The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
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Open letter to Hillary Clinton on Internet Freedom
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton
<b>Last month I wrote an open letter to Hillary Clinton. It was based on a presentation I that I made during a panel discussion at a Google sponsored conference titled Internet at Liberty 2012 in Washington DC on May 24, 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham's article was <a class="external-link" href="http://thinkingaloud.in/ArticleComments.aspx?ArtId=1097">published</a> in Thinking Aloud on July 17, 2012</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The question that my panel tried to grapple with was "In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom?" My co-panelists were Cynthia Wong who is with the Centre for Democracy and Technology, Mohamed El Dahshan a writer and journalist, Dunja Mijatovic the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.<br /><br />Internet freedom is a curious subject. It is a technology specific liberty - for a moment consider television freedom. The US has more Muslims than India has Christians. But Indian television in the average hotel comes in hundreds and there are at least 3 channels of Christian preaching. But US television in hotels is usually less than 50 channels with no channels of Islamic preaching. In fact even the reception of secular channels from the Islamic World like Al Jazeera is still difficult in America. Can we accuse the US of not having television freedom since their television features Christian evangelists but not Muslim evangelists? Should it be part of India's foreign policy to evangelize television freedom given that there is a large domestic industry with clear international potential?<br /><br />In an ideal world - citizens will possess technology-neutral freedom to communication and expression. But nothing can be farther from the truth. Communication technologies are regulated using a plethora of policies and practices and very often these have a chilling effect on freedoms.<br /><br />The following is my response to the technology-specific demands for deregulation from the US Government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Text of the Open Letter[2]</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise Access to Knowledge (A2K) as pre-condition for freedom of expression</b>: There is no difference between aggressive enforcement of imbalanced and obsolete intellectual property laws and censorship. The need of the moment is not more enforcement to protect obsolete business models against the everyday practices of ordinary netizens but rather the reform of intellectual property law (levies, broader exceptions and limitations, pools, statutory and compulsory licenses, prizes etc.) to keep pace with innovations in technology and the production of knowledge and culture.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise privacy as pre-condition for security:</b> The alleged tension between privacy and security is a false dichotomy. Blanket surveillance by design compromises security. <b>Surveillance is like salt in cooking — essential in very small quantities but dangerous even if slightly in excess. Blanket surveillance technologies are only going make things easier for — and will only serve as targets for — current and future online villains.</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Don't lose the moral high-ground:</b> Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Other countries are waiting to cherry pick from your worst practices. Also don't use trade agreements to selectively export components of US policy without the accompanying safeguards for civil liberties and rights. Citizens in oppressive and authoritarian states are depending on the US government, courts and civil society to protect their rights online. Don't undermine their capacity to shame their governments by holding up the US as the example of 'how to get things right'. They urgently need the US government to lead by example.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise that freedom of expression has become a trade issue:</b> This is unfortunate but this is true — thanks to the precedent set by the developed world when it came to asymmetric trade negotiations. Just as the US is interested in protecting the interests of its corporations in global markets — other governments are keen protect the interests of their own corporations. The optimal solution in this case is where all countries and corporations are equally unsatisfied. This will remain a continuing discussion.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Address developing country anxieties around critical internet infrastructure:</b> Security by obscurity will no longer do — security by transparency through open standards, technologies and governance is the only way to fears and build a trust-worthy and secure Internet for all of us. For example, there is urgent need to develop standards for supply chain audits of information infrastructure. The US has dealt with the fear of back doors by banning the use of hardware and software from countries it does not trust. The developing world is not sure if there are back-doors in hardware and software manufactured by US corporations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Time has comes to address this and other related anxieties.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Appreciate diversity in nomenclature:</b> 'Freedom' and 'liberty' may be appropriate terms to use in the United States of America. But openness may be more in countries that are not yet full and robust liberal democracies. The Internet Governance Forum for example uses 'openness' instead of 'freedom'. Openness is also preferred because it includes 'freedom of expression', 'freedom of information' (also known as right to information, access to information or public and 'free knowledge' (free software, open standards, open content, open access, open data, open educational resources, etc.)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Don't be too instrumental in your interventions:</b> Don't undermine the local credibility of like-minded civil society, think-tanks and research organisations by being too directive in your support. Managerialism will undermine reform of policies and practices in information societies and so does inappropriate/premature monitoring and evaluation (for example, looking for explicit attribution in terms of casual connections between your actions and outcomes). There is a need to support greater reflexivity in the global information society by developing institutional capacity in developing countries through unrestricted funding. True critical thinking is the foundation of both scientific progress and open societies. Go out of your way to find and support those who disagree with you. Protect the plural foundation of our networked society!</p>
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<h3>Video</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham was a speaker along with Cynthia Wong, Mohamed El Dahshan and Dunja Mijatovic in Plenary IV Debate 3 at the <b>Internet at Liberty 2012 </b>event<b> </b>organised by Google on May 24, 2012. <b><br /></b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9YMte4hdYu0" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YMte4hdYu0">View the video on YouTube</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton</a>
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No publishersunilFreedom of Speech and ExpressionVideoInternet GovernanceAccess to Knowledge2012-09-04T08:28:02ZBlog EntryMarch 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2012-bulletin
<b>In this month we announced the new clusters from Researchers at Work: Locating the Mobile, Interface Intimacies and Habits of Living. </b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Research</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">New series from RAW, new Clusters now Online!</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">From 2012 to 2015, the RAW series will build research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. We hope to build knowledge networks and production of new knowledge around questions of body, governance and cultural production in the digital times that we live in. Spearheaded by experts in the field of science, technology, society and culture the clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia. <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile" target="_blank"></a></p>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/locating-mobile/locating-the-mobile" target="_blank">Locating the Mobile: An Ethnographic Investigation into Locative Media in Melbourne, Bangalore and Shanghai</a><br />Larissa Hjorth (RMIT University, Melbourne), Genevieve Bell (Intel, Shanghai)<br />As yet we know little about the impact locative media is having, and will have upon people’s livelihoods and identity, or on public policy around privacy, identity, security and cultural production. Discourse in the field has opened up questions of art, innovation and experimentation. But there is a dearth of nuanced research on locative media that provides in-depth, contextual accounts of its socio-cultural and political dimensions. Not much work has been conducted into locative media as it migrates from art to the ‘messy’ area of everyday. The project seeks to address this knowledge gap by studying locative media in Bangalore, Melbourne and Shanghai.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/digital-humanities-main/blogs/interface-intimacies/interface-intimacies" target="_blank">Interface Intimacies</a><br />Audrey Yue (Melbourne University) and Namita Malhotra (ALF)<br />Users of technologies often express their engagement with technologies in affective terms. The interfaces that we see all around us constantly deflect our attention, emotions and desires on to different surfaces, creating flattened universes with the promises of deep immersion. Digging deep into interfaces, to examine peoples’ relationships with the digital interfaces around them the research cluster examines: What are the affective relationships that people have with their interfaces? What goes into anthropomorphising an interface? What are the larger politics of labour, performance and ownership that surround interface design? What are the ways in which people simulate presence and connections through their interfaces? How is the human presumed in computer-human interface design? What aesthetic and political moves are we witnessing with the rise of interface mediated publics? What and who is made opaque when interfaces become transparent? When interfaces get distributed, what are the possibilities and potential for art, theory and practice to move into new forms of politics?</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living" target="_blank">Habits of Living: Global Networks, Local Affects</a><br />Wendy Chun (Professor, Brown University), Kelly Dobson, (Chair, Digital + Media, RISD, Providence), Matthew Fuller, David Gee (Reader in Digital Media, Center for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London) and Eivind Rossaak, (Associate Professor, Department of Research, National Library of Norway, Oslo).<br />This is a global collaborative project to renew the conceptual power of networks. It concentrates on changing the habits of living. The Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University will be an important locus. Habits are crucial to understanding networks not simply as broad organizational structures but also as structures created through constant actions that are both voluntary and involuntary.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video Contest</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/vote-for-digital-natives" target="_blank">Who’s the Everyday Digital Native? A global video contest finds the answer!</a><br /> CIS and Hivos are excited to announce the top five videos. The finalists will each win EUR 500. According to Nishant Shah, the 12 video proposals show that the everyday digital native does not wake up in the morning and think, ‘today I will change the world’. Yet, in their everyday lives, when they see the possibility of producing a change in their immediate environments, they turn to the digital to find networks that can start a change.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Public Lectures</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives" target="_blank">D:Coding Digital Natives</a> (Nishant Shah, University of California, Los Angeles, March 9, 2012)<br />"In the last three years of revolutions we have also now witnessed this extraordinary thing where lot of promises were made of different kinds of revolution but which never materialised in terms of what they intended to. Citizen action happens but it doesn’t lead into anything concrete." The lecture is featured in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvY__z3jN7M" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/digital-natives-and-the-myth-of-revolution" target="_blank">Digital Natives and the Myth of the Revolution: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (Nishant Shah, Annenberg School of Communication, University of South California, March 8, 2012): Nishant Shah made a presentation on 'Questioning the Radical Potential for Citizen Action'.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/ignite-talks" target="_blank">5 Challenges for the Future of Learning: Digital Natives and How We Shall Teach Them</a> (Digital Media and Learning Conference on Beyond Education Technologies, Wyndham Parc 55 Hotel, San Francisco, March 1, 2012). Nishant Shah gave a ignite talk.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/questioning-the-radical-potential-of-citizen-action" target="_blank">Digital Natives and the Myth of the Revolution: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (UC Santa Cruz, Monday, March 5, 2012). Nishant Shah gave a lecture. The lecture focused more on the India against Corruption case-study rather than the theoretical framework to understanding revolutions.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Column in Indian Express</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways/pinning-the-badge" target="_blank">Pinning the Badge</a><br />Nishant Shah, March 18, 2012<br />In a world of competition, badging provides a holistic way of grading and learning, where individual talents are realized and the knowledge of the group is used. A peer-2-peer system of badging, which enables learners to be critically aware not only of their own interaction with knowledge but also recognises the ways in which larger communities of knowledge — including the peers and teachers — opens up an extraordinary way of thinking about education.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Book Review...A Few Excerpts<a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/an-experiment-in-social-engineering" target="_blank"></a></h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/an-experiment-in-social-engineering" target="_blank">An Experiment in Social Engineering: The Cultural Context of an Avatar</a><i><br />‘Engineering a cyber twin’ is an attempt to inventory the ontological features of an avatar... Ansher’s essay… eschews a simplistic binary of offline/online, preferring to focus on the domain of interaction between the two ‘personae’ of the same self</i>.<br />Pramod K. Nayar reviews Nilofar Shamim Ansher’s essay ‘Engineering a Cyber Twin’ from Digital Alternatives with a Cause? Book One: To Be.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Accessibility</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Analysis</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/analysis-of-comments" target="_blank">Analysis of Comments by WBU & IPA</a><br />Rahul Cherian provides an analysis of the comments by the World Blind Union and the International Publishers Association after the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of Copyright and Related Rights.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Organised</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-delhi" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 to 15, 2012): At the invitation of the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, International Telecommunication Union organized a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility. The Tutorial was preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility on March 13, 2012. Sunil Abraham participated in the event and was the Master of Ceremony on Day 1, March 14, 2012.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Op-ed in Economic Times</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/patented-games" target="_blank">Patented Games</a>, Sunil Abraham, March 8, 2012<br />Some prefer Steve Jobs, patron saint of perfection, others prefer Nicholas Negroponte, messiah of the masses. While Mr. Jobs may be guilty of contributing to the digital divide, Mr. Negroponte may have contributed to bridging it with his innovation: the One Laptop per Child, also known as the $100 laptop or XO.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/consumers-international-meeting-2012" target="_blank">Consumers International Global Meeting 2012</a> (Kuala Lumpur, March 8 and 9, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in the global meeting organised by Consumers International and spoke on UN Consumer Guidelines. Robin Brown, Tobias Schönwetter and Guilherme Varella were the other speakers in the session.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/freedom-of-expression-and-ipr-meeting" target="_blank">Expert Meeting on Freedom of Expression and Intellectual Property Rights</a> (London, November 18, 2011): The meeting was organized by ARTICLE 19. Nineteen international scholars, experts and human rights activists met to explore the antagonistic relationship between Intellectual Property (IP) and the rights to freedom of expression and information. Pranesh Prakash was one of the participants.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Openness</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Organised</h3>
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<li><span><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/open-data-camp" target="_blank">Open DataCamp — 2012</a></span> (Google, Old Madras Road, Bangalore, March 24, 2012): This was a one-day unconference for people working with data from various sectors to come together and share their projects and ideas. It was organised by the DataMeet group. Pranesh Prakash participated in the event. Google, India Water Portal, Gramener, Microsoft Research, Akshara Foundation, DataMeet, HasGeek and CIS were the sponsors.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/free-arduino-workshop" target="_blank">Free Arduino Workshop (For Beginners)</a>: (CIS, Bangalore, March 3, 2012). The workshop drew participants such as interaction designers, artists and those enthusiastic to get started with creative projects but didn’t have prior experience with electronics. About 20 people participated in the workshop.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/water-data-consultation" target="_blank">Water Data Consultation</a> (Evoma Hotel, Bangalore, March 23, 2012). Pranesh Prakash spoke on Policy Issues and Developments around Open Data. The event was organized by Arghyam.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Internet Governance</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Column in FirstPost</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/facebook-stalker-is-not-real-problem" target="_blank">Why your Facebook Stalker is Not the Real Problem</a>, Nishant Shah, March 20, 2012:We live in networked conditions. This is a statement that can now be taken at face-value, and immediately explains our highly connected, inter-meshed environments…We need to start looking at larger invasive policies exercises by the different invisible actors like the ISP, ICT ministries, corporate policies, design choices and architecture of interception that sustain the networks we so gladly embrace.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entries</h3>
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<li><span><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/statutory-motion-against-intermediary-guidelines-rules" target="_blank">Statutory Motion against Intermediary Guidelines Rules</a></span>, Pranesh Prakash:A <a href="http://164.100.47.5/newsite/bulletin2/Bull_No.aspx?number=49472" target="_blank">motion to annul</a> the <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/intermediary-guidelines-rules" target="_blank">Intermediary Guidelines Rules</a> was moved on March 23, 2012, by <a href="http://india.gov.in/govt/rajyasabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=2106" target="_blank">Shri P. Rajeeve</a>, CPI (M) MP in the Rajya Sabha from Thrissur, Kerala. We are very glad that Shri Rajeeve has moved this motion, and we hope that it gets adopted in the Lok Sabha as well, and that the Rules get defeated, notes Pranesh Prakash.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Organised</h3>
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<li>India Explores the Balance Points between Freedom of Expression, Privacy, National Security and Law Enforcement (New Delhi, March 5, 2012). Sunil Abraham participated in this closed-door meeting jointly organised with the Global Network Initiative. Issues relating to freedom of expression and privacy were discussed in the meeting. </li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1627&qid=160620" target="_blank">Climate Change and Controversy Mapping</a> (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, March 19 to 21, 2012). The Devechia Centre for Climate Change, the Indian Institute of Science and CIS organized a three-day workshop with Professor Bruno Latour. Doctorate students doing empirical work in various types of ecological crisis participated in the event and experimented with some of the digital tools and methods developed within the "mapping controversies" consortium.</li>
<li>GeekUp with Erica Hagen (CIS, Bangalore, March 1, 2012). HasGeek organized a GeekUp with Erica Hagen of the GroundTruth Initiative. Erica gave a lecture on the theme: "<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1628&qid=160620" target="_blank">From Information to Empowerment: Unpacking the Equation</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1629&qid=160620" target="_blank">Cartonama Workshop</a> (CIS, Bangalore, March 2 and 3, 2012). HasGeek organized a hands-on training for managing and building location based services. Twenty-two participants attended the workshop.</li>
<li><span><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1630&qid=160620" target="_blank">Global Censorship Conference</a></span></li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School is holding a conference on global censorship from March 30 to April 1, 2012, at Yale Law School. The programme is sponsored by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and Thomson Reuters. Rishabh Dara, Google Policy Fellow who worked at CIS office in Bangalore on freedom of expression and internet-related policy issues is participating in the event as a speaker in the panel on Case Studies of Censorship.</p>
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<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1631&qid=160620" target="_blank">What is Stewardship in Cyberspace?</a> (Innis Townhall, University of Toronto, Canada, March 18 and 19, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session “Plenary Panel and Discussions” at the second annual Cyber Dialogue.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1632&qid=160620" target="_blank">Secure IT 2012 — Securing Citizens through Technology</a> (Claridges, New Delhi, March 1, 2012): The event was co-organised by DST and NSDI, Govt. of India in partnership with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. Sunil Abraham was a panelist. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1632&qid=160620" target="_blank">video is now online</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1633&qid=160620" target="_blank">International Conference on Mobile Law</a> (ASSOCHAM House, New Delhi, March 1, 2012): Pranesh Prakash spoke in the panel on Mobiles - Privacy and Social Media on March 1, 2012.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/data-protection-experts-slam-state-for-sending-mass-smses" target="_blank">Data protection experts slam state for sending mass SMSes</a></li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/data-protection-experts-slam-state-for-sending-mass-smses" target="_blank">Data protection experts slam state for sending mass SMSes</a><br />"<i>The state government's use of unsolicited SMS a “clear abuse of the powers afforded by elected office... elected representatives would be justified in such measures, and in utilising public funds, in the event of a disaster, or when public order, public health or national security are compromised</i>."<br />Sunil Abraham, The Statesman, March 25, 2012.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/open-access-to-govt-data" target="_blank">Open access to government data on the cards</a><br />"<i>Welcoming the approval for the NDSAP, Pranesh Prakash, said, “None of the criticisms ... CIS had sent in as part of the feedback requested on the draft have been addressed</i>."<br />Pranesh Prakash, The Hindu, March 25, 2012.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/facebook-page-mini-resume" target="_blank">Is your facebook page your mini resume?</a><br />"<i>Background checks are common as some companies deal with sensitive information. So it’s not illegal, but intrusive. I think some power relationships can be abused if they cross the social networking barrier — like a boss-employee and teacher-student relationship</i>."<br />Sunil Abraham, IBN Live, March 26, 2012.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/click-play-watch" target="_blank">Click, Play, Watch</a><br />"<i>Earlier, creative artistes depended on intermediaries like studios, TV channels and theatres to screen their work and connect with viewers. Now, they are looking at the online medium to connect with the audience directly.</i>"<br />Sunil Abraham, MidDay, March 18, 2012.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/save-your-voice-2014-a-movement-against-web-censorship" target="_blank">Save Your Voice — A movement against Web censorship</a><br />"<i>Private sector does not protect the freedom of expression</i>."<br />Daily News & Analysis, March 13, 2012.</li>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/big-bet-on-identity" target="_blank">India’s Big Bet on Identity</a><br />"<i>There are obviously both privacy and security concerns when you’re collecting personal data from more than a billion people. “You can’t change your biometrics,”… so if they become compromised, it’s a difficult problem to fix</i>."<br />Ieeespectrum. March 2012 edition.</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Telecom</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Columns in Business Standard</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/2-g-supreme-court-judgement-1" target="_blank">The 2G Supreme Court Judgment</a><br />Shyam Ponappa, March 1 and March 4, 2012<br />The Business Standard published Shyam Ponappa's two-part article deconstructing the assumptions in the Supreme Court's 2G judgment, and suggesting possible ways forward. The first one was published on March 1, 2012, and the second on March 4, 2012.</li>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
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<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/convergence-india-2012" target="_blank">Convergence India 2012</a><br /> Yelena Gyulkhandanyan<br /> Yelena attended an event organised by the Exhibitions India Group from March 21 to 23, 2012. She shares her experiences.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with International Telecommunications Union, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/front-page/blog/wipo-broadcast-treaty-comments-march-2011" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/front-page/blog/copyright-bill-analysis" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/front-page/blog/comments-ifeg-phase-1" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-bill-2010" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/front-page/comments-draft-national-policy-on-electronics" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/comments-draft-rules" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Follow us Elsewhere</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/groups/28535315687/" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" target="_blank">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T07:33:44ZPageMay 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of May 2012! In the current issue, we bring to you updates of our latest research, event reports, videos, and media coverage:
</b>
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>Copyright Amendment Bill</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Analysis of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012</a><br />Pranesh Prakash<br />There are some welcome provisions in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012, and some worrisome provisions. Pranesh Prakash examines five positive changes, four negative ones, and notes the several missed opportunities. The larger concern, though, is that many important issues have not been addressed by these amendments, and how copyright policy is made without evidence and often out of touch with contemporary realities of the digital era. <a href="http://infojustice.org/archives/26243">The analysis was reposted in infojustice.org on May 25, 2012</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-madness">Copyright Madness</a> (Lawrence Liang and Achal Prabhala, Indian Express, May 22, 2012): India’s Copyright Act allows owners of content the right to prevent infringement through the use of injunctions, but these injunctions have to be narrowly construed and applied only to specific instances of infringement. This is to say, take down the infringing video, not the whole website, and don’t intimidate the host. When injunctions threaten freedom of speech and expression, then free speech should necessarily trump copyright claims — and the courts cannot be used as convenient shopping forums for maladies that don’t exist.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Call for Participation</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip-call-for-participation">2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: Call for Participation and Save the Date</a> (FGV Law School, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, December 15 – 17, 2012): We invite applications to attend the Congress, including proposals to chair workshops or deliver a paper or presentation related to the Congress’s theme.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/workshop-on-education-and-copyright">The International Copyright System and Access to Education: Challenges, New Access Models and Prospects for New Principles</a> (Max Planck Institute, Munich, Germany, May 14 and 15, 2012). The event was organised by the University of Minnesota and Max Planck Institute. Pranesh Prakash participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist">Will the Copyright Law Help the Starving Artist?</a>:(by Margherita Stancati, Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2012): "The singers and producers of...unlicensed versions could be jailed under the current India Copyright Act, which allows even non-commercial copyright infringers to be put behind bars."<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Wall Street Journal.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/did-sibal-just-get-arm-twisted-by-book-publishers">Did Sibal just get arm-twisted by book publishers?</a> (FirstPost, May 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s article on parallel importation of books is referred in this article.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<h3>Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/copyright-amendments">Copyright Amendments – Empowering the Print Disabled</a> by Rahul Cherian.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/faq-on-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">An FAQ on the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2012, for the Benefit of Persons with Disabilities</a> by Dr. Sam Taraporevala and Rahul Cherian.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3>Article in the Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/cancel-the-subscription">Cancel the Subscription</a> (Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, Indian Express, May 8, 2012): It has been a slow but steady move to make scholarship freely available... In India, though, there appears to be very little enthusiasm among the leaders of the science establishment. Neither the office of the principal scientific adviser nor the department of science and technology seems to have shown any interest in mandating open access to taxpayer-funded research. The National Knowledge Commission has recommended mandating open access to all publicly funded research, but it is not clear who will implement the recommendation. Right now, it is left to individuals to promote open access in India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/design-public-delhi-event-report">Design!PubliC — Third Conclave in New Delhi</a> (National Museum, New Delhi, April 20, 2012): The event was organized by the Center for Knowledge Societies in collaboration with IBM, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google and the Centre for Internet and Society. Sunil Abraham was a panelist and spoke in the session on Participation, Collaboration and Innovation. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Google Policy Fellowship</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/google-policy-fellowship">Google Policy Fellowship Programme: Call for Applications</a>: CIS is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India Fellow, who will be selected by August 15, 2012. The focus areas for the present fellowship programme include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom. The duration of the fellowship will be for about ten weeks starting from August 2012 upto October 2012. CIS will select the India Fellow. Send in your applications for the position by June 27, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/internet-at-liberty-2012">Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom</a> (Newseum, Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest Washington, D.C., May 23 – 24, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a speaker in Plenary IV, Debate 3: In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom?</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Meeting on Internet Governance (Conference Hall No. 4009, Dept. of Electronics & Information Technology, CGO Complex, New Delhi, May 9, 2012): Pranesh Prakash participated in this meeting.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in Down to Earth</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/beyond-sharing">Beyond Sharing: Towards our Digital Futures</a> (Nishant Shah, Down to Earth, May 31, 2012): The battle is not about file sharing and a petty film producer wanting to rake in the box office earnings. It is about the law’s incapacity to deal with post-analogue practices and processes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns by Nishant Shah</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-kolaveri-di">Open letter to Kolaveri Di makers: How Dare You!</a> (Nishant Shah, FirstPost, May 22, 2012): When it comes to piracy, you are sure to have an opinion. You might either make a virtue out of it, talking about cultural commons and collaborative conditions of production. Or you might vilify it as the social fault-line that is destroying the very pillars of commerce and cultural negotiations.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/private-eye">The Private Eye</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, May 14, 2012): As we move towards a data-driven future, we need to be more aware of the different kinds of data sets that we are making public and educate ourselves about the risks of this disclosure, without being carried away by the sway of meme-like behaviour and viral trends online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/do-it-rules-indirectly-lead-to-censorship-of-internet">Do IT Rules 2011 indirectly leads to Censorship of Internet</a>: Pranesh Prakash along with Dr. Arvind Gupta, National Convener, BJP IT Cell and Ms. Mishi Choudhary, Executive Director, SFLC participated in a panel discussion on censorship of the Internet on May 8, 2012. The discussion was broadcast on Yuva iTV and featured on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRIJRhpW-Bc">YouTube</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Letter</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/letter-for-civil-society-involvement">Letter for Civil Society Involvement in ITU’s WCIT</a> (by Center for Democracy and Technology): Academics and civil society groups wrote to the ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré regarding the lack of opportunity for civil society participation in the World Conference on International Telecommunications process.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton">Open letter to Hillary Clinton on Internet freedom</a> (by Sunil Abraham): This blog entry is based on a presentation made in the Internet at Liberty conference in Washington DC on May 24, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/why-this-blocking">Why this blocking di?</a> (by R Krishna, Daily News & Analysis, May 27, 2012): “<i>Unlike the Calcutta High Court order in March this year, which specified the 104 websites that should be blocked, a John Doe order doesn’t mention any specific website. In some cases, the websites are being blocked without any evidence (of copyright infringement). Courts need to be informed of what people with John Doe orders are doing. We need to be specific about what can be blocked and what can’t be.</i>”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in Daily News & Analysis</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/withdraw-india-proposal-for-un-committee-on-internet-policy">Rajeev Chandrasekhar Urges PM To Withdraw India’s Proposal For UN Committee On Internet-Policy</a> (by Anupam Saxena, Medianama, May 16, 2012): An interview that Medianama had with Pranesh Prakash is cited in this blog post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/mps-oppose-curbs-on-internet">MPs oppose curbs on internet; Sibal promises discussions</a> (Times of India, May 18, 2012): “<i>The IT minister has promised to hold consultations but the ideal way to do so would have been to scrap the rules and start from scratch...</i><i> </i><i>It's not only about language in these rules. There is a problem with provisions like the one that empowers intermediaries to remove content without notifying the user who had uploaded the content or giving users a chance to explain themselves.</i>”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Times of India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/sibal-shoot-down-motion-to-kill-it-rules">Kapil Sibal & Co shoot down motion to kill IT Rules: cite terrorism, drugs</a> (by Prachi Shrivastava, Legally India, May 18, 2012): “<i>Government is not censoring. It has created a system by which anyone can censor with impunity</i>.”<b><br />Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in Legally India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/vimeo-ban">Vimeo Ban: More Web Censorship</a> (by Preetika Rana, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2012): “<i>Shutting websites merely on the basis of suspicion amounts to private crackdown on free speech of the web...Why didn’t the telecom ministry repeal or object to the move, knowing that the court didn’t spell out the websites to be blocked?</i>”<br /> <b>Pranesh Prakash </b>quoted in Wall Street Journal.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/taming-the-web">Taming the Web, are we?</a> (by Javed Anwer, Economic Times, May 13, 2012): "<i>During the revolutions in Arab countries last year, protesters mobilized themselves through Twitter and Facebook. Then there are Wikileaks and Anonymous. This has made governments and politicians jittery.</i>"<b><br />Sunil Abraham</b> quoted in the Economic Times.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/rajya-sabha-nod-to-harsh-it-rules">Cordon tightens: Rajya Sabha nod to harsh IT rules</a> (Anil Sharma and Aishhwariya Subramanian, Daily News & Analysis, May 18, 2012): "<i>The trouble with Indian government's proposal to address issues such as network neutrality, privacy and freedom of expression, is top-down. Unlike other countries where internet policies have always been developed with consultation with other stakeholders, here the government imposes its will.</i>"<b><br />Sunil Abraham</b> quoted in Daily News & Analysis.<br />"<i>It is an ironical situation where India is not following domestically what it is proposing internationally</i>."<b> Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the same article in Daily News & Analysis.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/individuals-in-search-of-society">Empires: Individuals in Search of Society</a> (Marc Lafia, Huffington Post, May 18, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/cyber-appellate-tribunal-bengaluru">Cyber Appellate Tribunal in Bengaluru</a> (Deccan Herald, May 9, 2012): “<i>The state IT secretary has passed more than 80 orders. They include both cases of phishing and orders against cyber cafes for not adhering to rules under the IT Act. The Adjudicator has held that ‘section 43 of IT Act is not applicable to a body or Corporate’, after the amended IT Act came into force in 2008</i>.”<b> Pranesh Prakash</b> quoted in the Deccan Herald.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Digital Natives</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a research inquiry that looks at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Columns by Nishant Shah</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/digitally-analogue">Digitally Analogue</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, May 27, 2012): While those of us who were not born digital natives — we still remember what an audio cassette looks like and the smell of screen printing — will negotiate with the form of our access to cultural objects, it is also time to realise that being non-digital is no longer an option.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/we-are-cyborgs">We Are All Cyborgs</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 29, 2012): The cyborg reminds us that who we are as human beings is very closely linked with the technologies we use.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Citizen Action</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/resisting-revolutions">Resisting Revolutions: Questioning the Radical Potential of Citizen Action</a> (Nishant Shah, Development, Volume 55, Issue 2, May 2012): In this peer reviewed journal article, Nishant Shah looks into the radical claims and potentials of citizen action that have emerged in the last few years. He seeks to show how citizen action is not necessarily a radical form of politics and that we need to make a distinction between Resistances and Revolutions. It locates resistance as an endemic condition of governmentality within a State–Citizen–Market relationship and shows how it often strengthens the status quo rather than radically undermining it. He examines a campaign against corruption in India to see how the dissonance between the claims of the future and the practices of the present is produced in citizen action.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Course</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/course/knowledge-and-capacity-around-telecom-policy">Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India</a>: Ford Foundation has given a grant of $200,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India over a period of two years. The project involves creating a repository comprising information about telecommunications related issues and policies and online course materials designed for a multi-stakeholder audience, organising interactive public lectures and workshops around the country to disseminate information on telecom issues and using traditional and new forms of media to disseminate information to academia, civil society, policy makers and the general public.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/coming-telecom-monopoly">The Coming Telecom Monopoly</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, May 3, 2012): “The 2G judgment and Trai spectrum pricing recommendations have led to a policy that makes sense for only one survivor.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/ijlt-cis-lecture-series-nlsiu">3rd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series at NLSIU, Bangalore</a> (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, May 27, 2012): Organised by CIS in association with the Indian Journal of Law and Technology. Professor Rohan Samarajiva delivered a lecture on Tariff Regulation in South Asia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/awesom-contracts-project">The Awesome Contracts Project</a> (Geekup @ CIS, May 18, 2012): CIS co-organised the event with Has Geek. Vivek Durai, co-founder at Awesome Contracts gave a public lecture. Amith Narayan participated through Skype.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1644&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1645&qid=165304" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1646&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1647&qid=165304" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1648&qid=165304" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1649&qid=165304" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1650&qid=165304" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1651&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1652&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1653&qid=165304" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1654&qid=165304" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1655&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1656&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1657&qid=165304" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-07T06:59:29ZPageApril 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2012-bulletin
<b>In this issue of our newsletter, we bring you updates of our latest research, event reports, videos, news and media coverage during the month of April 2012:</b>
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Google Policy Fellowship</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-on-free-expression-on-internet">Intermediary Liability in India: Chilling Effects on Free Expression on the Internet</a><br />Rishabh Dara, Google Policy Fellow<br />CIS in partnership with Google India conducted the Google Policy Fellowship 2011. This was offered for the first time in Asia Pacific as well as in India. Rishabh Dara was selected as a fellow. He researched upon issues relating to freedom of expression. The results of the paper demonstrate that the ‘Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011’ notified by the Government of India on April 11, 2011 have a chilling effect on free expression.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-joins-gni">The Centre for Internet & Society Joins the Global Network Initiative</a><br />CIS officially joined the Global Network Initiative. CIS would bring to GNI in-depth expertise on global internet governance as well as online freedom of expression and privacy in India. GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan said “<i>We are delighted to add our first member based in India and welcome CIS’s engagement in support of transparency and accountability in technology</i>.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Op-ed in the Hindu</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/chilling-effects-frozen-words">Chilling Effects and Frozen Words</a> (Lawrence Liang, Hindu, April 30, 2012): “What if the real danger is not that we lose our freedom of speech and expression but our sense of humour as a nation?...One hopes that our lawmakers, even if they are averse to reading the Indian Constitution, will be slightly more open to the poetic licence granted by Kautilya.” </li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns in the Indian Express</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/idea-of-the-book">The Idea of the Book</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 8, 2012): “Its future lies in a trans-media format that is ever evolving... The form of the book is going to change as it has over the last 500 years. However, the idea of the book — a receptacle that contains and records collective wisdom, information, ideas, knowledge, experiences and imagination of humankind – is here to stay.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-broken-internet-law-multistakeholderism">India's Broken Internet Laws Need a Shot of Multi-stakeholderism</a> by Pranesh Prakash. (An edited version of this article was published in the Indian Express as <a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/941491/">"Practise what you preach"</a> on Thursday, April 26, 2012.)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Reports</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/all-india-privacy-delhi-report">The All India Privacy Symposium</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012): The symposium was organised around five thematic panel discussions: privacy and transparency, privacy and e-governance initiatives, privacy and national security, privacy and banking and health privacy. Privacy India in partnership with CIS, International Development Research Centre, Privacy International, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group organised this event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/high-level-privacy-report">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a> (Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens, New Delhi, February 3, 2012): The conclave was organised around two panels: national Security and privacy and internet and privacy. Malavika Jayaram moderated the first panel discussion on national Security and privacy. Sunil Abraham moderated the second panel discussion on internet and privacy. Privacy India in partnership with CIS, International Development Research Centre, Privacy International, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group organised this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resisting-internet-censorship">Resisting Internet Censorship: Strategies for Furthering Freedom of Expression in India</a> (Bangalore International Centre, TERI Complex, Domlur, April 21, 2012): CIS co-organised this event with the Foundation for Media Professionals. Members of Parliament, P. Rajeeve and Rajeev Chandrashekar and Member of Legislative Council, Karnataka, V.R. Sudarshan participated in the event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane">Konkan Corridor Project — A Lecture by Vasant Gangavane</a> (Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Bangalore, April 16, 2012): Well known social worker Vasant Gangavane gave a lecture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cybernetic-vehicles">Braitenberg Cybernetic Vehicles: Workshop, Film Screening & Discussion</a> (Metaculture Media Lab, CIS, Bangalore, April 14, 2012): There was a short presentation about Braitenberg vehicles.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/giga-conference">GIGA International Conference Series - 1</a> (NALSAR University of Law, Justice City Campus, Shameerpet, Hyderabad, April 5 and 6, 2012): The Institute of Global Internet Governance and Advocacy and Department of Electronics and Information Technology organised the conference. Sunil Abraham gave a lecture on <i>Digital Natives vs. Digital Naivety</i> in the session on Internet Governance & Society.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Expert-Group on Privacy Issues (New Delhi, April 13 and 14, 2012): The Planning Commission constituted this expert group under the chairmanship of Justice AP Shah. Sunil Abraham participated in the first meeting of the sub-group on privacy issues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/privacy-internationals-trip-to-asia">Privacy International's Trip to Asia</a> (by Emma Draper in Privacy International blog): In February 2012, the Privacy International team travelled to India, Bangladesh and Hong Kong to meet with local partners in the region and speak at four conferences they had organized. The team got a chance to interview its partners in India and Bangladesh on the privacy issues facing them at the moment. This is captured in a video about contemporary privacy issues in India and Bangladesh. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/mainstream-vs-social">It’s mainstream vs social</a> (Guest column by Mahima Kaul, Sunday Guardian, April 30, 2012): “<i>If the video is judged to be 'obscene', then under s.67 of the Information Technology Act, 'causing [obscenity] to be transmitted', is also a crime</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the Sunday Guardian.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/from-cyber-india-to-censor-india">From Cyber India to Censor India: Groups challenge didactic govt</a> (by Satarupa Paul, Sunday Guardian, April 29, 2012): “<i>Instead of a court deciding what makes content illegal, private intermediaries get to decide. And there is no penalty for anyone abusing the take-down notice system,</i>”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the Sunday Guardian.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/social-media-indian-govt">Social Media 1, Indian Government 0</a> (by Heather Timmons, New York Times, April 26, 2012): “<i>Because India does not have a bilateral cyber-crime agreement with the United States (as the European Union does), getting American companies like Facebook and Google to take down or investigate the source of content that offends Indian government officials can be a slow and cumbersome process</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in the New York Times. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/private-sector-censors">Private sector censors</a> (by Salil Tripathi, LiveMint, April 25, 2012): “<i>Companies which have no interest in free speech are now taking these decisions. They have the power to do so and they are using it without any sense of responsibility</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in LiveMint. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/left-may-for-once-be-right">Views | Why the Left may for once be right</a> (by Pramit Bhattacharya, LiveMint, April 23, 2012): “<i>It has become much easier in India to ban an e-book than a book</i>,”...Pranesh Prakash quoted in LiveMint. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/campaign-against-curbs-on-websites">Campaign against curbs on websites gathers steam</a> (by Arpan Daniel Varghese, IBN Live, April 23, 2012): “<i>If a company wants to target your organization’s social media network, they can keep sending fraudulent emails to you and you will have to keep deleting it unless you are ready to face litigation or government action.</i>..Sunil Abraham quoted in IBN Live.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/anti-net-censorship-echo-in-house">Expect anti-net censorship echo in house</a> (by Arpan Daniel Varghese, IBN Live, April 25, 2012): “<i>why should freedom of speech and expression be any different on the Internet?</i>”...Sunil Abraham quoted in IBN Live.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/mobilising-support-for-freedom-on-web">Mobilising support for freedom on the Web</a> (by Deepa Kurup Hindu, April 22, 2012): Rishabh Dara’s research published as part of the Google Policy Fellowship is quoted. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/draconian-it-rules">MPs to be taught ‘draconian’ IT Act Rules as India.net support galvanises for annul motion</a> (by Prachi Shrivastava, Legally India, April 23, 2012): Prachi has blogged about the Resisting Internet Censorship co-organised by CIS and the Foundation for Media Professionals in Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/india-arrests-professor-over-cartoon">India arrests professor over political cartoon</a> (by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, April 13, 2012): “<i>The state’s new-found aversion to non-believers has gone a bit too far</i>,”...Pranesh Prakash quoted in Washington Post.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/beauty-blog-creates-furore">A beauty’s blog creates furore</a> (by Lakshmi Krupa, Deccan Chronicle, April 10, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Digital Natives</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a research inquiry that looks at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Public Lecture</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/ignite-talks">5 Challenges for the Future of Learning: Digital Natives and How We Shall Teach Them</a> (Wyndham Parc 55 Hotel, San Francisco, California, March 1, 2012): Nishant Shah gave a ignite talk. The video is now online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book Review...a few excerpts</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/media-coverage/immigrants-not-natives">Immigrants not Natives</a>: “<i>‘To Be’, ‘To Think’, ‘To Act’ and ‘To Connect’ provides many fascinating and thought-provoking insights into the possibilities for reflection, action and interaction</i>,”... Sally Wyatt, eHumanities Group, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences/Maastricht University.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-event-report">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 – 15, 2012): CIS in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India organised a two-day tutorial on Audio-Visual Media Accessibility. Sunil Abraham was the Master of Ceremony on Day 1. Ravi Shanker, Administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund, Dr. Govind, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India, Swaran Lata, Director and Head of Department, TDIL Programme, DIT, R.N. Jha, Deputy Director General (International Relations), Department of Telecommunications and Archana Gulati, Financial Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority participated in this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>New Fellow at CIS</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/people/fellow">Rahul Cherian joins CIS</a>: Disability policy activist, lawyer and co-founder of Inclusive Planet, Rahul Cherian has joined CIS as a Fellow. Rahul will be working on disability policy reform and advocacy. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>New Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip">2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest</a> (FGV Law School, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, December 15 – 17, 2012): We are pleased to announce the Second Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. The theme for this year’s Congress will be “Setting the positive agenda in motion,” and will have a special focus on developments and opportunities in the so-called “BRICS” group of emerging economies. <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/global-congress-on-ip-call-for-participation">CIS is one of the six members of the Global Congress Planning Committee</a>..</li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hacking-modding-making">Hacking, Modding & Making</a> (by Brendan Shanahan): “<i>If something has been made technologically possible, we cannot make it illegal and hope that everyone will now pretend that this is no longer technologically possible...We can't have the government checking everyone's iPod and laptop. The better move is to change the model</i>,”...Sunil Abraham quoted in GQ.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<h3>Event Reports and Video</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/arduino-workshop-report">Arduino Workshop at CIS</a> (CIS, Bangalore, March 3, 2012). Video is now online.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/hejje-2014-together-with-kannada-technology-2">Hejje — Together with Kannada & Technology</a> (Bangalore, January 22, 2012): The event marked the first step to bring everyone working in Kannada in the IT field to brainstorm the ideas for future steps, and create a space for technological collaboration in Kannada. CIS co-organised the event with Sanchaya.net, Vishwakannada.com and Chanda Pustaka. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/open-government-partnership-brasilia-bangalore-meetup">Bangalore Meet-up for the Open Government Partnership Brasilia</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 17, 2012): Ananya Panda and Pranesh Prakash participated in the first annual meeting of Open Government Partnership remotely.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/design-public-delhi">Design!PubliC – Event in Delhi</a> (New Delhi, April 19 and 20, 2012): The event was co-organised by Centre for Knowledge Societies in partnership with IBM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, HeadStart, India@75, LiveMint and CIS.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/international-space-apps-challenge">International Space Apps Challenge</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 21 and 22, 2012): An international codeathon-style event took place in seven continents, CIS organised the event in Bangalore.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/build-comprehensive-ecosystems">China 3: Build Comprehensive Ecosystems</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, April 5, 2012): “Failures in electricity, transport and broadband have common strands. China's approach offers a possible alternative.”</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with International Telecommunications Union, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1644&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1645&qid=165304" target="_blank">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1646&qid=165304" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With foreign governments we worked on National Enterprise Architecture and Government Interoperability Framework for Govt. of Iraq; Open Standards Policy for Govt. of Moldova; Free and Open Software Centre of Excellence project plan for Saudi Arabia; eGovernance Strategy Document for Govt. of Tajikistan. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1647&qid=165304" target="_blank">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1648&qid=165304" target="_blank">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1649&qid=165304" target="_blank">Interoperability Framework in eGovernance</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1650&qid=165304" target="_blank">Privacy Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1651&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1652&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1653&qid=165304" target="_blank">IT Act</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1654&qid=165304" target="_blank">policy briefs</a> to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1655&qid=165304" target="_blank">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1656&qid=165304" target="_blank">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1657&qid=165304" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at www.cis-india.org</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-07T06:26:40ZPageFebruary 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/feb-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the Centre for Internet and Society newsletter! In this issue we bring you the updates of our research, events, media coverage and videos of the events organized by us during the month of February 2012!</b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Around 70 million disabled persons in India are unable to participate in information societies as lack of compliance with accessibility standards make interfaces impossible to use, and retrograde copyright and patent policies make it impossible to access knowledge. Accessibility is denied in banking services, web and mobile interfaces, etc. Material for the disabled therefore needs to be converted into accessible formats. The programme has resulted in outputs such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1497&qid=150688" target="_blank">Web Accessibility Policy Making</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1498&qid=150688" target="_blank">Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1499&qid=150688" target="_blank">Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1500&qid=150688" target="_blank">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1501&qid=150688" target="_blank">Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices</a>, etc.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1497&qid=150688" target="_blank">Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective</a>: G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society are pleased to announce the publication of a new, improved edition of the Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective. The report published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation provides an updated synopsis of the many policies that governments have implemented around the world to ensure that the Internet and websites are accessible to persons with disabilities.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1502&qid=150688" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre,New Delhi, March 14 to 15, 2012): At the invitation of the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, International Telecommunication Union is organizing a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility. The Tutorial will be preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility on March 13, 2012. The meeting will take place in the same venue and will be hosted by the Centre for Internet and Society in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Access to Knowledge</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With the emergence of digital technologies and the unprecedented growth of the Internet and other related technologies, intellectual property rights (IPRs) the questions of ownership and control of information have become crucial. The programme focuses on the inequitable distribution of IPR, royalty, outflows, and beneficiaries of intellectual property regimes, the lack of balance in current IPR regimes [local, national and international] between consumer rights and IPR-owners’/corporation’s rights. The programme has produced analyses such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1503&qid=150688" target="_blank">WIPO Treaty for the Print Disabled</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1504&qid=150688" target="_blank">WIPO Broadcast Treaty</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1505&qid=150688" target="_blank">Copyright Amendment Bill</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1506&qid=150688" target="_blank">Parallel Importation of Books</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1507&qid=150688" target="_blank">Analysis of Copyright Expansion in the India-EU FTA</a> (July 2010) by Snehashish Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Recently, the Centre for Internet and Society organised a public lecture in its office, the video is now online.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1508&qid=150688" target="_blank">Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright</a>: (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, January 30, 2012). Prof. Shyamkrishna Balganesh from the University of Pennsylvania gave a lecture on Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Openness</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The advent of the Internet has radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. Even the Internet is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. The broad rubric of the ‘Openness’ programme focuses to provide evidence based research that will help inform policy and practice of the local, national, regional, bilateral and international policies and practices around Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Video, Open Standards and Free/Libre/Open Source Software. The programme has resulted in reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1509&qid=150688" target="_blank">Open Government Data Study</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1510&qid=150688" target="_blank">Online Video Environment in India</a>, a reader on the Wikipedia titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1511&qid=150688" target="_blank">Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader</a> and a film titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1512&qid=150688" target="_blank">People are Knowledge – Experimenting with Oral Citations on Wikipedia</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Comments<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1513&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1513&qid=150688" target="_blank">Comments on Technical Standards for Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India</a> (Phase II), submitted to the e-Governance Standards Division.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Report<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1514&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1514&qid=150688" target="_blank">Francis Bags EPT Award for Open Access in Developing World</a>, (Sambasivan Auditorium, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, February 14, 2012). The award function was organized by the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development and the Centre for Internet and Society. Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam gave the welcome address. <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1515&qid=150688" target="_blank">View the video of the award function</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Interview<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1516&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1516&qid=150688" target="_blank">An Interview with Dr. Francis Jayakanth</a>: The Centre for Internet and Society conducted an email interview with Dr. Francis Jayakanth, recipient of the inaugural EPT Award for Open Access in Developing World.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1517&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1517&qid=150688" target="_blank">Free Arduino Workshop (For Beginners)</a>: (Centre for Internet and Society,Bangalore, March 3, 2012). The Centre for Internet and Society organised the Arduino workshop in Bangalore.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Governments and private corporations are engaging in human rights violations online. Many different rights are impacted by internet governance policy changes. The growing phenomenon of illegal electronic surveillance by state and non-state actors and censorship of speech online are some specific problems that the Internet Governance programme seeks to address by providing evidence based research that will help inform policy and practice of the local, national, regional, bilateral and international privacy regime in the interests of the public in sectors key to information societies with a particular focus on information technology, privacy and freedom of expression. The programme has resulted in outputs such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1518&qid=150688" target="_blank">Banking</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1519&qid=150688" target="_blank">Telecommunications</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1520&qid=150688" target="_blank">Consumer Protection</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1521&qid=150688" target="_blank">IT Act</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1522&qid=150688" target="_blank">Limitations</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1523&qid=150688" target="_blank">Copyright</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1524&qid=150688" target="_blank">Internet Protocol</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1525&qid=150688" target="_blank">Media</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1526&qid=150688" target="_blank">Sexual Minorities</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1527&qid=150688" target="_blank">UID</a> and policy submissions such as, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1528&qid=150688" target="_blank">NIA Bill</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1529&qid=150688" target="_blank">IT Act</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1530&qid=150688" target="_blank">National Policy on Electronics</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1531&qid=150688" target="_blank">Cyber Café Rules</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1532&qid=150688" target="_blank">Security Practices Rules</a>, and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1533&qid=150688" target="_blank">Intermediary Due Diligence Rules</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy India in partnership with Privacy International, UK, the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon is pleased to bring you the draft chapters of its book on Privacy in India. These include the Country Report, Telecommunication and Internet Privacy, E-Governance Identity and Privacy, Finance and Privacy, Health and Privacy, Transparency and Privacy. The chapters are an <b>early draft</b> which is in the process of being reviewed and updated. We greatly appreciate your comments and feedback:<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1534&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1534&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy in India — An Early Draft</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1535&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1535&qid=150688" target="_blank">Personal Data, Public Profile</a>: “Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is rapidly being Googlised”, writes Nishant Shah in the Financial Express, February 13, 2012.</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1536&qid=150688" target="_blank">Do we need the Aadhar scheme?</a>: “Decentralisation and privacy are preconditions for security. Digital signatures don’t require centralised storage and are much more resilient in terms of security”, writes Sunil Abraham in the Business Standard, February 1, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Reports</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1537&qid=150688" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a> (Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens, New Delhi, February 3, 2012): India is in dire need of privacy law; experts say government is ironically creating huge national security risks in attempts to prevent crime and terrorism. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1538&qid=150688" target="_blank">event was organized</a> by Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon. Sunil Abraham was a Conclave Advisor and the moderator for the session on Internet and Privacy, Malavika Jayaram moderated in the panel on National Security and Privacy, and Elonnai Hickok spoke in the session "The Way Forward".</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1539&qid=150688" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a>: (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012): Experts gathered in Delhi for a public symposium on privacy, transparency, e-governance and national security in India. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank">event was organized</a> by Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon. The <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1541&qid=150688" target="_blank">webcast</a> of the event is online. Sunil Abraham was a Symposium Advisor and moderated in the panel on Privacy and Transparency. Elonnai Hickok gave the welcome address and spoke in the session, “The Way Forward”. Prashant Iyengar was the moderator for the panel on Privacy and Banking. Malavika Jayaram spoke in this panel.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Event Hosted</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>GeekUp with Erica Hagen (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, March 1, 2012). HasGeek organized a GeekUp with Erica Hagen of the GroundTruth Initiative. Erica gave a lecture on the theme: "<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1542&qid=150688" target="_blank">From Information to Empowerment: Unpacking the Equation</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1543&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unique ID System: Pros and Cons</a>, by Natasha Vaz.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Other Events</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1544&qid=150688" target="_blank">Cartonama Workshop</a> (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, March 2 and 3, 2012). HasGeek organized a hands-on training for managing and building location based services. The Centre for Internet and Society was a partner for this event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1545&qid=150688" target="_blank">Climate Change and Controversy Mapping</a> (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, March 19 to 21, 2012). The workshop is being organised in collaboration with the Devechia Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Bruno Latour, Dean for Research at Sciences Po, Paris will speak in this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Videos</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">View the videos of some of the recent events organised by us:<a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1540&qid=150688" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a>, (India International Centre, New Delhi, February 4, 2012). Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon, organized the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1546&qid=150688" target="_blank">Whose Data is it Anyway?</a>, (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, January 24, 2012). Centre for Internet and Society and Tactical Tech co-organised the second round of discussions of the Exposing Data series. Siddharth Hande and Hapee de Groot spoke in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1547&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy Matters — Analyzing the "Right to Privacy Bill"</a>, (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay). Privacy India in partnership with International Development Research Centre, Canada, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the Godrej Culture Lab, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and the Centre for Internet and Society organised this event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1548&qid=150688" target="_blank">Free Speech Online in India under Attack?</a>, (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, December 22, 2011). The event was co-organised with the Internet Democracy Project. Achal Prabhala, Lawrence Liang and Anja Kovacs gave a lecture on freedom of expression online in India.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. The programme has resulted in reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1549&qid=150688" target="_blank">India's untapped potential: Are a billion people losing out because of spectrum?</a>, <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1550&qid=150688" target="_blank">India Study Tour - Report: The South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change</a> and the <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1551&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unlicensed Spectrum-Policy Brief for Government of India NTP '11</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Featured Research</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1551&qid=150688" target="_blank">Unlicensed Spectrum-Policy Brief for Government of India NTP '11</a> by Satyen Gupta, Sunil Abraham and Yelena Gyulkhandanyan: The research paper aims to recommend unlicensed spectrum policy to the Government of India based on recent developments in wireless technology, community needs and international best practices, and seeks to demonstrate the need for and importance of unlicensed spectrum as a medium for inexpensive connectivity in rural/remote areas, as well as catalyzing innovation by being a barrier-free and cost-effective platform for the testing and implementing of new technologies.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Interview</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1552&qid=150688" target="_blank">An Interview with Stephen Song</a>: Yelena Gyulkhandanyan interviewed Stephen Song, the founder of Village Telco, an initiative to bring practical and inexpensive communication network infrastructure to rural and remote areas. He spoke about factors that catalyzed the initiative, the benefits of the network, some challenges, and the Mesh Potato.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Job Announcement</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1553&qid=150688" target="_blank">Content Developers/Trainers</a>: The Centre for Internet and Society is looking for a content developer/trainer to work on an upcoming project Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policies in India. This is a full-time position. To apply, please email your curriculum vitae along with three writing samples to <a href="mailto:yelena@cis-india.org">yelena@cis-india.org</a>. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Digital Natives with a Cause?</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by the Centre for Internet and Society, India and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and internet technologies, in emerging information societies. The programme has resulted in a four-book collective titled <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1554&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?</a> and reports such as <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1555&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? A Report</a> and <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1556&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives with a Cause? Thinkathon: Position Papers</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1557&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digital Natives Video Contest</a>: Twenty-one candidates have been shortlisted, videos will be online soon. Voting begins from March 10, 2012. The Centre for Internet and Society is co-organising the video contest with Hivos, Netherlands.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1558&qid=150688" target="_blank">Essay Review: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause</a>: The monthly essay review for the four book collective of Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? was held from February 17 to February 26, 2012. The Centre for Internet and Society co-organized the “Essay Review” with Hivos, Netherlands.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Book Review</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1559&qid=150688" target="_blank">How to Put Up a Facebook Resistance</a>: “<i>The current discussion about Facebook's timeline is only the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a larger conflict that lurks behind it: how much direct marketing are Facebook users willing to take? How many drastic top-down changes of the user's Facebook experience are possible unless they understand that their presence on this site and what they do there is in tension with the company's goals that provides this digital environment?</i>”, Oliver Leistert reviews Marc Stumpel’s essay, "Mapping the Politics of Web 2.0: Facebook Resistance", in Digital Alternatives with a Cause Book 2: To Think, pp.24-31.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Newsletter</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1560&qid=150688" target="_blank">Privacy, Piracy and the Wiki Way of Web</a>: “<i>Privacy is about having more control over the personal information that we have disclosed. As we disclose more information online, we must ask who might access it and why.</i>” Nishant Shah in the Digital Natives Newsletter, volume 9, issue 2.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><b>News and Media Coverage</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1561&qid=150688" target="_blank">What is Stewardship in Cyberspace?</a>: The second annual Cyber Dialogue forum takes place March 18-19, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Sunil Abraham is a panelist in the session on Plenary Panel and Discussions.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1562&qid=150688" target="_blank">Secure IT 2012</a> — Securing Citizens through Technology: The event was co-organised by DST and NSDI, Govt. of India in partnership with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. on March 1, 2012 at Claridges in New Delhi. Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1563&qid=150688" target="_blank">Digitisation is making e-learning simple</a>: “<i>Learning should not be restricted to the Internet and interactive classroom sessions but should be made available on mobile phones through audio files as mobile penetration is much higher compared to Internet reach</i>”, Sunil Abraham in Deccan Herald, February 13, 2012. The article was written by Shayan Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1564&qid=150688" target="_blank">India debates limits to freedom of expression</a>: “<i>The government’s proposals on Web censorship would kill the vibrancy of the Internet in India</i>”, Sunil Abraham in the Washington Post, February 13, 2012. The article was written by Simon Denyer.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1565&qid=150688" target="_blank">Developing location-based services</a>, Hindu, February 26, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1566&qid=150688" target="_blank">Grooming the geek</a>: “<i>Children have to learn fine motor and social skills; tablets and other technology hinder the development of these skills</i>”, Sunil Abraham in LiveMint, February 24, 2012. The article was written by Gopal Sathe.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1567&qid=150688" target="_blank">FUEL Kannada - Workshop on Kannada Computing Terminology</a>: A two days workshop on the standardization of Kannada computing terminologies was organized on January 28 and 29, 2012 at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore under the FUEL project. The workshop was organised by Sanchaya and sponsored by Red Hat.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1568&qid=150688" target="_blank">Will open access replace costly commercial publishing models?</a>: “<i>Most scientists in India are forced to work in a situation of information poverty. Others are unable to access what Indian researchers are doing, leading to low visibility and low use of their work. Thus, Indian work is hardly cited. Both these handicaps can be overcome to a considerable extent if open access is adopted widely, both within and outside the country</i>”, Subbiah Arunachalam in the Hindu, February 19, 2012. The article was written by Vasudha Venugopal.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1569&qid=150688" target="_blank">Research papers will be available in public domain</a>: “<i>A research produced by the Tuberculosis Research Centre in Chennai which would be of great relevance to researchers, say in a university in Maharashtra, may not be even noticed by the scientists there. Both groups receive funds from the same source - Government of India - and yet what one does is not easily accessible to the other. Open Access would bridge that gap and make information available to everyone</i>”, Subbiah Arunachalam in the Hindu, February 15, 2012. The article was written by Vasudha Venugopal.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1570&qid=150688" target="_blank">OurSay: how India’s technology is cutting into corruption</a>: “<i>Print and cinema reflected the views of citizens and informed them of the visions and changes that the country was going through</i>”, Nishant Shah in Crikey, February 17, 2012. The blog post was written by Gautam Raju, co-founder and creative director, OurSayAustralia.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1571&qid=150688" target="_blank">India won't censor social media: Telecom Minister</a>: “<i>Glad that Sibal does not believe in censorship and that companies operating in India should follow local laws.” “But on the other hand he has asked them to evolve new guidelines and actively monitor user content which is not legally sanctioned. This makes him look two-faced</i>”, Pranesh Prakash in the Tribune. The article written by Salil Panchal was originally published by <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1572&qid=150688" target="_blank">AFP</a> and reproduced in the Tribune on February 14, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1573&qid=150688" target="_blank">Govt set to gain ‘back-door’ access to corporate email</a>: “<i>There are no allegations of terrorists using BES or any indication that any of the 5,000 enterprises have any links to terrorists or other banned outfits in India</i>”, Pranesh Prakash in LiveMint, February 14, 2012. The article was written by Shauvik Ghosh.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1574&qid=150688" target="_blank">Indian law caught in web</a>: “<i>The Internet needs regulation but it cannot be treated as a gigantic newspaper or media channel”</i>, Pranesh Prakash; <i>“In liberal democracies like India and the US, information was taken for granted and not perceived as central to the understanding of society</i>”, Nishant Shah. Nishant and Pranesh are quoted in an article by Moyna published by Down to Earth magazine.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1575&qid=150688" target="_blank">Prometheus bound and gagged</a>: The article by Adarsh Matham was published in the New Indian Express on 20 January 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this article.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1576&qid=150688" target="_blank">Internet Curbs</a>: Sunil Abraham’s article “The Quixotic Fight to Clean Up the Web” which was published in Tehelka is referred to by Rishi Majumder in this article also published in Tehelka, Vol. 9, Issue 07, February 18, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1577&qid=150688" target="_blank">Tweeple say it pithily with hash tags</a>: “<i>Our social networking sites and writing platforms are performances of a certain kind... they allow us to convert our everyday lives into games — with rewards, actions, punishments or rules</i>”, Nishant Shah in the Hindu, February 11, 2012. The article was written by Deepa Kurup.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1578&qid=150688" target="_blank">New Bill to decide on individual’s right to privacy</a>: “<i>Tesco, a major retail chain in England, is now into E-banking… There are numerous examples of such private banking entities sharing customer information with insurance policy firms. These details are often used as markers for the kind of premium that will be set for a person</i>”, Malavika Jayaram in Tehelka, February 6, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1579&qid=150688" target="_blank">A new domain name, but concerns remain the same</a>: “<i>The rhetoric is that the Internet is global, but we've been seeing [governments say] how this information has to be regulated</i>”, Nishant Shah in the Hindu, February 5, 2012. The article was written by Karunya Keshav.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1580&qid=150688" target="_blank">Common man as crusader</a>: “<i>The movement targeted at the middle-class for whom corruption is a big issue was also the first middle-class movement in a long time.</i>” Nishant Shah in the Hindustan Times, February 4, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1581&qid=150688" target="_blank">5 things you need to know about online privacy policies</a>: “<i>India needs to have a broad and horizontal law that establishes online privacy as a right. Unlike in European countries, India doesn't have a privacy commissioner who can state the principles, interpret the data and question the online providers</i>”, Sunil Abraham in the Economic Times on February 6, 2012. The article was written by Indu Nandakumar.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1582&qid=150688" target="_blank">India needs an independent privacy law, says NGO Privacy India</a>: “<i>India doesn't have a privacy law, but there are provisions for it in different laws. During the course of the research, we found that the Indian judiciary has not been very strict in overseeing the implementation of the privacy clauses in various laws,</i>”,<i> </i>Prashant Iyengar in the Economic Times, February 2, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/privacy-speech-at-stake-in-cyberspace-1" class="external-link">Privacy, speech at stake in cyberspace</a>: “<i>The clampdown on online free speech and the roll-out of a multi-tiered blanket surveillance regime via the draconian IT Act and its associated rules in India is part of a global trend</i>”, Sunil Abraham in LiveMint, February 3, 2012. The article was written by Leslie D’Monte.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1584&qid=150688" target="_blank">Freedom of Expression in Community Media and on the Internet Understanding Connections, Finding Common Ground</a>: A meeting co-organised by the Internet Democracy Project (Delhi) and Maraa (Bangalore) with the support of the Community Radio Forum in New Delhi on 3 February 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated in this event. Anja Kovacs gave the welcome address and spoke in the session on “The Internet and Freedom of Expression.”</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1585&qid=150688" target="_blank">Google move is not good for netizens, say experts</a>: “<i>Google is doing what is good for shareholders. This is not positive for netizens</i>,” Sunil Abraham in the Hindu Business Line, January 31, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1586&qid=150688" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" target="_blank">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/feb-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/feb-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T07:48:11ZPageJanuary 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the Centre for Internet and Society newsletter! In this issue we bring you the updates of our research, events, media coverage and videos of events organized by us during the month of January 2012!</b>
<h2>Digital Natives with a Cause?</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS, India and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and internet technologies, in emerging information societies. The major outputs have been a four book collective asking questions about theory and practice around 'digital revolutions' in a post MENA (Middle East - North Africa) world, a position paper, a scouting study and three international workshops.</p>
<h3>Events Organised<b> </b> <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1038&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1038&qid=140996" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives Video Contest: The Everyday Digital Native — To Be, To Think, To Act, To Connect</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1039&qid=140996" target="_blank">Digital AlterNatives Tweet-a-Review</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">'Digital Natives with a Cause?' project invites readers to review essays from the 'Digital AlterNatives with a Cause', a four-book collective published by Centre for Internet & Society and Hivos.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Digital AlterNatives: Book Reviews <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1040&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1040&qid=140996" target="_blank">Alternative Approaches to Social Change</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“<i>Observations about intangible aspects of a movement will keep a research from clinging to activism with a capital A, and start seeing a gradation in the social movement practices. It is constructive and opens the door to analyses of multi-dimensional movements such as the Blank Noise initiative (India). Drawing on methods of identifying new developments to the field of social movement, Maesy examines some aspects of it: the issue, strategy, site of action, and internal mode of organization</i>.”<br /><b>Nuraini Juliastuti</b>, Co-founder, KUNCI Cultural Studies Center</p>
<hr />
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. This includes persons with blindness, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, cerebral palsy and persons who do not have full control over their limbs. For these people, the material needs to be converted into alternate formats such as Braille, audio or video or electronic formats (text document, word document or PDF) which they can access using assistive technologies. Our key research has focused on a submission to amend the Indian Copyright to the HRD Ministry, publishing a policy handbook on e-accessibility, research on accessible mobile handsets in India and an analysis of the Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2010.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Journal Article</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1041&qid=140996" target="_blank">Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education</a>, published in the Journal: Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace. Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1042&qid=140996" target="_blank">Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible</a>. CIS researched, edited and published this report in partnership with G3ict and ITU. The report contains a foreword, eleven chapters, a bibliography and glossary with contributions from Deepti Bharthur, Nirmita Narasimhan and Axel Leblois.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event</h3>
<ul>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1043&qid=140996" target="_blank">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a>, organized by the International Telecommunication Union, India International Centre, 14-15 March 2012. CIS is hosting the meeting. The Tutorial will be preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility (FG AVA) on 13 March 2012. This meeting will take place at the same venue and will also be hosted by CIS, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Access to Knowledge is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape. We prepared the India report for the Consumers International IP Watchlist, made submission to the HRD Ministry on WIPO Broadcast Treaty, questioned the demonization of pirates, and advocated against laws (such as PUPFIP Bill) that privatize public funded knowledge.</p>
<h3>Event Organised <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1044&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1044&qid=140996" target="_blank">Gandhi, Freedom, and the Dilemmas of Copyright</a>: To commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary, CIS organised a public lecture. Prof. Shyamkrishna Balganesh of the University of Pennsylvania gave a lecture.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The advent of the Internet has radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. Even the Internet is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. CIS has been committed and actively campaigned for promotion of open standards, open access and free/libre/open source software.<b> </b></p>
<h3>Workshop Reports <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1045&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1045&qid=140996" target="_blank">Summary of the Minutes of the Workshop on Biodiversity Informatics</a>, organized by the Western Ghats Portal team to explore the contemporary state of biodiversity informatics at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore on 25 November 2011.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1046&qid=140996" target="_blank">Design!PubliC — Innovation and the Public Interest</a>: On the 14th of October, 2011, the Center for Knowledge Societies organized the second edition of the Design Public Conclave, a conversation on how innovation can serve the Public Interest. The conclave was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1047&qid=140996" target="_blank">Report on the 'Open Access to Academic Knowledge' workshop</a>: On Wednesday the 2nd of November, during Open Access Week, the Indian Institute of Science in conjunction with the Centre for Internet and Society held a workshop on Open Access at the National Centre for Science Information, in Bangalore. We recorded the meeting and published it online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Organised <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1048&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1048&qid=140996" target="_blank">Geekup on Open Data in Bangalore</a>: Hapee de Groot, Hivos, Netherlands gave a talk on Open Data and its use for citizen engagement.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1049&qid=140996" target="_blank">Wikipedia turns 11 today</a>: The Bangalore event, open to all Wikipedia users, contributors and enthusiasts, is being held at the Centre for Internet and Society at Domlur.<br />The Hindu, 15 January 2012</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society has defined internet governance as the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the internet. CIS partnered with Privacy International and Society in Action Group which has produced outputs in banking, telecommunications, consumer rights, etc., submitted open letters to Parliamentary Committee on UID, feedbacks on NIA Bill, and IT Rules.</p>
<h3>Newspaper / Magazine Articles <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1050&qid=140996" target="_blank"></a></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1050&qid=140996" target="_blank">Keeping it Private</a><br />As we disclose more information online, we must ask who might access it and why, writes Nishant Shah in the Indian Express, 15 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1051&qid=140996" target="_blank">Click to Change</a><br />From organising political protests and flash mobs to uploading their versions of Kolaveri Di, people brought about change with the help of the internet, Nishant Shah, Indian Express, 1 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1052&qid=140996" target="_blank">The Quixotic Fight to Clean up the Web</a><br />The ongoing attempt to pre-screen online content won’t change anything. It will only drive netizens into the arms of criminals, writes Sunil Abraham, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 04, 28 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1053&qid=140996" target="_blank">Sense and Censorship</a><br />The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills, at the US House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, appear to enforce property rights, but are, in fact, trade bills, Sunil Abraham in the Indian Express, 20 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Interview</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1054&qid=140996" target="_blank">Our Internet and the Law</a><br />Nishant Shah was interviewed by the BBC Channel 5 (Radio) for its Outriders section. Jamillah Knowles reports this. Listen to the podcast online, BBC Radio, 24 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Event Reports</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1055&qid=140996" target="_blank">Privacy Matters — Analyzing the Right to "Privacy Bill"</a><br />On January 21, 2012 a public conference “Privacy Matters” was held at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. It was the sixth conference organised in the series of regional consultations held as “Privacy Matters”. The present conference analyzed the Draft Privacy Bill and the participants discussed the challenges and concerns of privacy in India.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1056&qid=140996" target="_blank">Future of Integrated Science Education in Higher Education in India</a><br />The Higher Education Innovation and Research Application (HEIRA) at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Centre for Contemporary Studies (CCS) at the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) hosted a two day workshop on 2 and 3 January 2012 on the Future of Integrated Science Education in Higher Education in India at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc. Nishant Shah participated in the workshop.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Media Coverage</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1057&qid=140996" target="_blank">Twitter’s Censorship Move Aimed at Regaining China?</a><br />"<i>The region-specific blocking was already being used on video hosting websites like YouTube and Hulu, where due to the wishes of copyright owners many videos are not available in India. Twitter is extending this technology to its tweets</i>.”<br />Pranesh Prakash in International Business Times, 28 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/google2019s-privacy-policy-raises-hackles" class="external-link">Google's privacy policy raises hackles</a> (Times of India, January 26, 2012)<br />“<i>Storing data makes it prone to misuse by authorities as well as corporations... I don't want my bakery shop owner to know what kind of medicines I buy from the nearby medical store</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Times of India, 26 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1059&qid=140996" target="_blank">Google to change privacy policy to use personal info of users</a><br />“<i>New changes are not good for a consumer's privacy</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in Punjab Newsline, 27 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/tangled-web" class="external-link">Tangled Web</a><br />“<i>We did a policy sting operation wherein we sent fraudulent notices to big web sites...in one case where we asked for the removal of three comments, they removed all 13. So there is already a private censorship underway.</i>”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Week, 21 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1061&qid=140996" target="_blank">POV: Should user-generated content be monitored?</a><br />“<i>We should not fool ourselves into thinking that private sector companies like Google will defend our fundamental rights. The next Parliament session is the last opportunity for parliamentarians to ask for the revocation of the rules for intermediaries, cyber-cafes and reasonable security practices</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in afaqs, 19 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1062&qid=140996" target="_blank">Indian Internet Lawsuit Puts Spotlight on Freedom of Expression</a><br />“<i>These rules have the potential to curtail debate and discussion on the net... They allow for all sorts of subjective tests by private parties and we predicted they would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression online</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Voice of America, 19 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1063&qid=140996" target="_blank">India: obscene pics of gods require massive human censorship of Google, Facebook</a><br /> “<i>It’s difficult to establish exactly what is anti-religious: for example, the Hindu profession of belief in multiple gods is blasphemous to Muslims, Christians and Jews</i>.”<br /> Sunil Abraham in ars technica, 14 January 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/is-india-ignoring-its-own-internet-protections" class="external-link">Is India Ignoring its own Internet Protections? </a><br />“<i>The I.T. Act provides immunity to (Internet companies) and that should be the default starting position</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Wall Street, 16 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1065&qid=140996" target="_blank">India internet: clean-up or censorship?</a><br />Sunil Abraham was quoted in Financial Time’s beyondbrics, 13 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1066&qid=140996" target="_blank">Twists and turns of the SOPA opera</a><br />“<i>In terms of infrastructure, the U.S. controls critical web resources. Contrasting this to the Chinese firewall that blocks content for users within its jurisdiction, the U.S. decision to redirect a link can act as a ‘global block’</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Hindu, 15 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1067&qid=140996" target="_blank">Activists cry foul against Aadhaar</a><br />Sunil Abraham participated in the meet on Aadhaar convened by the Indian Social Action Forum.<br />The Telegraph, 12 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1068&qid=140996" target="_blank">NGO questions people's privacy in UID scheme</a><br />“<i>The UID project was allowed to march on without any protection being put in place</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Times of India, 11 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1069&qid=140996" target="_blank">Revealed: Bangalore’s Basic Instincts</a><br />“<i>If you look at the Google trend or any other website, Bangalore does not figure among the top 10 cities that surfs for porn. But that does not mean that Bangalore does not surf porn. It only means that we have a very sophisticated surfer with a very specific type. They don’t go through Google or other websites. They know how to go about it. But whether it affects their personal lives is lot more complicated</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in the Bangalore Mirror, 8 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/facebook-google-face-censorship-in-india" class="external-link">Facebook, Google face censorship in India</a><br />“<i>Traditional intellectual property rights holders like movie studios, music companies and software vendors are trying to protect their obsolete business models by pushing for the adoption of blanket surveillance and filtering technologies</i>.”<br />Sunil Abraham in SmartPlanet, 5 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1070&qid=140996" target="_blank">Trail of the Trolls</a><br />“<i>Trolling provokes a non-productive argument and as of now it is not considered a criminal offence anywhere in the world</i>.”<br />The Telegraph, 4 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1071&qid=140996" target="_blank">Constitution of Group of Experts to Deliberate on Privacy Issues</a><br />It has been decided to constitute a Small Group of Experts under the Chairmanship of Justice A.P. Shah, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, to identify the privacy issues and prepare a paper to facilitate authoring the Privacy Bill. Pranesh Prakash is one of the members.<br />Published by the Planning Commission, New Delhi.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1072&qid=140996" target="_blank">2011: The year India began to harness social media</a><br />“<i>We saw an increased sharing of digital content whether photos, videos, songs, news or blogs pointing to the Why This Kolaveri Di video, which went viral on YouTube with over 1.3 million views within a week of its release</i>.”<br />Nishant Shah in the Sunday Guardian, 1 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h3><b>Blog Posts</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1073&qid=140996" target="_blank">Section 79 of the Information Technology Act</a> by Pranesh Prakash</li>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1074&qid=140996" target="_blank">How India Makes E-books Easier to Ban than Books</a> (And How We Can Change That) by Pranesh Prakash. This was reproduced in <a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1075&qid=140996" target="_blank">Medianama</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Upcoming Events</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1076&qid=140996" target="_blank">The High Level Privacy Conclave</a><br />Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, Society in Action Group, Gurgaon and Privacy International, UK is organizing the High Level Privacy Conclave at the Paharpur Business Centre, Nehru Place Greens in New Delhi on Friday, 3 February 2012.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1077&qid=140996" target="_blank">All India Privacy Symposium</a><br />Privacy India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, and Society in Action Group, Gurgaon, Privacy International, UK and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is organizing the All India Privacy Symposium at the India International Centre, New Delhi on Saturday, 4 February 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Events Organised</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1078&qid=140996" target="_blank">Workshop on the Standardization of Kannada Computing Terminology</a>, 28-29 January 2012, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1079&qid=140996" target="_blank">The Curious Case of Whose Data is it Anyway?</a> The second round of discussions of the Exposing Data Series was co-organized by Tactical Tech and CIS. Siddharth Hande and Hapee de Groot gave lectures.</li>
<li>"ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಜೊತೆ ಜೊತೆಗೆ..." organised in TERI, Bangalore, 22 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Telecom</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. In this connection, Shyam Ponappa continues to write his monthly column for the Business Standard.</p>
<h3><b> Article by Shyam Ponappa</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1081&qid=140996" target="_blank">Reversing India's Downward Trajectory</a><br />The country can regain growth momentum with rate cuts and telecom reforms, writes Shyam Ponappa in this column published in the Business Standard on 5 January 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=456&qid=46981" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li>
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<li>Visit us at <a href="http://components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=459&qid=46981" target="_blank">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-09T09:36:46ZPageConcerns raised ahead of proposed India-US trade treaty
https://cis-india.org/news/concerns-raised-ahead-of-proposed-india-us-trade-treaty
<b>As efforts are on to step-up discussions on the proposed Bi-lateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and the US , concerns are being raised on the dispute settlement mechanism between an investor and the State. </b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article3524442.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home">Article was published in the Business Line on June 13, 2012</a></p>
<p>The already existing bi-lateral treaties and their enforcement through investor-State-dispute mechanisms already undermine the domestic policy space and the justice system in our country, said 15 public interest organisations in a joint-letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.<br /><br />“The investor-State dispute clause in such agreements clearly grants foreign companies the right to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against the Government in secret arbitration forums outside the Indian judicial system,” the letter said.<br /><br />Illustrating this, the letter cited recent disputes threatened by foreign investors, including: the tax-related challenge of British telecom company Vodafone; UK hedge fund; the Children's Investment Fund's threat to sue India over its policy to regulate the price of coal in India; and Russian telecom company Sistem and Norwegian telecom company Telenor's threat to sue over the cancellation of 2G licenses of their joint ventures.<br /><br />India's first recorded investor-State dispute — Enron vs the Maharashtra Government — was initiated by a consortium of US companies including Enron, under the India-Mauritius BIT, which has already resulted in a billion dollar arbitration award against India, the letter said.<br /><br />The Government needs to be consistent with its approach of excluding investor-to-State dispute clauses from investment agreements, reportedly under negotiation with the EU and other countries, said the letter signed by organisations across the board — the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Centre for Internet and Society and Centre for Trade and Development.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/concerns-raised-ahead-of-proposed-india-us-trade-treaty'>https://cis-india.org/news/concerns-raised-ahead-of-proposed-india-us-trade-treaty</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to Knowledge2012-06-17T07:45:37ZNews ItemThe Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Injunctions
https://cis-india.org/a2k/work-of-art-in-age-of-mechanical-injunctions
<b>The same ‘Ashok Kumar,' now restrained from infringing the copyright of the film, ‘3,' helped its signature song, ‘ Kolaveri,' go viral by downloading and copying it without any restraints, writes Lawrence Liang in this Op-ed published in the Hindu on May 23, 2012.</b>
<p>The internet has been abuzz with news of all major Internet Service Providers (ISP) in India blocking popular websites like Piratebay, Vimeo, Dailymotion and Pastebin pursuant to a Madras High Court order issued in response to a petition by the makers of the Tamil movie, 3. For those who don't know, this is the film which features the song, “Kolaveri,” whose viral journey around the world was celebrated by virtually everyone, including the film-makers.</p>
<p>There are a number of unanswered questions about the validity of this, including whether the Department of Telecom was entitled to ask for sites to be blocked on the basis of the order and how the ISPs chose these particular websites since the order itself does not mention any particular website. This is not to mention the larger question of how the last 10 years have seen the dubious rise of John Doe orders as a pre-emptive measure against copyright infringement.</p>
<p>For those unfamiliar with John Doe orders, they are ex parte injunctions ordered against unknown persons.</p>
<p>Just to put this in context, ex parte injunctions are not the easiest things to obtain since they are based on the denial of another person's right to be heard. So even for cases of violence against women, getting an ex parte restraining order is not easy. In contrast, in the last decade we have seen the ease with which one can obtain these orders for copyright infringement cases.</p>
<h3>High Court order</h3>
<p>A number of legal innovations in the realm of injunctions have been developed to tackle the problem of anonymity in this domain. The three specific tools that have been used include</p>
<p>Ex parte injunctions (injunctions that are granted even without hearing the other party).</p>
<p>John Doe Orders (issued against anonymous offenders; e.g. Mirabhai Films got a John Doe Order against all cable operators before the release of “Monsoon Wedding”).</p>
<p>Anton Piller Orders (Search and seizure orders) including breaking down doors of shops which are closed.</p>
<p>But for the moment I want to focus on the fascinating High Court order itself and its incarnation of an unknown Indian person, Ashok Kumar, as well as the spectral fear of the copy.</p>
<p>The order names 20 respondents. Of these, the first 15 include all the major ISPs (BSNL, MTNL, Airtel, Tata, Reliance, etc) and respondents Nos.16 to 20 are Ashok Kumar, unknown person.</p>
<p>I am not sure why there are four Ashok Kumars when one would have done the trick. Is it a bug in the matrix? Are Nos.17 to 20 merely the pirated versions of respondent no.16? Could it be a viral infection from within the film and its well known song, which also has a habit of repeating itself (“Why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di?”).</p>
<p>The order basically says that M/s Fifteen Majors ISPs and Mr. Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Ashok Kumar should not infringe the copyright of the film “3.”</p>
<p>It is ordered that</p>
<p><em>the respondents/defendants herein, and other unknown persons by themselves, their partners/proprietor, heirs, representatives, successors in business, assigns, distributors, agents or anyone claiming through them be and are hereby restrained by order of interim injunction until further orders of this court from, in any manner infringing the applicants copyright in the cinematographic films/motion picture “3” by copying, recording, reproducing or allowing camcording or communication or allowing others to communicate to making available or distributing or duplicating or releasing or showing or uploading or downloading or exhibiting or playing in or in any manner communication in any manner without a proper license form the applicant or in any manner that would violate/infringe the applicants copyright in the said cinematograph film “3” through different mediums including CD, DVD, Blu-Ray disc, VCD, Cable TV, Direct to home services, internet services, multimedia messaging services, pen drives, hard drives, tapes, conditional access systems or in any other like manner whatsoever</em></p>
<p>So in addition to the unknown Ashok Kumar, we have the addition of other unknown persons (Kishore, Rajesh, Anup evam Indrajit?), their heirs, agents, representatives, etc of these unknown persons. This is followed by a list of prohibited acts (copying, uploading, downloading) through a set of prohibited objects (hard drives, pen drives, DVDs, etc).</p>
<p>This straightforward assault on the everyday passion that people invest in cinema and music is intriguing if not all that surprising in the history of copyright infringement.</p>
<h3>Microsoft case</h3>
<p>Companies have regularly benefited from the passionate investment of viewers, spectators and users in their goods before taking out their copyright sledge hammer to control the indisciplined passions of the same users and viewers. Consider for instance the fact that Microsoft did not enforce their copyright over illegal copies of their Operating System or products such as Microsoft Office for years (despite being one of the “best” software companies in the world). They only started enforcing their copyright when there was enough of a mass market that had been created and a lock-in secured for their goods. Learning a software includes a huge investment of time and effort on the part of users and, unlike toothpaste, cannot be changed overnight.<br /><br />In the same way “kolaveri” became what it is because of M/s Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Ashok Kumar copying, communicating, uploading, downloading, modifying and distributing over the internet, through CDs, hard drives and pen drives, the song and all its hundred variations. This wasn't just a catchy song going viral but an attitude going global. Fan clubs in South India have been marked by the excess investment that they make in stars and in films, an excess that moves between the monetary economy of box office hits and profits on the one hand and the libidinal economy of love, passion and enthusiasm on the other.</p>
<p>For owners of copyright, an ideal world would be one where you could control one through the control of the other. So one benefits from all the passion of fans and enthusiasts even as one hopes that this will convert into mass hysteria at the box office. But there is that little thing about having one's cake and eating it too.</p>
<p>The copy which promised abundance but then threatens to eat into the film-makers profits seems to parallel the larger movement of the word copy, whose etymological roots in copia (“plenty”) moves in English from an original sense of “abundance” to the more recent sense of derivativeness. It passes, thereby, from a sense of plenty to a sense of scarcity.</p>
<p>Apart from the questionable logic of the film-makers turning fans and enthusiasts against their own film, what we probably need to do for the future is to think of how the investment of “excessive energy” allows us to make claims of ownership and limit the hackneyed argument of a film being the private property of the film-maker. This is a domain which necessarily takes us away from the usual focus either on the language of rights or even the language of openness and what we need is a Political language of Passion and Enthusiasm which can supplement the existing languages of denial and access. The excessive response of the film-makers in securing this order and in the blocking of the websites is plainly disrespectful of the excess that they thrived on just a few months ago.</p>
<p>The absolute ignorance and arrogance of the film-makers in trying to secure a ban on these websites shows their blindness to the way that the internet works. Imagine a Facebook without faces, a YouTube without uploaders, and Twitter without tweeters. It is said that Kafka came across a reference to a cinema for the blind in Prague, and he was intrigued by it and came to believe that all cinemas should be called The Cinema of the Blind, because their flickering images blind people to reality. What we have with the Ashok Kumar order is perhaps the inauguration of the cinema of visionless film-makers because their flickering profits blind them to reality.</p>
<p>(Lawrence Liang is a lawyer and researcher based at Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore. He can be contacted at lawrence@altlawforum.org)</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3446658.ece?css=print">Click</a> to read the original in the Hindu.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/work-of-art-in-age-of-mechanical-injunctions'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/work-of-art-in-age-of-mechanical-injunctions</a>
</p>
No publisherLawrence LiangCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-15T13:56:16ZBlog Entryಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ನಿರ್ಬಂಧಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ
https://cis-india.org/a2k/digital-restrictions-management
<b>ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠಾನದ ಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ರಿಚರ್ಡ್ ಸ್ಟಾಲ್ಮನ್ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ (ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ರೈಟ್ಸ್ ಮ್ಯಾನೇಜ್ಮೆಂಟ್) ಎಂಬ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನು `ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ರೆಸ್ಟ್ರಿಕ್ಷನ್ ಮ್ಯಾನೇಜ್ಮೆಂಟ್` ಎಂದು ಬಿಡಿಸಿಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇದು ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆಯಲ್ಲ. ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ನಿರ್ಬಂಧಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ. ಈ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ತಂತ್ರ ಬಳಕೆದಾರನ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನು ನಿಯಂತ್ರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. </b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://prajavani.net/include/story.php?news=562&section=51&menuid=15">The article was published in Prajavani on June 9, 2012</a></p>
<p>ಕಾಪಿ ರೈಟ್ ಹೊಂದಿರುವವನಿಗೆ ಬಳಕೆದಾರನ ಹಾರ್ಡ್ವೇರ್, ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ ಮತ್ತು ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡುವ, ಆಲಿಸುವ ಮತ್ತು ಓದುವ ವಸ್ತು-ವಿಷಯದ ಮೇಲೆಯೂ ನಿಯಂತ್ರಣ ಹೇರುವ ಅನೈತಿಕ ಅಧಿಕಾರವನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಬಿಡುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಸ್ಟಾಲ್ಮನ್ ಅವರ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ.</p>
<p>ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ನ ಮಾಲೀಕರು ಈ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ತಂತ್ರ ತಮ್ಮ ಹಕ್ಕಿನ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯನ್ನು ತಡೆಯುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರಾದರೂ ಇದು ಜಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಅನೇಕ ದೇಶಗಳ ಉದಾಹರಣೆಯನ್ನು ಮುಂದಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಬಳಕೆದಾರನ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಜ್ಞಾನದ ಬಾಗಿಲುಗಳನ್ನು ಮುಚ್ಚುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬುದೇ ನಿಜ.</p>
<p>ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯನ್ವಯ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವದಲ್ಲೇ ಇರದ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನು ಈ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ನ ಮಾಲೀಕರಿಗೆ ನೀಡಿಬಿಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಅಂಗವಿಕಲರು ತಮಗೆ ಓದಲು ಅನುಕೂಲವಾಗುವ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಕ್ಕೆ ಒಂದು ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು, ಸಂಶೋಧಕರು ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಅಥವಾ ಈ ಬಗೆಯ ಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಒಂದರಲ್ಲಿರುವ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಗೆ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು, ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಸಿನಿಮಾ, ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಗಳನ್ನು ವೈಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಬಳಕೆಗಾಗಿ ಉಳಿಸಿ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಲು (ಬ್ಯಾಕ್ಅಪ್) ಬೇಕಾದಂತೆ ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು, ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ನಂಥ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನ ಗಳನ್ನು ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಉದ್ದೇಶಿತ ಉಪಯೋಗ ಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಭಿನ್ನ ಬಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸುವುದು, ಉದ್ದೇಶಿತ ವೇದಿಕೆಗಳಿಗಿಂತ ಭಿನ್ನವಾದ ವೇದಿಕೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ಗಳಂಥ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗಳನ್ನು ರಿವರ್ಸ್ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡುವಂಥ ಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಅನುವು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುತ್ತದೆ.</p>
<p>ಆದರೆ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಕಾನೂನುಬದ್ಧವಾಗಿಯೇ ಇರುವ ಈ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಿಗೂ ತಡೆಯೊಡುತ್ತದೆ.2011ರ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಹೊಸ ರೂಪ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವ 1957ರ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮೂಲಕ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯನ್ನು ತಡೆಯುವ ವಿಧಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾನೂನಿನ ಮಾನ್ಯತೆಯನ್ನು ನೀಡಿದೆ.</p>
<p>ತನ್ನ ಹಕ್ಕಿನ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯನ್ನು ತಡೆಯುವು ದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಮಾಲೀಕ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿರುವ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಹ್ಯಾಕ್ ಮಾಡುವಂಥ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದವರಿಗೆ ಎರಡು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಕಾರಾಗೃಹ ವಾಸದಂಥ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆಯೂ ಹೊಸ ಕಾನೂನಿನಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಹಾಗೆಂದು ಈ ಕಾನೂನು ಬಹಳ ಋಣಾತ್ಮಕವಷ್ಟೇ ಆಗಿದೆ ಎನ್ನಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.</p>
<p>ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂರು ಅತಿ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಧನಾತ್ಮಕ ಅಂಶಗಳಿವೆ. ಮೊದಲನೆಯದ್ದು ಸಾರ್ವತ್ರಿಕ ಲಭ್ಯತೆಯ ವಸ್ತು-ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ಈ ಬಗೆಯ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿ ಬಳಕೆದಾರರನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಬಂಧಿಸಲು ಅವಕಾಶವಿಲ್ಲ. ಎರಡನೆಯದ್ದು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಪರೀಕ್ಷಿಸುವ ಉದ್ದೇಶದಿಂದ ನಡೆಸಲಾಗುವ ಹ್ಯಾಕಿಂಗ್ ಅಪರಾಧವಲ್ಲ. ಮೂರನೆಯದ್ದು ಹೀಗೆ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ವಿಧಾನವನ್ನು ಆವಿಷ್ಕರಿಸುವುದನ್ನು ಕಾನೂನು ತಡೆಯುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ.</p>
<p>ಒಂದು ವಿಡಿಯೋ/ಆಡಿಯೋ ಕಂಪೆನಿ ಒಂದು ಡಿವಿಡಿಯನ್ನು ಕೇವಲ ಮೈಕ್ರೋಸಾಫ್ಟ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ಪ್ಲೇಯರ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ವೀಕ್ಷಿಸಲು ಅಥವಾ ಆಲಿಸಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿರುವಂತೆ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದರೆ ಲೀನಕ್ಸ್ ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಬಳಕೆದಾರರು ಅದನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿರುವಂತೆ ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಿ ಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ಅಪರಾಧವಲ್ಲ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.</p>
<p>ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಆಡಿಯೋ ಪುಸ್ತಕವೊಂದನ್ನು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಿರುವ ಕಂಪೆನಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಅಂಧರು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗದಂತೆ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಬಳಸಿದ್ದರೆ ಅಂಧರಿಗೆ ಅದನ್ನು ತಮಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದ ಸ್ವರೂಪಕ್ಕೆ ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಳಸುವ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯವನ್ನು ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಗೆಳೆಯನೊಬ್ಬನಿಂದ ಪಡೆದ ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಇರುವ ಡಿವಿಡಿಯಿಂದ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರೊಬ್ಬರು ತಮ್ಮ ತರಗತಿ ಅನುಕೂಲಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಪ್ರತಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ವಿಡಿಯೋ ಕ್ಲಿಪ್ಗಳನ್ನು ರೂಪಿಸಿದರೂ ಅದು ಅಪರಾಧವಾಗು ವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞನೊಬ್ಬ ಅಂತರ ಜಾಲಸಂಪರ್ಕವನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ಆಡಬಲ್ಲ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ಗೇಮ್ ಒಂದರಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಪೈವೇರ್ ಇದೆ ಅನುಮಾನಿಸಿ ಅದರ ಆಕರ ಸಂಕೇತಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸಿದರೆ ಅದು ತಪ್ಪಲ್ಲ.</p>
<p>ಈ ಸವಲತ್ತನ್ನು ಭದ್ರತಾ ಏಜನ್ಸಿಗಳೂ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿದೆ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಪ್ರಖ್ಯಾತವಾಗಿರುವ ಒಂದು ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರನ್ನು ಹೋಲುವಂಥದ್ದೇ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನವನ್ನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಉತ್ಸಾಹಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ರೂಪಿಸಿ ಜಾಗತಿಕವಾಗಿ ಮಾರಾಟ ಮಾಡಲು ಹೊರಟರೂ ಅದನ್ನು ನಿಯಮ ತಪ್ಪು ಎನ್ನುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಆತ ಅನುಕರಿ ಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನ ಬಳಸಿರುವ ಆಕರ ಸಂಕೇತಗಳು ಇರಬಾರದಷ್ಟೇ.</p>
<p>ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಮಸಿ ನುಂಗಿತು ಎಂಬಂತೆ ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಎರಡು ಋಣಾತ್ಮಕ ಅಂಶಗಳು ಅದರ ಧನಾತ್ಮಕತೆಗೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಮಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಹೇರಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿವೆ. ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನವನ್ನು ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಲು ಬೇಕಿರುವ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಒದಗಿಸುವ ಕಂಪೆನಿಗಳು ಅದನ್ನು ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಮಾರಿದ್ದೇವೆ ಎಂಬ ದಾಖಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕೆಂಬ ನಿಯಮವಿದೆ.</p>
<p>ಅಂದರೆ ಇದೊಂದು ಬಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪರೋಕ್ಷವಾಗಿ ಈ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವುದರ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೇರಿರುವ ನಿಯಂತ್ರಣದಂತಿದೆ. ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಮಾರಿದ್ದೇವೆಂಬ ದಾಖಲೆಯನ್ನು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾ ಹೋಗುವ ಕ್ರಿಯೆಯೇ ಮಾರಾಟ ಗಾರರ ಉತ್ಸಾಹಕ್ಕೆ ತಣ್ಣೀರೆರಚುತ್ತದೆ.</p>
<p>ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಬಳಕೆದಾರರು ತಮ್ಮ `ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸುವ ಹಕ್ಕನ್ನು` ಚಲಾಯಿಸಲು ಅಗತ್ಯವಿರುವ ಸವಲತ್ತು ಒದಗಿಸುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಮಾಲೀಕರನ್ನು ಬಾಧ್ಯಸ್ಥರನ್ನಾಗಿಸಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂದರೆ ಬಳಕೆದಾರನಿಗೆ ಹಕ್ಕಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅದನ್ನು ಚಲಾಯಿಸುವ ಅವಕಾಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಖಾತರಿ ಇಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಇದೆ.</p>
<p>ಲೇಖಕರು ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್ನೆಟ್ಅಂಡ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಾಹಕ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರು</p>
<hr />
<p>English translation below:</p>
<h2>Digital Restrictions Management</h2>
<p>As Richard Stallman the founder of the Free Software movement puts it the correct expansion of the acronym DRM is Digital Restrictions Management and not Digital Rights Management. According to his analysis DRM is used to limit the rights of consumers and enables rights-holders to exercise unethical control over the consumer's hardware, software and content.</p>
<p>Even though copyrights holders will tell us that DRM helps cut down on wilful and unwitting infringement. For consumers and members of the general public evidence from other countries reveal that DRM in most cases undermines access to knowledge. DRM permits the copyright holder to claim rights that don't exist as per copyright law and to restrict fair dealing (also referred to as far use) guarantees. Fair dealing protections include access by the disabled, use in research or academic context, archiving or making a personal backup, reverse engineering for academic reasons to to create interoperable/competing products/services etc.</p>
<p>The 2012 amendment to the Indian Copyright Act 1957 has resulted in legal recognition for effective technological measures [also called Technological Protection Measures or TPMs] and rights management information [RMI] applied for protecting the rights of the copyright-holder. Circumvention of such a measure could result in a 2 year jail term and a fine.<br /><br />The DRM provisions per the amendment does three things correctly. One, it does not allow copyright-holder to use technological measure as a means to enclose public domain content or secure rights that are not granted to them under the Act. Two, any circumvention to exercise limitations and exceptions under the fair dealing provisions of the Act is not considered to be an offence. Three, it does not criminalise the creation of circumvention technologies. Unfortunately, however the Amendment also gets two things wrong. One, there are onerous recording keeping mandates for those providing circumvention technologies to consumers and members of the general public. Two, the provision does not make the rights-holder responsible for providing the means to consumers and members of the general public who wish to exercise their right to circumvention.<br /><br />Suppose a movie studio released DVD version of its films with DRM that only worked with Microsoft Windows operating system. Those who bought the DVD but ran GNU/Linux or any other operating system would then have a right to circumvent the DRM and republish the content in an video encoding format. This would not be considered an offence because the customer is not attempting any copyright infringement.<br /><br />Suppose a publishing house only released audio versions of its books with DRM that prevented accessibility to the content by the disabled. Another newly-introduced exception specifically for the disabled would apply if the rights-holder has ignored the disabled as a market but not making available accessible versions of their content. In other words, the disabled have a right to make accessible versions for themselves and therefore circumvent the DRM if necessary.</p>
<p>Suppose the very same movie studio also ensured that the DRM on its DVDs prevented customers from extracting video clips. If a teacher borrowed the film from a friend and then used circumvention technology to copy and paste video clips into her classroom presentation. This would not be considered an offence as she was only taking advantage of an exception meant for educational institutions.<br /><br />Suppose a security researcher suspected the DRM technology in network enabled gaming console contained spy-ware. He would have the right to circumvent the DRM and reverse engineer the source code of the console in order to audit the code for the existence of back-doors. This exception will also be used by law enforcement agencies and military/intelligence organisations to purge our supply-chain of electronic infrastructure of spy-ware.</p>
<p>Finally assume a young entrepreneur from Bengaluru wanted to make a competing and yet interoperable product based on an existing product with global market penetration. Assume that the developers of the existing product used DRM to keep their source code and file format inaccessible to competitors. Again under the latest amendment our friend would have the right to circumvent the DRM as long as the code he write is not copied from the existing product.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/digital-restrictions-management'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/digital-restrictions-management</a>
</p>
No publishersunilCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-18T11:19:35ZBlog Entryಸೃಜನಶೀಲತೆಗೆ ಸಂದ ಗೌರವ
https://cis-india.org/a2k/pros-and-cons-of-copyright-act
<b>ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಆವಿಷ್ಕಾರಗಳು `ಕೃತಿ ಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ` ಎಂಬ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನು ಅದರ ಮಾಮೂಲು ಅರ್ಥದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗದಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿವೆ. ತಡವಾಗಿಯಾದರೂ ಭಾರತದ ಸಂಸತ್ತು `ಕೃತಿ ಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ`ದ ಹೊಸ ಅರ್ಥವನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸುವ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಸೂದೆಯೊಂದನ್ನು ಅಂಗೀಕರಿಸಿದೆ. </b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://prajavani.net/include/story.php?news=561&section=51&menuid=15">The article was published by Prajavani on June 9, 2012</a></p>
<p>ಹಲವು ಧನಾತ್ಮಕ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡಿರುವ ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದಂತೆ ಕೆಲವು ಸಂಶಯಗಳಿನ್ನೂ ನಿವಾರಣೆಯಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೃತಿ ಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯ ಹೊಸ ಸ್ವರೂಪದ ಮೇಲೆ ವಿವಿಧ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಗಳ ತಜ್ಞರಿಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳಕು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ.</p>
<p>ರಾಜ್ಯಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಕೃತಿಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ (ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್) ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಸೂದೆ ಕುರಿತು ಚರ್ಚೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವಾಗ ಹಿಂದಿಯ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ಗೀತ ರಚನೆಕಾರ ಹಾಗೂ ಬರಹಗಾರ ಜಾವೇದ್ ಅಖ್ತರ್, ಹಿರಿಯ ಚಿತ್ರ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳು, ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರು, ಗೀತ ರಚನೆಕಾರರು ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕಷ್ಟ- ಕಾರ್ಪಣ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಆಕ್ರೋಶದಿಂದ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರು.<br /><br />ಭಾರತೀಯ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ರಂಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಇತಿಹಾಸ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳು, ಗೀತ ರಚನೆಕಾರರು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರು ತಮ್ಮ ಇಳಿಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬೆಳಕು ಚೆಲ್ಲುವಾಗ ಅವರ ದನಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಷಾದವಿತ್ತು.<br /><br />ತಮ್ಮ ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಹಕ್ಕು ಹೊಂದಿಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದೇ ಇವರೆಲ್ಲರ ಕಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ. ಗೌರವಧನದ ಮೂಲಕ ಯಾವುದೇ ಲಾಭ ಇವರಿಗೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ಅಖ್ತರ್ ಹೇಳಿದರು. ಈ ವಿಚಾರ ಹೇಳುವಾಗ `ಆವಾರಾ`, `420`ಯಂತಹ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಗೀತ ರಚನೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಶೈಲೇಂದ್ರ ಅವರಿಗೆ ವೃದ್ಧಾಪ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಔಷಧಕ್ಕೆ ನೀಡಲು ಹಣ ಇಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದುದು, `ಸೀತಾ ಔರ್ ಗೀತಾ` ಹಾಗೂ `ಸತ್ತೆ ಪೇ ಸತ್ತಾ` ಚಿತ್ರಗಳ ಕಥೆ ಬರೆದಿದ್ದ ಸತೀಶ್ ಭಟ್ನಾಗರ್ ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ ನೀಡಿದರು.<br /><br />ಬರಹಗಾರರು, ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರನ್ನು ದುಸ್ಥಿತಿಗೆ ತಳ್ಳಿ, ಕೇವಲ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರ ಜೇಬು ತುಂಬಿಸುವ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಅಸಮಾಧಾನವಿತ್ತು. ಈ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯನ್ನು ಸುಧಾರಿಸಲು ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಗೆ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ತರುವುದು ಅತ್ಯಗತ್ಯ ಎಂದು ಅಖ್ತರ್ ಬಲವಾಗಿ ಪ್ರತಿಪಾದಿಸಿದರು.<br /><br />ಜಾವೇದ್ ಅಖ್ತರ್ ಇಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಹೇಳಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಲೋಕಸಭೆ ಹಾಗೂ ರಾಜ್ಯಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ `ಕೃತಿಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಸೂದೆ 2012`ಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಪಕ್ಷಗಳ ಸದಸ್ಯರು, ಪಕ್ಷಭೇದ ಮರೆತು ಸರ್ವಾನುಮತದಿಂದ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ನೀಡಿದ್ದರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ ಕಾಣುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ` ಇದು ಬರಹಗಾರರು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರ ಹಕ್ಕನ್ನು ಕಾಪಾಡುವ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ` ಎಂದು ಬಣ್ಣಿಸಲಾಯಿತು.</p>
<p>ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯ ವಿಚಾರ ಬಂದಾಗ ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಹತ್ವದ್ದು ಎಂಬುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವ ಅನುಮಾನವೂ ಬೇಡ. ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಕುರಿತು ಹೇಳುವಾಗ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇದನ್ನು ಚಿತ್ರ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಕಲಾವಿದರಿಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ ಜಯ ಎಂದೇ ವರ್ಣಿಸಲಾಯಿತು.<br /> <br />ಆದರೆ, ಕೃತಿಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ವಿಸ್ತೃತವಾದ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದು, ಈ ಜಯಘೋಷಗಳ ಅಬ್ಬರದ ನಡುವೆ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿನ ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮ ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಯಾರ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೂ, ಕಿವಿಗೂ ಬೀಳದೇ ಹೋಗುವ ಅಪಾಯವೂ ಇದೆ. ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಿಂದ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವು ಸ್ವಾಗತಾರ್ಹ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಳಾಗಿವೆ ನಿಜ. ಜ್ಞಾನ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ, ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದಂತಹ ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ದಕ್ಕಬೇಕು ಎಂಬ ಆಶಯ ಹೊಂದಿರುವವರನ್ನು ಚಿಂತೆಗೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಚಿಂತನೆಗೆ ದೂಡುವ ಅಂಶಗಳೂ ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಕವಾಗಿವೆ.<br /><br />ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸೋಣ. ಚಿತ್ರೋದ್ಯಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುವ ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಕಲಾವಿದರೆಲ್ಲ ಹಣದ ಥೈಲಿ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರ ಮರ್ಜಿಯಲ್ಲೇ ಇರಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕ ಸತ್ಯ. ಈ ಕಲಾವಿದರೊಂದಿಗಿನ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಒಪ್ಪಂದದ ನಿಬಂಧನೆಗಳು ಸಹ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರ ಮೂಗಿನ ನೇರಕ್ಕೆ ಇರುತ್ತವೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಕಟು ಸತ್ಯ.<br /><br />ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಯಾವುದೇ ಕೃತಿ, ಅದು ಸಂಗೀತ ಸಂಯೋಜನೆ, ಗೀತೆ, ಬರಹ ಯಾವುದೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದರೂ ಅದನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಅದರ ಮಾಲೀಕನಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಇದೇ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಅಡಿ ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದ ಕಲಾವಿದ ಅಥವಾ ಬರಹಗಾರ ತನ್ನ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನು ಮೂರನೆಯ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗೆ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆ ಮಾಡುವ ಅವಕಾಶವನ್ನೂ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಇಂತಹ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆ ಒಪ್ಪಂದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರ ಪರವಾಗಿ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ.<br /><br />ಎಲ್ಲ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳಿಗೂ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದಂತೆ ಆ ಕೃತಿಯ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನು (ವರ್ತಮಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ) ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರಿಗೆ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆ ಮಾಡಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಯಾವುದೇ ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ಮಾಡಿದವರು ಆ ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನೂ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ.</p>
<p>ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಬೆಳೆದಂತೆಲ್ಲ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆ ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ (ವಿಡಿಯೋ, ಡಿವಿಡಿ, ಸ್ಯಾಟ್ಲೈಟ್, ಎಂಪಿ ತ್ರಿ, ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ರಿಂಗ್ ಟೋನ್ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ). ಈ ಕೃತಿಯ ಮಾಲಿಕರ (ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರು) ಬೊಕ್ಕಸ ತುಂಬುತ್ತಲೇ ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಅವರು ಈ ಆದಾಯವನ್ನು ಕೃತಿಯ ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಕರ್ತರ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕೆಂಬ ನಿಯಮ ಮಾತ್ರ ಇಲ್ಲ.<br /> <br />ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ, ಎರಡು ಮಹತ್ವದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಲೋಪದೋಷ ನಿವಾರಿಸುವಂತಿದೆ. ಯಾವುದೇ ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆ ಆ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸೀಮಿತವಾಗಿರಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದು ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ.<br /><br />ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಹಾಡುಗಳ ಗೀತ ರಚನೆಕಾರರು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರಿಗೆ ಈ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಬೇರೆ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ, ಅಂದರೆ ಚಿತ್ರಮಂದಿರದ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಇತರ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಗೌರವಧನ ನೀಡಬೇಕು (ಅವರ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾನೂನುಬದ್ಧ ವಾರಸುದಾರರು ಅಥವಾ ಕೃತಿ ರಚನೆಕಾರರಿಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ವರ್ಗಾಯಿಸಬಹುದು) ಎಂಬುದು ಎರಡನೆಯ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ. ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ರಚಿಸಿದವರಿಗೆ, ಸಂಗೀತ ಸಂಯೋಜಕರಿಗೆ ಎರಡನೇ ಹಂತದ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯ ಲಾಭ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಹಾಗೂ ವ್ಯವಹಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಚೌಕಾಸಿ ಮಾಡಲು ನೆರವಾಗುವ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಕಾರಿ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಇದಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಸಂಶಯವಿಲ್ಲ.</p>
<p>ಆದರೆ, ಚಿತ್ರ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರು ಸಿಟ್ಟಿನಿಂದ ತಮ್ಮ ವಾದ ಮಂಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಚಿತ್ರದ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಣ ಹೂಡಿಕೆ ಮಾಡುವುದರಿಂದ, ಅದರಲ್ಲಿರುವ ರಿಸ್ಕ್ ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಿ ಚಿತ್ರದಿಂದ ಬರುವ ಎಲ್ಲ ಲಾಭಗಳನ್ನು ತಮಗೇ ನೀಡಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದು ಅವರ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ. ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಸ್ವಾಗತಾರ್ಹವಾದರೂ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿನ ಗೊಂದಲಗಳು ನಿವಾರಣೆಯಾದಂತಿಲ್ಲ.<br /><br />ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನಗೊಳ್ಳಲಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಕಾದು ನೋಡಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ. ಇದು ಗುತ್ತಿಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಂದದ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಹಾಗೂ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯ ವ್ಯವಹಾರದ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯನ್ನು ಕೋರ್ಟ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸುವ ಸಾಧ್ಯತೆಯೂ ಇದೆ. ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯನ್ನೇ ರದ್ದುಪಡಿಸುವ ಯತ್ನಗಳು ನಡೆದರೂ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.<br /><br />ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರ್ಪಡೆ ಮಾಡಿರುವ ಬಹುಜನರಿಗೆ ಉಪಯುಕ್ತವಾಗಬಲ್ಲ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಮಹತ್ವದ ಅಂಶವೆಂದರೆ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಹಾಗೂ ಸೌಂಡ್ ರೆಕಾರ್ಡಿಂಗ್ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬಗೆಯ ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು `ಫೇರ್ ಯೂಸ್` ನಿಯಮಾವಳಿ ಅಡಿ ತಂದಿರುವುದು. (ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಅಡಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಕೃತಿ ವಿಮರ್ಶೆ ಮಾಡುವಾಗ ಆ ಮೂಲ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಭಾಗ ಉದ್ಧರಿಸಲು ಅನುಮತಿ ನೀಡಲಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಅದಕ್ಕೆ `ಫೇರ್ ಯೂಸ್` ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದರಿಂದ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.)<br /><br />ಇಂದಿನ ಯುಟ್ಯೂಬ್ ಯುಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಹವ್ಯಾಸಿ ಕಲಾವಿದರು ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಕುಳಿತು ರಿಮಿಕ್ಸ್ ಮಾಡಿದ ತಮ್ಮ ಕ್ಲಿಪಿಂಗ್ಗಳನ್ನು ಅಪ್ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದಾಗಿದೆ. ಹವ್ಯಾಸಿ ಅಥವಾ ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯಚಿತ್ರ ತಯಾರಕರು ಮತ್ಯಾವುದೋ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಸಂಗೀತ ಅಥವಾ ವಿಡಿಯೋ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಕೆಲ ಭಾಗಗಳನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘಿಸಿದ್ದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕಾನೂನು ಕ್ರಮ ಎದುರಿಸುವ ಭೀತಿ ಇದ್ದೇ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ.<br /> <br />ಈಗ ತಂದಿರುವ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಯಿಂದ ಈ ಭಯ ನಿವಾರಣೆಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಸಂಶೋಧನೆ, ವಿಮರ್ಶೆ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಖಾಸಗಿ ಹಾಗೂ ವೈಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಬಳಕೆಗಾಗಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಅಥವಾ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಕ್ಲಿಪಿಂಗ್ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಲಾಗಿದೆ.<br /><br />ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಲಾಭ ರಹಿತವಾಗಿ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿರುವವವರಿಗೆ ಅನುಕೂಲಕರವಾಗುವ ಒಂದು ಅಂಶವಿದೆ. ಈ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳು ಕಾನೂನುಬದ್ಧವಾಗಿ ಖರೀದಿಸಿದ ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ ಪ್ರೋಗ್ರಾಂ, ಸಂಗೀತ ಅಥವಾ ಸಿನಿಮಾದ ಪ್ರತಿಯನ್ನು ಬಾಡಿಗೆಗೆ ಕೊಡಬಹುದು ಅಥವಾ ಬಾಡಿಗೆಗೆ ಪಡೆಯಬಹುದು. ಇದರಿಂದ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಲಾಗಿದೆ.<br /><br />ಈಗ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾಗತಾರ್ಹವಲ್ಲದ ಕೆಲ ವಿಚಾರಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಚರ್ಚಿಸೋಣ. ಯಾವುದೇ ಸಂಗೀತ ರೆಕಾರ್ಡಿಂಗ್ ಆದ ಐದು ವರ್ಷದೊಳಗೆ ಅದರ `ಕವರ್ ವರ್ಷನ್` (ಕವರ್ ವರ್ಷನ್ ಅಂದರೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಗೀತೆಯನ್ನು ಅದೇ ಟ್ಯೂನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಲ ಗಾಯಕರ ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬರ ಬಳಿ ಹಾಡಿಸುವುದು) ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಬಾರದು ಎಂದು ಸ್ಪಷ್ಟವಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಜನಪ್ರಿಯ ಗೀತೆಗಳ ಕವರ್ ವರ್ಷನ್ಗಳ ಆಧರಿಸಿಯೇ ಭಾರತದ ಸಂಗೀತ ಉದ್ಯಮ ಬದುಕಿದೆ, ಬೆಳೆದಿದೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಬೆಳೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ.<br /> <br />ಮತ್ಯಾರದೋ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯನ್ನು ಆಧರಿಸಿ ಹಣ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಅಕ್ರಮ ಮಾರ್ಗದಂತೆ `ಕವರ್ ವರ್ಷನ್`ಗಳು ಕಾಣಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ, ಸಂಗೀತ ಉದ್ಯಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೋ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ, ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ಏಕಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯವನ್ನು ಇದು ಮುರಿದಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ನಾವು ಮರೆಯಬಾರದು.<br /><br />ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯ ಮೂಲಕ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆಯ (ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ) ನಿಯಮಾವಳಿಯನ್ನೂ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತರಲಾಗಿದೆ. ವಿಪೊ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಒಪ್ಪಂದ ಹಾಗೂ ವಿಪೊ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಹಾಗೂ ಧ್ವನಿ ಒಪ್ಪಂದದ (ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದಂತೆ 1996ರಲ್ಲಿ ರೂಪಿಸಿರುವ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಒಪ್ಪಂದ) ಧಾಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ರೂಪಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ.<br /> <br />ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ ಅಂದರೆ ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಯಾರೂ ಕಳವು, ನಕಲು ಮಾಡದಂತೆ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮೂಲಕ ಕೀಲಿ ಹಾಕುವುದು. ಈ ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಕೀಲಿಯನ್ನು ಮುರಿದು ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆದಲ್ಲಿ ಅದು ಈಗ ಅಪರಾಧ. ಆದರೆ, ಡಬ್ಲುಸಿಟಿ ಅಥವಾ ಡಬ್ಲುಪಿಪಿಟಿಗೆ ಭಾರತ ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಹಿ ಹಾಕಿಲ್ಲವಾದ್ದರಿಂದ `ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ` ಅನ್ನು ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತರುವ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಇತ್ತೆ ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಯೂ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಏಳುತ್ತದೆ. <br /><br />ಇಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಹೇಳಿದ ಮೇಲೂ ಈ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಶಂಸಿಸಬಹುದಾದ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಅಂಶವಿದೆ. `ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ` ಮೇಲೆ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತರಲಾದ ಕಾನೂನು ಈ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಯಾವುದೇ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ರೂಪಿಸಲಾದ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಗಿಂತ ಅತ್ಯುತ್ತಮವಾಗಿದೆ. ಭವಿಷ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾರತ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಒಪ್ಪಂದಗಳಾದ `ವಿಪೊ` ಮತ್ತು `ಡಬ್ಲುಪಿಪಿಟಿ`ಗೆ ಸಹಿ ಹಾಕುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭ ಬಂದೇ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ.</p>
<p>ಆಗ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಚೌಕಾಸಿ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಒತ್ತಡ ಬರುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ಸೂಕ್ತವಾಗಬಲ್ಲ `ಡಿಆರ್ಎಂ` ಕಾನೂನು ರೂಪಿಸುವ ದೂರದೃಷ್ಟಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಜಾಣ್ಮೆಯನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ನೀತಿ ನಿರೂಪಕರು ಈಗ ತೋರಿದ್ದಾರೆ.<br /><br />ಸೃಜನಶೀಲ ಕೃತಿಯ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಕರ್ತರಿಗೆ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಲಾಭ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುವ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ಹಾಗೂ ಜ್ಞಾನದ ಮುಕ್ತ ಬಳಕೆಯ ಅವಕಾಶ ಇವೆರಡರ ನಡುವೆ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಸಾಧಿಸುವಂತೆ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ಇರಬೇಕು. ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳ ಏಕಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ ಹಾಗೂ ಹಾಲಿವುಡ್ ಉದ್ಯಮದ ಅಗಾಧ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆಯಿಂದ ಕಾಲಾಂತರದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಹಕ್ಕುಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯ ಪಡೆದ ಮಾಲೀಕರತ್ತ ವಾಲಿತ್ತು.<br /> <br />ಕೃತಿಯ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಕರ್ತರು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕರು ಲೆಕ್ಕಕ್ಕೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಂತಹ ಅಸಮತೋಲನ ನಿವಾರಿಸುವ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸರ್ವರಿಗೂ ಒಳಿತಾಗುವಂತೆ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಗೆ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ತಂದಿದೆ. ಮುಂದಿನ ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯ ಕುರಿತು ವಿಶದವಾಗಿ ಚರ್ಚಿಸಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ, ಸದ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಸತ್ತಿನಂತೆ ಒಕ್ಕೊರಲಿನಿಂದ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯನ್ನು ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸೋಣ.</p>
<p>ಆಲ್ಟರ್ನೇಟಿವ್ ಲಾ ಫೋರಂನ ಸ್ಥಾಪಕರಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬರಾದ ಲೇಖಕರು ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಯ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ತಜ್ಞರು.</p>
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<p>
Read the English translation below:</p>
<h2>The pros and cons of the Copyright Amendment Act 2012</h2>
<p>In his passionate speech in debate on the Rajya Sabha the noted lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar highlighted the plight of a number of musicians, lyricists and film writers who despite having contributed to some of the most important films in Indian history remained in poverty since they did not receive any benefits by way of royalties for their work. Examples of artists who suffered in penury unable to even afford medicines range from Shailendra who gave us the lyrics for films like Awara and Shree 420 to writer Satish Bhatnagar who wrote ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ and ‘Satte pe Satta’. Akhtar argued that the copyright amendment was a necessary corrective to a system that had worked incredibly well for film producers at the cost of artists. It was not surprising then that the Copyright Amendment Act 2012 saw a surprising consensus from all the political parties in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and has been hailed as an amendment that restores rights to writers and musicians.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that the Copyright Amendment 2011 is one of the most significant developments in copyright law and while the media attention has been on the victory of artists against film producers it is important to remember that the amendment itself covers a much wider gamut of issues which runs the risk of being lost in the euphoria of this victory. While there are many welcome changes that have been brought about by the Amendment, there are also many others which should give cause of concern for anyone interested in public interest issues of wider access to knowledge, culture and technology. Lets start with the good news first.</p>
<p>It is well known that artists working in the film industry have historically been at a significant disadvantage when it comes to negotiating with the film producers who control the money and consequently dictate the terms of contracts with people who contribute to the film. Even though copyright law says that the owner of copyright is the creator of the work there has always existed an exception which allows the creator to assign their rights to a third party. The assignment agreements are heavily tilted in favour of the producers and all rights in all mediums (present and future) are handed over to the producer. It is a common experience that the creators of copyright are rarely ever the owners of copyright. As the secondary market for films and music developed with each generation of technology (videos, DVD, Satelite, MP3s, mobile ring tones) the owners of content found a situation in which we saw an evergreening of their property guaranteeing an eternal source of revenue which they were not obliged to share with any of the contributors. The amendment seeks to correct this by bringing in two significant changes. Firstly it says that an assignment of rights shall only be for a medium of exploitation which was in existence at the time of the assignment. It also says that authors of a literary or musical work used in a film song lyrics shall have a right to receive royalties from the work if the work is used in any manner other than as a part of a film shown in a cinema hall (the right may be assigned only to legal heirs or to a collecting society).</p>
<p>There can be no arguing that this is a radical amendment that significantly alters the ability of creators to participate in the benefits of secondary markets and also increase their bargaining power. Film producers on the other hand are livid arguing that as the primary investors and risk takers in a film they should be entitled to all the benefits accruing from the film. While the amendment is very welcome it is not bereft of ambiguities and possible complications, and we have to wait and see how the law will now be enforced. It is also likely that there will be constitutional challenges on the grounds that this is in violation of freedom of contract and the right to trade, and possibly even attempts to subvert the law. But for the moment lets celebrate a very significant victory for creators.</p>
<p>Even as creators celebrate, we should also toast the amendment for its sensitive response to the demands made by the visually disabled community. Technology has bridged the incredible gap that existed for disabled people desiring to access books and other materials. Braille was a horribly expensive and archaic technology but screen reading software has made it possible for visually disabled people to convert books into digital formats which can be read through mobile phones, computers and digital tablets. But it was impossible to convert books without violating the rights of copyright owners since the right to make electronic versions of the book is their exclusive right. The Amendment now carves out an exception for people with disabilities to be able – as a matter of right- to create digital versions and Sections 51(1)(zb) and 31B now allow the creation of ‘any accessible format’ without needing to pay royalty.</p>
<p>Another very significant amendment is the extension of the fair use provision to all classes of works including films and sound recordings. In this era of youtube when people routinely create their own remixes, upload clips this is a very welcome amendment. Any amateur or documentary film maker will testify to the difficulty hat the face when they need to use music or video clips as a part of their films and they do so with the constant threat of being sued for copyright infringement. The amendment allows a person to use film and music clips for private or personal use including research, as well as for criticism or review of that work. It is to be noted that the word criticism has been interpreted by the courts to include the ability to create parodies of the original work. Other people who should welcome the act includes educational institutions and non profit libraries who are now allowed to rent or lend a lawfully acquired copy of a software program, music and films.</p>
<p>And now for some of the not so good news. The amendment makes it more difficult to create cover versions of songs and cover versions can now not be made for a period of five year form the time of the recording of the song. As is well known the Indian music industry has grown on the basis of the freedom to make cover versions. While cover versions may seem like an unfair way of benefiting form someone else’s creation the fact of the matter is that version recording has been one of the most significant ways in which the music industry was demonopolized. The Amendment also brings in Digital rights Management (DRM) to keep India in tune with the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. DRM are essentially digital or technology locks that are used to protect content and the law now makes it an offence to circumvent any technology lock. It is questionable whether this is a desirable introduction. India is not yet a signatory to the WCT or the WPPT and hence there is no need to bring DRM into Indian law. Having said that one must also appreciate that the Indian law on DRM is perhaps one of the best in the world, and one can speculate that the law makers decided to bring in a home grown version more suited to Indian reality knowing that at some point if time there would be global pressure on Indian to sign onto the two treaties and then there would be less bargaining power in terms of the law that would have been introduced.</p>
<p>Copyright was always supposed to be balance between providing incentives to creators and ensuring that there was adequate public access to knowledge. Over the years the rise of media monopolies and the might of Hollywood effectively ensured that this balance tilted heavily in favour of rights owners against the interests of creators and the general public. The Copyright amendment demonstrates that when such imbalances threaten creativity and free speech it is incumbent on the government to respond with necessary and adequate measures that serve the greater good. There will be time in the coming future to discuss and debate the specific amendments in detail, but for now lets join the parliament in unanimously welcoming a much over due amendment to the law.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/pros-and-cons-of-copyright-act'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/pros-and-cons-of-copyright-act</a>
</p>
No publisherLawrence LiangCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-18T11:22:07ZBlog EntryCopyright Amendment: Bad, but Could Have Been Much Worse
https://cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-amendment
<b>The changes to the Copyright Act protect the disabled - but are restrictive about cover versions and web freedom, writes Sunil Abraham in this article published in the Business Standard on June 10, 2012.</b>
<p>When the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, was passed unanimously by the Lok Sabha on May 22, it meant that there was little reason for celebration, some not-so-great news, and a lot of pretty bad news.</p>
<p>The only real reason for unqualified celebration is the amendment’s introduction of a robust exception for the disabled. It is bleeding-edge policy formulation, as it is right up there alongside the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The Indian exception is more robust: first, it is disability-neutral, unlike the treaty which only addresses the needs of the print-impaired; and second, it is works-neutral, unlike the treaty which only addresses books and printed works. In brief, given the very limited circulation of copyrighted works amongst the disabled, they now can convert inaccessible works to accessible formats and share them with each other on a non-profit basis. No royalty needs to be paid to the rights-holders for this conversion and the resultant access. Other reasons to celebrate include the newly introduced exception for non-commercial lending and the extension of fair dealing (or fair use) to all works.</p>
<p>Now for some middling news. The Digital Rights Management provision makes it an offence punishable with a fine and a two-year jail term to circumvent “effective technological measures” (also called Technological Protection Measures) and remove “rights management information” (RMI). The provision protects public interest since it does not allow rights-holders to claim rights unavailable under copyright law, and does not prevent consumers and citizens from benefiting from the various fair dealing (or fair use) exceptions and limitations.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the provision mandates onerous record-keeping for those providing circumvention technologies, and also does not insist that the rights-holder provide the means for circumvent when the consumer or citizen legitimately needs to do so.<br /><br />The first piece of bad news is that an inadequate “safe harbour” provision has been introduced for Internet intermediaries. Like the Information Technology Act, the Copyright Act has also gotten the configuration of the intermediary liability regime wrong. This was the opportunity to finally protect common carriers, platforms for social media and commons-based peer-production (such as free software and open content). In short, search engines are finally legal in India, and so are ISPs, virtual private network providers and content delivery networks.<br /><br />But unfortunately, social media platforms such as Facebook and peer-production platforms like Wikipedia are not afforded sufficient immunity to thrive as real-time participatory platforms. The take-down procedure is designed to provide instant relief to rights-holders, as intermediaries are supposed to remove content immediately. They have the option of reinstating content if the take-down notice is not followed within three weeks by a court order. This mechanism will have a chilling effect on free speech — given that Indian internet service providers very obviously privilege the interests of intellectual property rights-holders over those of the ISPs’ customers — as most recently illustrated by their over-compliance with certain John Doe court orders emerging from the Madras High Court.</p>
<p>The second piece of bad news is the extension of the term of protection for photographs. It has gone from being “sixty years after publication” to “sixty years after the death of the photographer”. Sixty years from publication was already in excess of the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). Now we are in excess of WIPO Copyright Treaty requirements, even though India is not a signatory. The possibility of grandchildren earning royalties does not serve as an incentive for shutterbugs to take more photos or better photos. It is not even clear if one can monetise the average photo after the first decade. Therefore, the global public domain has been substantially impoverished, without any evidence that this will make the photographers reciprocally wealthier.<br /><br />It does not stop there. In the age of hip-hop, trance, jhankar beats and turntables, one would have hoped that our law-makers would at least get the provision for “cover versions” or “remixes” right. Cover versions in India are doubly useful both in terms of aesthetics and profits — and yet the relevant provision can only be described as mediaeval. Cover versions can be produced only after a gap of five years; they have to be restricted to the same medium as the original; payment from them must be made in advance for 5,000 copies (should all those who sang commercially viable cover violations of “Kolaveri Di” be considered lawbreakers?); and there are strict limits on what are acceptable alterations to the original. The “alterations” have to be “reasonable” and “technically necessary”. Today, affordable yet sophisticated multimedia technologies allow teenagers to build professional sound recording studios in their bedrooms — and our government is seeking to restrict them to boring word-for-word and note-for-note covers.<br /><br />And it gets worse. Bowing to pressure from foreign publishers’ associations, the government deleted the “parallel importation” provision at the last minute. The inclusion of this provision would have made it clear that works reproduced with the rights-holders’ permission in other countries could be imported into India. Foreign publishers and their lobbyists went all-out with a propaganda campaign predicting a dystopia filled with pirated books, surplus books dumped from overseas and starving, uncompensated authors. Had our government not caved, this clarification in law would have gone a long way in dismantling distribution monopolies and made the market much more competitive. The resultant increase in choice and reduction in cost would have benefited everyone. Human Resources Development Minister Sibal promised both Houses during the passage of the amendment that he would revisit this, and let’s hope he does so — especially for our libraries and our second-hand book stores, and for the students and disabled amongst us.</p>
<p>The writer is at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. <a class="external-link" href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> </p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sunil-abraham-copyright-amendment-badcould-have-been-much-worse/476845/">Click</a> to read the original published by Business Standard.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-amendment'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/copyright-amendment</a>
</p>
No publishersunilCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-15T12:29:39ZBlog EntryA Ludicrous Ban
https://cis-india.org/a2k/a-ludicrous-ban
<b>Achal Prabhala and Lawrence Liang have written an article for the Open Magazine about the bizarre ways in which the Internet is regulated in 21st century India. </b>
<p>Small acts can have outsize consequences. In 15th century England, Richard III lamented that for want of a nail, a kingdom was lost. In 21st century India, the question is this: for want of copyright protection for a single film, will the whole Internet be lost? On 29 March 2012, the Madras High Court issued an order whose effect Internet users in the country are still reeling from. As we go to press, most Internet users in India are unable to access a number of popular websites that millions of people around the world use every day. These banned websites are not forums for human trafficking or illegal weapon sales, but merely extensions of ordinary human activity like learning, sharing and growing—activities that are particularly well facilitated by the Internet. That the websites have been banned is of great concern; that the order purportedly banning them, and its effect, are both inexplicable and badly understood is of greater concern still.</p>
<p>How did we get here?</p>
<p>These are the facts. Earlier in the year, a little-known Chennai firm called Copyright Labs filed a petition on behalf of RK Productions, seeking protection for their client’s upcoming release—the Tamil film 3—against copyright infringement on the Internet. The film had not opened to audiences yet; the petition sought pre-emptive protection. In response, the Madras High Court passed a ‘John Doe’ order—John Doe being American shorthand for the anonymous everyman—which has a wide, sweeping scope and is designed to protect against potential offences by necessarily nameless persons, or in other words, everyone. The order applied to several Internet Service Providers (ISPs), as well as the aforesaid nameless persons (the John Doe of India is, apparently, ‘Ashok Kumar’), binding them, and their heirs, assignees, representatives and the whole shebang, against infringing copyright in relation to the film on networks they administer.</p>
<p>In apparent compliance with the John Doe order, Indian ISPs reacted with obsequious haste, in singular—and totally arbitrary—fashion. Between them, they have blocked a range of torrent sites (like the Pirate Bay, which is always Target No. 1, regardless of the circumstances), a few video-sharing sites like Vimeo and DailyMotion, and for good measure, some unrelated and completely irrelevant websites such as Xmarks, which allows users to share and sync bookmarks, and Pastebin, a service to store text and code. The weirdest aspect of this countrywide clampdown on a large chunk of the Internet is that the Madras High Court order did not actually specify any websites to block at all. How—and <em>why</em>—the ISPs zeroed in on these particular entities remains a mystery.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay certainly hosts large amounts of pirated material, but it is also in some part a way to distribute legitimate content legitimately; Vimeo, on the other hand, is the distribution channel of choice for independent films uploaded by the filmmakers themselves; Pastebin has strict policies that are respectful of copyright and is mostly used by free and open source developers to tweak and relay copyright-free software. The sweep of this clampdown by the ISPs defies logic by deeming <em>everything</em> illegal: the wedding video that we cherish and put up to share with our friends, the small, independently financed film we wish to distribute electronically, the piece of free and open source software we just improved upon and would like the world to know about. Luckily for us, any blocking action imposed by local ISPs can be easily subverted by going through a virtual private network—a proxy—and if you’d like to see just how easy and quick this is to execute, please go to http://anonymouse.org. You’re welcome.</p>
<p>But first, the law. There is some confusion as to whether blocking whole websites for copyright infringement is legally permissible, and the answer is mostly no—and partly yes. The procedure for blocking websites in India is governed by Section 69A of the Information Techno- logy Act 2000, as amended in 2008 (the IT Act). Section 69A of the IT Act gives the Central government, or any of its officers specially authorised by it, the power to direct either a government agency or an intermediary to block access to any website under a list of very specific circumstances, namely: a) in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of lndia, b) for the defence of India, c) for the security of the State, d) for friendly relations with foreign States, e) for public order, or f) for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to the previous points. Failure to comply with a blocking order thus issued is punishable by imprisonment and fines.</p>
<p>Importantly, however, <em>neither</em> copyright infringement nor obscenity (the other popular trigger for censorious actions) is listed as grounds for which a website may be blocked. Sure, the IT Act has specific provisions that lay out the consequences of transmitting obscene material and the infringement of copyright, but being blocked is not one of them. On the basis of its powers under Section 69A(2), the government has laid out procedures for blocking websites and notified the Information Technology Rules, 2009 (with the ‘Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public’), as well as designated nodal officers who can receive these complaints under the Act.</p>
<p>Section 6 of these IT Rules lays out a clear procedure for initiating and implementing a block. The procedure not only involves a thorough examination of the claims, but also reiterates the grounds under which a request for a block might be permissible, namely, the conditions laid out in the IT Act. Section 7 of the same IT Rules lays out the procedure for examination of the request and places it in the hands of a committee; the procedure involves the participation of several high-ranking officials and outlines detailed steps, such as contacting the potentially offending parties and giving them time to respond or take action as appropriate, only after which blocking may be deployed if still necessary.</p>
<p>The law is clear that copyright infringement cannot be legitimate grounds for the blocking of a website. Section 79 of the IT Act, in fact, explicitly provides safe harbour for ISPs, though the controversial Intermediary Due Diligence Rules, 2011, have made a mockery of this section. These Intermediary Rules are currently the subject of heated debate, with many civil society organisations and even some parliamentarians calling for them to be repealed. (You can learn more about the protests at <a class="external-link" href="http://www.it2011.in">www.it2011.in</a>).</p>
<p>As things stand, a copyright holder can ask for the removal of infringing content by sending a take-down notice under the provisions of the Intermediary Due Diligence Rules, however flawed they are, or by asking for a John Doe order. A take-down notice is a complaint by the copyright holder to a website, indicating the specific uniform resource locator (URL) where the infringement is allegedly happening. It is a procedure further reinforced in the 2012 amendment to the Indian Copyright Act, which reiterates the rights of intermediaries, such as ISPs, to transmit any potentially infringing content until a take-down notice is sent and examined. A John Doe order, by its wide, sweeping nature, is normally exercised with the greatest caution, and only granted in the most exceptional circumstances. John Doe orders do not provide for public examination and discussion of claims; they do not allow any other side—other than the petitioning party—to state their case; and they can be badly misunderstood by the parties involved, as vividly demonstrated in this case.</p>
<p>In this case, both the petition and the order are questionable in several ways. The Tamil film 3—starring Dhanush and Shruti Haasan and directed by Rajini- kanth’s daughter Aishwarya—is not exceptional. It is one of the hundreds of Tamil films made this year, following on from the thousands of Tamil films made thus far. There is no particular reason why this film alone is worthy of a John Doe order. Ironically, it is exceptional only in that until Copyright Labs’ petition, the film served as a working demonstration of the benefits of a free and open Internet: the reason we knew of the film was the massive publicity generated by the viral hit ‘Kolaveri Di’—a song whose popularity spiralled by being shared freely and widely, regardless of copyright ownership. In the case of ‘Kolaveri Di,’ the producers saw the piracy of the song as publicity, and encouraged it. Then, it would seem, they decided that any piracy of the film was, well, piracy—and decided to stop it in the most insensible and ruthless manner possible. And there you have it: not only can you now have your cake and eat it too, you can also smash it in the faces of millions of users with impunity.</p>
<p>Copyright Labs, the previously unknown firm in Chennai that acted for the producers of 3 appears to be run by one Harish Ram, whose Twitter feed covers the catastrophe in revealing detail. Facing the wrath of fellow tweeters who were outraged at their inability to access their favourite websites, his collected responses on the handle @harishramlh instructively outline the disastrous way by which the court order he wanted has been implemented. Harish claims that his firm was forced to take action because infringing sites “don’t respond”. His cry for help would be plausible except for one inconvenient detail: the film 3 released on 30 March 2012, and the John Doe order was obtained on 29 March 2012—a day <em>before</em> the film’s release. What kind of piracy could Copyright Labs have been trying to battle unsuccessfully prior to the film’s release? There are instances of pre-screening prints of a film making it to torrent sites, though these are rare. Most often, the piracy of a film only happens after its public release. At the time of Copyright Labs’ petition, it is likely that very few or no take-down notices had been served because very few or no infringing acts had been committed yet: this is the very basis of the petition and ensuing order. (A quick search on Pirate Bay confirms that the only torrents related to the film are dated after its release, and not before). A little while later, perhaps upon discovering that he too cannot watch his best friend’s wedding video on Vimeo, Harish casually tweets that he has “written to unblock the whole site and block only specific piracy links” and presto, Vimeo is unblocked.</p>
<p>Regulators, take note. This is how the Internet is governed in 21st century India: by the fluctuating whims of an excited young man in Chennai in possession of a court order he neither deserves nor understands.</p>
<p>Thanks to the fact that our governments and corporations are constantly fantasising about how to censor our Internet (and frequently succeeding), the people who bring us the Internet, the hapless ISPs, have been beaten into submission; they now jump to the mildest murmur of reproach with wildly imaginative and unduly overreaching reactions. The last thing we need in an online environment full of dirty tricks is more dirty tricks. If anyone in power has any desire to keep the Internet working for the millions of Indians who prosper by it, safe harbour for ISPs must be restored in the IT Act—and the Intermediary Due Diligence Rules must be repealed.</p>
<p>Our courts cannot be used as quack-houses to buy pills for imaginary problems. The copyright industry is not a sick patient; it’s just a hypochondriac. Films don’t fail because of piracy; they fail because they’re not worth watching. The most popular films in this country are also the most pirated, and yet they remain money-spinners. The real problem is the unbending inability of this industry to adjust to the world; to the Internet; to the life-changing technologies that human beings have witnessed and embraced and prospered by over the past two decades. Instead of responding to these changes creatively, film producers and music distributors think that digging in their heels and acting like petulant children is going to delude consumers into seeing them as something grander than they are. The reality is that they are simply packers of culture and knowledge who aren’t even wrapping up their products competently. For now, though, these children have been given a nuclear bomb to play with, and they just used it to kill a cockroach. Beware the radiation.</p>
<p><em>Lawrence Liang is a lawyer and researcher at the Alternative Law Forum; Achal Prabhala is a writer and researcher in Bangalore</em></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/a-ludicrous-ban#.T8wh4gZuXto.twitter">Click</a> to read the original published in the Open Magazine on June 2, 2012</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/a-ludicrous-ban'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/a-ludicrous-ban</a>
</p>
No publisherAchal Prabhala and Lawrence LiangCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-04T04:22:11ZBlog EntryThe International Copyright System and Access to Education: Challenges, New Access Models and Prospects for New Principles
https://cis-india.org/news/workshop-on-education-and-copyright
<b>This event organised by Max Planck Institute was held in Munich, Germany on May 14 and 15, 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated in this event.</b>
<h2>List of Participants</h2>
<table class="plain">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Affiliation</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td> Mr. Olatunji Babatunde Adetula</td>
<td>Director, Nigerian Copyright Commission</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Olufunmilayo Arewa</td>
<td>African University for Science and Technology & University of California School of Law, Irvine</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Michael W. Carroll</td>
<td>Professor of Law, <br />Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property,<br />American University, Washington College of Law</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mr. Alberto Cerda Silva</td>
<td>S.J.D. Candidate Georgetown University Law Center, Research Associate,Knowledge Ecology International<br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Vera Franz</td>
<td>Senior Program Manager<br />Open Society Information Program<br />Open Society Foundations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Christophe Geiger</td>
<td>Associate Professor<br />Director General<br />Director of the Research Department<br />CEIPI, Université de Strasbourg</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Daniel Gervais</td>
<td>FedEx Research Professor of Law<br />Co-Director, Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Program<br />Vanderbilt University Law School</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Cristiana Gonzalez</td>
<td>Senior Researcher<br />Universidade de São Paulo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Teresa Hackett</td>
<td>Programme Manager EIFL</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Dr. Reto M. Hilty</td>
<td>Managing Director<br />Full Professor ad personam at the University of Zurich<br />Honorary Professor at the University of Munich<br />Max Planck Institute</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dr. Zorina Khan</td>
<td>Professor<br />Department of Economics<br />Bowdoin College</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dr. Kaya Köklü</td>
<td>Senior Research Fellow<br />Intellectual Property and Competition Law<br />Max Planck Institute</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Eniko Kovacs</td>
<td>Program Manager<br />Academic Fellowship Program, HESP<br />Open Society Foundations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mr. Ahmed Abdel Latif</td>
<td>Intellectual Property and Technology Senior<br />Programme Manager<br />International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development<br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Mayara Nascimento Santos Leal</td>
<td>Division of Intellectual Property<br />Economic Department<br />Ministry of External Relations, Brazil</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Lydia Loren</td>
<td>Professor of Law<br />Kay Kitagawa & Andy Johnson-Laird IP Faculty Scholar<br />Lewis & Clark Law School</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Viviana Munoz Tellez</td>
<td>Programme Officer, IAKP<br />The South Centre</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Ruth Okediji</td>
<td>William L. Prosser Professor of Law<br />University of Minnesota Law School</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mr. Pranesh Prakash</td>
<td>Programme Manager<br />The Center for Internet and Society</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mr. G.R. Raghavender</td>
<td>Registrar of Copyrights & Director (BP & CR)<br />Copyright Office<br />Government of India, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Prof. Jerome H. Reichman</td>
<td>Bunyan S. Womble Professor of Law<br />Duke University Law School</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dr. Manon Ress</td>
<td>Director of Information Society Projects <br />Knowledge Ecology International</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Carolina Rossini</td>
<td>Senior Fellow at GPOPAI, University of Sao Paulo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dr. Susan Strba</td>
<td>Expert and Author, Copyright L&Es for Education in Africa</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mr. Luis Villaroel Villalon</td>
<td>Director de Investigación Corporación Innovarte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dr. Moktar Warida</td>
<td>First Secretary, Permanent Mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ms. Raquel Xalabarder Plantada</td>
<td>Director, Learning Resources<br />Vice President’s Office, Faculty and Academic Organization<br />Open University of Catalonia</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>Workshop Associates</h2>
<table class="plain">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Affiliation</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Lindsey Niznik</td>
<td>Senior, University of Minnesota</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peju Solarin</td>
<td>Doctoral Candidate<br />International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation, and Punishment, Max Planck Institute </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<a class="external-link" href="http://www.ceipi.edu/uploads/media/Munich_Workshop_List_of_Participants_5_9_12-1.pdf">See the original here</a>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/workshop-on-education-and-copyright'>https://cis-india.org/news/workshop-on-education-and-copyright</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-06-01T04:29:36ZNews ItemTowards a Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on ‘Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics’
https://cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation
<b>This event was organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation, National Internet Exchange of India and Association for Progressive Communications at Mirza Ghalib Hall, SCOPE Complex, New Delhi from 9.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. on May 3, 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated as a speaker in the session on Access to Internet: Right to Information.</b>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>9.00 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. (Registration)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>9.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.<br />
<h3>Inauguration & Plenary: Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Introduction: Osama Manzar, Founder & Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation<br />Chair: Aruna Roy, Head, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) & Member, National Advisory Council (NAC), Govt. of India<br />Co-Chair: Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, DIT, Govt. of India<br /><strong>Plenary Speakers:</strong><br />
<ul><li>Honey Tan, Human Rights Lawyer, Malaysia, APC</li><li>Venkatesh Nayak, Co-convener, Secretary, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information</li><li>Jitendra Kohli, Executive Member, Transparency International India Summary of the Session by the Chair</li></ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11.00 to 11.15 a.m. (Tea break)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11.15 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.<br />
<h3>Working Session I - Access to Internet: Right to Information</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chairperson: Basheerhamad Shadrach, Development Consultant<br /><strong>Plenary Speakers:</strong><br />
<ul><li>Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet & Society</li><li>NA Vijayashankar, E-Business Consultant, Founder Secretary of Cyber Society of India, Founder Trustee of International Institute of Information Technology Law</li><li>Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India</li><li>Varsha Iyenger, Member, Centre for Law and Policy Research</li><li>Amitabh Singhal, Former CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)</li><li>Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founding Member, Association for Democratic Reforms</li></ul>
</td>
</tr>
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<td>12.30 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.<br />Working Session II - Internet Right as Human Right: Need for a Holistic Framework towards Universal Access in India<br /></td>
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<td>Chairperson: Dr. Govind, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Govt. of India<br />Co-chair & Moderator: R. Sukumar , Managing Editor, Live Mint Newspaper<br />Panel Members:<br />
<ul><li>Subho Ray, President, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI)</li><li>Deepak Maheshwari, Vice President - Public Policy, South Asia, MasterCard</li><li>Ravina Agarwal, Program Officer, Ford Foundation</li><li>Honey Tan, Human Rights Lawyer, Malaysia, APC</li><li>Suhas Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights</li><li>Anoop Saha, Co-Founder, CGNet Swara</li><li>Shivam Vij, Writer, Kafila.org</li></ul>
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<a class="external-link" href="http://internetrights.in/files/2012/04/National-Consultation-Summit-on-Internet-Rights-_-Programme-Flow-Final.pdf">Click</a> to see the original
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation'>https://cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernanceAccessibilityAccess to Knowledge2012-05-31T07:14:42ZNews ItemWill the Copyright Law Help the Starving Artist?
https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist
<b>By law, producers are no longer allowed to keep all the royalties to songs, lyrics or other works of arts. Now, these rights will have to be shared with the artist who created them.</b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/28/will-the-copyright-law-help-the-starving-artist/">This article by Margherita Stancati was published in the Wall Street Journal on May 28, 2012</a>. Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this.</p>
<p>"I remember when Ustad Bismillah Khan" – a legendary Indian classical musician – "came to me and said that he did not have money to pay his rent," Indian Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bollywood-cheers-as-lok-sabha-passes-copyright-bill_1692466">recently told Parliament</a>.</p>
<p>At the time, Mr. Sibal said he solved the problem by writing him a check.</p>
<p>The government hopes that changes introduced to India’s 1957 Copyright Act will allow composers and other artists to do away with such acts of charity. Parliament passed the bill amending the copyright act last week.</p>
<p>By law, producers are no longer allowed to keep all the royalties to songs, lyrics or other works of arts. Now, these rights will have to be shared with the artist who created them.</p>
<p>Earlier, "artists would typically give all the rights to the producer. It was called a work for hire," says Anish Dayal, a Supreme Court lawyer who specializes in media and entertainment legislation.</p>
<p>The <a class="external-link" href="http://164.100.24.219/BillsTexts/RSBillTexts/PassedRajyaSabha/copy-E.pdf">amendments</a> to the act means that "even if they want to give rights to producers, they can’t," adds Mr. Dayal.</p>
<p>The way the law phrases this is a little confusing. An amendment to section 18 of the act says that authors of literary or musical works featured in movies shall "receive royalties to be shared on an equal basis" with others who have copyright over the work (such as producers.) It’s not clear whether "equal basis" means 50% or whether it depends on the number of people with whom the royalties are shared.</p>
<p>The amended law also makes it compulsory for radio and broadcasters to pay royalties every time they air a recording.</p>
<p>The biggest impact of these changes will be on India’s film industry, especially on the lyricists and composers of Bollywood music, who have long lobbied for rights over their work.</p>
<p>Before the amendments were given a green light, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2_dw7OmS2U&feature=youtu.be">Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar described the condition artists worked in as "bonded labor</a>." Recently addressing lawmakers in the upper house of Parliament, where he holds an honorary seat, Mr. Akhtar shared a long list of cases of famed Indian musicians and composers who lived and died in penury. He named Shailendra, a popular 1950s Hindi lyricist, and Omkar Prasad Nayyar, a composer of movie scores.</p>
<p>For Paromita Vohra, a Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker, said changes to the law mark a first step towards making art production “more equal” by giving artists more rights over their work. "It’s about time," says Ms. Vohra, who last year made a <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/02/10/the-partners-in-copyright-crime/">film on copyright in the world of art</a>.</p>
<p>"Those who have the money are more powerful than those who make the arts. The act recognizes this, it addresses a power balance," she adds, describing this as a "philosophical change" in the law.</p>
<p>But she says this alone is not enough. "Lawyers are good at circumventing the law," she claims. Still, artists willing to fight for their rights "now have the law to fall back on," she adds.</p>
<p>Stronger labor unions, Ms. Vohra says, would make it easier for artists to make the most of the new legislation. "When that happens, I think the law will be very helpful."</p>
<p>Not all were pleased with the changes on royalties. <a class="external-link" href="http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250070212">Adarsh Gupta of Saregama</a>, a music production company, said the law is "extremely unfair to the film and music industry" and that it paves the way to litigation.</p>
<p>Other changes introduced in the act include tighter regulations on cover versions, including a clause that raises the time period after which covers are legally allowed from two to five years.</p>
<p>Critics say these restrictions are excessive and at odds with art produced in the digital era.</p>
<p>"This ignores present-day realities," Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet & Society wrote in his <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012" class="external-link">analysis of the amended copyright bill</a>. He used the example of the hit tune Kolaveri Di, which was covered countless times. "The singers and producers of those unlicensed versions could be jailed under the current India Copyright Act, which allows even non-commercial copyright infringers to be put behind bars," he adds.</p>
<p>The act also removes copyright requirements for Braille or for other works of art adapted for people with disabilities.</p>
<p>What the amended law does not include is a clause that many in the <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/01/13/is-the-copyright-bill-bad-for-indian-readers/">Indian publishing industry feared may have made them redundant</a>. The proposed amendment would have allowed non-Indian publishing houses distribute their books in India, removing the territorial exclusivity of local publishers. This clause did not make it in the final version of the law.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist'>https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-05-29T03:46:23ZNews Item