real legislation – and the international community needs to put its weight behind the activity.

Debate over the merits of data protection and privacy law stretch back beyond a decade but reform was constantly hampered by perceptions that regulation would stifle economic growth.

Some industry lobbies have been as keen as government to ensure that privacy proposals are stillborn.

Even with the nine principles as a bedrock the path to privacy law must overcome two extremely difficult hurdles.

The first of these is that a substantial number of Indian opinion leaders continue to express an instinctive view that there is no cultural history for respect of privacy in India. That is, people don’t want or expect privacy protection and Western notions of privacy are alien to Indian society.

In support of this assertion these critics often cite an analogy about conversation on Indian trains. It is well known that many Indians will disclose their life story to strangers on the Indian rail network, discussing their personal affairs with people they have never before met. This trait is construed as evidence that Indians do not value their privacy.

I spoke last week at an important meeting in New Delhi where this exact point was repeatedly made. The meeting, organised by the Data Security Council of India and ICOMP India was well attended by industry, government, academics and NGOs. Speakers made constant reference to the matter of public disclosure of personal information.

In response, noted commentator Vickram Crishna expressed the view that the train anecdote had no relevance and was a convenient ruse for people who for their own self interest opposed privacy regulation.

“In reality this circumstance is like Vegas”, he said. “What happens on Indian trains, stays on Indian trains. People will talk about their lives because they will never see these passengers again and there is no record of the disclosures.”

“What we are dealing with in the online world is a completely different matter. There is no correlation between the two environments”.

A substantial opinion poll published earlier this year also debunked the myth that Indians don’t care about privacy. Levels of concern expressed by respondents was roughly the same as the level of concern identified in other parts of the world.

A second hurdle facing privacy legislation is the perception - particularly prevalent in the United States – that legislation will be a burden on industry and people do not want yet another cumbersome and costly government structure.

There are perhaps some grounds for considering this perspective, given the vast scale and complexity of India’s economy.

Government intervention does not enjoy a history of consistent success in the marketplace, though in many instances intervention has been the only means to bring industry into compliance with basic safeguards.

I made the point at the meeting that support for a purist model of industry self regulation was simplistic and misguided. Most systems of a similar nature fail unless someone is mandated to ensure compliance, transparency, enforceability and consistency. It’s a question of finding a way to embed accountability in industry self regulation – and this is where legislation and government could help.

Justice Shah’s report reflected this widespread concern by recommending a co-regulatory framework in which a privacy commissioner would oversee industry self regulation. However – as last week’s meeting exemplified – even this compromise solution is not acceptable to many industry players. They oppose the idea of an appointed commissioner and believe that industry self regulation alone will be sufficient.

This is an influential view that cannot be brushed aside. However in a special programme aired on19th April on India’s main parliamentary television network – RSTV – I repeatedly make the point that such a view, if successful, would put Indian industry in danger of winning the battle but losing the war. Europe is unlikely to accept a model of sole industry regulation, and the crucial flow of data between the two regions could be imperiled.

Conscious of all these challenges the influential NGO Centre for Internet and Society has published a draft Citizens privacy bill and has commenced a series of consultation meetings across the country. These initiatives will provide important input for the emerging legislation.

This is an important moment for privacy in India, and one that will require careful thought and sensitive implementation. However no-one in India should be in any doubt that the current unregulated situation is unsustainable in a global environment where nations are expected to protect both their citizens and the safety of data on their systems.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/privacy-surgeon-simon-davies-april-9-2013-india-takes-its-first-serious-step-toward-privacy-regulation

Report of Wiki Workshop in Mangalore

praskrishna — 2013-04-16T06:14:42Z

A wikipedia workshop was organized in Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangalore on April 9, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the workshop. Prajavani's Mangalore edition published a report about the felicitation to K.P. Rao and about the wikipedia workshop.

Below is the report published in Prajavani on April 10, 2013.

For more details visit http://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-mangalore-edition-april-10-2013-report-of-wikipedia-workshop