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  <title>We are anonymous, we are legion</title>
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            These are the search results for the query, showing results 2521 to 2535.
        
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    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/meeting-of-two-sub-groups-in-delhi">
    <title>Meeting of the two Sub-Groups on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah in Delhi</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/meeting-of-two-sub-groups-in-delhi</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The next meeting of the two Sub-Groups on privacy issues under the Chairmanship of Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court is scheduled to be held on June 27, 2012 at 11.00 a.m. in the Committee Room No. 228, Yojana Bhawan, Planning Commission.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;Members of both the Sub-Groups are requested to send their final write-ups as decided in the last meeting, by June 20, 2012 so that those could be circulated to all concerned for obtaining feedback and for discussions/ deliberations on June 27, 2012.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Shri S. Bose, Under Secretary (CIT &amp;amp; I) communicated this through notice No. M-13040/47/2011-CIT&amp;amp;I.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The notice was e-mailed to the following individuals:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Justice A.P.Shah, Chairman&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Usha Ramanathan&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sunil Abraham&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Prashant Reddy&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Prof. Arghya Sengupta&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Som Mittal&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Shri Gulshan Rai&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mala Dutt&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/meeting-of-two-sub-groups-in-delhi'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/meeting-of-two-sub-groups-in-delhi&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Privacy</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-14T08:31:39Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/internet-opens-doors-to-trillions-more-net-addresses">
    <title>Internet opens doors to trillions more Net addresses with IPv6</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/internet-opens-doors-to-trillions-more-net-addresses</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The global Internet industry reached a key milestone on June 6 when a group of Web sites, Internet service providers (ISPs) and router manufacturers banded together to participate in the World IPv6 Launch.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;This blog post by Aaron Tan was published in techgoondu. Nishant Shah is quoted in this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Google, Facebook and Yahoo have flipped the switch to the new Internet addressing system, while ISPs such as Japan’s KDDI and India’s HNS will permanently enable IPv6 for a significant portion of their residential wireline subscribers. Home networking equipment manufacturers will also turn on IPv6 by default in home router products.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The World IPv6 Launch was organised by the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.techgoondu.com/2012/05/15/internet-society-opens-singapore-regional-office-supports-switch-to-ipv6"&gt;Internet Society&lt;/a&gt; as part of its mission to ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible for everyone, including five billion people who have yet to connect to the Internet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“The support of IPv6 from these thousands of organizations delivers a critical message to the world: IPv6 is not just a ‘nice to have’; it is ready for business today and will very soon be a ‘must have’,” said Leslie Daigle, chief Internet technology officer of Internet Society in a statement Wednesday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last April, Asia-Pacific became the first region in the world to run out of IPv4 addresses. Europe will deplete its allocation of IPv4 addresses later this year, followed by the U.S. in 2013, and Latin America and Africa in 2014. With IPv6, the Internet can now support over 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses compared with 4.3 billion addresses for IPv4.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Understanding the importance of IPv6, some governments in Asia Pacific have committed to enable IPv6 in their internal networks with set deadlines and, given that they run such large networks, having them on IPv6 is a big step in itself,” said Rajnesh Singh, regional director of the Internet Society’s Asia-Pacific bureau.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Singapore Government, for instance, has spearheaded an initiative to make e-government services accessible via IPv6. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has also started an &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.ida.gov.sg/Technology/20060419151629.aspx"&gt;IPv6 transition programme&lt;/a&gt; that offers grants and information for companies that intend to implement IPv6 on their networks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the launch of IPv6, consumers can expect to see applications and services that take advantage of IPv6′s features. Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system will also &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/06/05/connecting-with-ipv6-in-windows-8.aspx"&gt;favour IPv6 connectivity&lt;/a&gt; over IPv4.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to Nishant Shah, research director at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, IPv6 has an in-built security protocol called IPSec, which authenticates and secures all IP data. The data carrying capacity of IPv6 networks is also going to be higher.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“This means that more devices with more features will be able to work seamlessly through these networks. Despite the larger load of information, IPv6 packets are easier to handle and route, just like postcards with pincodes in their addresses are easier to deliver than those without”, Shah said in a joint statement with Tata Communications.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As an example, every aspect of the Beijing Olympics – from security surveillance to managing vehicles and media coverage – was done over IPv6. “The Chinese government, in fact, has already launched a ‘China Next Generation Internet’ project to build IPv6 networks which are going to radically change the face of high-speed internet in the country,” Shah revealed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With all these benefits, why does IPv6 only command two percent of the world’s Internet traffic? Shah offers two clear reasons:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The first one is that of costs and infrastructure. The IPv6 platforms do not communicate easily with the IPv4 networks. We have the choice of a mammoth transition of all IPv4 websites and networks to new IPv6 protocols. This idea of abandoning IPv4 and moving to a new protocol is not only redundant; it is also futile, because IPv4 is already running the largest network in human history quite efficiently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What we need are translators which will be able to speak to both the different versions and help our devices work through them seamlessly. Older, more successful technologies have been able to do this. So, television, for instance, whether it receives terrestrial data, satellite images or data transferred via cable, is able to translate and render them into images and sounds which we can consume with ease. However, the translators for the IPv4 – IPv6 are still expensive and we need more resources diverted towards making them affordable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The second reason is linked to the first. In order for IPv6 to become popular, it needs a minimum threshold of service providers and users riding that network. As long as the deployment remains nascent, there will be no concentrated energy to actually try and make the bridges between versions 4 and 6. While global technology organisations like Tata Communications are ready for the transition, we are going to need a systemic change among all stakeholders to make IPv6 a reality, towards a faster, safer and more robust Internet.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/internet-opens-doors-to-trillions-more-net-addresses'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/internet-opens-doors-to-trillions-more-net-addresses&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-14T05:12:25Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/biz-moving-to-ip-v-6">
    <title>Biz moving to IPv6 but lower costs, support needed</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/biz-moving-to-ip-v-6</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;Organisations such as Cisco Systems, Equinix and Singapore Internet Exchange are all gearing up for migration to IPv6 in time for the World IPv6 Launch day slated on Jun. 6,which involved everything from redesigning their backend infrastructure to assessing their systems’ readiness. &lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.intellasia.net/biz-moving-to-ipv6-but-lower-costs-support-needed-207710"&gt;Published in intellasia.net on June 8, 2012&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, one industry player noted that the costs and effort in doing so is one key reason why more companies are not making the transition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cisco, for one, told ZDNet Asia that is had been preparing for the migration on Wednesday since the test run was conducted last year. Joshua Soh, managing director for Cisco Singapore and Brunei, pointed out that switching IPv6 on permanently demanded a certain level of production quality and this required a lengthy preparation time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The first step was to work on its backend IT architecture and design, Soh revealed, adding that their primary goals were to leverage network infrastructure already in place to avoid spending on parallel networks, as well as to ensure production quality and ability to maintain overall service levels.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To meet these goals, the networking giant redesigned their data centre based on the reverse proxy model, in which the proxy server retrieves resources from the server to deliver to a client before returning these resources to the original server.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It also used its Application Control Engine (ACE) load-balancing platform to configure incoming IPv6 sessions to be proxied to the IPv4 tier so that the network will be dual-stacked to include existing ISP (Internet service provider) connections, the managing director explained.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Singapore Internet Exchange did likewise. According to Yeo See Kiat, its sales and marketing director, the organisation enabled dual-stack networks on their servers for public-facing services, which would enable it to obtain IPv6 streams and turn on the service permanently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Meet in the middle” saves cost&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another company making a similar transition to the new Web protocol is Equinix. Its director of network engineering &amp;amp; operations for the Asia-Pacific office, Raphael Ho, told ZDNet Asia that the migration would require existing networks to be upgraded and expanded to support the additional bandwidth and power.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is especially so for facilities such as the company’s International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers where the volume of interconnection is consistently high, he added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In order to facilitate the switch, the company used its IPv6 Exchange to simplify the process for its networks to enhance traffic within an IPv6 environment, Ho stated. The central switching capability also helped create a “unicast” peering virtual local area network (LAN).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This “meet in the middle” approach helped reduce costs as it enabled its servers to more efficiently establish IPv6 peering, he explained.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Assess systems’ readiness&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cisco’s Soh noted that after the redesigning of the data centre is complete, the company performed an assessment to determine if existing devices in its demilitarised zone (DMZ) and datacenter networks were capable of supporting the new protocol. It also enhanced its network management systems to support network, devices and application monitoring over IPv6, he added.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At this late stage, the company is conducting system-level testing and quality assurance engineers are going about the functional and performance checks, the executive pointed out. Its last test will be a practice run in which it will switch on the IPv6 service for a few hours to make sure everything works fine, including the content delivery network and ISP services, he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beyond the technical preparations, it also put together a training programme to ensure employees, from the frontline to the network engineers, were equipped with knowledge of the new protocol and skills appropriate for their roles, the executive stated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No impetus for change&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The amount of time and costs reflected in these companies’ migration efforts were cited as one of the main reasons why there are not more companies considering making the switch.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to a statement issued by Tata Communications and India-based centre for Internet and Society on Wednesday, costs and infrastructure as well as having a minimum number of service providers and users utilising the network were identified as the two main impediments for IPv6 adoption.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One the first obstacle, they said: “IPv6 platforms do not communicate easily with IPv4 networks. This idea of abandoning IPv4 and moving to a new protocol is not only redundant, it is also futile because IPv4 is already running the largest network in human history quite efficiently.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To make the transition more palatable, they believed “translators”, or technologies able to “speak” in both protocols, are needed. However, these translators are still expensive and there is a need to divert more resources to make these technologies more affordable, the statement noted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for the second reason, both Tata and the centre for Internet and Society stated that as long as the deployment of IPv6 remains nascent, there will be no concentrated energy to bridge both protocol versions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“We are going to need a systemic change among all stakeholders to make IPv6 a reality, toward a faster, safer and more robust Internet,” they said.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/biz-moving-to-ip-v-6'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/biz-moving-to-ip-v-6&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-14T05:01:34Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nishant-shah">
    <title>An Interview with Nishant Shah</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nishant-shah</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;Jamillah Knowles from BBC Radio interviewed Nishant Shah about Indian Internet issues.&lt;/b&gt;
        &lt;p style="text-align: justify; "&gt;"I think what we need to do is perhaps say that there is something happening with the internet in India and then maybe we can move on to figuring out what is happening to the anonymous because we had a series of challenges on freedom of speech and expression and online space in the country. Just around the end of 2011, the Information and Broadcasting Minister was summoning social networks like Facebook and MySpace and Google and asking for a regime of pre-censorship so that everything you and I write from what we had to breakfast to which lunch and video we like the most ... that all the info needs to be first reviewed by somebody to make sure that it doesn't commute the larger moral thinkabilities of the nation."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Listen to the full interview &lt;a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/interview-with-bbc-radio" class="internal-link" title="An Interview with Nishant Shah"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Originally published by &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/pods/all"&gt;Outriders&lt;/a&gt;, a BBC Radio  5 live's programme dedicated to exploring the frontiers of the Web.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nishant-shah'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nishant-shah&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Interview</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-07-06T05:05:36Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy">
    <title>Beyond Anonymous: Shit people say on Internet piracy</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;This post is a series of provocations around piracy, censorship and the state of Internet in India. Like all good tasting things, these observations need to be taken with a pinch of salt. But it is the hope of the author that this serves as a response to otherwise very persistent voices that have been demonizing file-sharing online.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.firstpost.com/tech/beyond-anonymous-shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy-335588.html"&gt;Firstpost published Nishant Shah's column along with the video that CIS and ALF had made on 'shit people say about piracy' as a lead story on June 7, 2012&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;9 June is going to be a big day in India, for all concerned with internet regulation, censorship and the current attacks on file-sharing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The International Hacker group Anonymous – a group that has become iconic with its members wearing Guy Fawkes mask as they mobilise protest and hacker attacks on what they see as tyrannical regimes – has called for marched protests in 16 Indian cities, to demand a free and open Internet.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They have already started launching Denial of Service attacks and taking down websites owned by the Indian government to express their displeasure about the recent regulation of the internet. Whether or not their guerrilla tactics are efficient and effective, in the right or not, is something that has been discussed quite popularly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are hordes of people who think of them as the NewAge Mutant Ninja Hackers, who are protecting our digital worlds from being clamped down. There are others who paint them as the Big Bad Wolf who huffed and puffed and will blow our houses away.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You might be sympathetic, suspicious or scared of the emergence of such a ‘crowd vigilante’, sporting the slogan that has spawned Internet memes galore – Y U No Wake up? – But there is no doubt that the rise of such a collective signals how discourse around piracy, rights, and openness is no longer in the domain of the uber-geek and the academic researcher.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These are concepts with very material realities that affect our everyday functioning and require not only better policies but also a more nuanced public discourse. Today, I look at some of the most ludicrous things that have been said about file-sharing, around the world, wondering why this idea of sharing has evoked such startling responses from different quarters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;File sharing and depression&lt;/strong&gt;: There has always been a concern about the physical well-being of internet users. From Internet addiction rehabilitation clinics in China to online support groups for internet addicts (I swear I am not making this up!), from doctors worried about posture and eye-sight to mothers concerned about violent video games, we thought we had heard it all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And then came the extraordinary study that suggested that file sharing might lead to depression. Or rather, if you are an avid file-sharer on the internet, you are prone to attacks of depression. This had the twitter world abuzz, where people were trying to make sense of this ‘scientific’ study that connected spending long hours on the interwebz with mental illness. A trending tweet just about summed up the situation, when it said, “File sharers are depressed only because of what is done to them when they share”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;File sharing and jobs&lt;/strong&gt;: There was a time when the Music and Film Industry Associations (MAFIA) around the world used to protest file sharing by painting a romanticised picture of the independent starving artists, from whose mouths, we stole morsels, as we shared their work without paying for it. But that argument collapsed in the days of Napster (remember that?) and it has been proven over and over again, that the artist almost always benefits from their work being shared.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, lately, research from respectable universities (expensively funded by respectable interested parties) have started hitting the real you, rather than the imagined artist. Every torrent being downloaded on the web is correlated with a lost job, because these companies can no longer afford to hire as many people as they used to, because of the growing losses. And then it goes into complicated mumbo-jumbo about how that one torrent that sits merrily on your computer, actually affects all the jobs to kingdom come and will be responsible for your children’s unemployment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They remain silent about the jobs lost because of the funding that went into buying supporting this research.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am not a Pirate&lt;/strong&gt;: And lest you go away with the idea that the rest of the junta does not gaff, here are some of the gems that have come our way while working with people in the field. It is common, for instance, for people to take a moral stance on piracy, radiating a holier-than-thou ethical persona, without realising that recording that last IPL match to watch later on your tablet is also an act of piracy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then there are those who only consume material pirated by others, happily ignoring the fact that the ring-tone that they copied from their friend is also an act of piracy. Ditto, people who claim “I am not a pirate”, meaning that they haven’t yet figured out the bittorrent system and hence go to the local corner shop to buy pirated DVDs of the latest releases. In their heads, they have paid somebody for the material and hence it must be alright.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Piracy is not a one-point source process. It is a networked ecosystem, and I am still to find that one person who has never shared anything and make a video of them saying “I am not a pirate”. But that is probably just wishful thinking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are many more such instances which make your mind boggle and your eyes goggle and you wonder if you heard it right for the first time. Do share your favourite ones if you can. In the meantime you might also want to look at the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://youtu.be/xYjqe_n3sv8"&gt;new meme video ‘Sh!t People say about Piracy’&lt;/a&gt; that captures some of these responses in their absurdity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Video&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xYjqe_n3sv8" frameborder="0" height="315" width="320"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(Video by The Centre for Internet and Society , and the Alternative Law Forum)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Follow the video on &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYjqe_n3sv8&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be"&gt;YouTube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/shit-people-say-on-internet-piracy&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>nishant</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Video</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-13T14:01:59Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-embrace-the-change">
    <title>IPv6: Embrace The Change</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-embrace-the-change</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;A moment of transition is always filled with anxiety. There is concern over the unknown and there is a reluctance to move out of the familiar. However, a transition does not necessarily mean migration; or in other words, as we transition to  IPv6 as the new protocol for digital and electronic communication, it does not mean that we are going to abandon the internet as we know it.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;In fact, for most of the users, it is going to be a transparent transition, where their devices are going to be able to harness the powers of IPv4 and 6. While there are huge benefits at the back-end, leading to better security protocols and low maintenance, there are a few advantages that the user should also celebrate.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Faster Internet&lt;/strong&gt;: Because IPv6 will open up a huge range of IP addresses, direct routing of data becomes a possibility. As data does not have to be routed through many servers or nodes within a network, it can reach its destination faster. With the way our digital access and sharing is going right now, this is not to be taken lightly. In many ways this is the same transition we had from the dial-up connections, where the transfer of picture and video files within minutes was totally unheard of, while now we’re in an age where we stream high density video on all our computing devices with ease.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More collaborative and shared Internet&lt;/strong&gt;: With the abundance of IP addresses coming our way, there is going to be more scope for multiple devices to be connected online. New platforms of collaborative knowledge production and sharing can be designed to become infinite and inclusive in their scale and architecture.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More connected devices&lt;/strong&gt;: The inter-operability features of IPv6 ensure that more devices are able to communicate with each other with ease. The science-fiction futuristic dream of a completely connected environment where human and artificial intelligence can work together, using a range of devices, is actually a material possibility with large scale IPv6 implementation. This can also trigger new innovation that helps reconstruct some of our existing devices in new forms and shapes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While affordability and the migration to new network infrastructure are the gating factors to this transition, these are diminishing costs and we are looking at more interesting internet architecture as we move towards IPv6. Perhaps, one of the most reassuring points of this transition is that we do not need to abandon the familiar internet we are already working with; the transition is not a moving on, but a moving to, and in it are the promises of a safe, secure and speedy internet. Global technology organisations like Tata Communications &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.oneipworld.net/"&gt;have embraced this change&lt;/a&gt;; it’s only a matter of time before others too recognise the need for IPv6 and the huge difference it will make to our lives.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This communique is brought to you by Tata Communications and the Centre for Internet and Society.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nishant Shah is Director-Research at the Bangalore based Centre for Internet and Society.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you would like any further information on IPv6 at Tata Communications, please reach out to: &lt;a class="external-link" href="mailto:divya.anand@tatacommunications.com"&gt;divya.anand@tatacommunications.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-embrace-the-change'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-embrace-the-change&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>nishant</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-13T06:09:43Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/govt-websites-to-get-new-addresses">
    <title>Govt websites to get new addresses </title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/govt-websites-to-get-new-addresses</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The government today said by December all its websites would switch over to IPv6 — the next generation Web standard that enables the creation of trillions of new Internet addresses and provides higher levels of security. &lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120607/jsp/business/story_15580077.jsp#.T9Hwy8XSXx5"&gt;Click &lt;/a&gt;to read the original published by the Telegraph on June 7, 2012. Nishant Shah is quoted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) went live across the globe today, with leading online giants, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Microsoft (Bing), introducing the new standard on their products and services.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Experts said Internet users would not feel any impact because of the shift.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At present, websites run on IPv4, a 27 year-old standard that allows just over four billion unique IP addresses, which are the sequence of numbers used to identify a device.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Each Internet-enabled device — computer, tablet or smartphone — needs its own IP address to connect to the Internet. However, because of the shortage of addresses, many devices have to share them, limiting the ability of the security agencies to track the exact device involved in a security breach.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Networking giant Cisco has predicted that 18.9 billion devices will be online by 2016.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Switching to IPv6 will ensure a unique IP address for each device.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“IPv6 is designed to handle security issues better... All government websites will be IPv6-compatible by December. For the country as a whole, the road map for transitioning to IPv6 is by 2020,” telecom secretary R. Chandrashekhar said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Internet traffic that moves over to the new protocol is encrypted. Systems in IPv6 ensure that the traffic gets to the correct destination without being intercepted, analysts said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To ensure a smooth transition and avert an abrupt disruption, both systems (IPv4 and IPv6) will work simultaneously for the next few years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The future of our connected networks is IPv6. Not only is it more efficient and faster than IPv4, which we are currently working with, it is also more reliable and secure,” said Nishant Shah, director (research) at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;India has 35 million IPv4 addresses against a data user base of about 360 million.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition, with the government targeting 160 million and 600 million broadband customers by the year 2017 and 2020, respectively, the need to move to IPv6 becomes more crucial. Moreover, there is a strong security requirement to provide unique IP address to each individual user.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The IT department has taken various steps, including organising workshops, to encourage state governments to hold pilot projects.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twenty-seven government websites have been brought under IPv6 platform.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/govt-websites-to-get-new-addresses'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/govt-websites-to-get-new-addresses&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-11T03:27:19Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive">
    <title>Anonymous India’s Takedowns Could Be Counterproductive</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;Nikhil Pahwa's blog post was published in Medianama on June 6, 2012.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;As I write this, Anonymous India has &lt;a class="external-link" href="https://twitter.com/opindia_revenge/status/210245329419902976"&gt;apparently taken down&lt;/a&gt; MTNL’s &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.mtnl.net.in/"&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;, citing the ISPs decision to block sites, without apparently being quite aware why it is doing that. Last night, the collective claimed to have taken down the website of the ISPAI, India’s ISP Association. Last Saturday, there were discussions on the groups IRC to take down the website for the Ministry of Company Affairs. So far, it has taken down websites for the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.apgenco.gov.in/"&gt;Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited, All Indian Trinamool Congress (AITMC)&lt;/a&gt;, as well as several websites &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://pastehtml.com/view/bzs859j8o.txt"&gt;related&lt;/a&gt; to the Mizoram government, apart from accessing and publishing server logs from Reliance Communications.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anonymous India’s activities do help: they increase awareness of India’s war on the Internet, both by the government through legislation and censorship, and by movie producers and copyright owners through takedown notices and John Doe orders. There still remain citizens online who aren’t aware of why they aren’t able to access legitimate content – last night, someone from the books publishing industry asked me why she wasn’t able to access the video&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://ilovetypography.com/2012/05/21/books-vs-books/"&gt; in this post on ‘Designing for the Future Book&lt;/a&gt;‘ on her Airtel connection. The video is hosted on Vimeo, which remains blocked in India.&amp;nbsp; Now she knows why.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anonymous India has also shed light on what all is being blocked by sharing what are allegedly Reliance Communications’ logs on blocks. These logs suggest that ISPs were going beyond the mandate given to them by the courts and the government. It’s also clear that ISPs aren’t protecting the rights of their customers, and are implementing blocks either in a ham-handed manner, or in a manner that suits them or their related companies. They are as much to blame as those getting the orders issued, and so there is undoubtedly some schadenfreude in seeing both government and ISP websites taken down by Anonymous India.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still, you&amp;nbsp; have to wonder about how the powers that be will react to this situation: no government will show that it is bucking under what it perceives to be cyber terrorism: it’s not just an ego thing; there is also a legitimate fear that if the government is seen as buckling under such attacks, it would lead to cyber attacks whenever there is something that warrants a protest. The attacks by Anonymous could be counterproductive for two other reasons: firstly, because the natural reaction to any kind of attack is to increase spending and changes in laws. While India is already spending on surveillance and identification, cyberattacks will justify these spends, make the case for more, and lead to more changes in government policy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The second reason is that these attacks could lead to the undoing of a lot of work done by activists for Internet freedom. The Software Freedom Law Center, Centre For Internet and Society, Avaaz, Change.org, The Internet Democracy Project, and many many others have spent many months reaching out to and educating parliamentarians and the lawmakers of the country on issues related to the draconian IT Rules. The IT Rules have resulted in websites and ISPs censoring content online when they have been send unfair and flawed takedown notices, and they need to be changed. The cyberattacks could once again be used by the Home Ministry and those at CERT-IN to justify continuing with such draconian rules, and especially since many MP’s are not aware of the nuances of the potential for misuse; some MPs (I’ve observed) appear to be choosing to be on the fence on this, either on account of lack of interest or lack of depth of understanding.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Activities that bring more information on the blocks to light help strengthen the case for more specificity in court orders by highlighting misuse by copyright owners and ISPs, and also for modification in the IT Rules. Taking down sites weakens it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.medianama.com/2012/06/223-anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive/"&gt;Click&lt;/a&gt; to read the original here&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-18T06:05:13Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-the-transition-challenge">
    <title>IPv6: The Transition Challenge</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-the-transition-challenge</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The future of our connected networks is Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Not only is it more efficient and faster than IPv4 which we are currently working with, it is also more reliable and secure. &lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;The IPv6, for instance, has an in-built security protocol called 
IPSec, which authenticates and secures all IP data. The data carrying 
capacity of IPv6 networks is also going to be higher. This means that 
more devices with more features will be able to work seamlessly through 
these networks. Despite the larger load of information, IPv6 packets are
 easier to handle and route, just like postcards with pincodes in their 
addresses are easier to deliver than those without.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We have already seen great examples of successful implementation 
during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.&amp;nbsp; Every aspect from the security 
surveillance to managing vehicles and the coverage of the Olympic events
 was done over IPv6, including live streaming of the events over the 
Internet. The Chinese government, in fact, has already launched a ‘China
 Next Generation Internet’ (CNGI) project to build IPv6 networks which 
are going to radically change the face of high-speed internet in the 
country. With all these benefits available to us in this next generation
 protocol, the question that remains is why only a meagre 2% of the 
world’s internet traffic is conducted through it? Why haven’t more ISPs 
shifted to IPv6?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are two very clear reasons. The first one is that of costs and 
infrastructure. The IPv6 platforms do not communicate easily with the 
IPv4 networks. We have the choice of a mammoth transition of all IPv4 
websites and networks to new IPv6 protocols. This idea of abandoning 
IPv4 and moving to a new protocol is not only redundant; it is also 
futile, because IPv4 is already running the largest network in human 
history quite efficiently. &lt;strong&gt;What we need is translators which will be 
able to speak to both the different versions and help our devices work 
through them seamlessly&lt;/strong&gt;. Older, more successful technologies have 
been able to do this. So, television, for instance, whether it receives 
terrestrial data, satellite images or data transferred via cable, is 
able to translate and render them into images and sounds which we can 
consume with ease. However, the translators for the IPv4 – IPv6 still 
expensive and we need more resources diverted towards making them 
affordable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The second reason is linked to the first. In order for IPv6 to become
 popular, it needs a minimum threshold of service providers and users 
riding that network. As long as the deployment remains nascent, there 
will be no concentrated energy to actually try and make the bridges 
between versions 4 and 6. While global technology organisations like 
Tata Communications are ready for the transition, we are going to need a
 systemic change among all stakeholders to make IPv6 a reality, towards a
 faster, safer and more robust Internet.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This communique is brought to you by &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.tatacommunications.com/"&gt;Tata Communications&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href="https://cis-india.org/" class="external-link"&gt;Centre for Internet and Society&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nishant Shah is Director-Research at the Bangalore based Centre for Internet and Society.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you would like any further information on IPv6 at Tata Communications, please reach out to: &lt;a class="external-link" href="mailto:divya.anand@tatacommunications.com"&gt;divya.anand@tatacommunications.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The above blog post was reproduced in &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://mis-asia.com/resource/guest-blogs/blog-ipv6--the-transition-challenge/"&gt;MIS Asia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.cio-asia.com/resource/guest-blogs/blog-ipv6--the-transition-challenge/"&gt;CIO Asia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://computerworld.com.sg/resource/guest-blogs/blog-ipv6--the-transition-challenge/"&gt;Computer World Singapore&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.computerworld.com.my/resource/guest-blogs/blog-ipv6--the-transition-challenge/"&gt;Computer World Malaysia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-the-transition-challenge'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6-the-transition-challenge&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>nishant</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-13T09:59:27Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6">
    <title>IPv6:  The First Steps</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The Centre for Internet &amp; Society has entered into a small collaboration with Tata Telecommunications in India to celebrate the IPv6 day on June 6th. We will write 5500 word vignettes, which will be sent to their global database consisting of more than 900,000 users in the Asia-Pacific. &lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;It is commonplace to interchange the words Internet and Cyberspace. However, we should make a distinction between the two.&amp;nbsp; Cyberspace is an experiential phenomenon, supported by the Internet but smaller. It refers to the actions, transactions, negotiations performed within the digital network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Internet is a protocol – a set of rules that allows for a digitally connected network of databases to interact with each other. This happens through a standard set of commonly accepted rules, Internet Protocol version 4 – IPv4. IPv4 allows differently configured networks, working on different platforms, and designed through different technologies to communicate effectively by agreeing on a bare minimum of universally accepted codes for data to navigate cyberspace with the least bit of effort.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;IPv4 was defined in 1981, when there were few computers in the world with even fewer connected to networks. It was the protocol that assigned a computer on the Internet, with an IP address, the unique name of a connected device which can be recognised by digital networks. Packets of data transmitted over the Internet need an unique IP address associated to their origin and destination, so that information can travel smoothly.&amp;nbsp; IPv4 was developed so that 4,294,967,296 (2^32) unique IP addresses could be accommodated within the network. When it was designed, it looked like an almost infinite system. No one had ever imagined that the World Wide Web would emerge so quickly! We have reached a point now, where the last free IP addresses have been allotted in February of 2012, and we are now reaching a ‘real-estate’ crisis on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since every device with Internet connectivity has a unique IP address – computers, servers, tablets, smart-phones, e-book readers and even alarm clocks – we need a lot more IP addresses.&amp;nbsp; IPv6 – or Internet Protocol version 6 – is a new standard by which we are now going to expand the ‘land’ upon which the Internet can grow. IPv6 is an overhaul of the existing system which will be able to handle 340 undecillion (2^128) unique addresses. Leading global Internet Service Providers and technology companies like Tata Communications have recognised &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.oneipworld.net/"&gt;this as the need of the hour&lt;/a&gt; since increasingly we are living in digital information societies. However, IPv6 is going to have a range of serious implications for our hardware and software needs as well as our usage patterns and how the Internet is going to expand in the future.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This communique is brought to you by &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.tatacommunications.com/"&gt;Tata Communications&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href="https://cis-india.org/" class="external-link"&gt;Centre for Internet and Society&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you would like any further information on IPv6 at Tata Communications, please reach out to: &lt;a class="external-link" href="mailto:divya.anand@tatacommunications.com"&gt;divya.anand@tatacommunications.com&lt;/a&gt; or write to &lt;a class="external-link" href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org"&gt;Nishant Shah&lt;/a&gt;, Director-Research at the Bangalore based Centre for Internet and Society.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ip-v-6&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>nishant</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-05T07:18:16Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/watch-out-for-cyber-bullies">
    <title>Watch out for cyber bullies</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/watch-out-for-cyber-bullies</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;It's time to take a closer look at this form of cyber crime in India, writes KV Kurmanath in an article published in the Hindu Business Line on June 4, 2012.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;The suicide of Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old New Jersey student in 2010, had triggered a strong debate on invasion of privacy in the cyber age.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;His roommate, an Indian student, captured the boy kissing another man in their hostel using his web camera.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The boy jumped into a river unable to take the humiliation, when the former tried to circulate the clip. Though the court refused to link the recording with the death, it sentenced the Indian youth to 30 days in prison last month.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What Clementi was subjected to is cyber bullying, argued those who campaigned for the Indian student's deportation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Along with other cyber crimes, cyber bullying is on the rise in India too. The fledgling cyber police wings in different states are being flooded with complaints of invasion of privacy, blackmail and circulating electronic messages that cause annoyance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ms Aparna (name changed) was aghast when a close friend called her up about a nude picture of her being circulated on the web. A quick check pointed the needle of suspicion at a friend who she had just spurned. Angered by her rejection, the boy morphed her picture, checked into her email account and sent it to all the people in the contact list.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After finding Facebook not so amusing, Sujatha (name changed) decided to close her account and discussed this with a few friends too. A few days later, she found both her FB and gmail accounts compromised. She also found obscene pictures posted on the same.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Legal Issues&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Incidents like these are growing sharply with poor knowledge among users abut how to protect accounts. Sharing one's passwords with others too is proving dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Prof. Madabhushi Sridhar, a cyber laws expert at NALSAR University, says the crimes cited above come under the bracket of invasion of privacy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He says Section 66A in the amended IT Act deals with these crimes. Sending any message (through a computer or a communication device) that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; any communication which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing insult, annoyance, criminal intimidation comes under this section. This crime, he says, is punishable up to three years with a fine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Prof. Sridhar, who has just completed a book on cyber laws, feels that punishments under the IT Act are insufficient. "They should be read with the Indian Penal Code. This will be an effective method to check cyber crimes," he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Prof. Sridhar also represents the Institute of Global Internet Governance and Advocacy (GIGA) at the Law University. GIGA conducts research on the Internet and takes up advocacy and training programmes on Internet Governance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"We already have anti-voyeurism provisions in the IT Act under Sec. 66E," Mr Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of Centre for Internet and Security, says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This offence is punishable with ‘imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine not exceeding two lakh rupees, or with both.'&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Repeated harassment aka cyber bullying can be addressed using the already over-broad provisions under Sec. 66A. Unfortunately this Section goes too far and can be used to censor legitimate speech.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Security and privacy awareness in India is very poor. It would be very useful if both the government and civil society was more aggressive in awareness raising and triggering change in behaviour. Unfortunately this is a bit like smoking - even though people are aware of the issues - they engage in risky behaviour online," he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Lack of Data&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mr.Pavan Duggal, Chairman of Cyber Law Committee and Cyber laws expert, said there is no specific data on cyber crime in India and the data available with the NCRB (National Crimes Records Bureau) of around 900 cases for overall cybercrime is also doubtful.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"The solution is to make cyber laws more strict as current law under IT Act 2000 is a bailable offence with three years imprisonment and a fine," he points out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"IT Act 2000 has to be re-amended to specific provisions pertaining to cyber bullying. Further, cyber bullying needs to be made a serious offence with minimum five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 lakh. Unless you have deterrence in law it will be a continuing offence," he observes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, there are some safeguards which can help prevent such acts of cyber offences. In most cases, the acts of bullying or blackmailing are done by someone close to the victims. People should make it a point to keep their Internet identities very safe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One should not disclose their identities such as passwords or hint questions to anyone – no matter how close they are. Parents should keep an eye on their children who are addicted to the Internet. They should inform and educate their children on the clear and present dangers that lurk on the Net.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They should also teach the importance of respecting others' privacy apart from taking precautions to keep their private space very safe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(with inputs from Ronendra Singh)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/eworld/article3489576.ece?ref=wl_features"&gt;Click&lt;/a&gt; to read the original published in the Hindu Business Line. Sunil Abraham is qouted in this article.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/watch-out-for-cyber-bullies'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/watch-out-for-cyber-bullies&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Privacy</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-05T06:08:19Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/scared-by-a-spoof">
    <title>Scared by a spoof? You’ve got to be kidding me!</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/scared-by-a-spoof</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;Whether it is Mamata Banerjee's recent crackdown on a comic strip or the new legal guidelines that allow touchy readers to have objectionable content taken down, what you say online is under scrutiny. What, then, will happen to news satire websites?&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-03/people/32005348_1_spoof-comic-strip-website/2"&gt;The article by Dhamini Ratnam was published in the Times of India on June 3, 2012&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Meri site www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com kabse band ho chuki hai (...) Humara sabse bada hathiyar humse chheena ja raha hai (...) Aaj chup rahe toh phir bolne ke liye zubaan bhi nahin bachegi." (My site &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com"&gt;www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com&lt;/a&gt; has been shut down (...) Our biggest weapon is being taken away from us (...) If we remain silent, we won't be left with anything to articulate with").&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That's the first thing you read on Kanpur-based blogger Aseem Trivedi's new site, &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.blogspot.in"&gt;www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.blogspot.in&lt;/a&gt;, on which he transferred all his satirical cartoons earlier this year, after he found that his website had been arbitrarily blocked based on a complaint lodged with the Mumbai Crime Branch last December.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In May, Trivedi went on a hunger strike. His point was simple. The police had no right to have his website taken down, under the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008, or even under the new Information Technology (intermediary guidelines) Rules, 2011. These rules came into effect last April, and give 36 hours to the intermediary (read Internet Service Provider) to take down content deemed 'objectionable'.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At the face of it, this may seem like a handing over of power to Internet users. But what does this hold out for news satire websites that routinely critique public figures, spoof politics and play an important role in raising public awareness through humour?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For one, in a surprising move, the editors are giving up being anonymous. Says Rahul Roushan, editor, Faking News, "I began this site under the pseudonym Pagal Patrakar in 2008. By the end of 2009, I didn't want to remain anonymous anymore."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Roushan, who is based in Gurgaon, felt readers weren't taking him seriously. "Unless there's a face to such sites, people will think you're spreading lies," says the 33-year-old former television news anchor. Yet, coming out wasn't a cakewalk. "A post I wrote about on the anti-people policy of Mr Thackeray received a comment that I am a Bihari, and therefore against Marathi manoos. Had he not known my name, the reader would never have written such a comment," says Roushan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet, Roushan would rather have his readers - his blog gets 10 lakh page views a month - trust his judgement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, recent events, including Pashimbanga Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's crackdown on a comic strip, and Union human resource development, communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal's suggestion to Internet giants to "regulate themselves" has left Roushan and other news satire website editors wary.The new IT guidelines, fears Roushan, will create an army of self-righteous people with "a lot of hurt sentiments".&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I'm scared of sentiments," he says, wryly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;T S Sudhir, editor of Tenali Rama Reports, a news spoof site that was started in September 2011, feels the trick to safeguard against such "sentiments" is to maintain a rigorous editorial policy. "No obscene, lewd or toilet humour," says the Hyderabadbased former journalist.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The recent fracas over Mamata's 'Maoist' concerns, for instance, elicited a light-hearted piece that said all dosa-eaters are Maoists, because 'mao' in Tamil means 'batter'. "India has a long-standing political tradition of satire, and readers are used to political cartoons with biting humour."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mangalore-based political cartoonist Satish Acharya, however, has faced the brunt for his biting humour. In September 2011, a Mumbai Crime Branch officer asked him to take down a cartoon depicting &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Sharad-Pawar"&gt;Sharad Pawar&lt;/a&gt; in a red gown that Acharya had posted on his blog, after it was published in a Mumbaibased tabloid. "In political cartoons, what is the yardstick to measure what is objectionable," asks Acharya. "Can a policeman decide whether a political cartoon is objectionable and have it taken down?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Programme manager at The Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, Pranesh Prakash has a one word reply: No. Together with his teammates, Prakash is working on a set of guidelines that counters the Intermediary Rules and offers checks and balances without trampling on fundamental rights. For instance, says Prakash, after a complaint is made, the content owner - say the website editor, or cartoonist - should be allowed to reply. If the problem persists, the complainant can go to court.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If cartoons are an effective vehicle of critique online, so are videos. The UnReal Times, run by New Delhi-based IIM graduates C S Krishna and Karthik Laxman, shot to online fame last year after they released a video depicting the Prime Minister as Singham, the heroic character played by Ajay Devgn in a film.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"The best sort of satire," says Krishna, "is when you can't prove in the court of law that the piece is insulting." Krishna and Laxman, who do policy research work for BJP MP Uday Singh, insist that they are not card-holders for the party, and have taken pot-shots at the BJP, too. "Since political satire focuses on mocking the establishment, the UPA government is the subject of most our (satirical) pieces on politics," says Krishna. Tanay Sukumar, editor of News That Matters Not, feels that the content should be directed at a problematic policy, not person. Engineering students Sukumar and Sugandha, who founded the site in 2009, feel that a satirist needs to distinguish between what is necessary and what isn't. "Portraying a political figure using sexual innuendo might be funny for several readers, but would be "unnecessary" in most cases. Our job is to to critique governance." In the case of a crackdown, however, they are clear about what they'd do: they'll take down the 'offending' piece, and then write about having done so. "We will not offend them; we will wear them out," they say.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Want to start a news satire website? here's how:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have a disclaimer page. Apologise in advance for "hurt sentiments", offer readers a chance to get in &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Touch"&gt;touch&lt;/a&gt; with you directly for redressal, explain why you're using satire as a tool to critique. If your ISP is asked to remove content, the current IT guidelines are such that they would need to obey. However, since the law doesn't require ISPs to keep track of content that has been removed, make noise about it. There'll be enough people online who will fight for your freedom of expression. Study satire - it's an effective tool - but learn to distinguish it from slander and falsehood. Keep the post grounded in a real event or phenomenon. Critique the agenda, not the person. Consult an IT lawyer if you are in doubt about a piece. It's always good to know your legal argument beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this article.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/scared-by-a-spoof'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/scared-by-a-spoof&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Censorship</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-05T05:24:09Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/news/protest-at-censorship">
    <title>Protest@ censorship.com </title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/news/protest-at-censorship</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;Activism goes online as more angry young citizens decide to make their voices heard, writes Sandhya Soman in an article published in the Times of India. Pranesh Prakash is quoted in the article.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;If there was a software code to ‘Invite All’, then Ashish D and friends would’ve called the world to land up at Gateway of India on June 9. The next best option for this netizen from Mumbai was to go online.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hacktivism –– a form of activism for social change that uses computers and electronic networks –– is back. And the most recent protest is from hacker group Anonymous, which is trying to gather public support to stem internet censorship and blocking of websites in India by service providers and the government recently.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since showing up in front of the town hall is not enough, Ashish has set up a Facebook page. Fellow netizens, irritated by the arbitrary blocking of sites and impressed by Anonymous OpIndia’s jabs at websites of political parties and corporates, are signing up to discuss the best possible venues to protest from.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Is there a better place than Marina beach in Chennai to make the maximum impact, wonders one user while another says it would be better to split up to cover more area in Mumbai. According to Pranesh Prakash, lawyer and programme manager at The Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based research organisation, a strong online presence helps protests to get publicity. A lot of the Jan Lokpal agitation happened online, he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“It is not enough to fast at Jantar Mantar. If you get 1,000 people to click ‘like’ or 40 people to retweet your tweet, then the site becomes the default area of protest,” he says. If those petitioners are 10 influential people, then it carries more weight with the media than a few hundred shouting slogans on the street.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Also called electronic civil disobedience, hacktivism is geared to political ends,” writes Pramod K Nayar in his book ‘An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures.’ Virtual sit-ins involving intellectuals and ordinary citizens and bombarding authorities with emails have been used by Mexican revolutionaries, Tamil separatists and protesters in Iran and the Middle East. “Hacktivism is clearly here to stay,” writes Nayar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But it is not enough to collect a few digital signatures, says Nithin Manayath, one of the people behind the 2009 ‘Pink Chaddi’ campaign, which sought to protest in an irreverent manner the attacks against women by the radical Sri Ram Sena. Manayath and his friends sustained the campaign through a Facebook group, which saw thousands of pairs of pink underwear being sent to the office of the group that attacked women for what it considered ‘violations of Indian culture’.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Marches, candlelight vigils and dharnas are something we do regularly. By the tenth dharna you will be so jaded that you go to the protest venue to meet friends,” says Manayath. After a while, this happens to online petitions also if you are not thinking about what you are doing. “What I liked about the ‘Pink Chaddi’ campaign was that we were responding to violence with a shameless act. It made me aware about many things and the novelty of the protest resonated with many people,” he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Though the current campaign is going the offline way on June 9, the hacking and denial of service attacks on websites by Anonymous have ensured that issue of blocking got publicity. “There is corporate and private censorship of internet and it is being done without enough proof of who is violating the copyrights of moviemakers. If these protests create awareness about the larger issues and developments in the areas of e-governance, IT Act and copyright law, then they could be helpful,” says Pranesh Prakash.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, Anonymous OpIndia, which is hoping for lifting of ban on websites, is already getting feelers from eager citizens on future issues. “Many people have requested us to protest other issues such gasoline price hike,” says a member. “And we always tell them that there are no strict rules, they can protest as per their needs.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;NET ANGST&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Through Facebook, the ‘Pink Chaddi’ campaign of 2009 encouraged women to send undergarments to Sri Ram Sena. The right-wing group had attacked women for ‘violations of Indian culture’&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jan Lokpal campaign in 2011 had support from various online forums. They sent petitions to political parties and inundated a government website with e-mails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Following the blocking of websites due to a court order to prevent copyright violations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anonymous OpIndia targeted government and corporate websites. It is mobilising people for protests in nearly 11 cities on June 9.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&amp;amp;Source=Page&amp;amp;Skin=TOINEW&amp;amp;BaseHref=TOICH/2012/06/03&amp;amp;PageLabel=4&amp;amp;EntityId=Ar00400&amp;amp;ViewMode=HTML"&gt;Read the original here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/news/protest-at-censorship'&gt;https://cis-india.org/news/protest-at-censorship&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>praskrishna</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-05T04:23:19Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>News Item</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-web-of-our-strife">
    <title>The Web of Our Strife</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-web-of-our-strife</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;At the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, India proposed the formation of a Committee on Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) to address what it sees as a policy vacuum in internet governance.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.timescrest.com/opinion/the-web-of-our-strife-8047"&gt;Pranesh Prakash's article was published in the Times of India on June 2, 2012&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This CIRP will, in the view of India's government, address the US domination of internet policymaking, and make it more democratic and 'multistakeholder'. As an example of this domination, our government cites the oversight role that the US government exercises over ICANN, the non-profit corporation that controls the net's domain name system, as well as the control it exerts over DNS root servers (with all changes needing to go through the US Department of Commerce).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But many civil society organisations, technology companies, and even a few Indian politicians (notably Rajeev Chandrashekar and P Rajeeve), oppose the CIRP as being a proposal for the UN takeover of internet governance. The role of nation-states in governing the internet has been minimal so far. Many attribute the success of the internet to this lack of interference from governments. They ask why we need to fix something that is not broken? In effect, why regulate something that clearly works without such regulation?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is clear that this status quo will not suffice for many governments. Various countries - like the US, with its Stop Online Piracy and Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection acts, and India, with our Information Technology Act and recent Intermediary Guidelines Rules - look to actively regulate the net. ICANN, supposedly a purely technical organisation, has got embroiled in policy issues too. This was seen in the. xxx top-level domain name debacle, where governments tried to intervene, but ultimately failed. Many such purely domestic regulations, like SOPA, have international implications. Even India's Intermediary Guidelines Rules, for instance, require compliance from internet companies across the world. The US government has seized domain names of Spanish file-sharing websites that are hosted in Spain, even though they have been held to be legal there.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So while international forums exist for internetrelated policy discussions, including the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), they are limited by a lack of actual power to even so much as recommend policy positions. Hence there are forums for discussions, but none for resolving problems. The proposed CIRP seeks to be such a body, "with a view to ensuring coordination and coherence in crosscutting internet-related global issues".&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Besides, apart from domestic legislation starting to encroach upon the international nature of the internet, there's another issue: that of countries like Russia and China pushing for a less 'multistakeholder' approach to internet governance. So the status quo is unsatisfactory, the alternatives are worrisome, and attempts at 'enhanced cooperation' within existing frameworks (for instance, through India's proposal for IGF reforms) have failed to find enough backers. Given this, a CIRP-like mechanism might well be the preferred option. Importantly, a singular body within the UN system for internet policy could help ensure that other UN agencies which are even less 'multistakeholder' don't overstep their mandates and start making regulations all by themselves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, the current CIRP proposal lacks many safeguards that would allay the fears expressed by those who oppose it as 'government control of the internet'. First, while the Indian government has, in its proposal, laid out the CIRP's mandate, it has not laid out the limits of its powers in carrying out that mandate. Second, the CIRP is currently a government body that is merely 'advised' by various stakeholders, with nothing to indicate that this advice will be heeded. This is unsatisfactory, given the internet policy transgressions that are committed by various national governments, as seen, say, in Iran or China. Arguments that the UN system is nation-state-centric do not suffice, since processes that aren't nation-state-centric, such as the Internet Governance Forum, are also being spearheaded by the UN.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If such criticism is addressed, then the CIRP should indeed be welcomed. But we should also be realistic. Governments are effectively being asked to cede certain aspects of sovereignty by being told that the internet is a phenomenon that traditional approaches to policymaking just cannot address. They will not do so easily.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further, the reality of international realpolitik must be acknowledged - about governments actually following the CIRP. The US, for instance, regularly ignores rulings by the ICJ and the WTO with impunity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More importantly, and as some cyberlibertarians like Milton Mueller and Adam Thierer remind us, 'multistakeholderism' is only a process (involving multiple stakeholders), and does not provide substantive principles for internet governance (when may websites be blocked, for instance;or who should control the domain name system). Such sobering realpolitik, Mueller believes, is reason enough to be sceptical of the CIRP proposal as it currently stands. He may well be right.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But given the current trend of states individually wielding excessive powers over various aspects of how their citizens access and use the internet, a CIRP-like body may well be what is needed to safeguard democratic principles and innovation on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-web-of-our-strife'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-web-of-our-strife&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>pranesh</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Public Accountability</dc:subject>
    
    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-04T05:45:34Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>


    <item rdf:about="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing">
    <title>Beyond Sharing: Towards our Digital Futures</title>
    <link>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing</link>
    <description>
        &lt;b&gt;The battle is not about file sharing and a petty film producer wanting to rake in the box office earnings. It is about the law’s incapacity to deal with post-analogue practices and processes.&lt;/b&gt;
        
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/beyond-sharing-towards-our-digital-futures"&gt;Down to Earth published Nishant Shah's Op-ed on May 31, 2012&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Unless you have been hiding under an analogue rock, wearing a tin-foil hat and staying away from electricity, chances are you have heard about the recent court order that bans access to a massive number of file-sharing websites from India. A John Doe order by the Madras High Court, following a complaint by the producers of the movie 3, has meant Internet Service Providers across the country have had to deny access to a number of websites that have been listed as providing free access to copyrighted material. In an attempt to ensure box-office collections for their movie, whose claim to fame, ironically, is the viral ‘Kolaveri Di’ song that had captured the country’s pulse last year, the producers have now denied access to something that is the basic function of anybody immersed in Web 2.0 environments–sharing of information.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Much has been written about this ban. The battlelines are clearly drawn and from both sides we have strong arguments being made for and against piracy. Various media and culture industry people are supporting this ban, recounting losses that they have made because of people accessing pirated material online. Hacker and civil liberties groups are decrying this heavy censorship, providing numerous instances of how piracy has actually helped cultural productions gain more fame and money than they would have otherwise. There are yet others, who, while they respect the rights of the right-holders to protect themselves against copyright infringement, are furious that this blanket ban also disallows them to access material which was under a public license and material that they had produced and shared through these networks. &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;International Hacker groups like Anonymous are mobilising people in large numbers to come to the streets as a sign of protest against such draconian measures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of these debates eventually are at loggerheads, with each side becoming louder and shriller, their positions attaining cult-like devotion and faith. In this cacophony there are some other points which get missed out. This issuance of the John Doe order has betrayed some startling flaws in how the Internet is governed in India and the alarming implications it has to the future of free, open and inclusive information societies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One thing that this court order has made excruciatingly clear is how the Internet is not the utopian space of exchange, collaboration, crowd sourcing and sharing it was meant to be. Despite the government’s own investments in building digital infrastructure, and its rhetoric of becoming more accountable, transparent and accessible by granting digital access to the citizens, it is obvious that this is still a space that is looked at with great suspicion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It comes as a shock to many of us that a high court issued an order which does not only impinge on freedom of speech and expression, but also fails to understand the nature of the Internet. In all reality, this ban is a farce. Everybody who has been used to the shared cultures of the online world, has found proxy servers and Internet anonymisers which allow them to hide their identity and continue with their everyday practice online. The cool kids are already doing this anyway. All we have is a stark realisation that the state might be investing heavily in digital technologies but it still has not been able to get out of the centralised broadcast ways of thinking about it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All sharing is not piracy. Some of it is just actually sharing. All debates seem to centre only around the copyrighted material being accessed through the file sharing websites. It is a concern which is legitimate. What about all the material that is in the public domain, in the commons and available for free? The user generated content, content which might not have direct economic value but is valuable to the people who created and shared it, is also now inaccessible. In order to protect some people from piracy we have also violated the rights of many more to share. And that is a distinction that is worth preserving, as we increasingly move into becoming an information society.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the Web 2.0 world, we are all producers of data. We not only leave traces but also put out material of cultural significance–from videos of dancing babies to knowledge that we want to share–through these peer-2-peer networks. A sudden collapse of this infrastructure almost seems to show how it is only the money-making material that is important to the state and not the other.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is not going to be a clear, correct position in this case against file-sharing. The legal technicalities will always be hollow in the face of ideologies of openness and inclusion. The moral indignation will always be countered by facts and numbers. But in the middle of all the fights and discussions, it is also good to pay attention to what is at stake. This battle is not merely about file sharing, though there is nothing “mere” about file sharing. This battle is not about a petty film producer wanting to rake in the box office earnings. This battle is about the law’s incapacity to deal with post-analogue practices and processes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The way we resolve these differences is going to determine the future of what it means to be public, open, free, and inclusive. Those of us who are fighting to get the word out, are not doing it only because the access to our favourite cultural products has become cumbersome, but because scared that this might well be the beginning of the end of all that we had dreamt of our digital futures.&lt;/p&gt;

        &lt;p&gt;
        For more details visit &lt;a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing'&gt;https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
    </description>
    <dc:publisher>No publisher</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>nishant</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights></dc:rights>

    
        <dc:subject>Internet Governance</dc:subject>
    

   <dc:date>2012-06-01T04:39:12Z</dc:date>
   <dc:type>Blog Entry</dc:type>
   </item>




</rdf:RDF>
