Big Data
Right to Food Campaign, Ranchi Convention, 2016
- December 15, 2016
The Right to Food Campaign held its 2016 Convention in Ranchi during September 23-25, 2016. While three years have elapsed since the passage of the National Food Security Act, despite improvements in the Public Distribution System (PDS), large implementation gaps remain. This is what the Convention focused on, and gathered researchers and campaigners from across the country to share experiences and case studies on effectiveness and exclusions from the PDS. Sumandro Chattapadhyay took part in a session of the Convention to discuss how UID-linked welfare delivery is being rolled out across key programmes like provision of pension and rationed distribution of essential commodities, and their impact on people's right to welfare services.
Read more →Report on Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges
- August 31, 2016
The Trans-disciplinary Research Cluster on Sustainability Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University collaborated with the Centre for Internet and Society, and other individuals and organisations to organise a two day workshop on “Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges” at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, JNU on May 26 and 27, 2016. The objective of the workshop was to bring together experts from various fields, who have been rigorously following the developments in the Unique Identification (UID) Project and align their perspectives and develop a shared understanding of the status of the UID Project and its impact. Through this exercise, it was also sought to develop a plan of action to address the welfare exclusion issues that have arisen due to implementation of the UID Project.
Read more →Privacy in the Age of Big Data
- April 11, 2017
Personal data is freely accessible, shared and even sold, and those to whom this information belongs have little control over its flow.
Read more →Privacy after Big Data: Compilation of Early Research
- November 12, 2016
Evolving data science, technologies, techniques, and practices, including big data, are enabling shifts in how the public and private sectors carry out their functions and responsibilities, deliver services, and facilitate innovative production and service models to emerge. In this compilation we have put together a series of articles that we have developed as we explore the impacts – positive and negative – of big data. This is a growing body of research that we are exploring and is relevant to multiple areas of our work including privacy and surveillance. Feedback and comments on the compilation are welcome and appreciated.
Read more →Press Release, March 15, 2016: The New Bill Makes Aadhaar Compulsory!
- March 16, 2016
We published and circulated the following press release on March 15, 2016, to highlight the fact that the Section 7 of the Aadhaar Bill, 2016 states that authentication of the person using her/his Aadhaar number can be made mandatory for the purpose of disbursement of government subsidies, benefits, and services; and in case the person does not have an Aadhaar number, s/he will have to apply for Aadhaar enrolment.
Read more →Press Release, March 11, 2016: The Law cannot Fix what Technology has Broken!
- March 16, 2016
We published and circulated the following press release on March 11, 2016, as the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. This Bill was proposed by finance minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley to give legislative backing to Aadhaar, being implemented by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Read more →Predictive Policing: What is it, How it works, and its Legal Implications
- November 24, 2015
This article reviews literature surrounding big data and predictive policing and provides an analysis of the legal implications of using predictive policing techniques in the Indian context.
Read more →OPINION | Data is New Oil and Human Mind the New Battlefield. India Must Wake Up Now
- November 26, 2017
In information warfare, the battlespace is the human mind. This is where the privacy of an individual intersects with national security. Fighting this battle will require a new paradigm in thought and action.
Read more →New Media, personalisation and the role of algorithms
- January 16, 2017
In his much acclaimed book, The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser explains how personalisation of services on the web works and laments that they are creating individual bubbles for each user, which run counter to the idea of the Internet as an inherently open place. While Pariser’s book looks at the practices of various large companies providing online services, he briefly touches upon the role of new media such as search engines and social media portals in new curation. Building upon Pariser’s unexplored argument, this article looks at the impact of algorithmic decision-making and Big Data in the context of news reporting and curation.
Read more →NASA International Open Data Challenge 2015
- April 27, 2015
As part of the initial NASA Open Government 2.0 plan, the NASA International Open Data challenge brings together the FOSS community, citizen scientists, open data practitioners , open hardware enthusiasts and students for collaborative problem solving with the goal of producing relevant open-source solutions to address global needs applicable to both life on Earth and life in Space.
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