News & Media
Leveraging Mobile Network Big Data for Development Policy: Opportunities & Challenges
Amber Sinha participated in this event held at IRDC, New Delhi on November 2, 2015. The event was organized by LIRNEasia.
Porn. Panic. Ban: A Conversation on Sexual Expression, Pornography, Sexual Exploitation, Consent
Point of View and the Internet Democracy Project organized a conference to hold and facilitate an informed conversation on sexual expression, pornography, sexual exploitation and consent. Rohini Lakshané was a speaker. Tanveer Hasan also attended this conference held in New Delhi from October 28 to 30, 2015.
Net advocacy body probing linkages between telcos and Facebook’s auto-play video option
Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India’s leading internet advocacy body, which has often been critical of Facebook’s Internet.org — now called Free Basics — initiative, has said that it is looking into the possibility of Facebook helping telecom companies through its auto-play video option.
Encryption and Anonymity: Rights and Risks
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2015 will be held at Jao Pessoa in Brazil from November 10 to 13, 2015. The theme of IGF 2015 is Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development. ARTICLE 19 and Privacy International are organizing a workshop on Encryption and Anonymity on November 12, 2015. Pranesh Prakash is a speaker.
The Social Role of the Communications and the Strengthening of the Freedom of Expression Panel - "Cultural Diversity and Freedom of Expression"
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2015 will be held at Jao Pessoa in Brazil from November 10 to 13, 2015. The theme of IGF 2015 is Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Communications of Brazil is organizing a panel on Cultural Diversity and Freedom of Expression on November 9, 2015, from 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m., in the Sala de Concerto Maestro Jose Siqueria, located in the city of Jao Pessoa, Brazil. Sunil Abraham will be a panelist.
The rise and rise of slacktivism
Can we change the world with the click of a mouse? Or is it just another feel-good phenomenon? The writer explores the growing penchant for online petitions and desktop activism.
CIS Participation at ICANN 54
Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India participated in the 54th meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held at the Convention Center in Dublin from 17 October 2015 to 22 October 2015. Pranesh Prakash, Jyoti Panday and Padmini Baruah attended the meeting.
How To Win Friends, FB Style
True to form—and Facebook—there was a warm, friendly and familial feel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s townhall meeting at Melon, California, with Mark Zuckerberg on September 27. Modi got emotional (yet again) while talking about his mother. Zuckerberg, the youngish founder of the world’s largest social networking site, got his parents to meet and pose with Modi.
Supreme Court provides partial relief for Aadhaar
In a small but significant win for the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the use of the Aadhaar number for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, pensions by central and state governments, and the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, in addition to its current use in the public distribution system (PDS) and the distribution of cooking gas and kerosene.
Digital India: Did Modi get it wrong in Silicon Valley?
A bear hug, a photo filter and a new debate on net neutrality - Ayeshea Perera examines the domestic fallout of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook townhall in US.
FOSS & a Free, Open Internet: Synergies for Development
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2015 will be held at Jao Pessoa in Brazil from November 10 to 13, 2015. The theme of IGF 2015 is Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development. Civil Society is organizing a workshop on FOSS and a Free, Open Internet. The workshop will be held on November 13, 2015 from 2.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Sunil Abraham and Pranesh Prakash will be speaking at this event.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Internet Economy
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2015 will be held at Jao Pessoa in Brazil from November 10 to 13, 2015. The theme of IGF 2015 is Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development. Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) is organizing a session on “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Internet Economy” on November 11, 2015 from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Sunil Abraham is participating in this session as a speaker.
Cyfy 2015: The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance
In its third year, Cyfy; South Asia’s biggest internet policy conference is being held in New Delhi, from 14-16 October, 2015. The event is organized by Observer Research Foundation at Hotel Taj Mansingh. Sunil Abraham is a panelist in the session "Protection of Intellectual Property and Business Secrets in the Knowledge Economy".
Enabling Multi-stakeholder Cooperation - Towards a Transnational Framework for Due Process
Internet & Jurisdiction Project organized a multi-stakeholder meeting of the global multi-stakeholder dialogue process in 2015 on October 8-9 in Berlin, Germany. Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting.
CIS in Top 50 Tech Blogs of India
The Centre for Internet and Society is on the 30th position among the top technology blogs in India.
Dadri reopens debate on online hate speech
The friction between free speech and hate speech has become newly intense because of social media. Twitter reflected the turmoil after the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, when some tweets justified the murder as a legitimate reaction against cow-slaughter, trending the hashtag #cowmurderers.
Modi's Valley hug sparks swadeshi talk
His warm hug of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg will perhaps be the most abiding image of Narendra Modi's visit to the Silicon Valley.
Access at the cost of Net neutrality?
In the Net neutrality debate, there is a conflict between two core values: ease of access and neutrality. The ease of access promised by applications like Free Basics compromises neutrality and may later morph into a method of predatory pricingIf programs that bring access to a part of the Internet in the immediate future were to entrench themselves, it could eventually lead to telecom companies abusing their dominant positionsIn the absence of a specific law mandating a neutral Internet, telecom companies enjoy a virtual carte blanche to discriminate between different applications. Though they have not yet exploited this autonomy fully, they are certainly moving towards that.
Do you agree with our fee hike? Press 1 to answer Yes; or 2 for Yes
It has long been a concern that domain-name overseer ICANN is largely funded by companies reliant on the organization to make money.
Online outcry forces government to withdraw draft encryption policy
The article by Naina Khedekar discussing encryption policy was published in First Post on September 23, 2015. Pranesh Prakash has been quoted.
