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CIS - A2K Work Plan: July 2016 - June 2017
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by
Sunil Abraham
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published
Apr 02, 2016
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last modified
Apr 29, 2016 09:36 AM
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filed under:
CIS-A2K,
Access to Knowledge,
Wikimedia,
Wikipedia,
Featured
One of the key mandates of the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is to work towards catalyzing the growth of the free and open knowledge movement in Indic languages. CIS has been a steward of the Wikimedia movement in India since December 2008. Since September 2012, we at CIS-A2K, have been actively involved in growing the movement in India through (i) a grant received from the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for the period September 2012 - June 2014, (ii) the FDC Grant received for the period July 2014 - June 2015 and (iii) the FDC Grant received for the period July 2015 - June 2016. Based on the productive experience of working with various Indic Wikimedia communities, CIS-A2K has developed this work plan for July 2016 to June 2017.
Located in
Access to Knowledge
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Blogs
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Dataset: Patent Landscape of Mobile Device Technologies in India
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by
Rohini Lakshané
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published
Apr 02, 2016
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last modified
May 03, 2016 08:06 PM
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filed under:
Featured,
Access to Knowledge,
Pervasive Technologies
Patent landscape of mobile technology patents and patent applications held by 50 companies operating in India. Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Located in
Access to Knowledge
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Blogs
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Consultation on 'National Geospatial Policy' - Notes and Submission
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by
Anubha Sinha
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published
Mar 29, 2016
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last modified
Mar 29, 2016 05:03 PM
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filed under:
Open Data,
Open Government Data,
Featured,
Geospatial Data,
Openness,
Digital India
The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has constituted a National Expert Committee for developing a draft National Geospatial Policy (NGP) to provide appropriate guidelines for collection, analysis, use, and distribution of geospatial information across India, and to assure data availability, accessibility and quality. A pre-drafting consultation meeting for the NGP was organised in Delhi on February 03, 2016. Ms. Anubha Sinha represented CIS at the meeting, and shares her notes.
Located in
Openness
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Analysis of Aadhaar Act in the Context of A.P. Shah Committee Principles
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by
Vipul Kharbanda
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published
Mar 17, 2016
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last modified
Mar 17, 2016 07:43 PM
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filed under:
Big Data,
Privacy,
Internet Governance,
Featured,
Digital India,
Aadhaar,
Biometrics,
Homepage
Whilst there are a number of controversies relating to the Aadhaar Act including the fact that it was introduced in a manner so as to circumvent the majority of the opposition in the upper house of the Parliament and that it was rushed through the Lok Sabha in a mere eight days, in this paper we shall discuss the substantial aspects of the Act in relation to privacy concerns which have been raised by a number of experts. In October 2012, the Group of Experts on Privacy constituted by the Planning Commission under the chairmanship of Justice AP Shah Committee submitted its report which listed nine principles of privacy which all legislations, especially those dealing with personal should adhere to. In this paper, we shall discuss how the Aadhaar Act fares vis-à-vis these nine principles.
Located in
Internet Governance
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Blog
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Fueling the Affordable Smartphone Revolution in India
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by
Anubha Sinha
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published
Mar 16, 2016
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filed under:
Featured,
Intellectual Property Rights,
Access to Knowledge,
Pervasive Technologies
Smartphones have emerged as the exemplar of mankind's quest for shrinking technologies. They embody the realization of a simple premise – that computing devices would do more and cost less. This realization has been responsible for modern society's profound transformations in communication, governance, and knowledge distribution.
Located in
Access to Knowledge
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Blogs
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List of Recommendations on the Aadhaar Bill, 2016 - Letter Submitted to the Members of Parliament
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by
Amber Sinha, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sunil Abraham, and Vanya Rakesh
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published
Mar 16, 2016
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last modified
Mar 21, 2016 08:50 AM
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filed under:
UID,
Big Data,
Privacy,
Internet Governance,
Featured,
Digital India,
Aadhaar,
Biometrics,
Homepage
On Friday, March 11, the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. The Bill was introduced as a money bill and there was no public consultation to evaluate the provisions therein even though there are very serious ramifications for the Right to Privacy and the Right to Association and
Assembly. Based on these concerns, and numerous others, we submitted an initial list of recommendations to the Members of Parliaments to highlight the aspects of the Bill that require immediate attention.
Located in
Internet Governance
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Blog
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Flaws in the UIDAI Process
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by
Hans Varghese Mathews
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published
Mar 06, 2016
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last modified
Mar 06, 2016 10:40 AM
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filed under:
UID,
Privacy,
Internet Governance,
Featured,
Aadhaar,
Homepage
The accuracy of biometric identification depends on the chance of a false positive: the probability that the identifiers of two persons will match. Individuals whose identifiers match might be termed duplicands. When very many people are to be identified success can be measured by the (low) proportion of duplicands. The Government of India is engaged upon biometrically identifying the entire population of India. An experiment performed at an early stage of the programme has allowed us to estimate the chance of a false positive: and from that to estimate the proportion of duplicands. For the current population of 1.2 billion the expected proportion of duplicands is 1/121, a ratio which is far too high.
Located in
Internet Governance
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Blog
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Comments by the Centre for Internet and Society on the Report of the Committee on Medium Term Path on Financial Inclusion
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by
Vipul Kharbanda
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published
Feb 27, 2016
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last modified
Mar 01, 2016 01:53 PM
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filed under:
Privacy,
Internet Governance,
Featured,
Financial Inclusion,
Aadhaar,
Homepage
Apart from item-specific suggestions, CIS would like to make one broad comment with regard to the suggestions dealing with linking of Aadhaar numbers with bank accounts. Aadhaar is increasingly being used by the government in various departments as a means to prevent fraud, however there is a serious dearth of evidence to suggest that Aadhaar linkage actually prevents leakages in government schemes. The same argument would be applicable when Aadhaar numbers are sought to be utilized to prevent leakages in the banking sector.
Located in
Internet Governance
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Blog
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The new Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions are a big win for FOSS in India!
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by
Anubha Sinha
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published
Feb 23, 2016
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last modified
Feb 24, 2016 06:30 AM
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filed under:
Featured,
Patents,
Access to Knowledge,
Software Patents
India is one of the few countries which permits patenting of software – a monopolization that has only benefited established corporations and largely throttled innovation in the software industry, worldwide. CIS has consistently advocated against patentablity of software and in a major victory last week, software patenting in India died a little more. This happened via the newly issued Guidelines for the Examination of Computer Related Inventions, which introduces a new test to restrict software patenting – in essence the same legal test that CIS had been proposing since 2010. This post highlights the new test and other noteworthy changes in the Guidelines.
Located in
Access to Knowledge
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Blogs
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Internet Researchers' Conference 2016 (IRC16)
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by
Sumandro Chattapadhyay
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published
Feb 10, 2016
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last modified
Feb 27, 2016 06:19 AM
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filed under:
Conference,
CDIF,
Internet Researcher's Conference,
Featured,
Learning,
IRC16,
Researchers at Work,
Event
The first Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC16) will be organised at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, on February 26-28, 2016. The focus of the Conference is on the experiences, adventures, and methods of 'studying internet in India.' We are deeply grateful to the Centre for Political Studies (CPS), JNU, for hosting the Conference, and to the CSCS Digital Innovation Fund (CDIF) for the generous support. It is a free and open conference. Please use the form to register.
Located in
RAW
