Posts
UID Project in India - Some Possible Ramifications
- August 11, 2010
Having a standard for decentralized ID verification rather than a centralized database that would more often than not be misused by various authorities will solve ID problems, writes Liliyan in this blog entry. These blog posts to be published in a series will voice the expert opinions of researchers and critics on the UID project and present its unique shortcomings to the reader.
Read more →Civil Liberties and the amended Information Technology Act, 2000
- August 05, 2010
This post examines certain limitations of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended in 2008). Malavika Jayaram points out the fact that when most countries of the world are adopting plain English instead of the conventional legal terminology for better understanding, India seems to be stuck in the old-fashioned method thereby, struggling to maintain a balance between clarity and flexibility in drafting its laws. The present Act, she says, is although an improvement over the old Act and seeks to address and improve on certain areas in the right direction but still comes up short in making necessary changes when it comes to fundamental rights and personal liberties. The new Act retains elements from the previous one making it an abnormal document and this could have been averted if there had been some attention to detail.
Read more →Feedback to the NIA Bill
- July 30, 2010
Malavika Jayaram and Elonnai Hickok introduce the formal submission of CIS to the proposed National Identification Authority of India (NIA) Bill, 2010, which would give every resident a unique identity. The submissions contain the detailed comments on the draft bill and the high level summary of concerns with the NIA Bill submitted to the UIDAI on 13 July, 2010.
Read more →Does the Safe-Harbor Program Adequately Address Third Parties Online?
- April 16, 2010
While many citizens outside of the US and EU benefit from the data privacy provisions the Safe Harbor Program, it remains unclear how successfully the program can govern privacy practices when third-parties continue to gain more rights over personal data. Using Facebook as a site of analysis, I will attempt to shed light on the deficiencies of the framework for addressing the complexity of data flows in the online ecosystem.
Read more →Report on the Fourth Internet Governance Forum for Commonwealth IGF
- April 06, 2010
This report by Pranesh Prakash reflects on the question of how useful the IGF is in the light of meetings on the themes of intellectual property, freedom of speech and privacy.
Read more →Sense and censorship
- March 30, 2010
Sunil Abraham examines Google's crusade against censorship in China in wake of the attacks on its servers in this article published in the Indian Express.
Read more →When Whistle Blowers Unite
- January 14, 2010
Leaking corporate or government information in public interest through popular Web service providers is risky but Wikileaks.org is one option that you could try out.
Read more →Address delivered during the IGF Closing Ceremony
- November 19, 2009
This address was delivered by Dr. Anja Kovacs, as a representative of civil society, to the IGF during its closing ceremony.
Read more →Information and livelihoods
- November 18, 2009
An article by Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam (Distinguished Fellow, CIS) in GISW 2009 (Global Information Society Watch, 2009)
Read more →The Role of ICT in Judicial Reform- An Exploration
- November 18, 2009
A seminar held this month by the Communications and Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI) explored the role that information and communication technology can assume in the process of India's judicial reform efforts. The broad consensus among panelists was that “law is not keeping pace with technology”. However, whether technology will be harnessed to actually facilitate much needed transparency and access to the justice system, or be simply used to improve efficiency within the judicial branch still remains unclear.
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