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Submission by the Centre for Internet and Society on Revisions to ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/submission-by-the-centre-for-internet-and-society-on-revisions-to-icann-expected-standards-of-behavior
<b>Prepared by Vidushi Marda, with inputs from Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan and Sunil Abraham.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>We at the Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) are grateful for the opportunity to comment on the proposed revisions to ICANN’s Expected Standards of Behavior (“Standards”).</p>
<p>Before providing specific comments on the proposed revisions, CIS would like to state for the record our extreme disappointment while noting that there is no indication of the intention to draft and adopt a dedicated anti - harassment policy. We are of the firm opinion that harassment, and particularly sexual harassment, is not only a sensitive topic, but also a deeply complex one. Such a policy should consider scope, procedural questions, redressal and remedies in cases of harassment in general and sexual harassment in particular. A mere change in language to these Standards, however well intentioned, cannot go too far in preventing and dealing with cases of harassment in the absence of a framework within which such instances can be addressed.</p>
<p>Some of the issues that arose at ICANN55 were confusion surrounding the powers and limits of the Ombudsman’s office in dealing with cases of harassment, the exact procedure to be followed for redressal surrounding such incidents, and the appropriate conduct of parties to the matter. There will be no clarity in these respects, even if these proposed changes are to be adopted.</p>
<p>Specifically, the proposed language is problematic and completely inadequate for the following reasons:</p>
<ol><li>
<p><strong>Vague</strong></p>
<p>Terms like “professional conduct” and “appropriate behavior” mean little in the absence of a definition that entails such conduct. These terms could mean vastly different things to each community member and such language will only encourage a misalignment of expectation of conduct between community members. The “general” definition of harassment is at best, an ineffective placeholder, as it does not encompass exactly what kind of behavior would fall under its definition.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Fails to consider important scenarios</strong></p>
<p>The proposed language fails to consider situations where some attempts or advances at communication, sexual or otherwise, occur. For example, consider a situation in which one community member stalks another online, and catalogues his/her every move. This is most certainly foreseeable, but will not be adequately covered by the proposed language. Further, terms like “speech or behavior that is sexually aggressive or intimidates” could or could not include types of speech such as art, music, photography etc, depending on who you ask. It also does not explain the use of the word behavior - physical, emotional, professional, online behavior are all possible, but the scope of this term would depend on the interpretation one chooses to apply. In part 4 below, we will demonstrate how ICANN has applied a far more detailed framework for harassment elsewhere.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Ignores complexity</strong></p>
<p>In discussions surrounding the incident at ICANN55, a number of issues of arose. These included, inter alia, the definition of harassment and sexual harassment, what constituted such conduct, the procedure to be followed in such cases, the appropriate forum to deal with such incidents and the conduct that both parties are expected to maintain. These questions cannot, and have not been answered or addressed in the proposed change to the Standards. CIS emphasizes the need to understand this issue as one that must imbibe differences in culture, expectation, power dynamics, and options for redressal. If ICANN is to truly be a safe space, such issues must be substantively and procedurally fair for both the accused and the victim. This proposed definition is woefully inadequate in this regard.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Superficial understanding of harassment, sexual harassment</strong></p>
<p>The proposed changes do not define harassment, and sexual harassment in an adequate fashion. The change currently reads, “Generally, harassment is considered unwelcome hostile or intimidating behavior -- in particular, speech or behavior that is sexually aggressive or intimidates based on attributes such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, color, national origin, ancestry, disability or medical condition, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” These are subject to broad interpretation, and we have already highlighted the issues that may arise due to this in 1, above. Here, we would like to point to a far more comprehensive definition.</p>
</li></ol>
<p>ICANN’s own Employment Policy includes within the scope of sexual harassment “verbal, physical and visual conduct that creates an intimidating, offensive or hostile working environment, or interferes with work performance.” The policy also states:</p>
<blockquote>Harassing conduct can take many forms and includes, but is not limited to, the following:<br />
<ol><li>Slurs, jokes, epithets, derogatory comments, statements or gestures;</li>
<li>Assault, impeding or blocking another’s movement or otherwise physically interfering with normal work;</li>
<li>Pictures, posters, drawings or cartoons based upon the characteristics mentioned in the first paragraph of this policy.</li></ol>
Sexually harassing conduct includes all of the above prohibited actions, as well as other unwelcome conduct, such as requests for sexual favors, conversation containing sexual comments, and unwelcome sexual advances.”</blockquote>
<p>This definition is not perfect, it does not comprehensively consider advances or attempts at communication, sexual or otherwise, which are unwelcome by the target. Nonetheless, CIS believes that this is a far more appropriate definition that does not include vague metrics that the proposed changes do. Since it is one ICANN has already adopted, it can act as an important stepping stone towards a comprehensive framework.</p>
<p>Like ICANN, UNESCO’s organisational approach has been to adopt a comprehensive <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/UN_system_policies/(UNESCO)Anti-harassment_Policy.pdf">Anti-Harassment Policy</a> which lays down details of definition, prevention, complaint procedure, investigations, sanctions, managerial responsibility, etc. Acknowledging the cultural sensitivity of harassment particularly in international situations, the policy also recognizes advances or attempts at communication, sexual or otherwise. Most importantly, it states that for conduct to come within the definition of sexual harassment, it “must be unwelcome, i.e. unsolicited and regarded as offensive or undesirable by the victim.”</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>In conclusion, we would like to reiterate the importance of adopting and drafting a dedicated anti-harassment policy and framework. The benefits of safety, certainty and formal redressal mechanisms in cases of harassment cannot be over emphasized.</p>
<p>Importantly, such measures have already been taken elsewhere. The IETF has adopted an <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7776">instrument</a> to address issues of harassment that occur at meetings, mailing lists and social events. This instrument contemplates in detail, problematic behavior, unacceptable conduct, the scope of the term harassment, etc. It further envisages a framework for redressal of complaints, remediation, and even contemplates issues that may arise with such remediation. It is particularly important to note that while it provides a definition of harassment, it also states that "[a]ny definition of harassment prohibited by an applicable law can be subject to this set of procedures, recognising harassment as a deeply personal and subjective experience, and thus encouraging members to take up issues of harassment as per their cultural norms and national laws, which are then considered as per procedures laid down."</p>
<p>A similar effort within the ICANN community is critical.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/submission-by-the-centre-for-internet-and-society-on-revisions-to-icann-expected-standards-of-behavior'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/submission-by-the-centre-for-internet-and-society-on-revisions-to-icann-expected-standards-of-behavior</a>
</p>
No publishervidushiPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceFeaturedICANNIANA TransitionHomepage2016-06-30T06:07:37ZBlog EntryCIS Submission to TRAI Consultation on Free Data
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-trai-consultation-free-data
<b>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held a consultation on Free Data, for which CIS sent in the following comments.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked for <a href="http://trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/ConsultationPaper/Document/CP_07_free_data_consultation.pdf">public comments on free data</a>. Below are the comments that CIS submitted to the four questions that it posed.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="question-1">Question 1
<p><em>Is there a need to have TSP agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users, without violating the principles of Differential Pricing for Data laid down in TRAI Regulation? Please suggest the most suitable model to achieve the objective.</em></p>
</h2>
<h3 id="is-there-a-need-for-free-data">Is There a Need for Free Data?</h3>
<p>No, there is no <em>need</em> for free data, just as there is no <em>need</em> for telephony or Internet. However, making provisions for free data would increase the amount of innovation in the Internet and telecom sector, and there is a good probability that it would lead to faster adoption of the Internet, and thus be beneficial in terms of commerce, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and many other ways.</p>
<p>Thus the question that a telecom regulator should ask is not whether there is a <em>need</em> for TSP agnostic platforms, but whether such platforms are harmful for competition, for consumers, and for innovation. The telecom regulator ought not undertake regulation unless there is evidence to show that harm has been caused or that harm is likely to be caused. In short, TRAI should not follow the precautionary principle, since the telecom and Internet sectors are greatly divergent from environmental protection: the burden of proof for showing that something ought to be prohibited ought to be on those calling for prohibition.</p>
<h3 id="goal-regulating-gatekeeping">Goal: Regulating Gatekeeping</h3>
<p>TRAI wouldn’t need to regulate price discrimination or Net neutrality if ISPs were not “gatekeepers” for last-mile access. “Gatekeeping” occurs when a single entity establishes itself as an exclusive route to reach a large number of people and businesses or, in network terms, nodes. It is not possible for Internet services to reach their end customers without passing through ISPs (generally telecom networks). The situation is very different in the middle-mile and for backhaul. Even though anti-competitive terms may exist in the middle-mile, especially given the opacity of terms in “transit agreements”, a packet is usually able to travel through multiple routes if one route is too expensive (even if that is not the shortest network path, and is thus inefficient in a way). However, this multiplicity of routes is generally not possible in the last mile.<a id="fnref1" class="footnoteRef" href="#fn1"><sup>1</sup></a> This leaves last mile telecom operators (ISPs) in a position to unfairly discriminate between different Internet services or destinations or applications, while harming consumer choice.</p>
<p>However, the aim of regulation by TRAI cannot be to prevent gatekeeping, since that is not possible as long as there are a limited number of ISPs. For instance, even by the very act of charging money for access to the Internet, ISPs are guilty of “gatekeeping” since they are controlling who can and cannot access an Internet service that way. Instead, the aim of regulation by TRAI should be to “regulate gatekeepers to ensure they do not use their gatekeeping power to unjustly discriminate between similarly situated persons, content or traffic”, as we proposed in our submission to TRAI (on OTTs) last year.</p>
<h3 id="models-for-free-data">Models for Free Data</h3>
<p>There are multiple models possible for free data, none of which TRAI should prohibit unless it would enable OTTs to abuse their gatekeeping powers.</p>
<h4 id="government-incentives-for-non-differentiated-free-data">Government Incentives For Non-Differentiated Free Data</h4>
<p>The government may opt to require all ISPs to provide free Internet to all at a minimum QoS in exchange for exemption from paying part of their USO contributions, or the government may pay ISPs for such access using their USO contributions.</p>
<p>TRAI should recommend to DoT that it set up a committee to study the feasibility of this model.</p>
<h4 id="isp-subsidies">ISP subsidies</h4>
<p>ISP subsidies of Internet access only make economic sense for the ISP under the following ‘Goldilocks’ condition is met: the experience with the subsidised service is ‘good enough’ for the consumers to want to continue to use such services, but ‘bad enough’ for a large number of them to want to move to unsubsidised, paid access.</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li>Providing free Internet to all at a low speed.
<ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;">
<li>This naturally discriminates against services and applications such as video streaming, but does not technically bar access to them.</li></ol>
</li>
<li>Providing free access to the Internet with other restrictions on quality that aren’t discriminatory with respect to content, services, or applications.</li></ol>
<h4 id="rewards-model">Rewards model</h4>
<p>A TSP-agnostic rewards platform will only come within the scope of TRAI regulation if the platform has some form of agreement with the TSPs, even if it is collectively. If the rewards platform doesn’t have any agreement with any TSP, then TRAI does not have the power to regulate it. However, if the rewards platform has an agreement with any TSP, it is unclear whether it would be allowed under the Differential Data Tariff Regulation, since the clause 3(2) read with paragraph 30 of the Explanatory Memorandum might disallow such an agreement.</p>
<p>Assuming for the sake of argument that platforms with such agreements are not disallowed, such platforms can engage in either post-purchase credits or pre-purchase credits, or both. In other words, it could be a situation where a person has to purchase a data pack, engage in some activity relating to the platform (answer surveys, use particular apps, etc.) and thereupon get credit of some form transferred to one’s SIM, or it could be a situation where even without purchasing a data pack, a consumer can earn credits and thereupon use those credits towards data.</p>
<p>The former kind of rewards platform is not as useful when it comes to encouraging people to use the Internet, since only those who already see worth in using in the Internet (and can afford it) will purchase a data pack in the first place. The second form, on the other hand is quite useful, and could be encouraged. However, this second model is not as easily workable, economically, for fixed line connections, since there is a higher initial investment involved.</p>
<h4 id="recharge-api">Recharge API</h4>
<p>A recharge API could be fashioned in one of two ways: (1) via the operating system on the phone, allowing a TSP or third parties (whether OTTs or other intermediaries) to transfer credit to the SIM card on the phone which have been bought wholesale. Another model could be that of all TSPs providing a recharge API for the use of third parties. Only the second model is likely to result in a “toll-free” experience since in the first model, like in the case of a rewards platform that requires up-front purchase of data packs, there has to be a investment made first before that amount is recouped. This is likely to hamper the utility of such a model.</p>
<p>Further, in the first case, TRAI would probably not have the powers to regulate such transactions, as there would be no need for any involvement by the TSP. If anti-competitive agreements or abuse of dominant position seems to be taking place, it would be up to the Competition Commission of India to investigate.</p>
<p>However, the second model would have to be overseen by TRAI to ensure that the recharge APIs don’t impose additional costs on OTTs, or unduly harm competition and innovation. For instance, there ought to be an open specification for such an API, which all the TSPs should use in order to reduce the costs on OTTs. Further, there should be no exclusivity, and no preferential treatment provided for the TSPs sister concerns or partners.</p>
<h4 id="example-sites">“0.example” sites</h4>
<p>Other forms of free data, for instance by TSPs choosing not to charge for low-bandwidth traffic should be allowed, as long as it is not discriminatory, nor does it impose increased barriers to entry for OTTs. For instance, if a website self-certifies that it is low-bandwidth and optimized for Internet-enabled feature phones and uses 0.example.tld to signal this (just as wap.* were used in for WAP sites and m.* are used for mobile-optimized versions of many sites), then there is no reason why TSPs should be prohibited from not charging for the data consumed by such websites, as long as the TSP does so uniformly without discrimination. In such cases, the TSP is not harming competition, harming consumers, nor abusing its gatekeeping powers.</p>
<h4 id="ott-agnostic-free-data">OTT-agnostic free data</h4>
<p>If a TSP decides not to charge for specific forms of traffic (for example, video, or for locally-peered traffic) regardless of the Internet service from which that traffic emanates, as as long as it does so with the end customer’s consent, then there is no question of the TSP harming competition, harming consumers, nor abusing its gatekeeping powers. There is no reason such schemes should be prohibited by TRAI unless they distort markets and harm innovation.</p>
<h4 id="unified-marketplace">Unified marketplace</h4>
<p>One other way to do what is proposed as the “recharge API” model is to create a highly-regulated market where the gatekeeping powers of the ISP are diminished, and the ISP’s ability to leverage its exclusive access over its customers are curtailed. A comparison may be drawn here to the rules that are often set by standard-setting bodies where patents are involved: given that these patents are essential inputs, access to them must be allowed through fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory licences. Access to the Internet and common carriers like telecom networks, being even more important (since alternatives exist to particular standards, but not to the Internet itself), must be placed at an even higher pedestal and thus even stricter regulation to ensure fair competition.</p>
<p>A marketplace of this sort would impose some regulatory burdens on TRAI and place burdens on innovations by the ISPs, but a regulated marketplace harms ISP innovation less than not allowing a market at all.</p>
<p>At a minimum, such a marketplace must ensure non-exclusivity, non-discrimination, and transparency. Thus, at a minimum, a telecom provider cannot discriminate between any OTTs who want similar access to zero-rating. Further, a telecom provider cannot prevent any OTT from zero-rating with any other telecom provider. To ensure that telecom providers are actually following this stipulation, transparency is needed, as a minimum.</p>
<p>Transparency can take one of two forms: transparency to the regulator alone and transparency to the public. Transparency to the regulator alone would enable OTTs and ISPs to keep the terms of their commercial transactions secret from their competitors, but enable the regulator, upon request, to ensure that this doesn’t lead to anti-competitive practices. This model would increase the burden on the regulator, but would be more palatable to OTTs and ISPs, and more comparable to the wholesale data market where the terms of such agreements are strictly-guarded commercial secrets. On the other hand, requiring transparency to the public would reduce the burden on the regulator, despite coming at a cost of secrecy of commercial terms, and is far more preferable.</p>
<p>Beyond transparency, a regulation could take the form of insisting on standard rates and terms for all OTT players, with differential usage tiers if need be, to ensure that access is truly non-discriminatory. This is how the market is structured on the retail side.</p>
<p>Since there are transaction costs in individually approaching each telecom provider for such zero-rating, the market would greatly benefit from a single marketplace where OTTs can come and enter into agreements with multiple telecom providers.</p>
<p>Even in this model, telecom networks will be charging based not only on the fact of the number of customers they have, but on the basis of them having exclusive routing to those customers. Further, even under the standard-rates based single-market model, a particular zero-rated site may be accessible for free from one network, but not across all networks: unlike the situation with a toll-free number in which no such distinction exists.</p>
<p>To resolve this, the regulator may propose that if an OTT wishes to engage in paid zero-rating, it will need to do so across all networks, since if it doesn’t there is risk of providing an unfair advantage to one network over another and increasing the gatekeeper effect rather than decreasing it.</p>
<h2 id="question-2">Question 2</h2>
<p><em>Whether such platforms need to be regulated by the TRAI or market be allowed to develop these platforms?</em></p>
<p>In many cases, TRAI would have no powers over such platforms, so the question of TRAI regulating does not arise. In all other cases, TRAI can allow the market to develop such platforms, and then see if any of them violates the Discriminatory Data Tariffs Regualation. For government-incentivised schemes that are proposed above, TRAI should take proactive measure in getting their feasibility evaluated.</p>
<h2 id="question-3">Question 3</h2>
<p><em>Whether free data or suitable reimbursement to users should be limited to mobile data users only or could it be extended through technical means to subscribers of fixed line broadband or leased line?</em></p>
<p>Spectrum is naturally a scarce resource, though technological advances (as dictated by Cooper’s Law) and more efficient management of spectrum make it less so. However, we have seen that fixed-line broadband has more or less stagnated for the past many years, while mobile access has increased. So the market distortionary power of fixed-line providers is far less than that of mobile providers. However, competition is far less in fixed-line Internet access services, while it is far higher in mobile Internet access. Switching costs in fixed-line Internet access services are also far higher than in mobile services. Given these differences, the regulation with regard to price discrimination might justifiably be different.</p>
<p>All in all, for this particular issue, it is unclear why different rules should apply to mobile users and fixed line users.</p>
<h2 id="question-4">Question 4</h2>
<p><em>Any other issue related to the matter of Consultation.</em></p>
<p>None.</p>
<div class="footnotes">
<hr />
<ol>
<li id="fn1">
<p>In India’s mobile telecom sector, according to a Nielsen study, an estimated 15% of mobile users are multi-SIM users, meaning the “gatekeeping” effect is significantly reduced in both directions: Internet services can reach them via multiple ISPs, and conversely they can reach Internet services via multiple ISPs. <em>See</em> Nielsen, ‘Telecom Transitions: Tracking the Multi-SIM Phenomena in India’, http://www.nielsen.com/in/en/insights/reports/2015/telecom-transitions-tracking-the-multi-sim-phenomena-in-india.html<a href="#fnref1">↩</a></p>
</li></ol>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-trai-consultation-free-data'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-trai-consultation-free-data</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshTelecomHomepageTRAINet NeutralityFeaturedInternet GovernanceSubmissions2016-07-01T16:04:27ZBlog EntryIndian experts doubt government ban on porn sites will be effective
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective
<b>The Indian government directed service providers to block 240 websites but doubts have surfaced over the legality of such an order.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective/">published in ZDNet</a> on June 20, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last year, the Indian government identified more than 850 websites that provided escort services but action has been initiated only with respect to 240 such websites after a Mumbai court issued an order to ban them last week.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These sites were banned under the provision of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 -- as their content relate to morality and decency as given in Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India -- on June 13 after a committee of experts in the Indian Home Ministry recommended action against them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But experts doubt whether the government can proscribe them in view of a lack of adequate legislation. Jaspreet Grewal, programme officer with the Centre for Internet and Society, said that though the websites offering escort services may potentially be in violation of the law, they cannot be banned under the existing provisions of the IT Act.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Even the government appears to be in a dilemma, as although it notified internet service providers to disable 857 websites on July 31, 2015, it modified the orders four days later, saying that the service providers were free "not to disable" any of the 857 sites if they did not have child pornographic content.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Following an uproar, with netizens lashing out at the government on the social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter saying that it was trying to impose censorship and also curb freedom of expression, the government decided to rescind its July 31 directives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>According to a report in Delhi-based English daily </span><em>Hindustan Times</em><span>, Indian Minister for Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected that the present government was a Talibani government, as being said by some of the critics. "Our government supports free media, respects communication on social media, and has respected freedom of communication always," he said.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The minister, while making a statement in Parliament last month, admitted that it was a significant challenge to filter the sites with pornographic content as most of the pornographic sites were hosted outside the country, where viewing pornography is legal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"These websites keep on changing the names, domain addresses, and hosting platforms from time to time, making it difficult to filter or block such websites using technical tools available in the market," he added.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The minister also said that the government was asking the service providers regularly to upgrade their infrastructure and technology to effectively address the shortcomings with regard to identifying and blocking encrypted websites. "The government is also in regular touch with social networking sites, having their offices in India, to disable objectionable contents at the source from their websites," he added.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the government seems to be treading cautiously and an indication to this effect was given by a senior official in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). "Though a debate is taking place for a long time, the government is now taking a calibrated approach," DeitY Joint Secretary Rajiv Bansal said at an ICANN event held in Delhi on Thursday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>He also felt that banning the websites was not a solution as new sites were sprouting to replace the blocked ones.</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-01T15:00:32ZNews ItemBehind the scenes of Escort Economy 2.0
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-sharmila-ganesan-ram-june-26-2016-behind-the-scenes-of-escort-economy
<b>With the government banning over 200 escort sites last week, Sunday Times speaks to the owner of an agency to find out how tech is driving the world's oldest profession.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Sharmila Ganeshan Ram was <a class="external-link" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Behind-the-scenes-of-Escort-Economy-2-0/articleshow/52919422.cms">published in the Times of India</a> on June 26, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He excuses himself to bark a series of expletives in Hindi, supposedly at a driver. He returns to the phone call and says sorry and that the people he is surrounded by only respond to colourful language. But then, this otherwise patient, English-speaking man, who runs an escort business in Mumbai, also has a more legitimate reason to swear.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last week, the central government blocked 237 escort websites, among which one (or perhaps more, he won't say) belongs to this man. Understandably, he does not want to be named but it is a surprise he even agreed to talk. Because the question, "How has the government's move of blocking escort websites affected you?" elicits nothing from escort agencies, especially those in other cities, except a meek "I don't know" in Bengaluru to "Madam, ek night spend kar lo mere saath, bata deta hoon." That, of course, came from a man in Delhi.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But you soon realize why these cities may not care as much when you trawl through the list of blocked websites released by the Centre for Internet and Society. In this list — which besides 'juicy lips' and 'midnight princess' also includes a curious one called 'sterling bioscience' — you will find that most websites are based in Mumbai.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Most of the Mumbai numbers against names that sound like they belong to female characters from a Karan Johar movie are bound to lead you to a tiny constellation of men, chiefly call-centre workers. If you go as far as asking for their names, you are bound to get some well-deserved lies. "Guru Dutt," answered one of these men in Mumbai.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One call eventually led to this nameless man with an "IT background" who has been running an escort business for six years and does not understand the logic of blocking websites. "If you block one domain, it will pop up in other forms. Also, why block a few websites in one city while not in others?" asks the agency owner.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He says he has lost "almost 90%" of his daily revenue following the government's move. "We used to earn up to Rs 2 lakh a day from just one website. Now, it has come down to Rs 15,000."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As far as the escort economy goes, Mumbai, he says, is a "small town" compared to Delhi, with its many high-profile clients and tony hotels. While he pegs Delhi's daily turnover at Rs 50 crore a day, he says Mumbai's escort industry sees Rs 10 crore a day.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In India, the escort business falls in the murky, grey area between legal and illegal, especially because websites and agencies tend to hide behind words like 'friendship' and 'company' to describe the service and cops can't really arrest them for that.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The escort is not a criminal. She has the right to gift her body to anyone she pleases. Besides, escort business usually involves accompanying VIPs to important events and may or may not end in sex. I know of VIPs who do not so much as touch the girl. They just want conversation," he says. That's advertised online as GFE or girlfriend experience. Of course, the housewives seeking male escorts when their husbands are not in town want more.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The escorts are mostly models and struggling actors, for whom a shoot may throw up Rs 2,000 a day while an escort job pays between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000. "This business helps them sustain their lifestyle and buy clothes and accessories," says the agency owner. "In the movie business, anyway, the casting couch phenomenon exists. She has to compromise and for free. Here, she is getting paid for it," he reasons. Besides models, he says there are several 20-somethings from the corporate world who leave the business after a year or so.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But you soon realize why these cities may not care as much when you trawl through the list of blocked websites released by the Centre for Internet and Society. In this list — which besides 'juicy lips' and 'midnight princess' also includes a curious one called 'sterling bioscience' — you will find that most websites are based in Mumbai. Most of the Mumbai numbers against names that sound like they belong to female characters from a Karan Johar movie are bound to lead you to a tiny constellation of men, chiefly call-centre workers. If you go as far as asking for their names, you are bound to get some well-deserved lies. "Guru Dutt," answered one of these men in Mumbai. One call eventually led to this nameless man with an "IT background" who has been running an escort business for six years and does not understand the logic of blocking websites.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"If you block one domain, it will pop up in other forms. Also, why block a few websites in one city while not in others?" asks the agency owner. He says he has lost "almost 90%" of his daily revenue following the government's move. "We used to earn up to Rs 2 lakh a day from just one website. Now, it has come down to Rs 15,000."As far as the escort economy goes, Mumbai, he says, is a "small town" compared to Delhi, with its many high-profile clients and tony hotels. While he pegs Delhi's daily turnover at Rs 50 crore a day, he says Mumbai's escort industry sees Rs 10 crore a day. In India, the escort business falls in the murky, grey area between legal and illegal, especially because websites and agencies tend to hide behind words like 'friendship' and 'company' to describe the service and cops can't really arrest them for that."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The escort is not a criminal. She has the right to gift her body to anyone she pleases. Besides, escort business usually involves accompanying VIPs to important events and may or may not end in sex. I know of VIPs who do not so much as touch the girl.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">They just want conversation," he says. That's advertised online as GFE or girlfriend experience. Of course, the housewives seeking male escorts when their husbands are not in town want more.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The escorts are mostly models and struggling actors, for whom a shoot may throw up Rs 2,000 a day while an escort job pays between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000. "This business helps them sustain their lifestyle and buy clothes and accessories," says the agency owner. "In the movie business, anyway, the casting couch phenomenon exists. She has to compromise and for free. Here, she is getting paid for it," he reasons. Besides models, he says there are several 20-somethings from the corporate world who leave the business after a year or so.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-sharmila-ganesan-ram-june-26-2016-behind-the-scenes-of-escort-economy'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-sharmila-ganesan-ram-june-26-2016-behind-the-scenes-of-escort-economy</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet Governance2016-07-01T15:43:36ZNews ItemISPs start blocking escort websites following govt order
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order
<b>DoT on Monday ordered blocking of 240 URLs; blocking of websites takes place under Section 69A of the IT Act, and Information Technology Rules.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="p-content"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Moulishree Srivastava <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order-116061400376_1.html">was published in the Business Standard</a> on June 14, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have started blocking websites allegedly offering escort services after an order from the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).<br /> <br /> The DoT on Monday asked ISPs to immediately block around 240 such URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) offering escort services, to filter out obscene content on the internet. Speaking to Business Standard, Internet Service Providers Association of India’s (ISPAI) President Rajesh Chharia said the ISPs were in process of shutting down these websites. ISPAI represents 60 ISPs including Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communication, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. <br /> <br /> “We received the order yesterday, and it entails a list of about 240 websites that the government wants us to block,” said Chharia. “CERT-In, which works under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity), advised the department on certain websites that it feels could be a national or social threat. Deity then reached out to DoT, which is our licensor. We are the licensee, and as per the licensing agreement, we have to comply with the order.”<br /> <br /> While declining to comment on whether this is the first such order the association had received this year, Chharia said, “Since last few years, we have been receiving orders to block websites which hosts content that may be a threat to social order or national security.” Blocking of websites takes place under Section 69A of the IT Act, and a 2009 secondary legislation called the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules (“Blocking Rules”).<br /> <br /> The rules empower the central government to direct any agency or intermediary to block access to information when satisfied that it is “necessary or expedient so to do” in the interest of the “sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above. Intermediaries failing to comply are punishable with fines and prison terms up to seven years.”<br /> <br /> In December 2014, around six months after the Modi-led BJP government came into power, the DoT ordered ISPs to block 32 websites, including Vimeo, Dailymotion, GitHub and Pastebin.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to an RTI filed by no-for-profit organisation Software Freedom Law Centre in March last year, Deity said 2341 URLs were blocked in 2014, adding that “barring few numbers, all URLs were blocked on the orders of the Court”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another RTI filed by Bangalore based think tank Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) found that 143 URLs were blocked in first three months of 2015 in order to comply with the directions of the competent courts. Later that year, the government attempted to block about 857 porn websites, but it had to revoke the order following the backlash online and offline.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The recent notice named a number of websites that need to be banned, including pinkysingh.com, jasmineescorts.com, onlyoneescorts.com, payalmalhotra.in, localescorts.in, pearlpatel.in, kavyajain.in, xmumbai.in, shimi.in and anchu.in.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to Freedom on the Net 2015 report by Freedom House, which termed India as a “partly free” country on the internet, there were 129 operational ISPs in India as of May 2015.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:17:25ZNews ItemHere is the entire list of 'escorts service' websites that the government has banned
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned
<b>Another day and another opaque order asking Indian service providers to block websites that allegedly offer or advertise escort services in India. In total, the government has ordered ban on 237 websites. But as it happens whenever the Indian government bans website, there has been no public communication about the same. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/govt-blocks-239-indian-escorts-service-websites/1/692381.html">published in India Today</a> on June 16, 2016</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Also, it has not been explained what, if any, process was followed before these websites were banned and what norms were applied for the order that the internet service providers have received.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>However, now Centre for Internet and Society has caught hold of the list of the websites that have been banned. Here is what <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/list-of-blocked-escort-service-websites" target="_blank">the organisation says,</a> "Unfortunately, the government does not make available publicly the list of websites they have ordered ISPs to block. Given that knowledge of what is censored by the government is crucial in a democracy, we are publishing the entire list of blocked websites." </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>As for the websites and URLs here they are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span>www.sterlingbioscience.com</span></li>
<li><span>rawpoint.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.onemillionbabes.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaihotcollection.in</span></li>
<li><span>simranoberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>rubinakapoor.biz</span></li>
<li><span>talita.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsagency.net</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaifunclubs.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.alishajain.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ankitatalwar.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>https://www.jennyarora.ind.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.riya-kapoor.com</span></li>
<li><span>shneha.in</span></li>
<li><span>missinimi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiglamour.in</span></li>
<li><span>kalyn.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.saumyagiri.co.in/city/mumbai/</span></li>
<li><span>bookerotic.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.divyamalik.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.suhanisharma.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ruhi.biz</span></li>
<li><span>umbaiqueens.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyaghosh.com</span></li>
<li><span>priyasen.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.highprofilemumbaiescorts.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>charmingmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.poojamehata.in</span></li>
<li><span>kiiran.in/</span></li>
<li><span>mansikher.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.newmumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaifunclubs.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.punarbas.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.discreetbabes.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alisharoy.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.arpitarai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.nidhipatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>navimumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zoyaescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.juhioberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>shoniya.in</span></li>
<li><span>panchibora.in</span></li>
<li><span>rehu.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.nehaanand.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.aditiray.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rakhibajaj.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alianoidaescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sobiya.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alishaparul.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbai-escorts.leathercurrency.com</span></li>
<li><span>ankita-ahuja.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.yamika.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbailescort.co</span></li>
<li><span>www.ranjika.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aditiray.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.alinamumbailescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonikaa.com/services/</span></li>
<li><span>riyamodel.in</span></li>
<li><span>soonam.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sejalthakkar.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.yomika-tandon.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.asika.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.siyasharma.org/</span></li>
<li><span>www.rubikamathur.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortslady.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexyshe.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.indepandentescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.saanvichopra.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.goswamipatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>ojaloberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.naincy.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonyamehra.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.pinkgrapes.in</span></li>
<li><span>anjalitomar.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.nishakohli.com/</span></li>
<li><span>sagentia.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbai.vivastreet.co.in/escort+mumbai</span></li>
<li><span>www.deseescortgirls.in</span></li>
<li><span>guides.wonobo.com/mumbai/mumbai-escorts-service/.4299</span></li>
<li><span>jasmineescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.shalinisethi.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.highclassmumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.vipescortsinmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts69.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>monikabas.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.riyasehgal.com</span></li>
<li><span>onlycelebrity.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.greatmumbaiescorts.com/escort-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.aishamumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.jennydsouzaescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.desifun.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.siyaescort.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>masti-escort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sofya.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiwali.in/navi-mumbai-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiwali.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.calldaina.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsservice.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsgirlsinmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.passionmumbai.escorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.nehakapoor.in</span></li>
<li><span>meerakapoor.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.dianamumbaiescorts.net .in</span></li>
<li><span>www.allmumbailescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rakhiarora.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ritikasingh.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.rekhapatil.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaidolls.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.piapandey.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaicuteescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortssevice.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.onlycelebrity.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.meetescortservice.com</span></li>
<li><span>onlyoneescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>simirai.org</span></li>
<li><span>www.riyamumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.neharana.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaihiprofilegirls.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexyescortsmumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexymumbai.escorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.four-seasons-escort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsgirl.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.vdreamescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.passionatemumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.payalmalhotra.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.shrutisinha.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.juliemumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.indiasexservices.com/mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbai-escorts.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyamumbaiescorts.net.in</span></li>
<li><span>shivaniarora.co.in/escort-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.pinkisingh.com</span></li>
<li><span>soyam.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.arpitaray.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.localescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.jennifermumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.yanaroy.com</span></li>
<li><span>escorts18.in/mumbai-escorts.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.tinamumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaijannatescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.deepikaroy.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.nancy.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.pearlpatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>30minsmumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.datinghopes.com</span></li>
<li><span>https://www.riyaroy.com/services.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonalikajain.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zainakapoor.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>kavyajain.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.kinnu.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>exmumbai.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.mansimathur.in/pinkyagarwal</span></li>
<li><span>exmumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mansimathur.in/pinkyagarwal</span></li>
<li><span>www.devikabatra.in</span></li>
<li><span>katlin.in</span></li>
<li><span>riyaverma.in</span></li>
<li><span>escortsinindia.co/</span></li>
<li><span>www.snehamumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>shimi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsforu.com/about</span></li>
<li><span>www.chetnagaur.co.in/chetna-gaur.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortspoint.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rupalikakkar.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.hemangisinha.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>1escorts.in/location/mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.salini.in/navi-mumbai-independent-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.salini.in/navi-mumbai-independent-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaibella.in</span></li>
<li><span>mohitescortservicesmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.anchu.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyaroy.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>jaanu.co.in/mumbai-escorts-service-call-girls.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.andyverma.com</span></li>
<li><span>dreams-come-true.biz</span></li>
<li><span>feel-better.biz</span></li>
<li><span>jellyroll.biz</span></li>
<li><span>dreamgirlmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>role-play.biz</span></li>
<li><span>mansi-mathur.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zarinmumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>mymumbai.escortss.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.goldentouchescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaipassion.biz</span></li>
<li><span>ishitamalhotra.com</span></li>
<li><span>happy-ending.biz</span></li>
<li><span>juicylips.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsmumbai.name</span></li>
<li><span>www.kirstygbasai.net</span></li>
<li><span>www.hiremumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.meeraescorts.com/mumbai-escorts.php</span></li>
<li><span>3-5-7star.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.pranjaltiwari.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.richagupta.biz</span></li>
<li><span>way2heaven.biz</span></li>
<li><span>piya.co/</span></li>
<li><span>pinkflowers.info</span></li>
<li><span>www.beautifulmumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.bestescortsinmumbai.com/charges-html</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts.me</span></li>
<li><span>www.tanikatondon.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsinmumbai.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortgirlmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaicallgrils.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.quickescort4u.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mayamalhotra.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.legal-escort.com</span></li>
<li><span>escortsbaba.com/mumbai-escorts.html</span></li>
<li><span>rupa.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts.agency/erotic-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortscelebrity.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.independentescortservicemumbai.com/mumbai%20escort%20servi..</span></li>
<li><span>garimachopra.com</span></li>
<li><span>kajalgupta.biz</span></li>
<li><span>lipkiss.site</span></li>
<li><span>aanu.in</span></li>
<li><span>bombayescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>hotkiran.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>khushikapoor.in</span></li>
<li><span>joyapatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>rici.in</span></li>
<li><span>aaditi.in</span></li>
<li><span>andheriescorts.org.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.jiyapatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>spicymumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>rimpyarora.in</span></li>
<li><span>lovemaking.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>riyadubey.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>escortservicesmumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbaiescorts.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>midnightprincess.in/</span></li>
<li><span>vashiescorts.co.in/</span></li>
<li><span>angee.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.rozakhan.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsvilla.in/</span></li>
<li><span>kylie.co.in/</span></li>
<li><span>escortservicemumbai.co.in</span></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:51:30ZNews ItemWhy Geospatial Bill is draconian and how it will hurt startups
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups
<b>Last week, the Indian government rejected Google’s plans to map Indian cities, tourist spots and mountain ranges, using the 360-degree panoramic Google Street View feature.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups/282623/">published in Indian Express</a> on June 13, 2016</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last week, the Indian government rejected <a href="http://www.financialexpress.com/tag/google/">Google</a>’s plans to map Indian cities, tourist spots and mountain ranges, using the 360-degree panoramic Google Street View feature. The government officials cited “national security” as a reason for not granting permission to Google. It is expected that the Google’s Street View permission would be relooked at, once the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, is enforced as law. Many however feel that this draft bill is draconian and will have serious repercussions on the startup ecosystem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Geospatial Bill seeks to make creating, accessing and distribution or sharing of map related information, illegal and that every company will have to take prior permission and license from the government for the same. Wayback in 2011, Google had announced the introduction of Street View for Bangalore, on Google Maps. But the project ran into trouble with Bangalore Police stopping Street View cars from plying in the city, citing security reasons.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google Street View, launched in 2007, is popular in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, New York and Miami, which allows users to navigate virtual streets from photographs gathered from directional cameras on special vehicles. While the service has been hugely successful it has caused problems of privacy in some countries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2010 almost 250,000 Germans told Google to blur pictures of their homes on the Street View service, while Czech government also banned Google from taking any new photos for the service. In Switzerland, the matter went to the court and it was accepted that Google would be obliged to pixelate 99% of images to blur faces, vehicle registrations and that it would not be filming certain sensitive places such as schools, prisons and shelter homes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This adds to the list of recent controversies on Google Earth, and the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, on adoption of mapping technology in India. Commenting on the development, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, research director at the Centre for Internet and Society said, the key country where the Google Street View faced legal challenge, and was fined too, is Germany. This legal challenge, however, was not based on the concern for national security but on that for the privacy of the citizens. However, it was eventually allowed to roll out Street View in Germany provided that it asks for consent from the house owners before images of any house.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“One of the crucial concerns with the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill remains its vast scope of application. Not only initiatives like Google Street View may be regulated under it (for capturing geo-referenced imagery from the street level) but absolutely any mobile application that requires the user’s geo-location (either automatically detected, or manually entered by the user) would be within the purview of this Bill. This evidently creates a great pressure upon the entire ICT-enable product and service sector in India,” Chattapadhyay added.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This would mean that, any company, particularly the new age startups, those in the food tech, fintech and e-commerce space, which uses geo-location to identify the customer location to either deliver goods, food products, or the likes of Ola and Uber which uses maps to pickup and drop customers, will have to obtain license from the government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Raman Shukla, director—strategy and product, Medikoe, said, “At Medikoe we are helping users to locate the nearest healthcare service provider with the available technologies. Google Maps is one of key feature our company banks on. Though we understand the country’s security concerns, the draft bill, if implemented, would be a violation of independent internet. We believe that a much better solution can be identified to solve security concerns.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Venu Kondur, founder of LOBB, the online truck booking platform said, “Geostatial data is a very important data for our business. Customers booking truck through LOBB platform get real-time track & trace facility. Our customers rely heavily on this data for their day-day activity. Startups like us depend largely on maps data for real-time tracking of consignment. Lot of our business intelligence data is drawn out of it.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In case, if the draft gets implemented, many startups will be forced to change the business model and while it will also increase the product delivery time. A group of 15 volunteers created a SaveTheMap.in portal to educate the readers about the draft bill and also give complete information on how the bill have an impact on the citizen and users of certain application. Sajjad Anwar one of the volunteer, said, through the portal about 1700 mails have been sent to the ministry of home affairs airing their view on why they do not support the draft Bill.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Comparing with other countries, Chattapadhyay further said, “At first, other countries deal with the question of display of security establishments in publicly available maps through direct interactions with large mapping companies, and does not turn this into a financial and political burden for the entire economy. Secondly, it is the concern about privacy of the citizens that should frame the Indian government’s response to products and services like Google Street View, and not concerns regarding national security.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What the draft bill says</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">No person shall, in any manner, make use of, disseminate, publish or distribute any geospatial information of India, outside India, without prior permission from the security vetting authority under the Central government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Penalty</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Whoever acquires any geospatial information of India in contravention to the rules, shall be punished with a fine ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 100 crore and /or imprisonment for a period upto seven years.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Application for license</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Every person who has already acquired any geospatial imagery or data of any part of India either through space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts, airships, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles or terrestrial vehicles shall within one year from the commencement of this Act, make an application along with requisite fees to the security vetting authority.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:57:35ZNews ItemCyberstalkers, the new bullies in town
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-s-poorvaja-july-4-2016-cyberstalkers-the-new-bullies-in-town
<b>The advent of social media and an increase in accessibility has led to increasing concerns with regard to cyber safety.</b>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">The article by S. Poorvaja was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/cyberstalkers-the-new-bullies-in-town/article8806401.ece">published in the Hindu</a> on July 4, 2016. Pranesh Prakash gave inputs.</p>
<hr />
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Bombarded with messages, poems and photographs from a cyber <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/verma-committee-moots-severe-punishment-for-voyeurs-stalkers/article4369797.ece" target="_parent"><b>stalker</b></a><b> </b>across multiple social networking platforms, Shradha Muralidharan, a consultant in the city, said that being curt and asking the stalker to stop bothering was of no use.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">“I initially did not want to engage with him as I was afraid that it would only provoke him more. But then ignoring him did not help as well and I was forced to speak to him. He, however, went ahead and contacted a host of my friends on these sites and asked them if they could introduce me to him,” she recalled.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/beware-threeyear-term-in-jail-awaits-cyber-stalkers/article3417314.ece" target="_parent"><b>Cyberstalking</b></a><b> </b>is now on the increase with people being flooded with messages and having their information online manipulated and used to threaten them with.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Vandhana,* an engineer from the city, says she thinks twice before posting content online — be it on her Instagram or her Facebook profile.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">“Despite having adequate privacy tools, I later found that my photos and other information were being shared by a colleague who was on my friends’ list to his friend, who then proceeded to cyberstalk me,” she said.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; "><b>What to share? </b></p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">While multiple tools that social media sites offer do allow people to mute, block or even report people, Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director for the Centre for Internet and Society, said technical restrictions didn’t play much of a part in a situation where information one posts to a private audience is shared further, without their consent.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">“Trust plays a large role in what you share online since someone can find a way to get around technological restrictions. While there are some violations that can be addressed by the law, a few cannot be, and it is important for people to be aware of the legal provisions that exist,” he added.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Be it social media meet-ups, Facebook friends catching up outside of the virtual world or web writers meeting to brainstorm ideas, the last five years have seen a gradual increase in such socialising and new safety concerns have cropped up.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Karthika, a chartered accountant from the city who went through an unpleasant experience of being stalked on social media sites and cyber-bullied, said that while the police were helpful when she sought them out, she was also constantly questioned as to why she was befriending people online in the first place.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">“I tried not to keep mum about what was happening to me but was also simultaneously told by people that it would seem like I was drawing unnecessary attention to myself if I made public what was happening to me. More people should come forward and support the person who is getting stalked, rather than be intimidated,” she said.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">The use of internet, email or any form of electronic communication to contact and harrass a person who has expressed disinterest, and to cause them trauma is what qualifies as <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/cyberstalkers-at-large-law-order/article1889616.ece" target="_parent"><b>Cyberstalking</b></a><b> </b></p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">To prevent misuse of information, social media users can use privacy tools and settings that enable them have a control on who vies their information</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">With smartphone apps for social media sites that have access to the user's location, caution must be exercised by the user in knowing who is privy to such information</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">With children being active online as well, the use of parental control softwares that helps monitor the content they share is necessary as they are vulnerable victims to stalking and cyber bullying</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Knowledge about the cyber crime laws and where/whom to report incidences of the same to.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-s-poorvaja-july-4-2016-cyberstalkers-the-new-bullies-in-town'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-s-poorvaja-july-4-2016-cyberstalkers-the-new-bullies-in-town</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet Governance2016-07-04T02:44:39ZNews ItemBig Data Governance Frameworks for 'Data Revolution for Sustainable Development'
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-governance-frameworks-for-data-revolution-for-sustainable-development
<b>A key component of the process to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is the call for a global 'data revolution' to better understand, monitor, and implement development interventions. Recently there has been several international proposals to use big data, along with reconfigured national statistical systems, to operationalise this 'data revolution for sustainable development.' This analysis by Meera Manoj highlights the different models of collection, management, sharing, and governance of global development data that are being discussed.</b>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>1.</strong> <a href="#1">What are the Sustainable Development Goals?</a></p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> <a href="#2">The Need for a Data Revolution</a></p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> <a href="#3">Big Data: Characteristics and Use for Development</a></p>
<p><strong>3.1.</strong> <a href="#3-1">Characteristics of Big Data</a></p>
<p><strong>3.2.</strong> <a href="#3-2">Using Big Data for Development</a></p>
<p><strong>4.</strong> <a href="#4">Sustainable Development and Data Rights</a></p>
<p><strong>5.</strong> <a href="#5">Governance Frameworks Proposed</a></p>
<p><strong>5.1.</strong> <a href="#5-1">UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network</a></p>
<p><strong>5.2.</strong> <a href="#5-2">The UN DATA Revolution Group</a></p>
<p><strong>5.3.</strong> <a href="#5-3">Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development</a></p>
<p><strong>5.4.</strong> <a href="#5-4">The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development of Data</a></p>
<p><strong>5.5.</strong> <a href="#5-5">The World Economic Forum (WEF)</a></p>
<p><strong>5.6.</strong> <a href="#5-6">Dr. Julia Lane - A Quadruple Data Helix</a></p>
<p><strong>5.7.</strong> <a href="#5-7">Data Pop Alliance</a></p>
<p><strong>6.</strong> <a href="#6">Conclusion</a></p>
<p><strong>7.</strong> <a href="#7">Endnotes</a></p>
<p><strong>8.</strong> <a href="#8">Author Profile</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Speaking on Big Data, Dan Ariely commented that, "<em>Everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, and everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it</em>" <strong>[1]</strong>. This offers a useful insight into the lack of adequate discourse on the kind of governance and accountability frameworks that are needed to facilitate the developmental, sustainable, and responsible uses of big data.</p>
<p>In light of the recent international proposals to use big data to track the Sustainable Development Goals, this paper highlights the different models of management, sharing, and governance of data that are being discussed, and concurrently, how they conceptualise the various rights around big data and how are they to be protected.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="1">1. What are the Sustainable Development Goals?</h2>
<p>The Sustainable Development Goals, otherwise known as the Global Goals, build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Adopted on 1 January 2016, these universally applicable 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, seek to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities, tackle climate change and address a range of social needs like education, health, social protection and job opportunities over the next 15 years <strong>[2]</strong>.</p>
<p> </p>
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cis-india/website/master/img/big-data-gov-framework_un-sdg.png" alt="Sustainable Development Goals" />
<h6>Source: UN Data Revolution Group, <em><a href="http://www.undatarevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/A-World-That-Counts2.pdf">A World that Counts</a></em>, 2014, p.12.<br /></h6>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="2">2. The Need for a Data Revolution</h2>
<p>An overwhelming cause of concern regarding the precursor to the SDGs, the MDGs, is the data unavailability to monitor their progress. For instance, the figure below indicates that there is no five-year period when the availability of MDG related data is more than 70% of what is required. Entire groups of people and key issues remain invisible <strong>[3]</strong>. Lack of data is not only a problem for global statisticians, but also for people whose needs and demands remain invisible due to lack of quantitative representation of the same. For instance, the incidences of gender related crimes when not recorded could lead to a misconception on the achievement of the MDG of gender equality.</p>
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cis-india/website/master/img/big-data-gov-framework_undrg_mdg-data.png" alt="UN Stats - Percentage of MDG data currently available for developing countries by nature of source." />
<h6>Source: UN, <a href="http://i0.wp.com/www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/english_SDG_17goals_poster_all_languages_with_UN_emblem_1.png">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.<br /></h6>
<p>As the new goals (SDGs) cover a wider range of issues it is clear that a far higher level of detail is required. To this effect the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 agenda has called for a "data revolution for sustainable development" <strong>[4]</strong>.</p>
<p>The world is experiencing a Data Revolution and a "data deluge." One estimate has it that 90% of the data in the world has been created in the last 2 years. As Eric Schmidt of Google in 2010 famously said, "<em>There were 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every 2 days</em> <strong>[5]</strong>.</p>
<p>In its report <em>A World that Counts</em>, the UN Data Revolution Group defines the data revolution as an explosion in the volume of data, the speed with which data are produced, the number of producers of data, the dissemination of data, and the range of things on which there is data, coming from new technologies such as mobile phones and the “internet of things”, and from other sources, such as qualitative data, citizen-generated data and perceptions data <strong>[6]</strong>.</p>
<p>This data revolution in the context of sustainable development has been defined by the UN Secretary General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) as follows:</p>
<blockquote>[T]he integration of data coming from new technologies with traditional data in order to produce relevant high‐quality information with more details and at higher frequencies to foster and monitor sustainable development. This revolution also entails the increase in accessibility to data through much more openness and transparency, and ultimately more empowered people for better policies, better decisions and greater participation and accountability, leading to better outcomes for the people and the planet <strong>[7]</strong>.</blockquote>
<p>The majority of such “data coming from new technologies” is what can be called big data. It is data being generated in real-time, in high velocity and volume, in a variety of forms and formats, and on an increasing range of phenomenon that are being mediated by digital technologies – from governance to human communication. Further, a good part of such big data is not about the content of the phenomenon concerned but about its process – for example, Call Detail Records are generated for each mobile phone call a person makes and it contains data about the process of the call (time, location, duration, recipient, etc.) but not about the content of the call. Big data about various governmental and human processes are becoming a crucial instrument for documenting and monitoring of the same.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="3">3. Big Data: Characteristics and Use for Development</h2>
<h3 id="3-1">3.1. Characteristics of Big Data</h3>
<p>The simplest definition of big data is that it is a dataset of more than 1 petabyte. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics terms it to be non-sampled data, characterized by the creation of databases from electronic sources whose primary purpose is something other than statistical inference <strong>[8]</strong>.</p>
<p>The characteristics which broadly distinguish Big Data are sometimes called the “3 V’s”: more volume, more variety and higher rates of velocity <strong>[9]</strong>. Big data sources generally share some or all of these features <strong>[10]</strong>:</p>
<ul><li>Digitally generated,</li>
<li>Passively produced,</li>
<li>Automatically collected,</li>
<li>Geographically or temporally trackable, and</li>
<li>Continuously analysed.</li></ul>
<p>Increasingly, Big Data is recognised as creating "new possibilities for international development" <strong>[11]</strong>. It could provide faster, cheaper, more granular data and help meet growing and changing demands. It was claimed, for example, that "<em>Google knows or is in a position to know more about France than INSEE</em>" <strong>[12]</strong>, its highly resourceful national statistical agency. To illustrate, Global Pulse gives the example of a hypothetical small household facing soaring commodity prices, particularly food and fuel <strong>[13]</strong>. They have the options of:</p>
<ul><li>Getting part of their food at a nearby World Food Programme distribution centre,</li>
<li>Reducing mobile usage,</li>
<li>Temporarily taking their children out of school,</li>
<li>Calling a health hotline when children show signs of malnutrition related diseases, and</li>
<li>Venting about their frustration on social media.</li></ul>
<p>Such a systemic shock of food insecurity will prompt thousands of households to react in roughly similar ways. These collective behavioural changes may show up in different digital data sources:</p>
<ul><li>WFP might record that it serves twice as many meals a day,</li>
<li>The local mobile operator may see reduced usage,</li>
<li>UNICEF data may indicate that school attendance has dropped,</li>
<li>Health hotlines might see increased volumes of calls reporting malnutrition, and</li>
<li>Tweets mentioning the difficulty to “afford food” might begin to rise.</li></ul>
<p>Thus the power of real-time, digital data to predict paths for development is immense. Amassing such a large volume of data which tracks practically every aspect of social behavious can revolutionize the field of official statistics and policy making.</p>
<p>Two points to be noted are: 1) all these data sources are not available for comparison in the real-time by default, so one task before using big data in developmental work is to make data from different sources available across agencies and make them comparable, and 2) finding repeating patterns within large data sets, sourced from varied origins, can not only allow for monitoring but also (statistically) predicting future possibilities and implications for development action.</p>
<h3 id="3-2">3.2. Using Big Data for Development</h3>
<p>There are several international organizations attempting to use such data.</p>
<p>Global Pulse, a United Nations initiative, launched by the Secretary-General in 2009, seeks to leverage innovations in digital data, rapid data collection and analysis to help decision-makers gain a real-time understanding of how crises impact vulnerable populations. To this end, Global Pulse is establishing an integrated, global network of Pulse Labs, anchored in Pulse Lab New York, to pilot the approach at country level <strong>[14]</strong>.</p>
<p>The Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics, created in May 2014, pursuant to Statistical Commission, makes an inventory of ongoing activities and examples regarding the use of big data, addresses concerns related to methodology, human resources, quality and confidentiality, and develops guidelines on classifying various types of big data sources <strong>[15]</strong>.</p>
<p>There have been applications even on a national and individual level. For instance, in 2013, various sources reported that the CIA had admitted to the “full monitoring of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks” to identify links between events and sequences or paths leading to national security threats, ultimately leading to forecasting future activities and events <strong>[16]</strong>.</p>
<p>In the field of conflict prevention is the emerging applications to map and analyse unstructured data generated by politically active Internet use by academics, activists, civil society organizations, and even general citizens. In reference to Iran’s post-election crisis beginning in 2009, it is possible to detect web-based usage of terms that reflect a general shift from awareness towards mobilization, and eventually action within the population <strong>[17]</strong>.</p>
<p>The "Big Data, Small Credit" report proposes that financial inclusion can be promoted by allowing consumers with mobile phones to access credit formally as customers <strong>[18]</strong>.</p>
<p>At a national level, the biggest challenge for most big data projects is the limited or restricted access the government agencies have to potential big data sets owned by the private sector <strong>[19]</strong>. The overall consensus is that Big Data to track SDGs must complement traditional data sources <strong>[20]</strong>. This is because big data may not always be available for the entire population, or include a diverse enough sample of the population. Moreover most big data projects measure development indicators through a correlation which may not always be correct unlike official data. For instance big data might help in predicting lowered household income through reducing mobile bills while traditional data directly collects income statistics.</p>
<p>In a survey by the Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics <strong>[21]</strong>, it was found that only a few countries have developed a long-term vision for the use of big data, while many are formulating a big data strategy. Most countries have not yet defined business processes for integrating big data sources and results into their work and do not have a defined structure for managing big data projects.</p>
<p>Thus there exists a need to identify a governance framework for big data for sustainable development, not only at national level, but also at the international level.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="4">4. Sustainable Development and Data Rights</h2>
<p>Any discussion on governance frameworks would be incomplete without defining the kind of data rights they must seek to protect.</p>
<p>In the famous parable of the six blind men and the elephant they conclude that the elephant is like a wall, snake, spear, tree, fan or rope, depending upon where they touch. Similarly Internet experiences of individual users (what they touch) often contrast drastically with different views (what they conclude) on what would constitute data rights.</p>
<p>The IEAG in its report has identified the following set of data related rights, but has not defined any actual framework or process for ensuring them (yet) <strong>[22]</strong>:</p>
<ul><li>Right to be counted,</li>
<li>Right to an identity,</li>
<li>Right to privacy and to ownership of personal data,</li>
<li>Right to due process (for example when data is used as evidence in proceedings, or in administrative decisions),</li>
<li>Freedom of expression,</li>
<li>Right to participation,</li>
<li>Right to non-discrimination and equality, and</li>
<li>Principles of consent.</li></ul>
<p>Personal data is broadly defined as "<em>any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual</em>" <strong>[23]</strong>. Often primary data producers (users of services and devices generating data) are unaware of individual privacy infringements <strong>[24]</strong>.</p>
<p>A survey by the Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics found that only a few countries have a specific privacy framework for big data, while most apply the privacy framework for traditional statistics to big data as well <strong>[25]</strong>.</p>
<p>Conventionally, safeguards against the re-use of big data to protect data rights have involved the “anonymization” or “de-identification” of data, to conceal individual identities. Global Pulse, for instance, is putting forth the concept of Data Philanthropy, whereby "<em>corporations take the initiative to anonymize (strip out all personal information) their data sets and provide this data to social innovators to mine the data for insights, patterns and trends in real-time or near real-time</em>" <strong>[26]</strong>. There however exists a debate on whether data can actually be anonymized effectively. Several state that data can never be effectively de-anonymized due to technological challenges <strong>[27]</strong>. For instance, when the New York City government released de-anonymised data sets of New York cab drivers were made re-identifiable by approaching a separate method. Within less than 2 hours work, researchers knew which driver drove every single trip in this entire dataset. It would be even be easy to calculate drivers’ gross income, or infer where they live <strong>[28]</strong>.</p>
<p>Even the OECD opines that the current model of limiting identifiability of individuals is unsustainable. It recommends moving towards one where the focus is on transparency around how data is being used, rather than preventing specific types of use, stating that - "<em>research funding agencies and data protection authorities should collaborate to develop an internationally recognized framework code of conduct covering the use of new forms of personal data, particularly those generated via network communication. This framework, built on best practice procedures for consent from data subjects, data sharing and re-use, anonymization methods, etc., could be adapted as necessary for specific national circumstances</em>" <strong>[29]</strong>.</p>
<p>Thus, there is a push for the arguement that the historical approaches to protecting privacy and confidentiality — namely, <em>informed consent</em> and <em>anonymity</em> — no longer hold <strong>[30]</strong>. Some have even suggested using big data itself to keep track of user permissions for each piece of data to act as a legal contract <strong>[31]</strong>.</p>
<p>There is an overall consensus that any legal or regulatory mechanisms set up to mobilise the 'data revolution for sustainable development' should protect the data rights of the people <strong>[32]</strong>, without any clear agreement on what these rights may be.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="5">5. Governance Frameworks Proposed</h2>
<p>A largely unanswered question that is posed in light of the emerging consensus on the use of Big Data for monitoring SDGs is within what sort of governance frameworks these data collection and analysis methods will operate. Methods of collection and the key actors involved in data analysis, management, storage and coordination. The role of NGOs and CSOs, if any, within these systems must be delineated. Certain key global organizations and eminent researchers have suggested the following models.</p>
<h3 id="5-1">5.1. UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network</h3>
<p>In 2012, the UN Secretary-General launched the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to mobilize global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical problem solving for sustainable development, including the design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) <strong>[33]</strong>. It has proposed the following.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>The Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEGSDG) and the United Nations Statistical Commission are to establish roadmaps for strengthening specific data collection tools that enable the monitoring of SDG indicators.</p>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong></p>
<p>Based on discussions with a large number of statistical offices, including Eurostat, BPS Indonesia, the OECD, the Philippines, the UK, and many others, 100 is recommended to be the maximum number of global indicators to analyse data for which NSOs can report and communicate effectively in a harmonized manner. This conclusion was strongly endorsed during the 46th UN Statistical Commission and the Expert Group Meeting on SDG indicators <strong>[34]</strong>.</p>
<p>Specialist indicators developed by thematic communities must be used for data analysis as they include input and process metrics that are helpful complements to official indicators, which tend to be more outcome-focused. For example, the UN Inter-Agency Group on Child Mortality Estimation has developed a specialist hub responsible for analysing, checking, and improving mortality estimation. This is a leading source for child morality information for both governments and non-governmental actors <strong>[35]</strong>.</p>
<p>Research arms of private companies such as Microsoft Research, IBM research, SAS, and R&D arms of telecom companies could directly partner with official statistical systems to share sophisticated analysing techniques <strong>[36]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Management</strong></p>
<p>Four levels of monitoring, national, regional, global, and thematic, should be "<em>organized in an integrated architecture</em>" <strong>[37]</strong>.</p>
<p>Countries must decide individually whether official data must be complemented with non-official indicators from big data which can add richness to the monitoring of the SDGs.</p>
<p>Where possible, regional monitoring should build on existing regional mechanisms, such as the Regional Economic Commissions, the Africa Peer Review Mechanism, or the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development <strong>[38]</strong>.</p>
<p>To coordinate thematic monitoring under the SDGs, each thematic initiative may have one or more lead specialist agencies or “custodians” as per the IAEG-MDG monitoring processes. Lead agencies would be responsible for convening multi-stakeholder groups, compiling detailed thematic reports, and encouraging ongoing dialogues on innovation. These thematic groups can become testing grounds in launching a data revolution for the SDGs, trialling new measurements and metrics that in time can feed into the global monitoring process with annual reports <strong>[39]</strong>.</p>
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cis-india/website/master/img/big-data-gov-framework_unsdsn_monitoring.png" alt="UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Schematic illustration with explanation of the indicators for national, regional, global, and thematic monitoring." />
<h6>Schematic illustration with explanation of the indicators for national, regional, global, and thematic monitoring.<br />Source: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, <em><a href="http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150612-FINAL-SDSN-Indicator-Report1.pdf">Indicators and a Monitoring Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals: Launching a Data Revolution for the SDGs</a></em>, 2015, p.3.<br /></h6>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>Monitoring the SDG agenda will require substantive improvements in national statistical capacity. Assessments of existing capacity to fulfil SDG monitoring expectations must be undertaken and needs be integrated into National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDSs) <strong>[40]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination</strong></p>
<p>A Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data must be established and a World Forum on Sustainable Development Data be convened in 2016 to create mechanisms for ongoing collaboration and innovation.</p>
<p>A high-level, powerful group of businesses and states must convene the various data and transparency sustainable development initiatives under one umbrella.</p>
<p>To ensure comparability, Global Monitoring Indicators must be harmonized across countries by one lead technical or specialist agency which will additionally coordinate data standards and collection and provide technical support.</p>
<p>The following table indicates the suggested Lead Agencies for individual SDGs <strong>[41]</strong>.</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>Number</strong></td>
<td><strong>Sustainable Development Goal</strong></td>
<td><strong>Lead Agencies</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1.</td>
<td>No Poverty</td>
<td>World Bank, UNDP, UNSD, UNICEF, ILO, FAO, UN-Habitat, UNISDR, WHO, CRED, UNFPA, and UN Population Division</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2.</td>
<td>No Hunger</td>
<td>FAO, WHO, UNICEF, and Internal Fertilizer Industry Associaton (IFA)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3.</td>
<td>Good Health</td>
<td>WHO, UN Population Division, UNICEF, World Bank, GAVI, UN AIDS, and UN-Habitat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4.</td>
<td>Quality Education</td>
<td>UNESCO, UNICEF, and World Bank</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.</td>
<td>Gender Equality</td>
<td>UNICEF, UN Women, WHO, UNSD, ILO, UN Population Division, and UNFPA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>6.</td>
<td>Clean Water and Sanitation</td>
<td>WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), FAO, UN Water, and UNEP</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7.</td>
<td>Renewable Energy</td>
<td>Sustainable Energy for All, IEA, WHO, World Bank, and UNFCC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>8.</td>
<td>Good Jobs and Economic Growth</td>
<td>IMF, World Bank, UNSD, and ILO</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>9.</td>
<td>Innovation and Infrastructure</td>
<td>World Bank, OECD, UNIDO, UNFCC, UNESCO, and ITU</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.</td>
<td>Reduced Inequalities</td>
<td>UNSD, World Bank, and OECD</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11.</td>
<td>Sustainable Cities and Communities</td>
<td>UN-Habitat, Global City Indicators Facility, WHO, CRED, UNISDR, FAO, and UNEP</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12.</td>
<td>Responsible Consumption</td>
<td>EITI, UNCTAD, UN Global Compact, FAO, UNEP Ozone Secretariat, WBCSD, GRI, IIRC, and Global Compact</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>13.</td>
<td>Climate Action</td>
<td>OECD DAC, UNFCCC, and IEA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>14.</td>
<td>Life below Water</td>
<td>UNEP-WCMC, IUCN, and FMC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>15.</td>
<td>Life on Land</td>
<td>FAO, UNEP, IUCN, and UNEP- WCMC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>16.</td>
<td>Peace and Justice</td>
<td>UNODC, WHO, UNOCHA, UNCHR, IOM, OCHA, OECD, UN Global Compact, EITI, UNCTAD, UNICEF, UNESCO, and Transparency International</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>17.</td>
<td>Partnership for the Goals</td>
<td>BIS, IASB, IFRS, IMF, WIPO, WTO, UNSD, OECD, World Bank, OECD DAC, and SDSN</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="5-2">5.2. The UN DATA Revolution Group</h3>
<p>The group constituted by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August 2014, is an Independent Expert Advisory Group with the aim of making concrete recommendations on bringing about a 'data revolution for sustainable development' <strong>[42]</strong>. In its report, <em>A World that Counts</em>, it makes the following recommendations <strong>[43]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>Clear standards on data collection methods must be developed based on the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. Periodic audits must be conducted by professional and independent third parties to ensure data quality.</p>
<p>Governments, civil society, academia and the philanthropic sector must work together strengthening statistical literacy so that all people have capacity to input into and evaluate the quality of data.</p>
<p>Social entrepreneurs, private sector, academia, media, civil society and other individuals and institutions must be engaged globally with incentives (prizes, data challenges) to encourage data sharing.</p>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong></p>
<p>A SDGs Analysis and Visualisation Platform is to be set up for fostering private-public partnerships and community-led peer-production efforts for data analysis.</p>
<p>A dashboard on ”the state of the world” will engage the UN, think-tanks, academics and NGOs in analysing, and auditing data.</p>
<p>Academics and scientists are to analyse data to provide long-term perspectives, knowledge and data resources at all levels.</p>
<p>The “Global Forum of SDG-Data Users” will ensure feedback loops between data producers, processors and users to improve the usefulness of data and information produced.</p>
<p>A “SDGs data lab” to support the development of a first wave of SDG indicators is to be established mobilizing key public, private and civil society data providers, academics and stakeholders working with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.</p>
<p><strong>Storage</strong></p>
<p>A “world statistics cloud” will store data and metadata produced by different institutions but according to common standards, rules and specifications.</p>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>Civil society organisations must share data and processing methods with private and public counterparts on the basis of agreements. They must hold governments and companies accountable using evidence on the impact of their actions, provide feedback to data producers, develop data literacy and help communities and individuals generate and use data.</p>
<p>NSOs are the central players of the Data Revolution. Their autonomy must be strengthened to maintain data quality. They must abandon expensive and cumbersome production processes, incorporate new data sources like big data that is human and machine-readable, compatible with geospatial information systems and available quickly enough to ensure that the data cycle matches the decision cycle. Collaborations with the private sector can boost technical and financial investments.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination</strong></p>
<p>Key stakeholders must create a “Global Consensus on Data”, to adopt principles concerning legal, technical, privacy, geospatial and statistical standards. Best practices related to public data such as the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the G8 Open Data Charter are recommended foundations for such principles.</p>
<p>A UN-led “Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data” is proposed, to coordinate and broker key global public-private partnerships for data sharing <strong>[44]</strong>.</p>
<p>A “World Forum on Sustainable Development Data” and “Network of Data Innovation Networks” will be a converging point for the data ecosystem to share ideas and experiences for improvements, innovation and technology transfer.</p>
<h3 id="5-3">5.3. Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)</h3>
<p>The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an inter-governmental organization that seeks to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people globally. It has made the following proposals <strong>[45]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>Data is to be collected from National statistical agencies, national and international researchers and international organisations.</p>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>By leveraging the expertise of telecommunications companies and software developers, for instance, national statistical systems could potentially reduce costs and improve the availability of data to monitor development goals <strong>[46]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination</strong></p>
<p>National Data Forums for Social Science Data must be created for the development of social science data for improved coordination between social scientists, data producers (national statistical agencies, government departments, large private sector businesses and sources undertaking academic direction), and data curators.</p>
<p>Social science research communities must contribute to national plans of action after a needs assessment <strong>[47]</strong>. Research funding agencies must collaborate at the international level for a common system for referencing datasets in research publications <strong>[48]</strong>.</p>
<h3 id="5-4">5.4. The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development of Data</h3>
<p>The partnership is a global network of governments, NGOs, and businesses working to strengthen the inclusivity, trust, and innovation in the way that data is used to address the world’s sustainable development efforts <strong>[49]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong></p>
<p>There must be a common framework for information processing. At minimum, a simple lexicon must tag each datum specifying:</p>
<ul><li><strong>What:</strong> i.e. the type of information contained in the data,</li>
<li><strong>Who:</strong> the observer or reporter,</li>
<li><strong>How:</strong> the channel through which the data was acquired,</li>
<li><strong>How much:</strong> whether the data is quantitative or qualitative, and</li>
<li><strong>Where and when:</strong> the spatio-temporal granularity of the data.</li></ul>
<p>Analysis of data involves filtering relevant information, summarising keywords and categorising into indicators. This intensive mining of socioeconomic data, known as “reality mining,” can be done by: (1) Continuous analysis of real time streaming data, (2) Digestion of semi-structured and unstructured data to determine perceptions, needs and wants. (3) Real-time correlation of streaming data with slowly accessible historical data repositories.</p>
<p>Use of big data for developmental goals can draw upon all three techniques to various degrees depending on availability of data and the specific needs.</p>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>NSOs have a pivotal part to play in the data revolution. Countries and organizations believe that big data cannot replace traditional official statistical data as it is based more on perception than facts. To quote Winston Churchill, "<em>Do not trust any statistics that you did not fake yourself</em>."</p>
<p>For instance, a study found that Google Flu Trends, to detect influenza epidemics, predicted nonspecific flu-like respiratory illnesses well but not actual flu. The mismatch was due to popular misconceptions on influenza symptoms. This has important policy implications. Doctors using Google Flu Trends may overstock on flu vaccines or be overly inclined to diagnose normal respiratory illnesses as influenza <strong>[50]</strong>.</p>
<p>However Big Data if understood correctly, can inform where further targeted investigation is necessary and give immediate responses to favourably change outcomes.</p>
<h3 id="5-5">5.5. The World Economic Forum (WEF)</h3>
<p>The WEF is an International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas <strong>[51]</strong>. In the report titled <em>Big Data, Big Impact: New Possibilities for International Development</em>, it makes the following recommendations <strong>[52]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>Data production and development actors include individuals, public sector and the private sector. Each produce different kinds of data that have unique requirements. The private sector maintains vast troves of transactional data, much of which is "data exhaust," or data created as a by-product of other transactions. The public sector maintains enormous datasets in the form of census data, health indicators, and tax and expenditure information. The following figure highlights the different kinds of data that each sector collects and what incentives they have to share the data along with requirements to maintain such data.</p>
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cis-india/website/master/img/big-data-gov-framework_wef_01.png" alt="" />
<h6>World Economic Forum - Diagram on Data Commons.<br />
Source: World Economic Forum, <em><a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf">Big Data, Big Impact: New Possibilities for International Development</a></em>, 2012, p.4.<br /></h6>
<p>Business models must be created to provide the appropriate incentives for private-sector actors to share data. Such models already exist in the Internet environment. For instance companies in search and social networking profit from products they offer at no charge to end users because the usage data these products generate is valuable to other ecosystem actors. Similar models could be created in garnering Big Data for SDGs. The following flowchart illustrates how different sectors must work together to incentivise data collection and sharing.</p>
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cis-india/website/master/img/big-data-gov-framework_wef_02.png" alt="" />
<h6>World Economic Forum - Diagram on Global Coordination.<br />
Source: World Economic Forum, <em><a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf">Big Data, Big Impact: New Possibilities for International Development</a></em>, 2012, p.7.<br /></h6>
<h3 id="5-6">5.6. Dr. Julia Lane - A Quadruple Data Helix</h3>
<p>Dr. Julia Lane is a Professor in the Wagner School of Public Policy at New York University; and also a Provostial Fellow in Innovation Analytics and a Professor in the Center for Urban Science and Policy <strong>[53]</strong>. She has done extensive research on the uses of big data. In her paper titled "Big Data for Public Policy: A Quadruple Data Helix," she makes the following suggestions <strong>[54]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>In the future there will exist a model of a quadruple data helix for data collection which will have four strands — state and city agencies, universities, private data providers, and federal agencies.i</p>
<p>A new set of institution, city/university data facilities, must be established. These institutions should form the backbone of the quadruple helix, with direct connections to the private sector and to the federal statistical agencies.</p>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong></p>
<p>There is a need for graduate training for non-traditional students, who need to understand how to use data science tools as part of their regular employment. They must identify and capture the appropriate data, understand how data science models and tools can be applied, and determine how associated errors and limitations can be identified from a social science perspective.i</p>
<p>Universities can act as a trusted independent third party to process, store, analyze, and disseminate data. ii</p>
<p><strong>Management</strong></p>
<p>The new infrastructure must ensure that data from disparate sources are collected managed and used in a manner that is informed by end users. There are many technical challenges: disparate data sets must be ingested, their provenance determined, and metadata documented. Researchers must be able to query data sets to know what data are available and how they can be used. And if data sets are to be joined, they must be joined in a scientific manner, which means that workflows need to be traced and managed in such a way that the research can be replicated.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination</strong></p>
<p>The role of State and City agencies is to address immediate policy issues, rather than to build long-term data infrastructures as their mandate is to work with city data than the full spectrum of available data.</p>
<h3 id="5-7">5.7. Data-Pop Alliance</h3>
<p>Data-Pop Alliance is a global coalition on Big Data and development created by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, MIT Media Lab, and Overseas Development Institute that brings together researchers, experts, practitioners, and activists to promote a people-centred big data revolution through collaborative research, capacity building, and community engagement <strong>[55]</strong>. It makes the following suggestions.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>The idea of <em>shared responsibility</em> between the public and private sector is a proposed operational principles to create a deliberative space. Mechanisms and legal frameworks must be devised for private companies to share their big data under formalized and stable arrangements instead of being compelled by ad hoc requests from researchers and policymakers.</p>
<p>The media too, could avoid publishing statistical data collected by unexplained methodologies by employing "statistical editors" and disseminate verified information.</p>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>For official statistics, engaging with Big Data is not a technical consideration but a political obligation. In a two tier system of official and non-official statistics, the public and investors tend to distrust official figures. For instance, the results of the 2010 census in the UK are being disputed on the basis of sewage data.</p>
<p>It is imperative for NSOs to retain, or regain, their primary role as the legitimate custodian of knowledge and creator of a deliberative public space to democratically drive human development <strong>[56]</strong>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="6">6. Conclusion</h2>
<p>The Big data frameworks provide some useful insights on monitoring mechanisms though some questions remain unanswered in each model. Key actors that have been proposed include city and state agencies like NSOs, private companies, social scientists, private individuals and international research agencies. Data analysis can be through public-private collaborations, data philanthropy, and using indicators by thematic communities.</p>
<p><strong>Collection</strong></p>
<p>There appears consensus across models that collection must be effected through public private partnerships while providing incentives.</p>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong></p>
<p>While several methods of analysis have been proposed by the Global Partnership it is unclear on who will be conducting the analysis. The UNSDSN has suggested that it be conducted by academics and scientists with Julia Lane stating it must be through public private partnerships which appear more feasible and transparent.</p>
<p><strong>Role of NSOs</strong></p>
<p>All frameworks agree on the pivotal role of NSOs and acknowledge them as the key players and coordinators at the national level. They must be strengthened financially, technologically and politically. Most frameworks seek to empower national agencies which will coordinate collaborations with the private sector through incentives while protecting personal data.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination</strong></p>
<p>Several international fora have been proposed to enable coordination while there is consensus that the NSOs. A Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, a Global Consensus on Data and a World Forum on Sustainable Development Data have been suggested. UN organizations appear to be suggesting more responsibility for those in the UN framework with UNSDSN giving an extensive list of lead agencies (UNDP, UN Women, Who etc) while the WEF emphasises on the private sector, Data Pop Alliance on NSOs, and Prof. Lane on State and City agencies.</p>
<p>On an international level countries can opt to join international organization that are being setup for the purpose. It remains to be seen whether all countries globally can achieve such a feat in a coordinated manner without infringing on data rights when unanswerable to any set international organization. The burden appears to fall on civil society and market forces within the private sector to regulate this process. For instance when a private sector company starts providing large un-anonymized data sets for government use, the privacy concerns of civil society that result in them opting for the company’s competitor’s more privacy friendly products will result in a regulation through market forces. However these forces may have disparate strengths in different contexts and countries depending on market practices and information asymmetry resulting in the lack of a uniform accountability mechanism.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="7">7. Endnotes</h2>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> Dan Ariely, Facebook, January 06, 2013, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dan.ariely/posts/904383595868">https://www.facebook.com/dan.ariely/posts/904383595868</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> United Nations Organizations, 'Sustainable Development Goals' (United Nations Sustainable Development, 26 September 2015), <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/</a>, accessed 6 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> Data Revolution Group, 'A World that Counts: Mobilising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development' (November 2014), <a href="http://www.undatarevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/A-World-That-Counts2.pdf">http://www.undatarevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/A-World-That-Counts2.pdf</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> High level panel on the post-2015 development agenda , 'A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development'(Post2015hlp,0rg, July 2012), <a href="http://www.post2015hlp.org/">http://www.post2015hlp.org/</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[5]</strong> Gary King, 'Ensuring the Data-Rich Future of the Social Sciences' [2011] 3(2) Science, <a href="http://gking.harvard.edu/files/datarich.pdf">http://gking.harvard.edu/files/datarich.pdf</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[6]</strong> See <strong>[3]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[7]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[8]</strong> Michael Horrigan, 'Big Data: A Perspective from the BLS' (Amstatorg, 1 January 2013) <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2013/01/01/sci-policy-jan2013/">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2013/01/01/sci-policy-jan2013/</a>, accessed 4 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[9]</strong> UN Global Pulse, 'Big Data for Development: Challenges & Opportunities' (6 May 2012) <a href="http://www.unglobalpulse.org/sites/default/files/BigDataforDevelopment-UNGlobalPulseJune2012.pdf">http://www.unglobalpulse.org/sites/default/files/BigDataforDevelopment-UNGlobalPulseJune2012.pdf</a>, accessed 5 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[10]</strong> Emmanuel Letouzé and Johannes Jütting, 'Official Statistics, Big Data and Human Development: Towards a New Conceptual and Operational Approach' (2014) 12(3), Data-Pop Alliance White papers Series, <a href="https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/events-documents/5161.pdf">https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/events-documents/5161.pdf</a>, accessed 4 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[11]</strong> See <strong>[9]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[12]</strong> See <strong>[10]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[13]</strong> See <strong>[9]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[14]</strong> UN Global Pulse, 'About: United Nations Global Pulse' (2016) <a href="http://www.unglobalpulse.org/about-new">http://www.unglobalpulse.org/about-new</a>, accessed 7 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[15]</strong> UN Stats, 'Global Working Group' (2014) <a href="http://unstats.un.org/unsd/bigdata/">http://unstats.un.org/unsd/bigdata/</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[16]</strong> New York City Press Release, ‘Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly and Microsoft Unveil New, State-of-the-Art Law Enforcement Technology that Aggregates and Analyzes Existing Public Safety Data in Real Time to Provide a Comprehensive View of Potential Threats and Criminal Activity’ (New York City, 8 August 2012), <a href="http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/291-12/mayor-bloomberg-police-commissioner-kelly-microsoft-new-state-of-the-art-law">http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/291-12/mayor-bloomberg-police-commissioner-kelly-microsoft-new-state-of-the-art-law</a>, accessed 2 July 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[17]</strong> Francesco Mancini, 'New Technology and the Prevention of Violence and Conflict' (Reliefwebint, April 2013), <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ipi-e-pub-nw-technology-conflict-prevention-advance.pdf">http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ipi-e-pub-nw-technology-conflict-prevention-advance.pdf</a>, accessed 2 July 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[18]</strong> Arjuna Costa, Anamitra Deb, and Michael Kubzansky, 'Big Data, Small Credit: The Digital Revolution and Its Impact on Emerging Market Consumers,' (Omidyar, 3 March 2013) <a href="https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/Big%20Data,%20Small%20Credit%20Report%202015/BDSC_Digital%20Final_RV.pdf">https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/Big%20Data,%20Small%20Credit%20Report%202015/BDSC_Digital%20Final_RV.pdf</a>, accessed 2 July 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[19]</strong> United Nations Economic and Social Council, 'Report of the Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics' (UN Stats, 3 March 2015), <a href="http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc15/2015-4-BigData-E.pdf">http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc15/2015-4-BigData-E.pdf</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[20]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[21]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[22]</strong> See <strong>[3]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[23]</strong> OECD, 'OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data' (23 September 1980), <a href="http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/oecdguidelinesontheprotectionofprivacyandtransborderflowsofpersonaldata.htm">http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/oecdguidelinesontheprotectionofprivacyandtransborderflowsofpersonaldata.htm</a>, accessed 29 May 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[24]</strong> Amir Efrati, ''Like' Button Follows Web Users' (WSJ, 18 May 2011) <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281504576329441432995616">http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281504576329441432995616</a>, accessed 23 May 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[25]</strong> See <strong>[15]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[26]</strong> Robert Kirkpatrick, 'Data Philanthropy: Public and Private Sector Data Sharing for Global Resilience' (UN Global Pulse, 16 September 2011), <a href="http://www.unglobalpulse.org/blog/data-philanthropy-public-private-sector-data-sharing-global-resilience">http://www.unglobalpulse.org/blog/data-philanthropy-public-private-sector-data-sharing-global-resilience</a>, accessed 4 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[27]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[28]</strong> Arvind Narayanan, 'No silver bullet: De-identification still doesn't work' (1 April 2016), <a href="http://randomwalker.info/publications/no-silver-bullet-de-identification.pdf">http://randomwalker.info/publications/no-silver-bullet-de-identification.pdf</a>, accessed 3 July 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[29]</strong> OECD Global Science Forum, 'New Data for Understanding the Human Condition: International Perspectives,' (February 2013) <a href="http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/new-data-for-understanding-the-human-condition.pdf">http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/new-data-for-understanding-the-human-condition.pdf</a>, accessed 2 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[30]</strong> S. Barocas, 'The Limits of Anonymity and Consent in the Big Data Age,' in <em>Privacy, Big Data, and the public good: Frameworks for Engagement</em> (Cambridge University Press, 2014).</p>
<p><strong>[31]</strong> A. Pentland, 'Institutional Controls: The New Deal on Data,' in <em>Privacy, Big Data, and the public good: Frameworks for Engagement</em> (Cambridge University Press, 2014).</p>
<p><strong>[32]</strong> See <strong>[3]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[33]</strong> UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 'About Us: Vision and Organization' (2012) <a href="http://unsdsn.org/about-us/vision-and-organization/">http://unsdsn.org/about-us/vision-and-organization/</a>, accessed 2 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[34]</strong> UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 'Indicators and a Monitoring Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals: Launching a data revolution for the SDGs' (12 June 2015) <a href="http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150612-FINAL-SDSN-Indicator-Report1.pdf">http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150612-FINAL-SDSN-Indicator-Report1.pdf</a>, accessed 4 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[35]</strong> UNICEF, 'CME Info - Child Mortality Estimates' (2014) <a href="http://www.childmortality.org/">http://www.childmortality.org/</a>, accessed 1 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[36]</strong> See <strong>[10]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[37]</strong> UNESCO, 'Technical report by the Bureau of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) on the process of the development of an indicator framework for the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda' (6 March 2015) <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/ScienceTechnology/Documents/unsc-post-2015-draft-indicators.pdf">http://www.uis.unesco.org/ScienceTechnology/Documents/unsc-post-2015-draft-indicators.pdf</a>, accessed 3 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[38]</strong> UN, 'The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet ' (4 December 2014) <a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/reports/SG_Synthesis_Report_Road_to_Dignity_by_2030.pdf">http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/reports/SG_Synthesis_Report_Road_to_Dignity_by_2030.pdf</a>, accessed 7 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[39]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[40]</strong> UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 'Data for Development: An Action Plan to Finance the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development' (10 July 2015) <a href="http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Data-For-Development-An-Action-Plan-July-2015.pdf">http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Data-For-Development-An-Action-Plan-July-2015.pdf</a>, accessed 3 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[41]</strong> See <strong>[34]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[42]</strong> UN Data Revolution Group, 'About the Independent Expert Advisory Group' (6 November 2014) <a href="http://www.undatarevolution.org/about-ieag/">http://www.undatarevolution.org/about-ieag/</a>, accessed 4 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[43]</strong> See <strong>[3]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[44]</strong> The Partnership has already been established, and it is developing a further framework.</p>
<p><strong>[45]</strong> Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), 'The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): About' (2016) <a href="http://www.oecd.org/about/">http://www.oecd.org/about/</a>, accessed 2 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[46]</strong> Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 'Strengthening National Statistical Systems to Monitor Global Goals' (2015) <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dac/POST-2015%20P21.pdf">http://www.oecd.org/dac/POST-2015%20P21.pdf</a>, accessed 1 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[47]</strong> Ibid.</p>
<p><strong>[48]</strong> OECD Global Science Forum, 'New Data for Understanding the Human Condition: International Perspectives' (February 2013) <a href="http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/new-data-for-understanding-the-human-condition.pdf">http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/new-data-for-understanding-the-human-condition.pdf</a>, accessed 2 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[49]</strong> The Global Partnership On Sustainable Development Data, 'Who We Are: The Data Ecosystem and the Global Partnership' (2016) <a href="http://www.data4sdgs.org/who-we-are/">http://www.data4sdgs.org/who-we-are/</a>, accessed 5 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[50]</strong> World Economic Forum, 'Big Data, Big Impact: New Possibilities for International Development' (22 January 2012) <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf">http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf</a>, accessed 8 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[51]</strong> World Economic Forum, 'Our Mission: The World Economic Forum' (12 January 2016) <a href="https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/">https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/</a>, accessed 7 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[52]</strong> See <strong>[50]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>[53]</strong> Julia Lane, Homepage, <a href="http://www.julialane.org/">http://www.julialane.org/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[54]</strong> Julia Lane, 'Big Data for Public Policy: The Quadruple Helix' (2016) 8(1) <em>Journal of Policy Analysis and Management</em>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.21921/abstract">DOI:10.1002/pam.21921</a>, accessed 1 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[55]</strong> Data-Pop Alliance, 'Data-Pop Alliance: Our Mission' (May 2014) <a href="http://datapopalliance.org/">http://datapopalliance.org/</a>, accessed 1 June 2016.</p>
<p><strong>[56]</strong> See <strong>[10]</strong>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="8">8. Author Profile</h2>
<p>Meera Manoj is a law student at the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar and has completed her first year. She is passionate about civil rights, feminism, economics in law and anything involving paneer. She aspires to travel the world and build up a vast library, with unparalleled sections on International Law and Archie comics.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-governance-frameworks-for-data-revolution-for-sustainable-development'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-governance-frameworks-for-data-revolution-for-sustainable-development</a>
</p>
No publisherMeera ManojDevelopmentBig DataData SystemsInternet GovernanceBig Data for DevelopmentSustainable Development Goals2016-07-05T13:13:32ZBlog EntryFB & Google have already monopolised Indian cyberspace
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/catch-news-asad-ali-july-3-2016-fb-and-google-have-already-monopolised-indian-cyberspace
<b>In an interview with Catch, Sunil Abraham, executive director of Center for Internet & Society, puts the recent US-India cyber relationship framework into perspective. Abraham also talks about how Indian surveillance policies are outdated and why the country has failed to check the hegemonic tendencies of companies like Facebook and Google.</b>
<p>The <a class="external-link" href="http://www.catchnews.com/science-technology/fb-google-have-already-monopolised-indian-cyberspace-1467505123.html/fullview">interview was published by Catch News</a> on July 3, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy6_of_Sunil.png/@@images/d7f757de-b4fc-46a2-a9b3-cca0e46e32e7.png" alt="Sunil Abraham" class="image-inline" title="Sunil Abraham" /></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><span class="quick_pill_news_description">US-India signed a cyber relationship framework earlier this month. Could you explain some of the takeouts that may have important implications in the near future?</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the framework, both sides have made a "commitment to the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance" - in immediate practical terms that means India will accept the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition proposed for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Unfortunately, as my colleague Pranesh Prakash points out "U.S. state control over the core of the internet's domain name system is not being removed by the transition that is currently underway."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India along with Brazil and other emerging powers should have insisted that the question of jurisdiction be addressed before the transition. We must remember, that the multi-stakeholder model is just a fancy name for open and participatory self-regulation by the private sector. While the multi-stakeholder model is useful as a complement to traditional state-led regulation, it cannot be used to protect human rights or ensure the security of a nation state.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[That is precisely why - the very next sentence in the announcement for the the framework for the US-India Cyber Relationship says "a recognition of the leading role for governments in cyber security matters relating to national security". This is because ICANN-style multistakeholderism requires all stakeholders to be on "equal footing" without "distinct roles and responsibilities". In other words, the governments are saying that the multistakeholder model is fine for all Internet Governance areas with the exception of Cyber Security. Given the limits of the multistakeholder model this is indeed the wise thing to do. Since American corporations dominate the Internet, US foreign policy has historically pushed for the multistakeholder model as fig leaf for forbearance and reduced foreign regulatory burden American corporations operating in other jurisdictions. Therefore India must not drink the multistakeholder cool-aid whole sale. It cannot afford a laissez-faire approach where it waits for corporations to self-regulate - it must regulate whenever public interest or human rights are harmed. In other words, it must go beyond the multistakeholder model and produce appropriate regulation where necessary. Needless to add - it must also deregulate in areas where harms don't exist. Apart from this many of the details of the announcement are positive steps that will increase security in India and the USA, and indeed the also across the world.]</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><span class="quick_pill_news_description">What are some aspects of Intellectual Property Rights that should be looked at, in the context of the framework?</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There is some language around Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) that should be examined carefully too. The US corporations benefit from a maximalist IP regime. But Make in India, Digital India and Startup India all depend on flexibilities to the IP regime and therefore India should refuse signing. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) obligations like the "Digital 2 Dozen" which the US is actively proselytizing across the Pacific. If we make that mistake, we will make zero progress in indigenous security research and product development and also many other areas of our economy, health sector and education sector will be severely compromised. Therefore it would be best to keep IP rights expansion and enforcement out of the framework for the US-India Cyber Relationship.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><span class="quick_pill_news_description">The PIL seeking a ban on WhatsApp was refused by the SC recently. Encrypted messaging services like Telegram however, have been used in the past by terror groups. What's your take on such end-to-end encryption services?</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy and security are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. End-to-end encryption is the basis for online privacy. End-to-end encryption is a pre-requisite for many legitimate actions of law abiding citizens online such as commerce, banking, tele-medicine, protection of intellectual property, witness/source protection, client confidentiality etc. Therefore, banning end-to-end encryption would mean the death of individual privacy and national security.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">If the government wants to promote cyber security it should promote the use of end-to-end encryption amongst law abiding citizens.<br /><br />Terrorist have to be stopped through targeted profiling, surveillance and interception. Big data analytics may be useful to watch for patterns in the meta data but there is no replacement for good old fashioned police work.<br /><br />Once suspects have been identified the encrypted channels can be compromised by:</p>
<ol>
<li>Placing trojans on the end-user devices</li>
<li>Performing man-in-the-middle attacks and</li>
<li>Using brute force attacks with super computers.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><br />Snowden's revelations have made it very clear that blanket and mass surveillance does not help foil terror attacks or stop organised crime. So far, research and government reports from across the world indicate that only a minority of terrorists use encryption. However, this situation may change.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">We don't have any proper encryption policy under the IT Act yet. What's taking so long and what are the key points that any policy in this matter must include in future?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We need many different types of encryption policies. We need a policy that mandates encryption and digital signature for all government personnel and also for all government transactions. We need policies that promote research and development in cryptography and mathematics. We need to update our criminal procedure code so that encrypted communications and data can be targeted by law enforcement and used effectively in the criminal justice process.</p>
<p>However, we should not have any broad encryption policy that tries to regulate encryption as a technology. That would be a highly regressive move and will be impossible to enforce. That would breed contempt for rule of law.</p>
<h3>Surveillance and the tech around it has been contentious for various governments. Where do we stand vis-a-vis regulating surveillance measures by the state?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our surveillance and interception laws are outdated. They need to be modernized to deal with advancements in technology and also global developments when it comes to data protection and privacy law.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In fact, our organisation was part of a global effort called Necessary and Proportionate which identified 13 principles to modernise surveillance which are connected to various aspects such as Legality, Legitimate aim, Competent judicial authority, Integrity of communications and systems and more. Some of these principles may have to be customised for the Indian context. [For example, given the load on courts perhaps India should stay with executive authorization of interceptions and data access requests. However, getting the law correct is only half the job. For the law cannot fix what the technology has broken. Some surveillance projects are well designed. For ex. the NATGRID - from what I understand it is a standard and platform that which will allow 12 security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to temporarily make unions of sub-sets of 21 data sources. These automated temporary databases will be created under existing data access provisions of the law. I also hope the NATGRID is also using cryptography to ensure the maintenance of a non-repudiable log that will identify all officers involved in authorizing the each request and accessing the resultant data. Unfortunately, other surveillance projects are unmitigated disasters. For example, UID or Aadhaar. Many Indians don't realize that Aadhaar is a surveillance project. Biometrics is just a fancy name for remote, covert and non-consensual identification technology. Using the UID database the government can identify every single Indian without their consent. The so called "consent layer" in the India Stack is being developed by volunteers outside the UIDAI to avoid transparency under the Right to Information Act. Nothing in the current layer of the "consent layer" allows citizens to revoke consent. There is no facility in the UID Act to delete yourself from the database. Identity information aka the UID number and authentication information aka your biometrics for about a billion Indians have been collected and stored in a centralized location. It is as if our parliamentarians have written an open letter to criminals and foreign governments says "here is the information you need to wreck whole sale damage - come and get it". Hopefully the Supreme Court will save us from this impending disaster.]</p>
<h3>With a sluggish US market, India has the biggest potential for companies like FB & Google, next only to China. Do you feel that in the quest to take over the Indian market, FB & Google are going to monopolise cyberspace in India?</h3>
<p>I have news for you - they have already monopolised Indian cyberspace. They have completely wiped out competition in certain domains.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One of the many reasons they have done this is because we don't have laws and regulations to temper their hegemonic tendencies. For example, we could use data portability and interoperability mandates for social media to spark competition in markets where there are entrenched monopolies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Competition law can be used to protect other firms from abuse of market power. Consumer protection law and privacy law could be used to ensure that user's rights are not compromised in the race for market share. In addition, a modern privacy law compliant with the best practices in the European Data Protection Regulation 2016, would allow emerging Indian companies to compete with giants like Facebook and Google on a level playing field. [Speaking of level playing field - only recently has the government introduced the "equalization levy". This was long overdue. Imagine the amount of tax that could have been collected so far and damage that has been done to competition. Regardless the current NDA government deserves our kudos for ensuring that Facebook and Google contribute their fair share of taxes. The new IPR Policy was also an opportunity to address the monopoly of Google and Facebook. There should have been a concerted attempt to use free/open source software, open standard and open content to bolster Indic language technologies. A billion dollars from every spectrum auction should be used to create incentives for Indian private sector, research and academic organisation who can contribute openly to the Indic cyberspace. This is the market where we can still build a highly competitive market. Today, given government inaction - millions of Indians are training Google's language platforms every time they use machine translation or speech to text technologies. This corpus of information will not be available for public interest research. Ideally we should also have Indians contributing to commons-based peer production projects like Wikipedia for their Indic language needs. Unfortunately the government totally missed this opportunity.]</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/catch-news-asad-ali-july-3-2016-fb-and-google-have-already-monopolised-indian-cyberspace'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/catch-news-asad-ali-july-3-2016-fb-and-google-have-already-monopolised-indian-cyberspace</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaSocial MediaGoogleFacebookInternet Governance2016-07-08T15:59:46ZNews ItemFlashpoint #TrollControl: Maneka versus NCW
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-now-july-8-2016-flashpoint-troll-control-maneka-versus-ncw
<b>Amidst the debate over controlling online trolls - the proposal by Union Women and Child Development Minister to curb violence against women on the internet has triggered a fight between the minister and the National Commission for Women (NCW). </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While Maneka Gandhi asked the NCW to monitor the internet to control trolls against women - NCW Chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam questioning the feasibility of the Minister's proposal, saying the internet is too big a space to be monitored. Sunil Abraham was interviewed. Times Now Television interviewed Sunil Abraham on this. <strong><a class="external-link" href="http://www.timesnow.tv/videoshow/4491210.cms">Watch the video here</a></strong>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-now-july-8-2016-flashpoint-troll-control-maneka-versus-ncw'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-now-july-8-2016-flashpoint-troll-control-maneka-versus-ncw</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaGenderInternet Governance2016-07-09T02:11:59ZNews ItemIndia No Haven For Net Freedom But It Did Not Oppose UN Move on Internet Rights
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-week-anuj-srinivas-july-6-2016-india-no-haven-for-net-freedom-but-did-not-oppose-un-move-on-internet-rights
<b>India hasn’t had the best record when it comes to Internet rights. The country regularly carries out Internet shutdowns under flimsy pretexts, is still fumbling when it comes to the drafting of a comprehensive privacy bill, and most recently came out with a geospatial information regulation bill that would establish ownership over all forms of location data.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://thewire.in/49131/india-internet-resolution-freedom-rights-vote/">The article by Anuj Srinivas was published in the Wire on July 6, 2016</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">So, last week, when the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20226&LangID=E" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="passed">passed</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a resolution on the “promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet”, it wasn’t surprising to see the wave of media criticism of the amendments that were proposed by countries such as China and Russia – and which were supported by India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">South Africa’s <i>Mail & Guardian</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2016-07-04-sa-votes-against-internet-freedoms-in-un-resolution" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="ran ">ran<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a>a story headlined “South Africa votes with China, Russia and India against Internet freedoms in UN resolution”. <i>Private Internet Access’s </i><a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2016/07/these-17-countries-dont-believe-that-freedom-of-expression-on-the-internet-is-a-human-right/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="headline">headline</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was “These 17 Countries Don’t Believe that Freedom of Expression on the Internet is a Human Right”. Popular tech website <i>The Verge</i> <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/4/12092740/un-resolution-condemns-disrupting-internet-access" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="noted">noted</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that the resolution was opposed “by a minority of authoritarian regimes including Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, as well as democracies like South Africa and India. These nations called for the UN to delete a passage in the resolution that ‘condemns unequivocally measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to our dissemination of information online’.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>The Verge</i>‘<i>s </i>report was followed up by a number of Indian publications including <i><a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/un-seeks-to-make-web-access-human-right-india-joins-saudi-arabia-in-opposing-it/1/707353.html" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="IndiaToday">IndiaToday</a> </i>and <i><a href="http://www.medianama.com/2016/07/223-right-to-internet-un-resolution/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="Medianama">Medianama</a> – </i>the latter incorrectly stating that the UNHRC resolution “recognised Internet usage as a basic human right – as well a host of other<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2016/07/these-17-countries-dont-believe-that-freedom-of-expression-on-the-internet-is-a-human-right/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="global publications">global publications</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The facts</b><br /> There were two fundamental mistakes with some of these reports. Firstly, the resolution was adopted without vote (with oral revision) <a href="http://tion%20which%20recognized%20internet%20usage%20as%20a%20basic%20human%20right./" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="as noted">as noted</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by the UNHRC. Therefore, while there were a number of countries which co-sponsored the resolution and many that didn’t, it is completely wrong to state that India – as the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Mail & Guardian </i>reported – or any other country, voted against the resolution.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Secondly, as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/pranesh/status/750257769844871168" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="noted">noted</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by the Centre for Internet and Society, none of the four amendments supported by India called for the deletion of a passage that condemned the prevention or disruption of Internet access and online information dissemination. Although it may fit neatly within India’s history of issuing Internet block orders, no country was opposed to this paragraph at the UNHRC forum (although many countries including India flout this clause in spirit back at home). No such amendment was proposed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">What then were these four amendments, which <i>Article 19</i>, an organisation that advocates freedom of expression,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/38428/en/unhrc:-reject-attempts-to-weaken-resolution-on-human-rights-and-the-internet" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="stated ">stated</a>would “substantially weaken the resolution”? Out of the four amendments (referred to as L85-88 in the UNHRC resolution), the first amendment (L85) – which sought to include a reference to fighting against the exploitation of children online – was withdrawn by Russia before it was considered by member states.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The other three amendments, while not completely endorsed by the countries that co-sponsored the resolution, do carry a certain level of nuance. Only one of the amendments (L86) can truly be described as diluting language regarding freedom of expression online, although this could have been potentially a result of procedural politics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>L88: Including Reference to Hate Speech</b><br /> This amendment – proposed by Belarus, China, Iran and the Russian Federation – asks to introduce a new paragraph that states:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Expresses its concern at the use of the Internet and information and communications technology to disseminate ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, and incitement to racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Article 19</i> <a href="https://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/38428/en/unhrc:-reject-attempts-to-weaken-resolution-on-human-rights-and-the-internet" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="says of this amendment">says of this amendment</a> that it would “undermine the intended focus of the draft resolution on protecting human rights online, in particular freedom of expression..” While it is true that a few paragraphs of the resolution’s preamble include a reference to hate speech, it is difficult to see what harm this amendment would have brought in and even more difficult to accept that it would dilute the focus of the overall resolution.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Using the Internet and other online media technologies for incitement and as<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-19292572" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title=" a means "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a means<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a>of propagating intolerance and xenophobia is a very real problem in India and other Asian countries, the most notable example of which was the role that social media played in the exodus of north-east Indian migrants from Bangalore four years ago. While shutdowns are obviously not the best way of dealing with this, it is important to acknowledge the role of the Internet as a medium in this aspect. In sum, this amendment certainly would not have diluted the resolution’s aim of promoting freedom of expression online.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>L87: Human-Rights Approach</b><br /> The second amendment replaces the term “human rights-based approach” with “comprehensive and integrated approach” in two paragraphs on expanding Internet access:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>PP17: </span><span>Stressing the importance of applying a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b>comprehensive and integrated<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>(<span>human rights-based</span><span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>approach) in providing and expanding access to the Internet and for the Internet to be open, accessible and nurtured by multistakeholder participation,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>OP5: </span><span>Affirms also the importance of applying a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b>comprehensive and integrated<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>(<span>human rights-based</span><span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>approach) in providing and in expanding access to Internet and requests all States to make efforts to bridge the many forms of digital divides..</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This amendment was a little trickier. According to people involved in the country stakeholder discussions, whom <i>The Wire</i>spoke with, the aversion to a ‘human-rights’ approach towards expanding Internet access came as a result of China and Russia playing procedural politics. The language that was proposed in the amendment – “comprehensive and integrated” – while certainly not the strongest possible language that could have been used, would not have legally diluted the proposal to expand Internet access while maintaining an open and multistakeholder approach towards Internet governance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Stepping back, what would a human rights-based approach in expanding Internet access look like? Would it include legitimising the act of zero-rating and the approval of schemes such as Facebook’s Free Basics? Both of which, incidentally, have been banned in India. While the proposed amendment certainly does not speak well of the motivations of China, Russia and India, the term is also vague enough that its mere removal doesn’t indicate a lack of support towards Internet freedom.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>L88 – Right to privacy and removal of UDHR reference</b><br /> This amendment, proposed by China and the Russian Federation, was more straightforward. In two paragraphs, it sought to add the specific term ‘right to privacy’, while in another paragraph it proposed removing reference to language from, and articles in, the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="Universal Declaration of Human Rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. Had the amendment been passed, the changes in the following paragraphs would have been made:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>PP7: </span><i><span>Noting</span></i><span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that the exercise of human rights, in particular the right to freedom of expression<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b>and the right to privacy</b><span>, on the Internet is an issue of increasing interest and importance as the rapid pace of technological development enables individuals all over the world to use new information and communication technologies,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>OP15: </span><i><span>Decides<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><span>to continue its consideration of the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights, including the right to freedom of expression</span><b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and the right to privacy</b><span>, on the Internet and other information and communication technology, as well as of how the Internet can be an important tool for fostering citizen and civil society participation, for the realisation of development in every community and for exercising human rights, in accordance with its programme of work.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>OP1: </span><i><span>Affirms</span></i><span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span><del>which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice</del>, </span><b>and the right to privacy </b><span>in accordance with articles<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b>17 and</b><span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>19 of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span><del>Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the</del> </span><span><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On one hand, this amendment would have added specific reference to the right to privacy. That specific term doesn’t appear in the draft resolution, although there are a few references to privacy in general in the resolution’s preamble.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the addition of a ‘right to privacy’ is coupled with a watering down of clear references to the protection of freedom of expression. Cynical observers would rightly note that China and Russia are probably less concerned with online privacy and more irked with the clear support of freedom of expression “regardless of frontiers” and “in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”; which is probably why this particular proposed amendment combined both issues to improve its chances of passing. While there is little doubt that this amendment would have diluted the resolution’s focus on protecting freedom of expression, the alternative phrasing also doesn’t create legal loopholes that renders it useless. Moreover, it still contains reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, especially Article 19, which goes beyond Article 19 of the UDHR .</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>India, a guardian?</b><br /> It would be naive and wrong to take a strong position either way. To state that the amendments supported by India are all antithetical to the spirit of the UNHRC resolution, as some have done, is simply incorrect. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean India, and even less, China and Russia, are guardians of Internet freedom.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The UNHRC resolution in its entirety<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/HRC/32/L.20" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="is a fine document">is a fine document</a>. While non-binding, it provides a foundation for claiming that the same rights people have offline “must also be protected online”. Other crucial sections state that governments “should ensure accountability for all human rights violations and abuses committed against persons for exercising their human rights online”, while condemning “measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or dissemination of information online”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the amendments India supported may not wholly oppose this resolution, it is also true that successive Indian governments also do not have an admirable track-record of upholding the resolution’s aims. Freedom for online speech had to be reclaimed in the form of court judgements, with the current government<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/03/28/is-section-66a-coming-back/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank" title="still supporting regulations">still supporting regulations</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that would allow it clamp down on online freedom of expression. In certain states within the country, Internet shutdowns happen without public explanations or justifiable reasoning. Over the last four years, for instance, Jammu and Kashmir<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://thewire.in/29857/jammu-kashmir-has-lost-18-days-of-mobile-internet-access-over-last-four-years/" target="_blank" title="has lost">has lost</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>18 days of Internet access. While it may not have wholly opposed the UNHRC resolution, the country still has a ways to go in terms of Internet freedom.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-week-anuj-srinivas-july-6-2016-india-no-haven-for-net-freedom-but-did-not-oppose-un-move-on-internet-rights'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-week-anuj-srinivas-july-6-2016-india-no-haven-for-net-freedom-but-did-not-oppose-un-move-on-internet-rights</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernancePrivacy2016-07-09T02:25:51ZNews ItemIndia may not be guilty of opposing UN move to save internet rights
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ciol-july-7-2016-india-may-not-be-guilty-of-opposing-un-move-to-save-internet-rights
<b>India is a democratic country, but the standards for freedom of expression promised to us—online and offline—are highly questionable, especially with online content being censured and comedians being threatened to be arrested for sedition.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ciol.com/india-may-not-be-guilty-of-opposing-un-move-to-save-internet-rights/">published by Ciol</a> on July 7, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">So the media criticism came as no surprise when India supported the amendments proposed by countries like China and Russia last week when the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a <a href="http://www.ciol.com/internet-access-is-a-basic-human-right-un-resolution/" target="_blank">resolution</a> on the “promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to some media reports, countries like Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, as well as democracies like South Africa and India, called for the UN to delete a passage in the resolution that ‘condemns unequivocally measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to our dissemination of information online’.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has also been struggling to draft a comprehensive privacy bill, and most recently came out with a geospatial information regulation bill that would establish ownership over all forms of location data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the fact that the resolution was adopted without a vote (with oral revision)—as noted by the UNHRC—puts these news reports on a faulty ground. So technically, India did not ‘vote against’ the resolution. Moreover, none of the four amendments supported by India called for the deletion of a passage that condemned the prevention or disruption of Internet access and online information dissemination, as noted by the Centre for Internet and Society. Although, India flouts the said clause in spirit, back at home.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Out of the four amendments—L85-88 in the UNHRC resolution–the first amendment (L85) sought to include a reference to fighting against the exploitation of children online. This was withdrawn by Russia before it was considered by member states. L86 can truly be described as diluting language regarding freedom of expression online. L88 includes reference to hate speech, asks to introduce a new paragraph that states “Expresses its concern at the use of the Internet and information and communications technology to disseminate ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, and incitement to racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.” This amendment was proposed by Belarus, China, Iran and the Russian Federation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Considering that the Internet and other online media technologies are increasingly used for incitement and as a means of propagating intolerance and xenophobia in India and other Asian countries, the resolution does touch on an important issue. But it doesn’t seek to limit internet freedom particularly.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ciol-july-7-2016-india-may-not-be-guilty-of-opposing-un-move-to-save-internet-rights'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ciol-july-7-2016-india-may-not-be-guilty-of-opposing-un-move-to-save-internet-rights</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2016-07-09T02:58:53ZNews ItemTrans Pacific Partnership and Digital 2 Dozen: Implications for Data Protection and Digital Privacy
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/tpp-and-d2-implications-for-data-protection-and-digital-privacy
<b>In this essay, Shubhangi Heda explores the concerns related to data protection and digital privacy under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement signed recently between United States of America and eleven countries located around the pacific ocean region, across South America, Australia, and Asia. TPP is a free trade agreement (FTA) that emphasises, among other things, the need for liberalising global digital economy. The essay also analyses the critical document titled ‘Digital 2 Dozen’ (D2D), which compiles the key action items within TPP addressing liberalisation of digital economy, and sets up the relevant goals for the member nations.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>1. <strong><a href="#1">Introduction</a></strong></p>
<p>2. <strong><a href="#2">Analysis of TPP and D2D</a></strong></p>
<p>2.1. <strong><a href="#2-1">Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)</a></strong></p>
<p>2.2. <strong><a href="#2-2">Digital 2 Dozen (D2D)</a></strong></p>
<p>3. <strong><a href="#3">Major Criticisms of the Digital Agenda of TPP</a></strong></p>
<p>3.1. <strong><a href="#3-1">Data Protection</a></strong></p>
<p>3.2. <strong><a href="#3-2">Digital Privacy</a></strong></p>
<p>4. <strong><a href="#4">Implications of TPP for RCEP</a></strong></p>
<p>5. <strong><a href="#5">Implications of TPP in the Context of EU Safe Harbour Judgement</a></strong></p>
<p>6. <strong><a href="#6">Implications of TPP for India after US-India Cyber Relationship Agreement</a></strong></p>
<p>7. <strong><a href="#7">Conclusion</a></strong></p>
<p>8. <strong><a href="#8">Endnotes</a></strong></p>
<p>9. <strong><a href="#9">Author Profile</a></strong></p>
<hr />
<h2 id="1">1. Introduction</h2>
<p>This essay explores the concerns related to data protection and digital privacy under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement signed recently between United States of America and eleven countries located around the pacific ocean region, across South America, Australia, and Asia <strong>[1]</strong>. TPP is a free trade agreement (FTA) that emphasises, among other things, the need for liberalising global digital economy. The essay also analyses the critical document titled ‘Digital 2 Dozen’ (D2D), which compiles the key action items within TPP addressing liberalisation of digital economy, and sets up the relevant goals for the member nations. TPP requires the member countries to facilitate unhindered digital data flow across nations, for commercial and governmental purposes, which evidently have major implications for national and regional data protection and privacy regimes. These implications must also be seen in the context the recent judgement by the EU Court of Justice against the validity of the EU-USA data transfer agreement of 2000. Further, the essay discusses the potential impacts that TPP/D2D might have on India, in the context of the ongoing USA-India Cyber Relationship dialogue. If the privacy concerns are not raised right now TPP might act as a model framework for future FTAs which will fail to encompass proper data protection and digital privacy regime within it.</p>
<h2 id="2">2. Analysis of TPP and D2D</h2>
<h3 id="2-1">2.1. Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)</h3>
<p>Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a large multi-partner free trade agreement amongst twelve Asia-Pacific countries, which is closely led by geo-political and economic strategies of the USA. Countries started the negotiation of TPP in 2008 when USA joined Pacific Four (P-4) negotiations and in 2015 negotiations of TPP was concluded and text was released. Ministers from the member countries signed the agreement on February 4, 2016 <strong>[2]</strong>. The main aim of TPP is to liberalise trade and investment beyond what is provided for within the WTO. It is also considered to be a strategic move by the US to counter the trade linkages that are being established in the Asian region. TPP largely covers topics of market access, and rules on various related issues such as intellectual property rights, labour laws, and environment standards <strong>[3]</strong>.</p>
<p>Between 1992 -2012 there has been an upsurge in bilateral trade agreements being signed in Asia from 25 to 103 and the effect of these FTAs is called the ‘noodle bowl effect’. TPP is seen as framework which will replace these FTAs which are causing the ‘noodle bowl effect’.While these FTAs are being replaced but with TPP being signed there are various bilateral arrangements signed along with TPP. USA has also stated that TPP will not affect the already existing NAFTA <strong>[4]</strong>. While TPP is being concluded there is another free trade agreement being negotiated between USA and EU , which is Trans Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Both TPP and TTIP and are considered to be serving similar objective which is to deal with new and modern trade issues. Also both the agreements are US led and since negotiation for TPP are now finalised it may have a significant impact on TTIP <strong>[5]</strong>.</p>
<p>TPP is one of the first document which deals specifically with digital economy and applies across borders. The main aims of TPP are to promote free flow of data across borders without data localisation. It aims to remove national clouts and regional internets. It also includes provisions to combat theft of trade secrets. It allows you to create transparent regulatory process with inputs from various stakeholders. It also aims to provide access to tools and procedures for conduct of e-commerce <strong>[6]</strong>.</p>
<p>Some of the major criticism to TPP were regarding the issues related to <strong>[7]</strong>:</p>
<ul><li>environment, wherein it does not address the issue of climate change and the language used in the agreement is very weak;</li>
<li>labour rights provision mandates parties to adhere to the ILO provision but it does not seem to provide for effective framework and might not bring the desired change;</li>
<li>investment chapter is seen to be controversial because of the investor state dispute settlement clause which will allow foreign investor to sue government over policies that might cause harm to them;</li>
<li>e-commerce and telecommunication chapter raises major privacy concerns;</li>
<li>intellectual property chapter wherein it includes controversial rules regarding pharmaceutical companies and data exclusivity apart from the privacy concerns.</li></ul>
<h3 id="2-2">2.2 Digital 2 Dozen (D2D)</h3>
<p>D2D is set of rules and aims which is specifically drafted to be followed for the trade agreements related to open internet and digital economy. More specific aims of TPP as provided within the ‘Digital 2 Dozen,’ aiming for more liberalised trade in digital goods and services, are <strong>[8]</strong>:</p>
<ul><li>promoting free and open internet,</li>
<li>prohibiting digital custom duties,</li>
<li>securing basic non-discrimination principles,</li>
<li>enabling cross-border data flows,</li>
<li>preventing localization barriers,</li>
<li>barring forced technology transfers,</li>
<li>advancing innovative authentication methods,</li>
<li>delivering enforceable consumer protections,</li>
<li>safeguarding network competition,</li>
<li>fostering innovative encryption products, and</li>
<li>building an adaptable framework.</li></ul>
<p>Strategic goal of the US in introducing D2D as goals of TPP has been to set up a trend within Asian region for all the trade agreements. It is expected to ensure that if TPP is a success, similar goals and policy frameworks will be followed for other trade agreements as we. For example, the USA-India partnership also enshrines similar aims and so does the USA-Korea partnership. Hence while India is not part of TPP, USA is nonetheless trying to get India into a partnership which is similar to the TPP. The language proposed by the USA in TPP negotiations has always been supportive for cross border data flows as it claims that companies have mechanism to keep a privacy check and privacy would not be undermined, but countries like New Zealand and Australia which have strong privacy protection laws nationally have raised concerns which will be discussed in further sections <strong>[9]</strong>. Also not only in privacy rights but Digital Dozen initiative also affects other digital rights related to - excessive copyright terms TPP proposed to extend the term of copyright to hundred years which deprive access to knowledge; as in the U.S motive to give more power to private entities , the ISP obligations enumerated within TPP which puts freedom of expression and privacy at risk as ISPs are allowed to check for copyright infringement and TPP does not put any privacy restriction in this regard; introduction of new fair use rules; ban on circumvention of digital locks or DRMs; no compulsory limitation for persons with disabilities; lack of fair use for journalistic right; while net neutrality is major issue is many developing nations in Asia no effective provision for net neutrality is aimed at in the D2D initiative; prohibits open source mandates which puts barrier for countries which want to release any software as open source as a policy decision <strong>[10]</strong>.</p>
<h2 id="3">3. Major Issues Related to Data Protection and Privacy in the TPP</h2>
<h3 id="3-1">3.1. Data Protection</h3>
<p>One of the major concern raised against TPP is regarding data protection provisions that have been integrated within the E- Commerce chapter of the agreement. Article 14.11 and Article 14 .13 are the ones that deal with data flow related to consumer information.Article 14.11 in the agreement puts a requirement on the member states to allow transfer of data across border and Article 14.13 does not allow the companies to host data on local servers. Concerns were raised in few member states for instance, Australian Privacy Foundation raised concerns over Article 14.11 which requires transfers to be allowed in context of business activities of service suppliers. It claimed that exception to this provision is very narrow and the repercussion for not following the exception is that investor state dispute settlement proceedings can be initiated, which is not sufficient to protect privacy. Also, it highlighted the issue that with the narrow exception provided under Article 14.13 which relates to prohibition on data localisation, it might have adverse effect on the implementation of national privacy laws within Australia <strong>[11]</strong>.</p>
<p>Another provision which is of major concern is Article 14.13 which prohibit data localisation. It will raise problems for countries like Indonesia and China which will have to change their local laws to implement the provision <strong>[12]</strong>. Since there already has been a major concern with regard to USA- EU Safe Harbour Agreement which was later made subject to the ECJ’s ruling on data protection, which invalidated any arrangement which provides voluntary enterprises responsibility to enforce privacy. But both the USA and EU are in process of renegotiating the agreement.The major concern was that in EU data protection is a fundamental right while in USA data protection is more consumer centric. When similar concerns were raised in TPP negotiations, they were rebutted as USA claimed that FTA does not concern itself with data protection <strong>[13]</strong>.</p>
<p>In 2012 Australia proposed an alternative language to TPP which allowed countries to place restriction on data flow as long as it was not a barrier to trade. U.S responded to concerns raised by the Australia through a side letter which ensured Australia that U.S and Australia have a mutual understanding in relation to privacy and U.S will ensure the privacy of data with regards to Australia. While Australia’s concern was given acknowledgement other countries which raised similar issues were not given any assurances <strong>[14]</strong>. US instead proposed ad- hoc strategy that gave private companies power to form privacy policy with implementation through state machinery <strong>[15]</strong>.</p>
<h3 id="3-2">3.2. Digital Privacy</h3>
<p>Article 14.8 in the E- Commerce chapter of the agreement states that countries can form legal framework for the protection of rights but the kind of ‘legal framework’ is not defined. Also, nowhere it states that the privacy protection or data protection laws are expressly exempted, rather it states that any such policy implemented by member states will be put under review of TPP standards. The standards which TPP proposes to follow are based on the underlying idea that any such policy should not hinder free trade in any way. This test will be applied by tribunals which are experts in trade and investment and not on data protection or human rights <strong>[16]</strong>. While Article 14.8 provides for protection of private information of consumers but the footnote to the provision renders it ineffective. The footnote states that member countries can adopt legal framework for the protection of data which can be done by self-regulation by industry and does not provide for any comprehensive data protection obligation upon the member states <strong>[17]</strong>. Similar to this Article 13.4 of the telecommunications chapter under TPP also states that the countries can apply regulation regarding confidentiality of the messages as long as it is not “a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade in services" <strong>[18]</strong>.</p>
<p>Another chapter which raises major concerns about the privacy rights is intellectual property. It affects privacy through the provisions related to technological protective measures and the provision that regulate ISP’s liability. Regarding the TPM provision, the TPP follows the DMCA model whereby the exception to anti- circumvention provision is very narrow and does not apply to anti- trafficking provision. The exception allows user to circumvent TPM if it affect the user's privacy in any way, although this provision does not apply to ant- trafficking of TPM. The provision regarding ISP’s liability states that there should be cooperation between ISPs and rights holders and it does not prohibit ISPs to monitor its users. Also TPP proposes the notice for takedown and identification of the infringer by the ISP but this provision is not in consonance with laws of member states, like that of Peru which does not have any copyright law on ISP . Also many countries have tried to introduce proper privacy laws along with implementation of ISP liability but that is not done within the TPP <strong>[19]</strong>. TPP as whole aims to give greater power to private regulators without providing for minimum standard for protection of privacy.</p>
<p>Although TPP is not a data protection agreement but it consequently deals with various aspects of data protection, hence it is prospective model for privacy and data protection practices in future trade agreements. If positive obligations are included within the free trade agreements it will have an advancing impact on the data protection regime.</p>
<h2 id="4">4.Implications of TPP for RCEP</h2>
<p>While TPP has such lacunas similar provision are proposed in RCEP to which India is a party and which will have serious implication as many of the countries have inadequate data protection laws nationally and with the introduction of such an FTA the exploitation of privacy rights will be rampant <strong>[20]</strong>. To avoid this EU directive on data protection should be taken into consideration in the negotiations of such FTAs. But for the RCEP negotiations are still going on and in India many companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal etc. have started preparing for the changing norms. The government claims that it is going to accept best practices in the region which indicates that it is going to have same policies as that of TPP. Although people from industry have raised concerns that while there are national laws but it is difficult to check third party involvement within the business and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the consumer data confidential <strong>[21]</strong>.</p>
<h2 id="5">5. Implications of TPP in the Context of EU Safe-Harbour Judgement</h2>
<p>Mr. Maximillian Schrems, an Austrian National residing in Austria, has been a user of the Facebook social network since 2008. Any person residing in EU who wishes to use Facebook is required to conclude, at the time of his registration, a contract with Facebook Ireland (a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. which itself is established in Unites States). Some or all of the personal data of the Facebook Ireland’s users who residing in EU is transferred to servers belonging to Facebook Inc. that are located in United States, where it undergoes processing. On 25 June 2013 Mr Schrems made a complaint to the commissioner by which he in essence asked the latter to exercise his statutory powers by prohibiting Facebook Ireland from transferring his personal data to Unites States, and this led to the <em>Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner</em> case <strong>[22]</strong>. He contended that in his complaint that the law and practice in force in that country did not ensure adequate protection of the personal data held in its territory against the surveillance activities that were engaged in thereby by the public authorities. Mr Schrems referred in this regard to the revelations made by Edward Snowden concerning the activities of the United States intelligence services, in particular those of the NSA.(para 26, 27, 28). The case came in the court ruled that “that a third country which ensures an adequate level of protection, does not prevent a supervisory authority of a Member State, within the meaning of Article 28 of the EU 94/46 directive as amended, from examining the claim of a person concerning the protection of his rights and freedoms in regard to the processing of personal data relating to him which has been transferred from a Member State to that third country when that person contends that the law and practices in force in the third country do not ensure an adequate level of protection. The ruling implies that personal data cannot be transferred to third country which does not provide adequate level of protection.</p>
<p>EU safe harbour judgment and EU directive on privacy provide contrasting rules related to privacy. While TPP gives power to private entities to formulate rules regarding privacy while the recent ECJ judgment invalidated giving such power to private entities under EU-US Safe Harbour Agreement. Also in context of the same judgment Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Privacy And Freedom of Information announced an investigation into the data transfer taking place through Facebook and Google to U.S. Hence in the light of the recent judgment member states within EU are not allowed to permit cross border data flow, in contrast to this one of the main goals of TPP is to maintain free flow of data across border <strong>[23]</strong>. EU is this regard has also set forth the proposal to introduce General Data Protection Regulation. (GDPR). Although U.S and EU are trying to renegotiate the agreement but the privacy concerns raised cannot be ignored. Hence following the same model as was invalidate under the ECJ judgment lets US exploit privacy of member states under TPP. Similar concerns as raised within the judgment are also raised in India as it also following the same model within U.S-India Cyber Relationship Agreement and in RCEP negotiations.</p>
<h2 id="6">6. Implications of TPP in the context of USA-India Cyber Relationship</h2>
<p>While India is not part of TPP but it might have an effect on the U.S India Cyber Relationship Agreement. In August 2015 there was re- initiation of the India-U.S cyber dialogue to address common concerns related to cybersecurity and to develop better partnerships between public and private sector for betterment of digital economy <strong>[24]</strong>. One of the key aim of this agreement is free flow of information between two nations, which suffers from similar problem that it will put privacy of the citizens at risk. Also India does not have any bilateral treaty which ensures cyber data protection in such a scenario the only solution is data localisation, but this agreement will put data at risk <strong>[25]</strong>. Hence while the TPP negotiations were going on and also RCEP is being discussed the concerns about privacy and data protection need to be raised as mention in earlier section regarding implications of TPP on RCEP, the USA-India Cyber Relationship also faces the same implications..Although the aim of USA-India Cyber Relationship is to ensure cybersecurity. After the cases of Muzaffarnagar riots, upheaval in North -Eastern states and Gujarat riots, India has realised it is important to ensure compliance from the social media companies. India sees the USA-India Cyber Relationship as an opportunity to achieve this goal. The Google Transparency Report states that that India made around three thousand requests to Google for user data <strong>[26]</strong>, which indicate at the country's interest in having a common data understanding with the major social media companies (almost all of which are located in USA) about requesting and sharing of user activity data. While this concern is being addressed through the agreement, it is difficult to ignore the clause related to free flow of information, and if the meaning of the term is extended and adopted from TPP itself will put digital privacy of Indian citizens at risk <strong>[27]</strong>.</p>
<h2 id="7">7. Conclusion</h2>
<p>Even though TPP negotiation are completed but the ratification of the agreement is still underway. TPP is being seen as one of a kind trade agreement because it is the first time that countries across the globe have come together as a whole to address concerns of modern trade. Although it fails to address some of the key concerns related to privacy and data protection which are becoming increasingly important. Data protection and privacy issues cannot be seen in isolation and needs to merged within the modern day trade agreements. The D2D component by the USA is strategic move to have trade dominance in Asia and to compete with China’s growth . TPP has privacy and data protection lacunae within the e- commerce , telecommunications and intellectual property discussion.Although it might have serious implications on RCEP negotiation and USA- India Cyber Relationship Dialogue. Similar concern regarding data protection has already been addressed by ECJ judgment invalidating USA-EU Safe Harbour Agreement but the similar ad - hoc strategy has been incorporated within TPP. Since TPP might be considered as best practice model for future FTAs in the Asian region it is important to raise and address these privacy concerns now.</p>
<h2 id="8">8. Endnotes</h2>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> The signatory countries include Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, United States of America, Vietnam, Chile, Brunei, Singapore, New Zealand. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership,"
<a href="http://www.ustr.gov/tpp">http://www.ustr.gov/tpp</a> (last visited Jul 7, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> "The Origins and Evolution of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)," Global Research, <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-origins-and-evolution-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp/5357495">http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-origins-and-evolution-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp/5357495</a> (last visited Jul 7, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> Fergusson, Ian F., Mark A. McMinimy & Brock R. Williams, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): In Brief," (2015), <a href="http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/1477/">http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/1477/</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> Gajdos, Lukas, <em>The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its impact on EU trade</em>, Policy Department, Directorate-General for External Policies, Policy Briefing (2013), <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/briefing_note/join/2013/491479/EXPO-INTA_SP(2013)491479_EN.pdf">http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/briefing_note/join/2013/491479/EXPO-INTA_SP(2013)491479_EN.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[5]</strong> Twining, Daniel, Hans Kundnani & Peter Sparding, <em>Trans-Pacific Partnership: geopolitical implications for EU-US relations</em>, Policy Department, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 24 (2016), <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/535008/EXPO_STU(2016)535008_EN.pdf">http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/535008/EXPO_STU(2016)535008_EN.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[6]</strong> USTR, "Remarks by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman to the New Democrat Network," <a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/speechestranscripts/2015/may/remarks-deputy-us-trade">https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/speechestranscripts/2015/may/remarks-deputy-us-trade</a> (last visited Jul 4, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[7]</strong> Murphy, Katharine, "Trans-Pacific Partnership: four key issues to watch out for," The Guardian, November 6, 2015, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/trans-pacific-partnership-four-key-issues-to-watch-out-for">https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/trans-pacific-partnership-four-key-issues-to-watch-out-for</a> (last visited Jul 7, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[8]</strong> USTR, "The Digital 2 Dozen" (2016), <a href="https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Digital-2-Dozen-Final.pdf">https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Digital-2-Dozen-Final.pdf</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[9]</strong> Fergusson, Ian F.m Mark A. McMinimy & Brock R. Williams, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and issues for congress," (2015), <a href="http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/1412/">http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/1412/</a> (last visited Jul 8, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[10]</strong> "How the TPP Will Affect You and Your Digital Rights," Electronic Frontier Foundation (2015), <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/how-tpp-will-affect-you-and-your-digital-rights">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/how-tpp-will-affect-you-and-your-digital-rights</a> (last visited Jul 7, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[11]</strong> Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), <em>Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement</em> (2016), <a href="https://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/Parlt-TPP-160310.pdf">https://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/Parlt-TPP-160310.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[12]</strong> Greenleaf, Graham, "The TPP & Other Free Trade Agreements: Faustian Bargains for Privacy?," SSRN (2016), <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2732386">http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2732386</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[13]</strong> "GED-Project: Transatlantic Data Flows and Data Protection," GED Blog (2015), <a href="https://ged-project.de/topics/competitiveness/transatlantic-data-flows-and-data-protection-the-state-of-the-debate/">https://ged-project.de/topics/competitiveness/transatlantic-data-flows-and-data-protection-the-state-of-the-debate/</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[14]</strong> Geist, Michael, "The Trouble with the TPP, Day 14: No U.S. Assurances for Canada on Privacy," (2016), <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2016/01/the-trouble-with-the-tpp-day-14-no-u-s-assurances-for-canada-on-privacy/">http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2016/01/the-trouble-with-the-tpp-day-14-no-u-s-assurances-for-canada-on-privacy/</a> (last visited Jul 4, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[15]</strong> Aaronson, Susan Ariel, "What does TPP mean for the Open Internet?" From <em>Policy Brief on Trade Agreements and Internet Governance Prepared for the Global Commission on Internet Governance</em> (2015), <a href="https://www.gwu.edu/~iiep/events/DigitalTrade2016/TPPPolicyBrief.pdf">https://www.gwu.edu/~iiep/events/DigitalTrade2016/TPPPolicyBrief.pdf</a> (last visited Jul 5, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[16]</strong> Lomas, Natasha, "TPP Trade Agreement Slammed For Eroding Online Rights," TechCrunch, <a href="http://social.techcrunch.com/2015/11/05/tpp-vs-privacy/">http://social.techcrunch.com/2015/11/05/tpp-vs-privacy/</a> (last visited Jun 30, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[17]</strong> "Q&A: The Trans-Pacific Partnership," Human Rights Watch (2016), <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/12/qa-trans-pacific-partnership">https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/12/qa-trans-pacific-partnership</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[18]</strong> "TPP Full Text Released," People Over Politics (2015), <a href="http://peopleoverpolitics.org/2015/11/07/tpp-just-as-bad-as-you-thought/">http://peopleoverpolitics.org/2015/11/07/tpp-just-as-bad-as-you-thought/</a> (last visited Jul 7, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[19]</strong> "Right to Privacy in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP ) Negotiations," Knowledge Ecology International, <a href="http://keionline.org/node/1164">http://keionline.org/node/1164</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[20]</strong> Asian Trade Centre, "E-Commerce and Digital Trade Proposals for RCEP (2016)," <a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5393d501e4b0643446abd228/t/575a654c86db438e86009fa1/1465541967821/RCEP+E-commerce+June+2016.pdf">http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5393d501e4b0643446abd228/t/575a654c86db438e86009fa1/1465541967821/RCEP+E-commerce+June+2016.pdf</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[21]</strong> "E-commerce companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal to beef up data security to meet RCEP norms," The Economic Times, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com//articleshow/49068419.cms">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com//articleshow/49068419.cms</a> (last visited Jul 1, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[22]</strong> ECLI:EU:C:2015:650 (C -362/14)</p>
<p><strong>[23]</strong> King et al., "Privacy law, cross-border data flows, and the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement: what counsel need to know," Lexology, <a href="http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b5c0b400-8161-4439-a4b7-131552ad5209">http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b5c0b400-8161-4439-a4b7-131552ad5209</a> (last visited Jul 4, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[24]</strong> "U.S.-India Business Council Applauds Resumption of Cybersecurity Dialogue," U.S.-India Business Council (2015), <a href="http://www.usibc.com/press-release/us-india-business-council-applauds-resumption-cybersecurity-dialogue">http://www.usibc.com/press-release/us-india-business-council-applauds-resumption-cybersecurity-dialogue</a> (last visited Jul 5, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[25]</strong> Sukumar, Arun Mohan, "India Is Coming up Against the Limits of Its Strategic Partnership With the United States," The Wire (2016), <a href="http://thewire.in/40403/india-is-coming-up-against-the-limits-of-its-strategic-partnership-with-the-united-states/">http://thewire.in/40403/india-is-coming-up-against-the-limits-of-its-strategic-partnership-with-the-united-states/</a> (last visited Jul 4, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[26]</strong> Countries – Google Transparency Report, <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/countries/">https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/countries/</a> (last visited Jul 8, 2016).</p>
<p><strong>[27]</strong> Sukumar, Arun Mohan, "A case for the Net’s Ctrl+Alt+Del," The Hindu, September 5, 2015, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-case-for-the-nets-ctrlaltdel/article7616355.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-case-for-the-nets-ctrlaltdel/article7616355.ece</a> (last visited Jul 5, 2016).</p>
<h2 id="9">9. Author Profile</h2>
<p><strong>Shubhangi Heda</strong> is a Student of Jindal Global Law School, O.P Jindal Global University. She has completed her fourth year. She gives due importance to popular culture in her life and loves to read fiction and like to watch TV-shows, her favorite being 'White Collar'.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/tpp-and-d2-implications-for-data-protection-and-digital-privacy'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/tpp-and-d2-implications-for-data-protection-and-digital-privacy</a>
</p>
No publisherShubhangi HedaTrans Pacific PartnershipPrivacyFree Trade AgreementDigital EconomyInternet GovernanceData Protection2016-07-12T07:56:24ZBlog EntryPlace for a safety net
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-telegraph-july-10-2016-place-for-a-safety-net
<b>Vinupriya took her life last week, humiliated by the morphed images of her naked body posted on a social media site. Experts warn that the spike in Internet traffic brings with it an increase in online sexual crimes. Measures must be taken urgently to save lives, they tell T.V. Jayan.
</b>
<p align="justify"><a class="external-link" href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160710/jsp/7days/story_95759.jsp">The article was published in the Telegraph on July 10, 2016</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p align="justify">Sangeeta (not her name) was 25 and working for a private company in Mumbai when she suddenly told her family that she was going to quit her job and stay at home. Her parents were flummoxed, but questioning and coaxing yielded no answers. As the days rolled on, the management graduate slipped into depression. Her worried family took her to a counsellor. And it was only then that she came out with her story.</p>
<p align="justify">Soon after she joined the company, Sangeeta got romantically involved with her boss. By the time she learnt he was married, the involvement had taken a physical turn. And when she tried to put an end to it, the man, who had recorded their intimate moments, used the video clips to blackmail her for sexual favours. After Sangeeta's confession and a police complaint, the blackmailing boss was nabbed and put behind bars.</p>
<p align="justify">Vinupriya, an undergraduate student from Salem, Tamil Nadu, was not so lucky. She found that her morphed images had been uploaded on Facebook. She committed suicide last week after her parents refused to believe her story, and the police failed to act swiftly.</p>
<p align="justify">Cyber experts are alarmed by the increase in online crimes against women in India. According to them, what is more worrying is that though the risks are catastrophic, the issues are not being addressed at a larger level.</p>
<p align="justify">"Vinupriya's case is particularly frightening. I suspect this would be the first of many such tragedies. They might even result in honour killings, as such crimes can destroy the reputation of families," says American cyber lawyer Parry Aftab, executive director of the voluntary organisation, Wired Safety, which she founded 20 years ago, and which deals extensively with cyber stalking and other crimes.</p>
<p align="justify">Earlier this week, a man was arrested in Delhi for sending obscene messages to more than 1,500 women in the National Capital Region. According to the police, the miscreant would randomly dial any number and if the caller turned out to be a woman, he would save the number and later check out her WhatsApp profile picture. He would then send obscene clips to the woman. One news report said some of the marriages were in trouble because husbands had seen the messages and suspected that their wives were in a relationship with the man sending those explicit messages.</p>
<p align="justify">Aftab has been studying the dangers of online stalking for a while. There are no figures on this in India, but a top United Nations official, stationed in New Delhi and dealing with trafficking, told her that about 500 rape and sexual assault cases were recorded and shared over WhatsApp in India this year.</p>
<p align="justify">She referred to a study conducted in the US that said one in three girls and boys engaged in sexting. Children involved in sexting contemplated suicide three times more than others of the same age, she said.</p>
<p align="justify">According to her, Wired Safety volunteers come across five cases of sextortion and sexting every day from Asian countries, including India, and act upon them by red-flagging social media organisations where such images are posted.</p>
<p align="justify">Pavan Duggal, a cyber lawyer based in Delhi, feels that social media service providers are not doing enough to stop online sexual abuse. "They are hiding behind a 2015 Supreme Court judgment, which said content can be removed only on judicial orders or in response to government notifications," he says.</p>
<p align="justify">The verdict he refers to was delivered in a case filed by a student called Shreya Singhal. In 2012, two girls were arrested over their Facebook post questioning the Mumbai shutdown for Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray's funeral. The incident made an impression on Singhal, a student of astrophysics at the University of Bristol, who was in India at the time.</p>
<p align="justify">Upon research she discovered that Section 66(A) of India's IT Act was subjective and any seemingly offensive social media post could land anyone in jail. Singhal filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court protesting that the section violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, and in 2015, the apex court ruled in her favour.</p>
<p align="justify">This judgment, however, emboldened cyber miscreants. "All the cyber bullies and cyber stalkers now have a misplaced feeling that nothing can happen to them," says Duggal. He points out that while the delivery of justice takes time, the harassment happens 24x7.</p>
<p align="justify">"Who do the victims turn to for help? There are provisions in the 2011 IT rules that clearly say that social medial service providers should have rules and regulations in place to deal with objectionable content, but they do not act," he holds.</p>
<p align="justify">Aftab, however, believes that some efforts are in place. She cites the example of Microsoft's PhotoDNA technology, which is used by many social media and online search firms, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, to prevent child pornography on the Internet. PhotoDNA works by creating a number of mini hashes on a single image and combining them to have a full hash. If anything is changed, even a pixel, then the hash signature will not match.</p>
<p align="justify">But she holds that on a larger scale, it is difficult to technologically deal with revenge porn, sextortion (using a sexual or provocative image to blackmail people for sexual favours) and sexting (sharing sexually provocative images of people, especially women) with the intention of damaging reputation.</p>
<p align="justify">Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, hints at a lack of initiative on the part of the social media organisations. "When it comes to enforcing intellectual property, organisations like Facebook do an excellent job of keeping their platform free of copyright infringement," he says. "So, clearly these companies can police activities on their platform when it affects their bottom-line."</p>
<p align="justify">And while this debate continues, more and more Indians join the online experience, thereby increasing the chances of more such cases. Aftab, who plans to set up a voluntary organisation relating to cyber safety in India, says it is best to focus on proactive measures in the interim.</p>
<p align="justify">Last month, she addressed 1,200 teenage girls from a Bangalore college. "One of the first questions posed to me was from a young girl who said she was currently being blackmailed by someone who threatened to morph her pictures into sexually explicit images and send them to her family and others. Morphed image issue seems to be a lot more serious in India than in the West."</p>
<p align="justify">The problem, she stresses, is that such incidents can lead to self-harm. To counter this, the affected person needs to inform his or her family and enlist their support. Together, they should approach social media organisations to ensure that the objectionable content is removed in time. To prevent the offenders from doing further harm, they then need to take the help of law enforcement agencies.</p>
<p align="justify">"The government for its part must amplify the voices of women and hold these Internet corporations accountable for an information escrow. There should be an independent mechanism to monitor whether Internet platforms are taking complaints from women seriously," Abraham says. Only then can a young girl like Vinupriya pluck up the courage to fight online abuse.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-telegraph-july-10-2016-place-for-a-safety-net'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-telegraph-july-10-2016-place-for-a-safety-net</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIT ActInternet Governance2016-07-13T02:45:56ZNews Item