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Online Censorship: How Government should Approach Regulation of Speech
Why is there a constant brouhaha in India about online censorship? What must be done to address this?
Comments on the Proposed Rule 138A of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 Concerning Radio Frequency Identification Tags
The Centre for Internet & Society gave its comments on the proposed Rule 138A of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. The comments were made in response to Notification GSR 738(E) published in the Gazette of India on October 3, 2012.
Section 66-A, Information Technology Act, 2000: Cases
In this blog post Snehashish Ghosh summarizes the facts of a few cases where Section 66-A, Information Technology Act, 2000, has been mentioned or discussed.
Transcripts from WCIT-12
We are archiving copies of the live-transcripts from the World Conference on International Telecommunications, 2012 (WCIT-12) which is being held in Dubai from 3–14 December, 2012.
So Much to Lose
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you have been a witness to the maelstrom of events that accompanied the death of the political leader Bal Thackeray.
Kolkata: Tasting the Sweetness of Wikipedia!
Recently, Access to Knowledge team member Subhashish Panigrahi spent some time with wikipedians in Kolkata. Through this blog post he shares his experience and learning from the interaction. This post explores the journey of three wikipedians — Jayanta Nath, Deepon Saha and Ashwin.
First Odia Wikipedia Education Program to be Rolled Out
Odia Wikipedians gathered at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal on November 8, 2012 to start the first Odia Wikipedia Education Program. This program aims to bring students edit articles on Odia Wikipedia through a series of assessments by professors. The local community members from Nalconagar would be supporting the four month program.
Human Machine Interfaces: The History of an Uncertain Future
"Multimodal interfaces maybe re-engineered much more easily now and can transform the ways in which the physically,cognitively and sensorially disabled can access information and interact with the digital world", says Sharath Chandra Ram.
Exploring the Internals of Mobile Devices — Report from a One-day Workshop at TERI
On October 27, 2012, the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) organised a one-day workshop on exploring the internals of mobile technologies at the TERI Southern Regional Centre in Bangalore. The workshop received more than 140 registrants, of which approximately 40 attended. In this post, Jadine Lannon explores the discussions and the developments that took place at the workshop.
Comments on the Broadcast Treaty and Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives
This November at WIPO the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights was witness to a tough negotiation on the proposed Treaty providing access to copyrighted materials to visually impaired persons. In between these discussions, the SCCR also found time to have two short plenary sessions on the proposed broadcast treaty as well as working documents on exceptions for libraries and archives.
Fixing India’s anarchic IT Act
Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act criminalizes “causing annoyance or inconvenience” online, among other things. A conviction for such an offence can attract a prison sentence of as many as three years.
Comments on the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (Draft)
The Department of Science and Technology invited public comments on the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (Draft). Accordingly, the Centre for Internet and Society has made the following comments on the draft policy document.
Breaking Down Section 66A of the IT Act
Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which prescribes 'punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.' is widely held by lawyers and legal academics to be unconstitutional. In this post Pranesh Prakash explores why that section is unconstitutional, how it came to be, the state of the law elsewhere, and how we can move forward.
Folly of Mandating Spectrum Auctions
The recent failure of the 2G spectrum auctions has brought to the fore serious questions on auctions being the only mode for allocation of spectrum.
Draft nonsense
Seriously flawed and dodgily drafted provisions in the IT Act provide the state a stick to beat its citizens with.
Pervasive Mobile Technologies: Meet Our Mobile Devices!
As a part of the Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace research project, the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is researching 12 mobile phone devices to generate a better understanding of the intellectual property (IP) implications of pervasive mobile technologies available in the Indian market. This post is an introduction to our 12 mobile phones.
Wikipedia Women's Workshop in Mumbai
The Wiki Women Workshop was organized at the Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Wadala in Mumbai on November 4, 2012. It was attended by over 60 women participants who were taught how to contribute to Wikipedia articles and briefed about the knowledge gaps in Wikipedia — the free encyclopedia. Noopur Raval has prepared a report of the event.
DoT Blocks Domain Sites — But Reasons and Authority Unclear
Earlier this year, ISPs such as Airtel and MTNL blocked a number of domain sites including BuyDomains, Fabulous Domains and Sedo.co.uk. Whereas the Indian Government and courts have previously issued orders blocking websites, these actions have generally been attributed to issues such as posting of inflammatory content or piracy of copyrighted material. However, the reasoning behind blocking domain marketplaces such as the above mentioned sites is not clear.
Transcripts of Discussions at WIPO SCCR 25
We are providing archival copies of the transcripts of the 25th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, which is being held in Geneva from November 19, 2012 to November 23, 2012.
Arbitrary Arrests for Comment on Bal Thackeray's Death
Two girls have been arbitrarily and unlawfully arrested for making comments about the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death. Pranesh Prakash explores the legal angles to the arrests.
