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Roundtable on Enhancing Indian Cyber Security through Multi-Stakeholder Cooperation

Admin — 2018-02-01T14:04:36Z

A closed door round-table on enhancing Indian cyber security is being organized on 4 November 2017 at Indian Islamic Centre, Lodhi Road in New Delhi.

With the proliferation of digital technologies and the central role they play in national infrastructure and governance, security of systems and services is fundamental to the economic, political, and social development and success of a nation. Digital India, the National Payments Corporation of India, IndiaStack, and the Aadhaar ecosystem are just a few examples of such digital infrastructure. Yet the digital realm is increasingly becoming more complex and difficult to secure and monitor for vulnerabilities, threats, breaches, and attacks. The responsibility of identifying and monitoring such vulnerabilities can be spearheaded by designated governmental bodies like CERT-IN and NCIIPC, but for effective identification of threats and vulnerabilities, collaboration is needed across stakeholder groups including security researchers, industry, and government bodies. Transparency about breaches and attacks is also key in enabling consumer awareness and building trust with the public. Examples of such mechanisms include bug bounty programs and breach notification frameworks.

This closed door roundtable will seek to bring together government, industry, civil society, academia, and security researchers to identify different areas and tools of collaboration between stakeholders towards enhancing Indian cyber security. It will broadly focus on vulnerability identification and reporting and vulnerability/breach notification. This will include a reflection on:

Existing frameworks, forms of collaborations, policies and practices in India.
Practices, standards, certifications, and programmes adopted in other jurisdictions.
The way forward for India addressing issues like establishing trust, harmonization and communication across stakeholders and sectors, and ensuring quality and response.

RSVP: pranav@cis-india.org

Download the Invite

See the Report

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/roundtable-on-enhancing-indian-cyber-security-through-multi-stakeholder-cooperation

Roundtable on Data Integrity and Privacy

Admin — 2017-11-25T02:17:13Z

Amber Sinha attended a roundtable on data integrity and privacy organized by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on November 18, 2017 in New Delhi. The round table discussion was chaired by Shri Baijayant Panda, Hon'ble Member of Parliament.

With the 10-member committee headed by former Justice B.N. Srikrishna being mandated to recommend principles for a new data protection bill, the time is ripe for online platforms, service providers and citizen stakeholders to discuss what the substantive elements of the new data protection law should look like.

Regulatory principles around data should be informed by the impetus for innovation, the responsibility to deliver social benefits and most importantly the users’ expectation of privacy. Increasingly, the nature and number of actors collecting and processing user data is becoming unclear. The new data protection framework must clarify the relationship between the user and apps/ mobile platforms that collect her data, but should do so while acknowledging the heterogenous nature of the Indian digital economy, comprising operating systems, platforms and devices of varying security and sophistication.

To kick-start this project, ORF hosted a roundtable chaired by Shri Baijayant Panda to hear from a diverse set of stakeholders to understand what direction the data privacy regime in India should take. The roundtable took place at the Viceroy, Claridges Hotel, 12, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, Delhi 110011.

The roundtable broadly covered the following aspects –

Role of user consent and choice
Importance of cross border data flows
Appropriate regulatory authority
International best practices and relevance to the Indian context
Reasonable restrictions
Private-public collaboration

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-on-data-integrity-and-privacy

Roundtable on Cyber-security and the Private Sector

pranav — 2018-10-15T09:18:35Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) invites you to a roundtable discussion on cyber-security and the private sector. The event will be held at Omidyar Network office in Bangalore from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

An increased proliferation of cyber attacks from multiple vectors and a variety of actors has necessitated a multi-stakeholder response to cyber-security that requires private sector involvement, both at the policy and technical fields. This contribution has come in the recent past not only through active involvement at the domestic levels but also through norm-setting in the international arena.

This symposium seeks to discuss the various cyber-security concerns in the Indian private sector and maps initiatives being undertaken by various actors towards furthering cyber-security in an attempt to identify challenges, points of tension, brainstorm solutions-thereby mapping the way forward through engagement not only with private sector actors but also in dialogue with civil society and policy-makers. CIS has undertaken some preliminary research in this area to further discussion in this area and serve as a forum for sharing perspectives for various stakeholders.

The symposium will be divided into three sessions, broadly in the form of a roundtable with different modus operandi in each session.

A Concept Note for the event can be found here, and the agenda can be found here. If you would like to attend, please rsvp pranav@cis-india.org, or register here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/roundtable-on-cyber-security-and-the-private-sector

Roundtable on Consumer Experiences with New Technologies in APAC (Singapore)

Admin — 2019-04-15T10:25:57Z

Arindrajit Basu was invited to a Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence:Consumer Experiences with New Technologies (APAC region).

The event was hosted by Consumer International and delivered at Google, Singapore on March 26, 2019. CIS research and Arindrajit's inputs have been quoted in a report by the same name which will be released by Consumer International within the course of the next month.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-on-consumer-experiences-with-new-technologies-in-apac-singapore

Roundtable on AI and Finance in India

saman — 2018-03-11T14:58:55Z

Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) will hold a roundtable on artificial intelligence and finance in India on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 in association with HasGeek and the 50p Conference. The roundtable will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m at TERI (The Energy Resources Institute) in Domlur, Bengaluru.

We invite you all to participate in this roundtable to share and build knowledge about trajectories of AI deployment across sub-sectors of banking in India and the emergent regulatory and public policy concerns.

The objective of the roundtable is to bring together various actors active across the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing, financial technologies,and big data credit scoring and online lending, to discuss pressing public policy issues in regards to the utilisation and implementation of AI in the banking and finance sectors of India.

These sectors currently find themselves at the early stages of AI adoption. Such technologies are being implemented to facilitate both front-end and back-end processes by a variety of players with the aim of improving the accessibility, customised user engagement, and quality of current financial services. Leading commercial banks in India have all been working to develop and deploy AI technologies either in house or in partnership with small and large-scale tech companies. Such initiatives have seen the deployment of numerous chatbots and humanoid robots for the purposes of customer service. More significant, however, is the use of such technology by banks and fintech actors to facilitate decision making behind the scenes, on a variety of financial issues including but not limited to credit-worthiness, fraud detection, and investments.

While these sectors are no strangers to the use of big data analytics and similar technologies in aiding with financial decision making and daily operations, the deployment of technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing is still very new. Due to the nascent nature of this phenomenon, little is known about the details of their implications for both producers and consumers. Furthermore, concerns regarding data ownership, liability, and consumer rights have all been raised in light of AI adoption. This roundtable will present us with an opportunity to discuss such issues and begin to fill this knowledge gap.

For agenda and event brochure click here. For RSVP click here. Read the event report here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/roundtable-on-ai-and-finance-in-india

Roundtable on A.I. and Manufacturing and Services

Admin — 2018-01-18T13:44:15Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore is organizing a roundtable on ‘A.I. and Manufacturing and Services’ on the 19th of January, 2018 from 2 to 5 pm at ‘The Energy and Resources Institute’ (TERI) Bangalore. The Roundtable seeks to discuss the various issues and challenges surrounding the implementation of AI and related technologies on manufacturing processes and services.

Since the Industrial Revolution machines have substituted human labour and helped industries save time and money. This was succeeded by the advent of computers and technology which helped in completing tasks with better speed and accuracy than the human brain. The emergence of machine-learning technology and artificial intelligence has now made machines capable of doing work that was earlier considered to be something that could only be done by humans. From the use of AI in understanding customer shopping trends to its use in making automobiles, AI is becoming more of a norm than an exception. The analytics of how customers shop is now helping companies forecast their manufacturing needs. The synergy of technology and machines i.e. smart manufacturing, not only changes manufacturing and shipping but also improves worker safety. Different forms of smart manufacturing are also starting to come up in India: Wipro and Infosys have launched AI platforms, and the Indian Institute of Science is developing a smart factory with support from Boeing Company and General Electric. Infosys has also released an AI platform, ‘Nia’, which is programmed to forecast revenue and understand customer behaviour.

The instances of use of machines to substitute human workforce, in some cases, has brought about a sense of worry. Recent trends in factory hiring show that jobs are being lost to automated forms of labour, further evidenced by a report from the research firm HorsesforSources, which predicts that India is set to lose 640,000 low-skilled job positions to automation by the year 2021.The IT sector in India is also under risk from the use of AI. Reports have also found that the rising unemployment in the IT sector has led to increased pressure on labour regulators.

Although there are some studies that state that the use of AI would bring about a market for people who would need to work along with AI, the FICCI and EY’s 2016 Report on the Future of jobs and its implication on Indian higher education suggests that one of the ways to combat the loss of jobs was reskilling and upskilling the labour force. India has taken the first step towards this by launching the National Skill Development Mission.

From the use of neural networks to monitor steel plants for packing and shipping groceries, the use of intelligent machines has begun disrupting traditional business models in the industry. However, these advancements raise questions around labour, ethics, liability, and machine-human cooperation. Dialogue and debate are needed to understand how AI is being used in manufacturing, the potential benefits, and challenges of the same, and a way forward that optimizes innovation and protects human rights.

Roundtable Agenda

Friday 19th January | 2:00 p.m - 5:00 p.m.

2:00 - 2:30 Introduction and setting the scene

2:30 - 3:30 Discussion on the AI landscape in the manufacturing and services industry:

Manner and extent of integration of AI into manufacturing and services
Relevant stakeholders and their roles in implementing AI in manufacturing and services
Future of AI and related technologies in AI in manufacturing and services
Impact on work and labour

3:30 - 4:30 Discussion on challenges and solutions towards regulating AI in India:

Challenges faced in the conception and implementation of the AI product/ service, and reasons for such challenges.
Regulatory provisions for implementation of AI in the manufacturing and services under the existing laws, and need for reforms.
Challenges posed by AI to existing policy and regulatory frameworks in the Indian as well as the global context, and possible solutions.

4.30 - 5.00 Conclusion and way forward

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/roundtable-on-ai-and-manufacturing-and-services

Roundtable on A.I. and Governance in India

pranav — 2018-04-20T07:41:21Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore is organizing a roundtable on ‘A.I. and Governance in India' at India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi on March 16, 2018 from 10.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Download the Event Report

The Roundtable seeks to discuss the various issues and challenges surrounding the design, development and use of AI in Governance (including law enforcement and legal institutions).

In line with the changing times, the government, as well as its agencies, have started using technology and digitization to make governance more efficient and accessible. For example,through its flagship project Digital India, the Indian government has undertaken digitization and revamping of systems related to railways, land records, educational resource etc. As the government pursues its digital agenda, artificial intelligence can be a tool for efficiency and decision making. To realize the potential of AI, a clear understanding of the technology and how it can and should be used is necessary. The first step towards a robust AI policy is a sound Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy that lays the edifice for algorithmic decision making using AI.

Though the adoption of AI in the public sector is still in its nascent stages, the government of India is taking various steps to increase the scale of adoption. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has constituted a task force on AI to facilitate India's economic transformation. This year’s Union Budget also recognised the need for government investment in research, training and skill development in robotics, AI, digital manufacturing, Big Data intelligence and Quantum communications. Though the adoption of AI in the public sector is still in its nascent stages, the government of India is taking various steps to increase the scale of adoption. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has constituted a task force on AI to facilitate India's economic transformation. This year’s Union Budget also recognised the need for government investment in research, training and skill development in robotics, AI, digital manufacturing, Big Data intelligence and Quantum communications.

Our research on the application of AI in Indian governance aims to examine five broad sectors of application: law enforcement, discharge of governmental functions, defense,judicial/administrative decision making, and education. A few of the existing government research initiatives identified by CIS include the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) hosted by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization which focuses on research and development of ICT solutions for defense, and the Ministry of Finance’s use of geospatial analytics for their economic survey on human settlements. There are already instances where government bodies are using AI, an example being the case of the Indian Police force, which is revamping its investigation procedures by using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The Delhi police has already started using data and analytics to control crime. In the field of agriculture too, the Indian government has partnered with Microsoft to use AI to improve crop production.

While AI can aid governance in numerous ways, there needs to be a system of checks and balances in order to ensure effectiveness, transparency, and accountability. Hence,governance mechanisms must be able to ensure inclusiveness, while minimising the risks that might arise with the use of the technology. Experts have also predicted that, as the government incorporates AI into specific areas of governance- such as service delivery, it will simultaneously need to incorporate it into broader policy structures such as cyber security and the national education framework.

The process of designing a governance ecosystem is a complex one, and AI poses several pre-existing ethical and legal for each application within this ecosystem. The effectiveness ofAI and Machine learning inherently depends on the availability of data, and it is predicted that the most imminent challenge will also involve the same, especially as India becomesincreasingly data dense and the government is entrusted with its citizens’ data. These challenges could range from the collection, storage, and use of data, to having to answerquestions of fairness, safety, and prevention of misuse. This roundtable seeks to deliberate on these questions and more so as to understand how to optimise the use of AI ingovernance for the public interest. In doing so, the roundtable will use preliminary research that CIS has undertaken into the use of AI and governance in India as an entry point into broader discussions on the challenges and benefits and way forward for AI.

Agenda

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/roundtable-on-a-i-and-governance-in-india

Roundtable discussion on WHOIS

vidushi — 2015-08-24T14:16:12Z

Sunil Abraham and Vidushi Marda participated remotely in a round-table discussion organized by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Govt. of India on July 28, 2015. Aditya Garg, an intern at the Centre for Internet & Society also participated (in person) from New Delhi and made an intervention.

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, DeitY chaired the round-table to seek expert input from all stakeholders at the national level, on various issues related to WHOIS (domain name) which are currently being discussed at the Public Safety Working Group (PSWG), an internal working group of Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN.

The PSWG will be focusing on ICANN’s policies and procedures that raise questions or have implications for the safety of the public, in connection with their use of the Internet. Current major areas of interest for PSWG are:

WHOIS
Enforcing Contractual Compliance with Registries and Registrars
Implementation of new gTLDs
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)

WHOIS is a long-term strategic priority for ICANN. ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) has issued 12 reports/advisories with reference to WHOIS.

The roundtable will served as a platform to discuss WHOIS policy / implementation issues for .IN <http://for .IN> registry.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/round-table-discussion-on-whois

Roundtable Discussion on Intermediary Liability

Admin — 2019-10-20T07:08:11Z

Tanaya Rajwade participated in a roundtable discussion on intermediary liability organised by SFLC and the Dialogue in New Delhi on October 17, 2019.

Click to view the agenda.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-discussion-on-intermediary-liability

Roundtable Discussion on “The Future of AI Policy in India” @ ICRIER

Admin — 2019-07-10T01:46:36Z

Radhika Radhakrishnan, attended a Roundtable Discussion on “The Future of AI Policy in India” organized by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) in New Delhi on July 1, 2019, to arrive at actionable recommendations for promotion of AI in India.

Radhika's inputs primarily focused on - capacity and skilling for AI adoption in India, sectoral opportunities for the adoption of AI, regulation of explanations for AI, fairness and bias in AI models, and actionable recommendations for government priorites for AI policies in India.

Concept Note

India’s Artificial Intelligence moment is truly here and now. At a time when a diverse range of applications based on AI are being developed, pushing its frontier further into uncharted realms of business and society, Indian policy makers are contemplating not just AI’s potential for growth and social transformation, but also its proclivity to create divides and inequality. Our study attempts to understand the impacts of AI and trace the pathways to realizing it.

AI’s transformational potential stems from its ability to lend itself to a diverse range of applications across a range of sectors. One can witness AI based applications in traditional spheres of manufacturing, which are transforming quality control, production lines, and supply chain management, and in services, which are creating personalized product offerings and high-quality customer engagement. AI applications are also common in sectors such as agriculture that have taken a back seat in technological innovations in the post-industrial world. AI also demonstrates potential for impacting developmental challenges by responding to societies’ immediate demand for healthcare, education and expanding access to finance and banking.

The consequences of AI diffusion stem from AI’s pervasiveness across society, its ability to trigger innovation, and its tendencies to undergo transformation and evolution. These are typical characteristics of a class of technologies that can be found across history, the emergence and diffusion of which have enabled the wealth of nations. These are called General Purpose Technologies (GPT). Technologies such as steam engine, electricity, computers, semi-conductors, and more recently the Internet, can all be conceived as belonging to the GPT class of technologies. Our study is based on the understanding that the implications of AI can be best understood by viewing AI as a GPT.

Historically, the economic impacts of GPTs have not been immediate but follow after its diffusion across the economy, i.e. over a period of time. There are two reasons that explain this phenomenon: firstly, in early phases of technology diffusion, an economy diverts part of its resources from productive activities to costly activities aimed at enabling the GPT. For instance, organizations adopting computers must also invest in training employees or hire computer scientists, re-arrange production activities or organizational structures to accommodate computer driven work-flows, all of which are costly economic activities. Secondly, it is only after the GPT is diffused and widely used in the economy that the statistics measuring GDP start counting and fully measuring the GPT.

Empirical research on GPTs such as AI, including ours, means confronting the challenge of measurement. Estimates on the economic impact of AI are bound to be imprecise because data on AI’s adoption is not available or adequately reflected in the data used to compute economic growth, at least not yet. Measuring the economic impact of AI is also difficult because of the magnitude of indirect effects on productivity that GPTs trigger. It is not therefore uncommon that studies on GPTs, while attempting to estimate their economic impacts, also engage in in-depth case studies and historical analysis of its impacts.

Our findings show unambiguous and positive impacts of AI on firm level productivity across sectors, although there is variation in the magnitude of positive impacts across sectors. We complement our findings with case studies that cover different firms that are developing AI based applications across a range of sectors to understand the underlying firm-level capabilities that drive innovations in AI based applications. Our study leads us towards high-level policy challenges facing organizations, civil society and government, and which when addressed enable the full realization of economic growth triggered by AI.

However, our conclusions are a step-away from actionable policy recommendations. Given your experience with and within India’s AI based ecosystem, we invite you to deliberate and recommend insights and strategies that can help us arrive at concrete and practicable policy recommendations towards achieving a growth and welfare enhancing AI-based ecosystem in India.

Proposed Questions for Deliberation

In which sectors do we observe an immediate opportunity for the adoption of AI? What could be the nature of these applications?
In which areas of AI development and application is there an immediate opportunity for governments, industry and academia to collaborate?
What should be the Government’s top five priorities in the next one year to catalyse the growth of AI in India?
How and what agencies of the Government should be involved in implementation of India’s National AI mission?
What aspects of the Government’s capacity requires enhancement to adapt to challenges of a growing Indian AI based ecosystem?
What measures can the Government take to regulate for AI safety and ethical use of AI?
What are the policy measures that the Government can undertake to safeguard against the consequences of AI based inequality?

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-discussion-on-201cthe-future-of-ai-policy-in-india201d-icrier

Round-table on User Safety on the Internet

praskrishna — 2014-05-06T09:55:07Z

Elonnai Hickok participated in this round-table meeting organized by Consumer Voice in collaboration with Google at Infantry Road, Bangalore on April 24, 2014.

Click to download the agenda.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/round-table-on-user-safety-on-internet

Round Table on Privacy and Data Protection at NIPFP

praskrishna — 2017-03-27T16:02:59Z

National Institute of Public Finance & Policy organized a round-table on privacy and data protection on March 24, 2017 in New Delhi.

Click to see the agenda.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/round-table-on-privacy-and-data-protection-at-nipfp

Rootconf 2018

Admin — 2018-05-18T06:40:31Z

Rootconf is an annual conference on DevOps and IT Infrastructure and is organised by HasGeek. On May 11 and 12, 2018, Gurshabad Grover, Natallia Khaniejo and Aayush Rathi attended Rootconf 2018.

Rootconf 2018 had two major themes - an infrastructure and systems security track and an infrastructure architecture track. All talks at the event were streamed live and videos of the same can be found at HasGeek's YouTube channel here.

Of special interest were the talks entitled 'Death of enterprise security: introduction to abstraction and machine-to-machine orchestration' by Pukhraj Singh and 'On ground realities of Aadhaar' by Rachna Khaira. Of special interest were the talks entitled 'Death of enterprise security: introduction to abstraction and machine-to-machine orchestration' byPukhraj Singh and 'On ground realities of Aadhaar' by Rachna Khaira.

Additionally, the community table was helpful for the purposes of outreach within the tech community about CIS' work and potential ways in which interested parties may engage with CIS.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/rootconf-2018

Role of the US Tech Companies in Government Surveillance: A Lecture by Christopher Soghoian

praskrishna — 2012-08-26T11:03:19Z

Christopher Soghoian will deliver a lecture on the role US tech companies play in assisting government surveillance at the Centre for Internet & Society office in Bangalore on August 27, 2012, from 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.

Your internet, phone and web application providers are all, for the most part, in bed with US and other foreign government agencies. They all routinely disclose their customers' communications and other private data to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Worse, firms like Google and Microsoft specifically log data in order to assist the government. How many government requests does your ISP get for its customers' communications each year? How many do they comply with? How many do they fight? How much do they charge for the surveillance assistance they provide? Who knows? Most companies have a strict policy of not discussing such topics.

The differences in the privacy practices of the major players in the telecommunications and internet applications market are significant. Some firms retain identifying data for years, while others retain no data at all; some voluntarily provide the government access to user data, while other companies refuse to voluntarily disclose data without a court order; some companies charge government agencies when they request user data, while others disclose it for free. For an individual, later investigated by the police or intelligence services, the data retention practices adopted by their phone company or email provider can significantly impact their freedom.

Unfortunately, although many companies claim to care about end-user privacy, and some even that they compete on their privacy features, none seem to be willing to compete on the extent to which they assist or resist the government in its surveillance activities. Because information about each firms' practices is not publicly known, consumers cannot vote with their wallets, and pick service providers that best protect their privacy.

This talk will pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding these practices. Based upon a combination of Freedom of Information Act requests, off the record conversations with industry lawyers, and investigative journalism, the practices of many of these firms will be revealed.

Christopher's Personal Experience

In the year 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Christopher’s home at 2.00 a.m. seizing his personal documents and computers. Two attorneys, Stephen Braga and Jennifer Granick came to his defence. With their expert assistance, Christopher was able to get back his possessions within three weeks, and FBI’s criminal and TSA’s civil investigations were closed without any charges being filed.

Jennifer Granick came to Christopher’s assistance once again (joined by Steve Leckar) in 2010 after the Federal Trade Commission’s Inspector General investigated Christopher for using his government badge to attend a closed-door surveillance industry conference. It was at that event that Christopher recorded an executive from wireless carrier ‘Sprint’ bragging about the eight million times his company had obtained GPS data on its customers for law enforcement agencies in the previous years.

To know more, read Christopher Soghoian’s dissertation titled "The Spies We Trust: Third Party Service Providers and Law Enforcement Surveillance". [PDF, 1056 Kb]

About Christopher Soghoian

Christopher Soghoian is a privacy researcher and activist, working at the intersection of technology, law and policy. He is a Principal Technologist and Senior Policy Analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union and is based in Washington, D.C.

Soghoian completed his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 2012, which focused on the role that third party service providers play in facilitating law enforcement surveillance of their customers. In order to gather data, he has made extensive use of the Freedom of Information Act, sued the Department of Justice pro se, and used several other investigative research methods. His research has appeared in publications including the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and been cited by several federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Between the years, 2009-2010, he was the first ever in-house technologist at the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, where he worked on investigations of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Netflix. Prior to joining the FTC, he co-created the Do Not Track privacy anti-tracking mechanism now adopted by all of the major web browsers.

He is a TEDGlobal 2012 Fellow, was an Open Society Foundations Fellow between the years, 2011-2012, and was a Student Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University between 2008 and 2009.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance

Role of the Internet in Fostering Freedom of Expression and Strengthening Activism in India - A Workshop in Delhi

praskrishna — 2011-04-04T07:18:10Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (India) and the Central American Institute for Studies of Social Democracy DEMOS (Guatemala) have the pleasure to invite you to a day-long workshop on the role of the Internet in fostering freedom of expression and strengthening activism in India. The workshop will take place in the Constitution Club in Delhi on 4 March 2011.

With the significant role reported for new technologies in recent revolutions in Tunesia, Egypt, and elsewhere, activists in India, too, have taken a renewed interest in the potential of the Internet to support their struggles for social change and social justice. But what are some of the potential stumble blocks activists in India might run into in their exploration of the Internet's potential? What are the legal restrictions and frameworks activists should be aware of when they use new technologies in their work? And what can we do to create an environment in which the online world unequivocally supports efforts for greater democratisation and social justice offline, rather than thwart them?

It is questions such as these that this workshop seeks to answer, through a mix of panel discussions, unconference sessions, a film screening, and technical and legal clinics in its day-long program.

Our hope is that the workshop will help participants as well as organisers to get a stronger sense of the potential and challenges of online activism in the particular context of India, as well as to start building stronger networks among the activists interested in these issues in the country.

Participation in the workshop is free. However, we would be grateful if you could confirm your attendance by emailing Anja Kovacs at "anja at cisindia dot org", ideally by 2 March.

We hope you will join us to contribute your own insights and experiences as well as to learn from others about this important new arena of activists' work.

Looking forward to welcoming you at the workshop!

The Agenda

9.30-9.45: Welcome and introductions

9.45-10.15:   Introduction to the Internet and freedom of expression
   By Frank La Rue, President of the Central American Institute for Studies of Social Democracy
   and UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Opinion

10.15-10.45: Film screening: “Brave New Medium”
   By Delhi-based docu film maker Subasri Krishnan
   The film addresses Internet and censorship in South-East Asia
   while raising pertinent questions about the implications of this lessons for Indian activists,
   and will be screened in the presence of the filmmaker.

10.45-11.30: Unconference: Online challenges and ways forward for Indian activists:
where are we today and what to do next?
Small group discussion sessions, as per the priorities of the participants

11.30-11.50: Tea/Coffee Break

11.50-12.40: Reporting back and plenary discussion: Challenges for freedom of expression on
the Internet in India and abroad: legal framework, ground realities, alternative visions
With national and international activists, lawyers and researchers as additional resource persons

12.40-13.00: Consultation: Can a global “Internet Bill of Rights” help?
With Lisa Horner, Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles of the UN Internet
Governance Forum

13.00 - 14.00: Lunch Break (lunch will be provided)

14.00 - 15.30: Parallel sessions:

legal clinic with a representative from Google and human rights lawyers – to answer any legal question regarding freedom of expression online you may have
technical clinic with a representative from Tactical Tech – to explore the significance of terms like
“Tor” and “proxy” and ways in which you can stay safe and secure online at all times.
If you have a laptop, bring it if you intend to attend this session!

15.30 - 16.15: Strategies for the way forward

Moderated by Mr Frank La Rue

16.15-16.30 : Closing remarks

16.30 - 17.00: Tea/Coffee

Followed by a public lecture by Mr. Frank La Rue at 6 pm, at the same venue, on Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression. Entrance free. All welcome.

Information about the Organisers

The Centre for Internet and Society

The Centre for Internet and Society is located in Bangalore, India. It critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism and public accountability in the field of Internet and Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange. Through multidisciplinary research, intervention, and collaboration, it seeks to explore, understand, and affect the shape and form of the internet, and its relationship with the political, cultural, and social milieu of our times.

DEMOS Institute

The Demos Institute, based in Guatemala, is a research centre that promotes democratic alternatives for Guatemala, under the human rights framework. Within DEMOS, there is a research team which supports the mandate of Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, in the making of his annual reports before the United Nations Human Rights Council.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/fostering-freedom-of-expression