Centre for Internet and Society

Anonymous India’s Takedowns Could Be Counterproductive

praskrishna — 2012-06-18T06:05:13Z

Nikhil Pahwa's blog post was published in Medianama on June 6, 2012.

As I write this, Anonymous India has apparently taken down MTNL’s website, citing the ISPs decision to block sites, without apparently being quite aware why it is doing that. Last night, the collective claimed to have taken down the website of the ISPAI, India’s ISP Association. Last Saturday, there were discussions on the groups IRC to take down the website for the Ministry of Company Affairs. So far, it has taken down websites for the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited, All Indian Trinamool Congress (AITMC), as well as several websites related to the Mizoram government, apart from accessing and publishing server logs from Reliance Communications.

Anonymous India’s activities do help: they increase awareness of India’s war on the Internet, both by the government through legislation and censorship, and by movie producers and copyright owners through takedown notices and John Doe orders. There still remain citizens online who aren’t aware of why they aren’t able to access legitimate content – last night, someone from the books publishing industry asked me why she wasn’t able to access the video in this post on ‘Designing for the Future Book‘ on her Airtel connection. The video is hosted on Vimeo, which remains blocked in India. Now she knows why.

Anonymous India has also shed light on what all is being blocked by sharing what are allegedly Reliance Communications’ logs on blocks. These logs suggest that ISPs were going beyond the mandate given to them by the courts and the government. It’s also clear that ISPs aren’t protecting the rights of their customers, and are implementing blocks either in a ham-handed manner, or in a manner that suits them or their related companies. They are as much to blame as those getting the orders issued, and so there is undoubtedly some schadenfreude in seeing both government and ISP websites taken down by Anonymous India.

Still, you have to wonder about how the powers that be will react to this situation: no government will show that it is bucking under what it perceives to be cyber terrorism: it’s not just an ego thing; there is also a legitimate fear that if the government is seen as buckling under such attacks, it would lead to cyber attacks whenever there is something that warrants a protest. The attacks by Anonymous could be counterproductive for two other reasons: firstly, because the natural reaction to any kind of attack is to increase spending and changes in laws. While India is already spending on surveillance and identification, cyberattacks will justify these spends, make the case for more, and lead to more changes in government policy.

The second reason is that these attacks could lead to the undoing of a lot of work done by activists for Internet freedom. The Software Freedom Law Center, Centre For Internet and Society, Avaaz, Change.org, The Internet Democracy Project, and many many others have spent many months reaching out to and educating parliamentarians and the lawmakers of the country on issues related to the draconian IT Rules. The IT Rules have resulted in websites and ISPs censoring content online when they have been send unfair and flawed takedown notices, and they need to be changed. The cyberattacks could once again be used by the Home Ministry and those at CERT-IN to justify continuing with such draconian rules, and especially since many MP’s are not aware of the nuances of the potential for misuse; some MPs (I’ve observed) appear to be choosing to be on the fence on this, either on account of lack of interest or lack of depth of understanding.

Activities that bring more information on the blocks to light help strengthen the case for more specificity in court orders by highlighting misuse by copyright owners and ISPs, and also for modification in the IT Rules. Taking down sites weakens it.

Click to read the original here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/anonymous-indias-takedowns-could-be-counterproductive

Annual Report 2017-2018

praskrishna — 2019-01-29T01:57:43Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/reports/annual-report-2017-2018.pdf

Annual Report 2016-2017

Admin — 2017-09-20T01:43:30Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/annual-report-2016-2017

Annual Report 2015-2016

Admin — 2017-09-20T01:35:54Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/annual-report-2015-2016

Annual Report 2014-15

praskrishna — 2016-12-11T07:29:05Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/reports/annual-report-2014-15.pdf

Annual Report (2012-13)

praskrishna — 2014-10-22T00:04:39Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/annual-report-2012-13.pdf

Annual Report (2011-12)

praskrishna — 2014-10-22T00:15:01Z

Draft Annual Report of 2011-12 from the Centre for Internet and Society

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/reports/annual-report-2011-2012.pdf

Annual Report (2009-10)

praskrishna — 2012-06-20T11:54:08Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/annual-report-2009.pdf

Annual Programmatic Report 2018-2019

pranav — 2020-11-10T10:56:33Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/reports/annual-programmatic-report-2018-2019

Announcing Selected Researchers: Welfare, Gender, and Surveillance

sumandro — 2020-02-13T15:04:24Z

We published a Call for Researchers on January 10, 2020, to invite applications from researchers interested in writing a narrative essay that interrogates the modes of surveillance that people of LGBTHIAQ+ and gender non-conforming identities and sexual orientations are put under as they seek sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in India. We received 29 applications from over 10 locations in India in response to the call, and are truly overwhelmed by and grateful for this interest and support. We eventually selected applications by 3 researchers that we felt aligned best with the specific objectives of the project. Please find below brief profile notes of the selected researchers.

Call for Researchers: URL

Kaushal Bodwal

Kaushal is persuing his MPhil in Sociology at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He completed his Master's in Sociology at Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University after getting a BSc honors degree in Biomedical Sciences from Delhi University. He is one of the founding members of Hasratein: a queer collective, New Delhi. He has been an active spokesperson for Queer and Trans Rights in India and have been on a number of panel discussion on Trans Act 2019 in various campuses. He has also delivered a lecture series on Colonialism and Medicine in Ambedkar University, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi. His areas of interest are Sociology of medicine, gender and medicine, sexuality, religion and biomedical science, intersex studies.

Queerness as disease – a continuing narrative in 21st century India, Kafila, 27 August 2019

What it means to be queer under a regime bent on remaking India on its own ideological terms, Firstpost, 17 January 2020

Rosamma Thomas

Rosamma has worked both as a reporter and as an editor of news reports with newspapers. She currently writes reports for NGOs while also undertaking freelance reporting assignments. She is based in Pune.

India's mining state steps up fight to rein in killer silicosis, The Times of India, 29 June 2016

Doctor may have found early marker for silicosis, but who will fund him?, Newsclick, 18 July 2019

Asbestos poisoning: Raghunath Manwar’s fight for safer work conditions, Newsclick, 9 January 2020

Shreya Ila Anasuya

Shreya is a writer, editor, journalist and performance artist currently based in Calcutta. Her fiction explores the places where myth, memory, history and the performing arts meet. As a journalist, her work explores gender, sexuality, politics, culture and history. She has been published in The Wire, Caravan, Scroll, Mint Lounge, Deep Dives, GenderIT, Helter Skelter, and many more. She is the editor of the digital publication Skin Stories, housed at the non-profit Point of View. She is the writer and narrator of ‘Gul - a story in text, song and dance’ which has been performed in several cities in India. She was a Felix Scholar at SOAS, University of London, from where she has an MA in Anthropology. For a full portfolio, please click here or visit her website.

This project is led by Ambika Tandon, Aayush Rathi, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay at the Centre for Internet and Society, and is supported by a grant from Privacy International.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/announcing-selected-researchers-welfare-gender-and-surveillance

Annotated version of Comments to The Personal Data Protection Bill 2019

akash — 2020-02-12T11:18:33Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/annotated-version-of-comments-to-the-personal-data-protection-bill-2019

Annotated ver PDP Bill 2019

pallavi — 2020-02-21T10:08:41Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/annotated-ver-pdp-bill-2019

Analysis of CLOUD Act and Implications for India

elonnai — 2018-08-22T14:53:50Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/analysis-of-cloud-act-and-implications-for-india

Analysing the Right to Privacy and Dignity with Respect to the UID

Deva Prasad — 2012-03-21T09:54:35Z

In the below note, Deva Prasad, LLM Candidate at NLSIU, explores the challenges that the UID project faces from a legal perspective.

Introduction

The Unique Identity (hereinafter UID) project has been depicted to be a new face of development that technology could bring about. The UID project has also been sold to masses in India as a solution for accessibility to the service delivery, and as a tool for the eradication of ill-governance[1]. Though the UID tries to build up recognition and legitimacy on the basis of transparency, and delivery of good governance there are also issues of larger importance that have gone unnoticed by many. These include issues of the privacy and dignity of an individual being affected by the proposed UID scheme. An alarming fact is that little concern has been raised by opposition parties regarding the constitutionality and human rights implications that the UID scheme could cause. It is natural to have apprehensions and doubts about the effectiveness of implementation of the UID project, as this scheme is traversing through uncharted waters. Thus, it is important to analyze the socio-political implications in the context of the present political economy in India.

The UID scheme could be viewed as an intended shift in relationship between the state, the market, and the citizen in the new age of globalization and technological advancement[2]. It is very important to note that by merely providing a UID number to an individual, there is no guarantee of developmental accessibility, or rights and benefits that would be accrued to the poor and marginalized communities in India. The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, which has been mooted for the purpose of providing legal status to the UID project, has raised many concerns including, privacy issues, and mechanisms for effective service delivery. More over civil society has pointed out that the legislative and administrative mechanisms created by the UID authority have not been created through a consultative - democratic process.

This paper will look at the challenges that the UID project faces from a legal perspective. Specifically the paper will focus on how the project will affect the privacy and dignity of individuals impacted by the project.

Problems and Issues Posed by the UID Project

UID is a product of what started as an idea of biometric identity cards for the border states in India in the wake of the increased terrorist activity. In a report, the consulting agency that was meant to determine the feasibility of the biometric card for border communities suggested that the identity cards could be implemented to the entire country[3]. Now the government is trying to implement the new UID scheme by masking it as a developmental agenda. Deeper questions of surveillance by the state, invasion of privacy at all levels, and the very fact of human beings being depicted to be mere numbers in the eyes of state leading to violation of dignity arise as a result of the UID project.

Issue of Surveillance by State

An important aspect of the project that needs to be understood is that as of now, the various data that is collected is stored across multiple sources, and data required for a particular purpose is being taken from individuals at one time. This leads to the creation of informational silos [4]. For example, the data required for booking a rail ticket shall be different from that of opening a bank account. But now with UID, which aims to be used as a multipurpose identification system, all the data pertaining to an individual could be accessed at one time. This could lead to a situation where an individuals’ autonomy, which is a well enshrined concept in human rights philosophy by the great philosophers such as Emanuel Kant [5], could be severely compromised. In other words, every decision made by a human in India could be under state surveillance. This could potentially lead to the denial of, and access to, many important social opportunities and other facilities for a particular section of people, who could be discriminated against by the state, using the information gathered from the UID. This has been referred to as “functional creep”, which constitutes the expansion of the ambit of usage of a particular system from its initial limit [6].

UID in the post-9/11 scenario of ‘state paranoidism’, could lead to unwanted monitoring and surveillance by the state. One of the objectives claimed by the UID is that of assisting the state in national security. But as mentioned above, the functional creep aspect may lead to the state monitoring at a level where an individual’s decision making is negatively affected. The UID scheme could also lead to providing the State and intelligence agencies information to legitimate surveillance, but in doing so would infringe on individuals privacy [7]. It is evident that the UID scheme could lead to providing more power to the hands of the state, impact the lives of the citizen, and also may lead to the implementation of hidden agenda's [8]. We should not forget the fact that in the Rwandan genocide it was by using identity cards that the demarcation of the Tutsis and Hutus could be done.

Issue of Breach of Privacy

Almost every country that tried to implement national identity cards based on integrated systems had public resistance, because of concerns over privacy. There are many dimensions to privacy, including the privacy of a person, privacy of communications, territorial privacy and privacy of personal data [10]. Privacy of the person concerns the privacy of body, and its integrity and freedom of not being infringed upon. Privacy of communications deals with the freedom to have communications by any means without being infringed upon by surveillance, telephone tapping etc. Territorial privacy addresses freedom from encroachment into domestic and official spaces by the way of surveillance. Identity and informational privacy or data privacy deals with the protection of information, especially sensitive information.

It is important to note that the main privacy concerns brought by the UID project are: territorial and data privacy. In India, the concept of privacy in the social sphere is not as prevalent as it is in Europe or the United States. A great observation made by Justice Brandeis and Samuel Warren in their article in Harvard Law review clearly shows the importance of limiting the impact and encroachment of technologies into the private sphere. Justice Brandeis observed that: “The intensity and complexity of life, attendant upon advancing civilization, have rendered necessary some retreat from the world, and man, under the refining influence of culture, has become more sensitive to publicity, so that solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual; but modern enterprise and invention have, through invasions upon his privacy, subjected him to mental pain and distress, far greater than could be inflicted by mere bodily injury [11].”

The UID leads to a situation of access to all the sensitive information of the people enrolled in the UID. This information could be misused by authorities. The risk that the UID poses to an individual’s privacy is enormous as information that is now scattered in the public domain will be brought into one point of convergence through the UID. Further, there are issues of privacy infringement due to the use of biometric information in the project. The collection of, and identification based on biometric information could be understood as a breach of one’s territorial privacy and one’s data privacy [12].

As persons are being identified on the basis of sensitive biometric information, the risk of being profiled, targeted and marginalized by the state on the basis of this sensitive information is very high. Hence, there is a requirement for the protection of data privacy and territorial privacy. The claims that the UID number will provide efficient access to developmental projects and facilities, should be viewed with suspicion, because when sensitive information of this nature is placed in the control of the state, it gives enormous power to the state.

Issue of Dignity

The greatest aspect of human rights could be identified as the acknowledgment of dignity of human beings. The UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights both emphasize this point. Dignity signifies the innate rights of human beings to be treated with respect and ethical conduct [13]. Dignity is an extension of the thought, and the recognition that all individuals have inherent inviolable rights [14]. Freedom is also an aspect that has underpinnings in the concept of dignity.

In the UID project, the risk of surveillance, and breach of privacy clearly violates human dignity, as it curtails the freedom of choice that human beings are able to make, by placing individuals continuously under the threat of intrusive surveillance by the state, and the public domain. The factor of the UID scheme that truly robs human beings of their dignity is the treatment of human beings as mere numbers. In the case that an individual’s UID number is manipulated, used by someone else fraudulently, lost, or a technical problem occurs - the individual will be a non-existent entity before the state, having no value, as all the benefits and rights could be claimed only through the UID.

Actually, in the claim of public interest the UID scheme may cause more harm than good to the rights of the citizens, which are enshrined in the Constitution of India, 1950. Furthermore, the developmental claims by the UID of security and administrative efficiency cannot be a valid justification for infringement on the right of life under the Article 21 and the right to freedom of expression and movement as provided in the Article 19 of the Constitution of India, 1950. Identifying the right to privacy and dignity, and its scope under the Constitution of India, 1950 is very important for the purpose of gauging the impact that the UID scheme will cause upon these rights.

Right to Privacy and the Constitution of India

There is no direct provision providing for the right to privacy in the constitution of India. Hence the right to privacy needs to be understood on the basis of the decisional jurisprudence developed by the constitutional courts in India. Furthermore, the reason which the right to privacy is a non-defined right has its basis in the social context of India [15]. The development of the right to privacy in India could be traced from the case of M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra [16], in which case the Supreme Court held that the Indian constitution does not conceive the right to privacy while determining the contours of search and surveillance by the police. This narrow interpretation of the constitution reflects the view point of the judiciary of that particular time period [17].

In the case of Kharak Singh v. State of Punjab [18], the Supreme Court observed that: “The right of privacy is not guaranteed under our Constitution and therefore the attempt to ascertain the movements of an individual, which is merely a manner in which privacy is invaded is not an infringement of fundamental right guaranteed by Part III”[19]. This again reflects a restrictive interpretation of the constitution. But, in the case of Govind v. State of M.P [20], the Supreme Court took a viewpoint which represents a paradigm shift in perspective from their earlier rulings. In this case the Supreme Court observed that: “There can be no doubt that the makers of our Constitution wanted to ensure conditions favourable to the pursuit of happiness”. They certainly realized, as Brandeis, J. said in his dissent in Olmstead v. US, the significance of man’s Spiritual nature, of his feelings and his intellect. They sought to protect the individual in their beliefs, thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. To do this they must be deemed to have conferred upon the individual a sphere where he should be left alone, free from governmental access”[21].

The Govan case turned out to be a landmark case with the Supreme Court reiterating the right to privacy in subsequent cases. In the R. Rajagopal v. State of T.N [22], Supreme Court speaking through Jeevan Reddy, J. observed that: “The right to privacy is implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to the citizens of this country by Article 21. It is a “right to be let alone”. A citizen has a right to safeguard the privacy of his life, family, marriage, procreation, motherhood, child-bearing and education among other matters. None can publish anything concerning the above matters without his consent, whether truthful or otherwise and whether laudatory or critical. If he does so, he would be violating the right to privacy of the person concerned and would be liable in an action for damages [23].”

In P.U.C.L. v. Union of India [24] , the Supreme Court of India, while laying down the standards for telephone wiretapping had observed that the right to privacy is an integral part of the fundamental right to life enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution and this right shall be available only against the state. Further in the case of Mr. ‘X’ v. Hospital ‘Z’ [25] also Supreme Court acknowledged the right to privacy, but held that it is not an absolute right.

The cases mentioned above clearly establish that the right to privacy is very much a part of the fundamental rights under the Constitution of India. Furthermore, one must not forget that the right to be left alone, and to be free in one’s private space is an important right, which the Supreme Court has accepted in the case of Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT and Others [26]. Right to privacy cannot be claimed to be a negative right restraining the power of the state, but it should be viewed to be a positive duty casted on the state to crated institutions that would help in protecting the private space and life of the individual [27].

Dignity and the Constitution of India

The dignity of an individual finds special mention in the preamble of the Constitution of India. Furthermore in Part III of the Constitution of India, 1950, the provision of fundamental rights protects the dignity of the individuals at large. The constitutional courts have also have emphasized dignity as a fundamental right in many cases, and have developed the decisional jurisprudence regarding dignity. In the recent case of Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT and Others

[28] the Delhi High Court observed that: “At its least, it is clear that the constitutional protection of dignity requires us to acknowledge the value and worth of all individuals as members of our society. It recognizes a person as a free being who develops his or her body and mind as he or she sees fit. At the root of the dignity is the autonomy of the private will, and a person's freedom of choice and of action. Human dignity rests on recognition of the physical and spiritual integrity of the human being, his or her humanity, and his value as a person, irrespective of the utility he can provide to others [29].”

Further, in the case of Prem Shankar Shukla v. Delhi Admn [30]the Supreme Court observed that human dignity forms part of our constitutional culture, and in Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi and Ors.

[31] the Supreme Court through Bhagwati, J. observed that: “...We think that the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with fellow human beings. Every act which offends against or impairs human dignity would constitute deprivation pro tanto of his right to live and it would have to be in accordance with reasonable, fair and just procedure established by law which stands the test of other fundamental rights [32].” Hence one could observe from the above cases that the Supreme Court accepted that human dignity implies expressing oneself in diverse forms and acknowledges the value and worth of all the individuals in the society.

In the following part, the UID project is contextualized with the Right to privacy and dignity as provided for in the Indian Constitution. Ways to tackle the various issues brought about by the UID project are discussed.

Tackling the Issues Arising Out of the UID

In the above two chapters, issues concerning the UID, the right to privacy, and dignity, upon which the UID scheme has heavy implications for, are discussed. Now it is important that we look at aspects of how the right to privacy under the Constitution of India and the UID could be reconciled, and ways to approach the issues arising out of The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010.

Contextualizing UID with Right to Privacy in Indian Constitution

Regarding the right to privacy in India, the decisional jurisprudence has clearly acknowledged the fact that it forms part of Article 21. In this context privacy can be understood as the right to be left alone, as envisaged by the Justice Louis Brandeis [33]. Being a right, that is acknowledged to be part of Article 21; violation of this right by the proposed UID scheme would seem to be unconstitutional.

When considering this, one aspect that needs to be kept in mind is that the cases that have come before the Supreme Court have thus far been related to the privacy of a person and privacy of communications. There have been no affirmative rulings of the right to privacy in any cases regarding personal data and territorial privacy. Also legislations such as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2002, Information Technology Act of 2000 and the Telegraph Act of 1885 have limited restriction on privacy [34].

Looking at the different dimensions of privacy, and the contextual need for protection of privacy in India, clearly there is need for specific affirmative rights to be established in the constitution regarding privacy, rather than deriving the right to privacy from the Article 21 or Article 19. The affirmative right of privacy would help to bring in its ambit the aspects of territorial privacy and personal data privacy. If privacy was an established right, it would lead to a clearer definition of what is the right to privacy in the Indian context. Such clarity is important as projects such as the UID are increasing the need for individuals to have the right to privacy. Also, there is a need for a comprehensive privacy legislation, which would ensure the protection of personal and sensitive data, and which may also establish a regulatory body. Perhaps such a privacy legislation could be structured along similar lines as the data protection commissioner’s office, which exist in Canada, Ireland [35], and other developed informational economies.

The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 and Privacy Concerns

Further it is also important to highlight the fact that The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 [36], completely ignores the issue of privacy. Within the Bill there exist no provisions that would help in the protection of an individual’s personal privacy. Further, there is a great amount of brouhaha around Clause 33 of the proposed Bill. Clause 33 states that the disclosure of information for national security, which runs the risk of surveillance, tracking, profiling and social, shall be controlled by the state and its agents [37].

The Bill does not make the UID a mandatory requirement - as per the Clause 3 - it is the option of the individual to choose if he/she wants the UID. Hence the Authority claims that there is no breach of privacy as the people have consented, and have voluntarily provided their information. But there are two aspects that must be considered. One is that even though there is no explicit compulsion for a person to obtain a UID number, there may be indirect compulsion, due to exclusion and inaccessibility to services and facilities for those who do not have a UID number. Thus, in this sense the UID number will become mandatory. The second point to consider is that even though the information is given voluntarily, the right to privacy over sensitive personal information does not exist. To avoid situations where an individual’s privacy is violated by the UID scheme, there needs to be both a specific provision that states clearly that no particular services or facilities shall be denied to citizen on basis of lack of UID, and a provision protecting the privacy of collected information.

Contextualizing UID and Right to Dignity under Indian Constitution

From the discussion above, it is evident that the dignity of an individual in the context of UID would come into question. Furthermore, the dignity of human life is questioned by the UID project, because of the infringement of private space of an individual by the state, and the constant surveillance that the UID could bring about. Furthermore, the choices made by human beings will be seriously influenced by the changing power equation between the state and the individual.

It is also being claimed that a UID number will provide the poor of this country with a real identity. It will also provide the poor access to developmental programs and effective governance. But there is a point that is missed here. The UID cannot by itself provide any identity, rights or facilities to the poor [38]. In reality these entitlements can only be provided by the law, by policy measures, and by treating the constitution and law to be tools of social engineering.

Thus, to protect the dignity of individuals it is important to protect the privacy of individuals. This includes taking measure that would help in limiting the extent of surveillance by the state, and pro-actively protecting the worth of human beings by not solely linking all the facilities and services of the government to the UID. Hence, The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, should include the provisions that would help in protecting the above points. Furthermore, as mentioned above, a specific provision addressing the privacy of individuals should be included in the Constitution of India, a privacy legislation addressing the protection of personal information, and a privacy regulator should be formed.

Conclusion

The above discussion on the right to privacy and dignity with respect to UID clearly shows that the UID, if brought into practice, would discount the right to privacy and dignity guaranteed under the Constitution of India, 1950, and would cause serious implications upon the freedom and choices of the Indian citizen. The UID could also lead to a situation of increased state surveillance, causing an invasion of the right to privacy, and in turn affecting the dignity of individuals. The argument that the UID is voluntary, and hence there is no infringement of privacy has been proved wrong in the above discussion. Also, it has been proven that depicting UID as a tool for development is nothing more than a myth. The important measures that need to be taken in tackling the issues raised by UID could be summed up as follows:

In view of the increased protection required specifically for territorial privacy and data privacy, there should be a provision added to the Constitution of India that deals with multiple dimensions of privacy- such as personal, territorial, communication and data/information. Such a provision would bring clarity as to the extent of the right to privacy.
There is need for a comprehensive privacy legislation which would ensure the protection of personal and sensitive data of people. There is also the need for an established regulatory body. This could be structured along similar lines as that of the data protection commissioner offices, which exist in Canada, Ireland, and other developed informational economies.

As regards to The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 - there is a need for a specific provision that states clearly that no particular services or facilities shall be denied to citizen on basis of lack of a UID number. Also, there is the need for a provision that protects the privacy of the already collected information. Clause 33 of the Bill, which allows for the disclosure of information for national security, needs to be restricted and events of national security need to be clearly defined.

Bibiolography

Usha Ramanthan, A Unique Identity Bill, Economic and Political Weekly, 10-14 (2010).
Ravi Shukla, Reimagining Citizenship: Debating India’s Unique Identification Scheme, Economic and Political Weekly, 31-36 (2010).
Sheetal Asrani-Dann, The Right to Privacy in the Era of Smart Governance: Concerns Raised By the Introduction of Biometric-Enabled National ID Cards in India, 47 The Journal of India Law Institute, 53-95 (2005).
Supra n.1
Immanuel Kant (Translated by Herbert James Paton) The moral law: groundwork of the metaphysic of morals, 42 (2005).
Supra n.3
Shuddharbrata Sengupta, Every Day Surveillance in Sarai Reader 2002: The Cities of Everyday Life, 297-301 (2002).
Supra n.3
Information Resource on Identity Cards, Available at http://www.justice.org.uk/images/pdfs/idcardcc.pdf (Last Accessed on 19.12.2010)
Privacy and Human Rights 2006, Privacy International, Available at http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-559458 (Last Accessed on 19.12.2010)
Samuel Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, The Right To Privacy, 4 Harvard Law Review 193 (1890)
Supra n.3 and also see Supra n.9
Oscar Schachter, Human Dignity as a Normative Concept, 77 The American Journal of International Law, 848-854 (1983)
Ibid
Kunwar Aditya Singh, Right To Privacy Under Indian Constitution And Privacy Protection In India, Available http://www.allindiareporter.in/articles/index.php?article=968#sdfootnote27sym (Last accessed on 19.12.2010)
AIR 1954 SC 300.
Supra n.15
AIR 1963 SC 1295.
AIR 1963 SC 1295,1303
AIR 1975 SC 1378.
AIR 1975 SC 1378, 1384
1994 SCC (6) 632
1994 SCC (6) 632,650
(1997)1 SCC 30
(1998) 8 SCC 296
MANU/DE/0869/2009
Lawrence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law, 1305 (1988).
Supra n.26
Ibid
(1980) 3 SCR 855
(1981)2 SCR 516
Ibid
Supra n.1
Supra n.3
For more details see Data Protection Commissioner Ireland , http://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Home/4.htm, Privacy Commissioner Canada, Av at http://www.privcom.gc.ca/
The draft bill available at http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media//NIA%20Draft%20Bill.pdf (Last Accessed on 19.12.2010)
Supra n.1
Ruchi Gupta, Justifying the UIDAI: A Case of PR over Substance, Economic and Political Weekly, 135-136 (2010).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-uiddevaprasad

An Overview of Accessibility Work (2008 - 2016)

nirmita — 2016-09-24T16:09:53Z

India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and accessibility policies. CIS campaigns for change in this area.

The progress made over the years can be accessed below:

Publications

E-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Nirmita Narasimhan, G3ict and ITU; November 23, 2010): The handbook was compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Nirmita also contributed to the original toolkit.
Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities (CIS, G3ict and Hans Foundation; December 27, 2011). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.
Web Accessibility Policy Making (CIS, G3ict and Hans Foundation; February 28, 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a contributor.
Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities (ITU and G3ict; August 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.
Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report (CIS and Hans Foundation; September 26, 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.
Opening New Avenues for Empowerment (UNESCO; February 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan was the project coordinator from Asia Pacific.
Inclusive Financial Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities: Global Trends in Accessibility Requirements (G3ict and CIS; February 2015). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.
National Compendium of Laws, Policies and Programmes for Persons with Disabilities (CIS and Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India; January 3, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan was one of the contributors.

Reports

NIVH Annual Report 2011-12 (NIVH; 2012)
Inclusive Disaster and Emergency Management for Persons with Disabilities (Nirmita Narasimhan and Deepti Samant Raja; September 17, 2013). The report was submitted to the National Disaster Management Authority of India for their action.
Banking and Accessibility in India: A Report (Nirmita Narasimhan; August 12, 2013)
Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India (Nirmita Narasimhan; March 24, 2014).
Enabling Elections (Nirmita Narasimhan and Centre for Law and Policy Research; March 2014).

Policy Submissions and Feedback

CIS worked with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology and civil society and industry partners such as the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Microsoft Corporation, National informatics Centre (NIC), etc., to formulate and implement a National Electronic Accessibility Policy to ensure that all Indian information and communication technologies and electronic infrastructure (including the Internet) and research which is publically funded, is accessible to persons with disabilities. Nirmita Narasimhan was part of the policy drafting committee.
Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011: CIS made a submission to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India on December 9, 2011. CIS was one of the 27 organisations that sent a joint letter requesting that accessibility for persons with disabilities be included specifically within the goals and objectives of the policy.
Pilot Project Scheme - Access to ICTs and ICT Enabled Services for Persons with Disabilities in Rural India: CIS worked with USOF of India to design a scheme to launch projects for persons with disabilities. CIS prepared a background paper for the USOF, compiled a comprehensive global report which was later published in cooperation with G3ict and helped to convene a stakeholders meeting in September 2011 to launch the scheme and invite project applications.
Comments to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 (Nirmita Narasimhan and Anandhi Viswanathan; October 30, 2014). The comments were submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in October 2014.
CIS joined hands with Daisy Forum of India member Arushi in Bhopal to submit a request for a notification mandating that all communication by the Government of Madhya Pradesh should be accessible to persons with disabilities. The state government issued a notification in Hindi requesting all departments to comply with WCAG 2.0 and use Unicode font. Nirmita Narasimhan drafted this submission.
Accessible ICT Procurement: CIS along with 20 other organisations petitioned the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information Technology, Govt. of India to bring in accessibility considerations within the draft Procurement Bill.
Comments to the GIGW (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015): CIS submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards of the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites.
Recommendations on Accessible ICT Procurement (Pranesh Prakash; May 9, 2016). CIS along with 20 other organisations petitioned the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information Technology to bring in accessibility considerations within the draft Procurement Bill.

WIPO

CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO and regularly participates in the meetings of the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) held in Geneva. CIS is actively involved in matters being discussed there such as the TVI. As part of its work, CIS provides comments at the SCCR and advises the Indian government on these matters through policy briefs, research and interactive discussions and meetings. CIS has given several statements on Treaty for the Visually Impaired and prepared an analysis of the consensus document on an international instrument on limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities with the Third World Network which was widely circulated amongst the negotiators at the SCCR. CIS’ statements at the SCCR in June 2013, July 2012, December 2011, June 2011, and November 2010 are available on the CIS website.

CIS took part in the WIPO Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities in Marrakesh, Morocco, June 17 to 28, 2013. The conference concluded with the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled. CIS's Closing Statement at Marrakesh on the Treaty for the Blind can be seen here.

At the national level CIS has been campaigning for right to read, attending meetings with ministries such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and giving feedback on the Copyright Amendment Bills. Earlier this year, CIS gave a detailed analysis of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012 examining the positive changes and the negative ones.

Events

National Workshop on Web Accessibility (Organized by CIS and Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment; September 25-26, 2009).
National Conference on ICTs for Differently Abled / Under privileged Communities in Education, Employment & Entrepreneurship — NCIDEEE 2009 (Loyola College, Chennai, December 1 – 3, 2009): The event was co-organised by Dr. A. Albert Muthumalai S. J, Principal, Loyola College, & Prof. J. Jerald Inico, Faculty In-charge, Resource Centre for the Differently Abled (RCDA), Loyola College, in association with NASSCOM, Computer Society of India and CIS.
CIS organized Right to Read campaigns in the 4 metro cities of Chennai Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. The campaign has gathered thousands of supporters and has succeeded in bringing the problems of the print disabled to the notice of policy makers and the general public.
EdICT 2010 (New Delhi, October 27 to 30, 2010): CIS in collaboration with G3ict, UNESCO, ITU, WIPO, The Deafway Foundation, DEF and SPACE and with the support from Hans Foundation and the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology organised this event. Twenty-nine experts made presentations on a variety of topics, ranging from discussing challenges and solutions in educational institutions, to technology development and policy formulation and implementation. A total of 77 participants attended this event.
Websites Accessibility Evaluation Methodologies at Twentieth International World Wide Web Conference (Hyderabad, March 30 – 31, 2011): CIS co-organised this with G3ict and W3C. The panel discussed web accessibility evaluation methodologies and their challenges and technical survey methodologies alternatives. The panel was moderated by Nirmita Narasimhan and featured four speakers — Shadi Abou Zahra, Neeta Verma, Srinivasu Chakravartula and Glenda Sims.
ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 – 15, 2012): In cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, CIS hosted a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility from March 14 to 15, 2012 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, India.
Girls in ICT Day (Organized by CIS and Mithra Jyothi; Bangalore; April 25, 2013).

Internet Governance Forum
CIS has been organising workshops and participating regularly at IGF events since 2008 on topics like accessibility, access to knowledge, openness, internet governance, freedom of expression, etc. Details given below: IGF 2008, Hyderabad, India: CIS joined the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards and also contributed to the authoring of the Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards. CIS is now a part of the DCOS secretariat. IGF 2009, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Nirmita Narasimhan presented on Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective at the Global Internet Access for Persons with Disabilities workshop organised by ITU and EBU on November 16. CIS also co-organised the workshop on ‘Content Regulation, Surveillance and Sexuality Rights – Privacy, Agency and Security’, together with the Association for Progressive Communications, Women’s Networking Support Programme and the Alternative Law Forum. IGF2010, Vilnius, Lithuania: At the UNESCO Open Forum, Anja Kovacs presented the research study ‘Exploring ICT-enabled Education Initiatives for Persons with Disabilities in the Asia-Pacific Region’. The study was undertaken by CIS in cooperation with G3ICT and UNESCO. Besides this, CIS co-organised these workshops: Freedom of Expression or Access to Knowledge: Are We Taking the Necessary Steps towards an Open and inclusive Internet? with the Center for Technology and Society, Brazil, ‘Sexual Rights, Openness and Regulatory Systems’, with the Association for Progressive Communications and the Alternative Law Forum, Open Standards: Ensuring Accessibility and Inclusiveness with the World Wide Web Consortium and the workshop on Data in the Cloud: Where Do Open Standards Fit In? IGF 2011, Nairobi, Kenya: Use of Digital Technologies for Civic Engagement and Political Change: Lessons Learned and Way Forward and Open Spectrum for Development in the Context of the Digital Migration. These workshops were organized by CIS.

Awards

Nirmita Narasimhan was awarded the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India on December 3, 2010 on the occasion of the World Disability Day. The award was presented by Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of India under the Role Model category. The award function took place at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi and was telecast live on Doordarshan.
Nirmita Narasimhan received the NIVH Excellence Award from Justice AS Anand (retd), former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped in Dehradun on December 3, 2011. The Tribune covered the award ceremony.
Girls in ICT Day 2013 (organized by ITU-APT Foundation of India with support from CMAI - Association of India Communication and Infrastructure, FICCI Auditorium, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, May 7, 2013). Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan got a felicitation for her contribution and achievements in the field of Information and Communication Technology. The honour was conferred during the celebration of this event.
Nirmita Narasimhan won the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award in the "Persons with Disabilities" category. The awards aim to raise awareness about accessibility.

Articles and Interviews

Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education: Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article in Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace - Role of ICT and Assistive Technologies. The IIMB Journal was brought out on the occasion of the conference ‘never-the-less’.
The Business Case for Web Accessibility: NASSCOM Foundation published "Understanding Web Accessibility — A Guide to create Accessible Work Environments". In this handbook on web accessibility, Nirmita Narasimhan authored a chapter titled “The Business Case for Web Accessibility”.
Barriers to Access in a Connected World: Hans Foundation published its Annual Review of 2011. Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article in it. She wrote that accessibility is an imperative to achieve a truly inclusive and participatory society and every individual, corporation, organization and government has a crucial role to play in nurturing it.
Girls in ICT Portal (November 28, 2011): ITU interviewed Nirmita and published her profile on their website.
An India Where the Disabled have a Choice (Dataquest, August 5, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan spoke to Dr. Archana Verma about the problems faced by the disabled while using technology.
We Tested 18 Government Apps, and Most are not Fully Accessible to the Disabled (Nirmita Narasimhan; Factor Daily, August 31, 2016).
Mobile Apps Are Excluding Millions Of Indians Who Want To Use Them (Nirmita Narasimhan; Huffington Post; September 22, 2016).

Media Coverage

Nirmita Narasimhan gave inputs to the following media coverage:

DFI and Cambridge University Press join hands for getting print access to the “print impaired” (The Bookseller; November 27, 2009).
WIPO Proposals Would Open Cross-Border Access To Materials For Print Disabled (IP Watch; May 28, 2010).
Disability groups in India welcome progress on treaty for blind persons (The Times of India; December 20, 2012).
Indian Users’ Perspective On WIPO Negotiations On Treaty For Visually Impaired (IP Watch; February 16, 2013).
How tech brings self-reliance to students with disabilities (The Times of India; May 29, 2016).
How India’s top firms fare in employing women and persons with disabilities (Livemit; August 9, 2016).
Using technology to address issues (The Hindu; August 14, 2016).
India has a long road ahead in becoming a disabled-friendly country (Your Story; August 31, 2016).

NVDA and eSpeak

Hans Foundation is funding CIS to do a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages over a period of two-and-a-half years. Following are the monthly programmatic reports indicating the progress made in the project:

Monthly Reports

2014

		March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December

2015

January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December

2016

January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August

Training Programmes

Following are the reports of the training programmes that were conducted across several locations in India:

15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Hindi (April 10; 2015).
15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Gujarati (April 16, 2015).

15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Oriya (April 30, 2015).
eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA (May 4 – 8, 2015).
Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Assamese (May 9 – 10, 2015).
Training in the Use of eSpeak for Indian Languages during TOT (May 11 – 20, 2015).
Tamil Language (May 25 – 29, 2015).
Training on the Use of eSpeak Hindi on Windows and Android Platforms (May 28, 2015).
Report on 30 Days Summer Course on Basic Computer Competencies and Language Proficiency (May 1 – 30, 2015).
Tamil Computing with NVDA Training Workshop (Organized by NVDA team: Anne Jane Ask with Higher Secondary School for the Visually Impaired, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli; June 3 – 7, 2015).
Report on eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA Training Workshop in Tirunelveli (Organized by NVDA team; Anne Jane Askwith Higher Secondary School for the Visually Impaired, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli; June 3 - 7, 2015).
Training in eSpeak Marathi (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind; Nashik; June 22 - 23, 2015).
Training in eSpeak Marathi (Organized by NVDA team; SIES College, Sion, Mumbai; June 28, 2015).
Training in eSpeak Marathi (Organized by CIS; Atmadepam Society; August 22 – 23, 2015).
Training in eSpeak Hindi (Organized by NVDA team; Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind; Varanasi; August 26 - 28, 2015).
eSpeak Training in Hindi Language (Organized by CIS and National Association for the Blind; Kullu; September 3 – 4, 2015).
Training in use of eSpeak Bengali with NVDA (Organized by CIS; Turnstone Matruchaya, Siligudi, West Bengal; September 7 – 9, 2015).
5 day TOT for Training in Use of eSpeak Kannada with NVDA (Organized by CIS, Mithra Jyoti, Enable India and NFB, Bangalore; September 21 – 25, 2015; Bangalore).
Training in the use of eSpeak Hindi with NVDA (Organized by CIS and Lakshay for the Differently Abled; September 29 – 30, 2015; Ranchi). The event was conducted online by Dr. Homiyar with local support from Mritunjay Kumar and Zainab.
Report on eSpeak with NVDA Screen Reader and Assistive Technology for Visually Challenged (Organized by National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, Centre for Differently Abled Persons, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, and CIS; January 21, 2016; Tiruchirappalli).
Report on NVDA with E-Speak and BookShare Online Library (Organized by Karna Vidya Technology Centre, Computer and Internet Society, and CIS; February 27, 2016; Chennai).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/cis-accessibility-work-overview