Centre for Internet and Society

The Age of Shame

nishant — 2014-04-04T04:05:31Z

The ability to capture private images is breeding a dangerous form of digital shaming. Within the online space, where wonderments often run rife, and conspiracy theories travel at the speed of light, there are many dark recesses where netizens half-jokingly, self-referentially, in a spirit of part-truth, part-exaggeration, often wonder on what the real reason is for the internet to exist.

Dr. Nishant Shah's column was published in the Indian Express on March 30, 2014.

Within the online space, where wonderments often run rife, and conspiracy theories travel at the speed of light, there are many dark recesses where netizens half-jokingly, self-referentially, in a spirit of part-truth, part-exaggeration, often wonder on what the real reason is for the internet to exist.

One suggestion, and probably the most persuasive one, drawing from the Broadway musical Avenue Q, is that the internet was made for porn. Positing a competing argument is a clowder of cat lovers, who insist that the internet was made for cats. Or, at least, it is definitely made of cats.

From the first internet memes like LOL Cats (and then subsequently Grumpy Cat, Ceiling Cat and Hipster Kitty), which had pictures of cats used for strong social, cultural and political commentary, to Caturday — a practice where users on the Web’s largest unmoderated discussion board, 4Chan, post pictures of cats every Saturday — cats are everywhere.

I want to add to this list and suggest that the internet was meant for “shame”. With the explosion of the interactive Web, more people getting access to mobile computing devices, and more websites inviting users to write reviews, leak pictures, expose videos and reveal more personal and private information online, there seems to be no doubt that we live in the age of digital shaming.

The aesthetic, also embedded in peer-to-peer platforms like chatroulete, or snapchat, where people often engage in sexting, is also becoming common in popular media. The ability to spy, to capture private images and videos, and expose the people who violate some imagined moral code has dangerous implications for the future of the Web and our own private lives. And as more of it goes unpunished and gets naturalised in our everyday digital practices, it is time to realise that the titillation it offers through scandal is far outweighed by the growing stress and grief it causes to victims. While there are some values to public shaming that ask for more transparency and accountability, we need to reflect on how it is creating societies of shame.

It sometimes emerges as an attempt to shame governments, private institutions, places of consumption, for compromise of the rights of the users.

Anything, from denial of service and corruption in government offices to bad food and substandard goods in restaurants and malls, is now reported in an attempt to shame the people responsible for it. This kind of “citizen journalism” allows for individual voices and experiences to be heard and documented, and the people in question are forced to be accountable for their jobs.

From fascinating websites like IPaidABribe.com to restaurant review sites like Zomato, we have seen an interesting phenomenon of “naming and shaming” that gives voice to individual discontent and anger. And so commonplace has this become, that most managers of different services and goods track, respond and mitigate the situation, often offering apologies and freebies to make up for that one bad experience.

Most big organisations have Twitter handles that function in a similar way, addressing grievances of users in real time, and helping to deliver better services and products. It is a new era of granular accountability that ensures that individual acts of discrimination, neglect or just disservice get reported and have direct impact on those responsible for it.

On the other end of the spectrum of this call for transparent and accountable structures, is the phenomenon of shaming and cyber bullying that is also increasing, especially with digital natives who spend more time online. On social networking sites, it has become almost passé, for personal and sensitive information to be leaked in order to shame and expose a person’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Especially for young teens who might be in a disadvantaged position — for reasons of sexual orientation, location, practices or interests — the shaming through exposing their private information often creates extremely traumatic conditions, even leading people to take their lives.
Shaming takes up particularly dire forms on websites and platforms that are designed to leak this kind of information. Hunter Moore, who has recently earned the title of being the most hated man on the internet, was the founder of a revenge-porn website, which invited male users to reveal sexual and embarrassing pictures of their former girlfriends and even spouses, to reveal them in compromising positions and shame them for being “sluts”.

Moore’s website has been shut down now and he is facing multiple charges of felony in the US, but that one site was just the tip of the iceberg. Slut shaming and trying to humiliate women has become a strong underground practice on the dark web. Hidden by anonymity and the security that the Web can sometimes offer, people betray the trust of their friends and lovers and expose them to be punished by voyeuristic audiences.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-march-30-2014-nishant-shah-the-age-of-shame

Terror recruiters target Indians on internet

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T06:57:56Z

What's in a name? If it indicates your religious identity, then you could get trolled by strangers wanting to draw you in with videos on the importance of archaic customs and doctored accounts of world history.

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on July 18, 2014. Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

City-based lawyer Shakeel Ahmed recently took one such bait on the Holocaust from a stranger on WhatsApp just to know what kind of propaganda is in circulation.

"I can laugh at such videos and false images but they might confuse youngsters," says Ahmed. Online baiting to lure sympathizers and recruits by seasoned extremists has been on the police radar. If the four youngsters from Thane and Kalyan are indeed now in Iraq fighting for the Islamic militia ISIS, then a good part of their indoctrination could have happened online, say experts.

ISIS is known to have an aggressive social media policy, including an Arabic-language Twitter app, to spread their message and recruit supporters even after the Iraqi government curtailed internet in areas captured by the group recently. "There are many websites, including jihadi ones, favoured by people with extremist leanings," says Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Himanshu Roy. Often, the initial contact is made on social networking sites and messenger services.

"The organizations spot youngsters and befriend them before inviting the trusted select to closed chat rooms," says K P Raghuvanshi, senior police official and former ATS head.

The discussion ranges from arranging finance to direct involvement, says Roy. "We have reason to believe that these four boys, who are all educated and come from reasonably well-off families, would have visited such sites and exchanged views with others," he says, refusing to elaborate. The youngsters are supposed to have been in touch with each other.

Those without a wide social network are easy targets, says Sunil Abraham, executive director of Centre for Internet and Society, a research organization. "If, as a young Muslim, you are in touch with only your friends and family, you might believe the false information that enters your circle of trust," he says. Contrary to belief, you don't meet a variety of people on social media. "Unless you have a critical understanding of internet, the medium with its interactivity and multi-media potential could aid propaganda," he says.

It was terrorist group Al-Qaeda that started using technology effectively since 2001. Its supporters came together to upload good quality videos of beheadings and suicide bombings to grab attention. Now, there is a variety of 'jihadist' software to prevent detection, whether it is a plug-in for instant messaging service, encryption for text messages or a stealth online network, according to media reports.

In India, terrorists took to technology in a big way from 2008 onwards when Indian groups like Indian Mujahideen recruited educated people, says an official. "Even a man who didn't know English, learnt to type Hindi using English alphabets and send and receive attachments," says the officer.

While officials say that it is difficult to monitor all the online activity, Roy says that ATS will tackle it. "This is the first instance of youngsters from Maharashtra going out to fight some other war," he says.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-july-18-2014-sandhya-soman-terror-recruiters-target-indians-on-internet

Tech companies like Gmail, WhatsApp may be asked to store user information

praskrishna — 2016-10-14T01:12:14Z

The government is moving to formulate rules that will require technology ‘intermediaries’— including email services like Gmail, chat apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat or even ecommerce firms like Amazon — to retain user information, a development that is expected to be met with determined opposition.

The article by Surabhi Agarwal was published in Economic Times on October 14, 2016. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

What the government is looking to do now is draft rules for Section 67C of the Information Technology Act, and this will be done by a committee that has been set up for the purpose. The rules — whose drafting has been waiting since 2008 — will spell out what type of data has to be stored, in which format, and for how long, according to three members of the newly-formed committee. All this so that law-enforcement agencies can access the information if they need it.

Sharing of information between foreign firms and the Indian government has been a contentious issue, and experts said the mandate may be impossible to implement for firms such as WhatsApp that promise end-to-end encryption. Or for Snapchat – a chat app where messages disappear within seconds and are not even stored on the company’s servers.

Firms may also oppose the diktat, especially since most of them are not governed by Indian laws and also due to the high cost of data retention.

The committee is headed by additional secretary in the ministry of electronics and IT (MEITY), Ajay Kumar, and has one representative each from the ministry of home affairs, department of telecom, department of personnel and training, Nasscom, Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISPAI), along with an advocate specialising in cyber law and a few officers from MEITY. The first meeting of the committee took place in the last week of September.

“This is a fairly complex issue, compounded by the general lack of understanding of mobile apps and over the top service providers,” said a person on the committee who did not wish to be identified. This person said that most technology players are based in the United States and they have always been at loggerheads about sharing of information with the government. “Even if it is for national security reasons, how much are these companies answerable to the Indian security establishment? And we do know how Apple refused to unlock the phone even for FBI."

Google and Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Huge balancing act’

Supreme Court lawyer and cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said the section has been drafted in very “broad” terms and the move may be driven by the realisation that these companies are huge data repositories – some of which might be relevant to law enforcement investigations. “It will have to be a huge balancing act and will be interesting to see what this committee decides,” added Duggal.

While Section 67C refers to the obligation of the service providers to retain information, the nature of the data to be retained and the time period is not specified. Companies which do not comply with the law can be levied fine and its officers sent to jail.

Another member on the committee said the ambit of this task is huge. “In the last meeting we argued that the rules should be the same for everybody and there should be no differential treatment for foreign companies such as Google or Microsoft,” he said. This person said that ambiguity is rampant as various government arms have different sets of rules for data retention.

For instance, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asks for data to be stored for six months, while the Registrar of Companies mandates some information to be retained for one year while the income-tax rules mandate data storage for six-seven years. “There has only been one meeting so far. It is a long procedure and will require several rounds of consultation,” said a third person on the committee.

Privacy activists like Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society said that one of the principles that’s frequently cited while discussing international practices on surveillance is that data retention should not be required of service providers.

And internationally too, there is no standard on this issue. “There were norms at the European Union-level regarding data retention, but they were struck down in 2014 by the European Court of Justice as being violative of human rights,” he said.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-october-14-2016-surabhi-agarwal-tech-companies-like-gmail-whatsapp-may-be-asked-to-store-user-information

Tamil Nadu likely to hold Facebook accountable for suicide case

praskrishna — 2016-07-13T13:44:58Z

The recent suicide of a 21-year-old woman from Salem district in Tamil Nadu over her morphed pictures being uploaded on Facebook could turn into a flash-point between the state police and the world's most-popular social networking site.

The article by V. Prem Shanker was published in the Economic Times on July 13, 2016.

"We are exploring the possibility of holding Facebook accountable for the delay in responding to our requests since that was one of the factors which led to the young lady committing suicide," Salem superintendent of police Amit Kumar Singh told ET in an exclusive interaction. On June 23, the Salem police had received a complaint from the father of the 21-year-old stating that someone had uploaded her morphed nude pictures on Facebook. The father had requested the police to get the photographs removed from the site and also find and warn the perpetrator.

The police recorded the complaint the same evening and later sent what is called a 'Law Enforcement Online Request' to Facebook asking for details of the IP address from which the morphed photographs were uploaded on the website. Officials also requested Facebook to take down the objectionable photographs of the young woman.

Five days after the request was sent, Facebook responded with the IP address on June 28 and within 12 hours after that the police cracked the case and nabbed the suspect.

However, all this was a bit too late because the previous day, on June 27, the young woman had ended her life. Her morphed nude photographs were taken down only on the day of her death, according to the police.

"Apart from addressing Facebook, we also investigated the case from other angles but couldn't make headway. Thus, there was nothing we could do about the pictures still being online apart from waiting for Facebook to act," Singh said, adding "enforcement of compliance is a matter of grave concern."

Officials are considering charging Facebook with abetment to suicide and including Facebook in the chargesheet if the site is found culpable after investigations. However, the state police is said to be discussing with legal experts on how this can be done as there is no precedent for a website having been charged in a crime.

Facebook did not reply to an email seeking comment. Earlier in a communique, responding to criticisms of police inaction in this case, Singh had pointed out that "Only Facebook can block a page and it exercises this discretion as per its Facebook Community Standards and not the law of the land it is being viewed in. Facebook does not provide the police with any special powers to take down a page even if the police receive a cognizable complaint of identity theft and uploading of obscene content. There is no tool available, at least as of now, with the police to coerce or goad Facebook to act expeditiously even if the matter is very urgent and there is a flagrant violation of Indian law."

Experts point out that the disparity with which Facebook treats child abuse laws and copyright infringements as opposed to violation of women's rights is stark.

"Look at the war against child pornography. In the United Kingdom there is an independent foundation that has immunity under UK child pornography law. They generate a database and circulate it across all platforms and ensure that it is kept absolutely squeaky clean," points out Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bengaluru based research organisation, Centre for Internet and Society.

"There definitely needs to be a law to ensure that such platforms do not violate the law of the land, especially when it comes to women's rights. But in interim, the government can create an information escrow or a platform where the victims can place on record their problems and it is there for these sites to see and take action," Abraham added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-v-prem-shanker-july-13-2016-tamil-nadu-likely-to-hold-facebook-accountable-for-suicide-case

Talking Point: Futile Battle Against Torrents

praskrishna — 2016-09-01T14:36:01Z

Sunil Abraham spoke to Deccan Herald to clear the air about rumours surrounding a jail threat for those logging on to Torrent sites.

Video

This was originally published by Deccan Herald on August 30, 2016

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/talking-point-futile-battle-against-torrents

Supreme Court issues notice to WhatsApp, Centre on data privacy

praskrishna — 2017-01-17T15:06:08Z

Analysts said India lacked data protection laws.

The article by MJ Antony, Ayan Pramanik and Apurva Venkat was published in the Business Standard on January 17, 2017. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and WhatsApp over an appeal alleging the instant messaging service did not ensure the privacy of its users and seeking regulations to protect personal information.

Chief Justice J S Khehar granted urgent hearing when Harish Salve, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the service provided free by the platform to 155 million subscribers violated constitutional provisions protecting privacy.

The government and WhatsApp would file their replies within two weeks, the court directed after Salve sought its intervention to protect consumer data till India enacted data protection laws.

The Supreme Court heard the petition after the Delhi High Court in September directed WhatsApp not to share its users’ data with its parent Facebook and asked it to provide users with the option to opt out. The court was hearing a public interest litigation over a change in WhatsApp’s user policies that explicitly allowed Facebook to access to WhatsApp users’ data.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company could not comment immediately.

Analysts said India lacked data protection laws that prohibit global Internet firms from harvesting user data for their business. “We used to think that we had some privacy jurisprudence in the country. If you asked a lawyer 1.5 years ago, he would say privacy in India was a constitutionally guaranteed right,” said Sunil Abraham, director of the Centre for Internet Society. “It is not explicitly referenced into the law.”

Saroj Kumar Jha, partner, SRGR Law Offices, said, “Along with the lack of policies and laws, there are very few judgments on privacy issues based on constitutional rights. Thus, it makes it very difficult to judge a case.”

Salve argued that till the government enacted legislation to protect user data, the court should provide protection. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India should introduce a clause in telecom licences that if calls were intercepted the licence would be cancelled, he said.

The court sought the assistance of Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi to sort out the issues.

Rohatgi, while arguing an earlier case related to alleged violation of privacy, had taken the stand that the Constitution did not protect the right to privacy. According to him, neither the fundamental rights nor Supreme Court judgments recognises a citizen’s right to privacy. The bench hearing that case referred the question to a constitution bench last year.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-mj-antony-ayan-pramanik-apurva-venkat-supreme-court-issues-notice-to-whatsapp-centre-on-data-privacy

Suicide videos: Facebook beefs up team to monitor content

praskrishna — 2017-05-20T02:59:14Z

Responding to the spate of suicides being livestreamed, social media giant Facebook has announced it will add another 3,000 people to its 4,500-strong review team that moderates content. The review team will also work in tandem with law enforcement agencies on this issue.

The article by Kim Arora was published in the Times of India on May 5, 2017.

"Over the last few weeks, we've seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook, either live or in video posted later. It's heartbreaking, and I've been reflecting on how we can do better for our community," Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a status update and added, "Over the next year, we'll be adding 3,000 people to our community operations team around the world, on top of the 4,500 we have today, to review the millions of reports we get every week, and improve the process for doing it quickly."

"...we'll keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it, either because they're about to harm themselves, or because they're in danger from someone else," Zuckerberg added announcing the move.

Over the last year, several violent incidents and suicides have been streamed live on Facebook. In India last April, a young student went live on Facebook minutes before he jumped off the 19th floor of Taj Lands End hotel in Mumbai. The same month saw similar news coming out of the US and Thailand as well. A 49-year-old from Alabama went live on Facebook before shooting himself in the head. Another man from Bangkok made a video of hanging his 11-month-old daughter, and uploaded it to Facebook. He was later discovered to have killed himself too.

"It's a positive development that Facebook is adding human power and tools for dealing with hate speech, child abuse and suicide attempts. It would be interesting to see how Facebook coordinates with the Indian police departments to get an emergency response to a potential suicide attempt or attempt to harm someone else," says Rohini Lakshane, program officer, Center for Internet and Society, though she warns against false reports clogging up reviewers' feeds and police notifications.

On Facebook, a video, picture or any other piece of content reaches the review team after it is reported by users for flouting its "community guidelines".

Chinmayi Arun, research director at the Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi, says Facebook must be transparent about this process. "Facebook should also announce how it is keeping this process accountable. It is a public platform of great importance which has been guilty of over-censorship in the past. It should be responsive not just to government censorship requests but also to user requests to review and reconsider its blocking of legitimate content," she says.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-kim-arora-may-5-2017-suicide-videos-facebook-beefs-up-team-to-monitor-content

Students lead the way with apps for ideas

praskrishna — 2014-05-28T09:24:30Z

At 1am, the lights are still on in 15-year-old Pratik's room at his house on 80 Feet Road, Indiranagar. The NPS-Koramangala student is busy typing code on his laptop for his latest app called Resolve.

The article published in the Times of India on May 21, 2014 quotes Nishant Shah.

Pratik epitomizes Gen X. Coding and decoding, these school children, barely into their teens, are developing apps drawing attention worldwide.

"I learnt coding by myself with the help of the internet. The world wants things simplified and that's why apps are a hit. The first app I made was a calculator because my dad was unhappy with the one on his phone. My work was initially rejected, but I knew that would happen. But I continued working. When I went to a Microsoft conference, they told me youngsters have ideas to change the world and we have the time," said Pratik.

He was felicitated with a Nokia Lumia 1520 at the Windows Azure Conference 2014 for his work in developing apps for Windows and Windows Phone store.

Rahul Yedida, a Class 12 student at the National Centre for Excellence, has around 18,000 downloads for the app he and his friend created. "I wasn't too happy with the amount of Maths homework. I started wondering whether an app could do it. At the same time, I had learnt a new language and wanted to test my skills. That's how I started working on it," said Rahul.

"Programming is fun. Seeing a computer work the way you want it to gives you special joy," said Vaisakh M, Rahul's co-developer. They sent a letter to Bill Gates about the app and got a reply lauding their achievement.

Quote hanger
* During my free time, I read about programming which helps me when I write programs. My friends in the colony join me when I watch videos about it. They do programs in other languages. I play games and used to wonder how they're made. My dad promised to get me a laptop if I start programming and that's how it started.

Thrisha Mohan| 12, Vidyashilp Academy, now working on a jewellery app

* Apps are the cool things to do now. With the kind of access possible thanks to smart phones, they have gone to the masses. I wouldn't be surprised at the number of apps being created. When an app is created in a college dormitory, 1,000 students in the college will download it. That's instant gratification. The ecosystem is such that with social networking sites, you become an instant hero. The question is: How many can be successful and have a long life?

S Sadagopan | director, IIIT-B

* Apps are more relevant for those growing up with interfaces which are mobile and wearable. We also need to realise there is a growing generation of people whose first point of access to the digital as well as to the connected worlds of the internet is through mobile devices. And apps are a natural way of interaction. It is a positive trend because it allows users to think of themselves not only as 'users' but as active producers of the digital world. They look beyond platforms made available by multi-national companies or private enterprises, and it allows them to build communities of interaction and learning between them. We need to make sure they are safe and not susceptible to invasive presence of others who might exploit their presence on the web.

Nishant Shah | director- research, The Centre for Internet and Society

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-may-21-2014-sruthy-susan-ullas-students-lead-the-way-with-apps-for-ideas

Stay connected even when you go underground

praskrishna — 2014-07-04T15:15:11Z

CMRL may soon start making arrangements to ensure good mobile connectivity on the underground stretch.

The article by Sunita Sekhar was published in the Hindu on June 12, 2014. Nishant Shah gave his inputs.

A really erratic mobile network connection is something all of us have probably experienced, while on the move, every now and then.

If your mobile phone signal can fail you on the road, have you thought what it will be like when you ride underground?

Perhaps it is time to put that thought into your head. Not very many years from now, it is likely you will be riding the Chennai Metro underground.

Folks at Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) have, however, already thought of this, to their credit.

CMRL may soon start making arrangements to ensure good mobile connectivity on the underground stretch.

“We are considering various options to boost mobile network underground. It is important we provide such a service,” says a CMRL official. Chennai Metro, built at a cost of Rs. 14,600 crore, 45 km across the city, will have 24 km underground. Of the 32 stations, 19 will be underground.

CMRL has drawn the idea from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), a principal consultant. Sometime back, Delhi Metro Rail had installed additional cellular towers at its underground stations to improve mobile connectivity.

The value of such a facility will surface especially during a crisis, according to Nishant Shah of Centre for Internet and Society.

“Connectivity becomes crucial when something untoward — be it breakdown of infrastructure or even sexual harassment — occurs on the underground stretch. It needs to be recorded or documented immediately,” he says.

Janaki Pillai of Ability Foundation says connectivity is particularly critical for the hearing impaired, who often use the messaging and WhatsApp services.

“But the question of them using the underground stations and the need for mobile connectivity arises only when the stations are accessible. Whether I choose to use it or not is different, but the service should be available and the choice should be mine,” she says.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-june-11-2014-sunita-sekhar-stay-connected-even-when-you-go-underground

Start-up India turns the heat on Facebook Free Basics

praskrishna — 2015-12-29T15:54:30Z

Facebook launched its "Save Free Basics" campaign last week, asking users to support "digital equality" in India.

The article by Anita Babu was published in Business Standard on December 22, 2015. Pranesh Prakash gave inputs.

Nearly a week after Facebook launched its controversial "Save Free Basics" campaign in India, the net neutrality debate has come to the fore again. This time around, India's star internet entrepreneurs such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive of Paytm, and Dippak Khurana of Vserv have joined the crusade for free internet.

"Oh my fellow Indians, either choose this and do a jihad for independent internet later or pick net neutrality today," Sharma of Paytm, India's largest digital wallet, tweeted on Tuesday. "Digital world war heads! We have to load http://www.savetheinternet.in for #NetNeutrality," said Sharma in another tweet. Savetheinternet.in, a volunteer group, has urged people to lend their support for an unfettered internet in India.

Facebook launched its "Save Free Basics" campaign last week, asking users to support "digital equality" in India, in response to a paper by the telecom regulator which is seeking comments on differential pricing practices like Airtel Zero of Facebook's Free Basics, which was earlier called Internet.org.

Facebook launched a print and digital media campaign for a "connected India" asking users to give a missed call, automatically sending a message to the regulator in support of Free Basics.

Facebook has also been asking its users to send an e-mail to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) supporting "essential internet for all". The social network claims to have gained support from 3.2 million of its 130 million users in India.

On Tuesday, the social media giant earned flak for soliciting support from international users for the campaign. Later, Facebook withdrew the campaign outside India claiming it was an "accident".

However, some net neutrality volunteers said that many of Facebook's 3.2 million supporters for Free Basics were non-Indians.

Activists and tech leaders are calling the Facebook campaign "misleading" and "destructive".

"People are being tricked into supporting Free Basics under the guise of digital equality," wrote Amol Malviya, former chief technology officer at Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce firm, on his blog. "Notice the language on the page? It makes any critic of Free Basics appear to be an enemy of digital equality. People will listen to the critics' arguments much lesser when there's a question mark on their intent."

Nikhil Pahwa, editor and publisher of MediaNama, said India should question the intent of Facebook and its campaign. "There is misrepresentation in the language they have used. It makes people assume that we can't have universal internet access without net-neutrality violating services such as Free Basics. It is important for a country to take note of how much power a platform with as much reach as Facebook has to influence an important government process," said Pahwa, who led a fight against TRAI's move to allow telecom firms charge for internet services like WhatsApp and Hike.

The basic premise of net neutrality is that of freedom - an open internet that protects and enables free communication. Anything that takes away this freedom violates the fundamentals of free Internet. "Facebook's Free Basics is neither free nor basic - it is a cleverly disguised way of walling a garden, and hardly the philanthropic initiative that it is marketed to be," said Khurana of Vserv. He urged internet users to uninstall the Facebook App from their mobile phones in protest.

Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society, said, "Facebook, a foreign company, is allowed to campaign with impunity, but NGOs receiving funding from foreign trusts are subject to all manners of restrictions and may not campaign in India."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-anita-babu-december-23-2015-start-up-india-turns-the-heat-on-facebook-free-basics

Social Notworking - 'Murder by Twitter'

praskrishna — 2014-02-04T07:02:30Z

Suketu Mehta (@suketumehta) - terrible news about sunanda tharoor. this is murder by twitter.

The article by Malini Nair published in the Times of India quotes Nishant Shah.

Even before forensic science has declared the reasons behind Sunanda Pushkar's shocking death on Friday night, social media has been accused of murder. Writer Suketu Mehta wasn't the only one to point fingers. "First murder by @TwitterIndia , claps, fellow twitter matured guns!" is how another tweet went. Besides the deadly cocktail of depression, drugs, a strained marriage, questions have been raised about whether the vicious banter and collective howls of derision on social media over her very public meltdown — again on social media — pushed her over the edge.
Have we, the tweeple, in our eagerness to share every detail of our lives over an internet megaphone, not quite understood what the social media can do, especially its pitfalls? Is the line between the public and private blurring too fast? Commentators say that the rules that govern human and social behaviour haven't changed, and the fault lies in how we negotiate the cyber turf.

Can our digital lives have serious offline consequences? Nishant Shah, director, research , Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, says people need to realize that though twitter amplifies everything, but the ability to hurt, be mean, fight, question, critique and bully is not new.

"These are human practices , which replay themselves across different media forms. What is perhaps new is that our most personal and darkest desires have become available for public spectacle," says Shah.

That the twitterati can be brutal has been shown often enough this last year. When Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal was mired in allegations of sexual harassment, his daughter was hounded on social media. Recently when novelist Lavanya Sankaran wrote an op-ed for New York Times defending the decent Indian man, she was royally derided, so much so that another journalist Rahul Bhatia tweeted in her defence, asking people to lay off.

Sunanda's story hurtled towards a tragedy in a space of 48 hours after she went public. As Shah points out it wasn't as though there were no affairs and scandals before the dawn of social media but the tangle would have spun out differently and less brutally in another time and age. It all began, as Pushkar admitted to some papers and later denied, with the spilling of alleged BBMs sent by Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar to Tharoor on his twitter account.

Predictably, the effect of the first round of revelations was explosive. In fact, Pushkar herself appeared taken aback by the fact that a twitter spat ended up making front page headlines.

The entire drama which, in another age, would have played out at home or a circle of family, friends and acquaintances — and at the most in far less dramatic gossip columns and on TV— was up on social media, provide enormous vicarious pleasure to thousands of social media bystanders. That Pushkar herself set the virtual assault in motion only adds to the bleak irony of it all. This was also not the first time Pushkar took a spat to twitter. @SPTVrocks tweeted about her fight with a journalist in Dubai earlier this month.

Clinical psychologist Varkha Chulani says it is the personality behind the media usage not the form itself that is to be blamed. "People choose to talk about their private lives to impress others, to get attention. We forget what is real and what is virtual." Shah, however, believes that we live in a world of digital striptease and that the ubiquitous and pervasive technologies that surround us have forever blurred the lines between real and virtual.

Activists have often pointed out that the social media has everything going for it — quick and vast connect and instant response — but what it lacks is empathy. It is easy enough to send out an RIP message, for instance, for someone you don't know or even care for, positioning yourself as a caring, empathetic soul in 140 characters.

Post Pushkar's death, news anchor Barkha Dutt tweeted that we need to limit viciousness , stop judging and use greater compassion on twitter.

Shah makes a similar plea for the human touch.

"We are all so self-involved , creating narratives of our selves, bit-stripping every moment , instagramming every event, tweeting every encounter, and liking all the various things that happen around us, that we don't always have enough time to stop, to respond, to think and reflect upon other people's conditions . We have become jaded, to the various 'great' moments in people's time lines, but we are also becoming jaded to the pain that our involvement in these social networks can bring to those who are the subject of our attention," he says.

With additional reporting by Shobita Dhar

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-january-19-2014-malini-nair-social-networking-murder-by-twitter

Social media undermining journalistic credibility?

praskrishna — 2013-03-06T04:41:15Z

The line separating journalists and bloggers is being increasingly blurred due to the growth of social media, said Nelson Moses, who was a panelist at a discussion on the credibility of social media as a journalistic tool.

The article was published in the New Indian Express on March 4, 2013. Snehashish Ghosh was a panelist.

The talk titled, “Is social media credible?” comprising a panel of professionals from various media houses from across India, was held as a part of the alumni reunion at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM) recently.

The panel included Snehashish Ghosh, a policy associate at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, Nelson Moses, who has had stints with numerous media houses and now works at Yahoo, Subhash Rai, web editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, and Tresa Morera, the deputy editor of the global online desk at Reuters, Bangalore.

The discussion, moderated by Professor Mark Austin of IIJNM, revolved around the crucial issues surrounding the Indian media industry and the use of social media.

Talking points included the role social media like Twitter and Facebook played in populist movements across the Middle East, such as the Arab Spring and also the exodus of people of Manipuri and Assamese descent from Bangalore last year, due to a series of phone messages which purportedly threatened them with violence.Other issues covered in the discussion were whether bloggers could be cited as credible sources of information and also if their roles in shaping public perception was influencing how media houses and journalists function.

During the course of the discussion, which centered around the drawbacks of a digitally interlinked media landscape, Subhash Rai, said that though it was clearly the work of “right-wing fundamental elements” which led to the circulation of provocative messages against people from the north eastern part of the country, the incident also pointed to the failure of neoliberalism in the Indian context.

“Journalists are one of the beneficiaries of neoliberalism,” said Shubash Rai, while arguing that often, urban concerns take precedence over more

pressing issues occurring outside the big cities, leading to these issues either not being reported or not given the same importance. “For example, nobody is reporting the agrarian crisis,” he said.

Tresa Morera, an IIJNM alumna, said that she believed that “transparency” in the Indian media, and a series of “checks and balances” within media organizations could help in better reporting by the media.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/new-indian-express-march-4-2013-social-media-undermining-journalistic-credibility

Social media promotions can backfire, too

praskrishna — 2013-11-14T05:24:44Z

Social media is a highly effective marketing tool for companies but its very ubiquity and the speed with which messaging goes viral has meant that it can hurt them badly as well, especially since platforms are not always moderated and can be hacked or misused.

The article by Ratna Bhushan and Varuni Khosla was published in the Times of India on November 11, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

It's not just bad language and racially or socially insensitive messages seemingly originating from official Twitter handles, some companies are guilty of poorly judged promotions resulting in consumer backlash.

On the eve of the country's largest broadcaster Star India rebranding its sport channels last week, the Star Sports Twitter handle posted abusive language. Star India said the account had had been hacked, but by then the tweet had gone viral.

Just before that, the Board of Control for Cricket in India Twitter handle had cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's digital autograph along with bad language on the eve of his retirement from the sports.

Two days before Diwali, beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo ran a contest on Twitter asking contestants to tweet their version of the Ramayana. That caused outrage on social media, led by writer Chetan Bhagat.

PepsiCo quickly apologised and removed the promotion but not before it got flooded by tweets from those who were upset by the move. While Star and BCCI blamed hackers and PepsiCo's scored an own goal, social media experts say companies need to be more responsible.

"Our intent was to involve young Indians in one of India's most loved festivals. We took immediate action and withdrew the contest," the beverage maker's spokesperson said.

AStar Sports spokesperson also said the firm had apologised for the offensive tweet. "We have investigated the issue. A thirdparty vendor had abused his privileged access to the account. We are in the process of taking necessary action and will ensure that no such event recurs."

But ensuring third-party quality control may be easier said than done. "Many companies are unable to handle their social media operations because they usually outsource these to companies that don't get paid well enough (say Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per month).

Hence the people handling the accounts could be anyone from an untrained 22-year-old fresh out of college or someone who has no skill set in the social media space," said Gaba.

Sometimes humour can turn offensive too. In the middle of last year, when Sachin Tendulkar made his eagerly awaited 100th international century, a tweet from insurance services firm Bajaj Allianz went: Congrats to Sachin for his long awaited 100th ton. Now don't delay your retirement planning. #RetireRich #JiyoBefikar.

That caused much offence to Tendulkar's fans. Or take the case of Fortis, which sought to promote breast feeding week last year with the hashtag AgarMaKaDudhPia-HaiTo. Predictably, this one too ran into trouble.

"Social media by definition, unlike broadcast media, cannot be controlled. Therefore, even if you take all conceivable precautions there can be unintended consequences. But India is culturally as complicated as a continent — therefore, it requires a very sophisticated understanding and nuance to pull off humour that is universally appealing and does not offend anyone," said Abraham. Last week, the seven-year-old Twitter's stock rose 73% on its debut, with a market value of $31 billion, making it one of the most successful IPOs of the year and beating even its own expectations. Globally, examples abound of companies or institutions making on Twitter bloopers.

"Companies shouldn't always come up with the excuse that their account was hacked... they need to be accountable. A senior member of the team should always oversee tweets before they're sent out," said Ankita Gaba, co-founder of socialsamosa.com, an Indian social media knowledge storehouse.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit research organisation that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression and privacy, said, "The BCCI disaster is because they have taken automation too far. Automation of social media interactions can be useful but without careful human oversight, it can very easily be gamed by rogue elements online."

A PepsiCo India spokesman said the firm's #Ramayana140 Twitter contest "unintentionally caused some concern to consumers".

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/economic-times-november-11-2013-ratna-bhushan-varuni-khosla-social-media-promotions-can-backfire-too

Social Media Monitoring

amber — 2017-01-16T14:23:13Z

We see a trend of social media and communication monitoring and surveillance initiatives in India which have the potential to create a chilling effect on free speech online and raises question about the privacy of individuals. In this paper, Amber Sinha looks at social media monitoring as a tool for surveillance, the current state of social media surveillance in India, and evaluate how the existing regulatory framework in India may deal with such practices in future.

Social Media Monitoring: Download (PDF)

Introduction

In 2014, the Government of India launched the much lauded and popular citizen outreach website called MyGov.in. A press release by the government announced that they had roped in global consulting firm PwC to assist in the data mining exercise to process and filter key points emerging from debates on Mygov.in. While this was a welcome move, the release also mentioned that the government intended to monitor social media sites in order to gauge popular opinion. Further, earlier this year, the government set up National Media Analytics Centre (NMAC) to monitor blogs, media channels, news outlets and social media platforms. The tracking software used by NMAC will generate tags to classify post and comments on social media into negative, positive and neutral categories, paying special attention to “belligerent” comments, and also look at the past patterns of posts. A project called NETRA has already been reported in the media a few years back which would intercept and analyse internet traffic using pre-defined filters. Alongside, we see other initiatives which intend to use social media data for predictive policing purposes such as CCTNS and Social Media Labs.

Thus, we see a trend of social media and communication monitoring and surveillance initiatives announced by the government which have the potential to create a chilling effect on free speech online and raises question about the privacy of individuals. Various commentators have raised concerns about the legal validity of such programmes and whether they were in violation of the fundamental rights to privacy and free expression, and the existing surveillance laws in India. The lack of legislation governing these programmes often translates into an absence of transparency and due procedure. Further, a lot of personal communication now exists in the public domain which renders traditional principles which govern interception and monitoring of personal communications futile. In the last few years, the blogosphere and social media websites in India have also changed and become platforms for more dissemination of political content, often also accompanied by significant vitriol, ‘trolling’ and abuse. Thus, we see greater policing of public or semi-public spaces online. In this paper, we look at social media monitoring as a tool for surveillance, the current state of social media surveillance in India and evaluate how the existing regulatory framework in India may deal with such practices in future.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/social-media-monitoring

Social media may influence 160 LS seats in 2014

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T07:13:52Z

Social media is likely to influence politics and elections in 160 of India’s 543 Parliament constituencies, making Facebook and Twitter users the nation’s newest voting bloc, a new study suggests.

This article by Zia Haq was published in the Hindustan Times on April 12, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

In these mostly urbanizing constituencies, social-media usage is now “sufficiently widespread” to influence the outcome of a general election slated for 2014, the study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and supported by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), indicates.

On April 4, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s high-profile address to the Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading business forum, was trending topmost on Twitter in India that day, some posts by rivals mocking him.

A series of lectures by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, a presumptive PM, this week too garnered strong social-media attention, with his and Gandhi’s supporters competing online to run the other down.

A deeply polarizing figure still, Modi is often accused of watching over a carnage that killed nearly 2000 people in 2002, mostly Muslims. Yet, he has pulled off a stunning online strategy to showcase Gujarat as India’s Guandong, a south China province with top GDP rankings and investment.

Research shows that social media is more persuasive than television ads. Nearly 100 million Indians, or more than Germany’s population, use the Internet each day. Of this, 40 million have assured broadband, the ones most likely to have at least one social media account.

“Unlike Obama, who used social media directly for votes, Indian politicians have tended to use it more to mould public discourse,” says Sunil Abraham, the CEO of The Centre for Internet and Society.

That is likely to change in 2014. Not surprisingly, Modi became the third politician globally, a fter Obama and Australian PM Julia Gillard, to host a political conference on Google+ hangout.

Chief ministers in states are also leveraging social media. Bihar has unveiled a re-branded campaign called, “Bihar ka haq” or Bihar’s Rightful Cause, on Facebook.

Social-media-impacted constituencies, according to the study, are those where Facebook users are more than the victory margin of the winner in the last Lok Sabha election, or where such users account for over 10% of the voting population.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-zia-haq-april-12-2013-social-media-may-influence-160-lok-sabha-seats-in-2014