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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
/
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
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Open Data Hackathons are Great, but Address Privacy and License Concerns
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by
Sumandro Chattapadhyay
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published
Feb 05, 2016
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last modified
Feb 05, 2016 08:37 PM
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filed under:
Privacy,
Open Data,
Open Government Data,
Featured,
Hackathon,
Openness
This is to cross-publish a blog post from DataMeet website regarding a letter shared with the organisers of Urban Hack 2015, Bangalore, in response to a set of privacy and license concerns identified and voiced during the hackathon by DataMeet members. Sumandro Chattapadhyay co-authored and co-signed the letter. The blog post is written by Nisha Thompson.
Located in
Openness
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Internet Researchers' Conference 2016 (IRC16) - Selected Sessions
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by
Sumandro Chattapadhyay
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published
Jan 14, 2016
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last modified
Jan 18, 2016 09:23 AM
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filed under:
Internet Researcher's Conference,
Featured,
Learning,
IRC16,
Researchers at Work
We are proud to announce that the first Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC16), organised around the theme of 'studying internet in India,' will be held on February 26-28, 2016, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. We are deeply grateful to the Centre for Political Studies (CPS) at JNU for hosting the Conference, and to the CSCS Digital Innovation Fund (CDIF) for generously supporting it. Here are the details about the session selection process, the selected sessions, the Conference programme (draft), the pre-Conference discussions, accommodation, and travel grants. The Conference will include a book sprint to produce an open handbook on 'methods and tools for internet research.'
Located in
RAW
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Pre-Budget Consultation 2016 - Submission to the IT Group of the Ministry of Finance
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by
Sumandro Chattapadhyay
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published
Jan 12, 2016
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last modified
Jan 12, 2016 01:34 PM
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filed under:
Open Standards,
Open Source,
Cybersecurity,
Open Data,
Intellectual Property Rights,
Open Government Data,
Featured,
Patents,
Openness,
Open Innovation,
Encryption Policy
The Ministry of Finance has recently held pre-budget consultations with different stakeholder groups in connection with the Union Budget 2016-17. We were invited to take part in the consultation for the IT (hardware and software) group organised on January 07, 2016, and submit a suggestion note. We are sharing the note below. It was prepared and presented by Sumandro Chattapadhyay, with contributions from Rohini Lakshané, Anubha Sinha, and other members of CIS.
Located in
Openness
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National Compendium of Laws, Policies, Programmes for Persons with Disabilities
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by
Nirmita Narasimhan
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published
Jan 03, 2016
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last modified
Feb 05, 2016 02:16 AM
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filed under:
Featured,
Accessibility
This compendium was compiled by the Centre for Internet & Society in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. Prasanna Kumar Pincha, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, has written the Foreword.
Located in
Accessibility
/
Blog
