Centre for Internet & Society

Facebook Free Basics: Gatekeeping Powers Extend to Manipulating Public Discourse

by Vidushi Marda

15 million people have come online through Free Basics, Facebook's zero rated walled garden, in the past year. "If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic internet services. Who could possibly be against this?" asks Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in a recent op-ed defending Free Basics.

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Ground Zero Summit

by Amber Sinha

The Ground Zero Summit which claims to be the largest collaborative platform in Asia for cyber-security was held in New Delhi from 5th to 8th November. The conference was organised by the Indian Infosec Consortium (IIC), a not for profit organisation backed by the Government of India. Cyber security experts, hackers, senior officials from the government and defence establishments, senior professionals from the industry and policymakers attended the event.

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Free Basics: Negating net parity

by Sunil Abraham

Researchers funded by Facebook were apparently told by 92 per cent of Indians they surveyed from large cities, with Internet connection and college degree, that the Internet “is a human right and that Free Basics can help bring Internet to all of India.” What a strange way to frame the question given that the Internet is not a human right in most jurisdictions.

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Eight Key Privacy Events in India in the Year 2015

by Amber Sinha

As the year draws to a close, we are enumerating some of the key privacy related events in India that transpired in 2015. Much like the last few years, this year, too, was an eventful one in the context of privacy.

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Benefits and Harms of "Big Data"

by Scott Mason

Today the quantity of data being generated is expanding at an exponential rate. From smartphones and televisions, trains and airplanes, sensor-equipped buildings and even the infrastructures of our cities, data now streams constantly from almost every sector and function of daily life.

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RTI response regarding the UIDAI

by Vanya Rakesh

This is a response to the RTI filed regarding UIDAI

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ISO/IEC/ JTC 1/SC 27 Working Groups Meeting, Jaipur

by Vanya Rakesh

I attended this event held from October 26 to 30, 2015 in Jaipur.

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