Centre for Internet and Society

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 18) – Lobsang Gyatso Sither

purba — 2014-07-31T05:34:34Z

CIS interviews Lobsang Gyatso Sither, Tibetan field coordinator and activist, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

“The digital arms trade and the digital arms race, that is going on right now is a huge problem, in terms of what is happening around the world. A lot of people talk about digital arms like it’s just digital technology; it’s just surveillance technology; it’s just censorship technology; it’s just technology; it doesn’t kill anyone, but the fact of the matter is that it does kill. It’s as bad as a gun; it’s as bad as a weapon. It's the same thing in my opinion and it has to be restricted; it has to be curtailed, it has to be controlled so that it doesn’t go to places where there are no human rights and where there are rampant human rights violations. People know what it is going to be used for and it is going to be used for human rights violations and that is something that has be kept in mind before the whole aspect of digital arms trade and it has to be treated as any other arms trade.”

Centre for Internet and Society presents its eighteenth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Lobsang Gyatso Sither is a Tibetan born in exile dedicated to increasing cybersecurity among Tibetans inside Tibet and in the diasporas. He has helped to develop community-specific technologies and educational content and deploys them via training and public awareness campaigns at the grassroots level. Lobsang works with key communicators and organizations in the Tibetan community, including Voice of Tibet Radio and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-18-2013-lobsang-gyatso-sither

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 14) – Menaka Guruswamy

purba — 2014-07-21T10:39:03Z

CIS interviews Menaka Guruswamy, lawyer at the Supreme Court of India, as part of the Cybersecurity Series.

"The courts have rarely used privacy to stop the Indian state from getting into someone's business. So jurisprudentially, it is a weak challenge when you mount a rights based or a privacy right challenge against surveillance by the state. Because the answer of the state to that has always been, and as has been Obama's answer in the United States, that there are national security concerns. And usually national security will trump individual privacy."

Centre for Internet and Society presents its fourteenth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

Menaka Guruswamy practices law at the Supreme Court of India. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and a Gammon Fellow at Harvard Law School, and a gold medalist from the National Law School of India. She has law degrees from all three schools, with a focus on Constitutional Law and Public International Law. Guruswamy has worked at the Office of the Attorney General of India, the highest office that represents the federal government of India in the Supreme Court of India.

http://youtu.be/GCDD6Z-UrGI

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-14-2013-menaka-guruswamy

CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 1) - Christopher Soghoian

purba — 2013-07-12T10:26:59Z

CIS interviews Christopher Soghoian, cybersecurity researcher and activist, as part of the Cybersecurity Series

"We live in a surveillance state. The government can find out who we communicate with, who we talk to, who we are near, when we are at a protest, which stores we go to, where we travel to... they can find out all of these things. And it's unlikely it's going to get rolled back, but the best we can hope for is a system of law where the government gets to use its powers only in the right situation." – Christopher Soghoian, American Civil Liberties Union.

Centre for Internet and Society presents its first installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.

The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.

In this installment, CIS interviews Christopher Soghoian, a privacy researcher and activist, working at the intersection of technology, law and policy. Christopher is the Principal Technologist and a Senior Policy Analyst with the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Christopher is based in Washington, D.C. His website is http://www.dubfire.net/

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-cybersecurity-series-part-1-christopher-soghoian

CIS Cybersecurity Film Screening

purba — 2014-03-20T09:34:38Z

The Centre for Internet and Society invites you to a screening of Episode 1&2 of DesiSec: the first documentary film on cybersecurity in India. Hope you can join us on 26th March, at CIS, Domlur!

Early 2013, the Centre for Internet and Society began shooting its first documentary film project. After months of researching and interviewing activists and experts, CIS released the first episode on 11th December.

CIS is hosting a special screening of DesiSec: Episode 1&2 on 26th March, 2013, 5.30 pm and invites you to this event. The first episode is centered around the issue of privacy and surveillance in cyber space and how it affects Indian society. The second episode is focused on anonymity and free speech online.

We look forward to seeing you there!

RSVP: purba@cis-india.org

Venue: http://osm.org/go/yy4fIjrQL?m=

This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/cis-cybersecurity-film-screening

CIS Comments Revised NPD report

aman — 2021-03-22T05:39:03Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-comments-revised-npd-report

CIS Comments PDP Bill 2019

pallavi — 2020-02-21T10:02:22Z

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

CIS Celebrates 5 Years

praskrishna — 2013-05-18T02:09:00Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-celebrates-5-years.pdf

CIS and International Coalition Calls upon Governments to Protect Privacy

elonnai — 2013-09-25T07:21:09Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) along with the International Coalition has called upon governments across the globe to protect privacy.

On September 20 in Geneva, CIS joined a huge international coalition in calling upon countries across the globe, including India to assess whether national surveillance laws and activities are in line with their international human rights obligations.

The Centre for Internet and Society has endorsed a set of international principles against unchecked surveillance. The 13 Principles set out for the first time an evaluative framework for assessing surveillance practices in the context of international human rights obligations.

A group of civil society organizations officially presented the 13 Principles this past Friday in Geneva at a side event attended by Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Frank LaRue, during the 24th session of the Human Rights Council. The side event was hosted by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Hungary.

Elonnai Hickok, Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society has noted that "the 13 Principles are an important first step towards informing governments, corporates, and individuals across jurisdictions, including India, about needed safeguards for surveillance practices and related policies to ensure that they are necessary and proportionate."

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking at the Human Rights Council stated in her opening statement on September 9:

"Laws and policies must be adopted to address the potential for dramatic intrusion on individuals’ privacy which have been made possible by modern communications technology."

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking at the event, said that:

"technological advancements have been powerful tools for democracy by giving access to all to participate in society, but increasing use of data mining by intelligence agencies blurs lines between legitimate surveillance and arbitrary mass surveillance."

Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion made clear the case for a direct relationship between state surveillance, privacy and freedom of expression in this latest report to the Human Rights Council:

"The right to privacy is often understood as an essential requirement for the realization of the right to freedom of expression. Undue interference with individuals’ privacy can both directly and indirectly limit the free development and exchange of ideas. … An infringement upon one right can be both the cause and consequence of an infringement upon the other."

Speaking at the event, the UN Special Rapporteur remarked that:

"previously surveillance was carried out on targeted basis but the Internet has changed the context by providing the possibility for carrying out mass surveillance. This is the danger."

Representatives of the Centre for Internet and Society, Privacy International, the Electronic Frontier Foundation,Access,Human Rights Watch,Reporters Without Borders, Association for Progressive Communications, and theCenter for Democracy and Technology all are taking part in the event.

Find out more about the Principles at https://NecessaryandProportionate.org

Contacts

NGOs currently in Geneva for the 24^th Human Rights Council:

Access
Fabiola Carrion: fabiola@accessnow.org

Association for Progressive Communication
Shawna Finnegan: shawna@apc.org

Center for Democracy and Technology
Matthew Shears: mshears@cdt.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Katitza Rodriguez: katitza@eff.org - @txitua

Human Rights Watch
Cynthia Wong: wongc@hrw.org

Privacy International
Carly Nyst: carly@privacy.org

Reporters Without Borders
Lucie Morillon: lucie.morillon@rsf.org
Hélène Sackstein: helsack@gmail.com

Signatories

Argentina
Ramiro Alvarez: rugarte@adc.org.ar
Asociación por los Derechos Civiles

Argentina
Beatriz Busaniche: bea@vialibre.org.ar
Fundación Via Libre

Colombia
Carolina Botero: carobotero@gmail.com
Fundación Karisma

Egypt
Ahmed Ezzat: ahmed.ezzat@afteegypt.org
Afteegypt

Honduras
Hedme Sierra-Castro: hedme.sc@gmail.com
ACI-Participa

India
Elonnai Hickok: elonnai@cis-india.org
Center for Internet and Society

Korea
Prof. Park: kyungsinpark@korea.ac.kr
Open Net Korea

Macedonia
Bardhyl Jashari: info@metamorphosis.org.mk
Metamorphosis Foundation for Internet and Society

Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania
Abadacar Diop: jonction_jonction@yahoo.fr
Jonction

Portugal
Andreia Martins: andreia@coolpolitics.pt
ASSOCIAÇÃO COOLPOLITICS

Peru
Miguel Morachimo: morachimo@gmail.com
Hiperderecho

Russia
Andrei Soldatov: soldatov@agentura.ru
Agentura.ru

Serbia
Djordje Krivokapic: krivokapic@gmail.com
SHARE Foundation

Western Balkans
Valentina Pellizer: valentina.pellizzer@oneworldsee.org
Oneworldsee

Brasil
Marcelo Saldanha: instituto@bemestarbrasil.org.br
IBEBrasil

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-and-international-coalition-calls-upon-governments-to-protect-privacy

Chennai: Learn to Protect your Online Activities!

bernadette — 2013-08-01T12:16:52Z

The Centre for Internet and Society cordially invites you to a Crypto Party at Asian College of Journalism Second main Road (Behind M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) Taramani in Chennai on August 7, 2013, 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

"Governments around the world, are greatly increasing their surveillance of the Internet. Alongside a loss of the private sphere, this also represents a clear danger to basic civil liberties. The good news is that we already have the solution: encrypting communications makes it very hard, if not entirely impossible, for others to eavesdrop on our conversations. The bad news is that crypto is largely ignored by the general public, partly because they don't know about it, and partly because even if they do, it seems too much trouble to implement." (Source)

So lets go and have a party, and teach each other how to crypto!

Everyone is invited! Especially do not hesitate to join if you are not using any crypto at all (yet!)

Here is a Flyer / Printout for you to spread the message!

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cryptoparty-chennai

Chennai residents rue fuzzy CCTV surveillance

Vivek Narayanan and R. Srinivasan — 2019-09-19T14:35:51Z

Poor quality of footage, lack of maintenance and inadequate back-up reduce the gadgets’ deterrent value.

The article by Vivek Narayanan and R. Srinivasan was published in the Hindu on September 18, 2019. Pranav M.B. was quoted.

Last month, Sandeep (name changed), a cyclist, was hit by an ambulance on GST Road near the Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) signal. He was rushed to hospital in the same ambulance. His hopes of finding out who hit him, via CCTV cameras, came crashing after he saw the poor quality of footage that was obtained to identify the vehicle.

“The police officers in Tambaram themselves told me that the quality of the CCTV cameras was poor and they were unable to trace the number,” said Mr. Sandeep.

While the police have been claiming a reduction in crime rates due to CCTV cameras in the city, residents and experts doubt if the equipment is indeed a deterrent, and want the police to install better quality cameras with the capacity to retain footage for a longer period, and to maintain the devices, too.

Extensive Coverage

Several high profile cases such as the 2016 Swathi murder case drove law enforcers to increase CCTV coverage of the city. Now, there are over 2 lakh cameras covering all of Chennai, its alleys and its fringes.

Cameras have also been installed at every major junction and at street corners. In many cases, they are linked to the control room of the nearest police station.

According to the police, there is one CCTV camera for every 50 m. They are meant to help the police crack cases and nab the accused. “Some DVRs (digital video recorders) are also in the house or premises of the sponsors. This is for safety purposes,” said a police officer.

The unique nature of the Traffic Police’s ‘third eye campaign’ is the involvement of the public, too. Apart from the police, MPs and MLAs, many resident welfare associations have also donated resources for the installation of CCTV cameras.

Residents, however, expressed concern. S. Kumara Raja, vice president, Annai Indira Nagar Residents Welfare Association said: “Though many CCTVs cameras are found on the street, it isn’t clear if they are working or not. We also don’t know if anyone is maintaining the cameras.”

P. Saravanakumar, founder of the South Madipakkam Residents’ Welfare Association, said that the equipment is not connected with the police control room and the data remains with those who have installed the CCTV system.

V. N. Subramaniyan, president, Mylapore Residents Welfare Association, felt that cameras installed on private properties were working properly.

“Cameras are obtained from private persons as a charitable activity, so the quality can be challenged. The police should give the maintenance of CCTV cameras to private companies. There should be proper back-up and monitoring,” he pointed out.

While the equipment is considered important for gathering evidence, policemen themselves complain that the quality of the footage from many cameras is poor.

“We cannot zoom into the footage obtained from every camera involved. Most of them are 1 or 2 megapixel cameras and the image is often blurred. Only in a few places do we find powerful cameras,” said a policeman.

'Not a deterrent'

Pranav M. B., researcher, Centre for Internet and Society, said that as according to global studies, CCTV cameras are not useful as deterrents. “But they come in handy for providing evidence after a crime,” said Mr. Pranav.

Though advanced cameras can provide footage with more clarity, it’s cost intensive to maintain them. “For deterrence, one need not invest in high-end cameras — quality street lights are sufficient. We cannot expect the perpetrator of a crime to make a decision over whether to commit a crime or not after looking at the camera,” he added.

However, there is a 30% higher chance of identifying an accused when a camera is deployed, than without. “Nevertheless, like any other technology or method, it is not entirely foolproof,” Mr. Pranav said.

Police officers disagree on the subject of CCTV systems not serving as deterrents. “From January to June 2018, a total of 258 chain snatching incidents were reported, but during the same period this year, the number plummeted to 137 — a fall of nearly 50%,” said a senior police officer.

'Needs improvement'

Similarly, the police claim that, this year, public nuisance cases have gone down by 41%, and burglary cases by 17%, compared with last year. Police officers agreed that the quality of some cameras needs to be improved.

“Initially, we did not know the type of quality [of cameras] needed. So, we fixed 1 and 2 megapixel cameras. Now, we are installing 4 megapixel cameras and have better clarity. Besides, we are now categorising the number and type of cameras available in different parts of the city, and will change the older ones,” said a senior police officer.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/vivek-narayanan-and-r-sivaraman-the-hindu-september-18-2019-chennai-residents-rue-fuzzy-cctv-surveillance

Checks and balances needed for mass surveillance of citizens, say experts

Admin — 2017-12-16T14:32:23Z

A number of measures are required to protect law-abiding citizens from mass surveillance and misuse of their personal data, according to top technology and legal experts.

The article by Peerzada Abrar was published in the Hindu on December 9, 2017

The measures include issuing of tokens by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) instead of Aadhaar numbers and having an official in the judiciary give permission to vigilance.

The experts were participating in a panel discussion on ‘Navigating Big Data Challenges’ at Carnegie India’s Global Technology Summit here. They also said there was a need to implement ‘de-identification of data’ or preventing a person’s identity from being connected with information.

The moderator of the discussion was Justice B.N. Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, who was also heading a government-appointed committee of experts to identify “key data protection issues” and recommend methods to address them. Justice Srikrishna told the panellists that Aadhaar or the unique identification number had empowered the people. But in situations where the State wants all the information about citizens from different service providers because of its suspicions related to terrorism or criminal activity, he asked, what is the method to create a balance?

“Surveillance is like salt in cooking which is essential in tiny quantities, but counterproductive even if slightly in excess,” responded Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bengaluru-based think tank, Centre for Internet and Society. He said there was a need to make a surveillance system which had privacy by design built into it.

Mr. Abraham said that his organisation had proposed to the UIDAI that it used ‘tokenisation,’ which meant that whenever there was a ‘know your customer’ requirement, the Aadhaar number was not accessed by organisations like telecom firms or the banks. Instead, when the citizens used various services via smart cards or pins, a token got generated, which was controlled by the UIDAI. Organisations like banks and telecom firms can store those token numbers in their database. He said this would make it harder for unauthorised parties to combine databases. But at the same time would enable law enforcement agencies to combine database using the appropriate authorizations and infrastructure.

“UIDAI is considering this, they call it the dummy Aadhaar numbers. We need technical as well as institutional checks and balances,” said Mr. Abraham.

Countries like the U.S also have processes like Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) which entertains applications made by the U.S Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and certain other forms of investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes.

“My concern is that in the current system, surveillance can be done by the State machinery. I don’t necessarily suggest FISA court.... but some kind of mechanism where (one can’t) be held at the mercy of incestuous State machinery,” said Rahul Matthan, a partner at law firm Trilegal. “But have some second person who is outside the influence of this system (and) who actually says ‘yes this is a terrorist which requires us to do mass surveillance,” he said.

Artificial Intelligence

A large amount of information or Big data ranging from financial, health to political insights of people is being collected by different organisations and service providers which is sitting in different silos. All of this is likely going to be linked through Aadhaar. Mr. Srikrishna asked what if a situation arises where all of this data is aggregated and using artificial intelligence and machine learning, one is able to analyse it and profile individuals. He said “would that be not a terrifying scenario” where the State can act super-monitor for citizens. He asked how can citizens be guarded against it?

Mr.Srikrishna was referring to the ‘Social Credit System’ proposed by the Chinese government for creating a national reputation system to rate the trustworthiness of its citizens including their economic and social status. It works as a mass surveillance tool and uses big data analysis technology.

“It is a possibility. What stands in the way of it becoming a reality (in India) is a robust law,” said Mr.Matthan. “Technology is so powerful that it could equally be used for good as well as bad.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-peerzada-abrar-december-9-2017-checks-and-balances-needed-to-mass-surveillance-of-citizens-say-experts

Chasing fame and fun 15 seconds at a time: Why TikTok has India hooked

Tora Agarwala, Surbhi Gupta, and Karishma Mehrotra — 2019-07-05T02:13:39Z

How TikTok, an app owned by a Chinese firm, has become a playground for India’s young.

The article by Tora Agarwala, Surbhi Gupta, and Karishma Mehrotra appeared in Indian Express on June 23, 2019. Nishant Shah was quoted.

“Kaam nai niki? Do you have no other work?” At a banner printing shop in Nagaon, a town in Assam, the middle-aged shopkeeper was bemused. It was the strangest order he had received in a while.

For one, the banner was for a “TikTok” meetup. He had not the slightest inkling of what that was. Second, the two boys who had introduced themselves as hailing from Jamuguri and Raha, smaller towns in the state, insisted that the text incorporate a spelling mistake. “Instead of M-E-E-T up, please write M-E-A-T up,” he was told. The shopkeeper grudgingly obliged and the boys rode off on their bikes. It would be ready the next day.

“This is going to go viral,” Dhurbajit Medhi said triumphantly to his friend PK Nath. They had only known each other for a month, having “met” on TikTok. In April, they sat face-to-face for the first time at a small restaurant in Raha, in Nagaon district, where Medhi lived. Nath had travelled 110 km to meet him.

Medhi was 23, a singer who had dropped out of college because of a death in the family. Nath, about 30, was known in his neighbourhood in Jamuguri for two things: his gela maal dukaan (grocery store) and his penchant to make people laugh.

On TikTok, both have followers in thousands. Over a few months, they would chat often, appreciating each other’s videos. “On a sad day, I would scroll through Nath da’s feed and it would make me laugh without fail,” says Medhi, who joined TikTok about a year ago. Many comments on his videos are from girls. “Some say ‘cute’ and some say bhaal laagise (You’re looking good),” says Medhi, who is reasonably tall and sports a goatee on his boyish face.

Over the year, Medhi has learnt the tricks of the TikTok trade. “There are two kinds of videos which get attention here in Assam: either you do sad, romantic songs. Or you do fotuami — slapstick humour,” says Medhi, who has made a niche for himself in the former category. He owns an Mi phone, worth Rs 11,000, which he bought a year ago by saving money through his work at his father’s tea shop. “My mother is okay with me making these videos. But she says, ‘Do all this, but think about your life also.’ I get her point but maybe I can make a career out of this,” he says.

After all, TikTok is not as easy as Facebook. It involves an element of skill. “Do you know how difficult it is to get one TikTok like? On Facebook, you just put a photo and the likes pour in. Here, we have to work hard.” Medhi admits he was naïve initially. “I would make photo-collages from my trips to Kaziranga and add some background music.” But that would not have worked. “The viewer takes into account everything: is our lip-sync matching? Are our clothes suited to the mood of the music? Are our expressions accurate?”

Today, Medhi has over 400 videos, many of which feature him mouthing lyrics to the songs sung by Assamese musician Zubeen Garg. Sometimes, he sings in his own voice too — a secret talent he has nurtured but not had the opportunity to explore. “In Upper Assam, there is an appreciation for the arts and music. But here in middle Assam, it is different. People would mock, ‘Eeeh gayok hobo ahise. Look at him trying to be a singer,’” says Medhi.

It is these aspirations, which often get mowed down by the traditionalism that comes with living in small towns and villages that TikTok is giving oxygen to. The short-form video app has seen a phenomenal growth since its rebranding from Musical.ly in 2018, garnering 200 million users in India alone. Its hallmark is simple: it woos your attention with 15-second videos (they make go up to 60 seconds too) of lip-syncing teenage girls, dancing boys, family pranks and other such stylised moments. The mobile app’s owner, a Chinese internet company called ByteDance, was reportedly awarded a round of major investment from Japanese SoftBank last year, making it the world’s most valuable startup.

TikTok’s rapid capture of India — it skyrocketed past traditional social media mammoths, like Facebook, on global download charts in 2018 — is a testament to how quickly Chinese apps have begun to give American tech companies a run for their money in one of the world’s most important markets. TikTok has given a megaphone to rural Indian life in a way that no other app has been able to; American apps such as Facebook have been restricted to a primarily upper-class user base.

“We believe that TikTok filled the gap by bringing people from across the deepest pockets of India online and giving them a platform to express themselves,” said ByteDance’s global public policy director Helena Lersch. Since the company introduced in-feed advertisements and branded editing tools last year, it’s attracted the likes of Pepsi, Myntra, and Dunzo.

If more proof were needed that TikTok has planted itself into the circuitry of desire and aspiration, it came by way of a news report last fortnight. A young man in Delhi, who worked at a restaurant, was arrested for snatching an iPhone XS Max — he wanted to shoot good-quality TikTok videos. Another 19-year-old from Delhi, Salman Zakir, was shot by his neighbour allegedly in the course of making a TikTok video.

But what is the big deal about TikTok? How have 15-second fragments of people being people colonised the attention of so many? Scrolling through the app for the first time, one is struck by how random it is, and how the attention economy has shrunk your mindspan to a quarter of a minute. You could easily tire of teens dancing, making faces and lip-synching in super-tiny skits and video memes. Or, you could watch an entire generation occupy this playground with their energy and creativity, using 15 seconds to mix, mash and play versions of themselves. Preparing a face to meet other excited, silly faces has never been so addictive.

Social media has put the self at the centre, making opinions out of rants, photographers of anyone with a phone camera, and journalists of citizens. TikTok takes the humdrum, turns it into a form of talent and injects into it the velocity of the fast-travelling video.

But, more importantly perhaps, it taps into a confidence in the young — about their lives, abilities and even their humble backgrounds — that was unthinkable a generation ago.

For sure, TikTok could not have spread this way five years ago either. Eighteen-year-old Devanshu Mahajan, an undergraduate student of commerce at Delhi University’s School of Open Learning, agrees. He found himself exploring the internet only after the entry of Reliance Jio in the telecom market. “Before that we used to have 1 GB data for a month. Suddenly, we had 1 GB to spend in a day,” says the Delhi resident. Last year, he started posting videos on TikTok, most of which seemed to disappear into nowhere. “I got so angry that I uploaded a rant about the lack of response, and suddenly it got viral. Then, I started giving my own twist to trending sounds/beats and songs, and these videos started becoming popular,” says Mahajan, who has over eight lakh followers now.

Most of his popular posts are about Indian families (“Indian parents wish for boys only to send them to the market to buy milk and vegetables endless times”), school life and being single. They are not particularly witty, but belong to the tradition of native humour that once would make judges mysteriously ROFL on shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. “I make my videos at home, I have no tripod or light, there is one window where I put my phone and act,” says Mahajan, who uses an Mi Y3 phone. With a spiky haircut and a lean frame, he is the picture of ordinariness. “People either say I’m too thin, or comment about my nose or looks. But I make a story out of those comments too. If I can make fun of myself, nothing can affect me,” he says.

“It may not be like YouTube where one can earn money, but because of this app, I feel like a star now,” says Musaib Bashir Bhat, 27. He joined TikTok seven months ago and his 300 videos in Kashmiri have earned him 73,000 followers already. He is also recognised on the streets of Srinagar.

Fame is the drug that drives TikTok users, but, for now, at least, this is a following rooted in the local. The app is a Babel of many tongues, and each region has its distinct self-expression — in its aesthetic, looks or music. It hasn’t been monopolised by Hindi film music or Punjabi pop.

Ranjan Barman, an 18-year-old living in a small village in Lakhimpur, Assam, loves acting. “I know I can’t be an actor in real life— but at least on TikTok I can,” says the college-goer who joined the app four months ago. He is now nearing his one millionth heart — a commendable feat for someone who is new to the TikTok universe. His popularity, he suspects, could have something to do with the props he uses in his videos. Barman owns 22 gamusa shirts, or shirts fashioned out of the traditional Assamese cloth, and says that whenever he wears them, his videos get more play. “In Assam, people respect the gamusa. It touches sentiments,” he says.

But how substantial is this fame? What kind of recognition do TikTokers seek? Last month, Mahajan called for a meet-and-greet with his “fans” at a west Delhi mall. Thirty people showed up. “I hadn’t expected anyone to turn up. People clicked photos and videos, but I didn’t feel like a celebrity,” he says.

While TikTok fame comes from the number of followers one has, an important barometer is also the number of hearts you receive. For example, Medhi has only 4,000 followers, but his videos have received 74,500 hearts. The heart tally is an aggregate of the number of likes the creator has garnered across every video he has uploaded. “It is just one viral video you need — and then you are set,” says Medhi, who hasn’t hit the jackpot yet, but is optimistic. “Like all things in life, this, too, takes time,” he says.

TikTok has given Aizawl’s Adeline Pach much more than the 5,12,000 followers one sees on her profile. A cancer-survivor, Pach started using it in 2015, when it went by the name Musical.ly, while recovering from her illness. “It was silly, goofy stuff — but it helped take my mind off things,” she says. Even today, she suffers from a number of health issues. But TikTok “distracts her”.

Pach’s skilful “transition” videos (where one frame would blend to another seamlessly), started getting featured on the app’s homepage. “People liked the way I edited my videos. For example, if I was saying and wearing something in one frame, the next would be in another location, with me doing something else in another outfit,” says Pach, adding that earlier TikTok was more about skill, and now people “blindly heart goofy content.”

As Pach, now in her late twenties, kept getting featured, her followers shot up — and for first time in her life, the introvert found herself interacting with people — “and enjoying it. It gave me the confidence I never had.”

In 2017, Pach attended her first TikTok meetup in Mumbai. “That had about 70 people but the next one which took place in Bengaluru had 600,” she says. She performed a rap song by Nicki Minaj in front of a packed auditorium. “Suddenly I was fearless.”

For many, TikTok holds out the hope of bigger things to come — a career in music and acting. When he was a teen, Ambish KB’s acting talents — he mimicked his teachers’ mannerisms and got them to laugh — made him almost famous in school. In college, his obsession with films would make him watch first-day, first-show releases of leading Malayalam superstars like Mammootty and Mohanlal. He also held positions in the Ernakulam district unit of the all-Kerala Mammootty fans association. “It’s safe to assume that I spent more time in theatres than in college,” says Ambish, 27, an accountant with a fashion design firm in Kochi.

He still has not given up on his acting dreams. For three years now, he has been scouring for small roles, approaching directors, producers and scriptwriters, even as he maintains a job on the side. Not surprisingly, he has taken to TikTok like a duck to water. His account doesn’t boast an envious number of followers (572 at last count) but his videos, most of which are comedy re-enactments of popular scenes from Malayalam cinema, have collected thousands of views and a flood of reactions. He says his videos are all home-produced and mostly filmed in the dead of night once his parents are fast asleep. Many of them are also collaborations with his wife; she’s not mad about cinema like he is, but she likes the fun interface of TikTok. To the point that, at weddings, their relatives call them, “Oh look, here come the TikTok people!”

But more than anything, Ambish believes TikTok could hold his ticket to the film industry. “It’s a medium for people like us to display our talent. Who knows, if my video goes viral and if a casting director happens to notice, I might click,” says Ambish, who spends at least eight hours a day on TikTok. His inspiration is a fellow TikTok user, Fukru, who supposedly landed a role in a film after his dance videos went viral. “He would post videos every day, just random ones of him dancing. Now he’s got a role in the next film by director Omar Lulu. You never know,” Ambish says.

Ambish is not prepared to leave his job yet, as he understands the film industry is unpredictable. He doesn’t have the means to travel for auditions to faraway towns. But he knows he has a powerful device at his disposal that could get him there: his Huawei P20 Lite smartphone and the TikTok app on it.

While future sociologists might mine TikTok to understand the changing mores of a new generation, fears of data mining and privacy intrusions of the app have often been voiced. This year, the US Federal Trade Commission fined the company $5.7 million for illegally collecting the personal data of children. In 2018, Indonesia’s government temporarily banned the platform for “negative”, mostly pornographic and blasphemous, content. The government lifted the ban after the company complied with local laws and stepped up local content moderation.

In April, the Madras High Court made a similar interim takedown order, asking Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, citing pornographic and child exploitation content. Three weeks later, the court lifted the ban after the Supreme Court asked it to address the company’s plea against the takedown, and the app fell from most downloaded to fourth most in India. The company has admittedly decided to “show less skin” here than its other markets. “It’s a bit of a case-to-case basis. There is no clear line I can share with you now. If there is a sexually-explicit video, we take it down. And we are doing this a bit quicker in India,” said Lersch.

Writing in these pages, our columnist Nishant Shah warned about TikTok’s “embrace of artificial intelligence and big data analytics.” “From the minute you sign up for it, giving up your personal information and data to extreme mining which bears the same pitfalls of privacy and surveillance that all other big data apps do, TikTok starts presenting content to you. This is not content created by friends, or colleagues… Instead, this is content created by people you don’t know at all, and brought to you by algorithms that know, even without you telling them what you might like.

The more time you spend … going through complex tutorials to make your own 15-second fun video, the more the machine learning algorithms learn you,” wrote the co-founder of the Centre for Internet and Society. While critics point out that the infantilised world that the app peddles is dangerous to the very personal liberty that it seems to showcase, it’s not an argument that is winning.

But wait, what happened to the “meatup” banner? When Medhi and Nath had met, they rued the little regard their family and friends had for their pursuit. “My friends think I am wasting time,” says Medhi, the only TikToker in Raha. Both knew they had to do something.

They went ahead and organised the first state-wide TikTok meetup in Assam, slated for this Sunday. While there have been meetups before, this is the first time TikTokers from every corner of the state will be in attendance. They expect about 500. How did they manage to do it? “Only negative things go viral on the internet,” says Medhi, “That is why we decided to spell ‘meetup’ as ‘meatup’.”

The day the banner was ready and picked up from Nagaon, both Medhi and Nath took a picture of it and put it on the app. As expected, there was an uproar. “Everyone started sharing it. My phone number was on the banner and I would get 10 calls a day. “They would say: Don’t you know how to spell ‘meetup’? Most made fun of me but I didn’t care. Our job was done. The word had spread.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indian-express-june-23-2019-chasing-fame-and-fun-15-seconds-at-a-time

Centre’s order on computer surveillance threatens right to privacy, experts say

Admin — 2018-12-25T00:50:48Z

The Constitutional validity of the notification allowing ten agencies to intercept information is uncertain.

The blog post by Abhishek Dey was published in Scroll.in on December 22, 2018.

A notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday allowing ten agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated from any computer poses a grave threat to the fundamental right to privacy, said lawyers and cyber security experts.

The notification led to a political storm on Friday and criticism from the Opposition forced Parliament to be adjourned. However, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Opposition of “making a mountain where a molehill does not exist”. The government on Friday issued a clarification stating that the directive does not confer any new powers on it and has the legal backing of the Information Technology Act.

Experts agreed that Thursday’s notification lists powers already available to the authorities in the Information Technology Act 2000. The legal provisions to allow interception were introduced in 2008 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. However, with the fresh directive, experts said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government seems to be trying to formalise surveillance through the interception of computer information, they said.

“It is true that such [interception] powers already existed,” said Pavan Duggal, a lawyer with expertise in cyber security. “But neither any such formal directives were issued which I know of, nor any agency were specifically notified to have those powers.”

Privacy test

The Information Technology Act 2000 was amended in 2008 to allow to the monitoring and interception of computer information, while the rules under which this would operate were promulgated in 2009. In 2017, the Supreme Court delivered a judgment establishing privacy as a fundamental right. The legal foundation of the computer interception directive could be still be challenged in court because it has not yet been considered in light of the privacy judgment, said Duggal. “It is now a matter of Constitutional validity,” he said

Thursday’s notification lists the agencies authorised to intercept, monitor and decrypt computer data: the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (RAW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (for service areas of Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam) and the Commissioner of Police, Delhi. The Act provides a jail term of seven years for anyone who refuses to cooperate with these agencies.

On Friday, experts questioned whether a notification listing the 10 agencies had actually been issued earlier, as the Centre claimed.

“It is a fresh notification,” said Apar Gupta, a lawyer who specialises in technology and media issues. “With this, interception of computers has received formal acceptance in the public domain and it can have serious implications on privacy.”

Senior officials of the Delhi Police also said this appeared to be a fresh order. Asked if this meant that the agencies would not need to ask for authorisation in every case since a blanket order has been issued, the officials said that this still needs to be clarified.

Lacking proportionality

The order has raised questions about the validity of the cases of interception of computer information conducted by the state police and other security agencies between 2009 (the year the interception rules were promulgated) and 2018 (the year the notification has been issued), Pranesh Prakash, co-founder of the Centre for Internet and Society.

One possibility, he said, may be that they were all unlawful.

But if they were indeed conducted with legal backing, Prakash said, then permission for this would been sanctioned in the form of an order by a competent authority. This is what Rule 3 of the interception rules mandate. But if so, Rule 4, which deals with the government authorising agencies to conduct such interceptions, is redundant. “How can it not be when any state police or other agency is capable of acquiring an order for interception under Rule 3?” he said

Besides, Prakash said, the new directive does not pass the test of proportionality.

In 2007, the Central government introduced rules to amend the Indian Telegraph Act 1951 to allow for information to be intercepted, Prakash said. However, the rules say that the competent authority should resort to interception only after considering all alternative means to acquire information. Thursday’s directive, though, is silent about the circumstances in which interception will be permitted, he said.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-abhishek-dey-december-22-2018-centres-order-on-computer-surveillance-threatens-right-to-privacy

Centre’s order on computer surveillance is backed by law – but the law lacks adequate safeguards

Admin — 2018-12-24T17:04:22Z

The Information Technology Act’s surveillance scheme furthers a colonial hangover.

The blog post by Nehaa Chaudhari and Tuhina Joshi was published by Scroll.in on December 23, 2018.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statutory order authorising 10 “security and intelligence agencies” to intercept, monitor and decrypt electronic information and communication. A media frenzy soon ensued, with Opposition political parties seizing the notification as evidence that the government was running a surveillance state. The ministry responded with a press release, clarifying that the order was in keeping with Section 69(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009, proving that the order was sound in law.

Several government officials and Bharatiya Janata Party representatives have since defended this order as being in India’s sovereign and national security interest. They say it will bring transparency and accountability into surveillance, and that is is only an extension of the previous Congress-led government’s policy from 2009.

No doubt, Central and state governments have had the power to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information in any computer resource since 2008, when Section 69 of the Information Technology Act was amended to expand the government’s powers of interception. This amendment was one of many changes introduced to India’s surveillance framework to tackle crime and terrorism in the wake of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

However, the ministry’s December 20 directive is the first time such an order has been introduced under this section; and in this difference between a legislation being on the statute books versus it being implemented lies the reason for collective public outrage. That said, research by the Centre for Internet and Society and SFLC.in shows that the Indian state has long engaged in surveilling electronic communications, and other kinds of interception and monitoring.

While railing against the ministry’s order is very welcome, it is futile if it does not lead to a conversation around the root of the problem – Section 69(1) of the Information Technology Act and the accompanying Information Technology Rules. This section empowers the Central and state governments to authorise government agencies to intercept, monitor or decrypt “any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource”. It lays down six grounds on the basis of which such authorisation may be granted. These are:

The preservation of India’s sovereignty or integrity.
The security of the state.
Public order.
Maintaining friendly relations with other countries.
Preventing offences relating to 1. to 4. from being incited or committed.
Criminal investigations.

All authorisation orders issued by the government under Section 69(1) must be reasoned and written, and must be subject to the procedure laid down in the Information Technology Rules. As per these rules, all such orders must be scrutinised by a review committee of the Centre, or the state in question, set up under Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951. All review committees set up under Rule 419A comprise only of government secretaries. This means that the executive sits in judgment over its own decisions. This goes against one of the most basic principles of justice and fairness – that no person shall be a judge in their own case.

Threat to privacy

State surveillance threatens individual privacy and must be subject to adequate safeguards. Privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India, as recognised by nine judges of the Supreme Court in August 2017. Like all other fundamental rights, the right to privacy is not absolute, and can be restricted. According to the Supreme Court, these restrictions must be: (1) backed by law, (2) for a legitimate state aim, and (3) proportionate.

Consequently, any government order under Section 69(1) of the Information Technology Act must fulfil this three-part test to be constitutional. The absence of judicial or legislative oversight over the executive’s decision-making under Section 69(1) is likely to make it a disproportionate restriction on an individual’s fundamental right to privacy and, therefore, unconstitutional.

Even the government-appointed Justice Srikrishna Committee of Experts, which has been given the task of framing India’s data protection law, was concerned about this lack of legislative or judicial review. This committee has cited Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States as countries with adequate procedural safeguards over government surveillance actions. On page 125 of its final report, it has noted, “Executive review alone is not in tandem with comparative models in democratic nations which either provide for legislative oversight, judicial approval or both.”

The Information Technology Act and the Information Technology Rules are but one of many means of government surveillance in India. Similar provisions exist in the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Telegraph Rules, 1951, and the Indian Post Office Act, 1898. These laws are the extension of a colonial legacy, used by a foreign power to keep tabs on an alien population. Disappointingly, the Information Technology Act’s surveillance scheme only furthers this colonial hangover. Indian privacy thought, especially in the past few years, has reflected the idea that we must evolve an Indian privacy framework, grounded in our constitutional values, and tailored to the Indian context. It is about time that our surveillance laws begin to reflect our constitutional values as well.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-nehaa-chaudhari-and-tuhina-joshi-december-23-2018-centres-order-on-computer-surveillance-is-backed-by-law-but-the-law-lacks-adequate-safeguards

Centre for Internet&Society ecommerce amendments

aman — 2021-07-27T14:36:57Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/centre-for-internet-society-ecommerce-amendments