Centre for Internet & Society

CIS Submission to UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

Posted by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok at Feb 07, 2019 07:25 AM |

The UN high-level panel on Digital Cooperation issued a call for inputs that called for responses to various questions. CIS responded to the call for inputs.

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Supporting Indian Community 2018: Needs Assessment

Posted by Tito Dutta at Feb 06, 2019 09:45 PM |
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The Wikimedia Foundation and Google worked in close coordination with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Wikimedia India chapter (WMIN) and user groups will pilot a program encouraging Wikipedia communities to create locally relevant and high-quality content in Indian languages. Here is the needs-assessment report.

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India’s proposed new internet bill is as repressive as the worst of Chinese laws

Posted by Nishant Shah at Feb 04, 2019 02:05 AM |
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The proposed new internet bill is as repressive as the worst of Chinese restrictions. The new intermediaries liability and content monitoring act that will become a law in February, unquestioningly expand the remit of the government.

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Marathi Wikipedia Workshop & 1lib1ref session at Goa University

Marathi Wikipedia Workshop & 1lib1ref session at Goa University

Posted by Subodh Kulkarni at Feb 01, 2019 09:00 PM |

Marathi language department of Goa University has initiated the process to document the culture of Goa on Marathi Wikipedia and Commons.

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CIS Submission to UN High Level Panel on Digital Co-operation

Posted by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 30, 2019 08:05 PM |

The High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation was convened by the UN Secretary-General to advance proposals to strengthen cooperation in the digital space among Governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, academia, the technical community and other relevant stakeholders. The Panel issued a call for input that called for responses to various questions. CIS responded to the call for inputs.

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India should reconsider its proposed regulation of online content

Posted by Gurshabad Grover at Jan 24, 2019 04:55 PM |

The lack of technical considerations in the proposal is also apparent since implementing the proposal is infeasible for certain intermediaries. End-to-end encrypted messaging services cannot “identify” unlawful content since they cannot decrypt it. Presumably, the government’s intention is not to disallow end-to-end encryption so that intermediaries can monitor content.

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Response to GCSC on Request for Consultation: Norm Package Singapore

Posted by Arindrajit Basu, Gurshabad Grover and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 22, 2019 10:00 PM |

The GCSC opened a public comment procedure to solicit comments and obtain additional feedback. CIS responded to the public call-offering comments on all six norms and proposing two further norms.

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The DNA Bill has a sequence of problems that need to be resolved

Posted by Shweta Mohandas and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 15, 2019 02:36 AM |

In its current form, it’s far from comprehensive and fails to adequately address privacy and security concerns.

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How to make EVMs hack-proof, and elections more trustworthy

Posted by Pranesh Prakash at Jan 14, 2019 03:34 PM |
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Free and fair elections are the expression of democratic emancipation. India has always led by example: the Nehru Committee sought universal adult franchise in 1928, at a time when France didn’t let women vote, and laws in the USA allowed disqualification of poor, illiterate, and African-American voters. But how reliable are our voting systems, particularly in terms of security?

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Response to TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services

Posted by Gurshabad Grover at Jan 10, 2019 07:35 AM |

This submission presents a response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services.

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 Internet Researchers' Conference 2019 (IRC19): #List, Jan 30 - Feb 1, Lamakaan

Internet Researchers' Conference 2019 (IRC19): #List, Jan 30 - Feb 1, Lamakaan

Who makes lists? How are lists made? Who can be on a list, and who is missing? What new subjectivities - indicative of different asymmetries of power/knowledge - do list-making, and being listed, engender? What makes lists legitimate information artifacts, and what makes their knowledge contentious? Much debate has emerged about specificities and implications of the list as an information artifact, especially in the case of #LoSHA and NRC - its role in creation and curation of information, in building solidarities and communities of practice, its dependencies on networked media infrastructures, its deployment by hegemonic entities and in turn for countering dominant discourses. For the fourth edition of the Internet Researchers’ Conference (IRC19), we invited sessions and papers that engage critically with the form, imagination, and politics of the *list* - to present or propose academic, applied, or creative works that explore its social, economic, cultural, material, political, affective, or aesthetic dimensions. IRC19 will be organised in Lamakaan, Hyderabad, during January 30 - February 1, 2019.

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Registering for Aadhaar in 2019

Posted by Sunil Abraham at Jan 03, 2019 02:55 PM |

It is a lot less scary registering for Aadhaar in 2019 than it was in 2010, given how the authentication modalities have since evolved.

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Welcome to r@w blog!

Posted by Puthiya Purayil Sneha at Jan 02, 2019 11:20 AM |

We from the researchers@work programme at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) are delighted to announce the launch of our new blog, hosted on Medium. It will feature works by researchers and practitioners working in India and elsewhere at the intersections of internet, digital media, and society; and highlights and materials from ongoing research and events at the researchers@work programme.

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Internet Researchers' Conference 2019 (IRC19): #List - Selected Sessions and Papers

Here is the list of selected sessions and papers for the Internet Researchers' Conference 2019 (IRC19) - #List. IRC19 will be held in Lamakaan, Hyderabad, from Jan 30 to Feb 1, 2019. The conference announcement, along with the final agenda, will be published on Monday, January 7.

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Digital Native: System Needs a Reboot

Digital Native: System Needs a Reboot

Posted by Nishant Shah at Dec 31, 2018 02:05 AM |
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It’s time to replace the schizophrenic need for variety with ingenuity — the truthiness of the information.

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Economics of Cybersecurity: Literature Review Compendium

Posted by Natallia Khaniejo at Dec 31, 2018 01:55 AM |

The twenty first century has witnessed an unprecedented conflation of everyday experiences and technosocial practices. The emergence of technologies like the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Digital Payment infrastructures are all emblematic of this conflation of technology with economic, social and political modes of existence.

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Is the new ‘interception’ order old wine in a new bottle?

Is the new ‘interception’ order old wine in a new bottle?

Posted by Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda, Shweta Mohandas and Pranav M. Bidare at Dec 29, 2018 04:02 PM |

The government could always authorise intelligence agencies to intercept and monitor communications, but the lack of clarity is problematic.

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Private-public partnership for cyber security

Private-public partnership for cyber security

Posted by Arindrajit Basu at Dec 26, 2018 02:50 PM |

Given the decentralised nature of cyberspace, the private sector will have to play a vital role in enforcing rules for security.

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Mapping cybersecurity in India: An infographic

Posted by Arindrajit Basu, Karan Saini, Aayush Rathi and Swaraj Barooah at Dec 23, 2018 04:57 PM |

This infographic maps the key stakeholder, areas of focus and threat vectors that impact cybersecurity policy in India. Broadly, policy-makers should concentrate on establishing a framework where individuals feel secure and trust the growing digital ecosystem. The infographic therefore serves as a ready reference point for the research that we have done and hope to continue through our cybersecurity work at CIS.

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European E-Evidence Proposal and Indian Law

Posted by Vipul Kharbanda at Dec 23, 2018 04:45 PM |

In April of 2018, the European Union issued the proposal for a new regime dealing with cross border sharing of data and information by issuing two draft instruments, an E-evidence Regulation (“Regulation”) and an E-evidence Directive (“Directive”), (together the “E-evidence Proposal”). The Regulation is a direction to states to put in place the proper legislative and regulatory machinery for the implementation of this regime while the Directive requires the states to enact laws governing service providers so that they would comply with the proposed regime.

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