Centre for Internet and Society

Mozilla Open Web Talks

radha — 2011-04-05T04:19:15Z

Give a talk, or just listen - On December 16 in Bangalore, Mozilla and The Centre for Internet and Society are holding an evening of talks about the future of the open internet.

We're inviting you to to give a 5 minute talk, or just to come listen:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/CIS-Bangalore

Presentations will either:

Explain the open web and why it matters and
Describe a concrete project idea that will make the web better.

If you're interesting in giving a talk, please sign up here:

http://fcroadshow.net/?page_id=7

If you'd like to simply attend and listen, please RSVP here:

http://bit.ly/51OOXf

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/mozilla-talks

Mozilla Drumbeat

radha — 2009-12-09T11:57:15Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Mozilla%20Drumbeat.jpg

Mozilla DevDay 2010, Bangalore

radha — 2011-04-05T04:12:42Z

Mozilla, Mahiti & The Centre for Internet and Society are joining hands to organize an informal developer-oriented conference in Bangalore on Saturday February 27, 2010.

The Mozilla DevDay will be an opportunity for developers, open source enthusiasts, and web aficionados who live in and around Bangalore, to meet Mozilla staff and learn about the Mozilla Project and its technologies. The DevDay is a free conference open to the general public.

For more information please visit: http://j.mp/BLRMozDevDay

All interested participants are requested to register by following this link: http://j.mp/MozDevDayBLR

For the event poster, click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/mozilla-devday-2010-bangalore

Moz Day, Bangalore

radha — 2010-02-24T06:33:37Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Moz%20Day.pdf

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change

radha — 2011-04-05T04:32:26Z

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change, Bangalore camp is a one-day event and is an exploration of mobile technology to advance social development and social change goals.

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change Camps are local events for people passionate about using mobile technology for social impact and to make the world a better place.

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change Camp in Bangalore includes:

interactive discussions about mobile tech for social good,
hands-on-demos of mobile apps and tools,
collaborations about ways to use, deploy, develop and promote mobile technology in health, advocacy, economic development, environment, human rights, and citizen media

Participants for Mobile Tech 4 Social Change barcamps include nonprofits, mobile application developers, researchers, donors, intermediary organizations, and mobile operators.

In short, Mobile Tech 4 Social Change Bangalore Camp is:

A one-day event in Bangalore on September 4, 2009
An exploration of mobile technology to advance social development and social change goals
Participatory and interactive
Open to anyone with passion and interest in the topic

Participants

YOU - register today!

Cost

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change camps are grassroots events. We are charging a small fee for this event that is used to offset costs for breakfast and lunch as well as supplies for the camp. If this cost constitutes a huge barrier for you attending, please be in touch so that we can work something out!

Planners and Sponsors

Mobile Tech 4 Social Change Bangalore is organized by the following organizations. We are very grateful for this collaboration and support.

India

If you want to be an angel and sponsor this community-supported event, we would love to hear from you!

videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/mobile-tech-4-social-change

Minna Aslama

radha — 2009-10-29T08:16:48Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Minna%20Aslama.jpg

Michael Riggs

radha — 2009-09-17T09:29:00Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Michael%20Riggs.jpg

Manglore: State-level 'Wiki Academy' Daylong Seminar at St Aloysius

radha — 2011-04-02T14:58:06Z

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RS/SB)

Mangalore, Aug 22: For the first time in India, Wiki Academy, a workshop based on usage of Indian languages, editing and its applications in academics of Wikipedia- the free online encyclopedia was held at Eric Mathias hall in St Aloysius College here on Saturday, August 22.
The daylong seminar based on talks and presentation was inaugurated by representatives from Wikipedia, Dr Prashanth and Hariprasad Nadig. Speaking after the inaugural, Dr Prashanth said that main feature of the Wikipedia is that the control is in the ends of end user and not seller. It is popular among the users for its style presenting information and accessibility that is user-friendly, he said.
The Wikipedia that started with a few hundred articles, now has over 13 million articles in over 100 languages including three million articles in English written voluntarily by college students, doctors and various professionals, he said. The Wikipedia also includes articles in Indian regional languages such Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu among others, he added.
Fr Swebert D Silva, principal, St Aloysius College said that Wikipedia plays a role that is very similar to the library which is that giving detailed information on the topic required. Students’ involvement with the Wikipedia helps improve their writing skills. The era of internet and blogging has helped students and youth express themselves more clearly, he said and called on students to improve their writing skill contributing to Wikipedia.
Fr Richard Rego, head, Journalism department, St Aloysius College said that it is a golden opportunity for students, professionals, teachers, scholars and librarians to be able to participate in the academy and also contribute and get information from Wikipedia.
Department of Mass Communication, Al-Madhyam, the media forum of St Aloysius College in association with Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore organized the workshop.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=64564&n_tit=Manglore%

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/manglore-state-level-wiki-academy-daylong-seminar-at-st-aloysius

Managing Spectrum

radha — 2011-08-18T04:54:56Z

The Empowered Group of Ministers' goal should be nothing short of a broadband revolution - Shyam Ponappa / New Delhi, November 5, 2009 (Business Standard)

In communications services, the high demand for spectrum compared with limited supply is well established. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) estimates demand in five years at 580 MHz, with current assignment to commercial operators at about 160 MHz. In this limited amount, fragmented spectrum holdings reduce efficiency, and broadband
growth and availability have been abysmal. Therefore, the policy alternatives evaluated should include ways to maximise utility through conserving resources and facilitating broadband Internet. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) needs this analysis to make informed decisions. The related issue of maximising utility from facilities, i.e., sharing networks for maximum benefit while conserving capital, thereby resulting in lower prices, likewise deserves serious consideration. For this, they need inputs on the benefits and costs of coordinated policy reform to promote broadband through incentives and penalties.

Having said that, it is for the officials providing support to the EGoM to structure, analyse and prioritise issues and provide the requisite information to facilitate informed decisions on complex choices. This requires appropriate inputs on technology as well. Efforts on all these aspects seem inadequate, with the EGoM being simply not adequately informed.

Trai recently began a consultation process, addressing a host of issues relating to 3G, Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and licensing. A major deficiency is that no purposive goals and objectives are indicated, nor is there a facilitating logic to the structuring of issues (57 wide-ranging questions, with roughly three weeks for comments).

This is because Trai has posed issues built up over the years in one burst, resulting in the equivalent of a “flash flood”. Instead, structured consultations on discrete sets of questions, as in the indicative example below, are likely to yield better results. However, given where we are — the usual how-far-to-go-in-how-little-time — an organised, logical presentation with relevant inputs would improve the chances of good decisions and outcomes. Here is a suggested road map.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES
The first requirement for the consultation process is clear objectives based on needs. As Trai has not provided this, here are indicative constructs:

Our policies for infrastructure should be in public interest. In communications, these are:

Ready access anywhere in the country to: (a) good services and (b) at reasonable prices.
The services can be thought of as “Broadband Internet” and “Voice and SMS”.

(Note: There are very different objectives for broadcasting, which is outside the scope of these comments.)

DECISION TREES & ISSUE MAPS

A decision tree is an alternative to wading through a welter of unstructured questions, starting with fundamental objectives, using a logical decision map/issue map as a framework (see graphic). This requires judgment in selecting, organising and prioritising issues. The example assumes that the least capital and operating costs (while maintaining high quality) are appropriate criteria for services in public interest.

These decisions will determine how issues of licensing and consolidation/acquisitions pan out. Questions on pricing remain, e.g., per cent of revenues for licences and spectrum charges, and the timing of fees (i.e., cash flow from a fiscal perspective). If the decision is to pool spectrum, there are critical questions on Administered Incentive Pricing. The same principles of concessions and incentives (i.e., subsidies) as for sectors like power and highways need to be applied. Finally, there needs to be rationalisation in non-commercial uses, e.g., governance and defence.

SPECTRUM & NETWORK EFFICIENCY=LOWER COSTS

Given our fragmented spectrum holdings, perceived scarcity and economic efficiencies of limited competition in networks, there is reason to explore an approach to conserving spectrum and consolidating facilities. Spectrum can either be given or licensed for exclusive use in bands to separate operators as is done now, or be made available in large (at least 20 MHz) blocks to all operators for common use. Alternatively, operators can be given incentives to pool licensed spectrum to create a common capacity. The same approach can be explored for networks (facilities that use spectrum); these too can be pooled and shared if individually owned. Operators do this in a limited way, e.g., sharing towers, but pooling can be organised and extended much further.

Ill-considered policies that increase competition for its own sake because of the predominance of doctrinaire “free-market” notions have displaced more appropriate market structures. In India, this has resulted in 12-14 operators per service area, compared with the global average of three-five. The economics of networks favour limits to competition, because networks lend themselves to a limited-player (monopolistic or oligopolistic) market.*

Interestingly, an economist at the US Federal Communications Commission has this to say: “…For what should competition be promoted? Promoting competition for particular services can have major implications for the evolution of regulation and the long-term competitive structure of the industry. Unfortunately, the ‘competition for what?’ question has not received adequate consideration.”**

The benefit of using contiguous bands of spectrum is that costs could be significantly lower for equivalent voice and data capacity because of less advanced technology and less density of towers and equipment. Likewise for shared networks. With competition and good regulation, the likely result is lower costs, both for Broadband Internet and for Voice and SMS.

CONCLUSION

An inter-disciplinary consultation with stakeholders and specialists is essential to consider spectrum and sharing of facilities. Companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Qualcomm as well as Google, Intel and possibly cable companies (Liberty Global?) should be invited. The EGoM’s goal should be nothing short of a broadband revolution. We need this for
education and vocational training, health care, governance and economic productivity across the board.

shyamponappa@gmail.com

*A rational spectrum allocation policy, BS, July 2, 2009

** Douglas A Galbi, Senior Economist, US FCC

Link to original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/managing-spectrum

Loyola College - Chennai

radha — 2009-09-29T06:34:05Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/right-to-read-campaign-chennai/Loyola%20College%20-%20Right%20to%20Read%20Campaign%20-Chennai.jpg

Lawyers get socially involved: The Right to Read

radha — 2009-12-03T09:49:08Z

Thursday, 03 December 2009 by Tanuj Kalia (www.legallyindia.com)

"Imagine life without books, without having anything to read. Wouldn't it get suffocating?" asks Moiz Tundawala, a visually impaired student at NUJS Kolkata.

A number of engaged lawyers have been working hard to address the suffocation by trying to make books accessible to all in the Right to Read campaign.

"Just place yourself in the shoes of the print disabled and try evaluating," posits Tundawala. "Why deprive them of a fair opportunity to participate in society especially when you have the technology to make things easier?"

By contrast the situation as it stands today in India is simple: if you can not read printed text for whatever reason, most books will remain forever closed to you.

Pesky laws

And while technology is making headway towards accessibility it stumbles upon myriad legal roadblocks.

The biggest spoilsport is the India Copyright Act, which does not explicitly permit the conversion of books into accessible formats without breaching their copyrights.

Three organisations active in the field have now joined hands to launch the Right to Read campaign in India, following the eponymous global campaign by the World Blind Union. The Indian campaign is supported by social enterprise Inclusive Planet with its first product BookBolé, the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) and the non-profit organisation Daisy Forum of India.

And throughout lawyers have been vital in getting the campaign off the ground.

"We believe that the right to read is a fundamental right and persons with disabilities should be able to enjoy this right just like any other person," says CIS programme manager Nirmita Narasimhan. She is an LLB graduate of Campus Law Centre, Delhi University and has years of experience in working in the courts and with intellectual property (IP).

"Nearly 70 million print disabled Indians are being deprived of this right because they are unable to read in the same manner as other persons," she continues. "This goes against our constitutional guarantees of rights to equality and non-discrimination."

The movement does not restrict itself to the blind and visually impaired and the Right to Read campaigners are quick to point out that the term print disabled is a wider term and includes persons who have dyslexia, learning disabilities and persons who due to physical disability are unable to hold books or turn pages.

The campaign therefore aspires to reach to all those who do not have access to knowledge due to the non-availability of books in accessible formats.

Technology's outer limits

Inclusive Planet's co-founder and policy head Rahul Cherian is also the founder and managing partner of IndoJuris Law Offices.

He and Narasimhan co-wrote a letter to the IPR Division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

In it they explained why formats like audio files and Braille cannot fully address the issue of accessibility and what should be done about it.

"Audio files have to be played serially and navigation is severely limited. In the case of Braille, the printing costs are expensive and reading a Braille book is up to 4 times slower than a normal book," they wrote.

"Moreover, Braille is extremely difficult to learn if you lose sight at a later age, and persons using Braille can communicate only with others who know Braille. Braille cannot be used by persons with other print impairments such as dyslexia or persons with physical disabilities".

Perhaps more innovative technologies are necessary but technology also has some serious limitations, such as not being able to cater to India's multilingual needs, points out Narasimhan.

Tundawala's first-hand experience with technology is instructive.

"Audio brings in the human element," he says, "but a lot depends on the reader. Some are naturally good readers, some others are not. Listening to monotonous voices is not at all enjoyable."

Cost is a big hurdle too. "A wonderful device that is in the markets in places like the US is the portable reader. It is a hand held device and comes with a camera with OCR (Optical Charachter Recognition) and TTS (Text To Speech) installed on it. How I wish to get hold of it. But this comes at a whopping two thousand dollars", says Tundawala.

Even screen reading software that converts the text on screen to speech such as JAWS for Windows comes at a mind-boggling fifty thousand rupees.

The co-founder and CEO of Inclusive Planet Sachin Malhan, who is perhaps best-known for starting up the CLAT preparation service Law School Tutorials after a stint in a law firm, defends technology.

"Any large solution will have imperfections," says Malhan, "but one must keep in mind how small these obstacles are when compared with the opportunities."

Being Good: the subtle art of Dharma

Issues of cost and accessibility are serious. Inclusive Planet, which is run as a for-profit social organisation, will face the challenge of making its first product BookBolé pay for itself.

Cherian is optimistic. "The cost of printing, stocking and distributing books which is huge in regular books is virtually nil in our model," he says.

"We are in the process of convincing a few publishers about the possibility of tapping into the needs of the millions in need of books in accessible formats. The World Blind Union has given the phrase 'Same day. Same price' for books to be made available to the print disabled and we want to live up to it."

And going by the magnitude of response BookBolé has been able to generate it already sounds like a success story.

Cherian told Legally India that Inclusive Planet has five new products and projects lined up for the disabled. Two among these will cater exclusively to needs of the visually impaired and according to Cherian will truly revolutionize the ecosystem for the visually impaired, making their world happier and more inclusive.

Tundawala, however, disagrees with this approach and argues: "If we start selling technology through the market mechanism, it may not serve the needs of the vast multitude."

Legal Samaritans

The Right to Read has journeyed well and is picking up momentum with legal activists forming the vanguard.

"The prominent people behind our freedom struggle were lawyers so the legal community owes a special responsibility in this case to help bring about a change for the better," insists Tundawala. "Their support will give a sense of hope to millions of individuals that the people who know the law empathise with them and think the way they do about this problem."

For Cherian help from the corporate sector has made life easier. "None of this would have been possible without the collaboration of corporate lawyers. Corporate lawyers have helped in the legal research and strategy."

Delhi Chalo!

The Indian campaign, which was launched in September, is also closely allied to the global debate and involves many issues and organisations.

"We are actively involved in The Treaty for the Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled presently tabled before the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) at the WIPO and are working with the World Blind Union to help from an India level," explains Nirmita.

She adds that earlier this month they also organised a meeting with the Director General of WIPO in Delhi and submitted a statement document on behalf of the Indian visually impaired community.

And the Right to Read, explains Cherian, will soon be taken up to India's Human Resources Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal.

"We plan to organise 4 more road shows in different cities, culminating with a large event in Delhi," he says.

"We will also be submitting a research paper to the HRD Ministry on the constitutional, domestic and international law compulsions that require the amendment of the copyright act for the benefit of persons with disability."

Sign the Declaration and express your support at the Right to Read campaign website. If you needed any other incentive, today is World Disability Day.

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/lawyers-get-socially-involved

Krishi Sampada

radha — 2009-09-23T10:54:27Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Krishi%20Sampada%20-10.jpg

IPv6: The promises and challenges

radha — 2011-04-02T14:45:40Z

An article by Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society, in the DNA Mumbai edition (4th Nov '09)

What is IPv6?

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is a standard defined in 1981, which is central to the Internet, allowing vastly different computers on vastly different kinds of networks to communicate with each other. (Think of how diplomatic protocols enables diplomats from vastly different cultures to communicate effectively by agreement on certain common minimums (such as a handshake, etc.).) IPv4 was defined when there were relatively few computers, and even fewer connected to networks. Many things have changed since then, with one of the most important change being the burgeoning of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Each computer on the Internet has something known as an IP address. Each 'packet' of data transmitted over the Internet must have associated from and to IP addresses (which can sometimes be ranges of addresses). IPv4 can accommodate 4,294,967,296 (2^32) unique IP addresses, whereas IPv6 can handle 340 undecillion (2^128) unique addresses. When you consider that every device with Internet connectivity has an IP address (from laptops to Blackberries to even alarm clocks), a lot of IP addresses are required. Since the early 1990s, people have been talking about some of the limitations of IPv4, the primary one being the lack of expandability of IPv4.

Benefits of IPv6

Greater number of computers on the Internet, as it uses more
Better reliability and security, as IPSec, a protocol for authenticating and securing all IP data, is built into IPv6 as a default.
More efficient and thus faster than IPv4. Despite carrying much more data, IPv6 packets are simpler to route (just as addresses with pincodes are easier for post offices to handle).
More features can be added more easily. If at a later point of time more features are required, those can be added without a whole new protocol being designed.

What all does the shift to IPv6 require?

IPv6-capable Internet Service Providers providing consumers IPv6 addresses
IPv6-capable networking hardware (modems, routers)
IPv6-capable operating systems on consumer devices (smartphones, computers, etc.)
IPv6-capable websites, which depends on (1)

Apart from IPv6 capability, at some point the shift to IPv6 must happen, since IPv4 and IPv6 are not compatible. Translators, which allow an IPv6 address to be understood by a computer using IPv4, do exist, but they are quite expensive to deploy. Currently, it is estimated that around 1% of the world's Internet traffic is conducted using IPv6. The most successful example of IPv6 being used on a large scale was the 2008 Olympics where all network operations (from security camera transmissions to a special IPv6 website). So why haven't more ISPs shifted to IPv6? Because of network externalities. While telephones make sense, being the only person in the world with a telephone doesn't. Similarly, while IPv6 is the way for the future, it only makes economic sense for ISPs to shift (or even prepare for the shift, by using translators) when there are plenty of others using IPv6. While some ISPs (like Sify) are already prepared for the shift, others need to gear up. Importantly, the government step in to encourage (and, perhaps, at some point, mandate) this transition. Following the governments of the US, EU, and China, the Indian government too sees the immensity of this shift, and has tasked the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) of the Department of Telecommunications to take the lead in this. The TEC has convened meetings with experts, and thus India seems to be on the right track.

What does all this mean for you?

Perhaps a lot or not very much, depending on how you look at things. Most modern modems and routers (which are usually provided by your ISP) support IPv6, but are, by default, configured for IPv4. Many smartphones don't work on IPv6, but generally phones have a shorter shelf life and chances are that market forces will goad manufacturers to support IPv6 by the time the IPv6 Internet becomes more popular. Thus, while IPv4 addresses might be find themselves near the end of their natural life within one to three years, they will live on thanks to various mechanisms that translate IPv4 to IPv6 (which won't work well with certain applications such as peer-to-peer file-sharing). Eventually, even those translators will have to be abandoned if we are to embrace a brave new Internet.

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/ipv6-the-promises-and-challenges

Internet, first source of credible information about A(H1N1) virus

radha — 2011-04-02T15:10:40Z

An article was publised in The Hindu, 16th August '09 on how the internet has evolved as a de facto information system around the world and in India. Nishant Shah, Director- Research, CIS, has provided inputs for the article.

The internet evolved as de facto information system around the world and in India. Dedicated users put out hourly updates.

There was no missing it. Anywhere you turned these past few weeks, the pig was all over the place. At least the virus, once born of swine, now mutated into the A(H1N1) influenza was painting the towns a feverish red.

There was information, and misinformation, about the virus via the TV, newspapers and internet. For much of the community in the cities, at least, the net-enabled community, the www has been a huge source of information. While it cannot be denied that it has contributed to some of the panic that has defined this epidemic or near-epidemic, it has oftentimes also been the first source of credible, scientific information on how to prevent an A(H1N1) infection and to handle it.

The internet has now evolved as the de facto information system for a significant and growing population around the world and in India, says Nishant Shah, Director of research, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.

He says that in the last two decades internet technologies have played an important role, both in creating safety havens for people to come, discuss, voice their fears and get responses to their queries, as well as in initiating rumour mills which sometimes create great panic attacks.

Melissa Davies wrote in Nielsen Online (http://blog.nielsen.com) in May 2009 .. the buzz volume about swine flu in the blogosphere was still on its meteoric climb, far surpassing discussion levels for the peanut butter/salmonella scare that happened earlier this year…

She adds that a measure of the extent of Internet engagement regarding swine flu is Wikipedia. The sites page on swine influenza has been updated hundreds of times this week. Wikipedia created a separate page focused on the 2009 swine flu outbreak for current information that page has been updated 119 times as of early on May 1.

Not to leave the social networking sites out of the picture, she mentions that there were more than 500 Facebook groups dedicated to Swine Flu as early as May 1. On Twitter, Swine Flu mentions topped out at a rate of more than 10,000 tweets per hour earlier in the week. Dedicated users such as @Swine_Flu_Vrus, and @CDCemergency put out nearly hourly updates from across the world.

Social networking

Social networking fora also became a sort of platform for those who were quivering with fear to seek advice. G-chat and Facebook status messages were in the flu vein: Have cough. Need Mask? ... I have fever and cold. Is it the S.flu?

Apart from lists of symptoms and helplines, many What to do if you have the Swine Flu kind of advisories cropped up online in no time, some culled from information put out by the World Health Organisation and the CDC. This seemed to have assuaged some in a tizzy about the flu.

Keywords: Internet, A (H1N1), credible information, swine flu, Centre for Internet and Society.

More information is available on the following url: http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article3572.ece

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/internet-first-source-of-credible-information-about-a-h1n1-virus

Internet sceptic? Go get a life

radha — 2011-04-02T14:49:11Z

Fifty years down the line, generations will laugh off the paranoia about the Internet - an article by Nishant Shah in the magazine Down To Earth

If there is one thing the Internet can claim uniqueness for, it will be for the fact that never in human history has a technology been charged so much with being the object of obsessions, compulsions or psychological disorders. We have never really heard of a print addict. We do have bibliophiles and cultural gurus. The camera has been duly appointed the most effective form of preserving memories. Its presence at all occasions, or even in the ordinarily mundane, has been accepted as a protocol. Photographers might spend days in dark rooms and morphing memories for posterity but we haven’t yet heard of a camera addict who needs a rehab.

How does the Internet, then, achieve this dubious status of being heralded for generating the Internet Addiction Disorder? The term, coined as a hoax by Ivan Goldberg as a satirical comment on the easy ‘disorder-isation’ of practices by contemporary psychiatry, has unfortunately ended up becoming what it critiqued: pointless, devoid of meaning, and backed by questionable research and studies by groups with vested interests.

What is the Internet Addiction Disorder? The first set of answers that list physiological descriptions such as dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive stress injury shall be summarily dismissed because these are not specific to the Internet. They are associated with lifestyles, postures and lack of awareness among the users about their physical engagements with technology but cannot, in any way, be a part of the psychological disorder under scrutiny.

So, ask the question again. The answers we get are: gambling, watching pornography, inappropriate time spent on social networking and email, chronic dependence for information, shopping beyond limits, excessive gaming and recreation online and neglecting different parts of life, and work. The list continues, but leaves us slightly baffled.

Surely critiques must know people used to gamble—we have made a nation of TV audience watching people gamble their lives, dignity and relationships on the camera—way before the Internet. Are they naive enough to think pornography and adult sex industries were lying low before the Internet came into play? In the increasingly urbanized spaces that we occupy, the need for social networking is inversely proportional to the reduced mobility, time and spaces of social interaction. In such cases, social networking is a tool that fulfils the human need to know we are not alone.

Anybody who is making claims about the Internet leading to excessive shopping is confessing they haven’t been around since plastic money was invented. And if somebody is avoiding responsibilities, it is a problem that will persist with or without the Internet.

The Internet is only a gateway to these and other interesting (and sometimes disturbing) cultural products, trends and fashions. We have never called for banning print as a technology because people use it to publish sexual material. The TV is going strong with celebrities gambling their lives and choosing spouses in front of an audience. Digital cinema and portable media devices have ensured that movies can be seen almost anywhere.

The fact is we depend on technologies of the time. These technologies, like the Internet, offer us possibilities and potentials for expression, cultural production and dissemination, information and communication, and each technology has its own inherent potential for abuse. The anxiety about technology is not new. Carolyn Marvin’s fascinating account, When Old Technologies Were New, shows how the telephone was supposed to make our children more furtive, our women more gossipy, our men more promiscuous and our society more detached and less civil.

The editor of a Philadelphia newspaper in 1894 had cautioned his readers “not to converse by phone with ill persons for fear of contracting contagious diseases.” Ridiculous as it sounds to us who have grown up with universal telephone technology, these concerns were grave and important to the people in those early days of telephones. Fifty years from now, generations are going to look at the contemporary paranoia around Internet addiction in a similar way and wonder what the fuss was all about.

Link to the article in Down to Earth

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/internet-sceptic-go-get-a-life