May 2011 Bulletin

Digital Natives with a Cause?

Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who want to critically engage with the dominant discourse on youth, technology and social change, in order to look at the alternative practices and ideas in the Global South. It also aims at building new ecologies that amplify and augment the interventions and actions of the digitally young as they shape our futures.

New Blog Entry by Samuel Tettner

Samuel Tettner is a Digital Natives Coordinator in CIS. He has written the following blog entry:

• What Scare a Digital Native Blogathon?

Accessibility

Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.

New Blog Entry

• Universal Service — An Instrument for Accessibility

Openness

CIS believes that innovation and creativity should be fostered through openness and collaboration and is committed towards promotion of open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software. Its latest endeavour has resulted into these:

Featured Research

• Open Government Data Study

Comments

• Comments on Draft National Policy on ICT in School Education

Interview

• Q&A on open access with Subbiah Arunachalam of the Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore) [Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, May 5, 2011]

Internet Governance

Although there may not be one centralized authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cyber crime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.”  Its latest endeavour has resulted into these:

Column in Indian Express

Nishant Shah, Director-Research will be writing a series of columns on Internet and Society issues. His first column on transparency, technology and NGOs in India came out on Sunday:

• Power to the People [Indian Express, May 15, 2011]

New Blog Entries

• Killing the Internet Softly with Its Rules [By Pranesh Prakash in Indian Express, May 9, 2011]
• Rebuttal of DIT's Misleading Statements on New Internet Rules
• CDT Provides Answers to Questions on Internet Neutrality

CIS is doing a project, ‘Privacy in Asia’. It is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and the International Development Research Centre, Canada and is being administered in collaboration with the Society and Action Group, Gurgaon. The two-year project commenced on 24 March 2010 and will be completed as agreed to by the stakeholders. It was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around challenges and violations of privacy in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.

Featured Research

• Limits to Privacy

Conference Report

• Privacy By Design — Conference Report

Workshop

• Second IJLT-CIS Lecture Series, National Law School [National Law School of India University, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore, May 21-22, 2011]

Upcoming Conferences

• Panel Discussion on UID – Its Feasibility, Utility and Legality [May 26, 2011]
• Privacy Matters - A Public Conference in Hyderabad [The English and Foreign Languages University (TBC), Hyderabad, June 18, 2011]

Telecom

The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this:

Column

Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.

• Spectrum reforms - Good & Bad news [published in the Business Standard on May 5, 2011]

Miscellaneous

Public Lecture

• The Task of the Translator after Google [CIS, April 30, 2011]

News & Media Coverage

• Sunil Abraham, CIS : "Avec l’e-G8, Nicolas Sarkozy veut promouvoir de nouvelles restrictions à la liberté d’expression" [LE MAG IT, May 24, 2011]
• As Simple as a Tweet [Deccan Chronicle, May 24, 2011]
• A Network of Chains [Outlook, Issue of May 30, 2011]
• Bangalore-based NGO files RTI query asking list of websites blocked by Indian govt [Daily News & Analysis, May 18, 2011]
• IT Act if enforced will leave internet use in India no freer than in China [Daily News & Analysis, May 15, 2011]
• Your Privacy is Public Property [Mail Today, May 15, 2011]
• Point By Point Rebuttal Of Indian Government’s Statement On Internet Control Rules [Medianama, May 13, 2011]
• New rules to ensure due diligence: IT dept [Times of India, May 11, 2011]
• Indian civil liberties groups are now geared to fight the draconian IT Rules [Weekend Leader.com, Vol 2 Issue 18, 6 - 12 May, 2011]
• New Internet rule: 'Objectionable' content can be removed without notifying users [dailybhaskar.com, May 11, 2011]
• India Chills Online Speech [digitalcommunities, May 3, 2011]
• Consumers International World Congress - Day 3 roundup [Consumer's International Blog, May 5, 2011]
• Digerati See Censorship in New Web Rules [Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2011]
• Free expression [Watertown Daily Times, May 2, 2011]
• India curbs on Bloggers and Internet [TruthDrive, April 29, 2011]
• Bright lights, geek city [Hindu, April 28, 2011]
• India Cracks Down on Internet Free Speech [April 28, 2011]
• India's cyber cafes going porn-free [msnbc.com, April 28, 2011]
• Thousands queue for iPad 2 across Asia [AFP, April 28, 2011] [News hosted by Google]
• New internet rules open to arbitrary interpretation [Times of India, April 27, 2011]
• India Puts Tight Leash on Internet Free Speech [New York Times, April 27, 2011]
• India Can Restrict 'Objectionable' Web Content under New Rules [TMCnet Legal, April 27, 2011]
• Iraqi Minister meets Secretary, Indian Ministry of Panchayat Raj [Karnataka News Network, April 27, 2011]
• The world is your oyster, by invitation only [Livemint, April 26, 2011]
• No access to pornography in cyber cafes, declare new rules [Times of India, April 26, 2011]
• India Proposes Restrictions on Tapping Telephone Calls [PC World, TechWorld and CIO, April 26, 2011]

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CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.