All Blogs
Open Letter to PM Modi on Intellectual Property Rights issues on His Visit to the United States of America in September, 2015
This is an open letter by CIS to the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in light of his impending visit to the USA. This letter asks the Prime Minister to urge the USA to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty; and asks that India not be a party to TPP negotiations, in light of recent reports on a study encouraging India to join the TPP.
The Many Lives and Sites of Internet in Bhubaneswar
This post by Sailen Routray is part of the 'Studying Internets in India' series. Sailen is a researcher, writer, editor and translator who lives and works in Bhubaneswar. In this essay, he takes a preliminary step towards capturing some of the experiences of running and using internet cafes, experiences that lie at the interstices of (digital) objects and spaces, that are at the same time a history of the internet as well as a personal history of the city.
Peering behind the veil of ICANN’s DIDP (I)
One of the key elements of the process of enhancing democracy and furthering transparency in any institution which holds power is open access to information for all the stakeholders. This is critical to ensure that there is accountability for the actions of those in charge of a body which utilises public funds and carries out functions in the public interest.
Sustainable Smart Cities India Conference 2015, Bangalore
Nispana Innovative Platforms organized a Sustainable Smart Cities India Conference 2015, in Bangalore on 3rd and 4th September, 2015. The event saw participation from people across various sectors including Government Representatives from Ministries, Municipalities, Regulatory Authorities, as well as Project Management Companies, Engineers, Architects, Consultants, Handpicked Technology Solution Providers and Researchers. National and International experts and stakeholders were also present to discuss the opportunities and challenges in creating smart and responsible cities as well as citizens, and creating a roadmap for converting the smart cities vision into a reality that is best suited for India.
Comments on the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs)
Recently, the Indian Patents Office released the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (“2015 Guidelines/ Guidelines”) in an attempt to clarify examination of software related patents in India. This post is a pure analysis of the 2015 Guidelines. The new Guidelines, essentially, narrow the exclusions of secttion 3(k), thereby enlarging the scope of software related applications eligible for a patent grant. More alarmingly, there is low emphasis on the application of the subject matter test, increased ambiguity on the nature of subject matter and an exclusionary list of examples appended to the document. In the following post, CIS highlights these concerns and presents solutions, and also proposes a definition of "computer programme per se". Read on to understand how the new guidelines will potentially lead to an increase in software patenting activity by expanding the scope of patentable subject matter – in negation of the legislative intent of section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act, 1970.
Transformaking 2015 : International Summit on Critical and Transformative Making, Yogyakarta
Transformaking 2015 brought together makers, scientist, hackers, bricoleurs, researchers, artists, designers and other interdisciplinary practitioners from across the globe in a series of Residency and Research Program, Symposium, Exhibition, Fair, and Satellite Projects. It was held from August 10 to September 20, 2015. Transformaking 2015 was organized by HONF Foundation & CATEC (Culture Arts Technoloy Empowerment Community) in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Common Room, Crosslab, and Nicelab.
Rethinking of "Empowering Marathi Schools"
Like most other Indian language-medium schools, Marathi schools are experiencing a drastic decline of students. To address these grave problem a day long seminar was organised at S. M. Joshi Sabhagriha, Pune. CIS-A2K member Abhinav Garule attended this event to share how teachers could encourage students to contribute to Marathi Wikipedia.
DIDP Request #12: Revenues
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) sought information from ICANN on their revenue streams by sending them a second request under their Documentary Information Disclosure Policy. This request and their response have been described in this blog post.
DIDP Request #11: NETmundial Principles
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) followed up on the implementation of the NETmundial Principles that ICANN has been endorsing by sending them a second request under their Documentary Information Disclosure Policy. This request and their response have been described in this blog post.
CIS Submission on CCWG-Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted the below to ICANN's CCWG-Accountability.
WikipediansSpeak with Dr. Kishore Kumar Rai Sheni: Tulu Wikipedia in the making
Dr. Kishore Kumar Rai Sheni, Principal, Shri Ramakrishna P.U. College, Mangaluru shares with Dr. U.B. Pavanaja of the Centre for Internet and Society's Access To Knowledge (CIS-A2K) programme his insights on bringing more contributors of different corners of the society to grow Tulu Wikipedia. Tulu Wikipedia is in Incubator at present and there are a bunch of contributors who are expanding the project to bring it live.
The Internet in the Indian Judicial Imagination
This post by Divij Joshi is part of the 'Studying Internets in India' series. Divij is a final year student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and is a keen observer and researcher on issues of law, policy and technology. In this essay, he traces the history of the Internet in India through the lens of judicial trends, and looks at how the judiciary has defined its own role in relation to the Internet.
International Open Data Charter: Comments by CIS
The second meeting of Stewards of the International Open Data Charter is in progress in Santiago, Chile, where the revisions made to the Charter based on the comments received during the public consultation period that ended on July 31, 2015, are being re-discussed and finalised by the Stewards. Here we are sharing the comments submitted by us on the first public draft of the Charter published during the International Open Data Conference in Ottawa, Canada, in May 2015. The comments include those submitted by Sumandro and Sharath Chandra Ram.
Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 v/s 2015 Bill
This entry analyses the Human DNA Profiling Bill introduced in 2012 with the provisions of the 2015 Bill
Pervasive Technologies: Working Document Series - Research Questions and a Literature Review on the Actor-Network Theory
This document is divided into two parts - the first part lays out a series of research questions, potentially seeking to apply actor-network theory as a research methodology. The second part seeks to map literature around the Actor-Network Theory ("ANT") as a research methodology.
More On Those Dropped Calls
A basic problem is that the cost of spectrum and licences relative to earnings is too high, structurally.
Data Flow in the Unique Identification Scheme of India
This note analyses the data flow within the UID scheme and aims at highlighting vulnerabilities at each stage. The data flow within the UID Scheme can be best understood by first delineating the organizations involved in enrolling residents for Aadhaar. The UIDAI partners with various Registrars usually a department of the central or state Government, and some private sector agencies like LIC etc– through a Memorandum of Understanding for assisting with the enrollment process of the UID project.
CIS brings Nadustunna Charithra magazine under by CC BY SA licence
As a part of its content donation initiative, the Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) has brought all issues of Nadustunna Charithra magazine under Creative Common Licence.
Response by the Centre for Internet and Society to the Draft Proposal to Transition the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration
This proposal was made to the Global Multistakeholder Community on August 9, 2015. The proposal was drafted by Pranesh Prakash and Jyoti Panday. The research assistance was provided by Padmini Baruah, Vidushi Marda, and inputs from Sunil Abraham.
Supreme Court Order is a Good Start, but is Seeding Necessary?
This blog post seeks to unpack the ‘seeding’ process in the UIDAI scheme, understand the implications of the Supreme Court order on this process, and identify questions regarding the UID scheme that still need to be clarified by the court in the context of the seeding process.
