Centre for Internet and Society

Architectures of Knowledge

praskrishna — 2016-07-30T14:44:01Z

Rohini Lakshane was a speaker at a workshop organized by Columbia's Group for Experimental Methods in the Humanities at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

Rohini briefly spoke about WikiSource, and content donation in Indian languages done by some libraries and non-profits as a result of the efforts of the CIS-A2K team. See the event schedule here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/architectures-of-knowledge

India and Regional Mega-Trade Agreements

praskrishna — 2016-07-30T12:59:56Z

Anubha Sinha was invited by the Observer Research Foundation for a panel discussion on "India and Regional Mega-Trade Agreements" with Ambassador Robert Holleyman, Deputy US Trade Representative and Ambassador Shyam Saran, Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries on July 25, 2016 at ORF Conference Hall in New Delhi.

The discussion comes at a critical time for digital trade in Asia, with the recent conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the continent's emergence as a major contributor the global digital economy.

The growth of the digital economy has spurred new concerns about global tax regimes, and the negotiation of trade terms - including non-tariff barriers and the alignment of policies - even as intellectual property rights are redefined and e-commerce changes industry practices. The backdrop to these developments is the rapid and unpredictable advance of technology, which has prompted the need for adaptive policies. The Digital 2 Dozen, the US tenets for unrestricted commerce and an open internet, is attached for your reference.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/india-and-regional-mega-trade-agreements

ICT Paper

praskrishna — 2016-07-30T10:46:47Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/ict-paper.pdf

Roundtable: Identifying and Limiting Hate Speech and Harassment Online

praskrishna — 2016-08-09T13:31:58Z

Japreet Grewal attended this event organized by Software Freedom Law Centre at Constitution Club Of India, Rafi Marg, New Delhi on July 28, 2016.

See the original report published by SFLC here.

SFLC.in organized a roundtable discussion on 28^th July, 2016 in New Delhi to initiate a focused and collaborative dialogue around the increasingly important issues of online harassment and hate speech. This roundtable was intended as the first in a series of discussions around said issues, and was attended by representatives from various stakeholder groups including intermediary platforms, civil society groups, and media houses, along with individuals who had personally experienced such online abuse & harassment. The core objective of this discussion was to recognize and understand the vast range of concerns that exist in this sphere, in an effort to develop a framework for the regulation of such activities, without stepping on the right to freedom of expression. The discussion was conducted under Chatham House rules so as to facilitate an uninhibited exchange of views.

Over the course of the event, the complex and multifaceted nature of its overarching theme unraveled, as the discussion moved from underlying social constructs, to responsibilities of intermediary platforms, adequacy of existing laws, sensitization of everyday users and effective handling of grievances by law enforcement agencies. At the very outset, it was highlighted that social media platforms, with their increasing popularity, are being considered centralized hubs for businesses and others. However, individuals, communities & institutions often find themselves at the receiving end of sustained abuse and threats either on grounds of their actual or perceived characteristics, or over their online expression. The dynamic discussion that ensued brought to light significant concerns that would require a collaborative effort across stakeholder groups to address. For the sake of clarity, we are categorizing these learnings under the following heads:

Conceptual understanding of online harassment and hate speech: It was discussed at length that hate speech and speech that culminates in harassment on the online sphere, are reflective of the social outlook of the country at large. Women were seen as more frequent targets of harassment in the form of rape threats, sexual remarks, and name calling, whereas men are mostly called out for their beliefs and opinions. When discussing hate speech relations, it was considered important to take note of the power dynamics at play amongst the stronger groups, and the vulnerable ones. Limiting such content gets specially complicated considering the apprehension that in an effort to monitor hate speech and harassment, free speech may get stifled. The paradox of anonymity being an enabler of free speech, as well the reason for unabashed harassment adds yet another layer of complexity to the issue. Moreover, it was felt that a nuanced distinction needed to be made regarding the systematic attacks by online mobs against a particular person, as opposed to hateful and/or harassing speech that engages on a one to one level. This all culminated in a realization that this issue goes beyond the online domain, into the societal mindset that is amplified on the Internet, and that the faint line between free speech, and hateful & harassing speech is very difficult to pin-point.
Role of intermediaries: It was the opinion of the representatives of intermediary platforms at the roundtable that the current legal frameworks in the country are sufficient to tackle this issue and they should operate in compliance with such laws. While the specific terms of service may differ in terms of permissible content depending on the type of service being provided by the intermediary, these platforms do invariably keep a check on the content being generated and evaluate them for compliance with the applicable terms of service. Additionally, platforms that have the option of users creating & generating their own content, give the user various tools such as block, filter, un-follow, and other customized options to moderate the content they receive. though the intermediaries, in their own words ‘ are not a delete squad, but a compliance team’, it was said that they ran the perpetual risk of either censoring content that should not have been censored, or not censoring enough of the content that should have been censored. This incentivizes them to exercise zero-tolerance policies in certain areas such as child sexual abuse or terrorism, and resort to immediate take down of content related to such themes. However, in spite of the sheer volume of material that is generated and reported, it was felt that a completely automated approach cannot be followed for filtering hateful and harassing content that violates terms of service Taking down content and expression requires processing various factors that determine the context of that material, and this calls for a subjective approach that requires a set of human eyes. Therefore, the intermediaries do have tools for users that protect them from hate and harassing speech, and they work with certain safety experts to ensure that the users feel safe while using their services.
Adequacy of legal frameworks: A distinction was drawn over the course of the discussion between hate speech as a social as opposed to a legal concept. For legal purposes, speech would not attract penalties until it incites a real threat of violence and civic disorder. However, the law is not sufficiently equipped to deal with speech that does not incite violence, but causes psychological damage. It was undisputed that the concerns in this area cannot be solved by creating more statutes. Going down this road could lead to the creation of a Section 66A equivalent that would lead to censorship through law and cause a chilling effect on freedom of expression. It was emphasized that the existing laws have adequate provisions, but a strict implementation is required.
Response from law enforcement agencies: An evaluation of this point led to the conclusion that people who are harassed online, or are the targets of hate speech, are hesitant to approach the police and law enforcement agencies for their help. There have been instances where the police is unable to help due to the limited application of laws in such cases, as mentioned above.
Possible remedies: As a part of this roundtable, SFLC.in had proposed a set of best practices aimed at limiting hateful and harassing content online. These were intended as self-regulatory measures that could be followed by intermediaries functioning as speech platforms, where users could create and publish content without pre-filtrations. Amongst the measures that was discussed extensively was the practice of promoting ‘counter speech’ on the platforms that are most frequently used to spread hateful propaganda and harassment. This was generally seen as an effective counter-measure deserving further exploration, and one of the intermediaries mentioned a project they were formulating on ‘counter radicalization’. However, concerns were raised with respect to the identification of areas that would benefit from counter speech, and its effectiveness with respect to mob attacks. Another unique approach suggested by the participants was to ‘vaccinate’ first time users by educating them about the enormity and complexity of the Internet, including intiation of such users to the idea that freedom of expression online often crosses over to hate speech and harassment. This would act as an initiation process to understand the working of the Internet and the prevalence of hateful and harassing content on its numerous speech platforms, so that first-time users are not discouraged from using the Internet merely due to the presence of negative content. An interesting suggestion for the platforms was to work towards a mechanism that is more offender centric, and facilitates the tracking of repeat offenders along with providing tools of blocking for users.

This roundtable served in exploring the many layers of hateful and harassing speech that runs across roles and responsibilities of various stakeholder groups and concerns that are deeply entrenched in our societal outlook. The increasing frequency and amount of such content on the Internet is an indication of the urgent need to collaborate and develop a framework for limiting such speech, while balancing the fundamental right to freedom of expression. We thank all the participants and appreciate their valuable contributions that facilitated a better understanding of the overall theme.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-identifying-and-limiting-hate-speech-and-harassment-online

Facebook is censoring some posts on Indian Kashmir

praskrishna — 2016-07-28T03:03:53Z

Film makers, activists and journalists accused Facebook of blocking their accounts this week after they posted messages and images related to the violence in the trouble-torn province of Kashmir. In recent weeks, the India administered, Muslim-majority Kashmir state has been facing violence and curfews after protests erupted against the killing of a popular leader of a terrorist group.

The article by Rama Lakshmi was published by Washington Post on July 27. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

As people posted images, videos and stories about police violence and people injured by pellet wounds on Facebook, some discovered their accounts were disabled. On Monday, the account of Arif Ayaz Parrey, an editor with an environmental magazine in New Delhi, was disabled for more than a day. He administers the Facebook account of a discussion group called the Kashmir Solidarity Network, whose page was also removed.

“The Kashmir Solidarity page was started by a Kashmiri anthropology student in New York. This is not a hate forum, we share stories,” Parrey said. More than 47 people have died and hundreds injured in angry clashes between the police and protesters in Kashmir this month, the worst outbreak of bloody violence in six years in the region claimed by both India and neighboring Pakistan.

“Our Community Standards prohibit content that praises or supports terrorists, terrorist organizations or terrorism, and we remove it as soon as we’re made aware of it,” said a Facebook spokesman in India. “We welcome discussion on these subjects but any terrorist content has to be clearly put in a context which condemns these organizations or their violent activities.”India and the United States topped the list of governments that requestFacebook for details of accounts in the second half of 2015.

India has more than 340 million mobile Internet users and has the second largest number of Facebook users after the United States. The company is seeking to expand its footprint here by introducing a pared down version called “Free Basics.” But earlier this year, New Delhi shot it down, saying service providers cannot charge discriminatory prices for Internet users.

A journalist in Kashmir said that many who shared stories about a new band of militants and videos of police brutality have been blocked. “It looks more like Facebook censorship rather than something initiated by the government. Maybe they are trying to please the government proactively,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of Center for Internet and Society. “Nevertheless it will have a chilling effect. You will think twice before exercising free speech on Facebook now.”

Ather Zia, a political commentator from Kashmir who teaches anthropology at the University of Northern Colorado, said after her account was disabled on Tuesday: "It is safe to assume creating awareness for Kashmir using social media or writing about the ground reality is under severe threat." Meanwhile, users struggled to restore their accounts on Wednesday as they uploaded new documents requested by the company.

“I use my Facebook account not as a personal page to tell people about my last haircut or last holiday. I use it for work, I share media stories about whatever bothers me in the universe,” said Sanjay Kak, a documentary film maker whose account was disabled Tuesday. “Nothing I shared can be considered inflammatory or incendiary.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/washington-post-july-27-2016-rama-lakshmi-facebook-is-censoring-some-posts-on-indian-kashmir

Stand up for Digital Rights

praskrishna — 2016-07-25T15:29:41Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) invites you to a discussion on a set of Recommendations for Ethical Research, a report on human rights and private online intermediaries which describes key areas where such actors have responsibilities. The discussion is on coming Friday, July 29, 2016 at the Centre for Internet & Society's Delhi office from 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

The discussion intends to launch a report on human rights and private online intermediaries, which describes key areas where such actors have responsibilities and provides a detailed set of Recommendations for Ethical Tech. This work is the culmination of a year-long research project led by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), in collaboration with the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Open Net Korea, the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information at the University of Palermo (CELE) and researchers with the University of Ottawa and the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. The key themes for discussion would include:

General Human Rights Responsibilities and Private Online Intermediaries
Expanding Access
Net Neutrality
Content Moderation
Privacy
Transparency and Informed Consent
Responding to State Interferences

We look forward to meeting you and making this a forum for knowledge exchange a success.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/stand-up-for-digital-rights-1

Belling the trolls

praskrishna — 2016-07-24T16:44:18Z

Online abuse - specially against women - is like one of those rapidly-mutating viruses that resists all antibodies.

The article by Bishakha Datta was published in India Today on July 13, 2016. Rohini Lakshane was quoted.

We have always known that the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. And the pleasure with which it is savoured. This month, we saw its online avatar. Barely had Maneka Gandhi launched the Twitter hashtag #IAmTrolledHelp than the trolls were all over it. Trolling with all their might. Abusing both Gandhi and textile minister Smriti Irani, thereby proving her point: that something needs to be done about the unending stream of online abuse that women face every day.

Online abuse - specially against women - is like one of those rapidly-mutating viruses that resists all antibodies. It's everywhere, in many different forms. I'm not talking about the everyday sexism that's our daily bread. That we deal with. I'm not talking about androcentrism, or the assumption that men, and male experience, are at the centre of the universe. That we live with, constantly rolling our eyes in our heads.

I'm talking rape threats. Gang rape threats. Graphic gang rape threats with vivid descriptions of postures. Death threats. Those, in my view, are not free speech. They are a call to arms, incitement to violence. Especially when it's an invisible cyber-army behind the threats, backing each other up, preying on a woman. Wilding. Trying to break her. Trying to humiliate her. Trying to get her to shut up, out of the misplaced notion that only men have the right to air their thoughts and opinions online. In a public space.

In one of her essays, Egyptian writer Fatima Mernissi introduces the concept of 'trespassing in the nude' to explain how men in Morocco think of public spaces-as a men-only zone. Social norms dictate that Moroccan women not seek to be part of public space; women who break that rule are seen to be trespassing. But women who dare to step into public spaces without their veils-that's even worse. That's trespassing in the nude. And trespassing, of course, demands punishment.

On the internet, women who speak out are seen as trespassers. And women who speak about things men consider their preserve are seen to doubly trespass. Or trespass in the nude. As British writer Laurie Penny famously said, "A woman's opinion is the short skirt of the internet." It is an excuse to harass.

The women on Morocco's streets were punished by stoning, as are the women who loiter on the streets of the internet. Online abuse is as good as stoning someone who has an opinion with words. When journalist Swati Chaturvedi got massively harassed last year, she wrote about her experience: "Journalists, specially women, are hunted for sport, abused, slandered and hounded by trolls who hunt in hyena-like packs. The problem is that you have an opinion and are behaving like a journalist, not a cheerleader."

Little wonder than that Chaturvedi, like many other women online, have welcomed Gandhi's initiative to curb online abuse. As do I. I'm writing this in the middle of conducting a digital security workshop. At lunch, one of the participants described how she can't bear to be on her company's social media feed for more than an hour each morning. It's just an endless stream of filth. And something needs to be done about this filth if we want a #SwachhBharat.

Many women have tried ignoring online abuse. It continues. Others have tried fighting back. It continues. Some have tried humour, including the Peng Collective's brilliant Zero Trollerance campaign. The trolls march on, undeterred, like Tolkien's orcs. Of course, it's important to distinguish between trolling and abuse, but sometimes when you're facing the shitstream, there's just so much semantic jugglery you can take. No matter what you call it, you just want it off.

And that's where Gandhi's initiative makes sense, as one more pathway to a #SwachhBharat, since we now live both on and offline. But one that'll work only if she can take on her party's trolls. Who are now trolling her too. Yes, cybercells and cops do exist, but that route doesn't always work. Social media platforms make promises to their users, but they are rarely kept. "Not a single tweet that I've ever reported has been taken down," says Rohini Lakshane of the Centre for Internet and Society, who's helping us with our digital security workshop.

This is not only about safety. It's about digital citizenship. Women are neither interlopers nor outsiders online. We belong there just as we belong here. We intend to loiter online full-throated. We're not content with a purely offline #SwachhBharat that cleans rivers and ponds. We want online #SwachhStreams too.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-july-13-2016-bisakha-datta-belling-the-trolls

Internet Institute Repository

praskrishna — 2016-07-17T03:38:33Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/internet-institute-repository

Workshop on Declaration on Patents Protection: Regulatory Sovereignty under TRIPS

praskrishna — 2016-08-03T15:14:12Z

To discuss the focus areas of the Patent Declaration with key stakeholders in India, the Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development organized a workshop at Conference Hall of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi on July 12 and 13, 2016. Sunil Abraham was a speaker.

The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, with the active participation of 40 international patent scholars from 25 countries, has drafted the “Declaration on Patents Protection: Regulatory Sovereignty under TRIPS” to clarify the regulatory options available for WTO members while they implement their obligations under TRIPS Agreement. The Declaration is an attempt to conceptualize the relationship between innovation,patent and competition and to explore the possibilities under the TRIPS agreement for WTO members to develop patent laws that suit their domestic imperatives of socio-economic development. By analyzing the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the Declaration attempts to identify flexibilities member states have when interpreting these provisions in their national legislation.

The text contains 12 sections that take a detailed look at the options relating to subject matter, scope of protection, exhaustion, exceptions to the scope of protection, government use, undisclosed information, enforcement, transit and criminal measures. This document assumes much importance in the content where countries are more and more bound by regional and bilateral free trade agreements, which include TRIPS-plus provisions.

The Declaration was published to mark the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the TRIPS Agreement. A large number of scholars have already signed on to this Declaration. After the publication of the Declaration, the Max Planck Institute has been taking steps to launch this in different parts of the world by engaging different stakeholders such us academics, executives, judges, lawyers, industry representatives and civil society members.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/workshop-on-declaration-on-patents-protection-regulatory-sovereignty-under-trips

Meeting on Net Neutrality and Related Issues

praskrishna — 2016-08-02T15:56:10Z

A meeting was convened by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on July 15, 2016 in New Delhi to discuss Net Neutrality and related issues. Sunil Abraham attended this meeting.

Click to view the Invitation Letter sent by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/meeting-on-net-neutrality-and-related-issues

June 2016 Newsletter

praskrishna — 2016-08-04T01:57:04Z

Welcome to the June 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

Previous issues of the newsletters can be accessed here.

Highlights
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held a consultation on Free Data. CIS sent its comments to the 4 questions that TRAI posed: (a) need to have TSP agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users; (b) whether such platforms need to be regulated by TRAI; (c) whether free data to users should be limited; and (d) any other issue related to the matter of consultation. IANA transition is a sham since it doesn't address the most important question - that of jurisdiction. Pranesh Prakash has explored why the issue of jurisdiction is the most important question and why it remains unaddressed. On April 20, 2016, DNA carried a report on a PIL seeking action against advertisements for prostitution in newspapers and on websites. The report noted that the Mumbai Police had obtained an order from a magistrates court to block 174 objectionable websites. The Mumbai Police has not proceeded against any of the people who run these websites. CIS in a blog post has listed out 239 websites that were blocked by the government. Wikipedia is the source for different kinds of knowledge for any one starting-off in a particular field of study. Indian languages are the default languages for study in classroom in India. In this light strengthening the quality of material available on Indian language Wikipedias is certain to have widespread tangible and intangible impact according to Tejaswini Niranjana. An extended survey of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practices in India was undertaken during the last year. Provocatively called 'mapping digital humanities in India', this enquiry began with the term 'digital humanities' itself, as a 'found' name for which one needs to excavate some meaning, context, and location in India at the present moment. The final section has been published. The Reserve Bank of India published a Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending on April 28, 2016, and invited comments from the public. CIS submitted its response. The Department of Science and Technology published the first public draft of the National Geospatial Policy (v.1.0) on May 05, 2016, and invited comments from the public. CIS submitted its comments. The first public draft of the open data license to be used by Government of India was released by the Department of Legal Affairs. CIS was a member of the committee constituted to develop the license concerned, and we contributed substantially to the drafting process. Harsh Gupta and Aditya Tejas wrote a blog post on the Airtel Open Network that was launched recently. The web page displays visualization data on network coverage and signal strength across the country, as well as a detailed breakdown of cell tower placement, including towers that are shutdown or still being planned. CIS organized a one-day workshop in Delhi on Tuesday, July 12 on the evolution and state of the set-top box as an access device in India.

CIS in the News

CIS gave inputs to the following media coverage:

Why Geospatial Bill is draconian and how it will hurt startups (Prabhu Mallikarjunan; Financial Express; June 13, 2016).
ISPs start blocking escort websites following govt order (Moulishree Srivastava; Business Standard; June 14, 2016).
Here is the entire list of 'escorts service' websites that the government has banned (India Today; June 16, 2016).
Indian experts doubt government ban on porn sites will be effective (VL Srinivasan; ZD Net; June 20, 2016).
Slow internet driving you nuts? Here is how your service provider is fleecing you (Kalyan Parbat; Economic Times; June 23, 2016).
Behind the scenes of Escort Economy 2.0 (Sharmila Ganeshan Ram; The Times of India; June 26, 2016).
Call drops: Dealing with the menace or just shifting goal posts? (India TV News; June 26, 2016).

CIS members wrote the following pieces:

Tweak the Make in India Recipe (Rohini Lakshané; Business Today; June 3, 2016).

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ବିକାଶ (Subhashish Panigrahi; The Samaja; June 2, 2016).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ: ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବିଶାଳତମ ଅନଲାଇନ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ଗଢ଼ିବାର ଅଭିଯାନ (Subhashish Panigrahi; Your Story Odia; June 3, 2016).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ: ଏକ ଅଭିଯାନ (Subhashish Panigrahi; Suryaprava; June 3, 2016).
ଅନଲାଇନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ଗଢ଼ା (Subhashish Panigrahi; Samanya Kathan; June 5, 2016).
Digital native: Control A, Backspace (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; June 5, 2016).

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Accessibility & Inclusion
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India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

June 2016 Report (Suman Dogra; June 30, 2016).

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Access to Knowledge
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Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

►Pervasive Technologies

Article

Tweak the Make in India Recipe (Rohini Lakshané; Business Today; June 3, 2016).

Media Coverage

NGOs urge PM to ‘resist pressure’ from U.S. on IPRs (Hindu; June 2, 2016).
Climate change will be a priority in talks with Modi: U.S. (Varghese K. George; Hindu; June 6, 2016).
NGOs tell Modi not to succumb to US pressure on intellectual property (Rinku Patel; India Tribune; June 7, 2016).
NGOs tell PM not to succumb to pressure from US on IPR (Economic Times, June 7, 2016).

►Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).

Articles

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ବିକାଶ (Subhashish Panigrahi; The Samaja; June 2, 2016).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ: ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବିଶାଳତମ ଅନଲାଇନ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ଗଢ଼ିବାର ଅଭିଯାନ (Subhashish Panigrahi; Your Story Odia; June 3, 2016).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ: ଏକ ଅଭିଯାନ (Subhashish Panigrahi; Suryaprava; June 3, 2016).
ଅନଲାଇନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ଗଢ଼ା (Subhashish Panigrahi; Samanya Kathan; June 5, 2016).
Digital native: Control A, Backspace (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; June 5, 2016).

Blog Entry

Beyond Editor Count: Assessing Quality on Wikipedia (Tejaswini Niranjana; June 12, 2016).

Media Coverage

Online space for Odia (Diana Sahu; New Indian Express; June 10, 2016).
शंभर वर्षापूर्वीचे ग्रंथ मराठी विकिपीडियावर (Maharashtra Times; June 15, 2016).

Event Organized

Wikipedia edit-a-thon at TEDSummit 2016 (Organized by CIS-A2K and Wikimedians Netha Hussain and Ayyappadas; Banff, Canada; June 26 - 30, 2016). Abhinav Garule represented CIS-A2K.

►Openness

Submission

Comments on the National Geospatial Policy (Draft, V.1.0), 2016 (Adya Garg, Anubha Sinha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay; June 1, 2016).

Blog Entry

Public Consultation for the First Draft of 'Government Open Data Use License - India' Announced (Anubha Sinha; June 30, 2016).

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Internet Governance
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As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.

►Freedom of Expression

Submission

Submission by the Centre for Internet and Society on Revisions to ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior (Vidushi Marda with inputs from Nirmita Narasimhan and Sunil Abraham; June 29, 2016).

Blog Entries

UN Special Rapporteur Report on Freedom of Expression and the Private Sector: A Significant Step Forward (Vidushi Marda; June 8, 2016).
Jurisdiction: The Taboo Topic at ICANN (Pranesh Prakash; June 27, 2016).

►Privacy

Article

Criminal Defamation and the Supreme Court’s Loss of Reputation (Bhairav Acharya; June 3, 2016). The article was published in the Wire on May 14 but mirrored in June on CIS website.

Blog Entry

Smart City Policies and Standards: Overview of Projects, Data Policies, and Standards across Five International Smart Cities (Kiran A. B., Elonnai Hickok and Vanya Rakesh; June 8, 2016).

Event Organized

Stand up for Digital Rights (CIS, Bangalore, June 15, 2016)

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Researchers at Work
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The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

Submission

Comments on the RBI's Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending (Elonnai Hickok, Pavishka Mittal, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Vidushi Marda, and Vipul Kharbanda; June 1, 2016).

Blog Entries

Creativity, Politics, and Internet Censorship (P.P. Sneha; June 16, 2016).
Digital Humanities in India – Concluding Thoughts (P.P. Sneha; June 30, 2016).

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Telecom
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CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources, and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

Blog Entry

Airtel Open Network (Harsh Gupta and Aditya Tejas; June 17, 2016).

Event

Workshop on Set-top Boxes (Organized by CIS, Amar Colony, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi; July 12, 2016).

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About CIS
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The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.

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Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration

We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2016-newsletter

Tamil Nadu likely to hold Facebook accountable for suicide case

praskrishna — 2016-07-13T13:44:58Z

The recent suicide of a 21-year-old woman from Salem district in Tamil Nadu over her morphed pictures being uploaded on Facebook could turn into a flash-point between the state police and the world's most-popular social networking site.

The article by V. Prem Shanker was published in the Economic Times on July 13, 2016.

"We are exploring the possibility of holding Facebook accountable for the delay in responding to our requests since that was one of the factors which led to the young lady committing suicide," Salem superintendent of police Amit Kumar Singh told ET in an exclusive interaction. On June 23, the Salem police had received a complaint from the father of the 21-year-old stating that someone had uploaded her morphed nude pictures on Facebook. The father had requested the police to get the photographs removed from the site and also find and warn the perpetrator.

The police recorded the complaint the same evening and later sent what is called a 'Law Enforcement Online Request' to Facebook asking for details of the IP address from which the morphed photographs were uploaded on the website. Officials also requested Facebook to take down the objectionable photographs of the young woman.

Five days after the request was sent, Facebook responded with the IP address on June 28 and within 12 hours after that the police cracked the case and nabbed the suspect.

However, all this was a bit too late because the previous day, on June 27, the young woman had ended her life. Her morphed nude photographs were taken down only on the day of her death, according to the police.

"Apart from addressing Facebook, we also investigated the case from other angles but couldn't make headway. Thus, there was nothing we could do about the pictures still being online apart from waiting for Facebook to act," Singh said, adding "enforcement of compliance is a matter of grave concern."

Officials are considering charging Facebook with abetment to suicide and including Facebook in the chargesheet if the site is found culpable after investigations. However, the state police is said to be discussing with legal experts on how this can be done as there is no precedent for a website having been charged in a crime.

Facebook did not reply to an email seeking comment. Earlier in a communique, responding to criticisms of police inaction in this case, Singh had pointed out that "Only Facebook can block a page and it exercises this discretion as per its Facebook Community Standards and not the law of the land it is being viewed in. Facebook does not provide the police with any special powers to take down a page even if the police receive a cognizable complaint of identity theft and uploading of obscene content. There is no tool available, at least as of now, with the police to coerce or goad Facebook to act expeditiously even if the matter is very urgent and there is a flagrant violation of Indian law."

Experts point out that the disparity with which Facebook treats child abuse laws and copyright infringements as opposed to violation of women's rights is stark.

"Look at the war against child pornography. In the United Kingdom there is an independent foundation that has immunity under UK child pornography law. They generate a database and circulate it across all platforms and ensure that it is kept absolutely squeaky clean," points out Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bengaluru based research organisation, Centre for Internet and Society.

"There definitely needs to be a law to ensure that such platforms do not violate the law of the land, especially when it comes to women's rights. But in interim, the government can create an information escrow or a platform where the victims can place on record their problems and it is there for these sites to see and take action," Abraham added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-v-prem-shanker-july-13-2016-tamil-nadu-likely-to-hold-facebook-accountable-for-suicide-case

NVDA Reports

praskrishna — 2016-07-13T13:04:45Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-reports.zip

Place for a safety net

praskrishna — 2016-07-13T02:45:56Z

Vinupriya took her life last week, humiliated by the morphed images of her naked body posted on a social media site. Experts warn that the spike in Internet traffic brings with it an increase in online sexual crimes. Measures must be taken urgently to save lives, they tell T.V. Jayan.

The article was published in the Telegraph on July 10, 2016.

Sangeeta (not her name) was 25 and working for a private company in Mumbai when she suddenly told her family that she was going to quit her job and stay at home. Her parents were flummoxed, but questioning and coaxing yielded no answers. As the days rolled on, the management graduate slipped into depression. Her worried family took her to a counsellor. And it was only then that she came out with her story.

Soon after she joined the company, Sangeeta got romantically involved with her boss. By the time she learnt he was married, the involvement had taken a physical turn. And when she tried to put an end to it, the man, who had recorded their intimate moments, used the video clips to blackmail her for sexual favours. After Sangeeta's confession and a police complaint, the blackmailing boss was nabbed and put behind bars.

Vinupriya, an undergraduate student from Salem, Tamil Nadu, was not so lucky. She found that her morphed images had been uploaded on Facebook. She committed suicide last week after her parents refused to believe her story, and the police failed to act swiftly.

Cyber experts are alarmed by the increase in online crimes against women in India. According to them, what is more worrying is that though the risks are catastrophic, the issues are not being addressed at a larger level.

"Vinupriya's case is particularly frightening. I suspect this would be the first of many such tragedies. They might even result in honour killings, as such crimes can destroy the reputation of families," says American cyber lawyer Parry Aftab, executive director of the voluntary organisation, Wired Safety, which she founded 20 years ago, and which deals extensively with cyber stalking and other crimes.

Earlier this week, a man was arrested in Delhi for sending obscene messages to more than 1,500 women in the National Capital Region. According to the police, the miscreant would randomly dial any number and if the caller turned out to be a woman, he would save the number and later check out her WhatsApp profile picture. He would then send obscene clips to the woman. One news report said some of the marriages were in trouble because husbands had seen the messages and suspected that their wives were in a relationship with the man sending those explicit messages.

Aftab has been studying the dangers of online stalking for a while. There are no figures on this in India, but a top United Nations official, stationed in New Delhi and dealing with trafficking, told her that about 500 rape and sexual assault cases were recorded and shared over WhatsApp in India this year.

She referred to a study conducted in the US that said one in three girls and boys engaged in sexting. Children involved in sexting contemplated suicide three times more than others of the same age, she said.

According to her, Wired Safety volunteers come across five cases of sextortion and sexting every day from Asian countries, including India, and act upon them by red-flagging social media organisations where such images are posted.

Pavan Duggal, a cyber lawyer based in Delhi, feels that social media service providers are not doing enough to stop online sexual abuse. "They are hiding behind a 2015 Supreme Court judgment, which said content can be removed only on judicial orders or in response to government notifications," he says.

The verdict he refers to was delivered in a case filed by a student called Shreya Singhal. In 2012, two girls were arrested over their Facebook post questioning the Mumbai shutdown for Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray's funeral. The incident made an impression on Singhal, a student of astrophysics at the University of Bristol, who was in India at the time.

Upon research she discovered that Section 66(A) of India's IT Act was subjective and any seemingly offensive social media post could land anyone in jail. Singhal filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court protesting that the section violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, and in 2015, the apex court ruled in her favour.

This judgment, however, emboldened cyber miscreants. "All the cyber bullies and cyber stalkers now have a misplaced feeling that nothing can happen to them," says Duggal. He points out that while the delivery of justice takes time, the harassment happens 24x7.

"Who do the victims turn to for help? There are provisions in the 2011 IT rules that clearly say that social medial service providers should have rules and regulations in place to deal with objectionable content, but they do not act," he holds.

Aftab, however, believes that some efforts are in place. She cites the example of Microsoft's PhotoDNA technology, which is used by many social media and online search firms, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, to prevent child pornography on the Internet. PhotoDNA works by creating a number of mini hashes on a single image and combining them to have a full hash. If anything is changed, even a pixel, then the hash signature will not match.

But she holds that on a larger scale, it is difficult to technologically deal with revenge porn, sextortion (using a sexual or provocative image to blackmail people for sexual favours) and sexting (sharing sexually provocative images of people, especially women) with the intention of damaging reputation.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, hints at a lack of initiative on the part of the social media organisations. "When it comes to enforcing intellectual property, organisations like Facebook do an excellent job of keeping their platform free of copyright infringement," he says. "So, clearly these companies can police activities on their platform when it affects their bottom-line."

And while this debate continues, more and more Indians join the online experience, thereby increasing the chances of more such cases. Aftab, who plans to set up a voluntary organisation relating to cyber safety in India, says it is best to focus on proactive measures in the interim.

Last month, she addressed 1,200 teenage girls from a Bangalore college. "One of the first questions posed to me was from a young girl who said she was currently being blackmailed by someone who threatened to morph her pictures into sexually explicit images and send them to her family and others. Morphed image issue seems to be a lot more serious in India than in the West."

The problem, she stresses, is that such incidents can lead to self-harm. To counter this, the affected person needs to inform his or her family and enlist their support. Together, they should approach social media organisations to ensure that the objectionable content is removed in time. To prevent the offenders from doing further harm, they then need to take the help of law enforcement agencies.

"The government for its part must amplify the voices of women and hold these Internet corporations accountable for an information escrow. There should be an independent mechanism to monitor whether Internet platforms are taking complaints from women seriously," Abraham says. Only then can a young girl like Vinupriya pluck up the courage to fight online abuse.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-telegraph-july-10-2016-place-for-a-safety-net

Sub-$100 mobile phones_Browser Compatibility Tests.xlsx

praskrishna — 2016-07-10T14:09:07Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/Sub-100%20mobile%20phones_Browser%20Compatibility%20Tests.xlsx