All Blogs
The Telecom Crisis is an NPA Problem
After interim relief for telecom, structural reforms must follow.
In Twitter India’s Arbitrary Suspensions, a Question of What Constitutes a Public Space
A discussion is underway about the way social media platforms may have to operate within the tenets of constitutional protections of free speech.
RTI Application to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on content code violations by radio stations
Background
In 1995, the Supreme Court of India, in the case of The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting v Cricket Association of Bengal, declared airwaves to be public property. The judgment formed the stepping stones to liberalizing the broadcasting media, and freeing up the sector from government monopoly.
Despite the fact that more than two decades have passed since the judgment, community and private FM channels continue to face a government embargo from curating and broadcasting news and content on current affairs. The Phase III FM Policy and the Grant of Permission Agreement (GoPA) for community radios broadly restrict these radio channels from broadcasting news, with two exceptions. FM and community radio stations can still broadcast updates on a few categories of content that the regulations classify as “non-news”, such as sports, …, etc. Additionally, they can rebroadcast the All India Radio (AIR) news bulletin verbatim.
Application under the Right to Information Act
To further our research, we sought information on the extent of radio stations’ compliance with the content code and the use of Government’s oversight mechanism (examination of recordings of their broadcasts). On October 23rd, I filed an RTI with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B) asking for information regarding instances where these channels had violated the content restrictions placed on them.
The text of the application is reproduced below:
To:
Shri Yogendra Trehan
Central Public Information Officer (RTI)
Dy. Director (FM)
Director (DS II), Room No 116, A Wing,
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, 110001
Sir,
Subject: Information on private FM radio licenses and violations
This is to request you to provide the following information under the Right to Information 2005.
Period of information requested: 10 years (2010 to 2019)
1. Number of instances where an FM radio channel was suspended from broadcasting due to violation of conditions 11.1, 11.2 or 12.1 of the Phase 3 FM Policy (i.e content related violations)
2. Number of instances where an FM radio channel permission was revoked due to violation of conditions 11.1, 11.2 or 12.1 of the Phase 3 FM Policy (i.e content related violations).
3. Number of instances where the 5 year or 10 year license renewal application of an FM radio channel was rejected due to content related violations.
4. Number of examinations of the recordings of content broadcast on FM radio stations.
[...]
To the best of my belief, the details sought for fall within your authority. Further, as provided under section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act), in case this application does not fall within your authority, I request you to transfer the same in the designated time (5 days) to the concerned authority and inform me of the same immediately.
To the best of my knowledge, the information sought does not fall within the restrictions contained in sections 8 and 9 of the RTI Act, and any provision protecting such information in any other law for the time being in force is inapplicable due to section 22 of the RTI Act.
Please provide me this information in electronic form, via the e-mail address provided above. This to certify that I, Torsha Sarkar, am a citizen of India.
Date: 23rd October, 2019
Place: Bengaluru, Karnataka
The FM Cell of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) responded to the application on November 21st with information regarding the same. Their response is reproduced below:
In so far as FM Cell of this Ministry is concerned, it is stated that,no channel was suspended from broadcasting or permission was revoked due to violation of conditions 11.1, 11.2 or 12.1 of the Phase -lll FM policy. No instances ln so far as FM Cell of this Ministry is concerned, it is stated where the 5 year or 10 year license renewal application of an FM radio channel or 12.1 of the Phase -lll FM policy. 17 instances of complaints regarding violation of content code by private FM radio stations were received and suitable action in terms of the Grant of Permission Agreement has been taken by the Government after examination of the recordings of broadcast.
Conclusion
As the MIB’s records show, there are nearly 380 private FM channels and 185 community FM channels in India as of August 2019. In the face of such numbers, there have been mere seventeen instances of the private FM channels violating the content code in the last ten years, and none of these were serious enough for their broadcasting licenses to be revoked or them to face suspension.
The low number of complaints against radio stations can be interpreted in a number of ways: However, coupled with the fact there is an onerous process of obtaining a license and permissions for broadcasting, one interpretation can be that the numbers are generally indicative of the fact that radio station operators are generally compliant with the content code.
--
The text of the RTI Application was drafted by Raouf Kundil Peedikayil, who interned with CIS. This blogpost was edited by Gurshabad Grover and Elonnai Hickok.
Making Voices Heard: Privacy, Inclusivity, and Accessibility of Voice Interfaces in India
We believe that voice interfaces have the potential to democratise the use of internet by addressing barriers such as accessibility concerns, lack of abilities of reading and writing on digital text interfaces, and lack of options for people to interact with digital devices in their own languages. Through the Making Voice Heard Project supported by Mozilla Corporation, we will examine the current landscape of voice interfaces in India.
Simiran Lalvani - Workers’ Fictive Kinship Relations in Mumbai App-based Food Delivery
Working in the gig-economy has been associated with economic vulnerabilities. However, there are also moral and affective vulnerabilities as workers find their worth measured everyday by their performance of—and at—work and in every interaction and movement. This essay by Simiran Lalvani is the first among a series of writings by researchers associated with the 'Mapping Digital Labour in India' project at the CIS, supported by the Azim Premji University, that were published on the Platypus blog of the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC). The essay is edited by Noopur Raval, who co-led the project concerned.
A Deep Dive into Content Takedown Timeframes
Since the 1990s, internet usage has seen a massive growth, facilitated in part, by growing importance of intermediaries, that act as gateways to the internet. Intermediaries such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), web-hosting providers, social-media platforms and search engines provide key services which propel social, economic and political development. However, these developments are also offset by instances of users engaging with the platforms in an unlawful manner. The scale and openness of the internet makes regulating such behaviour challenging, and in turn pose several interrelated policy questions.
Project on Gender, Health Communications and Online Activism with City University
CIS is a partner on the project 'Gender, Health Communications and Online Activism in the Digital Age'. The project is lead by Dr. Carolina Matos, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Media in the Department of Sociology at City University.
Project Tiger 2.0
If you think that Indian languages are as important as international languages, like English, then, you are on the same page with this article. If not, then, let me explain, why it is a significant and much bigger issue than you think.
Project Tiger 2.0
If you think that Indian languages are as important as international languages, like English, then, you are on the same page with this article. If not, then, let me explain, why it is a significant and much bigger issue than you think.
Project Tiger 2.0
If you think that Indian languages are as important as international languages, like English, then, you are on the same page with this article. If not, then, let me explain, why it is a significant and much bigger issue than you think.
Project Tiger 2.0
If you think that Indian languages are as important as international languages, like English, then, you are on the same page with this article. If not, then, let me explain, why it is a significant and much bigger issue than you think.
Blockchain: A primer for India
This report is presently being updated.
Draft Security Standards for The Financial Technology Sector in India
Information security standards provide a framework for the secure development, implementation and maintenance of information systems and technology architecture. This document includes draft information security standards, which seek to ensure that not only the data of users is dealt with in a secure and safe manner but also that the smaller businesses in the fintech industry have a specific standard to look at in order to limit their liabilities for any future breaches.
Introducing the Cybersecurity Visuals Media Handbook
The need for intervention in the cybersecurity imagery in media publications was realised during a brainstorming workshop that was conducted by CIS with illustrators, designers, and cybersecurity researchers.
Guest post: Before cyber norms, let’s talk about disanalogy and disintermediation
In a guest post in relation to CIS’s recently held roundtable onIndia’s cyber defense strategy, Pukhraj Singh looks at the critical fissures – at the technical and policy levels – in global normative efforts to secure cyberspace. By charting out the key vectors and power asymmetries among key stakeholders – both leading state actors and private actors like Microsoft – Singh posits that there is much to be done before we circumscribe cyber operations within legal strictures.
India’s Role in Global Cyber Policy Formulation
The past year has seen vigorous activity on the domestic cyber policy front in India. On key issues—including intermediary liability, data localization and e-commerce—the government has rolled out a patchwork of regulatory policies, resulting in battle lines being drawn by governments, industry and civil society actors both in India and across the globe.
Event Report: Consultation on Draft Information Technology (Fintech Security Standards) Rules
The Centre for Internet and Society is in the process of drafting certain data security standards for Fintech entities. As part of the process of drafting, a consultation roundtable was organized to get inputs from industry executives, lawyers and policy experts working in this field.
Reliance Jio is using SNI inspection to block websites
Reliance Jio, the most popular ISP in India, is employing a deep packet inspection technique to block websites for its users.
State of the Internet's Languages 2020: Announcing selected contributions!
In response to our call for contributions and reflections on ‘Decolonising the Internet’s Languages’ in August, we are delighted to announce that we received 50 submissions, in over 38 languages! We are so overwhelmed and grateful for the interest and support of our many communities around the world; it demonstrates how critical this effort is for all of us. From all these extraordinary offerings, we have selected nine that we will invite and support the contributors to expand further.
CIS’ Comments to the Christchurch Call
In the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the Christchurch Call to Action in May 2018 to “bring together countries and tech companies in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote terrorism and violent extremism.”
