Centre for Internet & Society

Response to the Draft of The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018

Posted by Gurshabad Grover, Elonnai Hickok, Arindrajit Basu, Akriti at Feb 07, 2019 07:35 AM |

In this response, we aim to examine whether the draft rules meet tests of constitutionality and whether they are consistent with the parent Act. We also examine potential harms that may arise from the Rules as they are currently framed and make recommendations to the draft rules that we hope will help the Government meet its objectives while remaining situated within the constitutional ambit.

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CIS Submission to UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

Posted by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok at Feb 07, 2019 07:25 AM |

The UN high-level panel on Digital Cooperation issued a call for inputs that called for responses to various questions. CIS responded to the call for inputs.

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CIS Submission to UN High Level Panel on Digital Co-operation

Posted by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 30, 2019 08:05 PM |

The High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation was convened by the UN Secretary-General to advance proposals to strengthen cooperation in the digital space among Governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, academia, the technical community and other relevant stakeholders. The Panel issued a call for input that called for responses to various questions. CIS responded to the call for inputs.

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India should reconsider its proposed regulation of online content

Posted by Gurshabad Grover at Jan 24, 2019 04:55 PM |

The lack of technical considerations in the proposal is also apparent since implementing the proposal is infeasible for certain intermediaries. End-to-end encrypted messaging services cannot “identify” unlawful content since they cannot decrypt it. Presumably, the government’s intention is not to disallow end-to-end encryption so that intermediaries can monitor content.

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Response to GCSC on Request for Consultation: Norm Package Singapore

Posted by Arindrajit Basu, Gurshabad Grover and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 22, 2019 10:00 PM |

The GCSC opened a public comment procedure to solicit comments and obtain additional feedback. CIS responded to the public call-offering comments on all six norms and proposing two further norms.

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The DNA Bill has a sequence of problems that need to be resolved

Posted by Shweta Mohandas and Elonnai Hickok at Jan 15, 2019 02:36 AM |

In its current form, it’s far from comprehensive and fails to adequately address privacy and security concerns.

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How to make EVMs hack-proof, and elections more trustworthy

Posted by Pranesh Prakash at Jan 14, 2019 03:34 PM |
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Free and fair elections are the expression of democratic emancipation. India has always led by example: the Nehru Committee sought universal adult franchise in 1928, at a time when France didn’t let women vote, and laws in the USA allowed disqualification of poor, illiterate, and African-American voters. But how reliable are our voting systems, particularly in terms of security?

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Response to TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services

Posted by Gurshabad Grover at Jan 10, 2019 07:35 AM |

This submission presents a response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services.

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Registering for Aadhaar in 2019

Posted by Sunil Abraham at Jan 03, 2019 02:55 PM |

It is a lot less scary registering for Aadhaar in 2019 than it was in 2010, given how the authentication modalities have since evolved.

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Economics of Cybersecurity: Literature Review Compendium

Posted by Natallia Khaniejo at Dec 31, 2018 01:55 AM |

The twenty first century has witnessed an unprecedented conflation of everyday experiences and technosocial practices. The emergence of technologies like the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Digital Payment infrastructures are all emblematic of this conflation of technology with economic, social and political modes of existence.

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Is the new ‘interception’ order old wine in a new bottle?

Is the new ‘interception’ order old wine in a new bottle?

Posted by Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda, Shweta Mohandas and Pranav M. Bidare at Dec 29, 2018 04:02 PM |

The government could always authorise intelligence agencies to intercept and monitor communications, but the lack of clarity is problematic.

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Private-public partnership for cyber security

Private-public partnership for cyber security

Posted by Arindrajit Basu at Dec 26, 2018 02:50 PM |

Given the decentralised nature of cyberspace, the private sector will have to play a vital role in enforcing rules for security.

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Mapping cybersecurity in India: An infographic

Posted by Arindrajit Basu, Karan Saini, Aayush Rathi and Swaraj Barooah at Dec 23, 2018 04:57 PM |

This infographic maps the key stakeholder, areas of focus and threat vectors that impact cybersecurity policy in India. Broadly, policy-makers should concentrate on establishing a framework where individuals feel secure and trust the growing digital ecosystem. The infographic therefore serves as a ready reference point for the research that we have done and hope to continue through our cybersecurity work at CIS.

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European E-Evidence Proposal and Indian Law

Posted by Vipul Kharbanda at Dec 23, 2018 04:45 PM |

In April of 2018, the European Union issued the proposal for a new regime dealing with cross border sharing of data and information by issuing two draft instruments, an E-evidence Regulation (“Regulation”) and an E-evidence Directive (“Directive”), (together the “E-evidence Proposal”). The Regulation is a direction to states to put in place the proper legislative and regulatory machinery for the implementation of this regime while the Directive requires the states to enact laws governing service providers so that they would comply with the proposed regime.

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Feminist Methodology in Technology Research: A Literature Review

Posted by Ambika Tandon at Dec 23, 2018 04:25 PM |
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This literature review has been authored by Ambika Tandon, with contributions from Mukta Joshi. Research assistance was provided by Kumarjeet Ray and Navya Sharma. The publication has been designed by Saumyaa Naidu.

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Event Report on Intermediary Liability and Gender Based Violence

Posted by Akriti Bopanna at Dec 20, 2018 12:20 AM |
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This report is a summary of the proceedings of the Roundtable Conference organized by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) at the Digital Citizen Summit, an annual summit organized by the Digital Empowerment Foundation. It was conducted at the India International Centre in New Delhi on November 1, 2018 from 11.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

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A Gendered Future of Work

Posted by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi at Dec 19, 2018 09:05 AM |

This paper aims to contextualise the narrative around digitalisation and automation with reference to women's labour in India. The paper has been authored by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi, edited by Elonnai Hickok and Rakhi Sehgal. Research assistance has been provided by Divya Kushwaha.

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A Critical Look at the Visual Representation of Cybersecurity

Posted by Paromita Bathija, Padmini Ray Murray, and Saumyaa Naidu at Dec 11, 2018 01:50 PM |

The Centre for Internet and Society and design collective Design Beku came together on the 15th of November for a workshop on Illustrations and Visual Representations of Cybersecurity. Images in the public sphere such as visuals in the media, Wikipedia commons, and stock images - play a vital role in the public’s perception of cybercrime and cybersecurity.

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Cyberspace and External Affairs:A Memorandum for India Summary

Posted by Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok at Nov 30, 2018 07:00 PM |

This memorandum seeks to summarise the state of the global debate in cyberspace; outline how India can craft it’s global strategic vision and finally, provides a set of recommendations for the MEA as they craft their cyber diplomacy strategy.

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Regulating the Internet: The Government of India & Standards Development at the IETF

Posted by Aayush Rathi, Gurshabad Grover and Sunil Abraham at Nov 30, 2018 06:55 AM |

The institution of open standards has been described as a formidable regulatory regime governing the Internet. Given the regulatory and domestic policy implications that technical standards can have, there is a need for Indian governmental agencies to focus adequate resources geared towards achieving favourable outcomes at standards development fora.

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