Internet Governance Blog
The Omnishambles of UID, shrouded in its RTI opacity
- February 19, 2013
The Centre for Internet & Society sponsored Colonel Mathew Thomas to hold a workshop at the fourth National Right to Information (RTI) organized by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, held in Hyderabad from February 15 to 18, 2013.
Read more →Freedom of Expression Gagged
- February 18, 2013
The use of law to bully people into silence, called ‘heckler’s veto’, is not unique to India, writes Chinmayi Arun in this op-ed published in Business Line on February 15, 2013.
Read more →Analyzing the Latest List of Blocked URLs by Department of Telecommunications (IIPM Edition)
- February 16, 2013
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in its order dated February 14, 2013 has issued directions to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block seventy eight URLs. The block order has been issued as a result of a court order. Snehashish Ghosh does a preliminary analysis of the list of websites blocked as per the DoT order.
Read more →2012: Privacy Highlights in India
- February 12, 2013
In this blog post, Elonnai Hickok summarizes the top privacy moments of 2012 in India. In doing so she lists out the major ones like the Report of Group of Experts on Privacy, the RIM Standoff, the Nira Radia controversy, the Centralized Monitoring System, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, NATGRID, CCTNS, the growth of CCTVs, the leaked DNA Profiling Bill, and the UID project.
Read more →A Comparison of Indian Legislation to Draft International Principles on Surveillance of Communications
- January 31, 2013
This blog post is a comparison of the relevant Indian legislations allowing governmental access to communications and the Draft International Principles on Surveillance of Communications. The principles, first drafted in October 2012 and developed subsequently seeks to establish an international standard for surveillance of communications in the context of human rights.
Read more →Data Retention in India
- January 29, 2013
As part of its privacy research, the Centre for Internet and Society has been researching upon data retention mandates from the Government of India and data retention practices by service providers. Globally, data retention has become a contested practice with regards to privacy, as many governments require service providers to retain more data for extensive time periods, for security purposes. Many argue that the scope of the retention is becoming disproportional to the purpose of investigating crimes.
Read more →Five Frequently Asked Questions about the Amended ITRs
- January 28, 2013
This piece discusses the five major questions that have been the subject of debate after the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT). The politics surrounding the WCIT are not discussed here but it must be kept in mind that they have played a significant role in the outcome of the conference and in some of the debates about it.
Read more →TV versus Social Media: The Rights and Wrongs
- January 21, 2013
For most ordinary Netizens, everyday speech on social media has as much impact as graffiti in a toilet, and therefore employing the 'principle of equivalence' will result in overregulation of new media.
Read more →Web of Sameness
- January 18, 2013
The social Web has been an ominous space at the start of 2013. It has been awash with horror, pain and grief. The recent gang rape and death of a medical student in Delhi prevents one from being too optimistic about the year to come. My live feeds on various social networks are filled with rue and rage at the gruesome incident and the seeming depravity of our society.
Read more →Draft International Principles on Communications Surveillance and Human Rights
- January 15, 2013
These principles were developed by Privacy International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and seek to define an international standard for the surveillance of communications. The Centre for Internet and Society has been contributing feedback to the principles.
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