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International Conference on Justice Education:Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence

Admin — 2019-03-20T15:52:29Z

Arindrajit Basu attended the International Conference on Justice Education with the theme "Artificial Intelligence and its Legal Implications" at Institute of Law Nirma University. The event was organized by Nirma University in Ahmedabad on March 15 - 16, 2019. Arindrajit was a theme speaker for the panel on Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence and was a judge of the presentations in the same session.

Click to read the agenda

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/international-conference-on-justice-education-legal-implications-of-artificial-intelligence

Consultation on Draft E-commerce Policy

Admin — 2019-03-20T15:47:02Z

Alternative Law Forum and IT for Change organized a public consultation on draft e-commerce policy on March 14, 2019 at Tony Hall, Ashirwad , Off St.Marks Road in Bangalore. Arindrajit Basu attended the event.

The newly created Department Promotion of Industry and Indian Trade has published a draft e-commerce policy ( [ https://dipp.gov.in/whats-new/draft-national-e-commerce-policy-stakeholder-comments | https://dipp.gov.in/whats-new/draft-national-e-commerce-policy-stakeholder-comments ] ) inviting public comments with a deadline of March end. All actors involved in commerce – from traders, to street vendors, to vendors selling on online platforms, apart from domestic and foreign e-commerce companies are greatly impacted by this new policy. At one level, this policy would determine the relative power among these actors vying for the Indian retail space. At another level, however, the draft policy is about who should own personal, social and commercial data that is behind e-commerce – whether people and communities about whom the data is or it can entirely be owned and appropriated by the e-commerce companies, mostly foreign ones, who collect the data. EU is also examining whether data about and around products put by sellers on online platforms is owned by the these sellers or by platforms. These are issues which need wide and deep discussions by all sections of society from traders , technology enthusiasts, lawyers, civil society and all others. However there is very little public discussions on the same. It is towards this end that we are organising this discussions. We would also like to explore possible inputs that different groups can make to the policy. The Joint Action Committee Against Foreign Retail and E-commerce is one group that has prepared some points on behalf of traders community, which are enclosed, and these too can be discussed at the meeting among others.

The discussion was a first of many more discussions. The participants of this consultation were researchers, lawyers, street vendors union representatives, traders associations representatives and others.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/consultation-on-draft-e-commerce-policy

Wie die chinesische Mega-App TikTok Indiens Wahlkampf beeinflussen könnte

praskrishna — 2019-03-20T15:20:12Z

Die chinesische Kurzvideo-App Tiktok gehört zu den wertvollsten Start-ups der Welt – und sie wird zunehmend politisch. In Indien weckt das Ängste.

The article by Frederic Spohr was published in Handelsblatt on March 13, 2019. Shweta Mohandas was quoted.

Angela Merkel spricht Hindi, zumindest auf der chinesischen Social-Media-App TikTok. In einem Satire-Video steht die Bundeskanzlerin neben dem indischen Premierminister Narendra Modi – und erklärt dem indischen Regierungschef, dass sie ihn gerne heiraten und mit ihm für immer zusammenleben will. Das sagt Merkels indische Synchronstimme. Die App TikTok, mit der Nutzer selbst gedrehte oder bearbeitete Kurzvideos teilen, ist die derzeit wohl erfolgreichste App der Welt. Das dahinter stehende Start-up Bytedance wird mit umgerechnet 66 Milliarden Euro so hoch bewertet ist wie kein anderes junges Unternehmen. Indien ist dabei der mittlerweile wichtigste Auslandsmarkt für die Chinesen. Mehr als 250 Millionen Inder haben die App bereits heruntergeladen. Monatlich kommen Dutzende weitere Millionen dazu.

Doch der Erfolg der chinesischen App hat auch Ängste geweckt. Ab dem 11. April wird auf dem Subkontinent ein neues Parlament gewählt – und wie in vielen anderen Ländern wächst in Indien die Sorge, dass über Social-Media-Plattformen Wahlen manipuliert werden, zum Beispiel weil darüber Falschnachrichten verbreitet, geheime Wählerprofile angelegt oder die Plattformen für Spionage genutzt werden könnten. Das gilt nun nicht mehr nur für Facebook oder Twitter, sondern auch für TikTok – und wegen seiner chinesischen Herkunft vielleicht insbesondere dafür.

Dass TikTok aus China kommt, ist problematisch, weil es bezüglich Datensammlung und -verarbeitung weniger transparent als andere Social-Media-Apps ist“, sagt Shweta Mohandas, Politik-Beauftragte beim Centre for Internet and Society (Cis) in Bangalore.

Der Subkontinent wird so zu einem Testfall für die wachsende politische Bedeutung chinesischer Social-Media-Apps im Ausland. TikTok ist auch in Amerika und Europa bereits weit verbreitet – und hat bereits Kritiker alarmiert. „Die Reichweite dieser Apps zu ignorieren, wäre ein fataler Fehler“, warnt Claudia Biancotti, leitender Ökonom am amerikanischen Thinktank Peterson Institute for International Economics in einem Blogbeitrag über TikTok.

Für Biancotti ist der Umgang mit chinesischen Social-Media-Apps von ähnlich großer Bedeutung wie der Umgang mit dem chinesischen Mobilfunkausrüster Huawei. „Die Tiefe der gesammelten Nutzerdaten machen sie zu sehr wirksamen Instrumenten sowohl für die Spionage als auch für die Manipulation der öffentlichen Meinung.“ Fünf der zehn beliebtesten Apps im indischen Android-Appstore kamen 2018 bereits aus China.

Anzahl politischer Videos nimmt zu

TikTok wirkt vollkommen unpolitisch. Wie in Deutschland überwiegen auch in Indien kurzweilige Witzvideos und private Videoclips. Die meisten Inhalte auf der App sind Musikvideos von Jugendlichen, die mit Effekten aufgehübscht werden. Auch das Merkel-Video ist kein Manipulationsversuch und dürfte für die meisten als klare Satire erkennbar sein.

Doch die Anzahl politischer Videos auf TikTok hat in Indien vor den Wahlen stark zugenommen: Viele junge Menschen erklären beispielsweise, warum sie welchen Politiker wählen werden. Videos mit dem Hashtag NarendraModi wurden fast 30 Millionen mal angesehen, Clips zu seinem Herausforderer Rahul Gandhi wurden rund 12 Millionen Mal angeguckt.

Viele junge Menschen verwenden TikTok und soziale Medien, um mit der Welt zu kommunizieren. Die politischen Parteien haben das erkannt und versuchen, auf die Erstwähler Eindruck zu machen“, sagt Cis-Expertin Mohandas.

Besonders beliebt ist die App auf dem Land. In der Provinz leben die meisten Inder, gleichzeitig ist hier der Bildungsstandard besonders gering. Diese Zielgruppe dürfte am einfachsten zu manipulieren sein.

Subtile Beeinflussung möglich

Eine Beeinflussung könnte theoretisch so subtil verlaufen, dass sie kaum zu überprüfen ist. Möglich wäre beispielsweise ein Szenario, bei dem auf Druck der chinesischen Regierung die Algorithmen so geändert werden, dass Nutzer bestimmte Inhalte verstärkt gezeigt bekommen – oder dass unliebsame Inhalte überhaupt nicht angezeigt werden. In China selbst filtert die heimische App WeChat bereits kritische Inhalte heraus, ohne Sender oder Empfänger zu benachrichtigen.

Wie in Deutschland wurde in Indien bisher bezüglich TikTok vor allem über den Schutz der Privatsphäre von Kindern gesprochen. Die Jugendlichen präsentieren sich in den Videos oft in freizügigen Posen, die Pädophile anlocken könnten. Die generelle Datenschutzproblematik aufgrund des chinesischen Ursprungs des Unternehmens und die mögliche Verbreitung von Falschnachrichten gerät nun aber immer stärker in den Fokus.

Das indische IT-Ministerium kündigte bereits im Februar eine stärkere Regulierung der Social-Media-Apps an. Einflussreiche Hindu-Nationalisten haben sich sogar für ein Verbot der chinesischen Apps ausgesprochen. Die Angriffe dürften dabei auch wirtschaftliche Hintergründe haben: Angesichts der chinesischen und amerikanischen Dominanz geraten indische Konkurrenzangebote immer stärker ins Hintertreffen.

TikTok selbst wehrt sich vehement gegen die Vorwürfe. Es verweist darauf, sich an alle aktuellen Gesetze zu halten und die Inhalte auf der Plattform in zahlreichen Landessprachen zu überwachen. „Die Privatsphäre und Sicherheit unserer Benutzer hat für TikTok höchste Priorität, und wir halten uns an die lokalen Gesetze und Vorschriften in den Märkten, in denen wir tätig sind“, teilt das Unternehmen dem Handelsblatt mit. „TikTok-Benutzerdaten werden in den USA und anderen Märkten, in denen TikTok über branchenführende Rechenzentren von Drittanbietern tätig ist, gespeichert und verarbeitet.“

Rückendeckung bekommt das Unternehmen von der chinesischen Regierung. In einem Artikel der englischsprachigen Parteizeitung „Global Times“ heißt es, TikTok werde von Amerika wie Huawei als Sicherheitsrisiko dargestellt, um Chinas technologischen Aufstieg zu verhindern. TikTok sei nur eine „Unterhaltungs-App für Menschen auf der ganzen Welt, die Spaß und Entspannung wollen“.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/handelsblatt-frederic-spohr-march-13-2019-wahlkampf-beeinflussung-wie-die-chinesische-mega-app-tiktok-indiens-wahlkampf-beeinflussen-koennte

Artificial Intelligence for India's Transformation

Admin — 2019-03-20T01:38:48Z

ASSOCHAM's 3rd International Conference was organized at Hotel Imperial in New Delhi. Amber Sinha a session on use, impact and ethics in AI.

Click to view the agenda.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/artificial-intelligence-for-indias-transformation

More urban Indian women are acting against offensive calls and text messages

Aria Thaker — 2019-03-10T02:24:46Z

More Indian women are fighting back against sexual harassment they face over phone calls and text messages, a survey shows.

The blog post by Aria Thaker was published in Quartz India on March 8, 2019. Ambika Tandon was quoted.

In an India-based survey by the Swedish phone-identification app Truecaller, nearly 40% of respondents who had faced sexual harassment via calls and SMSes said they’d filed police complaints against it in 2019—a sharp increase from 10% when the company conducted the same survey just one year ago.

Truecaller’s survey, conducted with global market research firm Ipsos, asked detailed questions to over 2,100 women from metro areas across India. All respondents had to be users of the Truecaller app.

The survey, published yesterday (March 07), showed the staggering scale of phone-based harassment of women in India. One in three respondents reported receiving “sexual and inappropriate” calls or SMSes. This is the same figure as when Truecaller conducted the survey last year.

Women’s responses to phone harassment took various forms. While 62% of women reported having “taken measures against” harassment in 2018, 74% did this year. Some of the steps women took this year included blocking numbers, calling mobile operators to request “do not disturb” activation, ignoring calls, and changing one’s number.

Blocking numbers, the most popular step women took, also saw a substantial increase in popularity from last year. While 65% of women who experienced harassment reported blocking offending numbers in 2018, 92% did so in 2019.

Women who faced harassment also reported being more willing to “name and shame” perpetrators on social media—with 7% reporting having done so last year, and 16% this year. In a recent, high-profile instance of this, when television journalist Barkha Dutt experienced a torrent of phone-based harassment, she published screenshots from her perpetrators’ messages on Twitter.

Why this increase?

Some say that this increase in willingness among women to take action may be in part due to the influence of the MeToo movement, which took India by storm last year.

“MeToo had a huge impact across India,” said Gayatri Sethi, the business head of WhiteBalance, a Delhi-based creative studio that Truecaller partnered with on an anti-harassment media campaign called #ItsNotOK. Now, Sethi said, “women can step up and can tell the world about these issues, and understand that they should not just ignore (harassment).”

Truecaller believes that the Indian government’s initiatives to tackle harassment may also be partly responsible for the increased reports to police. “There’s been a major shift in the approachability of the police, and there are several helplines for women to call and report,” Lindsey LaMont, Truecaller’s global brand manager, told Quartz. “I think this has made a big difference.” In October, as #MeToo gripped India, the country’s National Commission for Women launched helplines and a dedicated email address to field harassment complaints.

It is important to note, however, that Truecaller’s survey—of which around 97% of respondents come from the highest socioeconomic classification group in India—cannot at all be considered nationally representative. “One of their criteria for targeting respondents is that they need to be using Truecaller, which is in itself a very limited sample set,” said Ambika Tandon, a policy officer who researches gender and tech issues for the think tank Centre for Internet and Society.

Indian women of lower socioeconomic strata, Tandon suggested, would be more likely to respond to harassment “by going offline or not accessing mobile phones at all, because they don’t have the kinds of support structures that would exist for communities where there is a larger level of access or skill.”

Tandon also cautioned against the survey’s clubbing together of different ways that women are taking action against harassment, for example, by including steps like ignoring calls or blocking numbers next to filing police complaints. This conflation, she said, could risk being seen as similar to instances of law enforcement bias, in which police sometimes tell women to simply block harassers’ numbers—while “not dealing with (the complaint) as rigorously as they would with a physical harassment complaint.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/more-urban-indian-women-are-acting-against-offensive-calls-and-text-messages

Why entrepreneurs are wary of the new draft e-commerce policy

Rahul Sachitanandan — 2019-03-08T00:32:43Z

Raka Chakrawarti, an entrepreneur from Mumbai, is tensed these days, not about her business, which is booming, but over the rules of the Draft National e-Commerce Policy.

The article by Rahul Sachitanand was published in Economic Times on March 3, 2019. Elonnai Hickok was quoted.

If the policy, drafted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and seeking stakeholder comments, gets a go-ahead as it is, Gourmetdelight, her bootstrapped online vendor of organic goods, will have to certify and add reviews of all the products her marketplace sells.

She says her platform has nearly 1,500 stock keeping units - from black garlic to trikaya baby spinach - and certifying all of these would mean a further strain on her budget and small workforce. Then there are other questions she is seeking answers to: what to do with the growing volume of user data (the policy suggests the government has overarching rights over it); what is the scope of the policy; what is the definition of ecommerce and will the policy, by appearing protectionist, keep away foreign capital, so far the life blood of the sector?

In five years, according to Venture Intelligence, investors have poured over $18 billion across 667 deals in India's ecommerce market. This money, mostly from overseas, has allowed ecommerce startups to grow fast and also offer investors a handsome exit - like in the case of Walmart buying Flipkart.

Some of this momentum may be lost, fear entrepreneurs, since the policy appears to take a protectionist approach - by empowering domestic entrepreneurs, pushing Make in India and proposing to own user data and deterring global investors from betting on the potential of India's ecommerce market.

Legal experts and executives in ecommerce companies feel the draft policy is half-baked. While it makes some progress on protecting home-grown small businesses, the proposals about data ownership and stricter quality norms may make it hard for such businesses to grow.

Ambareesh Murthy, CEO of furniture retailer Pepperfry, says this is a draft that is evolving and the intent may change over time. He is wary of the proposal to give government ownership of, and therefore control over, user data. While the government argues that data is a national resource, executives feel individuals should hold ultimate control over their personal information.

While foreign company-owned Amazon and Flipkart have built their business here, newer entrants such as Chinese upstarts will find an India foray costlier, since the policy calls for setting up of an office here to legally operate. Critics also argue that while the policy starts with the right intentions, it loses focus on the way. They say the recommendations made across more than 14,000 words are too broad, encompassing more than the e-commerce industry itself.

Putting together such an all-encompassing statement isn't right, say policy experts, since it involves not just DPIIT but also other government bodies and regulators, including the Competition Commission of India.

Elonnai Hickok of Centre for Internet and Society, a think tank, says regulators do not fully appreciate the nuances of the growing mountain of data and properly safeguarding it within the country.

"The draft policy has not comprehensively addressed what is the appropriate framework for ensuring data as a national resource," she says. "It appears to take a one-size-fits-all approach - bringing in privacy, intermediary liability, piracy, authenticity of information, etc. without considering potential exceptions and implications of such measures, including rights of individuals." Anirudh Rastogi, founder of Ikigai Law, a firm tackling tech legislation, contends that too much onus has been placed on entrepreneurs and their ventures to meet regulatory norms. "The draft proposes a host of consumer protection and anticounterfeiting measures, which is a good thing on principle," he says. "But this also means a lot of requirements for platforms and other intermediaries which dilute their intermediary status."

Not everyone agrees. For some homegrown entrepreneurs, measures that look protectionist offer a level playing field to compete with well-funded foreign company-owned behemoths.

"The govt is trying to level the playing field and take away some of the power held by well-funded giants over the Indian market," says Ashish Gurnani, cofounder of Postfold, an online bespoke apparel brand. "We can now hope to compete more on variety, curation and quality, rather than discounts alone." When contacted, a DPIIT official involved in the process of drafting the policy, said: "At present, we don't have control over our data. Companies which control our data can say no to sharing it if we want that data. Servers are outside. We're incapacitated as there is no physical or legal control. We want to create jobs through the policy."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-rahul-sachitanand-march-3-2019-why-entrepreneurs-are-wary-of-new-draft-e-commerce-policy

RFCs We Love: Transport & Apps Edition

Admin — 2019-03-08T00:17:57Z

The 2nd meetup of RFCs we love in 2019 was held at Go-Jek in Domlur on 2nd March 2019 in partnership with Bangalore Mobile performance group. Gurshabad Grover was a speaker at this event organized by India Internet Engineering Society.

Gurshabad Grover spoke about ongoing work in the Transport Layer Security (tls) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on Server Name Indication (SNI) encryption in TLS. For more info click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/rfcs-we-love-transport-apps-edition

Seminar on “Evolution of communication: Social Media & Beyond”

Admin — 2019-03-07T14:52:09Z

Sunil Abraham will be a speaker at this event organized by TRAI on March 15 at Hotel Radisson Blu GRT, Near Airport, Chennai. Sunil will be speaking on How should Internet Giants- Social Media, Search engines and ad tech be Regulated.

Click to view the agenda.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/seminar-on-201cevolution-of-communication-social-media-beyond201d

Nullcon Security Conference

Admin — 2019-03-07T14:40:11Z

On March 1 and 2, 2019, Karan Saini attended the Nullcon Security Conference organized by Nullcon at Holiday Inn Resort, Mobor Beach, Cavelossim, Salcette, Goa.

The schedule of the event can be accessed here. Videos of the talks can be accessed here. The event was:attended by:

Security Practitioners (Analysts, Testers, Developers, Cryptographers, Hackers)
Security Executives (CISOs, CXOs)
Business Developers and Venture Capitalists (Presidents, Directors, VPs, Consultants)
Vendor Companies and Sponsors (Hardware, Software, Services)
Career Seekers and Recruiters (Seasoned Veterans, Students, Expanding Companies
Academia (Professors, Students)

The nullcon conference is a unique platform for security companies/evangelists to showcase their research and technology. Nullcon hosts Prototype, Exhibition, Trainings, Free Workshops, null Job Fair at the conference. It is an integrated and structured platform which caters to the needs of IT Security industry at large in a comprehensive way.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/nullcon-security-conference

'Website not found' pop-ups leave net activists fuming

Tushar Kaushik — 2019-04-03T15:53:04Z

Internet activists are concerned over what they term as rising instances of websites being blocked by internet service providers (ISPs) and the government without citing any reason for doing so.

The article by Tushar Kaushik was published in the Economic Times on March 6, 2019. Gurshabad Grover was quoted.

Last year, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked 2,799 URLs for allegedly hosting malicious content, marking a sharp increase from 2017, when 1,385 URLs were blocked.

These numbers were disclosed by minister of state for electronics and IT SS Ahluwalia in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha in February.

In 2016, the number of URLs that were blocked stood at 633.

The government has also withheld information on the list of blocked websites despite several queries under the right to information (RTI) Act, internet activists told ET.

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bengaluru-based advocacy group, is compiling a list of URLs and websites that are being blocked, and has identified over 3,200 so far. Senior policy officer at CIS Gurshabad Grover said that among the blocked URLs are proxy servers and websites of NGOs that are deemed to have criticised government policy.

As per Grover, some of the websites and URLs reported to have been blocked at some point include the sites of human rights groups such as arabhra-.org, www.protectioninternational.org and www.drugsense.org.Also blocked were a site on feminism (feminist.org), the website of an environmental organisation (wedo.org) and a blog by activist Irom Sharmila (iromsharmilachanu.wordpress.com).

“Many blockades, when brought to the notice of courts, were revoked, but the URLs still remain inaccessible. The bigger problem is that of getting the list of blocked URLs,” Grover told ET.

'Restricting the Right to Receive Information'

A MeitY official, however, said no website is blocked arbitrarily. “No government machinery can order (blocking of a URL) without valid reason and without following valid procedure. And the only procedure available to us is (Section) 69A and 79 (of the IT Act). Rest is a court order,” the senior MeitY official, who did not want to be identified, told ET.

“Valid procedure is (Section) 69A, where we can order. But in addition there is (Section) 79, where notice is issued for any illegal activity happening on any platform. This notice can be issued by the appropriate government department. And the intermediary platform is free to agree to it or disagree,” the official said, adding that every complaint received against a website is considered individually.

Section 69A of the IT Act empowers the Centre to block websites in the interest of national security. Section 79 empowers the government to issue a notice to an intermediary to remove any content that it finds illegal.

A MeitY spokesperson could not respond immediately to ET’s emailed queries on the issue.

Grover of CIS said there was no way to determine if a website was blocked by the government or an ISP, unless a government order for the blocking was available.
For instance, last month, several users of the messenger service Telegram and music sharing website SoundCloud had reported that these websites had been blocked by Reliance Jio, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation.

Reliance Jio did not respond to queries from ET.

Internet Freedom Foundation’s executive director Apar Gupta expressed concern over the lack of information regarding reasons for blocking URLs.

“This is very worrying because it’s a secretive process that prevents the public from accessing a website, which restricts the right to receive information — a part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and information,” he said.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-march-6-2019-tushar-kaushik-website-not-found-pop-ups-leave-net-activists-fuming

Risk integration is key to better cybersecurity management

Dr. R. Seetharaman — 2019-03-03T06:26:44Z

Digital connectivity plays an anchor role in unlocking innovation and prosperity around the world, but increasing cyber threat is a roadblock to collective path of progress.

The article by Dr. R. Seetharaman was published in the Gulf Times on February 24, 2019.

The fourth industrial revolution, which combines advanced technologies in innovative ways, is set to dramatically reshape the way people live, work and relate to one another. As per Cybersecurity Ventures, the cybercrime will cost the world $6tn annually by 2021, this is up from $3tn in 2015.

Cybercrime costs include damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, and theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, and post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm.

The work space is undergoing changes, robotics and artificial intelligence are going to play important roles and the customer will be more empowered in the digital environment. Data breaches in 2018 compromised the personal information of millions of people around the world.

The latest victims were Marriott hotels, which recently revealed that hackers had accessed the information of an estimated 500mn customers. Payment card information and personal data such as billing addresses, phone numbers and e-mails of British Airways were hacked. For Cathay Pacific, passenger data was accessed without authorisation. Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) also pointed out that about 130mn Aadhar numbers along with other sensitive data were available on the Internet.

The reason for the data leak was narrowed down to four government-run schemes ranging from National Social Assistance Programme by the Ministry of Rural Development, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), also by the Ministry of Rural Development, Daily Online Payment Reports under NREGA by the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Chandranna Bima Scheme, also by the government of Andhra Pradesh.

The public and private partnership model should be adopted to face the challenges.

This can be done by establishing areas of common interest, supporting capacity building and resource pooling and developing benchmarks for resilience.

There are various reasons for cyber-attacks/data breach incidents – few of them are as follows. In effective vulnerability management, lack of security monitoring, human errors – accidental publishing, hacking, targeted attack, business e-mail compromise, phishing and social engineering attacks, inadequate encryption, on-adherence to strong password policy, state sponsored terrorism/attacks and corporate espionage.

The various cyber-attacks, which have left significant impact on global organisations. Institutions need to be more collaborative on security issues. Banks need to manage the change by redefining their business models to manage various stake holders such as customers, regulator and shareholders.

The involvement of the company’s board is required which should set the tone for enhancing security and determine whether the full board or a committee should have oversight responsibility.

Board of directors are starting to take note, particularly members of the audit committee, who list cyber security among their top concerns. Test effectiveness of existing security devices/ solutions and fine tune. Adopt new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify abnormal behaviour in networks.

Maintain IT system hygiene i.e., effective patching, hardening and baseline. Develop blue/red and purple teams to have balanced check on the vulnerability exploitation, effective threat monitoring and countermeasures. Develop cyber crisis management plan and establish breach response plan.

Qatar Central Bank has brought IT security strategy and technology risk circulars, which will provide directions for the banks to build their strategy while adopting advanced technologies.

It also took the initiative for formation of Banking CIRT (Critical incident response team), which will act as platform for sharing of security incidents and enable quick response for its members. The State of Qatar has brought cyber-crime prevention laws, data privacy law, monitoring bank websites and alert on probable cyber-attacks in the country.

“The GDPR becomes important in the light of all major banks and FIs in Qatar having their branches/offices where they are collecting personal information of EU resident customers and processing/storing such information in Qatar and EU.

The Qatar Data Privacy Law speaks about controls over the data in rest/processing/transmission and role & responsibilities of data processor/controller. “Risk integration is key towards cybersecurity management”.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/gulf-times-february-24-2019-dr-r-seetharaman-risk-integration-is-key-to-better-cybersecurity-management

Any failure to resolve the Kashmir problem could lead the South Asia to a nuclear disaster

Admin — 2019-03-03T06:17:23Z

World Kashmir Awareness (WKA) Board in its meeting on February 23, 2019 regrets the death of 45 Indian soldiers recently killed at Pulwama, Kashmir.

The blog post was published in Kashmir Watch on February 25, 2019. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

Further, WKA is saddened by the fast deteriorating human rights situation, particularly in the valley and Jammu. It calls up on Mr. Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India to address the human rights situation earnestly. We cannot escape the brazen disregard for the fundamental rights of Kashmiris shown by Prime Minister Modi and his most inhumane draconian apparatus in Kashmir. It is time that India joins the community of civilized nations and allows the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise the right of self –determination as agreed upon by both India and Pakistan, endorsed and accepted by the United Nations Security Council.

The gross human rights violations are documented by various international and impartial human rights agencies. A brief illustration of those violations are given below.

The crisis is so severe that the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, for the first time in June 2018, released a report detailing atrocities committed [by the Indian occupation (uniformed) forces] in Kashmir. The report alludes to the special powers granted to the Indian occupation (security) forces allowing them total impunity. “No armed forces personnel have faced prosecution since the powers went into effect 28 years ago, and the authorities have made little effort to investigate various allegations, including reports of mass graves”, the report said. It criticized the Indian occupation forces, in particular, “for inflicting mass civilian casualties in response to escalating protests” and called for an “international investigation into these gross abuses”. The conflict “has robbed millions of their basic human rights and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering,” said the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, while presenting the report.

Prior to this report, an Indian author Gautam Navlakha in his report “Internal War and Civil Rights: Disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir” in the Economic and Political Weekly, says that “The recent Amnesty International report examines the phenomenon of disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir. While some of the ‘missing’ may have crossed the border, by far the larger number have fallen victim to state terrorism – arrest, detention, torture and death at the hands of the security forces. Courts cannot provide much relief as court orders are ignored by bureaucrats and armed forces”.

In an interview published on August 28 2016, the South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, Meenakshi Ganguly, while calling for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and other draconian laws that provide Indian military and para-military immunity from prosecution, said the way “to persuade people to believe in rule of law is for the state to set an example by first and foremost, holding itself accountable.”

The interview was conducted at a time when 70 civilians had been killed, over 500 youth blinded by pellets in one or both eyes and over 5000 civilians injured by Indian rogue army in just 50 days immediately prior to the interview.

In a most despicable act, the rogue Indian Army does not even hesitate to use civilians in Kashmir as human shield. In its editorial entitled “Cruelty and Cowardice in Kashmir”, New York Times in April, 2017 wrote “Members of India’s armed forces reached a new low in the long history of alleged human rights abuses in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir when they beat and then tied a 24-year-old shawl weaver named Farooq Ahmad Dar to the front of a jeep on April 9, using him as a human shield against stone-throwing crowds”.

The New York Times reported that many in India expressed shock and revulsion on this report. Yet “large sections of India’s booming news media — some editors, some columnists — openly celebrated what could well be a violation of the Geneva Conventions”. India’s attorney general defended the use of human shields, praising the officer who made the decision. The army should be applauded, he said. The report went on to say that “A judge on India’s Armed Forces Tribunal, which hears court-martial appeals, tweeted that it was “an innovative idea.” Mr. Ahmad was turned into a war cry on prime-time television and on social media. Such is the status of Indian Democracy!?

During the same period, as Mr. Modi was going around the world projecting the “Greatness of India”, The Washington Post reported banning of 22 social media sites in Indian controlled Kashmir. Pranesh Prakash, policy director for the Indian advocacy group the Center for Internet and Society, called the ban a “blow to freedom of speech” and “legally unprecedented in India.”

And, where is Mr. Modi’s outrage regarding the ‘Dead Eyes’ Epidemic in Kashmir brought on by the use of lead pellets by his “courageous soldiers”, as reported by international press. In less than two months (July-August 2016), New York Times reported that “more than 570 patients have reported to Srinagar’s main government hospital with eyes ruptured by lead pellets, sometimes known as birdshot, fired by [Indian] occupation (security) forces armed with pump-action shotguns…..The patients have mutilated retinas, severed optic nerves, irises seeping out like puddles of ink”. The victim even includes recent victim an 18-month old toddler. “2016 will almost certainly be remembered as the year of dead eyes.”

Commenting on “Kashmir in Crisis”, The Editorial Board of New Times, yet again wrote that a “major cause of the uprising is the resentment among Kashmiri youths who have come of age under an Indian security apparatus that acts against civilians with impunity. Kashmir is subject to India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, which grants the military wide powers to arrest, shoot to kill, occupy or destroy property. The result is a culture of brutal disdain for the local population.”

The Board trusts that the involvement of the international community, particularly the world powers in this matter will bring its influence to bear on both India and Pakistan to initiate a peace process with which the United Nations as well as the accredited leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir will be associated so as to ensure that settlement arrived at will be based on the principles of justice.

Lastly, the Board urges the Secretary General of the United Nations to bring this matter to the attention of the Security Council. Whether this could be done successfully depends on the attitudes and policies of the permanent members, but they should be left in no doubt that any failure to resolve the problem could lead the South Asian Subcontinent to a nuclear disaster, with incalculable consequences for the whole world.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/kashmir-watch-february-25-2019-any-failure-to-resolve-the-kashmir-problem-could-lead-the-south-asia-to-a-nuclear-disaster

Participation in the meeting of BIS LITD 17

Admin — 2019-03-03T06:12:01Z

Gurshabad Grover participated in the fifteenth meeting of the Information Systems Security and Biometrics Sectional Committee (LITD 17) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which was conducted online on February 26.

Some of the things we discussed included:

Participation of committee members at the ISO level in SC 27 'IT Security Techniques' working groups.
Update from the last SC 27 working group meetings (I updated the committee with some standards I was tracking and my participation as co-rapporteur in the 'Impact of AI on Privacy' study period).
Participation in the next SC 27 working group meetings, which will be held in April (where I will be participating in WG 1 'Information Security Management Systems' and WG 5 'Identity management and privacy technologies' meetings).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/participation-in-the-meeting-of-bis-litd-17

Over 30 organisations, industry bodies oppose proposal to ban vape content

praskrishna — 2019-03-03T05:49:54Z

More than 30 organisations and industry bodies, including Ficci, CII and the Cellular Operators Association of India, have written to the Electronics and IT Ministry (MeitY), urging it not to ban online content related to the Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).

The article by Press Trust of India was carried in the Times of India on February 28, 2019.

Other major organisations supporting this include Asia Internet Coalition, Broadband India Forum, Internet Freedom Foundation, Data Security Council of India, Heart Care Foundation of India, and The Centre for Internet and Society.

The draft amendment to the intermediary guidelines rules proposes new regulations for intermediaries (digital platforms), including a clause on banning online content that promotes ENDS.

These entities, in a statement on Thursday, said citizens have the right to access information on safer alternatives to smoking. The submissions form part of the 609-page document.

"...(These) organisations have opposed the ban on content related to ENDS citing overstepping of IT ministry's jurisdiction, violation of consumer rights, no legal backing for the action and use of vague terminology that can lead to misinterpretation and overregulation," it added.

Vape refers to electronic cigarettes or similar devices that simulate the experience of smoking a cigarette.

The statement quoted Association of Vapers India Director Samrat Chowdhery as saying that it is encouraging that many organisations concerned with public health have sought removal of the proposed ban on ENDS content.

"India is reeling under a tobacco epidemic which causes nearly a million deaths a year. We stated in our submission that denying people access to information on safer alternatives will, therefore, be highly detrimental and in violation of Article 21 of our constitution," he added.

The Data Security Council of India (DSCI), a Nasscom initiative, said the terms and expressions used are ambiguous and may be deemed unconstitutional.

Amnesty India said it "is concerned that the rules use vague and overly broad terms to identify expression that can be restricted, going well beyond both Indian and international human rights standards on freedom of expression". SR SR HRS

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-pti-february-28-2019-over-30-organisations-industry-bodies-oppose-proposal-to-ban-vape-content

Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN) Convening Design

Admin — 2019-03-01T01:08:54Z

Ambika Tandon attended a workshop organized by Association for Progressive Communications for grantees of the Feminist Internet Research Network as a panelist on a session on feminist research methods.. The workshop was held from 27 February to 1 March, in Malaysia. Represented from 8 organizations attended the workshop.

Objectives of the convenining

To inaugurate a network of feminist researcher in the field of digital technology for ongoing collaboration, advice and active solidarity.
To start trust building within the network through shared values and plot how it will work and how it will expand.
To facilitate exchange of learnings and capacity building among the network members and other resource persons, in particular.
To facilitate peer-feedback, collaboration and interdisciplinary discussions on research design, methodologies and research plans of the selected projects and other resource persons.
To get feedback on overall FIRN project research methodology/design.
To explore new and innovative methods, as well as get understand key developments and challenges in more established ways of collecting and analysing data in the four areas of the research initiative.

For more information click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/firn-convening-design