Centre for Internet and Society

World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)

anirudh — 2013-12-01T03:12:27Z

The United States had the control over internet resources and its administration was controlled by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This was the principle agency in the US dealing with telecommunication and information policy and the ICANN managed the internet domain names and IP addresses.

ICANN and indirectly the US government having control over the domain name system and the internet registry was an issue of concern for the rest of the world as well international organizations. The proposal for the WSIS by the United Nations was the reaction to such a concern.

Origins of the WSIS

The World Summit on Information Society was first proposed by the International Telecommunication Union in 1998. The main focus of the WSIS was to address issues related to the global digital divide. However, the scope of the WSIS was broadened later to include internet related public policy issues. The UN General Assembly approved the Summit in 2001[1] which was to be held in two phases. The first phase was held in Geneva from December 10-12, 2003 and the second phase was held in Tunis from November 16-18, 2005. The main aim of the Geneva Summit was to lay down a road map to building an information society accessible to everyone. The Tunis Agenda was more on the lines of developing a mechanism or framework which would be effective in dealing with management of the internet public policy issues.

Main Goals of the WSIS

At the beginning the main objective of the WSIS was to discuss issues on building better telecommunication and information infrastructure in the developing nations to bridge the digital divide. The self adopted purpose of the WSIS was, "to harness the potential of knowledge and technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration."[2] However, during the meetings the focus of the WSIS was broadened and it covered not only issues related information infrastructure but also various issues related to communication and other public policy issues such as freedom of speech, privacy, etc.

Geneva Summit

The Geneva Summit saw overwhelming participation from the government, civil society, industry, international organizations and media. Nearly 11000 participants attended the Summit. The Geneva Summit of WSIS was supposed to mainly focus on principles and the Tunis Summit was envisioned to deal with implementation of principles and follow-up mechanisms. Though the Geneva Summit failed in reaching a consensus on the issue of the future of internet governance, there were two major outcomes of the Summit; the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action

The Plan of Action focused on information and communication infrastructure and recognized it as the essential foundation of the information society. It also emphasized on the importance of access to knowledge, capacity building and building of an enabling environment. It was also cognizant of cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and development of local content.

One of the key features of the Geneva Summits was that it recognized the principles of multi-stakeholderism. The Geneva Declaration of Principles while recognizing the principles of multi-stakeholderism stated,

"Governments, as well as private sector, civil society and the United Nations and other international organizations have an important role and responsibility in the development of the Information Society and, as appropriate, in decision-making processes. Building a people-centered Information Society is a joint effort which requires cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders."

The Geneva Declaration of Principles also laid down principles related to role of ICT in development, access, human rights and international and regional cooperation.

WGIG

The main functions of the WGIG included:

To “develop a working definition of Internet Governance
Identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet Governance
Develop a common understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of governments, existing international organizations and other forums, as well as the private sector and civil society in both developing and developed countries.”

The final report of the WGIG divided issues related to Internet Governance in four sections:

Infrastructure
Privacy, security and safety on the internet
Intellectual property and international trade
Development

Tunis Summit

The Tunis Summit resulted in the agreement on the Tunis Commitment, Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and the birth of the Internet Governance Forum. The Tunis Agenda and Tunis Commitment were the consensus statements at the Tunis Phase of WSIS whereas the Internet Governance Forum was created as a multi-stakeholder platform for policy dialogue on internet related public policy matters.

The Tunis Commitment confirmed the agreement on Declaration of Principles among the stakeholders as well as reaffirmed the Plan of Action.

Tunis Agenda

The Tunis Agenda recognized the need to, "move from principles to action, considering the work already being done in implementing the Geneva Plan of Action and identifying those areas where progress has been made, is being made, or has not taken place."[4]

It also reaffirmed the, "commitments made in Geneva and build on them in Tunis by focusing on financial mechanisms for bridging the digital divide, on internet governance and related issues, as well as on implementation and follow-up of the Geneva and Tunis decisions."[5]

The two other important parts of the Tunis Agenda were sections on:

Financial mechanisms for meeting the challenges of ICT for development
This part of the Tunis Agenda generally focussed financing infrastructure and equipment for providing better access to the internet in the developing areas.
Internet Governance
The section on Internet Governance dealt with management of the internet in a multilateral, transparent and democratic process with full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.

Article 35[6] of the Tunis Agenda reaffirmed that the management of the internet shall take place in an inclusive and consultative process.

The third and the most important outcome of the Tunis Summit was the creation of the Internet Governance Forum. It was set up under Article 72 of the Tunis Agenda. The next section will deal with the Internet Governance Forum.

[1]. UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 (December 21, 2001) available at http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/background/resolutions/56_183_unga_2002.pdf

[2]. See more at http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wsis-themes/UNMDG/index.html

[3]. Château de Bossey, Report of the Working Group on Internet Governance at pp. 3 available at http://www.wgig.org/docs/WGIGREPORT.pdf

[4]. Introduction, Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/6(Rev. 1)-E, November 18, 2005 available at http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html.

[5]. "Policy authority for Internet-related public policy issues is the sovereign right of States. They have rights and responsibilities for international Internet-related public policy issues. The private sector has had, and should continue to have, an important role in the development of the Internet, both in the technical and economic fields. Civil society has also played an important role on Internet matters, especially at community level, and should continue to play such a role. Intergovernmental organizations have had, and should continue to have, a facilitating role in the coordination of Internet-related public policy issues. International organizations have also had and should continue to have an important role in the development of Internet-related technical standards and relevant policies."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/world-summit-on-information-society

Internet Engineering Task Force

anirudh — 2013-12-01T02:34:23Z

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open standards body with no requirements for membership and does not have a formal membership process either.

It is responsible for developing and promoting Internet Standards. Internet Standards are technological specifications which are applicable to the internet and internet access. The IETF also closely works with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other standard setting bodies. It mainly deals with the standards of the Internet Protocol suite (TCP/IP) which is a communication protocol used for the internet.

The mission of the IETF is to, "produce high quality, relevant technical and engineering documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the internet in such a way as to make the internet work better."[1]

Structure

The IETF consists of working groups and informal discussion groups. The subject areas of the working group can be broadly divided into the following categories:

Applications
General Internet
Operations and Management,
Real-time Applications and Infrastructure,
Routing,
Security, and
Transport

The working groups are divided into, areas as mentioned above and they are managed by area directors.

IETF Standards Process

The process of developing Standards at the IETF looks simple but faces certain complications when put into practice.

A specification for a internet standards goes through a period of development followed by reviews by the community at large. Based upon the reviews and experiences, the specifications are revised and then the standards are adopted by an appropriate body after which it is published.

"In practice, the process is more complicated, due to (1) the difficulty of creating specifications of high technical quality; (2) the need to consider the interests of all of the affected parties; (3) the importance of establishing widespread community consensus; and (4) the difficulty of evaluating the utility of a particular specification for the internet community."[2]

The main goals of the Internet Standards Process are:

Technical Excellence;
Prior Implementation and Testing;
Clear, Concise, and Easily Understood Documentation;
Openness and Fairness; and
Timeliness[3]

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

W3C is a multi-stakeholder organization that involves groups from various sectors including multi nationals. W3C is also an international community dedicated to developing an open standard, "to ensure the long term growth of the web". It is led by the inventor of the web — Tim Berners-Lee.

The guiding principles of W3C"[4] are:

Web for All
The W3C recognizes the social value of the internet as it enables communication, commerce and opportunities to share knowledge. One of their main goals is to make available these benefits to all irrespective of the hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.
Web on Everything
The second guiding principle is to ensure that all devices are able to access the web. With the proliferation of the mobile device and smart phones; it has become more important to ensure access to the web irrespective the type of device.
Web for Rich Interaction
The W3C Standards support and recognizes that the web was created as tool to share information and it has become more significant with the increasing demand for platforms such as Wikipedia and social networking platforms.
Web of Data and Services
Web is often viewed as a giant repository or data and information but it is also seen as a set of services which includes exchange of messages. The two views complement each other and how web is perceived depends on the application.
Web of Trust
Interaction on the web has increased and people ‘meet on the web’ and carry out commercial as well as social relationships. "W3C recognizes that trust is a social phenomenon, but technology design can foster trust and confidence.""[5]

[1]. Mission Statement for the IETF available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3935.txt

[2]. http://www.ietf.org/about/standards-process.html

[3]. http://www.ietf.org/about/standards-process.html

[4].http://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission

[5].http://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/internet-engineering-task-force

Institute on Internet and Society

praskrishna — 2014-02-16T03:00:17Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore is pleased to announce the second "Institute on Internet and Society" to be held in Yashada, Pune from February 11 to 17, 2014.

With financial support from the Ford Foundation, this initiative represents an important opportunity to bring together various stakeholders in a neutral forum and share ideas.

This is a week-long residential institute which will cover topics surrounding and exploring the gamut of internet and society. Various topics that explore the ambit and the intersection between Internet and Society will be explored with guest speakers and experts in these fields anchoring the sessions. The lectures will be insightful and few, with interesting case studies and interactive modes of teaching. There will be breakout sessions where participants will get the chance to partake in interactive technology sessions and instructive demonstrations.

There will be off-site experiences where the participants can go on field trips and view the actual spaces that will be discussed.

The institute will feature:

Guest lectures by experts and CIS staff.
Interactive panel discussions.
Case studies.
Breakout sessions.
Interactive demonstrations.
Networking opportunities, field trips/off-site experience and much more...

At the end of the course, attendees will have:

Acquisition of knowledge on internet in the Indian society.
Appreciation of the role of community and other stakeholders in issues surrounding the internet.
Creation of a starting point for improved communication of research findings, innovations, information and new technologies in internet to evolve a community comprising academicians and policy makers.
Appreciation of the need to bridge the gap between policy and implementation.

Who can apply?

Any members from the civil society (students, research scholars, academicians, scientists, legal professionals, etc.) who engage in issues concerning Internet and Society.

How to apply?

The application form available at http://internet-institute.in/form needs to completed in all respects and uploaded along with a brief bio and a 250-300 word abstract on why the applicant feels he/she must attend the Institute on Internet and Society.

Selection criteria

Originality of application.
Evidence of interest and/or prior engagement in Internet and Society related research and policies.
Gender, regional and stakeholder representation.

Twenty participants shall be chosen to attend the Institute on a first come, first served basis. Please ensure that your applications are submitted to CIS well before the closing date.

Attendance

Attendance for the full duration of the Institute (February 11 to February 17, 2014) is mandatory. Please provide assurance that you will be able to commit to the full duration of the institute.

What costs will be covered?

CIS has a number of scholarships that will cover the course fees, travel, accommodation and food. Please note that scholarships will be given on a first come first serve basis to deserving applicants and is available for persons based within India.

Important Dates

Registrations Open: November 15, 2013

Registrations Close: December 15, 2013

Draft Agenda

Time	Detail
Day 1 (February 11, 2014)
09.30 09.40	Introduction: Sunil Abraham, Executive Director Centre for Internet and Society / Ravina Aggarwal, Program Officer, Ford Foundation
09.30 09.40	Introduction of Participants
10.00 12.00	Internet Governance and Privacy: Sunil Abraham
12.00 12.30	Tea-break
12.30 13.00	Keynote: Bishakha Datta, Filmmaker and Activist, and Board Member, Wikimedia Foundation
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 16.00	Pecha Kucha sessions
16.00 17.30	Histories, Bodies and Debates around the Internet: Nishant Shah, Director-Research, Centre for Internet and Society and International Tandem Partner at the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University, Germany
Day 2 (February 12, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	Wireless Technology: Ravikiran Annaswamy, CEO and Co-founder at Teritree Technologies
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Wired Technology: Ravikiran Annaswamy
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 15.00	Network, Threats and Securing Yourself: Kingsley John, Independent Consultant
15.00 15.15	Break
15.15 16.15	Practical Lab: Kingsley John
16.15 16.30	Tea-break
16.30 17.00	Wrap-up Session: Sunil Abraham
Day 3 (February 13, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	Free Software: Prof. G. Nagarjuna, Chairperson, Free Software Foundation
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Open Data: Nisha Thompson, Independent Consultant
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 16.00	Freedom of Expression: Bhairav Acharya, Advocate and Adviser, Centre for Internet and Society
16.00 16.30	Tea-break
16.30 17.30	Copyright: Nehaa Chaudhari, Program Officer, Centre for Internet and Society
Day 4 (February 14, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	E-Accessibility and Inclusion: Prashant Naik, Union Bank
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Patents: Nehaa Chaudhari
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 17.00	Field Trip
Day 5 (February 15, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	E-Governance: Manu Srivastav, Vice President, eGovernments Foundation
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Market Concerns: Payal Malik, Economic Adviser, Competition Commission of India
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 15.30	Domestic and International Bodies: Chinmayi Arun, Research Director, Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi and Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society
15.30 16.00	Tea-break
16.00 17.30	Digital Natives: Nishant Shah
Day 6 (February 16, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	Wikipedia: Dr. Abhijeet Safai
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Open Access: Muthu Madhan
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 15.00	Activity / Mock Conference
15.00 15.30	Tea-break
15.30 17.30	Activity / Mock Conference
Day 7 (February 17, 2014)
Time	Detail
09.30 11.00	Internet Activism: Laura Stein, Associate Professor, University of Texas and Fulbright Fellow, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia
11.00 11.30	Tea-break
11.30 13.00	Digital Humanities: Nishant Shah
13.00 14.00	Lunch
14.00 15.00	Participant Presentations
15.00 15.30	Tea-break
15.30 16.30	Final Exercise: Mapping Learning Feedback

Speakers Profiles

Bishakha Datta
Bishakha is an Indian film maker and activist. She is a former journalist who also serves on the board of nonprofit organizations, such as Point of View, Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action, and (as of 2013) the Wikimedia Foundation. In 1998, Datta edited And Who Will Make the Chapatis?, an overview of the all-women political panchayats formed in Maharashtra, India. In 2003, her documentary In the Flesh: three lives in prostitution was released.

Nishant Shah
Nishant is the founder and Director of Research for the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. His doctoral work at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, examines the production of a Technosocial Subject at the intersections of law, Internet technologies and everyday cultural practices in India. As an Asia Scholarship Fellow (2008-2009), he also initiated a study that looks at what goes into the making of an IT City in India and China. He is the series editor for a three year collaborative project on “Histories of the Internet(s) in India” that maps nine alternative histories that promote new ways of understanding the technological revolution in the country.

Prof. G. Nagarjuna
Prof. Nagarjuna is the chairperson of the Free Software Foundation. He has been an activist for free knowledge and free softwares and has more than 20 publications on related issues. He is interested in understanding the structure and dynamics of knowledge (epistemology, knowledge organization, knowledge representation, biological roots of cognition, and education), nature of life and evolution. This interest is executed in the respective domains: Information Technology, History and Philosophy of Science, and Biology Education. The social, economic and political aspects of information technology also engages his serious attention.http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/people/academic/nagarjuna-g.

Sunil Abraham
Sunil is the Executive Director of Bangalore based research organisation, the Centre for Internet and Society. He founded Mahiti in 1998, a company committed to creating high impact technology and communications solutions. Sunil was elected an Ashoka fellow in 1999 to 'explore the democratic potential of the Internet' and was also granted a Sarai FLOSS fellowship in 2003. Between June 2004 and June 2007, Sunil also managed the International Open Source Network, a project of United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme serving 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Nisha Thompson
Nisha Thompson: Nisha Thompson has a background in online community organisation. She has worked for the Sunlight Foundation in Washington DC, with online communities to use US government data to hold elected officials accountable. She moved to Bangalore, Karnataka in October 2010. She worked on an Open Government Data report for the Centre for Internet and Society and now works full-time with the Portal, on the Data Project. The Data Project aims to collect and open up water and related data, so that citizens and practitioners can use it to improve and keep track of projects and progress in the water sector.

Payal Malik
Payal Malik: Payal Malik is currently advisor to the Competition Commission of India. She had also done considerable research in the ICT sector. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2013727. In addition to teaching Microeconomics Theory at the University of Delhi she has several years of research experience in the areas of economic policy, competition and regulation in network/infrastructure industries and has been actively engaged in competition policy research. Her research and professional collaborations have been with National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, Indicus Analytics, New Delhi, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka, OECD, Orbicom, IDEI, University of Toulouse, University Of Québec at Montreal, CEPR, JRC, European Commission, IPTS Seville, ICEGEC, Hungary, Department of Information Technology, TRAI, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Planning Commission of India, Competition Commission of India, CSO, India, WSP-SA, World Bank and AFD, Paris.

Chinmayi Arun
Chinmayi Arun is the Research Director of the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi. She is also an Assistant Professor of law at the university and teaches specialised courses on Internet Governance, privacy and media policy. She is the research coordinator of the Oxford India Media Law Research Project, a member of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group formed by the Government of India for the India Internet Governance Forum, and one of the academic experts for the Internet & Jurisdiction Project's Observatory. She works with media regulation and internet governance, particularly in the context of the rights to free speech and privacy. Chinmayi interacts with industry bodies and government officials and envisages the Centre for Communication Governance as a key contributor to policy in the years to come.

Laura Stein
Laura is an assistant Professor at the University of Texas in the College of Communication. Her research focuses upon alternative and public media and she has a course on communication technology and society. She is currently working on an edited collection, titled "Making Our Media: Global Initiatives Toward a Democratic Public Sphere," about grassroots attempts to transform the policy and practice of information and communication media around the world.

Prashant Naik
Prashant is working as an Assistant Manager with the Union Bank of India, one of the largest public sector banks in India. He is placed in the Alternate Channels and New Initiative Department. In his role with Union Bank of India, he has made a major contribution in developing a Truly Accessible Talking ATM, ‘First’ of its kind in India which has set a benchmark on accessible ATM for the blind. Since 2002 he is contributing on a large scale in the area of technology access for the visually impaired persons with his inputs in accessible content creation, access technologies training, accessibility and advocacy. Through his work with NGOs he undertook many accessibility testing and development projects. He received National Award as ROLE MODEL from Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on 6th February 2013. He holds a degree in computer applications and he is a Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist. He has low vision since birth due to albinism condition.

Ravikiran Annaswamy
Ravikiran is the Co-founder and CEO of Teritree Technologies - a Social commerce technology venture. He also dedicates his time to startup ecosystem as Advisor, Mentor and Angel investor. He has over 17 years of business experience at Nokia Siemens Networks and Siemens AG. He was Business Head for Indian market, led Global Product Management and was General Manager for Asia Pacific Solutions. He championed Intrapreneurship by working as Innovation head for Bangalore site of over 1000 employees. He has vast experience of making successful Technology solutions for global markets, mainly in the area of Social commerce, Online Billing and Charging, Innovative 3G/4G applications, Multimedia and Security Solutions. He is an engaged Professional volunteer, currently the Vice Chairman for IEEE Bangalore section. He was the previous Chairman for IEEE Communication Society of Karnataka.

Manu Srivastava
Manu is a Vice President at the eGovernments Foundation. He brings 14 years of experience in web native product development and database applications. He worked at Oracle and GlobeTrades Inc on various internet based products before joining eGov. He has architected, developed and rolled out many of the eGov products which are running successfully in cities such as Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi.

Muthu Madhan
Muthu Madhan is a practicing librarian in India for about 15 years and is currently the Manager for ICRISAT Library and Information Services. Before joining ICRISAT in 2010, he worked for M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and the National Institute of Technology Rourkela. Since 2004, he has been an advocate for open access movement in India. Apart from open access, his other interests are open data, open education, and open source software.

Dr. Abhijeet Safai
Dr. Abhijeet is Medical Officer–Clinical Research at Symbiosis Centre of Health Care in Pune. He has been editing Wikipedia for more than 3 years, has edited more than 3700 articles and has created 30 new articles. He is interested in editing articles related to medicine and inspiring personalities. He was a speaker at IT expo in Pune in 2012 and has conducted workshops on Wikipedia Editing in GNUnify in 2013 and 2014 at Symbiosis Institute of Computer Science and Research, Pune. He likes to edit Wikipedia because of passion, for gaining the knowledge and as a social contribution. His user profile on Wikipedia can be accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Abhijeet_Safai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Abhijeet_Safai

About CIS India and Ford Foundation

CIS critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices, in the field of Internet and Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange.

Through multidisciplinary research, intervention, and collaboration, we seek to explore, understand, and affect the shape and form of the internet, and its relationship with the political, cultural, and social milieu of our times.

The Ford Foundation supports visionary leaders and organizations on the frontlines of social change worldwide. Their goals for more than half a century have been to:

Strengthen democratic values
Reduce poverty and injustice
Promote international cooperation
Advance human achievement

The Ford Foundation believes all people should have the opportunity to reach their full potential, contribute to society, and have voice in the decisions that affect them.

Contact

Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director (nirmita@cis-india.org)

Ajoy Kumar, Administrator (ajoy@cis-india.org)

Anirudh Sridhar, Consultant (anirudh@cis-india.org)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/institute-on-internet-and-society-2

World Intellectual Property Organisation

Anirudh Sridhar and Snehashish Ghosh — 2013-12-03T06:56:10Z

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which deals with issues related to intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Under Article 3 of the convention establishing WIPO, the United Nation agency seeks to "promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among states..."[1]

With the proliferation of the internet, issues related to copyright have become more and more prominent. Internet has made sharing of content easy and efficient. It has also opened up avenues for e-commerce, sale and purchase of music, movies, e-books and other related content. In India, special music services and video services are made available to mobile users by the telecom service providers as value added services through internet technologies such as wireless access protocol (WAP) and general packet radio service (GPRS). Moreover, business models such as iTunes and Flyte allow consumers to download MP3 music for a fee. In this context, digital copyright has become an important topic of discussion.

Copyright law has faced difficulties coping up with digital technologies, especially the Internet. Enforcing copyright has been a tough task, given that protected works can be easily shared and transferred through the internet. In order to adjust the legal system to be in consonance with the latest technological developments the WIPO has laid down two treaties which are known as internet treaties. They are the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). These two treaties are considered to be the updates and supplements to the Berne Convention for the protection of the literary and artistic material.

"The WIPO Internet Treaties are designed to update and supplement the existing international treaties on copyright and related rights, namely, the Berne Convention and the Rome Convention. They respond to the challenges posed by the digital technologies and, in particular, the dissemination of protected material over the global networks that make up the Internet. The contents of the Internet Treaties can be divided into three parts: (1) incorporation of certain provisions of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) not previously included explicitly in WIPO treaties (e.g., protection of computer programs and original databases as literary works under copyright law); (2) updates not specific to digital technologies (e.g., the generalized right of communication to the public); and (3) provisions that specifically address the impact of digital technologies." [2]

Treaties

Berne Convention

The Berne Convention [3] was first accepted in 1986. It was an international agreement that sought to govern copyrights. Its basic purpose was to make the signatories recognize the copyrights of the works of authors of other signatory countries at the same level as copyrights in their own countries. The Three Step Test is a test contained in different forms in a few international treaties on copyright law. It provides a limit on the exceptions and limitations that a treaty member can provide under its domestic law. However, the Three Step Test was first laid down in Article 9 of the Berne Convention and it states:

It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases, provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

There are two divergent views on the limitations to copyright. Civil law sees copyright as a natural law right, meaning that an author already has the right to his work, and the law merely recognises it. Hence, civil law limitations to rights tend to be narrow. Common law adopts a utilitarian approach and advocates use of common law principles to spur creation of socially valuable works. In pursuance of such socially beneficial measures, Common law limitations are open ended.

When the Three Step Test was first conceived, it was to reconcile these divergent views of copyright limitations. So, at its core was the aim to allow national legislations sufficient latitude with regard to limitations. The effects of this treaty are enormous in that it affects the accessibility of almost every book or movie online for the average internet user.

The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was set up in 1998-1999 in order to examine issues of substantive law or harmonization in the field of copyright and rights related to copyright. The committee is comprised of all the member states of WIPO. However, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations only have observer status.[4]

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996

The WPPT [5] benefits primarily two different kinds of people:

Performers (actors, singers, musicians, etc.), and
Producers of phonograms (the persons or legal entities who or which take the initiative and have the responsibility for the fixation of the sounds).

The purpose of the Treaty was to protect the rights of performers and producers of phonograms in the most effective and uniform manner possible without making void contractual obligations that pre-date the treaty. The Treaty grants performers four different kinds of economic rights in their performances fixed in phonograms:

The right of reproduction,
The right of distribution,
The right of rental, and
The right of making available.

The term of protection has been agreed for at least 50 years. The Treaty also constituted an Assembly that has the power to decide whether intergovernmental organizations can become party to the treaty.

WIPO Copyright Treaty

The WCT was adopted in 1996 by 89 countries.[6] After many advances were made in information technology since the formation of previous copyright treaties, this treaty attempted to add protections for copyrights. Mainly it ensures that computer programs were protected as literary works (Article 4) and also that the arrangement and selection of material in databases is protected (Article 5). It bolsters the protection further by providing authors with control over the rental and distribution of their work according to Article 6 to 8 which wasn’t directly prevalent in the Berne Convention. Many theorists feel that it is far too broad and offers too much protection to the copyright holder. For example, the circumvention of technical protection measures in pursuit of legal and fair use rights can be prevented because it is prohibited in this treaty. It also applies a uniform standard to all the signatory countries even though they are all at different stages of economic development and knowledge industry.

Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty

In 2006, the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) made a basic proposal to develop protection rights for all broadcasting organizations. This treaty would allow broadcasting organizations like media broadcasters to protect the content of their transmissions. They basically will have the right to protect their transmissions from reproduction, retransmission and even from public communication and will retain the copyright protection for 50 years. The problem with this treaty is that it adds a layer protection to the copyright that already exists on the material that is being broadcasted. This would allow broadcasters to restrict access to works that are currently available in the creative commons just because they happened to transmit it. This means that the citizens were unable to access works that they could previously access. The easier and fair way of solving the problem that broadcasters face, which the piracy of broadcast signals would have been to criminalize the piracy at an international level, many NGO’s are currently arguing.

Treaty Proposal on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives

The International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) is currently working closely with the member states of WIPO in order to draft a binding international instrument for copyright limitations and exceptions. These exceptions and limitations are necessary for the libraries to preserve their collection, lend materials and facilitate/ support education and research. This treaty proposal is mainly being drafted by NGO’s and civil society actors in partnership with librarians and intellectual property experts. IFLA has collaborated with the International Council on Archives (ICA), Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) and Corporación Innovarte to produce the Treaty Proposal on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives.[7]

Some of the things that the treaty proposes are:

Parallel importation (i.e. buying books from abroad)
Cross-border uses of works and materials reproduced under a limitation and exception
Library lending
Library document supply
Preservation of library and archival materials
Use of works and other material under related rights for the benefit of persons with disabilities
Use of works for education, research and private study
Use of works for personal and private purposes
Access to retracted and withdrawn works
Orphan works[8]

Education

There is another treaty being discussed currently on copyright exceptions for education and research. The main issue is deciding the order in which these treaties will be negotiated and which matter is most pressing or urgent to address presently. Developing countries are in favour of both exceptions for libraries and archives as well as for education while developed countries are of the mind that exceptions for these things already exist in the current framework of international treaties and conventions. The US is expressly opposed to more discussions on more copyright exceptions and wants to move forward on the broadcast treaty discussions.[9]

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knowledge Ecology International, Public Knowledge along with other civil society groups formed a joint statement for the copyright exceptions for education in the digital age:

"(...) Education should be accessible for all without barriers of space, time, or cost. Digital technologies, from the portable computer to mobile phones to tablets, are being introduced as crucial educational tools in countries ranging from South Korea to Nigeria, from Brazil to the USA. Educational materials and, therefore, its market, is increasingly becoming digital and policymakers must consider this trend when drafting copyright exceptions and limitations in a way that is appropriate for future generations and the digital age.

The increasing adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the classroom and in libraries and archives has proven that teachers, learners, researchers, librarians and archivists need rights to access, use, remix, text-mine, exchange, and collaborate on educational materials. Similar rights must be ensured beyond the classroom and library or archive, taking into account the growing importance of e-learning, online communication, and the increasing practice of exchanging educational and other information content across geographical and institutional borders.

The international copyright system has recognized the need for exceptions and limitations from its earliest days. Without these, the copyright system would not be able to achieve its fundamental purpose of encouraging creation and innovation for the benefit of all humankind. (...)"[10]

WIPO Case Study

In June 2013, 186 member states of the WIPO adopted a landmark treaty known as the Treaty for the Visually Impaired (Formally known as: “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.”) [11] The purpose of the treaty was to increase the access to books for blind, visually impaired and print disabled people across the globe.

Aspects of the Treaty:

It required an exception in domestic copyright law for people with print disabilities and the visually impaired.
It allowed for the import and export of accessible versions of books without the permission of the copyright holder.
However, only “authorised entities” such as blind people’s organizations can avail this provision under the treaty’s terms.
Article 2 of the Treaty states that accessible books changing hands under its provisions should be solely for the use of “beneficiary persons”. It also states that “authorised entities” take “due care” when handling these books, and that they discourage the reproduction and distribution of copies that are unauthorized.

This treaty has the potential to change the way in which access to information is experienced by the visually impaired. This shows that civil society actors can take an active part in the drafting of important legislation as such a landmark treaty was originally proposed by the World Blind Union and Knowledge Ecology International after a meeting that was convened in 2008.[12] There was input sought from NGO’s throughout the process as well.

After the adoption of the treaty, however, the function of NGOs just increases. There are many steps required in order to ensure the effective implementation of the provisions of the treaty on the ground. Saksham Trust is one such NGO that works towards empowering marginalized sections of society by working on things like this. The following is an interview with Dipendra Manocha of Saksham Trust.

What kind of work in accessibility does your organization do?
Daisy Forum of India is a network of organisations that produce and distribute books in accessible formats to persons with print disabilities. These organisations produce digital e-text and digital talking books. The organisation works in the area of policy, capacity building, awareness, technology and mainstreaming accessibility in the area of books for persons with print disabilities.

What are the main impediments to ensuring accessibility on the ground?

Our policies and laws do not make it mandatory to use standards for digital content. Standards such as Unicode, accessible digital formats, etc., are not followed in production of digital content. Due to this we are forced to re-publish everything that gets published in India.
Books that are available as accessible content in other countries cannot be brought in India. We also cannot send books in accessible formats to other countries with common languages.
Enough resources are not allocated to produce accessible books for persons with print disabilities.
There are several technology gaps such as non-availability of text-to-speech (TTS) or OCR in Indian languages due to which production and reading options of accessible books is very expensive. The only option of reading in many languages is hard copy Braille or human voice recorded talking books. Both these are much more expensive than reading of digital e-text with the help of TTS technology.
Organisations and individuals in large parts of the country are not aware of the latest developments and methods of getting accessible content from common catalogue or online libraries, etc.
Reading technology has not reached the end users of the country in a large scale.
Main stream publishing industry is producing digital books but these are produced in a way that they are not usable by persons with print disabilities.

How important do you think treaties are?
These are extremely important as it takes best practice model of accessible books all over the world. Various stakeholders came together thinking and working together to find the best possible solution that takes care of the interests of all stakeholders.

Not even 2% of the blind individuals worldwide have sufficient access now. Countries like Namibia don’t even have a basic infrastructure to implement what the Treaty for the Visually Impaired offers. Therefore, in these places, what are the subsequent steps that an organization like yours has to do after the treaty enables?

Allocate resources to establish infrastructure for distribution providing sufficient protection to content to enable developing countries to participate in international exchange programme.
Develop mechanisms for international exchange of content.
Address technology gaps so that local language content can be produced and read by persons with print disabilities.

The developed world will act according to its commercial interests. Most of the knowledge is produced in the developed countries and most of the disabled are in developing countries. What are ways to make this equation seem more lucrative?

South-south cooperation
Even relatively smaller subscriptions and remunerations for already developed content will be additional resource of funds even for companies or organisations of developed countries if they begin distribution of their content in developing countries.

Technological Protection Measures and Rights Management Information (TPMs/RMI)

In order to ensure that unauthorized copying of a protected material can be prevented or detected, the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) included new provisions dealing with TPMs and RMI.

TPMs are technological safeguards which are put in place which prevents the copying of a protected work in digital format to be copied multiple times. This includes limiting the number of devices on which a song can be copied, using software which does not allow the consumer to copy the protected works from an optical disc.

RMI are generally put on the protected work to ensure that the label of the owner of the work is always embedded in the work. For example, in case of a movie, the film studio may use an RMI which would be positioned as the logo in the movie. It can be also stored as metadata along the video or the protected work.

Article 11 of the WCT and Article 18 of the Wipo Performances and Phonograms Treaty, 1996, (WPPT) states that the states must provide legal protection for TPMs and RMI apart from making provisions for legal remedy in case of circumvention of the technological protection measures. It is interesting to note that India is not a signatory to both the treaties that is WPPT and WCT. This could be because of the strict copyright provisions in the treaties which undermine many goals of accessibility currently being pursued by India.

[1]. Article 3 – Objectives of the Organization, Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization available at http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/convention/trtdocs_wo029.html

[2]. www.wipo.int/copyright/en/ecommerce/ip_survey/chap3.html#3a

[3]. See more at http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html

[4]. See more at http://www.wipo.int/policy/en/sccr/

[5]. See more at http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/wppt/summary_wppt.html

[6]. See more at http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/wct/trtdocs_wo033.html

[7]. See more at http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/exceptions-limitations/documents/TLIB_v4.3_050712.pdf

[8]. See more at http://www.ifla.org/node/5856

[9]. See more at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/07/wipo-possible-international-treaty-copyright-exceptions-limitations

[10]. See full document at https://www.eff.org/file/35218#page/1/mode/1up

[11]. See more at http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=245323

[12]. See more at http://keionline.org/content/view/210/1

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/wipo

An Interview on Internet Governance with Professor Milton Mueller and Jeremy Malcolm

anirudh — 2013-11-12T10:14:58Z

Anirudh Sridhar interviewed Professor Milton Mueller from the Syracuse University School of Information and Jeremy Malcolm, an Information Technology and Intellectual Property Lawyer, regarding current issues and debates surrounding internet governance.

Q1: The extent to which civil society can participate at the proceedings of WCIT’12?

Professor Mueller: I did not attend WCIT-12. Civil society and industry were both influential in the process. CS created a great deal of critical publicity and leaked documents that had formerly been private. Industry and CS both lobbied governmental officials. (I was the first to leak an official ITU document, and this led to the creation of WCIT leaks by some friends of mine who took the idea much farther.)

Professor Malcolm: Actually I did not attend the WCIT’12 in Dubai. I did attend the WTPF in May, but was not permitted to speak. I did distribute a briefing paper by hand and managed to speak to a few delegates. I also contributed some talking points to an intervention by the representatives of the Informal Experts Group (IEG). Undoubtedly the work of the IEG was influential, and the civil society representatives were influential within that group, but the role of the IEG was poorly articulated and its procedures and relationship to the plenary WTPF were quite arbitrary.

Since then, the organization that I represent, Consumers International, has been granted sector membership status of the ITU-T and ITU-D with a waiver of fees, so that next time we will have the opportunity to speak at any meeting that is open to sector members. This is all well and good for us, less so for civil society organisations that do not have expertise in telecommunications and hence would find it more difficult to apply for sector membership.

Q2: What were the central debates at the WCIT’12 conference?

Professor Mueller: The central debates were: 1) the relevance of International Telecom Regulations to Internet governance, 2) the ETNO proposal to have quality of service charging 3) role of the ITRs in "security" 4) to which entity do the ITRs apply (Operating entities, recognized operating entities, etc.)

Professor Malcolm: Proposals that ITU Recommendations should have mandatory status; that it should expand its mandate to include ICTs as well as telecommunications; that it should take over Internet naming and numbering functions from ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers); and that Internet content hosts should share more of their revenue with the operators of telecommunications networks.

Q3: What were some good outcomes and what were some bad outcomes?

Professor Malcolm: None of these proposals succeeded, and not all even officially made it to the table. With the sustained opposition of the United States, Google and other powerful stakeholders, there was never any likelihood that they would.

What did make it through into the final treaty text are two provisions that, given that they are notionally responsible for the refusal of many countries to sign the ITRs, bear that responsibility like a dwarf wears a baggy suit. First, on security – it's worth setting this out in full:

Member States shall individually and collectively endeavor to ensure the security and robustness of international telecommunication networks in order to achieve effective use thereof and avoidance of technical harm thereto, as well as the harmonious development of international telecommunication services offered to the public.

And on spam:

Member States should endeavor to take necessary measures to prevent the propagation of unsolicited bulk electronic communications and minimize its impact on international telecommunication services. Member States are encouraged to cooperate in that sense.

The theory, though it taxes the imagination somewhat, is that these provisions could allow ITU members to justify constraints on Internet content, on the pretext that they are merely addressing security or spam. But the ITU already has work programs on security and spam, and ITU members in turn already heavily regulate these fields, without having an explicit mandate in the ITRs.

Q4: Is the fear of the ITU’s takeover of the internet real?

Professor Mueller:

There is no sudden UN or ITU effort to take over the Internet. There is, instead, a longstanding struggle between the Net and states at the national and international level. The WCIT is just the latest episode; and compared to WSIS, a minor one.

There is no evidence of any recent enlargement of the political support for states and inter-governmental institutions such as ITU. The same players are taking the same positions. There may even be erosion of support for inter-governmentalism, e.g. Brazil’s abandonment of CIRP.

The ITU is a paper tiger. Neither WSIS nor any other international development has strengthened or approved ITU efforts to gain control of pieces of the Internet since 1996.

Professor Malcolm: No: IN THE wake of the anti-climactic conclusion to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) earlier this month, readers could be forgiven for being confused about whether all the hype about the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) staging a UN takeover of the Internet had ever represented a real threat, or had just been a beat-up by special interest groups with an agenda to push.

Q5: Does the US, through ICANN exert too much unilateral influence on Internet Governance?

Professor Mueller: Off course. There are many examples of this. For example, the adoption worldwide of policies based on the DMCA and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the seizure of domains registered to US-based registrars even if they are foreign-owned and do not infringe foreign law, and the linking of tough IP laws to trade concessions.

Professor Malcolm: Yes, the US exerts too much influence over ICANN, via the GAC and the IANA contract. WCIT (or more accurately, the ITU) is NOT the right track to solve this, because keeping the internet away from the ITU is one of the primary reasons the US exerts unilateral control. Any attempt to solve the problem via the ITU will fail.

Q6: Are there any serious alternatives to ICANN?

Professor Mueller: It is inconceivable that IGF will ever evolve into a body that negotiates binding treaties. Its entire mission and purpose is to be an alternative to that. It is also an extremely weak and poorly funded institution.

Professor Malcolm: There are no longer any alternatives to ICANN that anyone seriously thinks are better. The only argument that people are making nowadays is that oversight of ICANN should become multilateral. Nobody (no longer even the ITU) is seriously suggesting that any other body than ICANN should be making these decisions. At most, the GAC wants more say, but even the GAC is still part of ICANN.

Q7: Can we have a multi-stakeholder process that is truly democratic with legal force?

Professor Mueller: To reconcile legally binding authority with MS, you would need some dramatic institutional changes at the global level that would create new forms of representation. These new institutional forms would have to find some way to represent all the world's people and organizations, not states. Because states are unlikely to give up this power on their own, some kind of revolutionary action would be required to bring that about, roughly analogous to the democratic revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th century.

Professor Malcolm: In the far future, yes. In the near future no, but we still need to start talking about it, because the future starts from now. Mechanisms of multi-stakeholderism are still not well enough developed that they can substitute for the legitimacy of the nation state. But nation states do not properly overlap with those who are governed by transnational rules about the Internet, so eventually change must come.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/interview-with-milton-mueller-and-jeremy-malcolm

Tweets with "IGF13"

pranesh — 2013-10-28T06:29:42Z

Tweets with "IGF13".

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/20131021T090102_igf13

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Snehashish Ghosh and Anirudh Sridhar — 2013-12-03T05:44:24Z

Snehashish Ghosh and Anirudh Sridhar introduces you to ICANN, its history, structure, and advisory mechanisms.

Introduction

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit public-benefit corporation which is responsible at the overall level, for the coordination of the, “global internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the internet's unique identifier systems.”[1]

In other words, in order to reach or connect to another computer on the internet, one has to provide the address of the computer. Such an address must be unique so that the computers are able to locate each other. ICANN is responsible for coordinating these unique identifiers across the globe. ICANN, thus, plays a major role in internet governance.

In technical terms ICANN coordinates the domain name system (DNS), internet protocol (IP) addresses, space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD), country code (ccTLD) top level domain name system management and root server system management functions. These functions were previously performed by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) under a US Government contract.

History

ICANN was established on September 18, 1998. Subsequently it was incorporated on September 30, 1988.

In June 1998 the US Department of Commerce came out with a white paper on the administration of internet name and numbers. The main purpose of the white paper was to move administration of internet domain names and IP addresses out of the control of US federal government and vest it in a non-profit, internationally representative organization.[2]

Governing Documents

Articles of Incorporation
ICANN Articles of Incorporation was finalized on November 21, 1988. According to the Article of Incorporation, the main function of the ICANN was laid down as the following:

"In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by:

Coordinating the assignment of internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet;
Performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the internet protocol ("IP") address space;
Performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system;
Overseeing operation of the authoritative internet DNS root server system; and
Engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv).”[3]

ICANN By-Laws

The by-laws outline the powers and responsibilities of the ICANN by laying down its mission and core values. It also establishes the offices of the Ombudsman (Article V), Board of Directors (Article VI), Nominating Committee (Article VII), Address Supporting Organization (Article VIII), Country Code Name Supporting Organization (Article IX), Generic Name Supporting Organization (Article X) and Advisory Committees (Article XI). It also lays down guidelines related to fiscal matters, membership, offices and seal and the procedure for amendment of by-laws.[4]

Structure of the ICANN


Above: Structure of the ICANN

As per the structure of the ICANN,[5] it has adopted a bottom-up, consensus driven, multi-stakeholder approach. The ICANN currently comprises of three supporting organizations and four advisory committees apart from the Board of Directors and other advisory committees.

Board of Directors
The Board of Directors comprises of 16 members ("Directors") who have voting rights. Additionally it has five non-voting liaisons. The five liaisons appointed by Governmental Advisory Committee, Root Server and Stability Advisory Committee, Technical Liaison Group and Internet Engineering Task Force. Each body appoints one liaison member. The Directors are expected to act in the best interest of ICANN rather than acting in the best interest of the entity they have been selected from. The main function of the Board of Directors is to put to vote various policy recommendation made by the Supporting Organizations and the Advisory Committees.

Supporting Organisations
The Supporting Organizations are Address Supporting Organization, Country Code Name Supporting Organization and Generic Name Supporting Organization. They are tasked with policy making on IP Addresses, country code top level domain and generic top level domain respectively.

Advisory Committee
ICANN also takes into consideration suggestions and recommendations from the Advisory Committees. This also assists the ICANN to make note of the demands and interests of the stakeholders, who do not participate in the Supporting organizations. The four Advisory Committees are:

Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) – The GAC is composed of representatives from the national governments across the world.
Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) – The SSAC comprises of cyber security experts tasked to study security issues related to ICANN’s mandate.
Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) – The RSSAC also comprises of technical experts who provides recommendation and advise on the operation of the DNS root server system.
At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) – The ALAC consists of representatives from the organizations of individual internet users. The main function of the ALAC is to "consider and provide advice on the activities of ICANN, in so far as they relate to the interests of individual internet users."[6]
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
NRO (Number Resource Organization) – It is a body that co-ordinates the 5 regional internet registries that manage the distribution of internet number resources. These include IP addresses and the autonomous system numbers. Nominating Committee (NomCom) – This committee invites statements of interest and candidate recommendations from the internet community to fill important leadership positions to carry out ICANN’s role in technical and policy coordination.

Other Advisory Mechanisms

The other advisory mechanisms are put in place in order to seek expert advice on ICANN’s policy development and setting of technical standards. The two other advisory mechanisms are: (i) External Expert Advice and (ii) Technical Liaison Group.

Amongst its many accomplishments ICANN in collaboration with Verisign and National Telecommunication and Information Administration (US) completed the deployment of the DNS security extensions for the root zone. The ICANN has also been successful in setting up of a cost-effective uniform domain name dispute resolution policy which has been efficient in solving domain name disputes.

[1]. Article I, Bylaws for ICANN (As amended on March 16, 2012) available at https://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws/bylaws-16mar12-en.htm

[2]. Milton L Mueller, ICANN and Internet Governance| Sorting through the debris of ‘self regulation’, Vol. 1, No. 6, Dec. 1999, Camford Publishing Ltd. available at http://www.icannwatch.org/archive/muell.pdf

[3]. Articles of Incorporation, ICANN as revised on November 21, 1988 available at https://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/articles

[4]. By-Laws for ICANN as amended on December 20, 2012 available at https://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws

[5]. Can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/groups/chart

[6]. Article XI, By-Law for ICANN available at www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#XI

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/icann

International Telecommunication Union

Snehashish Ghosha and Anirudh Sridhar — 2013-10-06T03:58:11Z

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is an intergovernmental organization which coordinates between governments and private sector bodies with respect to global telecommunication and information communication technology (ICT) services.

Note: Chart would be put up soon.

Introduction

The ITU is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland, having been established as a successor to International Telegraph Union which was set up in 1865. Subsequently in 1947 the ITU became as specialized agency of the United Nations.

This unit will deal with the ITU’s main areas of work and with special focus on review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) during the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT ’12) and its impact on the internet. It will also briefly touch upon the various functions of the ITU.

Amongst other functions[1] the ITU is mainly responsible for management of radio spectrum globally and coordination and setting of technical standards related telecommunication/ICT. The ITU also has active involvement in the sectors of broadband internet, next generation wireless technologies, data, access, television broadcasting and convergence in mobile devices.

Composition of the International Telecommunication Union

The ITU comprises of Member States, Sector Members and Associates.
Member States
Member states have the right to vote in the ITU proceedings. Each member state nominates one member to represent the State in ITU proceedings. Currently, 193 member states participate in the ITU proceedings. For example, India, the United States of America, Sudan, etc.
Sector Members
Any interested organization can become a member of any of the sectors or all the sectors (ITU-T, ITU-R and ITU-D) for a payment of a fee. Sector members can be from industry, international or regional organizations. The rights and obligations of the Sector Members are laid down in Article 3 of the Constitution of the ITU.[2] The Internet Society is an ITU-D and ITU-T sector member.
Associates and Academia
Any interested industry, international or regional organization can become Associates on a payment of a fee. University and research organizations can also become members from academia. HMR Institute of Technology Management, New Delhi and Sinhgad Technical Education Society, Pune are academia members at ITU from India. The Associates can participate in Study Groups which will be explained below. Each sector convenes study groups in order to support and carry out research and study related to the three sectors of the ITU. They are also responsible for the formulation of the draft recommendations. Companies such as Ericsson and Samsung are associate members of the ITU.

Structure of the International Telecommunication Union

The ITU has certain bodies which are convened as per the Constitution. The Plenipotentiary Conference is convened every four years which decides upon the future mandates of the ITU. Similarly the world conferences on international telecommunication are convened as decided upon in the Plenipotentiary Conference. Although these bodies are not permanent, they play a major role in functioning of the ITU.

The structure of the International Telecommunication Union is laid down under Article 7 of the Constitution of the ITU. According to Article 7, the ITU comprises of the following mechanisms/bodies:

Other Bodies

This acts as the platform for high level debate, networking and knowledge sharing for the global ICT community. It basically tries to drive industrial success and tackle socio-economic problems. The ITU telecom also hosts many annual events where these debates occur.

[1]. Article 1(2), Constitution of the ITU, “...effect allocation of bands of the radio-frequency spectrum, the allotment of radio frequencies and the registration of radiofrequency assignments and, for space services, of any associated orbital position in the geostationary-satellite orbit or of any associated characteristics of satellites in other orbits, in order to avoid harmful interference between radio stations of different countries;
b) coordinate efforts to eliminate harmful interference between radio stations of different countries and to improve the use made of the radio-frequency spectrum for radiocommunication services and of the geostationary-satellite and other satellite orbits;
c) facilitate the worldwide standardization of telecommunications, with a satisfactory quality of service;

d) foster international cooperation and solidarity in the delivery of technical assistance to the developing countries and the creation, development and improvement of telecommunication equipment and networks in developing countries by every means at its disposal, including through its participation in the relevant programmes of the United Nations and the use of its own resources, as appropriate;

e) coordinate efforts to harmonize the development of telecommunication facilities, notably those using space techniques, with a view to full advantage being taken of their possibilities;

f) foster collaboration among Member States and Sector Members with a view to the establishment of rates at levels as low as possible consistent with an efficient service and taking into account the necessity for maintaining independent financial administration of telecommunications on a sound basis;

g) promote the adoption of measures for ensuring the safety of life through the cooperation of telecommunication services;

h) undertake studies, make regulations, adopt resolutions, formulate recommendations and opinions, and collect and publish information concerning telecommunication matters;

i) promote, with international financial and development organizations, the establishment of preferential and favourable lines of credit to be used for the development of social projects aimed, inter alia, at extending telecommunication services to the most isolated areas in countries.”

[2]. Art. 3, Constitution of the ITU, “In respect of their participation in activities of the Union, Sector Members shall be entitled to participate fully in the activities of the Sector of which they are members, subject to relevant provisions of this Constitution and the Convention:

a) they may provide chairmen and vice-chairmen of Sector assemblies and meetings and world telecommunication development conferences;

b) they shall be entitled, subject to the relevant provisions of the Convention and relevant decisions adopted in this regard by the Plenipotentiary Conference, to take part in the adoption of Questions and Recommendations and in decisions relating to the working methods and procedures of the Sector concerned.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/intnl-telecom-union

Institute on Internet & Society: Event Report

srividya — 2013-10-15T06:48:00Z

The Institute on Internet and Society organized by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) with grant supported by the Ford Foundation took place from June 8 to 14, 2013 at the Golden Palms Resort in Bangalore.

A total of 20 participants spent the seven days in a residential institute, learning about the fundamental technologies of the Internet and topics on which CIS has expertise on such as Accessibility, Openness, Privacy, Digital Natives and Internet Governance.

The participants belonged to various stakeholder groups and it provided a common forum (first of its kind in India) to discuss and share ideas. Twenty-four expert speakers from various domains came to share their knowledge and speak about their work, so as to encourage activity in the field and supply resources from which participants could learn to increase their accessibility, range and funding possibilities, as well as network with the speakers and amongst themselves.

The Institute has triggered a number of follow-up events — those that the participants organized themselves with the help of CIS staff, including Crypto Parties in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, that taught netizens to keep their online communication private. In addition to that, the CIS Access2Knowledge (A2K) team could rope in eight new Wikipedians who will contribute to Wikipedia in Indic languages.

The day wise talks and activities that took place are listed below:

Day 1: June 8, 2013

The seven day residential Institute began on Saturday, the 8th of June with a warm welcome by Dr. Ravina Aggarwal and Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan. They outlined the purpose of the residential institute and briefly went over the topics which would get covered over the week long duration. This was followed by each of the participants introducing themselves briefly and also stating their expectations from the Institute, why they were attending the same and what they hope to get at the end.

Session 1: History of the Internet

(by Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle)

Above is a picture of Pranesh Prakash speaking about the History of the Internet during the first session on Day 1.	The Institute proceedings kicked off with the first session, History of the Internet by Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle. Participants learned where the Internet originally came from and how it is organized, as well as different technologies surrounding the Internet. Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle set the start point of the Internet in the late 50's when the Russians send the first satellite in space (Sputnik) and the US founded the DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), a research agency that was tasked with creating new technologies for military use. DARPA is credited with development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface (GUI). A few years later the first four computers were connected to a network.

After the Network Control Protocol (NCP, later replaced by the TCP/IP) was invented in 1970, the first applications were made: email (connecting people), telnet (connecting computers) and the file transport protocol (FTP) (connecting information) — all of these are still in use today. Participants were surprised to learn that the Web, most commonly used today, known to be invented by one single person in the 90's, actually existed for a long time prior to the '90s.

VIDEO

Session 2: Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms

(by Pranesh Prakash)
After lunch, Pranesh Prakash led the second session about Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms and he started with some of the problems associated with the Domestic Regulatory Bodies:

Lack of coherence and consistency in Internet related policies
Rather than co-operating, the different agencies compete with each other.
Communication with the public is of different degrees and openness of different agencies varies.

Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), is one of the most important public agencies & the CERT-in focuses on issues like malware and content regulation. There is also the STQC (Standard Setting and Quality Setting Body).
The work of these organizations is to govern the Internet, bring about better privacy policies and ensure freedom of speech.
Other governing bodies include DOT (Department of Telecommunications) which governs the telecom and internet policies of India. In India, certain content regulation takes place under a notification as part of the IT Act, 2003.
TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) also looks into the tariff, interconnections and quality of telecom sector, spectrum regulation and so on.
The USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) seeks to provide funds for setting up telecom services in rural areas.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has been extending copyright restrictions to online publications.

VIDEO

Session 3: Emerging trends in Internet usage in India

(by Nandini C and Vir Kamal Chopra)
Emerging Trends in Internet Usage with specific focus on BSNL offerings (by Vir Kamal Chopra)
Some of the salient points discussed were:

In 1995, the VSNL provided internet in 4 metros of India, by 1998 DOT had provided internet in 42 cities.
Some of the facilities internet provides include Tele-education, Tele-medicine, mobile banking, payment of bills via mobile internet, etc.
BSNL has got maximum broadband market share in India.
Present Scenario, there are 900 million mobiles in India, 430 million wireless connections with capability to access data.
The total broadband connections are 15 million in country, 10 million provided by BSNL.
Total internet users are 120 million with a growth rate of 30%.
Public access is not only about network intermediaries but about info-mediaries who understand internet.
BSNL lost Rs 18,000 crores from 3G license.
2G to 3G shifting is not seamless and leads to lot of packet loss, and 3G coverage is not as extensive as 2G. Thus 3G is not efficient however; the government has made a lot of money from selling 3G licenses.
Future trends include technology trends for internet access, optical fiber technologies, fiber to the curb, fibre to the home, metro Ethernet, etc.
Internet has created an online Public sphere.
In 2000 Parliament passed the Information Technology Act 2000 and the dot.com boom is seen.

Making internet access meaningful in the Indian Context (by Nandini.C)
(Click to see the presentation slides)
Some of the salient points discussed were:

Status of internet access today sees low level of overall penetration of internet, high rate of household mobile penetration and huge rural-urban divide in internet access.
Relationship b/w women and internet in India
8.4% of women in India have access to internet in India and 43% of women using internet in India perceived it as being an important part of their life.
Some area of concerns include ensuring adequate access of internet for the women, entrenched patriarchies, contextual relevance, the imaginary of ‘public access’.
The importance of an existing strong social support network, ITC itself cannot open up economic/social empowerment opportunities for women
ICT-enabled micro-enterprises may also force the burden of double work on women, who undertake both productive activities for the micro-enterprise and re/productive activities for the household.
The Internet today has created an online public sphere.
Countering the threat of online violence.
Censorship and content regulation.
Women’s rights and the spaces of internet governance.
Arbitrary censorship and self-regulation by the corporate and slide towards an illusory freedom; state is used as a bogeyman by corporate to create an online culture that is suitable to the corporate values.

VIDEO

Activity
Day 1 featured an interesting activity called the Creative Handshake. The goal of the game was to teach the participants the concept of "Handshake" in Internet terms and why it is important to make sure that integrity of data transferred is maintained.

Day 2: June 9, 2013

The focus of the second day was more on the nuts and bolts behind the working of the Internet by Dr. Nadeem Akhtar, Wireless Technologies and a case-study in Air Jaldi by Michael Ginguld, Collaborative Knowledge base building by Vishnu Vardhan and Affordable Devices on the Internet by Ravikiran Annaswamy.

The salient points of each of the talks are listed below.

Session 1: How Internet Works

(by Nadeem Akhtar)
Click to read the presentation slides

Internet structure and hierarchy:
1. Data Networks comprise of set of nodes, connected by transmission links, for exchange of data between nodes.
2. Some of the key principles which underpin data networks include digital transmission, multiplexing and data forwarding/routing.
Data networks through ownership include public and private networks.
Data networks through coverage include local area networks (small area), metro area networks (may comprise of a city) and wide area networks (wide geographic area across cities).
Protocols include:
1. Open systems interconnection (OSI) model divides a communication system into smaller parts. Each part is referred to as a layer. Similar communication functions are grouped into logical layers.
2. OSI model defines the different stages that data must go through to travel from one device to another over a network & this enables a modular approach towards developing complex system functionality i.e. functionality at layer X does not depend on how layer Y is implemented.
Above is a picture of Dr. Nadeem Akhtar speaking on the working of the internet on Day 2
Internet networks or connections.
Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers on the internet and these data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network centers, the internet exchange points and network access points. The internet back bone is decentralized.
Transit Service - Passing information from small ISP to large ISP.
Peering Service - The passing of information between two similar ISP’s os similar size to let network traffic pass.
Three levels of network Tier1, Tier2 and Tier 3. TATA Company is the only Tier 1 Indian Company.
Backhaul- Transport Links which connects access edge networks with the ‘core’ network. The transmitters have to be mounted on a high level.


Above is a picture of Dr. Nadeem Akhtar speaking on the working of the internet on Day 2

VIDEO

Session 2: Wireless Technologies

(by Michael Ginguld)
Click to read the presentation slides

We are surrounded by electromagnetic radiation
All about transmission waves and there are both advantages and disadvantages of the same:
1. Pros: higher reach for lower price, overcomes topographic challenges, lower maintenance, less to damage/lose
2. Cons: limited resources, maintenance (energy), physical limitations to transfer rates.
Satellite/VSAT is a very small aperture tech: a small satellite dish that connects to a geo-static satellite.
Strength: globally usable, can connect from anywhere.
Weakness: signal problems, relatively high installation charge, upstream connection is lower than the downstream, transmitter on satellite is extremely expensive, hence limitation on transmission capacity of the satellite.
VSATs are not scalable. It is a dead-end tech for usages where data transmission volume is expected to grow.
2G Technology for mobile connection.
Limitation in transfer of data, due to technology and encryption limitations but great availability and reasonable price.
3G Technology has a problem in India; low uptake, leading to low investment, leading to low speed, leading to low uptake. The technology allows for high-speed data transfer but the market condition in India still does not make adequate infrastructural support feasible.
4G license auction.
A company bought the country-wide 4G license in the auction. Mukesh Ambani bought the company after some days.
The present legislation does not allow for VoIP-based Telco operation but that is expected to change soon.
Wifi technology is wireless technology. It is low cost wireless transfer of data. The Public dissemination of the ranges in which data transfer using the WiFi protocol can take place. It was made public in India in January 2005.
1. Limitations: needs line of sight, limit to data transfer.
2. Strength: cheap, de-licensed spectrum usage, easily deployable.
2G spectrum, 3G spectrum and now 4G spectrum all are part of the wireless technology.
Air Jaldi started in Dharamshala; building wifi connection spanning campuses.
Three types of consumer categories: (1) no coverage, (2) under-served, and (3) ‘deserving clients’. #2 is the most common group. #3 are people who should be served but cannot pay fully for the service, hence are cross-subsidised by group #2.
Deployed and managed by local staff, trained by AirJaldi.
Customer premise equipment: Rs. 3-4k.
User charges: Rs 975 per month for 512 kbps, Rs 1500 per month for 1 mbps.
Content: by and large, AirJaldi brings infrastructure on which content can ride on, teams with various content providers (like e-learning, rural BPOs, local e-banking etc) for the content side. The biggest drivers are local BPO, banking and retail. The next big driver coming up is entertainment.
WiMax includes 4g spectrum.

VIDEO

Session 3: Building Knowledge Bases and Platform via Mass Collaboration on the Internet

Click to read the presentation slides

The session started off with some physical activity in the form of "Kasa Kasa Warte, Chan Chan Warte" to break off the lunch induced sleep and a mental activity where the participants were divided into two groups and both the groups were asked to collect information on "Water". One group was left to itself while the other had some expert inputs from Vishnu Vardhan on how to collaborate and organize the data. After the activity, both teams presented the information that they had collected on "Water". The benefits of collaborative authoring such as "everyone's voice is heard", "various inputs leading to a multi-dimensional thinking" etc were evident as against a single dimensional thought process that was seen from the group that was un-assisted.	Given above is a picture of the participants involved in a group activity

Salient points discussed during the presentation:

The Concept of Knowledge today is not something of modern phenomena, but it is something which has been existent since print culture was developed. Print technology shapes what we consider as knowledge, and hence as knowledge platform
Techno-sociality of knowledge production
The Concept of Knowledge today is not something of modern phenomena, but it is something which has been existent since print culture was developed. Print technology shapes what we consider as knowledge, and hence as knowledge platform
Techno-sociality of knowledge production
Examples of knowledge platforms:
1. Baidu baike
2. English wikipedia
3. Hudong
4. Catawiki
5. Wikieducator
6. Open street map
7. Pad.ma
8. Sahapedia
9. Internet archive
10. Jstor
11. Dsal
12. Dli
In 1994 Cunningham developed the ‘Wiki Wiki Web’ also known as the ‘Ward Wiki’. Basically it is a knowledge platform.
Internet since then has been used for dissemination of information especially in the education sector. Digital Archived have developed over the years which provide information across various platforms like Wikipedia.
The spread of the internet has made possible the building of knowledge bases by seamless and mass collaboration.

Generic challenges for Wikipedia

Quality, relevance, consistency of knowledge
Suitable motivation of the contributors
Another issue is the scalability

Some of the problems faced by Indian Wikipedian pages:

Technical infrastructure for Indian languages
Typing in the regional language
OCR: complexity of Indian language scripts
Various other technical troubles like browser compatibility, font display, etc., which deter new users
Dearth of quality content available in digital format
Different standards/formats/generations (gov.in/DLI)
Relative lack of research/academic standards, which is transferred on to Indic wikipedias.
Lack of knowledge sharing culture.
Building a mass knowledge platform is the need of the hour.
The platform should be user friendly, easily available and adoptable; offline outreach is key to effective use of online platforms.
The programme should have feedback loop key, behavior statistics data, reinvent and replicate the programme, multi-channel awareness, ‘user connect’ programmes.
The people should communicate knowledge sharing objectives, make knowledge sharing fun, appoint ambassadors; virtual volunteer community building looks simple but its complex and leads to failure.

VIDEO

Session: 4 Affordable Devices to access the Internet

(by Ravikiran Annaswamy)
Click to read the presentation slides


Given above is a picture of the speaker Ravikiran Annaswamy giving a demo of the low cost Akash tablet.

Overview of Affordable Mobile Phones such as Lava Iris, Karbonn A1, Nokia Asha, etc.
Overview of Affordable Tablets such as Aakash, Ubislate, Karbonn Smart A34, etc.
The number of Internet users in India is expected to nearly triple from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016, says a report by Boston Consulting Group.
How Internet Penetration impacts society.
Demo of the devices.
Need for Mobile Internet
Sugata Mitra & Arvind Eye Care examples.

VIDEO

Day 3: June 10, 2013

The third day of the Institute focussed on Wired means of accessing the Internet, the technology involved followed by an assignment time where the participants were introduced to 2 topics and asked to work on an assignment. This was followed by a site visit in the afternoon to MapUnity. MapUnity develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges. Their GIS, MIS and mobile technologies are used mostly by government departments and civil society organisations and in the R&D initiatives of commercial ventures.

Session 1: Wired Access Technology

(by Dr. Nadeem Akhtar)
Click to read the presentation slides

Some of the salient points discussed were:

Wired and Wireless

Wired:

Separate communication channel for each users
Low signal attenuation
No interference
Fixed point-of-attachment

Wireless:

Shared medium of communication
Signal is attenuated by a number of factors
Interference between adjacent channels
Points-of-attachment can be changed on-the-fly

Ethernet:

A family of computer networking technologies for LANs which was Invented in 1973 and commercially introduced in 1980. The systems communicating over ethernet divide a stream o data into individual packets called frames. Each frame contains source and destination addresses and error-checking data so that damaged data can be detected and re-transmitted.
Ethernet, by definition, is a broadcast protocol
Any signal can be received by all hosts
Switching enables individual hosts to communicate

Digital subscriber line (DSL):

DSL uses existing telephone lines to transport data to internet subscribers and the term xDSL is used to refer to a number of similar yet competing forms of DSL technologies which includes ADSL, SDSL, HDSL, HDSL-2, G.SHDL, IDSL, and VDSL. DSL service is delivered simultaneously with wired telephone service on the same telephone line and this is possible because DSL uses higher frequency bands for data.

Asymmetric DSL (ADSL):

ADSL is the most commonly installed technology and an ADSL tech can provide maximum downstream speeds of up to 8 mbps.

Modem and router:

Modem is specific to a technology
Modem is de/modulator, it takes bits coming from one protocol/technology, demodulates it (converts it into original data), and re-modulated the original data to another protocol/technology.
Router allows creation of a local area network, allowing multiple devices to connect to the network and access internet together through the router. It has very high bitrate DSL (VDSL) and goes up to 52 mbps downstream and 16 mbps upstream. The length of the physical connection is limited to 300 meters and the second generation VDSL (CDSL2) provides data rates up to 100 mbps simultaneously in both direction, but maximum available bit rate is still achieved about 300 meters.

Cable:

Cable broadband uses existing CATV infrastructure to provide high-access internet access; uses channels specifically reserved for data transfer
Support simultaneous access to broadband and TV programs
Cable access tech is built for one-way transmission; hence some congestion takes place for bi-way data transfer, leading to much lower upstream connection relative to downstream connection for data.

Fiber:

It is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber; fiber to the neighborhood; fiber to the curb; the street cabinet is much closer to the user’s premises, typically within 300m, thus allowing ethernet or radio-based connection to the final users; fiber to the basement; fiber to the home (BSNL already providing); fiber to the desktop
Passive optical networks (PON)

Advantages of fiber:

Immunity to electromagnetic interference.
Provides very high data rates at long distances.
When network links run over several 1000s of meters (e.g., metro area networks), fiber significantly outperforms copper.
Replacing at least part of these links with fiber shortens the remaining copper segments and allows them to run much faster.
The data rate of a fiber link is typically limited by the terminal equipment rather than the fiber itself.

Assignment
Participants were given two options for an assignment to work on in the coming days and they could choose either one.

Assignment A
The Universal Service Obligation Fund of India has put out a Call for Proposals under two schemes:

Mobile Connectivity and ICT related livelihood skills for womens’ SHGs (http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/pdf21may/Concept_Paper.pdf), and

Access to ICTs and ICT enabled services for persons with disabilities in rural India. (http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/usofsub/Concept%20paper_USOF%20Scheme_PwDs_A.G.Gulati.pdf)

Your NGO is committed to the task of facilitating access to the Internet for women/ persons with disabilities in rural parts of Kerala and wishes to submit a proposal/ project idea in partnership with a service provider to the USOF.

Assignment B
You are a member of the ancient tribe of Meithis residing in Manipur. Over the years, there is a strong feeling in your community that although the Government has rolled out projects to connect the rural areas throughout India, these have not been successful for your tribe and there is still even a lack of basic fixed telephony, let alone mobile and broadband services. You have hence come to the conclusion that there is a need for focused efforts to target such communities as yours and have decided to submit a concept note to the USOF requesting that ‘ethnic and rural tribal communities’ be specifically included within the mandate of the USOF’s activities by defining them as an ‘underserved community’.


Given above is a picture of the participants engaged in a discussion.

Field Trip - Destination: MapUnity.
MapUnity develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges. Their GIS, MIS and mobile technologies are used mostly by government departments and civil society organisations, and in the R&D initiatives of commercial ventures. MapUnity presented their product offerings to the participants.

VIDEO

Day 4: June 11, 2013

Session 1: Universal Access

(by Archana Gulati)
Click to read the presentation slides

Given above is a picture of Archana Gulati speaking on Universal Access.	Tuesday revolved around questions of access and openness. The day kicked off with Archana Gulati, a policy expert in access to ICTs for people with disabilities talking on Universal Access. Ms. Gulati stressed the importance of ICTs for social development. ICTs are a necessary aid in development structures including education, health and increased citizen participation in national affairs & they provide crucial knowledge inputs into productive activities. However, even with the Telecom boom, there still exists an access gap in India, which cannot be covered by commercially viable systems.

This 'actual access gap' exists because of geographic (scattered population, low income, low perceived utility of service, lack of commercial/industrial customers, lack of roads, power, difficult terrain, insurgency), economic (urban poor) and social inequality (gender, disabilities) differences. To achieve Universal Access or Universal Service, additional efforts must be made, so as to include these groups. However, Universal Access and Universal Service, while they may imply the same thing, are very different approaches to deal with the problematic access gap.

Universal service, a term coined by Theodore Vail, president of AT&T in 1906, argued that the government should enforce the usage of only one network. This approach suggests a monopolization of the market and goes against the liberal market principle.

Universal access on the other hand suggests cross-subsidizing the low and no profit service areas by high profit service areas. However, this results in the urban population to get over-charged while the rich rural areas benefit from rural subsidizing.

So how do we enable a fair and inexpensive network to be able to create access for a large number of people equally?
Ms. Archana Gulati went on to introduce the Sanchar Shakti scheme as a contribution to national access in India. It was initiated with the objective of improving rural SHG access skills, knowledge, financial services and markets through mobile connections and involved several stakeholders like NABARD, handset/modem manufacturers, DoT USOF, Mobile VAS Providers, Lead NGOs, Mobile Service Providers.

This scheme shows how important is, for the commercial, private and public sector to work together on obtaining accessibility to ITCs.

Session 2: Free and Open Internet

(by Pranesh Prakash)
The following session by Pranesh Prakash on Free and Open Internet showed how the internet can still be a restrictive place which does not allow for internet equality. His talk focussed on the concepts of free and open Internet. Prakash started by stating the Freedom of Speech and Expression Article of the Indian Constitution and in an interactive round it was discussed, how these articles are fundamental for securing other basic human rights. This was demonstrated by an example in which the distribution of food did not proceed equally, as misinformation and restrictions led to an inappropriate hoarding of goods. Therefore, it is important for everyone to have that right. In fact, the Indian constitution formulates Article 19 in a positive way, implying not only everyone should have that right, but that the government must promote the upholding of these rights.

However, in the case of Article 66a, the law actually caused a problem with freedom of speech in itself, as it penalizes sending false and offensive messages through communication services. This is a massive impediment on free speech, as outsiders decide upon what is offensive and what is false.

The other side of freedom of speech and expression is censorship. Online, the removal of websites and editing of content often happens quietly and obscures the fact that someone or something is being censored. Unlike book burnings in the past, which were always made a big political spectacle, often websites are simply removed without a trace, or one is faced with a 404 error, when trying to access it. Because of the offensive content law, journals and magazines are quick to remove supposedly offensive content, as it seems more difficult to engage in argument with the people claiming offense. The CIS proposed a counter-law to secure for this to happen less, as freedom of speech includes the freedom to receive that speech.

VIDEO

Session 3: Openness

(by Sunil Abraham)

Next to ensuring freedom of speech and access, the third session of the day focussed on Openness in terms of Open Source software. Sunil Abraham, CIS executive director, stated the importance of free software and open access of data, as they ensure what he called the four freedoms of internet usage, namely the freedom to use for any purpose, the freedom to study, to modify and to share (freely or for a fee). Proprietary software imposes on these freedoms, as it only has restrictive use and a strong copyright. However, there are alternatives that have moderate copyrights, or so-called copy centred perspectives, or even copyleft, including the above mentioned rights into the terms of the software usage.	Above is a picture of Sunil Abraham speaking on Openness

In alignment with Sunil Abraham’s talk Pranesh Prakash criticized copyright law cutting into accessibility rights, as copyright infringements include translation into other languages, audio versions and also integral parts of education. The key is not to have a "one size fits all" copyright solution, as it is impossible to treat twitter content the same as a blockbuster movie. However, the government of India is doing exactly that and needs to interlink questions of access with copyright law.

VIDEO

Session 4: Open Content

(by Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam)
Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, who led the next session, discussed Open Content. He had seen during the course of his experience India's poor performance in Science & Technology and outlined the reasons for the same. The lack of access to information essential in scientific research and knowledge production, he said, was the major limiting cause.

VIDEO

Session 5: Quick Talk on Copyright Law and Access

This short session dealt with implications of copyright law on internet access.

Activity

The participants were divided into two groups, and they were asked build as huge a network as possible with their personal belongings and present their creations. The participants had good ideas. One group placed their mobiles and laptops into the network to have them as nodes. The other group implemented the re-routing around censorship.

VIDEO


Given above is a picture of the participants in an activity making the longest network possible with their personal belongings.

Day 5: (June 12, 2013)

Session 1: Privacy on the Internet in India

(by Sunil Abraham and Elonnai Hickok)

Click to view the presentation slides

Given above is a picture of Elonnai Hickock speaking about privacy	The following day, June 12th started off with “Privacy” as the theme. The session Privacy on the Internet in India was led by CIS privacy experts Sunil Abraham and Elonnai Hickock. In an exchange of anecdotes, it was made clear how there needs to be a certain degree of state surveillance to secure the citizens safety. This can happen through off air interception and active or passive cell phone towers that can track mobile devices. However, encryption is an important tool to secure one’s own privacy against cyber espionage.

Some of the salient points discussed were:

Off-the Air Interception
Possible to set up active or passive cell phone tower.
The signal strength will be strong and everyone looks for it.
Capacity to identify itself as a service provider.
Interception can begin with encryption Technology today used by security agencies.
NTRO- national technical Research Org and Outlook

VIDEO

Session 2: E-Accessibility

(by Nirmita Narasimhan)
Click to view the presentation slides


Given above is a picture of Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan speaking on e-accessibility

The second session was on “E-Accessibility” led by Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan. Some of the salient points discussed were:

Problems arising out of disability
Accessibility-Infrastructure and ICT
Assistive technologies for PWD’s.
Reasonable accommodation (not available or cannot be and requires extra effort and putting up an accessible copy up) and universal Design (for both for PWD’s and non-PWD’s).
Web Content Accessibility is operable and easily understandable.
Accessibility standards include; Daisy (6 types of books including audio and text books) is all about marking up the documents. Really a good way to read but is expensive and time consuming, also need Daisy tools and player to make it work.
In 1808 the first typewriter was developed to help the blind.
Considerations involved in Web Accessibility
Overlap b/w mobile accessibility and web accessibility.
Example- Raku Raku phone captured 60% of market share in Japan. It has many assistive features.
Relay Services has a middle man who passes on the message b/w different PWD’s in many countries, but it is not yet available in India.
PWD’s communicating with customer care – the issues involved.
Accessibility Policy- very few people are adopting accessible technologies. There is a need to have a strong policy. U.K. and U.S. already have strong policies related to accessible and assistive technology for PWD’s.

Video

Session 3: International Bodies and Mechanisms

(by Tulika Pandey and Gaurab Raj Upadhyay)
Activity
Gaurab incorporated an Activity into his talk to enable the students to have a clearer understanding of International Bodies and Mechanisms.


Given above is a picture of the speaker Gaurab Raj Upadhaya explaining the International Bodies and Mechanisms

Some of the salient points discussed during his talk were:

Definition: “Internet Governance is the development and application by Govt., the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures and programmes which shape the evolution and use of internet.”
It should be multilateral, transparent and democratic
Enhanced cooperation means to enable govt…

Technical issues to keep in mind while talking about internet:

Critical internet resources
Root server locations
Open Standards (CIS leads the initiative)
Interoperability
Search Engines
Internationalized Domain names (in own script & language)
Content

Virtual yet real space and most important question to be understood is that whether, the governance of internet is possible?
Public Policy- to monitor cross-border data flow, Openness vs Privacy
India’s Outlook in internet policies-Pillars of Internet which is not fully addressed by the Indian government today.
Established an Inter- Ministerial Group by including various government departments into the arena.
Layer 0-7 Names and Numbers
Layer 8 and above
Applications and Usage
Legal business, policy, etc.

Session-4: E-Governance

(by Tulika Pandey and Sunil Abraham)


Given above is a picture of the speaker Tulika Pandey speaking about e-Governance

Some of the salient points discussed were:

Making policies in India is difficult because the population is huge and implementation at rural level is difficult.
Bombarded by Techno utopians- who believe in technology’s ability to change lives.
Techno determinants- Corruption solved through technology through open government data. More technology is better, the most sophisticated ones are the best are gross misconceptions.
Bhoomi project tried to deal with corruption at village level. Important policy change made all paper work illegal and digitized the land records etc. every action and request will be logged. But this led to creation of new corruption. Bribes were taken even before data was logged!
UID Project (Cobra Post Scam) around 20 public sector and 30 private banks were involved in money laundering scams.
People who design the systems in Delhi prepare sub-contracts.

VIDEO

Day 6: (June 13, 2013)

Session 1: Critical Perspectives of the Internet

(by Dr. Nishant Shah)
Click to view the presentation slides

The sixth day of the Institute kicked off with Nishant Shah, director of research at CIS, looking into Critical Perspectives of the Internet. Nishant made a very important distinction between the internet as infrastructure and as social network constructing alternative universes. Nonetheless it was important to stress that technology should not be alienated in the process of this separation but seen as an integral part of it, as the digital is as much part of reality as any other technology and has become essential as a technology of change that it brings about not only in scientific but also in social development. Quoting Michel Foucault, Shah argued that technology becomes influential when it changes life, labour and language, which is why research in the field should involve critical ways of thinking about body, space and community.	Above is a picture of Dr. Nishant Shah speaking on Critical Perspectives of the Internet.

The body perception can be perceived through the way bodily agencies change through technology. Technology does not necessarily taint or corrupt the body, but can also be a way to escape its confines. To put it to a point, we are all born into technology and cannot free ourselves from them, as for example pregnancy already starts with nutritional supplements, regulatory diets and exercise and essentially ends with birth technologies that do not necessarily involve only the digital - we must remember, speech is one of the oldest technologies available today.

VIDEO

Session 2: Strategies for Policy Intervention

(by Chakshu Roy)
The second session on “Strategies for Policy Intervention” was led by Chakshu Roy. This session dealt with various ways in which policy intervention can be made and the various factors necessary to successfully engage in policy forums.

VIDEO

Session 3: Profile of Internet Service Providers

(by Satyen Gupta)
Click to view the presentation slides


Given above is a picture of Satyen Gupta speaking about Internet Service Providers

Satyen Gupta during his talk on “Profile of Internet Service Providers” discussed the nature, offerings and profile of various ISPs in India, their market share and dynamics.

The salient points discussed were:

National Broadband Plans
Spectrum Issues “Management”
Reality check of Indian ISPs
Broadband Definition & Penetration
Roadblocks for Broadband in India, Governments Role, Regulation
Institutional Framework for the Indian Telecom
Broadband Access in India- Technology-Neutrality
Satellite based DTH Services offer alternate for the Broadband via Receive Only Internet Service (ROIS)
Broadband using DTH for Receive-only Internet
VSAT has the potential for significant impact on Broadband Penetration in Remote Areas
Fixed Wireless Access- an important access technology
Facilitating Radio Spectrum for Broadband Access
Fiscal measures to reduce the cost of access devices, infrastructure and broadband service
Reduction in the cost of connectivity
National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) -National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has been set up on recommendation of TRAI by DIT, Government of India to ensure that Internet traffic, originating and destined for India, should be routed within India.
Emerging Broadband Services
Broadband Commission for Digital Development (BCDD)-UN Targets for Universal Broadband,2015
NOFN India-Existing Fiber Infrastructure and Coverage by Various Service Providers
National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012- Salient Features
State of Internet Services and ISPs in India:
1. India’s Ranking on Key Broadband Indicators
2. Regulator’s Report – Growth of Internet in India
3. Internet Subscribers Base & Market share of top 10 ISPs
4. Technology trends for Internet/Broadband Access
5. Internet/broadband Subscribers for top 10 states
6. Tariff Plans for USO funded Broadband
7. Contribution of Telcos in Development of Internet Services
8. Incumbent’s Role in Growth of Broadband
9. Plugging rural missing link- BBNL
Internet Subscribers Base & Market share of top 10 ISPs

VIDEO

Session 4: Competition in the Market by Helani Galpaya

Helani Galpaya during her talk on “Competition in the Market” discussed about what competition meant, Herfindahl–Hirschman Index to measure how competitive a market is, what are the dangers of monopoly markets and the landscape of the Telecom market in India.


Above is a picture of Helani Galpaya speaking about Competition in the Market

Day 7: (June 14, 2013)

The final day of the Institute focussed on how the Internet can be used to effect change on society – Activism was the theme.

Session 1: Leveraging Internet for activism

(by Ananth Guruswamy)
Click to read the presentation slides


Above is a picture of Ananth Guruswamy speaking during the session on leveraging internet for activism

Some of the salient points discussed were:

Digital Activism
Target Omar Abdullah. It is about an act called Administrative detention Act. One can be detained without act i.e. The Preventive Detention Act. He directly responded to the threat.
Twitter seems to be a place where the political leaders are actually accessible. This kind of access was not possible in day to day life earlier if one was a common man. This phenomenon is developing. Even in Corporate setup writing a mail directly to the CEO seems possible.
Strengths: Wide reach, Freedom of speech, Data collection is made easy, Issues can be tackled swiftly, Global communities, singular identities have lot of power. Eg: 190 Million people stood up against Poverty; this kind of mobilization impossible without internet.
Besides local issues even Global issues are addressed an collection of funds becomes easy. Onion.com once a struggling publication in U.S., but now with a global audience it is thriving and it has a healthy reader base today.
The Earth Hour helps people connect across space and time.
Weakness: More popularity, more attention; Traditional/Real Protest has become rare and a threat; There is no real action beyond internet, threat of movement is low, there is no real commitment involved in digital activism and just one click is enough to make one ‘feel good’.
Opportunities: Recruitment of protestors for real protests. Diff. b/w real and virtual blurred; anything that affects the mind space is real. The intersection is interesting.
Threats: Total removal of privacy, Government intervention in private issues and there could be misinterpretation of people’s thoughts by certain people.
Traditional vs Digital activism: Traditional fails to provide results whereas clicking a button is as easy as wearing a badge.
Facebook activism: ‘Like Buttons’, People moving away from reading emails, a shift towards use of facebook; creates a sense of belongingness which the traditional activism failed to achieve.
India against Corruption: used mobile phone effectively.
Social Media has changed the way protests happen globally and in India, one example is Twitter. Change.org is a website which gives freedom to anybody to start a petition without any external source; Awaaz.org another such petition website.
Green Peace launched a Green peace X which was a runaway success. YouTube is another platform for the masses. People today are more interested in watching rather than reading.
Pakistan in 2007: “Flash protests”; Free Fraizan Movement on Twitter.
Something to keep in mind regarding while launching a campaign online is to think who the audience is and what we want them to do and how will the campaign help our objectives?
How to measure success of a social media campaign?
Reach
Engagement- likes, tweets, comments, etc.
Influence
Attrition Score

VIDEO

Session 2: Internet Access Activism

(by Parminder Jeet Singh)
The next session on “INTERNET ACCESS” ACTIVISM by Parminder Jeet Singh dealt with how people can contribute to initiatives for improving internet access amongst masses.

VIDEO

Session 3: Ensuring Access to the Internet

(by A.K. Bhargava)
Click to view the presentation
The last session on “Ensuring Access to the Internet” by A.K. Bhargava discussed strategies to enhance access to the Internet in India with special focus on National Optical Fibre Network.

The salient points discussed were:

-    Role of Broadband in Nation Building
-    Policy Aspiration of Broadband - How do we meet aspiration?
-    Telecom Network Layers‐Gaps in OFC Reach
-    BBNL Interconnection
-    NOFN - Bridging The Gap
-    Digital Knowledge Centres (DKCs)
-    Architecture of BBNL
-    NOFN Impact

Societal
- Bridging the digital divide
Business
- Job creation, indigenous industry growth
Sectoral
- Improved connectivity, data growth
Technological
- Differentiators
VIDEO

Speaker Presentation Slides
All the presentation aids/slide shows barring a few have been uploaded to the website at http://internet-institute.in/repository

Presentation of Assignments
The participants presented their assignments which were given to them to work on the 3rd day. The participants were presented with Wikipedia T-Shirts as a token of appreciation.


Given above is a picture of the participants presenting their assignments

Participant Feedback
All participants were asked to fill a "Session Feedback Form" for each of the sessions and also an "Overall Feedback Form". They were also constantly encouraged to come up with suggestions and inputs on how to make the Institute more interesting.

The key findings from the Quantitative Feedback provided are:
(The figures below are averaged scores (out of 5) provided by participants in the Overall Feedback Forms)

S.No.	Parameter	Score (Out of 5)
1	Relevance of Content	3.6
2	Comprehensiveness of Content	3.44
3	Easy to Understand	3.55
4	Well Paced	3.33
5	Sufficient Breaks	3
6	Duration of Talks	3.2
7	Mix between Learning & Activities	3

The key findings from the Qualitative Feedback provided are:

S.No.	Points observed
1	Presentations – Participants felt sessions with accompanying slides/aids were most helpful. Some felt that accompanying notes could also be useful for future reference.
2	Use of Examples/Case Studies – Participants felt concepts can be better assimilated if case-studies/examples are used. Some also felt that for the technological advancements discussed, it would have been better had the social/economic impact of the same was discussed too.
3	Implementation Gaps– One participant, who is working at the field level in Kolkata had a specific thing to say about the talk about BSNL and its offerings– Although BSNL has so many options available on paper to connect to the Internet, common service centres in West Bengal are mostly run on Tata Indicom’s network even though the board outside says “BSNL” etc. She felt that the reality is far different from what exists on paper.
4	Interactive sessions were most appreciated than speaker led sessions.
5	There were many responses to the question “How will you apply this new information in the future” and it is very encouraging. People have given thought to contributing to Wikipedia in their mother tongue, take the knowledge to the field work that they are associated with, continue with their research, change their Internet connections, to help file RTIs, to adopt more open source software, sharing with students, advocacy efforts, etc
6	The responses to the question “What did you learn from the session/workshop that was new?” elicited more responses for the following sessions Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms Case-studies such as Air Jaldi Low cost devices in India USOF Free & Open Internet Copyright laws Privacy Accessibility Digital Natives ISPs
7	Field Trip – One participant said “One or two of the persons from MapUnity could have made the presentation at the institute venue itself. A visit to an underserved or un-served community with interactions with the people there could also have given a good understanding of on-ground challenges and needs.”
8	Follow-up Session –One participant had ideas about having a follow-up session “A follow-up call [webinar?] after 6 months to see if any of these concepts were useful would be an interesting exercise to take up”
9	Assignment – Participants felt that the assignments were good but they needed more time to work on the same.

Other Feedback:

The food and the facilities were enjoyed and appreciated by all.
The remote location of the Golden Palms Resort was a concern for most of the participants.

Participation Certificates
Participation Certificates (template shown below) have been mailed to all the participants in the third week of July 2013.


Given above is the certificate declaring the successful completion of the event

Institute Expenses

A total of Rs. 19, 91,889 (Rupees nineteen lakhs ninety one thousand eight hundred and eighty nine only) was spent towards organizing and conducting the Internet Institute. A breakup of the Institute Expenditures is given below:

S.No.	Type of Expense	Description	Total
1	Venue – Golden Palms Resort	Accommodation for participants, speakers and food	12,91,176
2	Travel	Cost of Air tickets	2,94,515
3	Local Travel	Airport Pickup/Drop, Local City Travel	1,41,001
4	Gifts & Printing	Gifts for speakers and ad hoc document printing charges	24,000
5	Infrastructure	Telephony, Audio, Video, Stage	1,05,000
6	Participant Bags		10,650
7	Reimbursements	Reimbursements to participants and speakers	1,25,547
Total Expenses			19,91,889

What the participants had to say

Sangh Priya Rahul – “One of my organisation's work is more or less related to empowerment of rural areas so knowledge about USOF will be useful there.” (On USOF)

Rashmi. M – “Makes me more sensitized towards the disabled people.” (On e-Accessibility)

Preethi Ayyaluswamy – “Would help me in strategically planning for an online campaign” (On digital activism).

Conclusion

The Institute was highly engaging and enabled the participants to explore the various facets of Internet & Society. As was evident from the feedback forms, participants had given thought to contributing to Wikipedia in their mother tongue, take the knowledge to the field work that they are associated with, continue with their research, change their Internet connections, help file RTIs, adopt more open source software, sharing with students, advocacy efforts etc. There was a very high level of expertise amongst speakers at the Institute which was apparent from the participatory discussions and a lot of insightful perspectives were brought forth. There was a common consensus amongst all participants that inclusive growth across all dimensions would take efforts from all stakeholders.

We hope to learn from the findings of this Institute and work towards a better second Institute.


Above is a group picture of all the participants and the organizers

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society-event-report

Institute on Internet and Society

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T05:52:02Z

The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore is pleased to announce the Institute for Internet and Society to be held in Bangalore from June 8 to June 14, 2013 at the Golden Palms Resort, Bangalore.

With financial support and visionary guidance from the Ford Foundation, this initiative represents an important opportunity to bring together various stakeholders in a neutral forum and share ideas. The week-long residential institute will cover topics surrounding the internet and society.

Course Content

History of the Internet (This session will cover brief history of the Internet, its early stages and growth. It will also cover origins of internet in India and its impact on the Indian GDP. It will also focus on hot topics/debates surrounding the Internet).
Internet Technologies and Infrastructure (The session infrastructure, purpose and function of an ISP, advantages and disadvantages of different modes of Internet access).
E-Governance (This session will cover the various e-governance initiatives).
Principles and Values of the Internet (This session will cover various principles that underpinned the creation of the Internet, the threats they face and the need for a truly “open internet”).
Ownership and Management (This session will cover ownership and market distribution).
Internet Activism (This session will deal with various initiatives which have successfully used the Internet to build movements and campaigns).

Institute Highlights

Guest Lectures by Experts & CIS Staff
Interactive Panel Discussions
Case Studies
Surveys
Breakout Sessions
Demonstrations
Product Walkthroughs
Networking Opportunities and much more…

At the end of the week long residential course, attendees will have:

Acquisition of knowledge on Internet in the Indian society.
Appreciation of the role of community and other stakeholders in issues surrounding the Internet.
Creation of a starting point for improved communication of research findings, innovations, information and new technologies in Internet to evolve a community comprising academicians and policy makers.
Appreciation of the need to bridge the gap between policy and implementation.

Agenda

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	INTRODUCTION Dr. Ravina Aggarwal & Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan
11:00 11:30	Tea / Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	HISTORY AND GROWTH OF INTERNET IN INDIA Madan Mohan Rao (This session will deal with the advent of the internet and its growth in India).
13:00 14:00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	DOMESTIC BODIES AND MECHANISMS Pranesh Prakash (This session will give an overview of the roles, which different government bodies play in regulating the Internet).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:30	EMERGING TRENDS IN INTERNET USAGE IN INDIA Nandini C and Vir Kamal Chopra (This session will cover key trends and issues with regard to internet usage in India).
20:00 22:00	Dinner

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	WIRED TECHNOLOGIES Dr. Nadeem Akhtar (This session will deal with the various technologies involved in establishing a wired connection to the internet).
11:00 11:30	Tea / Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES Michael Ginguld (This session will deal with the various technologies involved in establishing a wireless connection to the internet).
13:00 14:00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	BUILDING KNOWLEDGE BASES AND PLATFORMS VIA MASS COLLABORATION ON THE INTERNET Vishnu Vardhan T (This session will deal with the various online knowledge bases and platforms with special emphasis on Wikipedia).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:30	AFFORDABLE DEVICES AND INTERNET ACCESS IN INDIA Ravikiran Annaswamy (This session will deal with affordable devices and their role in increasing internet access in India).
20:00 22:00	Dinner

Monday, June 10, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	HOW INTERNET WORKS? Dr. Nadeem Akhtar (This session will deal with various technologies related to the backbone of the internet).
11:00 11:30	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	ASSIGNMENT
13.00 14.00	Lunch Break
14:00 18:00	OFFSITE / FIELD VISIT
20:00 22:00	Dinner

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	UNIVERSAL ACCESS Archana Gulati (This session will cover an overview of universal access and universal service).
11:00 11:30	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	FREE AND OPEN INTERNET Pranesh Prakash (This session will cover fundamental rights to freedom of speech and expression, reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech in context of internet access in India).
13.00 14.00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	OPENNESS Pranesh Prakash and Sunil Abraham (This session will cover issues related to openness and access to the internet).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:30	OPEN CONTENT Professor Subbiah Arunahalam (This session will discuss open access to content and its implications on internet access).
17:30 18:30	QUICK TALK: COPYRIGHT LAW AND ACCESS Pranesh Prakash (This short session will deal with implications of copyright law on internet access).
20.00 22.00	Dinner

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET IN INDIA Elonnai Hickok and Sunil Abraham (This session will discuss online privacy, data protection, use of encryption, value of anonymity online, UID, etc).
11:00 11:30	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	E-ACCESSIBILITY BASICS Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan (This session will deal with key requirements for making internet accessible for persons with disabilities).
13.00 14.00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	INTERNATIONAL BODIES AND MECHANISM Tulika Pandey and Gaurab Raj Upadhyay (This session will deal with various international bodies and multi-stakeholder processes involved in formulation of internet related policies).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:00	E-GOVERNANCE Sunil Abraham (This session will deal with e-Governance strategies and relevant initiatives).
20.00 22.00	Dinner

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	GLOBAL HISTORY OF THE INTERNET Dr. Nishant Shah (Inception of internet and the main events which led to the growth of the internet).
11:00 11:30	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	STRATEGIES FOR POLICY INTERVENTION Chakshu Roy (This session will look at various ways in which policy intervention can be made and the various factors necessary to successfully engage in policy forums).
13.00 14.00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	PROFILE OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS Satyen Gupta (This session will discuss profiles of various ISPs and their share in the market).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:30	COMPETITION IN THE MARKET Helani Galpaya (This session will discuss structure and competition in the broadband market, wireless market, etc).
20.00 22.00	Dinner

Friday, June 14, 2013

Timings	Topics for Discussion
09:30 11:00	LEVERAGING INTERNET FOR ACTIVISM Ananth Guruswamy (This session will look at various initiatives which have used the internet to build successful movements and campaigns).
11:00 11:30	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 13:00	“INTERNET ACCESS” ACTIVISM Parminder Jeet Singh (This session will discuss how people can contribute to initiatives for improving internet access).
13.00 14.00	Lunch Break
14:00 15:30	ENSURING ACCESS TO THE INTERNET A K Bharghava (This session will discuss strategies to enhance access to the internet in India with special focus on National Optical Fibre Network).
15:30 16:00	Tea / Coffee Break
16:00 17:30	Winding Up

Speakers

A.K Bhargava
A. K. Bhargava is a Telecom Engineer with more than 35 yrs of experience in various fields of Telecommunication, Installation, Operation, Maintenance, Software and Management. Prior to joining BBNL as Director (Operations), he was working as Executive Director (Wireless Services) with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) Delhi.
Ananth Guruswamy
Ananth Guruswamy is the director of Amnesty International India. Previouly, he was the Programme Director at Green Peace. Ananth joined Greenpeace India in 2001 at its very beginning and played a key role in moulding Greenpeace India into one of the leading stakeholders in the NGO sector in India.
Archana Gulati
An Indian Civil Service Officer, she has worked as a Universal Service Policy Expert with respect to Access to ICTs for Persons with Disabilities for the International Telecommunications Union. She also successfully pioneered the e-government system in her previous posting as Joint Controller Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications (DoT). At present she is posted as the Financial Advisor with the National Disaster Management Authority of India.
Chakshu Roy
Chakshu Roy heads technology initiatives at PRS Legislative Research (PRS), New Delhi. PRS is a unique initiative that provides non-partisan analysis to all Members of Parliament in India. Chakshu is developing a comprehensive technology strategy to engage large sections of the population in the policy process. He has conceptualised and developed India’s only online database of all state laws. Chakshu has conducted capacity-building workshops for over 1000 journalists on tracking the work of legislators.
Elonnai Hickok
Elonnai Hickok works as a Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society. Her main areas of work are Privacy and Data Security.
Gaurab Raj Upadhaya
Gaurab has a long record of volunteerism and commitment to the Asia Pacific Internet Community. Gaurab is one of the 14 global Trusted Community Representatives who cryptographically sign the root of the domain name system in ICANN Root DNSSEC Key ceremonies. In 2001, he was the founder of the Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX), the first IX in the South-Asian region.
Helani Galpaya
Helani Galpaya is the Chief Executive Officer at LIRNEasia. She holds a Masters in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Mount Holyoke College, USA.
Dr. Madan Mohan Rao
Dr. Madan Mohan Rao is the research director at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre. He is the editor of a three book series: “The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook”, “The Knowledge Management Chronicles” and “AfroDotEdu”.
Michael Ginguld
Michael Ginguld is the Chief Executive Officer at AirJaldi. He has more than 15 years of experience working with ICT, community and rural development projects in India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nepal, and Israel.
Dr. Nadeem Akhtar
Dr. Nadeem Akhtar is currently working as Principal Research Engineer at the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT). He leads the network layer research team at CEWiT and also represents CEWiT at 3GPP Radio Access Networks Working Group meetings. His research interests lie in the field of mobile and broadband wireless access technologies. Dr. Akhtar is a member of IEEE Standards Association and ITU-APT Foundation of India.
Nandini. C
Nandini. C is a Research Associate with IT for Change (www.itforchange.net), and is part of a team that is engaged in research studies in the area of gender and ICTs, democratic governance and ICTs, and the political economy of the information society. She holds a Masters in Urban and Rural Community Development from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan
Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan is a Policy Director at Centre for Internet and Society and works on policy research and advocacy related to IP reform and technology access for persons with disabilities.
Dr. Nishant Shah
Dr. Nishant Shah is the Director-Research at CIS. He is a recipient of the Asia Scholarship Foundation's fellowship for comparative research at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. Nishant is a regular columnist with the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, GQ India and DML Central. He has authored/co-authored many peer-reviewed articles in several journals.
Parminder Jeet Singh
Parminder Jeet Singh is Executive Director of IT for Change. He was recently appointed as a member of Task Force set up by the Indian government on implementation of proactive disclosures provisions of the Right to Information Act. He was also associated with Department of IT's Sub-group on e-governance for the 12^th Five Year Plan. He recently authored a report on 'Community Knowledge Centers' for the Karnataka Knowledge Commission.
Pranesh Prakash
Pranesh Prakash is a Policy Director at CIS and works on policy research and advocacy around intersections of technology and law focusing on access to knowledge (primarily copyright reforms), promoting 'openness' (including open government data, open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software), freedom of expression, privacy, and internet governance.
Ravikiran Annaswamy
Ravikiran Annaswamy is an entrepreneur learning to create the next big business. He is very excited about the opportunities at the cusp of social media, mobile Internet and Big Data. Currently, He is nurturing a unique concept called Teritree, which brings social shopping into mainstream business.He has vast experience of making successful telecom solutions for global markets, mainly in the area of Online Billing and Charging, OSS, Innovative 3G/4G applications, Media and Security Solutions.
Dr. Ravina Aggarwal
Dr. Ravina Aggarwal works on media issues in India from the Ford Foundation's New Delhi office. Her grant making advances issues of democratic expression and media access among marginalized communities. She holds the position of Programme Officer in Ford Foundation, India
Satyen Gupta
Satyen Gupta is a veteran in the field of telecommunications, drawing from his vast experience in telecom regulation as well as industry. Among other accomplishments, he was a member of the NGN Regulation review group of ITU and also worked as advisor with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India at the level of Additional Secretary and is heading the Converged Network Division dealing with regulatory, technical and economic aspects of Data Networks and Services.
Dr. Subbiah Arunachalam
Dr. Subbiah Arunachalam is a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society. Improving information access both for scientists and for the rural poor; scientometrics, ICT-enabled development and open access are among his current research interests.
Sunil Abraham
Sunil Abraham is the Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society. He is also a social entrepreneur and Free Software advocate.
Tulika Pandey
Tulika Pandey is an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer. She has been with the Government of India since 1992 and is currently Director with the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. She is involved in implementation strategy and action plan formulations for wider reach of ICT facilitated benefits; Integration of appropriate technology interfaces between human and cyber world; Steering of Research and Development projects for development of contextual ICT technology, tool, applications and content.
Vir Kamal Chopra
Vir Kamal Chopra is currently the Sr. General Manager (QA) with BSNL at New Delhi. He started his career in teaching. He has played a vital role in providing telecommunication facilities and shaping BSNL and is also responsible for finalization of high value products which are purchased at the central level of BSNL. He is credited with introducing e-tendering for the first time at BSNL.
Vishnu Vardhan
Vishnu Vardhan is the Programme Director of the CIS-A2K Team which works with Wikipedians and also conducts workshops and meetups in order to build Wikipedia community for Indic languages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society

The Leap of Rhodes or, How India Dealt with the Last Mile Problem - An Inquiry into Technology and Governance: Call for Review

praskrishna — 2015-04-03T10:55:07Z

Re-thinking the Last Mile Problem research project by Ashish Rajadhyaksha is a part of the Researchers @ Work Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. The ‘last mile’ is a communications term which has a specific Indian variant, where technology has been mapped onto developmentalist–democratic priorities which have propelled communications technologies since at least the invention of radio in the 1940s. For at least 50 years now, the ‘last mile’ has become a mode of a techno-democracy, where connectivity has been directly translated into democratic citizenship. It has provided rationale for successive technological developments, and produced an assumption that the final frontier was just around the corner and that Internet technologies now carry the same burden of breaching that last major barrier to produce a techno-nation. The project has fed into many different activities in teaching, in examining processes of governance and in looking at user behaviour.

The Researchers At Work Programme, at the Centre for Internet and Society, advocates an Open and transparent process of knowledge production. We recognise peer review as an essential and an extremely important part of original research, and invite you, with the greatest of pleasures, to participate in our research, and help us in making our arguments and methods stronger.

Laying out a theoretical review of the history of technologies of archiving in the country, the project aims at building case studies of public and private archives in the country and the needs for a local capacity building network of historians, archivists, technologists and state bodies which exploits the digital and Internet technologies for building new archives of Indian material.

The monograph has emerged out of the "Rethinking the Last Mile Problem" project that was initiated in September 2008. The first draft of the monograph is now available for public review and feedback.Please click on the links below to choose your own format for accessing the document:

PDF
Word

We appreciate your time, engagement and feedback that will help us to bring out the monograph in a published form. Please send all comments or feedback by 30 December 2010 to nishant@cis-india.org or you can use your Open ID to login to the website and leave comments to this post.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/the-last-cultural-mile/last-mile-problem

Centre for Internet and Society

World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)

Origins of the WSIS

Main Goals of the WSIS

Geneva Summit

Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action

WGIG

Tunis Summit

Tunis Agenda

Internet Engineering Task Force

Structure

IETF Standards Process

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Institute on Internet and Society

Who can apply?

How to apply?

Selection criteria

Attendance

What costs will be covered?

Important Dates

Draft Agenda

Day 1 (February 11, 2014)

Day 2 (February 12, 2014)

Day 3 (February 13, 2014)

Day 4 (February 14, 2014)

Day 5 (February 15, 2014)

Day 6 (February 16, 2014)

Day 7 (February 17, 2014)

Speakers Profiles

About CIS India and Ford Foundation

Contact

World Intellectual Property Organisation

Treaties

Berne Convention

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996

WIPO Copyright Treaty

Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty

Treaty Proposal on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives

Education

WIPO Case Study

Technological Protection Measures and Rights Management Information (TPMs/RMI)

An Interview on Internet Governance with Professor Milton Mueller and Jeremy Malcolm

Tweets with "IGF13"

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Introduction

History

Governing Documents

ICANN By-Laws

Structure of the ICANN

Other Advisory Mechanisms

International Telecommunication Union

Introduction

Composition of the International Telecommunication Union

Structure of the International Telecommunication Union

Other Bodies

Institute on Internet & Society: Event Report

Day 1: June 8, 2013

Session 1: History of the Internet

Session 2: Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms

VIDEO

Session 3: Emerging trends in Internet usage in India

Day 2: June 9, 2013

Session 1: How Internet Works

Session 2: Wireless Technologies

Session 3: Building Knowledge Bases and Platform via Mass Collaboration on the Internet

Session: 4 Affordable Devices to access the Internet

Day 3: June 10, 2013

Session 1: Wired Access Technology

Day 4: June 11, 2013

Session 1: Universal Access

Session 2: Free and Open Internet

Session 3: Openness

Session 4: Open Content

Session 5: Quick Talk on Copyright Law and Access

Day 5: (June 12, 2013)

Session 1: Privacy on the Internet in India

Session 2: E-Accessibility

Session 3: International Bodies and Mechanisms

Session-4: E-Governance

Day 6: (June 13, 2013)