'Privacy Matters' Chennai

Privacy India invites individuals to attend “Privacy Matters”, a one day conference on August 6th 2011 at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. Privacy India, Society in Action Group, IDRC, the Centre for Internet & Society, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group, and Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai have joined hands to organize this event.

The conference will focus on discussing the challenges to privacy that India is currently facing, with a focus on consumer privacy and telecommunications and privacy. The right to privacy in India has been a neglected area of study and engagement. Although sectoral legislation deals with privacy issues, e.g., the TRAI Act for telephony or RBI Guidelines for Banks, India does not as yet have a horizontal legislation that deals comprehensively with privacy across all contexts. This lack of uniformity has led to ironically imbalanced results. In India today one has a stronger right to privacy over telephone records than over one’s own medical records. The absence of a minimum guarantee of privacy is felt most heavily by marginalized communities, including HIV patients, children, women, sexuality minorities, prisoners, etc. – people who most need to know that sensitive information is protected.

The emergence of information and communications technologies over the past two decades has radically transformed the speed and costs of access to information. However, this enhanced climate of access to information has been a mixed blessing. Whilst augmenting our access to knowledge, this new networked information economy has also now made it much easier, quicker, and cheaper to gain access to intimate personal information about individuals than ever before. As people expose more and more of their lives to others through the use of social networks, reliance on mobile phones, global trade, etc., there has emerged a heightened risk of privacy violations in India. As privacy continues to be a growing concern for individuals, nations, and the international community, it is critical that India understands and addresses the questions, challenges, implications and dilemmas that violations of privacy pose.

Who We Are

Privacy India was set up in collaboration with the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Bangalore and Society in Action Group (SAG), under the auspices of the international organization ‘Privacy International’. Privacy International is a non-profit group that provides assistance to civil society groups, governments, international and regional bodies and the media and the public in a number of countries (see www.privacyinternational.org). Its Advisory Board is made up of distinguished intellectuals, academicians, thinkers and activists such as Noam Chomsky, the late Harold Pinter, and others, and it has collaborated with organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Agenda

Consumer Privacy

9:30 am - 5:00 pm

Time	Session
9:30 10:00	Registration
10:00 10:30	Welcome Saroja is a lawyer and is the co-ordinator at Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), which is a 26 years old non-profit, non-political,professional organization working towards protecting citizen’s rights in consumer and environmental issues and promoting good governance including transparency, accountability and participatory decision making. Introduction to Privacy India Prashant Iyengar is a practicing lawyer and lead researcher for Privacy India. He will present who Privacy India is, and the objectives of Privacy India's research. His presentation will focus on discussing privacy and telecommunications.
10:30 11:00	Key Note Address Dr. Santosh Babu is the Secretary of IT for the Tamil Nadu Government. He has started many e-governance projects within the government and has experience in advocacy rights for children and gender issues. His presentation will focus on sharing how privacy is understood and viewed by the Tamil Nadu government. Sashi Kumar Menon is a film maker, founder Chairman of theMedia Development Foundation, and founder President of Asianet. He has also authored and presented multiple television shows including Money Matters and Tana Bana. His presentation will focus on looking at the relationship between the media and privacy. R. Ramamurthy, is the Chairman, Cyber Society of India, and has over three decades of experience in Information Technology, and is a member of the technology committees CII and FICCI. In his presentation he will discuss the global perspectives of data privacy.
11:00 11:30	Tea Break
11:30 12:45	Session I Privacy and Telecommunications Mrs.Desikan is the Founder Trustee of Consumer Association of India, Chennai. In her presentation she will focus on discussing privacy and telecommunications in India. She will look at the threats to privacy that telecommunications pose, and the current protections over communications that India has in place. Usha Ramanathan is a practicing lawyer and civil rights advocate. Her presentation will focus on privacy and telecommunications from a legal perspective, as well as discussing the recently leaked Privacy Bill. Discussion
12:45 1:00	Privacy and Financial Transactions R. Sundarajan is an associate professor of information at the New York University. He has published multiple articles on issues related to IT. In his presentation he will be discussing the risks to privacy that financial transactions pose, and the safeguards that India has in place to protect ones privacy in financial transactions.
1:00 2:00	Lunch Break
2:00 2:45	Session II Privacy and Consumer Rights Dr. Revathi is an Associate Professor at the Dr. Ambedkar Law University in Chennai. In her presentation she will look at both the social and legal concept of consumer privacy in India, and how as consumers we are always exchanging personally identifiable information, and thus our privacy is always at risk. Mr. S. Martin, Advocate and Consumer Activist will speak on consumer rights, privacy, and the law. His presentation will focus on looking at what legal protections exist in India for consumers.
2:45 3:00	Discussion
3:00 4:00	Session III Privacy and Basic Rights/Needs Dr. N Manimekalai is the head of the gender studies department at the Bharabidasan University in Trychy. In her presentation she will seek to understand privacy from a perspective of individuals basic rights &needs. Specifically she will look at what is the connection between privacy and gender rights. R. Geetha is a trade unionist and feminist with Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam. She has worked closely with issues relating to labour rights and gender for more than three decades, and her presentation will focus on looking at how protecting labour rights of individuals also can work to protect their privacy.
4:00 5:00	Open Discussion and Question