We are anonymous, we are legion

CIS Participation at ICANN 54

praskrishna — 2016-01-18T12:47:19Z

Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India participated in the 54th meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held at the Convention Center in Dublin from 17 October 2015 to 22 October 2015. Pranesh Prakash, Jyoti Panday and Padmini Baruah attended the meeting.

CIS representation was possible at the meeting due to the generous support of MacArthur grant, NCUC ICANN Travel Grant and financial support from the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). The issue-wise detail of CIS engagement is set out below.

At the Public Forum, Jyoti Panday asked the ICANN Board to clarify its role and the role of the community in the development of the proposal with Verisign on its role as the Root Zone Maintainer. ICANN CEO confirmed what many feared, that there will be no community involvement on this proposal as ICANN's relationship with Verisign is an "implementation" detail. He added the assurance that post transition, on the decision of renewal of the contract and whether it will be awarded to Verisign, ICANN will seek inputs from the community. Jyoti's statement is replicated below:

"I want to ask the Board why when asked by the NTIA to develop a draft proposal for the with Verisign on its Root Zone Maintainer role, did you not pass on that mandate to the community, to the CWG which already exists, and ask the community to draft out the proposal with VeriSign? Will the ICANN Board seek public comments on the final proposal before it is approved? After all, ICANN cannot claim that it is an inverted pyramid where all decisions start from the community and flow up to the Board when on a crucial issue like this, the ICANN Board and staff have not taken the community in confidence nor invited its participation."

Padmini Baruah reiterated CIS message at the Public Forum on the lack of diversity observed through the transition and presented new data. Padmini's statement is replicated below:
Today, more than 50% of Internet users are in the Asia-Pacific region, and less than 10% are in North America. Yet, when one studies diversity within the ICANN community and in ICANN processes, one finds that diversity is sorely lacking, and it is dominated by people from the United States of America. Take the IANA transition, for instance. CIS studied participant data from ICANN, NRO, and IETF's lists related to the IANA transition. Of the substantive contributors, of which there were 98, we found:
* 1 in 4 (39 of 98) were from a single country: the United States of America.
* 4 in 5 (77 of 98) were from countries which are part of the WEOG grouping, which only has developed countries.
* None were from readily identifiable as being based in Eastern European and Russia, and only 5 of 98 from all of Latin American and the Caribbean.
* 4 in 5 (77 of 98) were male and 21 were female.
* 4 in 5 (76 of 98) were from industry or the technical community, and only 4 (or 1 in 25) were identifiable as primarily speaking on behalf of governments.
It would be a travesty of language to call this the "global multistakeholder community".
Further this problem is pervasive in the ICANN community:
* 66% (34 of 51) of the Business Constituency at ICANN, as per their own data, are from a single country: the United States of America.
* 3 in 5 registrars are from the United States of America (624 out of 1010, as of March 2014, according to ICANN's accredited registrars list), with only 0.6% being from the 54 countries in Africa (7 out of 1010).
* 45% of all the registries are from the United States of America! (307 out of 672 registries listed in ICANN’s registry directory in August 2015.)
Please take this as your top priority, since ICANN's legitimacy depends on being able to call itself globally representative.

CIS attended also raised a series of concerns at the following sessions:

Enhancing ICANN Accountability Open Engagement: CIS intervened with its stance on jurisdiction and their enforcement models, and our concerns about transparency.
GAC sessions
NCSG meeting
IANA Transition Stewardship Transition Engagement Session
CCWG Accountability Working Session
Illicit Internet Pharmacies
NCUC Meeting+engagement with Larry Strickling: Jyoti Panday asked about the dual role of Verisign as a Root zone maintainer and TLD operator. Padmini Baruah asked him about jurisdiction. He said the US Congress will not support a shift in ICANN's jurisdiction.
NCSG/gNSO (CIS work on DIDP got public mention)
Contractual Compliance Programme Update
CWG Stewardship working session
Role of Voluntary Practices in Combating Abuse and Illegal Activity
Joint meeting of the ICANN Board and NCSG

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/icann-54

CIS Para-wise Comments on Draft Reasonable Security Practices Rules, 2011

Prashant Iyengar — 2012-12-14T10:32:06Z

On February 7th 2011, the Department of Information Technology, MCIT published draft rules on its website (The Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal information) Rules, 2011) in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 87(2)(ob), read with Section 43A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Comments were invited from the public before February 25th 2011. Accordingly, Privacy India and Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore have prepared the following para-wise comments for the Ministry’s consideration.

A. Specific Objections

Rule 3

Sensitive personal data or information.— Sensitive personal data or information of a person shall include information collected, received, stored, transmitted or processed by body corporate or intermediary or any person, consisting of :

Password;

...

Call data records;

Comment

We suggest that this list be expanded to include information such as sexual orientation, religion and caste. In addition, “electronic communication records” including emails, chat logs and other communications using a computer should be designated sensitive personal information.

Rule 4

Body Corporate to provide policy for privacy and disclosure of information.— (1) The body corporate or any person who on behalf of body corporate collects, receives, possess, stores, deals or handle shall provide a privacy policy for handling of or dealing in user information including sensitive personal information and ensure that the same are available for view by such providers of information who has provided such information under lawful contract. Such policy shall provide for:

Type of personal or sensitive information collected under sub-rule (ii) of rule 3;

Purpose, means and modes of usage of such information;

Disclosure of information as provided in rule 6

Comment

We recommend that the privacy policy be made available for view to all individuals to whom the information held by the body corporate pertains. Currently the privacy policy will only be disclosed to the “providers of information” who may not be the individual concerned directly.

Rule 5

Collection of information.—

(1) Body corporate or any person on its behalf shall obtain consent of the provider of the information regarding purpose, means and modes of uses before collection of such information.

Comment

We recommend the substitution of the term “individual to whom the data pertains” instead of the phrase “provider of the information”.

(2) Body corporate or any person on its behalf shall not collect sensitive personal information unless—

the information is collected for a lawful purpose connected with a function or activity of the agency; and

the collection of the information is necessary for that purpose.

Comment

We recommend a blanket prohibition of collection of biometric data unless a heightened security interest is demonstrated.

(3) While collecting information directly from the individual concerned, the body corporate or any person on its behalf shall take such steps as are, in the circumstances, reasonable to ensure that the individual concerned is aware of.

Comment

We recommend a simpler phrase like “The body corporate.. shall take reasonable steps to inform the individual concerned” instead of the current complex phrasing. Reasonableness has generally been interpreted by courts contextually. For instance, the Supreme Court has remarked, “`Reasonable’ means prima facie in law reasonable in regard to those circumstances of which the actor, called upon to act reasonably, knows or ought to know. See Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board v. Unique Erectors (Guj) AIR 1989 SC 973.

(4) Body corporate or any person on its behalf holding sensitive personal information shall not keep that information for longer than is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used.

Comment

We recommend that this be converted into a mandatory obligation to delete or anonymise the information collected within a stipulated period (say 6 months) after the expiry of use for which it was collected.

(6) Body corporate or any person on its behalf shall permit the users to review the information they had provided and modify the same, wherever necessary.

Comment

Individuals should have the right to review and modify information pertaining to them whether or not they themselves had provided the information to the body corporate. This right should be provided to them wherever the information that pertains to them is incorrect.

(7) Body corporate or any person on its behalf shall provide an option to the provider of the information to opt-in or opt-out.

Comment

We recommend that the wording be changed to “individual to whom the data pertains” instead of “provider of information”.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-practices-rules

CIS Para-wise Comments on Cyber Café Rules, 2011

Prashant Iyengar — 2012-12-14T10:32:02Z

On February 7th 2011, the Department of Information Technology, MCIT published draft rules on its website (The Information Technology (Guidelines for Cyber Cafe) Rules, 2011) in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 87(2) (zg), read with Section 79(2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Comments were invited from the public before February 25th 2011. Accordingly, Privacy India and Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore have prepared the following para wise comments for the Ministry’s consideration.

A. General Objections

These rules have no nexus with their parent provision, namely s.79(2). Section 79(1) provides for exemption from liability for intermediaries. Section 79(2) thereupon states:

79. Intermediaries not to be liable in certain cases—

(2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply if—

(a) the function of the intermediary is limited to providing access to a communication system over which information made available by third parties is transmitted or temporarily stored or hasted; or
(b) the intermediary does not—

(i) initiate the transmission,
(ii) select the receiver of the transmission, and
(iii) select or modify the information contained in the transmission;

(c) the intermediary observes due diligence while discharging his duties under this Act and also observes such other guidelines as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf.

Therefore, by not observing any of the provisions of the Rules, the intermediary opens itself up for liability for actions of its users. However, the provisions contained in these rules have no rational nexus with due diligence to be observed by the intermediary to absolve itself from liability for third-party actions.

While the government may have authority to regulate cybercafes, that regulation should not be promulgated as rules under s.79(2). Doing so would be ultra vires s.79(2) itself.

Recommendation

These rules should be deleted in toto.

B. Specific Objections

These specific objections are in addition to the above-stated general objection, and do not detract from out recommendation that these rules should be deleted in their entirety.

Rule 2(c)

(c) “Cyber Cafe” means cyber café as defined in clause (na) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Act

Comment

The Act defines a cyber cafe as meaning “any facility from where access to the internet is offered by any person in the ordinary course of business to the members of the public”. This would include internet access provided in airports, in restaurants, and in many other places where the provisions of these rules (such as those about height of partitions, etc.) just will not be practicable. Thus, this provision will have unintended consequences.

Rule 3

Agency for issuance of license: Appropriate government will notify an agency to issue license to cyber cafes.

Comment

Rule 3 requires the issuing of a license for the establishment of a cyber café. We believe this is unwarranted since cybercafes, like most commercial establishments are already subject to registration and licensing under the “Shops and Establishments Acts” which have been enacted in all states. These Acts already specify an elaborate procedure for the application, registration and monitoring of all establishments and there is no need to multiply the levels of permission a cyber café must obtain. The current rules do not specify an application procedure, fee, and a maximum or minimum time frame within which such a license must be granted or denied nor does it specify the criterion on which such license applications will be evaluated. We think that in the absence of such legislative guidance, this provision is likely to be abused.

Cyber cafes in India contribute greatly to India’s increasing internet penetration and inserting a licensing regime would greatly impede access to the internet.

We believe that cyber cafes should be allowed to be established in the same manner as other shops and establishments, without the requirement of a special license.

Rule 4(2)

...When an user cannot establish his/her identify to the satisfaction of the Cyber Café as per sub-rule (1), he/she may be photographed by the Cyber Café using a web camera installed on one of the computers in the Cyber Café for establishing the identity of the user.

Comment

Sub-Rule 4 (2) Requires that if an individual is unable to establish identity, their photograph must be taken if they wish to use cyber café facilities. We believe that an individual’s photograph should be taken only as a last resort, where identity has been established.

Rule 4(3)

Children without photo identity card shall be accompanied by an adult with any of the documents as prescribed in sub-rule (1).

Comment

We recommend that children below 18 years should be specifically exempt from proving their identities to cyber café owners. Children are usually the quickest to adopt technology, and the requirement of possessing a valid identity might prove to be a deterrent to their developing computer skills. Likewise, being accompanied by an adult is also an onerous obligation since children’s access to the internet would depend on the availability of an adult/parent who may be too busy to accompany the child on every occasion the child wishes to access the internet or use a computer.

To reiterate, we feel that the current provision specially and adversely targets children from poorer classes (since they are most likely to routinely access internet through cyber cafes) and denies them the opportunity of developing their computer skills which are crucial for the growth of the “knowledge economy” that India is trying to head towards.

In addition, we believe that children are more susceptible to exploitation and consequently have a heightened privacy expectation which must be honoured. We recommend that the current sub-rule be deleted and replaced with a clause which specifically exempts children from proving their identity and forbids taking photographs of them under any circumstance.

Rule 5(1)

... Log Register: After the identity of the user has been established as per sub-rule (1) of rule 4 above, the Cyber Café shall record and maintain the required information of each user in the log register for a minimum period of one year. Also, Cyber Café may maintain an online version of the log register.

Comment

Rule 5(1) Provides a minimum period of one year that Cyber Cafes must retain their log registers. The rule does not specify the details which the log register must provide. In the interests of minimising threats to privacy, we recommend that these details recorded be confined only to the name and duration of use.

In addition, we believe that there should also be a coinciding mandatory deletion clause for the log register requiring details to be purged after the minimum retention period.

Rules 5(3)and 6(2)

5(3): “The cyber café owner shall be responsible for storing and maintaining following backups of logs and computer resource records for at least six months for each access or login by any user :

·    History of websites accessed using computer resource at cyber cafe

·    Logs of proxy server installed at cyber café

·    Mail server logs

·    Logs of network devices such as router, switches, systems etc. installed at cyber café

·    Logs of firewall or Intrusion Prevention/Detection systems, if installed.”

6(2): “The screen of all computers, installed other than in Partitions or Cubicles, shall face ‘outward’, i.e. they shall face the common open space of the Cyber Café.”

Comment

We recommend deletion of this rule since it is an unreasonable intrusion into a person’s privacy and an indirect attempt to censor content which users may wish to access. There are many uses of the internet for which a user may legitimately require privacy: For instance, patients, including HIV patients and those with mental illness, may wish to obtain information about their condition. Similarly sexuality minorities may wish to seek support or reach out to a larger community. Enforcing the architecture stipulated in this rule would discourage their access to such vital information. In addition, this architecture would make it easier for cyber crimes such as identity theft to take place since it would be easier to observe the login details of other users at the cyber café.

Rule 7(1)

Inspection of Cyber Café : “An officer, not below the rank of Police Inspector as authorised by the licensing agency, is authorized to check or inspect cyber café and the computer resource or network established therein at any time for the compliance of these rules. The cyber café owner shall provide every related document, registers and any necessary information to the inspecting officer on demand.

Comment

We recommend this clause be omitted since it confers unfettered and unsupervised powers on any Police Inspector to examine any cyber café premises he may choose without any restriction on time.

Additionally, the provisions of Shops and Establishments Acts of most states already prescribe a procedure for inspection of establishments and examination of records. The current rules merely add another layer of supervision to the existing laws without adequate safeguards.

Comment

Sub-Rule 5(3) holds cyber café owners responsible for the storage and maintenance of back up logs concerning the following information: history of websites, logs of proxy servers, mail server logs, logs of network devices, logs of firewalls installed. We believe that the maximum length for retention of this data should be defined and a mandatory deletion clause should be inserted requiring cyber café owners to delete these logs periodically. We further believe that access to the history of websites and mail server logs is a serious invasion of a person’s privacy, and should be omitted from the back up logs.

This is especially so when currently there is no requirement that cyber café owners maintain their logs under conditions of utmost secrecy and confidence.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cyber-cafe-rules

CIS joins the the Global Commission on Internet Governance Research Advisory Network

praskrishna — 2014-03-06T05:20:43Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has joined the Research Advisory Committee for the Global Commission on Internet Governance.

Mark Raymond on behalf of Dr. Fen Osler Hampson and Dr. Patricia Lewis, as well as Dr. Laura DeNardis invited Sunil Abraham to join this network.

The Research Advisory Network for the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) is a joint project of the Centre for International Governance and Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).

The GCIG, which is chaired by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, is a two-year initiative that will present a comprehensive analysis and recommendations on the future of multi-stakeholder Internet governance. It was announced in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on 22 January 2014. The press release, list of commission members and Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

The Research Advisory Network is an indispensable component of the GCIG. It will consist of a group of distinguished scholars and experts who provide input to the Commission in several ways:

Identify and prioritize Internet governance and Internet policy related issues within the GCIG mandate;
Provide expert briefings to the members of the Commission
Conduct research and analysis on a commissioned basis, both for GCIG meeting preparatory materials and for inclusion in the companion research volume that will be issued alongside the formal commission report;
Provide peer review of written materials produced in support of the Commission’s work.

The Research Advisory Network will be led by Dr. Laura DeNardis, who has agreed to serve as the Research Director for the GCIG; will be supported by Dr. Mark Raymond at CIGI and by Ms. Caroline Baylon at Chatham House.

If you would like further information or have any questions, please feel free to contact Mark Raymond at mraymond@cigionline.org

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/cis-joins-global-commission-on-internet-governance-research-advisory-network

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

CIS in Top 50 Tech Blogs of India

praskrishna — 2015-10-14T06:24:44Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is on the 30th position among the top technology blogs in India.

This was published by rebateszone on October 7, 2015.

Infographic courtesy: Renuka Thakur

The world of tech blogs is getting bigger and bigger, by time people are getting more and more interested in tech related items, it’s the only reason why we have seen such significant surge in tech blogs during the past few years. So the query that becomes difficult with every minute passing is that which of the tech blogs are worth your time? To help you on this we have created a list of top 50 tech bloggers in India, These weblogs are written by pros in the field, you might find numerous lists on the internet on this particular topic but you won’t be able to find more thorough and handy list that this as we have handpicked each and every blog in this list, we have organized these blogs according to the quality of posts. The other lists that you can find on the internet are sorted according to Alexa rank or number of incoming links, they have just produced those listed for the purpose of forming a new post but this list is produced according to the quality. If you want to stay updated with technology related news, developments etc., then we would recommend you to follow the following 50 tech blogs regularly:

Sr No.	Website/Blog	Facebook	Twitter
1	fonearena.com	165,050	34,583
2	alltechbuzz.net	262,568	3,706
3	bgr.in	143,145	190,922
4	telecomtalk.info	41,205	21,080
5	medianama.com	11,238	241,121
6	techulator.com	9,703	238
7	infosys.com	696,536	164,452
8	9lessons.info	23,945	7,499
9	phoneradar.com	14,898	8,381
10	indianweb2.com	7,738	2,427
11	techpp.com	10,221	17,661
12	techlomedia.in	16,578	6,452
13	techlila.com	20,252	2,904
14	techtricksworld.com	5,331	1,726
15	makingdifferent.com	7,424	—–
16	tipsclear.com	687	15,007
17	hackpundit.com	40	315
18	ampercent.com	2,056	413
19	nirmaltv.com	26,261	6,293
20	pitechnologies.org	7,965	49
21	seotechyworld.com	9,335	4,977
22	igt.in	12,997	666
23	hacktrix.com	9,374	196
24	technodify.com	26,318	3,958
25	webtrickz.com	3,906	907
26	wpxbox.com	16,938	1,242
27	itechcode.com	2,666	4,749
28	techfishy.com	4,791	114
29	zensar.com	7,269	2,778
30	cis-india.org	—–	3,795
31	robosoftin.com	664	1,892
32	digitaldimensions4u.com	3,079	583
33	campustimespune.com	3,121	278
34	msystechnologies.com	325	455
35	techsplurge.com	3,797	1,140
36	zensoftservices.com	203	1,499
37	iltb.net	4,994	1,675
38	savedelete.com	19,978	10,728
39	minterest.org	1,033	12,867
40	thepockettech.com	22,346	12,375
41	thetechbulletin.com	2,522	1,292
42	mobientech.com	525	1,359
43	directingit.com	98	27
44	itpreneurpune.com	1,356	76
45	codemink.com	5,021	196
46	udayarumilli.blogspot.com	103	63
47	saadhvi.com	56	44
48	taraspan.com	8	310
49	cloudnowtech.com	145	55
50	keshavatech.com	2,953	18,139

Here is the Infographic for top 50 tech blogs in India:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/rebateszone-october-7-2015-top-50-technology-blogs-in-india

CIS in GNI Annual Report

praskrishna — 2013-04-25T07:31:01Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) joined the Global Network Intiative (GNI) in March 2012. Recently, GNI brought out its Annual Report. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it.


GNI participants Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet and Society (second from left) and Cynthia Wong - Center for Democracy and Technology (right) at the Google Internet at Liberty 2012 Conference, May 23, 2012. Also pictured (left to right): Dunja Mijatovic´ - OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Judy Woodruff (Moderator) - Senior Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Mohamed El Dahshan - writer, journalist. Credit: Tony Powell

GNI participants Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet and Society (second from left) and Cynthia Wong - Center for Democracy and Technology (right) at the Google Internet at Liberty 2012 Conference, May 23, 2012. Also pictured (left to right): Dunja Mijatovic´ - OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Judy Woodruff (Moderator) - Senior Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Mohamed El Dahshan - writer, journalist.
Credit: Tony Powell

An increasingly global network

"Technological development happens too quickly for us to purely depend on government regulation. Self-regulation has an important role to play in keeping up with these rapid changes … we will influence GNI norms using our Indian perspective."
Sunil Abraham

A key objective for GNI is increasing its membership across all constituencies with a focus on developing countries and emerging markets. In 2012, GNI welcomed Azerbaijani press freedom organization the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety as the global Internet governance community gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Internet Governance Forum. Their participation, alongside other new civil society participant, the Centre for Internet & Society based in Bangalore, India represents a step toward further internationalizing the GNI network. Other new members include the George Washington University Law School and Christine Bader from the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.

Click to read the GNI Annual Report
Click to read the news of CIS joining the GNI in 2012

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/gni-annual-report-mentions-cis

CIS highlights changes ushered in by the Internet

praskrishna — 2013-05-22T06:06:44Z

As part of its fifth anniversary celebrations, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has organised an exhibition showcasing its accomplishments, besides a series of talks by experts on the changes ushered in by the Internet. The exhibition will remain open till Thursday.

The article was published in the Hindu on May 22, 2013.

On Wednesday, a talk will be held at 6 p.m. on “Cyber security, privacy and surveillance”. Also, Laird Brown, strategic planner and writer, and Purba Sarkar, associate producer with the cyber security film project, will make presentations on cyber security.

The valedictory will have talks by Kannada writer Chandrashekar Kambar on “Kannada in modern era”, while member of Kannada Software Committee U.B. Pavanja will speak on “From palm leaf to tablet”. This will be followed by a Carnatic music programme by Nirmita Narasimha. The CIS has also invited the public to be its auditors by displaying its account books and contracts, which shows how it has spent the Rs. 13.13 crore received from donors. The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-may-22-2013-cis-highlights-changes-ushered-in-by-the-internet

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 24) – Shantanu Ghosh

purba — 2015-07-15T14:58:50Z

CIS interviews Shantanu Ghosh, Managing Director, Symantec Product Operations, India, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

“Remember that India is also a land where there are a lot of people who are beginning to use computing devices for the first time in their lives. For many people, their smartphone is their first computing device because they have never had computers in the past. For them, the challenge is how do you make sure that they understand that that can be a threat too. It can be a threat not only to their bank accounts, with their financial information, but even to their private lives.”

Centre for Internet and Society presents its twenty fourth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.”

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Shantanu Ghosh is the Managing Director of Symantec Product Operations, India. He also runs the Data Centre Security Group for Symantec globally.

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-24-2013-shantanu-ghosh

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 23) – Justin Searle

purba — 2015-07-15T14:44:38Z

CIS interviews Justin Searle, security expert, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

"I think that people here in India, just like everywhere else, are broadening the areas where security can be applied. We see elsewhere, like in the United States and in Europe, that a lot of security researchers are starting to get into not just control systems, but also embedded devices and hardware and wireless... And we are seeing the same trends here in India as well. It is fun to see that growth and continual development, and not only that, but we are seeing security projects and research coming out of India, that's unqiue and fresh and contributing back to what originally came more from the United States and Europe."

Centre for Internet and Society presents its twenty third installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Justin Searle is the managing partner for Utilisec. Utisix provides security services to the energy sector. They also assist oil, water, gas, and manufacturing companies. Justin specializes in security assessments and finding vulnerabilities in systems.

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-23-2013-justin-searle

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 22) - Anonymous

purba — 2015-07-13T13:40:42Z

CIS interviews a Tibetan security researcher and information activist, as part of the Cybersecurity Series. He prefers to remain anonymous.

"I don't know technology but I am aware of the information people share with me. So yes, they can track you down through your mobile phone. The last time I was in Nepal, I met a westerner. We went to this restaurant and she asked me to take the battery out of the phone. That was the first time I had heard of this and so when I asked why she said that it is possible that people had followed us and it has happened to other Tibetans in Nepal..."

Centre for Internet and Society presents its twenty second installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-22-anonymous

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 21) – Gyanak Tsering

purba — 2014-09-06T05:08:44Z

CIS interviews Gyanak Tsering, Tibetan monk in exile, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

“I have three mobile phones but I use only one to exchange information to and from Tibet. I don't give that number to anyone and nobody knows about it. High security forces me to use three phones. Usually a mobile phone can be tracked easily in many ways, especially by the network provider but my third mobile phone is not registered so that makes sure that the Chinese government cannot track me. The Chinese have a record of all mobile phone numbers and they can block them at anytime. But my third number cannot be traced and that allows me to communicate freely. This is only for security reasons so that my people in Tibet don't get into trouble.”

Centre for Internet and Society presents its twenty-first installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Gyanak Tsering is a Tibetan monk in exile, studying at Kirti Monastery, Dharamshala. He came to India in 1999, and has been using the internet and mobile phone technology, since 2008, to securely transfer information to and from Tibet. Tsering adds a new perspective to the cybersecurity debate and explains how his personal security is interlinked with internet security and mobile phone security.

Video

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-21-gyanak-tsering

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 20) – Saumil Shah

purba — 2014-09-06T05:03:00Z

CIS interviews Saumil Shah, security expert, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

“If you look at the evolution of targets, from the 2000s to the present day, the shift has been from the servers to the individual. Back in 2000, the target was always servers. Then as servers started getting harder to crack, the target moved to the applications hosted on the servers, as people started using e-commerce applications even more. Eventually, as they started getting harder to crack, the attacks moved to the user's desktops and the user's browsers, and now to individual user identities and to the digital personas.”

Centre for Internet and Society presents its twentieth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Saumil Shah is a security expert based in Ahmedabad. He has been working in the field of security and security related software development for more than ten years, with a focus on web security and hacking.

Video

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-20-saumil-shah

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 14) – Menaka Guruswamy

purba — 2014-07-21T10:39:03Z

CIS interviews Menaka Guruswamy, lawyer at the Supreme Court of India, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

"The courts have rarely used privacy to stop the Indian state from getting into someone's business. So jurisprudentially, it is a weak challenge when you mount a rights based or a privacy right challenge against surveillance by the state. Because the answer of the state to that has always been, and as has been Obama's answer in the United States, that there are national security concerns. And usually national security will trump individual privacy."

Centre for Internet and Society presents its fourteenth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Menaka Guruswamy practices law at the Supreme Court of India. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and a Gammon Fellow at Harvard Law School, and a gold medalist from the National Law School of India. She has law degrees from all three schools, with a focus on Constitutional Law and Public International Law. Guruswamy has worked at the Office of the Attorney General of India, the highest office that represents the federal government of India in the Supreme Court of India.

http://youtu.be/GCDD6Z-UrGI

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-14-2013-menaka-guruswamy

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 13) - Pranesh Prakash

purba — 2014-01-20T06:20:44Z

CIS interviews Pranesh Prakash, lawyer and policy director with Centre for Internet and Society, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

"When it comes to things cyber we completely lose our sense of proportion. While killing someone by negligence only attracts two years of punishment, saying something that people can define "offensive" attracts even more under 66A of the Information Technology Act. Something that can be a nuisance, under the Criminal Laws, can attract up to six months punishment, whereas under the IT act, it is up to three years..." - Pranesh Prakash, lawyer and policy director, Centre for Internet and Society

Centre for Internet and Society presents its thirteenth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Pranesh is a Policy Director with the Centre, and is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a degree in Arts and Law.

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-13-pranesh-prakash