The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 1 to 15.
Art in the Open Source Age — A Talk by Gene Kogan
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/art-in-the-open-source-age
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society is hosting a talk by Gene Kogan, a programmer and digital artist, at its office in Bangalore on November 30th, 2012, from 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. </b>
<h2>Talk Summary</h2>
<p class="p1">The open source movement has challenged longstanding assumptions about art practice. Communities of programmers and makers have collaborated online to create mature software development kits such as Processing and OpenFrameworks, as well as websites like <a href="http://instructables.com/"><span class="s1">Instructables.com</span></a> where users can document and share their process. The rapid digitization of the blueprints for creative projects have greatly lowered the barrier to getting started.</p>
<p class="p1">These new tools and practices have greatly influenced the workflows that artists, designers, and technologists operate with, and have upended traditional notions of authorship and copyright. Techniques manipulating existing digital content have inspired much debate over legitimacy and authenticity. This talk will critically examine this new outlook and attempt to resolve some practical issues.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Gene Kogan</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Gene Kogan is an American artist and programmer currently based out of Bangalore. He is interested in performance art, generative systems, and machine learning. He writes free software for negotiating high dimensional spaces to discover the unexpected and serendipitous. He is currently based out of Bangalore.</p>
<p>His work can be seen on his website at <a href="http://www.genekogan.com/">www.genekogan.com</a>. You can also follow him on twitter at @genekogan.</p>
VIDOE
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYOLmAoA.html?p=1" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYOLmAoA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/art-in-the-open-source-age'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/art-in-the-open-source-age</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEventOpenness2012-12-13T06:06:34ZEventWikipedia: State of Tech — A Talk by Erik Moeller
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/wikipedia-state-of-tech-talk-by-erik-moeller
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore is hosting a talk by Erik Moeller, Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at the Wikimedia Foundation at its office in Bangalore on November 12, 2012, from 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m., followed by a lunch discussion.</b>
<h3>Talk Summary</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Wikipedia's technology platform is rapidly changing, with improvements being deployed every day. Unlike other top websites, Wikipedia is run by a non-profit (Wikimedia Foundation) and all its technology is open source, ready to be improved and extended by you.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Learn about the recent and coming technology changes to Wikipedia and Wikimedia's other projects: the new Visual Editor, improvements to mobile sites and apps, Wikidata, and projects with mysterious codenames like "Echo", "Milkshake", "Agora" and "Flow". Learn how to get involved and ask anything you'd like to know about Wikipedia.</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Erik Moeller</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Erik Moeller is the Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at the Wikimedia Foundation, overseeing a department of about 70 people. Erik has been involved in Wikipedia since 2001 and joined the staff of Wikimedia in 2008. He previously worked as a journalist and project manager.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">VIDEO</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/wikipedia-state-of-tech-talk-by-erik-moeller'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/wikipedia-state-of-tech-talk-by-erik-moeller</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessLectureEvent Type2012-12-18T06:51:46ZEventProfit by Sharing: Anatomy of an Open Source Hardware Business
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/anatomy-of-an-open-source-hardware-business
<b>Ian Lesnet, founder of DangerousPrototypes will give a lecture on open hardware and open source at the Centre for Internet & Society office in Bengaluru on October 24, 2012, 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. </b>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Dangerous Prototypes</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dangerous Prototypes started as a hobby on a kitchen table, but now five team members develop new open source electronics projects every month. Open source hardware means every part of an electronic device design can be changed and reused in other projects. Despite giving everything away to users and competitors, open source hardware businesses still flourish. Learn how Dangerous Prototypes started, our development process, the underlying open source business philosophy, and how the business is structured today.</p>
<h3><b>Key Concepts</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Open hardware businesses grow by sharing. Companies share design information with customers, the customers create communities that give improvements and fixes back to the company. Sharing is mutually beneficial to the company and community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An open development process is a further extension of open hardware. The company designs products publicly, with active support and input from the community. Sharing extends to design review, improvements, and even testing before the project is launched.</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Ian Lesnet</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ian builds a new open hardware project every month at <a class="external-link" href="http://dangerousprototypes.com/">DangerousPrototypes.com</a>. Copies of the projects are available from Seeed Studio's open hardware manufacturing service.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/anatomy-of-an-open-source-hardware-business'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/anatomy-of-an-open-source-hardware-business</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeOpenness2012-10-17T09:58:06ZEventRole of the US Tech Companies in Government Surveillance: A Lecture by Christopher Soghoian
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance
<b>Christopher Soghoian will deliver a lecture on the role US tech companies play in assisting government surveillance at the Centre for Internet & Society office in Bangalore on August 27, 2012, from 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Your internet, phone and web application providers are all, for the most part, in bed with US and other foreign government agencies. They all routinely disclose their customers' communications and other private data to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Worse, firms like Google and Microsoft specifically log data in order to assist the government. How many government requests does your ISP get for its customers' communications each year? How many do they comply with? How many do they fight? How much do they charge for the surveillance assistance they provide? Who knows? Most companies have a strict policy of not discussing such topics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The differences in the privacy practices of the major players in the telecommunications and internet applications market are significant. Some firms retain identifying data for years, while others retain no data at all; some voluntarily provide the government access to user data, while other companies refuse to voluntarily disclose data without a court order; some companies charge government agencies when they request user data, while others disclose it for free. For an individual, later investigated by the police or intelligence services, the data retention practices adopted by their phone company or email provider can significantly impact their freedom.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Unfortunately, although many companies claim to care about end-user privacy, and some even that they compete on their privacy features, none seem to be willing to compete on the extent to which they assist or resist the government in its surveillance activities. Because information about each firms' practices is not publicly known, consumers cannot vote with their wallets, and pick service providers that best protect their privacy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This talk will pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding these practices. Based upon a combination of Freedom of Information Act requests, off the record conversations with industry lawyers, and investigative journalism, the practices of many of these firms will be revealed.</p>
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<h3>Christopher's Personal Experience</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the year 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Christopher’s home at 2.00 a.m. seizing his personal documents and computers. Two attorneys, Stephen Braga and Jennifer Granick came to his defence. With their expert assistance, Christopher was able to get back his possessions within three weeks, and FBI’s criminal and TSA’s civil investigations were closed without any charges being filed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Jennifer Granick came to Christopher’s assistance once again (joined by Steve Leckar) in 2010 after the Federal Trade Commission’s Inspector General investigated Christopher for using his government badge to attend a closed-door surveillance industry conference. It was at that event that Christopher recorded an executive from wireless carrier ‘Sprint’ bragging about the eight million times his company had obtained GPS data on its customers for law enforcement agencies in the previous years.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To know more, read Christopher Soghoian’s dissertation titled "<a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/spies-we-trust" class="internal-link">The Spies We Trust: Third Party Service Providers and Law Enforcement Surveillance</a>". [PDF, 1056 Kb]</p>
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<h3>About Christopher Soghoian</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Christopher Soghoian is a privacy researcher and activist, working at the intersection of technology, law and policy. He is a Principal Technologist and Senior Policy Analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union and is based in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Soghoian completed his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 2012, which focused on the role that third party service providers play in facilitating law enforcement surveillance of their customers. In order to gather data, he has made extensive use of the Freedom of Information Act, sued the Department of Justice <i>pro se</i>, and used several other investigative research methods. His research has appeared in publications including the <i>Berkeley Technology Law Journal </i>and been cited by several federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Between the years, 2009-2010, he was the first ever in-house technologist at the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, where he worked on investigations of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Netflix. Prior to joining the FTC, he co-created the Do Not Track privacy anti-tracking mechanism now adopted by all of the major web browsers.</p>
<p>He is a TEDGlobal 2012 Fellow, was an Open Society Foundations Fellow between the years, 2011-2012, and was a Student Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University between 2008 and 2009.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeInternet GovernancePrivacy2012-08-26T11:03:19ZEvent3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series at NLSIU, Bangalore
https://cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-nlsiu
<b>The Indian Journal of Law and Technology in association with the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore is organising the 3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. The lecture series will be spread out over the course of the year and will include eminent speakers who will talk with the students and other interested persons on their topics of expertise.</b>
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<p>To kick off the lecture series, Professor Rohan Samarajiva will deliver the inaugural lecture on <em>Tariff Regulation in South Asia</em>.</p>
<p>Tariff regulation has in the recent past attracted the attention of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal, as well as the Department of Telecom at the Union Ministry of Communications. India has a burgeoning and competitive cellular services provider market, and tariff regulation has far-reaching impact on the industry. Moreover, as aware consumers of mobile telephony and data services, this is an issue that is relevant for all of us. </p>
<p>Prof Samarajiva is a pre-eminent figure in policy-making and academia on the subject of information and communications technology, and this is an excellent opportunity to get his insights on the crucial topic, not just from an Indian perspective but from a pan-Asian viewpoint. He has taught at universities in USA, Netherlands and Sri Lanka and is currently Chairman & CEO, LIRNEasia, an ICT policy and regulation think tank active across 12 emerging Asian economies. He is also a Board member at Communication for Policy Research - South, which is a capacity building initiative to develop Asia-Pacific based policy initiatives on ICT policy regulation among junior to mid level scholars. His full profile can be accessed <a class="external-link" href="http://lirneasia.net/about/profiles/rohan-samarajiva/">here</a>.</p>
<p>The lecture will be organised at NLSIU, Bangalore on <em>Sunday, the 27th of May, 2012 from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm</em>. You are requested to take your seats by 5.20 pm. The hour-long session will include both a lecture and an interactive session with the speaker. Interested persons are requested to register for the lecture series by sending in an email to <a class="external-link" href="mailto:editorialboard@ijlt.in">editorialboard@ijlt.in</a></p>
<p>The address of the venue is</p>
<p>National Law School of India University<br />Jnanabharati Road, Nagarbhavi<br />Bangalore - 560072 <br />Google maps location: <a class="external-link" href="http://g.co/maps/ppwcr">http://g.co/maps/ppwcr</a></p>
<p>Follow our event page ‘3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series’ on Facebook to remain updated!</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/ijlt-cis-lecture-series.pdf" class="internal-link" title="3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series in Bangalore">Download the event poster</a> [PDF, 57 kb]</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-nlsiu'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-nlsiu</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecomLectureEvent Type2012-05-25T15:33:16ZEventThe Awesome Contracts Project (Geekup @ CIS)
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/awesom-contracts-project
<b>Vivek Durai, co-founder at Awesome Contracts, a Singapore-India startup will give a public lecture on May 18, 2012 at the Centre for Internet & Society in Bangalore. Lawyer, musician, legal recruiter and entrepreneur, Amith Narayan will also participate through Skype!</b>
<h2>The Awesome Contracts Project</h2>
<p>Contracts are ubiquitous in our everyday life. They are also a nuisance. And they typically come attached with a bigger nuisance - lawyers! Interestingly though, contracts are a lot like code. Geek-lawyers, a very small, minuscule tribe on this planet, tend to notice a lot of similarities between the two. If this is true, it opens up a lot of possibilities, including changing the way we do business and in particular generate contracts, negotiate and seal deals.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We'll talk about some of the technology and some of the products we're working on that we think can provide power to a lot of folks.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Agenda</h2>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>17:00 - 17:05</td>
<td>Welcome with Tea, Coffee, and Snacks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>17:05 - 17:15<br /><br /></td>
<td>Lightning Talks<br /><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>17:15 - 18:00<br /><br /></td>
<td>The Awesome Contracts Project</td>
</tr>
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<div class="time">18:00 - 18:30</div>
</td>
<td>Q & A</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>Vivek Durai</h2>
<p>Vivek Durai is a co-founder at Awesome Contracts, a Singapore-India startup that is working on interesting problems in the field of law and contracts. As with just about everyone else, he and co-founder Amith Narayan would like to change the world. Preferably, for the better. Vivek and Amith are both alumnus of the National Law School of India University.<br /><br />Vivek is a lawyer by training, a geek by nature, and generally human. Most of the time. As far as ideologies go, Vivek is a Pythonista currently flirting with Node and other things. He is also incidentally a Partner at Atman Law Partners, a young three office boutique law firm.</p>
<h2>Amith Narayan</h2>
<p>Amith Narayan loves hats. He likes them so much in fact, he's been wearing all kinds. He has been a corporate lawyer, a musician, a record producer, a legal recruiter, and now an entrepreneur running this crazy little startup. Amith grew up in Calicut (Kozhikode) Kerala, trained in law at NLSIU, worked in the grand dame of the Indian legal world - Crawford Bayley - before moving to Singapore where he's been living for the past 10 years. Amith will join us over Skype during the talk.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/awesom-contracts-project'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/awesom-contracts-project</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeInternet Governance2012-05-11T12:17:09ZEventKonkan Corridor Project — A Lecture by Vasant Gangavane
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane
<b>Well known social worker Vasant Gangavane will be giving a public lecture on the Konkan Corridor Project at Ashoka Innovators for the Public in Bangalore on April 16, 2012. The lecture will focus on the role of Information & Communication Technology for total rural transformation by inclusive integrated development with no change of land ownerships. The event is co-organized by Ashoka Innovators for the Public and the Centre for Internet and Society.</b>
<p>Citing examples from the 117 village clusters in the regions of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga districts of Maharashtra the lecture hopes to throw light on questions like what is a village cluster, what does it mean to urbanize one village cluster and what do we need to do to urbanize one village cluster, how will we organize and coordinate the project. This apart the vision, status and action plans of the Konkan Corridor Project, the skills development in each cluster, intensive agriculture in each cluster, farm produce processing, water conservation in the project area, rivers in the project area, energy, transportation, industry, science communication, and self administration in each clusters will also be discussed.</p>
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<h2>Vasant Gangavane</h2>
<p>In the 1970s Vasant Gangavane, a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management and Wharton, returned to his village in Konkan, Maharashtra, to give his people what he felt they needed most — the knowledge to manage their natural resources. In the process, he set up several models of rural development. Gangavane found that the rate at which people migrated out of the Konkan was very high, despite the fact that the area was rich in natural resources. He studied the area and realised that land improvement and watershed development were key issues. He conducted a series of experiments in agriculture, dairy and poultry farming before setting up the Gokul Prakalp Pratishthan (GPP) in 1978. With the Maharashtra government's comprehensive watershed management programme (COWDEP), Gangavane's <em>Pratishthan</em> afforested 400 hectares of land in Vilye village with mango and cashew trees. Gangavane then acquired 40 acres of wasteland in the village and built water conservation structures called Gokul bandharas. This resulted in the wells in the area being recharged and ensured enough drinking water for 25 families.This model was later adopted by the Indo-German Watershed Programme.</p>
<p>When Gangavane's project began, the village of Vilye was bereft of young people. Its young had migrated. Now there is reverse migration and 3,000 people have benefited from the programme. The village has been transformed — water runoff has been arrested and afforestation has changed the look of the village.</p>
<p>After the watershed programme, Gangavane formulated a theoretical plan for model villages called the Gokul project. The aim was communication and knowledgesharing. A participatory rural appraisal is also done to explore natural resource availability, potential and use. The awareness is meant to empower people and convince them that watershed programmes can address problems of poverty and inequity. Gangavane believes that with this knowledge, and with the resources available, a small family in the area can live sustainably.</p>
<p>Gangavane's Pratishthan has set up an Ashramshaala at Laanja, Ratnagiri district, which is a tribal residential school, where 300 children are provided free boarding and lodging up to the secondary level. GPP has also introduced computer education in schools. For his work Gangavane was awarded the Vanashree award, Vasantrao Naik Pratisthan award and the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award.</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/konkan-corridor-project" class="internal-link" title="Konkan Corridor Project">Download the presentation here</a> [PDF, 228 KB]</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeInternet GovernanceICT2012-04-13T13:49:32ZEventGeekUp with Erica Hagen
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/geek-up-with-erica
<b>HasGeek is organizing a GeekUp with Erica Hagen of the GroundTruth Initiative on 1 March 2012 at 5 p.m. Erica will speak on the theme: "From Information to Empowerment: Unpacking the Equation".</b>
<h3>From Information to Empowerment to Unpacking the Equation</h3>
<p>In 2010, Erica Hagen and Mikel Maron started GroundTruth Initiative to work towards empowering communities through open data, open information and participatory processes. Erica's and Mikel's work at <a class="external-link" href="http://groundtruth.in/">GroundTruth</a> is informed by their earlier experience of working with the <a class="external-link" href="http://mapkibera.org/">Map Kibera</a> project where they helped the youth and the communities in Kibera to map their geographies and represent information about themselves to the world through citizen media. In the process, Erica and Mikel uncovered several complex dynamics about self-representation by communities, what open data really means to communities and how they apply it to their circumstances, the dynamics between participatory development and participatory technologies, and the process of using community media tools and online methods for talking about issues that matter to them.</p>
<p>In this lecture, Erica Hagen will talk about her work with communities in Kenya, Jerusalem, Nigeria and other parts of the world through GroundTruth Initiative. Specifically, Erica will unpack the relationship between empowerment, information, and storytelling, and what both these elements mean to communities in different parts of the world. How are communities applying the information and data that they collect about their governments and themselves? What are the challenges involved in the process of working with open data, participatory processes and technologies? How can communities apply new media and data gathering tools to achieve local goals? What does empowerment mean in the face of the delicate lines and precariousness that communities and the interveners/practitioners have to tread in the process of data gathering, representation, communication and outputs?</p>
<p>Interested persons need to confirm attendance by registering at <a class="external-link" href="http://geekup.in/2012/erica-hagen">http://geekup.in/2012/erica-hagen <br /></a></p>
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<h3>Erica Hagen</h3>
<p>Erica Hagen is a journalist and international development practitioner working for democracy of information and citizen participation in both online and traditional media. She is the co-founder of Map Kibera and GroundTruth Initiative. Erica has worked in four countries on development communication and evaluation, and in the United States on refugee and immigrant issues, for organizations such as United Nations Population Fund, Concern Worldwide, and Unicef. She holds a Masters Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/geek-up-with-erica'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/geek-up-with-erica</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeInternet Governance2012-02-29T03:00:14ZEventFree Speech Online in India under Attack?
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/free-speech-online-in-india-under-attack
<b>When the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal suggested pre-censorship for a range of popular online platforms and social networking sites, the suggestion was met by a barrage of criticism, which soon forced him to back down. Yet Sibal’s suggestion is not the only threat to free speech on the Internet in India today. Legislation such as the Intermediary Due Diligence Rules and Cyber Café Rules (also jointly known as the IT Rules) issued in April 2011 is equally dangerous for free speech online.</b>
<p>Achal Prabhala, Anja Kovacs and Lawrence Liang will join Sunil Abraham to discuss in more detail some of the direct threats to freedom of expression online in India today including the larger legal and social context of freedom of expression and censorship, control and resistance in which they have to be understood and the steps that can be taken to ensure that substantive protections for freedom of expression online will be put into place.</p>
<h2>The Speakers</h2>
<h3>Achal Prabhala</h3>
<p>Achal is based in Bangalore, Karnataka. He is a researcher, activist and writer in the areas of access to knowledge and access to medicine besides being a member of the Advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation.</p>
<h3>Anja Kovacs<br /></h3>
<p>Anja works with the Internet Democracy Project, which engages in research and advocacy on the promises and challenges that the Internet poses for democracy and social justice in the developing world.</p>
<h3>Lawrence Liang</h3>
<p>Lawrence is a researcher and lawyer based in Bangalore, who is known for his legal campaigns on issues of public concern. He is a co-founder of the Alternative Law Forum and works on the intersection of law, technology and culture. He has worked closely with filmmakers and artists in a number of anti-censorship campaigns.</p>
<h2>The Moderator</h2>
<h3>Sunil Abraham</h3>
<p>Sunil is the Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based non-profit organization. He is also a social entrepreneur and Free Software advocate. He founded Mahiti in 1998 which aims to reduce the cost and complexity of Information and Communication Technology for the Voluntary Sector by using Free Software. <br /><br /><em>This event is jointly organised by the Internet Democracy Project and the Centre for Internet and Society. Join us at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, on Wednesday 21 December, at 5.30 pm.</em></p>
<p><em><strong>VIDEOS</strong><br /></em></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/free-speech-online-in-india-under-attack'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/free-speech-online-in-india-under-attack</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceLectureEvent Type2012-03-02T03:03:24ZEventDialogue Cafe @ Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/dialogue-cafe
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society announces the launch of its dialogue cafe, where every month, we approach seminal thinkers, scholars and practitioners to help explore knowledge paradigms that help us understand and research techno-social realities through innovative thought, concepts and frameworks.</b>
<p>The dialogue cafe draws upon different disciplines, histories, perspectives and intellectual legacies in order to respond to a seminal piece of writing that has changed, challenged and shaped the contours of interdisciplinary science and technology studies.</p>
<p>The dialogue cafe initiates several strands of dialogues — between critical thinkers and canonical texts, between different paradigm of knowledges that interact with digital and internet technologies, and between interlocutors located in different disciplines, to initiate critical thought/work for new and innovative research in the field of Internet and Society.</p>
<p>For its first brew of conversations, the Dialogue Cafe serves you...</p>
<h3>Computation and the Humanities: Revisiting a Silent Revolution</h3>
<p>Steve Jobs’ comments on how “technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities” made Apple hearts sing is today widely re-circulated, but not fully comprehended. We often take this to be the mark of one man’s genius, rather than the symptom of a broader interdisciplinary history. Noted Artificial Intelligence scholar Philip Agre recalls, “When I was a graduate student in artificial intelligence, the humanities were not held in high regard. They were vague and woolly, they employed impenetrable jargons, and they engaged in "meta-level bickering that never decides anything".</p>
<p>What happened, in the formative decades of Jobs and Agre’s generation, to bring technology and the humanities into conversation? What have the results been, other than well-designed personal computational devices, and what is the significance for us? On December 2, 2011, the Centre for Internet and Society invites you to a Dialogue Cafe, where we engage in exploring what this all means and what kinds of labour it might take to ‘marry’ these disparate ways of knowing.</p>
<p>As a response to Philip Agre’s seminal essay on “Critical Technology Practice”, the cafe will begin with an exposition by Kavita Philip (University of California, Irvine), opening up into a critical response spearheaded by Cherry Matthew, and leading to a larger dialogue with the audience, exploring fault lines of interdisciplinary research and challenges of integrated technology studies.</p>
<p>For more background on these questions, audience is encouraged (but not required) to explore the materials at Agre’s home page <a class="external-link" href="http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/">http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/</a>, and STSrelated links from Wikipedia’s page <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology_and_society">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology_and_society</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology_and_society"><strong>VIDEOS</strong><br /></a></p>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLh614A.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLh614A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLigncA.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLigncA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/dialogue-cafe'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/dialogue-cafe</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureEvent TypeInternet Governance2011-12-07T11:10:08ZEventThe Mirror in the Enigma: How Germany lost World War II to a Mathematical Theorem
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/mirror-in-the-enigma
<b>Today we use encryption in pretty much everything — cellphones, Internet, banking, satellites, and spaceships. How far have we come since the days of the Enigma and how does it affect our daily lives? CIS invites you to attend a short lecture by Rohit Gupta on August 12, 2011.
</b>
<h3>About the Lecture <br /></h3>
<p>During World War II, the Germans began communicating their military information using the famous Enigma encryption machine. Subsequently, we see how three Polish mathematicians led by Marian Rejewski broke the code using a fundamental theorem in 'group theory'. It has been suggested by certain generals that this breach directly led to the collapse of the Axis powers. </p>
<p>In his talk Rohit will begin with the simplest ways to secure privacy in communication throughout human history, and build up to the rise of the Enigma.</p>
<h3>About Rohit</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Rohit Gupta is a mathematician who thinks the universe is a giant hologram generated by a microscopic black hole which behaves like a rapidly blinking disco ball. He's finding ways to prove this beyond doubt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLUl1kA.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLUl1kA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/mirror-in-the-enigma'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/mirror-in-the-enigma</a>
</p>
No publisherelonnai hickokLectureInternet Governance2011-09-22T07:53:25ZEventFraming an Alternative Approach to the Jan Lokpal
https://cis-india.org/events/alternative-jan-lokpal
<b>The National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) are organizing a public talk on "Framing an Alternative Approach to the Jan Lokpal" on Friday, August 5, 2011 at CIS, Bangalore.
Shankar Singh, Nikhil Dey and Aruna Roy of MKSS and NCPRI will be speaking.</b>
<p>The drafts of both the Lokpal as well as the Jan Lokpal bill have been
criticised extensively on multiple grounds, including that of lack of
accountability and concentration of power in a singular body. This
public talk seeks to provide a framework for an alternative conception
of the Jan Lokpal that takes a multi-pronged approach to tackling
corruption by moving towards concurrent anti-corruption and grievance
redress measures.</p>
<h2>Speakers</h2>
<p>Shankar Singh, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti
Sangathan (MKSS) and the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to
Information (NCPRI)</p>
<h2>Date and Time</h2>
<p>Friday, August 5, 2011
<br />18:00-19:30</p>
<h2>Venue</h2>
<p>Centre for Internet and Society
<br />(next to Domlur Club and close to TERI)
<br />194, 2-C Cross,
<br />Domlur Stage II,
<br />Bangalore
<br />
<br />Map: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/2UV5J">http://goo.gl/2UV5J</a></p>
<h2>Background Reading</h2>
<ul><li>Nikhil Dey & Ruchi Gupta, <a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/T5rxk">Putting the "Jan" in Lokpal Bill</a> </li><li>Aruna Roy & Nikhil Dey, <a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/IrR41">Make Sure the Cure Isn't Worse than the
Disease</a></li><li>Aruna Roy & Rakshita Swamy, <a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/UJiKY">Lokpal Must Lead by
Example</a></li><li>NCPRI, <a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/HIlGZ">Draft Concept Notes from Public Consultations on Collective
and Concurrent Lokpal Anti-Corruption and Grievance Redress Measures</a></li><li>NCPRI, <a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/im8rA">Background Documents on Jan Lok Pal Bill</a></li></ul>
<p>
<br />== Contact ==
<br />For more information, please contact:
<br />Rakshita Swamy <rakshitaswamy at gmail dot com>, or
<br />Pranesh Prakash <pranesh at cis-india dot org></p>
<p><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLX52EA.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLX52EA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/alternative-jan-lokpal'>https://cis-india.org/events/alternative-jan-lokpal</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshLecture2011-10-11T11:42:00ZEventSocio-financial Online Networks: Globalizing Micro-Credit through Micro-transactional Networked Platforms – A Public Lecture by Radhika Gajalla
https://cis-india.org/events/socio-financial-online-networks
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society invites you to a public lecture by Prof. Radhika Gajalla of Bowling Green State University. She will give a lecture on how microfinance online functions through the social networked online space and the micro-transactional abilities of the interface together work to enhance financialization of the globe. </b>
<p>In her lecture, she will focus on how this is made possible by the increased digitalization of financial practices and the role micro practices play in producing globalization. She will also lay emphasis on the fact that the increased digitalization of finance also means that "financial literacy" is also removed into the virtual space so that it is further away from subaltern daily praxis while simultaneously staging subaltern presence in cosmopolitan space through mobilizing structures of 'feeling' that <a class="external-link" href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/black-s">Dr. Shameem Black</a> refers to as "sentimental sympathy". </p>
<p>Prof. Gajalla’s lecture will also touch upon issues like what online socially networked micro-credit websites do visually and through the use of multiple tools that are embedded in the discourse of interactivity is to make it seem as if the subaltern is indeed participating in these networks. Thus, the appearance of a subaltern presence is produced. In this production of appearance of the subaltern presence in online contexts, just as in other visual and static contexts, the complexity of socio-cultural and economic intersections are not clearly revealed or accounted for. This reproduces exotic notions of the authentic, mummified ‘other’ and offers the subaltern image up for consumption. In turn, as Web 2.0 tools are set up to actually reach the offline subaltern via non-profit or for profit representatives that connect to these online networks, the subaltern in turn is tapped as a consumer for capital.</p>
<h2>Radhika Gajjala</h2>
<p>Radhika Gajjala is a Professor of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University and Director of the American Culture Studies program. Her book, "<a class="external-link" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Selves-Feminist-Ethnographies-South/dp/0759106924">Cyber Selves: Feminist Ethnographies of South Asian Women</a>" was published in 2004. She has co-edited collections on "<a class="external-link" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=cMZFoROURUQC&source=gbs_similarbooks_r&cad=2">South Asian Technospaces</a>", "<a class="external-link" href="http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415877916/">Global Media Culture and Identity</a>" and "<a class="external-link" href="http://www.hamptonpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1-57273-776-X&Category_Code=NDCC">Webbing Cyberfeminist Practice: Communities, Pedagogies, and Social Action</a>". She is presently working on a forthcoming book, "Weavings of the Real and Virtual: Cyberculture and the Subaltern" to be published in 2012 and is also working on two interrelated projects — one on "Microfinance Online and Money in Virtual Worlds and Social Media" in relation to the ITization and NGOization of global socio-economic work and play environments and the other on "Coding and Placement of Affect and Labour in Digital Diasporas". </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/socio-financial-online-networks'>https://cis-india.org/events/socio-financial-online-networks</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureInternet Governance2011-06-24T11:37:52ZEventInternet Surveillance Policy: “…the second time as farce?” – A Public Lecture by Caspar Bowden
https://cis-india.org/events/internet-surveillance-policy-lecture
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, invites you to a public lecture by Caspar Bowden*, the Chief Privacy Adviser of Microsoft’s Worldwide Technology Office, on Internet Surveillance Policy: “…the second time as farce?</b>
<h3>Abstract</h3>
<p>In 2000, as Director of the independent think-tank, "<a class="external-link" href="http://www.fipr.org/">Foundation for Information Policy Research</a>", Caspar led a campaign to revise several aspects of a new comprehensive UK law governing electronic surveillance ("<a class="external-link" href="http://www.fipr.org/rip/">the RIP Act</a>"). UK legislated in this area many years before most other countries, and the approach was widely criticized although some amendments were achieved. After a hiatus of a decade, many Commonwealth countries are now copying the RIP law (evidently unaware of the original controversies over its defects). Caspar will discuss the legal-technical intricacies of such legislation, the underlying policy dilemmas, the background context of the failed 1990s policy of “key escrow”, and the subsequent privacy catastrophe of blanket retention of the “traffic data” of all of the 500m citizens of the EU.</p>
<h2>Caspar Bowden</h2>
<p>Caspar Bowden is Microsoft's Worldwide Technology Officer for Privacy, providing advice on technology policy matters concerning privacy in over 40 countries, with particular focus on Europe and regions with horizontal privacy law. His goal is to ensure that users of Microsoft products and services are in control of their personal data and that fair information practices are respected. He is a specialist in data protection policy, privacy enhancing technology research, identity management and authentication.</p>
<p>Earlier he was the director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research and was also an expert adviser to the UK Parliament for the passage of three bills concerning privacy issues, and was co-organizer of the influential Scrambling for Safety public conferences on UK encryption and surveillance policy. His previous career over two decades ranged from investment banking (proprietary trading risk-management for option arbitrage), to software engineering (graphics engines and cryptography), including work for Goldman Sachs, Microsoft Consulting Services, Acorn, Research Machines, and IBM.</p>
<h3>Who should attend?</h3>
<p>This public talk aims to engage in a dialogue with anybody interested in questions of technology, surveillance, policy and the politics of Internet based governance. Students, research scholars, academics, practitioners, those in the business of technology development, design and study, are invited to attend the lecture that approaches the issue from different angles of technology, society and politics. </p>
<div><strong>Entry: Free; Limited Seating</strong></div>
<div><strong>Registration recommended: prasad@cis-india.org<br /><br />For additional info <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-privacy-surveillance.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Internet Privacy and Surveillance">click here [PDF, 521 kb]</a><br /></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>* <em>Caspar is speaking in his private capacity and his remarks do not necessarily reflect any official Microsoft position</em></div>
<div><em><br /></em></div>
<h2>Videos</h2>
<div> </div>
<embed width="250" height="250" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLM2GsA"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/internet-surveillance-policy-lecture'>https://cis-india.org/events/internet-surveillance-policy-lecture</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureInternet Governance2011-09-08T03:19:35ZEventThe Task of the Translator after Google
https://cis-india.org/events/lecture-by-hans
<b>Hans Verghese Mathews, a distinguished fellow with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) will give a public lecture on April 30, 2011.</b>
<p>The talk will consider again ― proceeding upon the increasing 'searchability' of literary corpora that the Web will presumably allow ― the special task assigned the translator by Walter Benjamin: which was the 'restitution' of 'originals' through the 'afterlives' given them by their 'traducings' into other languages. A reformulation of that task will be attempted: but the exercise will be conducted in an illustrative way, in the course of examining the approved translation into English of <em>El Aleph</em>, one of the more famous among the early <em>ficciones</em> of Borges.</p>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span">
</span></p>
<h3>Hans Varghese Mathews</h3>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/hans.jpg/image_preview" alt="Hans Verghese Mathews" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Hans Verghese Mathews" /></p>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span">Hans Varghese Mathews read philosophy as an undergraduate, at the University of Southern California, studying logic and aesthetics; and went on to obtain a doctorate in mathematics, from the University of Wisconsin, studying algebraic topology primarily, with mathematical logic and philosophy as subsidiary subjects. He has been a research associate with the Indian Statistical Institute, and has written extensively on visual art for Frontline; he currently directs mathematical modelling for an analytics firm, and is a contributing editor to the online journal Phalanx. He has an abiding interest in the formal understanding of painting and poetry; and a more recent and dominating interest in the mathematisation of the social sciences.</span></p>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span"><strong>VIDEO</strong><br /></span></p>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLWw04A.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed style="display:none" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLWw04A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/lecture-by-hans'>https://cis-india.org/events/lecture-by-hans</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaLectureResearch2011-10-07T05:36:43ZEvent