We are anonymous, we are legion

SC directs govt to further regulate social media: Is it necessary? Experts weigh in

Geetika Mantri — 2019-09-30T14:28:10Z

With the SC's directive to the Indian government for further regulation of social media, TNM asked experts what were the challenges associated with the same.

The article by Geetika Mantri was published in the News Minute on September 28, 2019. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

The Supreme Court recently expressed the need to regulate social media to curb fake news, defamation and trolling. It also asked the Union government to come up with guidelines to prevent misuse of social media while protecting users’ privacy in three weeks’ time.

The apex court made these statements while hearing a transfer petition by Facebook which has asked for petitions on regulation of social media filed in Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh High Courts on similar issues to be transferred to the SC so that the scope can be expanded.

In India, social media platforms already come under the purview of the Information Technology (IT) Act, the ‘intermediaries guidelines’ that were notified under the IT Act in 2011 and the Indian Penal Code.

With the SC's directive to the Indian government for further regulation of social media, TNM asked experts what were the challenges associated with the same.

Existing regulations and misuse

Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (which is also an intervenor in the above case in SC) and lawyer Apar Gupta points out that under existing laws, social media channels are already required to take down content if they are directed to do so by a court or law enforcement.

There are also reporting mechanisms on these platforms, where they exercise discretion to ascertain whether a reported post is violating community guidelines and needs to be taken down. These, however, have been reported to be arbitrary – many posts on body positivity and menstruation, for instance, have been taken down in the past while other explicit imagery continues to be allowed.

“But it’s necessary to have minimum legal standards that need to be fulfilled to compel such take-downs on social media. If platforms had to take down posts based on individual complaints, it could result in many frivolous take-downs. Free speech should be the norm, and removal of content, the exception,” Apar argues.

IT consultant Kiran Chandra says that many of the existing regulations themselves are “dangerously close to censorship and may have a chilling effect on freedom of speech, which is why cases are being fought on those in courts.”

Even under existing regulations, there is scope for misuse - which has also been documented in the past - to curb dissent.

“One of the key problems of a lot of regulatory measures is the vagueness of language which is exploited by state agencies to behave in a repressive way,” Kiran says. “Any regulation has to be clear and concrete so that there is no scope for overreach."

Much of fake news is driven by politics

Fake news isn't exactly new, but its proliferation and extent have expanded manifold with social media.

Srinivas Kodali, an independent security researcher, says that it is not as though governments do not know where a good portion of fake news is coming from. “Most political parties have IT cells that dedicatedly work on creating and spreading fake news. But what is the Election Commission or anyone else doing to stop that?” he questions.

Kiran points out that this machinery exists with a view to gain electoral dividends. “There can be no countering fake news without taking on these structures and the political forces behind them,” he says.

He adds that social media giants also need to take responsibility. “Currently, considering the role social media companies play in the society, they are doing almost nothing [about fake news]. In fact, virality - and a lot of fake news tends to be viral - is the basis of the business model of many social media companies, including Facebook, and WhatsApp, which it owns. At the very least, these companies need to dedicate far more resources, and must provide more transparency into their functioning if any dent has to be made in countering fake news.”

Kiran also says that there is a need to support websites that bust fake news, and make people more aware of the need to verify news.

Defamation and online harassment

Experts say that when it comes to the SC’s observation that there should be redressal mechanisms for someone who has been ‘defamed’ on social media, the recourse is pretty clear-cut.

Pranesh Prakash, a fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society, says, “If it concerns defamation, it is very likely that the victim knows where the defamatory post has come from. Even if it is not an original message, the defamation law does not require you to find out the origin of such a message. Anyone who has put it, forwarded it, is liable.”

That being said, it is the social media giants that need to pick up the slack when it comes to dealing with targeted harassment and online bullying.

It has been reported earlier that Facebook, due to its lack of understanding of the Indian context as well as diversity, often fails in effectively removing hate speech from the platform in India. Facebook's community guidelines are unavailable in several Indian languages too.

Kiran says that while there already exist legal provisions for dealing with offensive speech, the problem is that they are either misused or underused. “Critics of the government get hit with these cases unreasonably while many who engage in hate speech and abuse are followed by the most powerful people in the country. Here again, social media firms need to massively increase the resources they spend on weeding out such content.”

Privacy and surveillance concerns

Any conversation on additional regulation of social media brings up concerns about privacy and surveillance.

Apar says if regulators want easy access to user information for curbing misuse, spread of fake news and the like, it would require online platforms to modify their products to increase surveillance - to have exact details about who said what, when and about whom. “This is why it’s important for legal standards and conditions for accessing user information to be followed. Government also needs to become more accountable on what information on users they are demanding from social media companies.”

Kiran cautions that “any bid at regulating expression online has to be proportional and concrete with adequate redressal mechanisms and without any blanket provisions.”

“We need strong data protection and privacy laws which restrict the scope of these companies and reduce their footprint online,” he adds, referring, for instance to Facebook's monopoly - the company also owns Instagram. “Similarly, the role they play in elections and political processes as a whole, needs to be checked.”

Srinivas points out that ultimately, social media is a reflection of what is happening in the society: “If there is no rule of law offline, it won’t be there online.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-news-minute-geetika-mantri-september-28-2019-sc-directs-govt-to-further-regulate-social-media

Comparison of the Manila Principles to Draft of The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines(Amendment) Rules], 2018

Akriti Bopanna and Gayatri Puthran — 2020-06-01T07:48:17Z

This paper looks at the Manila Principles intermediary liability framework in comparison to the amended draft Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment)] Rules, 2018 introduced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in December, 2018.

Introduction

In December 2018, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) introduced amendments to the draft Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment)] Rules, 2018 [“the 2018 Rules”]. The proposed changes ranged from asking intermediaries to proactively filter content using automated technology to prohibiting promotion of substances such as cigarettes and alcohol. In CIS's submission to the Government, we highlighted our various concerns with the proposed rules. Building on the same, this paper aims to assess how the new draft rules measure up to the best practices on Intermediary Liability as prescribed in the Manila Principles. These principles were formulated in 2015 by a coalition of civil society groups and experts, including CIS, in order to establish best practice to guide policies pertaining to intermediary liability.

Depending on their function, intermediaries have a varying hand in hosting activism and discourse that are integral to a citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression. The Manila Principles are an attempt at articulating best practices that lead to the development of intermediary liability regimes which respect human rights.

Consequently, the paper examines the draft rules to assess their compatibility with the Manila Principles. It provides recommendations such that, where needed, the rules are aligned with the aforementioned principles. The assessment is done based on the insight into the rationale of the Manila Principles provided in its Background Paper.

Disclosure: CIS is a recipient of research grants from Facebook India.

Click to download the research paper which was edited by Elonnai Hickok and reviewed by Torsha Sarkar.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/akriti-bopanna-and-gayathri-puthran-comparison-of-manila-principles-to-draft-it-intermediary-guidelines-rules

September 2019 Newsletter

praskrishna — 2019-12-06T04:53:12Z

The newsletter for the month of September 2019.

Highlights for September 2019
Centre for Internet & Society's application for membership of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network has been accepted! As a part of this network, we, along with other civil society groups based out of various jurisdictions, would be providing inputs on making the Call a robust, human rights-centred initiative. A book by Amber Sinha titled 'The Networked Public: How Social Media is Changing Democracy' was published by Rupa Publications. The book looks at how networks exert unchecked power in subverting political discourse and polarizing the public in India. Towards that, it investigates the history of misinformation and the biases that make the public susceptible to it, how digital platforms and their governance impacts the public’s behaviour in them, as well as the changing face of political targeting in a data-driven ecosystem. Akriti Bopanna and Gayatri Puthran co-authored a research paper which compares the Manila Principles to Draft of The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines(Amendment) Rules], 2018, introduced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in December, 2018. Gurshabad Grover and Torsha Sarkar along with Rajashri Seal and Neil Trivedi co-authored a paper that examines the constitutionality of the government prohibition on the broadcast of news against private and community FM channels. The authors also mapped chronologically the history of the development of community and private radio channels in India. Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi generated empirical evidence about the CCTV programme well underway in Delhi. The case study was published by Centre for Development Informatics, Global Development Institute, SEED, in the Development Informatics working paper series housed at the University of Manchester. Shruti Trikanand and Amber Sinha published a blog post titled Core Concepts and Processes by which the authors hope to arrive at a shared vocabulary to discuss and critically analyse digital identity systems, both within our team and in engagements with other stakeholders. Pooja Saxena and Akash Sheshadri contributed to the project. The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace released a public consultation process that sought to solicit comments and obtain feedback on the definition of “Stability of Cyberspace”, as developed by the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC). CIS gave detailed commentary on the definitions and suggested a new definition of cyber stability. CIS is undertaking a study on digital mediation of domestic and care work in India, as part of and supported by the Feminist Internet Research Network led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The study is exploring the ways in which structural inequalities, such as those of gender and class, are being reproduced or challenged by digital platforms. The project sites are Delhi and Bangalore, where we are conducting interviews with workers, companies, and unions. In Bangalore, we are collaborating with Stree Jagruti Samiti to collect qualitative data from different stakeholders. The outputs of the research will include a report, policy brief, and other communication materials in English, Hindi, and Kannada. This study is being led by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi, along with Sumandro Chattapadhyay. CIS-A2K has put up a call for joining the Free Knowledge movement #Wikipedia #Wikimedia. Are you an individual or do you represent any organisation, institution, groups or enterprises? You can actually help the ‘Free Knowledge’ movement by donating photos, media, content or archives.

CIS and the News

The following articles and research papers were authored by CIS secretariat during the month:

Doing Standpoint Theory (Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi; Gender IT.org; September 1, 2019).
Traffic Rules, Mindset and On-Time Payments (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; September 4, 2019).
Kashmir’s digital blackout marks a period darker than the dark side of the moon (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; September 15, 2019).
The Networked Public: How Social Media Changed Democracy (Amber Sinha; Rupa Publications; September 19, 2019).
Capturing Gender and Class Inequities: The CCTVisation of Delhi (Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon; Centre for Development Informatics, Global Development Institute; September 27, 2019).

CIS in the News

CIS secretariat was consulted for the following articles published during the month in various publications:

Why having more CCTV cameras does not translate to crime prevention (Manasa Rao; The News Minute; September 3, 2019).
Android 10 out, big on ‘privacy’ (Roshan H. Nair; Deccan Herald; September 4, 2019).
Internet pour toutes (Isabelle Grégoire; L'Actualite; September 11, 2019).
Chennai residents rue fuzzy CCTV surveillance (Vivek Narayanan and R. Srinivasan; The Hindu; September 18, 2019).

Millions of kids in India access the Net on their parents’ devices, says study (Varun Aggarwal; Hindu Businessline; September 27, 2019).
SC directs govt to further regulate social media: Is it necessary? Experts weigh in (Geetika Mantri; The News Minute; September 28, 2019).

Access to Knowledge

Access to Knowledge is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape.

Wikipedia

Under a grant from Wikimedia Foundation we are doing a project for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

News

Bhuvana Meenakshi elected Mozilla Rep for July 2019 (Bhuvana Meenakshi was selected as a Rep of the Month (July 2019) by Mozilla for her active contributions).

Openness

Participation in Events

FOSSCON India 2019 (Organized by KLS Gogte Institute of Technology; Belgaum; August 29 - 31, 2019). Bhuvana Meenakshi gave a talk on "The revolution of WebXR".
DevFest'19 (Organized by Google Developers Groups; Coimbatore; September 14, 2019).
React India 2019 (Organized by React India; Goa; September 26 - 28, 2019). Bhuvana Meenakshi was a speaker.

Internet Governance

The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society has defined internet governance as the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles of shared principles, norms, rules, decision making procedures and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet. As part of internet governance work we work on policy issues relating to freedom of expression primarily focusing on the Information Technology Act and issues of liability of intermediaries for unlawful speech and simultaneously ensuring that the right to privacy is safeguarded as well.

Freedom of Speech & Expression

Under a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, CIS is doing research on the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government and contribute studies, reports and policy briefs to feed into the ongoing debates at the national as well as international level. As part of the project we bring you the following outputs:

Research Papers

Examining the Constitutionality of the Ban on Broadcast of News by Private FM and Community Radio Stations (Gurshabad Grover, Torsha Sarkar, Rajashri Seal and Neil Trivedi; September 27, 2019).
Comparison of the Manila Principles to Draft of The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines(Amendment) Rules], 2018 (Akriti Bopanna and Gayatri Puthran; September 30, 2019).

News

Turning off the internet: Chips with Everything podcast (Gurshabad Grover and Ambika Tandon recorded an episode with the Guardian's podcast on digital culture, called Chips with Everything).

Privacy

Under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC we are doing a project on surveillance. CIS is researching the history of privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like Aadhar. As part of our ongoing research, we bring you the following outputs:

Submission

Submission to Global Commission on Stability of Cyberspace on the definition of Cyber Stability (Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok; September 11, 2019).

Participation in Events

Policy Design Jam (Organized by Whatsapp and ISPP; Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi; September 16, 2019). Pallavi Bedi, Akash Sheshadri and Anubha Sinha attended the event.
Conceptualising India's Digital Policy Vision (Organized by National University of Juridical Sciences; National University of Juridical Sciences; Kolkata; September 18, 2019).
All Partners Meeting (Organized by Partnership on AI; London; September 26 - 27, 2019). Elonnai Hickok reprsented CIS as the co-chair for the Labour and Economy Expert Group.

Digital Identity

Omidyar Network is investing in establishment of a three-region research alliance — to be co-led by the Institute for Technology & Society (ITS), Brazil, the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) , Kenya, and CIS. As part of this Alliance, CIS is examining the policy objectives of digital identity projects, how technological policy choices can be thought through to meet the objectives, and how legitimate uses of a digital identity framework may be evaluated.

Featured Research

Core Concepts and Processes (Shruti Trikanand and Amber Sinha; September 13, 2019). Research by Shruti Trikanad and Amber Sinha. Conceptualization by Pooja Saxena and Amber Sinha. Illustrations by Akash Sheshadri and Pooja Saxena.

Artificial Intelligence

With origins dating back to the 1950s Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not necessarily new. However, interest in AI has been rekindled over the recent years due to advancements of technology and its applications to real-world scenarios. We conduct research on the existing legal and regulatory parameters:

Participation in Events

AI in Healthcare (Organized by Center for Information Technology and Public Policy and International Institute of Information Technology; Bangalore). Radhika Radhakrishnan gave a talk.
Responsible AI Workshop (Organized by Facebook; September 17, 2019; New Delhi). Sunil Abraham participated in the meeting.
Constitutionalizing Artificial Intelligence (Organized by Constitutional Law Society; National University of Juridical Sciences; Kolkata). Arindrajit Basu delivered a lecture.

Researchers@Work

The researchers@work programme at CIS produces and supports pioneering and sustained trans-disciplinary research on key thematics at the intersections of internet and society; organise and incubate networks of and fora for researchers and practitioners studying and making internet in India; and contribute to development of critical digital pedagogy, research methodology, and creative practice.

Announcement

Digital mediation of domestic and care work in India: Project Announcement (Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi; October 1, 2019).

Essays on #List — Selected Abstracts

In response to a recent call for essays that social, economic, cultural, political, infrastructural, or aesthetic dimensions of the #List, we received 11 abstracts. Out of these, we have selected 4 pieces to be published as part of a series titled #List on the r@w blog.

Blog Entries

#HookingUp (Akhil Kang, Christina Thomas Dhanraj, Dhrubo Jyoti, and Gowthaman Ranganathan; August 1, 2019).
Call for Contributions and Reflections: Your experiences in Decolonizing the Internet’s Languages! (P.P. Sneha; August 7, 2019).
Simiran Lalvani - Workers’ fictive kinship relations in Mumbai app-based food delivery (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; August 16, 2019).

Telecom

The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum.

Monthly Blog

Traffic Rules, Mindset and On-Time Payments (Shyam Ponappa; September 4, 2019).

About CIS

CIS is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.

Follow CIS on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cis_india
Twitter - Access to Knowledge: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Twitter - Information Policy: https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

Support CIS:

Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

Collaborate with CIS:

We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2019-newsletter

Millions of kids in India access the Net on their parents’ devices, says study

Varun Aggarwal — 2019-09-28T10:01:04Z

Experts raise concern over exposing kids to predators, phishing and bullying.

The article by Varun Aggarwal published in Hindu Businessline quotes Sunil Abraham.

Youtube’s recent fine of $170 million in the US for illegally collecting personal information of children without parental consent should ring alarm bells back in India. Similar violations may be going unnoticed here as millions of kids use Internet on their parents’ devices.

A new study conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) states 66 million Internet users in the country are in the age bracket of 5 to 11 years and they are viewing it on the devices of family members.

In today's age when adults are finding it hard to understand the extent of physical, mental, financial risk they are exposing themselves to, kids need special treatment as they are more vulnerable and not capable of making decisions for themselves.

This could be exposing young children to predators, bullying, phishing, or even malware attacks, experts feel.

“India does not have clear laws equivalent to COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) but adhoc executive rulings, court cases and discussions. We don't have formal ways of ensuring responsible behaviour,” said Mishi Choudhary, technology lawyer and online civil liberties activist.

Social networks Tiktok was recently pulled up by the Indian government for allowing ‘inappropriate content’ being available on the platform. A BusinessLine investigation later revealed that Tiktok was not alone. Many other social media platforms had similar, if not more inappropriate, content easily accessible without any restrictions or age verification.

Moreover, no serious efforts have been taken by either the government or the social media platforms to ensure that kids are not exposed to ‘inappropriate content’ or if they are collecting any private information about the kids.

“Several apps have children-directed content, targeted ads are regularly served on these platforms to kids younger than 13 years of age. There needs to be clear requirement for verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information and clear information about parental control,” Choudhary said.

Parents and kids are equally required to be reminded that online actions have consequences.

“Internet today is a dangerous place for children. Parents should ensure that all access is supervised till the child in well into their teens and demonstrate safe practices online,” said Sunil Abraham, Executive Director at the Centre for Internet and Society.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindu-business-line-varun-aggarwal-september-27-2019-millions-of-kids-in-india-access-the-net-on-their-parents-devices-says-study

Examining the Constitutionality of the Ban on Broadcast of News by Private FM and Community Radio Stations

Gurshabad Grover, Torsha Sarkar, Rajashri Seal and Neil Trivedi — 2019-09-27T16:36:46Z

Gurshabad Grover and Torsha Sarkar along with Rajashri Seal and Neil Trivedi co-authored a paper that examined the constitutionality of the government prohibition on the broadcast of news against private and community FM channels.

In the article, the authors also mapped chronologically the history of the development of community and private radio channels in India. As part of the legal analysis, the authors examined the prohibition on the touchstones of existing Indian jurisprudence on media freedom and speech rights. Finally, they also utilized some key points made by the Additional Solicitor General in the Shreya Singhal case, to propose an alternative regulatory framework that would address both the interests of the radio channels and the government.

In 1995, the Supreme Court declared airwaves to be public property in the seminal case of The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting v Cricket Association of Bengal, and created the stepping stones for liberalization of broadcasting media from government monopoly. Despite this, community radio and private FM channels, in their nearly two decades of existence, have been unable to broadcast their own news content because of the Government’s persisting prohibition on the same.In this paper, we document the historical developments surrounding the issue, and analyse the constitutional validity of this prohibition on the touchstone of the existing jurisprudence on free speech and media freedom. Additionally, we also propose an alternative regulatory framework which would assuage the government’s apprehensions regarding radicalisation through radio spaces, as well as ensure that the autonomy of these stations is not curtailed.

Click to download the full paper by NLUD Journal of Legal Studies here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/nlud-journal-of-legal-studies-september-27-2019-gurshabad-grover-torsha-sarkar-rajashri-seal-neil-trivedi-examining-the-constitutionality-of-ban-on-broadcast-of-news-by-private-fm-and-community-radio-stations

Capturing Gender and Class Inequities: The CCTVisation of Delhi

Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon — 2019-09-27T15:24:10Z

Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi generated empirical evidence about the CCTV programme well underway in Delhi. The case study was published by Centre for Development Informatics, Global Development Institute, SEED, in the Development Informatics working paper series housed at the University of Manchester.

Abstract

Cityscapes across the global South, following historical trends in the North, are increasingly being littered by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. In this paper, we study the wholesale implementation of CCTV in New Delhi, a city notorious for incredibly high rates of crime against women. The push for CCTV, then, became one of many approaches explored by the state in making the city safer for women.

In this paper, we deconstruct this narrative of greater surveillance equating to greater safety by using empirical evidence to understand the subjective experience of surveilling and being surveilled. By focussing on gender and utilising work from feminist thought, we find that the experience of surveillance is intersectionally mediated along the axes of class and gender.The gaze of CCTV is cast upon those already marginalised to arrive at normative encumbrances placed by private, neoliberal interests on the urban public space. The politicisation of CCTV has happened in this context, and continues unabated in the absence of any concerted policy apparatus regulating it. We frame our findings utilising an analytical data justice framework put forth by Heeks and Shekhar (2019). This comprehensively sets out a social justice agenda that situates CCTV within the socio-political contexts that are intertwined in the development and implementation of the technology itself.

Click to download the full research paper

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/development-informatics-paper-number-81-aayush-rathi-and-ambika-tandon-capturing-gender-and-class-inequities

Turning off the internet: Chips with Everything podcast

Admin — 2019-09-26T02:09:18Z

Gurshabad Grover and Ambika Tandon recorded an episode with the Guardian's podcast on digital culture, called Chips with Everything.

The episode was on internet shutdowns in India, and can be found here. Ambika spoke about a book CIS published in collaboration with 101 Reporters last year on personal narratives of experiencing shutdowns, which can be found here. Gurshabad talked about the legal grounds through which shutdowns are imposed, possible routes of countering them, and the status of shutdowns in international law.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/guardian-september-3-2019-turning-off-the-internet

Participation in the meeting of LITD 17 at BIS

Admin — 2019-11-02T06:30:29Z

On September 25, 2019, Gurshabad Grover along with Elonnai Hickok and Karan Saini attended the meeting of the Information Systems Security & Privacy Sectional Committee (LITD17) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Some agenda points:

Elonnai, Karan and Gurshabad had submitted comments on two standards related to infomration security of biometrics systems: (i) ISO/IEC 24745: 2011 Information Technology – Security techniques – Biometric information protection; (ii) Doc. No. LITD 17 (3595) ISO/IEC 19792: 2009 Information Technology – Security techniques – Security evaluation of biometrics. Gurshabad Grover is now serving in a panel with BIS and MeitY representatives to discuss how the standards compare to UIDAI's standards and governing regulations.
Gurshabad updated the committee with my plan of participation at the ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 meetings (which were held earlier this month in Paris).
Gurshabad will be joining a panel to discuss and further develop a draft mobile phone security standard for India.

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

Policy Design Jam

Admin — 2019-09-25T14:30:33Z

Pallavi Bedi, Akash Sheshadri and Anubha Sinha attended the event organized by Whatsapp and ISPP on 16 September 2019 at Indian School of Public Policy campus, Qutub Institutional Area, Delhi.

Session Schedule

2 00 pm - 3 00 pm - Registration

3 05 pm - 4 00 pm - Experiential design exercises

4 00 pm - 4 15 pm - Break

4 15 pm - 5 00 pm - Design Thinking for Policy Insights from Global Design Jams

5 00 pm - 5 20 pm - Q & A

5 20 pm - 6 00 pm - High tea

2 00 pm - 3 00 pm - Registration3 05 pm - 4 00 pm - Experiential design exercises
4 00 pm - 4 15 pm - Break
4 15 pm - 5 00 pm - Design Thinking for Policy Insights from Global Design Jams
5 00 pm - 5 20 pm - Q & A
5 20 pm - 6 00 pm - High tea

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

CIS joins the Christchurch Call Advisory Network

Admin — 2019-09-25T13:57:49Z

Centre for Internet & Society's application for membership of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network has been accepted! As a part of this network, we, along with other civil society groups based out of various jurisdictions, would be providing inputs on making the Call a robust, human rights-centred initiative.

The Christchurch Call Advisory Network membership has been drawn from interested civil society groups, who represent a range of perspectives, including human rights, freedom of expression, digital rights, counter-radicalization, victim support and public policy. Many of the Advisory Network members have been engaged on the Christchurch Call since its launch and are committed to continuing to share their expertise.

The Christchurch Call Advisory Network

Access Now
Africa Digital Policy Project
Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania
Article 19
Association for Progressive Communications
Brookings Institution
Center for Humane Technology
Centre for Internet and Society, India
Chicago Project on Security and Threats, University of Chicago
Committee to Protect Journalists
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Dangerous Speech Project
Data & Society
Electronic Frontier Foundation
French National Bar Council
Global Disinformation Index
Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
Global Partners Digital
Global Network Initiative
Hedayah Center
Human Rights Centre, UC, Berkeley School of Law
ICT for Peace Foundation
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
International Cyber Policy Centre (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)
Internet Governance Project, Georgia Tech
Internet NZ
Internet Sans Frontières
Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand
Life After Hate
Netsafe
New America's Open Technology Institute (New America Foundation)
NZ Council for Civil Liberties
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Social Media Governance Initiative, Yale Law School
Syrian Archive
Tech Against Terrorism
The International Muslim Association of New Zealand
The Internet Society
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians, and Muslims (NZ)
WITNESS
Women’s Organisation of the Waikato Muslim Association
Elina Noor (Visiting Fellow, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia)
Matthew Shears (Internet and telecommunications policy consultant)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cis-joins-the-christchurch-call-advisory-network

Why having more CCTV cameras does not translate to crime prevention

manasa — 2019-09-25T02:13:28Z

Can technology substitute addressing social, psychological, economic and other individual factors that largely lead to criminality? And what are the perils of over-reliance on technology to fight crime?

The article by Manasa Rao published by the News Minute quotes Pranav M. Bidare of CIS.

In August, a couple from Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district made national headlines for their bravery. True to the Tamil adage ‘vallavanukku pullum aayudham’ (for the strong man, even a blade of grass is a weapon), when thieves entered their home, they fought them with chairs, slippers and even a bucket. Despite being armed with sickles, the masked miscreants fled the scene unable to match the counter-attack mounted by 70-year-old Shanmugavel and 65-year-old Senthamarai. The incident was caught on CCTV camera and the couple, whose video quickly went viral, was celebrated for their valour and made for the perfect social media feel-good story. However, as the news cycle was focused on them, senior police officers from the state and many commentators pointed to the importance of the CCTV camera footage. After all, the whole world watched their courage thanks to the CCTV camera affixed on the couple's front yard.

Since 2017, the Tamil Nadu Police has been aggressively pushing for citizens to install CCTV cameras. A techno-futuristic awareness campaign video released last year even roped in popular Kollywood star Vikram to help the police force. “If there are CCTV cameras, crimes are prevented, evidenced and importantly, it provides evidence in court. So, each of us will compulsorily fix a CCTV camera wherever we are,” says Vikram. In a bold declaration, the motto of the campaign affirms, “With CCTV everywhere, Tamil Nadu has become a place without crime.” At the end of the video Vikram suggests Big Brother is watching, stating, “Everything. Everywhere. We're watching.”

But do more CCTV cameras necessarily translate to crime prevention and deterrence? Can technology substitute addressing social, psychological, economic and other individual factors that largely lead to criminality? And what are the perils of over-reliance on technology to fight crime?

What the numbers say

A study released in August by tech research group Comparitech ranked Chennai as 32nd out of 50 of the most surveilled cities in the world. The research group, with the use of government reports, police websites and news articles, puts the total number of cameras in the city at 50,000. With a 2016 estimated population of 1.07 crore in Chennai, that is 4.67 cameras per 1,000 people.

With the help of Numbeo, a crowd-sourced database of perceived crime rates, the study puts Chennai’s crime index at 40.39. On a scale of 0 to 100, this is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city. This score means Chennai’s crime index is ranked ‘moderate’. Similarly, on a 100 point scale, the city's safety index— quite the opposite of crime index— is at 59.61. The higher the safety index, the safer a city is considered to be.

The two other Indian cities on the list of 50 are New Delhi ranked No. 20 with 1,79,000 cameras for 1.86 crore people (9.62 cameras per 1,000 people) and Lucknow ranked at No. 40 with 9,300 cameras for 35.89 lakh people (2.59 cameras per 1,000 people). The capital's crime index is at 58.77 while its safety index is 41.23. The UP city on the other hand has a crime index of 45.30 and a safety index of 54.70.

Stating that the higher number of cameras ‘just barely correlates’ with a higher safety index and lower crime index, the study concludes, “Broadly speaking, more cameras doesn’t necessarily result in people feeling safer.” While the presence of CCTV cameras may not inherently be bad, experts say that they cannot become a substitute for tackling crime and its causes which transcend the realm of technology. These involve tailored and specific approaches which stem from community building.

The infallible CCTV myth

Pranav MB, policy officer at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bengaluru observes that in the long run, over-reliance on CCTV cameras would merely propel criminals to innovate, as opposed to helping deter the crime from taking place. He says, “While it seems intuitive that the presence of a CCTV camera will have a deterring effect on criminal activity, numerous studies over the past decade have concluded that this is not really the case. The idea of a deterring effect also relies on the assumption that the actors are making educated intelligent choices about their future, which is often not the case with persons that commit criminal acts. So the deterring effect of CCTV cameras is not likely to be much more than the already deterring effect that exists because of criminal law and law enforcement.”

Busting the myth that CCTV cameras are foolproof, Pranav adds that public infrastructure as simple as a streetlight could aid in safer neighbourhoods. “The fact remains, however, that if you are not using advanced technology, a simple mask will render you unidentifiable by most basic CCTV cameras. As more advanced and more expensive technology is used, you are only necessitating the need for innovation among criminals to identify new loopholes that they can exploit in the technology. This is not an argument that generally holds against the use of technology, but in the case of CCTV cameras, it has been seen that simple street lights much better serve the goal of deterrence of crimes,” he says.

However, cops disagree with the findings. One IPS officer who works with the police’s Law and Order department in Chennai tells TNM that the presence of CCTV cameras has helped them nab a range of criminals from chain-snatchers to stalkers who have hacked women to death. Praising the use of facial recognition software like FaceTagr that was introduced a few years ago, the officer says, “CCTV cameras have a dissuading effect on criminals. At the very least they serve as a warning but in most cases, we can easily match them to criminals on our existing local, station-wise database. Especially when it comes to areas like T Nagar, Purasawalkam or other crime-prone suburbs, CCTV cameras are an invaluable tool for law enforcement.”

“Even in cases of sexual abuse, street harassment or trafficking, private CCTV cameras have been helpful. Shop owners or residents have come forward with the footage in public interest,” he says, admitting that the Centre’s release of the long-pending National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics could show a correlation between the push to install CCTVs and crime rates.

With a lack of NCRB data, there are no statistical answers to whether indeed installation of CCTV cameras has helped lowering of crime rates. However, as per one report in The Hindu, the police report a 30% drop in the crime rate in the city following the installation of CCTV cameras. According to their estimate for chain snatching alone, the city police claims that the number of cases have dropped from 792 in 2012 to 538 following the installation of CCTV cameras in 2018.

Over-reliance on technology

Agreeing that law enforcement must be cautious while employing technology to solve crimes, Dr M Priyamvadha, associate professor at the Department of Criminology, University of Madras says her detailed interviews with over 200 incarcerated burglars across Tamil Nadu reveal that they are always on the lookout for a CCTV camera. “They simply use a jammer worth Rs 2,000 (a handy device that disrupts the signal range of a camera) to skirt the presence of a CCTV camera,” she reports. However, the professor cautions that one must not over-sell the capabilities of a CCTV camera in crime prevention.

“We must remember that CCTV cameras don't deter all crimes. If there is family or domestic violence, there won't be a CCTV camera inside the four walls of a house to reveal it. For burglaries, robberies and such offences, you can rely on CCTV cameras. How far it helps is a question mark. You can neither completely say it prevents crime nor that it is a waste,” she says.

The professor points out that even when deploying CCTV cameras across the city, law enforcement does not account for wear and tear and maintenance which forms an important part of monitoring security.

Echoing the sentiment, Pranav says that CCTV cameras primarily serve as sources of electronic evidence in criminal cases. “Their deterring effect has repeatedly been observed to not balance out the costs of installing and running them.”

Privacy, data protection concerns

Chennai-based independent tech researcher Srikanth points to the inherent surveillance dangers thanks to the centralised way in which the city police collects the CCTV data. “There is something concerning especially about Chennai City Traffic Police and other various city police’s approach to CCTV. The fundamental shift is that, at least in the city, these cameras are connected to the police control room. So data gets centrally collated. When centralization kicks in, power abuse isn't far away. This way it is far easier for police to destroy evidence,” he alleges.

Srikanth also points out, “CCTVs (especially connected ones) are usually funded by residents and/or merchants who spend their money in putting up the infrastructure, but freely give away the data to the police (often in good faith). There is no oversight on usage, storage, retention of this data and by sheer monopoly on law and order, the police is able to connect a vast number of private CCTVs on to its network.”

Significantly, he expresses concerns about there being no laws that govern the usage of CCTV footage by the police. “Even if one gives into the legitimate state aim to control crime, even if one can argue violation of privacy is proportional, there is no law around use of CCTV by police, let alone using them in investigations. That the state engages with private vendors (such as FaceTagr) and many others also provides these service providers access to data,” he explains.

Pranav also warns, “Furthermore, CCTV cameras also result in compromising the privacy of individuals, and if implemented by the state (as in the case of law enforcement), creates added surveillance risks. Compounding on this is the issue of the recorded video footage, which if stored/transmitted/managed in an non-secure manner creates data protection risks as well. This is especially true in India, where it is difficult to obtain the required infrastructure and expertise in running an effective and secure CCTV camera system.”

'Technology cannot replace interpersonal relationships'

Advising pragmatic thinking when it comes to crime prevention, professor Priyamvadha says that technology should complement what she calls the ‘human touch'. Junking the ‘holistic’ one-size-fits-all approach that is often paraded as a solution, the criminologist says that each crime requires a tailored method of tackling it. “For each and every crime, there is a different strategy. There maybe crimes committed by juveniles, crimes committed against women. For example, if female foeticide is rampant in a village, it is important to understand the village, the preferences of the people there and the caste practices present among them,” she observes.

While technology often allows law enforcement to cover more ground in cases of limited manpower, there’s also a chance the cameras could be seen as a substitute for forging interpersonal relationships between police and the people they seek to protect. “With quick transferring of cops nowadays, the local police station doesn’t have an understanding of the ongoings. Interpersonal relationships are more important than technological advances,” she notes.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-news-minute-september-3-2019-manasa-rao-why-having-more-cctv-cameras-does-not-translate-to-crime-prevention

Android 10 out, big on ‘privacy’

Roshan H. Nair — 2019-09-25T02:05:30Z

Companies aware of new concerns, says expert.

The article by Roshan H. Nair published in Deccan Herald quotes Sunil Abraham.

The much-awaited ‘Android 10’ software for phones was launched on Wednesday. In a video put out by the company, a host of new features is visible, one of the most prominent being enhanced privacy. The video says Android 10 has “privacy features that put you in control".

Android 10 is only the latest in a series of tech products that project ‘privacy’ as a special feature.

The world is still recovering from the shock of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and has become more protective about its personal data and suspicious about big tech companies.

Originally, it was only Apple products that advertised privacy as one of its special features. Now, every platform seems to want to mark themselves ‘safe’.

“WhatsApp is promising end-to-end encryption. Facebook is saying all messaging will become like it is in WhatsApp. Microsoft, setting itself apart from Google and Facebook, is claiming that it doesn’t depend on customer’s data for its business model,...Sunil Abraham, executive director of The Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, says.

“More and more, companies are using systems such as local storage, local processing, end-to-end encryption for messages, commitment not to upload your personal data and encryption of cloud storage. These are all broad movements in what is called Privacy Enhancing Technologies’, now a domain of technology,” Abraham says.

At the moment, only Pixel phones have Android 10.

The software will be available on more phones in the coming months.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-herald-roshan-nair-september-4-2019-android-10-out-big-on-privacy

CIS Team

praskrishna — 2025-05-01T04:45:58Z

CIS undertakes policy-focused, applied, and academic research on topics at the intersection of internet and society, driven by concerns of human rights and public interest. CIS is based in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

Senior Staff

Tanveer Hasan A K

Administration and Finance

Senior Staff

Tanveer Hasan A K
	Tanveer Hasan A K is the Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society. Previously, Tanveer worked at the Wikimedia Foundation leading global alliances for the Free and Open knowledge movement, and resource allocation in South Asia. In the past, Tanveer was also the Program Manager for CIS's Access to Knowledge project, and an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Indian Languages in Higher Education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS.

Administration and Finance

Ajoy Kumar
	Ajoy is an Administrator at the CIS. He manages all the events organised by CIS including hotel and travel bookings, does the liasoning with government offices and Members of Parliament, etc. Ajoy also works as a part-time lawyer doing property documentation. Email: ajoy@cis-india.org Resume: Download (PDF)

Ajoy Kumar

Ajoy is an Administrator at the CIS. He manages all the events organised by CIS including hotel and travel bookings, does the liasoning with government offices and Members of Parliament, etc. Ajoy also works as a part-time lawyer doing property documentation.

Email: ajoy@cis-india.org
Resume: Download (PDF)

Nagaraj MP
	Nagaraj has a background in Advanced Accountancy with a specialisation in NGO Accounting and Practices. As Manager - Finance and Operations, he handles the preparation of accounts statements, statuary compliance, budget and monitoring, and accounts for all research projects at CIS. He has previously worked at Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), ‘Kalike’ associate organisation of TATA Trusts, India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Ramaiah Public Policy Centre, and CIS in its early days. Email: nagaraj@cis-india.org

Nagaraj MP

Nagaraj has a background in Advanced Accountancy with a specialisation in NGO Accounting and Practices. As Manager - Finance and Operations, he handles the preparation of accounts statements, statuary compliance, budget and monitoring, and accounts for all research projects at CIS. He has previously worked at Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), ‘Kalike’ associate organisation of TATA Trusts, India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Ramaiah Public Policy Centre, and CIS in its early days.

Email: nagaraj@cis-india.org

Velankanni Royson

Royson is the Office Assistant in the Bangalore office. He assists the administration department in organising events, takes videos of the events, uploads them to the CIS website, Blip TV, YouTube, etc.

Email: royson@cis-india.org

Chandra Bhushan

Chandra has been working as an Accounts Officer with CIS since 2018 with specialties in Accounts and Banking, managing accounting software like Tally, bank accounts, bookkeeping, different types of financials for projects, utilisation certificates, etc. Earlier, he was an Officer at a nationalised bank, and thereafter was associated with a Chartered Accountant.

Email: chandraa@cis-india.org

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/people/cis-team-members

Internet pour toutes

Isabelle Grégoire — 2019-09-20T15:01:56Z

Ambika Tandon was quoted in Canadian-French magazine L'Actualite, in an article on technology and women in India. In the quote, she explains the core research questions of the FIRN project, which is studying the digital intermediation of domestic work in India.

The article by Isabelle Grégoire was published in L'Actualite on September 11, 2019.

"Are women workers more or less exploited when they are recruited online? Can they evaluate clients and be defended if their rights are not respected? And most importantly, how do employers go about recruiting this workforce that usually does not have access to the Internet?

These are the kinds of questions that Indian researcher Ambika Tandon, a policy officer at the Center for the Internet and Society (CIS), a non-profit organization in Bangalore that conducts interdisciplinary research on the Internet and digital technologies, is trying to answer. To do this, she chose to look at digital platforms that provide housekeeping and home care services - trades mostly done by women.

"The idea is to compare the job opportunities and working conditions offered on these platforms with those of traditional placement agencies," says this graduate from the London School of Economics, and a member of the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN) launched this year. Funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC) in Ottawa, the network brings together researchers (a majority of women) from a dozen countries in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. It is led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), an international organization, which contributed to the development of the 17 "feminist principles of Internet 2.0". Each of FIRN's eight research projects will be linked to one or other of these principles.

"Our goal is to increase the visibility of these issues in the public space, so that they become part of the discourse," says Namita Aavriti from India, who is co-responsible for setting up projects within the APC, "With special attention to online violence against women, which still needs to be recognized in many countries."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/l-actualite-magazine-isabelle-gregoire-september-11-2019-internet-pour-toutes

Responsible AI Workshop

Admin — 2019-09-20T14:50:47Z

Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting organized by Facebook on September 17, 2019 in New Delhi.

Click to view the agenda

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/responsible-ai-workshop