The Centre for Internet and Society
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NIPFP Seminar on Exploring Policy Issues in the Digital Technology Arena
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/nipfp-seminar-on-exploring-policy-issues-in-the-digital-technology-arena
<b>Anubha Sinha participated in this seminar as a discussant on the "Regulating emerging technologies" panel. The event was held at Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla on October 10 - 11, 2019.
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<p>Click to view the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/exploring-policy-issues-in-the-digital-technology-arena">agenda here</a>. The session briefs can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/session-briefs">seen here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/nipfp-seminar-on-exploring-policy-issues-in-the-digital-technology-arena'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/nipfp-seminar-on-exploring-policy-issues-in-the-digital-technology-arena</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminPrivacyDigital KnowledgeInternet GovernanceDigital TechnologiesDigital India2019-10-20T07:40:16ZNews ItemDiscussion at CyFy on Technology, Policy and National Security: Building 21st Century Curricula in India’s Law Schools
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/discussion-at-cyfy-on-technology-policy-and-national-security-building-21st-century-curricula-in-india2019s-law-schools
<b>Arindrajit Basu attended the session and gave comments on the course outline which included thoughts on:</b>
<ol>
<li>Threshold of technical knowledge-comparison with WTO law</li>
<li>Need for India-centric approaches both in domestic and foreign policy</li>
<li>Possibility of executive training of senior diplomats</li>
<li>Need to include fintech security in the syllabus</li>
<li>Necessity of international law as a tool of conflict 6. Sustained collaboration between think-tanks and universities</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The event was organized by Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi and Observer Research Foundation at Villa Medici, Taja Mahal Hotel, Man Singh Road, New Delhi.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/discussion-at-cyfy-on-technology-policy-and-national-security-building-21st-century-curricula-in-india2019s-law-schools'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/discussion-at-cyfy-on-technology-policy-and-national-security-building-21st-century-curricula-in-india2019s-law-schools</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminCyber SecurityInternet GovernanceFinancial Technology2019-10-20T07:23:11ZNews ItemDue Diligence Project FGD by UN Women
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/due-diligence-project-fgd-by-un-women
<b>On October 11, 2019, Radhika Radhakrishnan attended a focussed group discussion at the UN House, New Delhi, organized by UN Women for their multi-country research study on online violence (Due Diligence Project).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The purpose of the discussion was to provide a better understanding of the nature and the scope of this form of VAWG and to provide recommendations to inform policies, plans, programming and advocacy on the issue.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/due-diligence-project-fgd-by-un-women'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/due-diligence-project-fgd-by-un-women</a>
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No publisherAdminDue DiligenceInternet GovernancePrivacy2019-10-20T07:11:13ZNews ItemRoundtable Discussion on Intermediary Liability
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-discussion-on-intermediary-liability
<b>Tanaya Rajwade participated in a roundtable discussion on intermediary liability organised by SFLC and the Dialogue in New Delhi on October 17, 2019.</b>
<p>Click to view the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/internet-liability">agenda</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-discussion-on-intermediary-liability'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/roundtable-discussion-on-intermediary-liability</a>
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No publisherAdminFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceIntermediary Liability2019-10-20T07:08:11ZNews Item“Politics by other means”: Fostering positive contestation and charting ‘red lines’ through global governance in cyberspace
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-orfonline-october-21-2019-politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace
<b>The past year has been a busy one for the fermentation of global governance efforts in cyberspace with multiple actors-states, industry, and civil society spearheading a variety of initiatives. Given the multiplicity of actors, ideologies, and vested interests at play in this ecosystem, any governance initiative will be, by default, political, and desirably so.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span style="text-align: justify; ">Arindrajit Basu's essay for this year's Digital Debates: The CyFy Journal </span><a class="external-link" href="https://www.orfonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Digital_Debates_2019_V7.pdf" style="text-align: justify; ">was published jointly by Global Policy and ORF</a><span style="text-align: justify; ">. It was written in response to a framing essay by Dennis Broeders under the governance theme. The article was edited by Gurshabad Grover. </span><i style="text-align: justify; "> Arindrajit also acknowledges the contributions of the editorial team at ORF: Trisha, Akhil and Meher.</i></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There is no silver bullet that will magically result in universally acknowledged rules of the road. Instead, through consistent probing and prodding, the global community must create inclusive processes to galvanize consensus to ensure that individuals across the world can repose trust and confidence in their use of global digital infrastructure.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> This includes both ‘red lines’ applicable to clearly prohibited acts of cyberspace and softer norms for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, that arise from an application of the tenets of International Law to cyberspace.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Infrastructure is political</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Networked infrastructures typically originate when a series of technological systems with varying technical standards converge, or when a technological system achieves dominance over other self-contained technologies.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> Through this process of convergence, networked infrastructures must adapt to a variety of differing political conditions, legal regulations and governance practices.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> Internet infrastructure was never self-contained technology, but an amalgamation of systems, protocols, standards and hardware along with the standards bodies, private actors and states that define it.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> The architecture has always been deeply socio-technical<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> and any attempt to severe the technology from the politics of internet governance would be a fool’s errand.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Politics catalyzed the development of the technological infrastructure that lead to the creation of the internet. During the heyday of nuclear brinkmanship between the USA and USSR, Paul Baran, an engineer with the US Department of Defense think tank RAND Corporation was tasked with building a means of communication that could continue running even if some parts were to be knocked out by a nuclear war.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn7"><sup>[7]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As Baran’s ‘Bomb proof network’ morphed into the US Department of Defense funded ARPANET, it was initially apparent that it was not meant for either mass or commercial use, but instead saw its nurturing in the US as a tool of strategic defense.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn8"><sup>[8]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This enabled the US to retain a disproportionate -- and till the 1990s, relatively uncontested -- influence on internet governance. As the internet rapidly expanded across the globe, various actors found that single state control over an invaluable global resource was unjust.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> Others (9which included US Senator Ted Cruz), argued that the internet would be safer in the hands of the United States than an international forum whose processes could be reduced to stalemate as a result of politicized conflict between democratic and non-democratic states who seek to use online spaces as an instrument of suppression.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> The ICANN and IANA transitions were therefore not rooted in technical considerations but much-needed geopolitical pressure from states and actors who felt ‘disregarded’<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> in the governance of the internet. An inclusive multi-stakeholder process fueled by inclusive geopolitical contestation is far more effective in the long run and has the potential of respecting the rights of ‘disregarded’ communities all across the globe far more than a unilateral process that ignores any voices of opposition.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is now clear that despite its continued outsized influence, the United States is no longer the only major state player in global cyber governance. China has propelled itself as a major political and economic challenger to the United States across several regimes<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>, including in the cyber domain. China’s export of the ‘information sovereignty’<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> doctrine at various cyber norms proliferation fora, including at the United Nations-Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), and regional forums like the Shanghai Co-operation (SCO), is an example of its desire to impose its ideological clout on global conceptions of the internet.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As a rising power, China’s aspirations in global internet governance are not limited to ideology. China is at an ‘innovation imperative’, where it needs to develop new technologies to retain its status and fuel long-term growth.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> This locks it into direct economic, and therefore strategic competition with the United States that seeks to retain control over the same supply chains and continues to assert its economic and military superiority.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">China has dominated the 5G space in an unprecedented way, and has been a product of a concerted ‘whole of government’ effort.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> Beijing charted out an industrial policy that enabled the deployment of 5G networks as a key national priority.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> China has also successfully weaponized global technical standard-setting efforts to promote its geo-economic interests.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Reeling from the failure of its domestic 3G standard that was ignored globally, China realised the importance of the ‘first-movers’ advantage’ in setting standards for companies and businesses.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> Through an aggressive strategic push at a number of international bodies such as the International Telecommunications Union, China’s diplomatic pivot has allowed it to push standards established domestically with little external input, thereby giving Chinese companies the upper hand globally.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn19"><sup>[19]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Politics continues to frame the technical solutions that enable cybersecurity.19 Following Snowden’s revelations, some stakeholders in the global community have shaped their politics to frame the problem as one of protecting individuals’ data from governments and private companies looking to extract and exploit it. The technical solutions developed in this frame are encryption standards and privacy enhancing technologies. However, intelligence agencies continue to frame the problem differently: they see it as an issue of collecting and aggregating data in order to identify malicious actors and threat vectors. The technical solutions they devise are increased surveillance and data analysis -- problems the first framing intended to solve. The techno-political gap, both in academic scholarship and global norms proliferation efforts continues to jeopardize attempts at framing cybersecurity governance.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> Instead of artificially depoliticizing technology, it is imperative that we ferment political contestation in a manner that holistically promulgates the perception that internet infrastructure can be trusted and utilised by individuals and communities around the world.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Fostering ‘red lines’ and diffusing ‘unpeace’ in cyberspace</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">‘Unpeace’ in cyberspace continues to ferment through ‘below the threshold’ operations that do not amount to the ‘use of force’ as per Article 2(4), or an ‘armed attack’ triggering the right of self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. This makes the application of jus ad bellum (‘right to war’) inapplicable to most cyber operations.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> However, the application of ‘jus in bello’ (law that governs the way in which warfare is conducted) or International Humanitarian Law (IHL) does not require armed force to be of a specific intensity but seeks to protect civilians and prevent unnecessary suffering. Therefore the principles of IHL that have evolved in The Geneva Conventions should be used as red lines that limit collateral damage as a result of cyber operations.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> No state should conduct cyber operations that intend to harm civilians, and should us all means at its disposal to avoid this harm to civilians. It should act in line with the principles of necessity<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> and proportionality.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn24"><sup>[24]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Cultivating ‘red lines’ is easier said than done. The debate around the applicability of IHL to cyberspace was one of the reasons for the breakdown of the fifth UN-GGE in 2017.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> States have also been reluctant to state their positions on the rules developed by the International Group of Experts (IGE) in the Tallinn Manual.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> This is due to two main reasons. First, not endorsing the rules may allow them to retain operational advantages in cyberspace where they continue engaging in cyber operations without censure. Second, even those states who wish to apply and adhere to the rules hesitate to do so in the absence of effective processes that censure states that do not comply with the rules.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Both these issues stem from the difficulties in attributing a cyber attack to a state as cyber attacks are multi-stage, multi-step and multi-jurisdictional, which makes the attacker several degrees removed from the victim.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> Technical challenges to attribution, however should not take away from international efforts that adopt an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to attribution which must be seen as a political process working in conjunction with robust technical efforts.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> The Cyber Peace Institute, which was set up earlier in September 2019, and adopts an ecosystem approach to studying cyber attacks, thereby improving global attribution standards may institutionally serve this function.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> As attribution processes become clearer and hold greater political weight, an increasing number of states are likely to show their cards and abandon their policy of silence and ambiguity -- a process that has already commenced with a handful of states releasing clear statements on the applicability of international law in cyberspace.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn30"><sup>[30]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Below the threshold operations are likely to continue. However, the process of contestation should result in the international community drawing out norms that ensure that public trust and confidence in the security of global digital infrastructure is not eroded. This would include norms such as protecting electoral infrastructure or a prohibition on coercing private corporations to aid intelligence agencies in extraterritorial surveillance29 The development of these norms will take time and repeated prodding. However, given the entangled and interdependent nature of the global digital economy, protracted effort may result in universal consensus in some time.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">The Future of Cyber Diplomacy</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The recently rejuvenated UN driven norms formulation processes are examples of this protracted effort. Both the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) processes are pushing states towards publicly declaring their positions on multiple questions of cyber governance, which will only further certainty and predictability in this space. The GGE requires all member states to clearly chart out their position on the applicability of various questions of International Law, which will be included as an Annex to the final report and is definitely a step in the right direction.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There are multiple lessons from parliamentary diplomacy culminating in past global governance regimes that negotiators in these processes can borrow from.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> As in the past, the tenets of international law can influence collective expectations and serve as a facilitative mechanism for chalking out bargaining points, and driving the negotiations within an inclusive, efficient and understandable framework.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn32"><sup>[32]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Both processes will be politicized as before with states seeking to use these as fora for furthering national interests. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Protracted contestation is preferable to unilateralism where a select group of states decides the future of cyber governance. The inclusive, public format of the OEWG running in parallel to the closed-door deliberations at the GGE enables concerted dialogue to continue. Most countries had voted for the resolutions setting up both these processes and while the end-game is unknown, it appears that states remain interested in cultivating cyber norms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Of course, the USA and its NATO allies had voted against the resolution setting up the OEWG and Russia, China and the SCO allies had voted against the resolution resurrecting the GGE. However, given the economic interests of all states in a relatively stable cyberspace, it is clear that both these blocks desire global consensus on some rules of the road for responsible behaviour in cyberspace. This means that both processes may arrive at certain similar outcomes. These outcomes might over time evolve into norms or even crystallise into rules of customary international law if they are representative of the interests of a large number of states.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, sole reliance on state-centric mechanisms to achieve a stable governance regime may be misplaced. As seen with Dupont’s contribution to the Montreal Protocol that banned the global use of Chloro-Fluoro-Carbons (CFCs)<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> or the International Committee of the Red Cross’s concerted efforts in rallying states to sign the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn34"><sup>[34]</sup></a>, norm-entrepreneurship and the mantle of leadership in norm-entrepreneurship need not be limited to state actors. Non-state actors often have the gifts of flexibility and strategic neutrality that make them a better fit for this role than states. Microsoft’s leadership and its ascent to this leadership mantle in the cyber governance space must therefore be taken heed off. The key role it played in charting out the CyberSecurity Tech Accords, Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace and its most recent initiative, the Cyber Peace Institute, must be commended. However, the success of its entrepreneurship relies on how well it can work both with multilateral mechanisms under the aegis of the United Nations and multi-stakeholder fora such as the Global Commission on Stability in Cyberspace. This will lead to a cohesive set of rules that adequately govern the conduct of both state and non-state actors in cyberspace.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is unfortunate, however, that most governance efforts in cyberspace are driven by the United States or China or their allies. For example, only UK<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn35"><sup>[35]</sup></a>, France<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn36"><sup>[36]</sup></a>, Germany,<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> Estonia<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn38"><sup>[38]</sup></a>,Cuba<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> (backed by China and Russia), and the USA<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> have all engaged in public posturing advocating their ideological position on the applicability of International Law in cyberspace in varying degrees of detail with other countries largely remaining silent. Other emerging economies need to get into the game to make the process more representative and equitable.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">More recently, India has begun to take a leadership role in the global debate on cross-border data transfers, spurred largely by their domestic political and policy ecosystem championing ‘digital nationalism.’ At the G20 summit in Osaka in July this year, India, alongside the BRICS grouping emphasized the development dimensions of data for emerging economies and pushed the notion of ‘data sovereignty’-broadly understood as the sovereign right of nations to govern data within their territories/jurisdiction in the national interest and for the welfare of its people.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> Resisting calls from Western allies including the United States to get on board Japan’s initiative promoting the free flow of data across borders, Vijay Gokhale also mentioned that discussions on data flows must not take place at plurilateral forums outside the World Trade Organization as this would prevent inclusive discussions.<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_edn42"><sup>[42]</sup></a>This form of posturing should be sustained by emerging economies like India and extended to the security domain as well through which the hegemony that a few powerful actors retain over the contours of cyber governance can be reduced.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To paraphrase Clausewitz, technological governance is the conduct of politics by other means. Internet infrastructure has become so deeply intertwined with the political ethos of most countries that it has become the latest front for geopolitical contestation among state and non-state actors alike. Politicizing cyber governance prevents a deracinated approach to the process that ignores simmering inequalities, power asymmetries and tensions that a limited technical lens prevents us from viewing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The question is, not if but how cyber governance will be politicized. Will it be a politics of inclusion that protects the rights of the disregarded and adequately represents their voices in line with the requirements of International Law, or will it be a politics of convenience through which states and non-state actors utilise cyber governance for reaping strategic dividends? The global cyber policy ecosystem must continue the battle to ensure that the former remains essential.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Endnotes</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok (2018) “<a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/cyberspace-and-external-affairs" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cyberspace and External Affairs: A memorandum for India</a>”, 8-13.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> In its draft definition of cyber stability, <a href="https://cyberstability.org/news/request-for-consultation-definition-of-stability-of-cyberspace/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace has adopted a bottom up user centric definition of Cyber Stability where individuals can be confident in the stability of cyberspace as opposed to an objective top-down determination of cybersecurity metrics</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> PN Edwards, GC Bowker Jackson SJ, R Williams 2009. Introduction: an agenda for infrastructure studies. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst.10(5):364–74</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> Brian Larkin, “ The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure” Annual Rev. Anthropol 2013,42:327-43</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> Ibid.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> Kieron O’Hara and Wendy Hall, “<a href="https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/documents/Paper%20no.206web.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Four Internets: The Geopolitics of Digital Governance</a>” CIGI Report No.208, December 2018.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> Cade Metz, “<a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/h-bomb-and-the-internet" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Paul Baran, the link between nuclear war and the internet</a>” Wired, 4th Sept. 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> Kal Raustila (2016) “Governing the Internet” American Journal of International Law 110:3,491</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> Samantha Bradshaw, Laura DeNardis, Fen Osler Hampson, Eric Jardine & Mark Raymond, <a href="https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/no17.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Emergence of Contention in Global Internet Governance</a> 3 (Global Comm’n on Internet Governance, Paper Series No. 17, July 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> Klint Finley, "<a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/10/internet-finally-belongs-everyone/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Internet Finally Belongs to Everyone</a>”, Wired, March 18th, 2016.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> Richard Stewart (2014), Remedying Disregard in Global Regulatory Governance: Accountability, Participation and Responsiveness” AJIL 108:2</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> Tarun Chhabra, Rush Doshi, Ryan Hass and Emilie Kimball, “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-china-domains-of-strategic-competition-and-domestic-drivers/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Global China: Domains of strategic competition and domestic drivers</a>” Brookings Institution, September 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> According to this view, a state can manage and define its ‘network frontiers; through domestic legislation or state policy and patrol information at it state borders in any way it deems fit. Yuan Yi,. “网络空间的国界在哪 ” [Where Are the National Borders of cyberspace]? 学习时报.May 19, 2016.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> Anthea Roberts, Henrique Choer Moraes and Victor Ferguson (2019), “<a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=3389163" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Toward a Geoeconomic Order in International Trade and Investment</a>” (May 16, 2019).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> Eurasia Group (2018), “The Geopolitics of 5G”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> Ibid.( In 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Science and technology (MOST) established the IMT-2020 5G Promotion Group to push for a government all-industry alliance on 5G.)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Bjorn Fagersten&Tim Ruhlig (2019), "<a href="https://www.ui.se/globalassets/ui.se-eng/publications/uipublications/2019/ui-brief-no.-2-2019.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">China’s standard power and it’s geopolitical implications for Europe</a>” Swedish Institute for International Affairs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> Alan Beattie, “Technology: how the US, EU and China compete to set industry standards” Financial Times, Jul 14th, 2019</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> Laura Fitchner, Walter Pieters.,&Andre Herdero Texeira(2016). Cybersecurity as a Politikum: Implications of Security Discourses for Infrastructures. In Proceedings of the 2016 New Security Paradigms Workshop (36-48). New York: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> Michael Crosston,” Phreak the Speak: The Flawed Communications within cyber intelligentsia” in Jan-Frederik Kremer and Benedikt Muller,”Cyberspace and International Relations: Theory, Prospects and Challenges (2013, Springer) 253.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> “<a href="https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/fundamental-principles-ihl" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Fundamental Principles of International Humanitarian Law</a>".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> Veronique Christory “<a href="https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/fundamental-principles-ihl" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cyber warfare: IHL provides an additional layer of protection</a>” 10 Sept. 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> See (The “<a href="https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/military-necessity" rel="noopener" target="_blank">principle of military necessity</a>” permits measures which are actually necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose and are not otherwise prohibited by international humanitarian law. In the case of an armed conflict, the only legitimate military purpose is to weaken the military capacity of the other parties to the conflict.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> See <a href="https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/proportionality" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Proportionality</a>; The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> Declaration by Miguel Rodriguez, Representative of Cuba, <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Cuban-Expert-Declaration.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">At the final session of group of governmental experts on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security</a> (June 23 2017).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> Dan Efrony and Yuval Shany (2018), “ A Rule Book on the Shelf? Tallinn Manual 2.0 on Cyberoperations and Subsequent State Practice” AJIL 112:4</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> David Clark and Susan Landau. “Untangling Attribution.” Harvard National Security Journal (Harvard University) 2 (2011</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> Davis, John S., Benjamin Adam Boudreaux, Jonathan William Welburn, Jair Aguirre, Cordaye Ogletree, Geoffrey McGovern and Michael S. Chase. Stateless Attribution: Toward International Accountability in Cyberspace. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, (2017). At</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> See “<a href="https://cyberpeaceinstitute.org/latest-insights/2019-09-26-cyberpeace-institute-to-lead-global-action-againstcyberattacks" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CyberPeace Institute to Support Victims Harmed by Escalating Conflicts in Cyberspace</a>”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> Dan Efrony and Yuval Shany (2018), “ A Rule Book on the Shelf? Tallinn Manual 2.0 on Cyberoperations and Subsequent State Practice” AJIL 112:4</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok (2018), “<a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/gcsc-research-advisory-group.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Conceptualizing an International Security architecture for cyberspace</a>”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> Monica Hakimi (2017), “The Work of International Law,” Harvard International Law Journal 58:1.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> James Maxwell and Forrest Briscoe (2007),” There’s money in the air: The CFC Ban and Dupont’s Regulatory Strategy” Business Strategy and the Environment 6, 276-286.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref34"><sup>[34]</sup></a> Francis Buignon (2004). “The International Committee of the Red Cross and the development of international humanitarian law.” Chi. J. Int’l L.5: 19137</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> Jeremy Wright, “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/cyber-and-international-law-in-the-21st-century" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cyber and International Law in the 21st Century</a>” Govt. UK.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> Michael Schmitt, “<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66194/frances-major-statement-on-international-lawand-cyber-an-assessment/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">France’s Major Statement on International Law and Cyber: An Assessment</a>” Just Security, September 16th, 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> Nele Achten, "<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/germanys-position-international-law-cyberspace" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Germany’s Position on International Law in Cyberspace</a>”, Lawfare, Oct 2, 2018,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> Michael Schmitt, “<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/64490/estonia-speaks-out-on-key-rules-for-cyberspace/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Estonia Speaks out on Key Rules for Cyberspace</a>” Just Security, June 10, 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Cuban-Expert-Declaration.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Cuban-Expert-Declaration.pdf</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Brian-J.-Egan-International-Law-and-Stabilityin-Cyberspace-Berkeley-Nov-2016.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Brian-J.-Egan-International-Law-and-Stabilityin-Cyberspace-Berkeley-Nov-2016.pdf</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> Justin Sherman and Arindrajit Basu, "<a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/07/fostering-strategic-convergencein-us-india-tech-relations-5g-and-beyond/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Fostering Strategic Convergence in US-India Tech Relations: 5G and Beyond</a>”, The Diplomat, July 03, 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace-56811/#_ednref42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> Aditi Agrawal, "<a href="https://www.medianama.com/2019/07/223-india-and-tech-policy-at-the-g20-summit/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">India and Tech Policy at the G20 Summit</a>”, Medianama, Jul 1, 2019.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-orfonline-october-21-2019-politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-orfonline-october-21-2019-politics-by-other-means-fostering-positive-contestation-and-charting-red-lines-through-global-governance-in-cyberspace</a>
</p>
No publisherbasuCyberspaceInternet Governance2019-10-21T15:40:38ZBlog EntryBSides Delhi 2019 Security Conference
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bsides-delhi-2019-security-conference
<b>Karan Saini attended the BSides Delhi security conference on October 11, 2019. The event was organized by Bsides Delhi in New Delhi. </b>
<p>Click to view the agenda <a class="external-link" href="https://bsidesdelhi.in/program.php">here</a>. Videos of the event can be <a class="external-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZidtr5OB-OGQwxWXDDSTBQ">viewed here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bsides-delhi-2019-security-conference'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bsides-delhi-2019-security-conference</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet GovernancePrivacy2019-10-20T06:47:26ZNews ItemDystopia vs development: The Kashmir paradox
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-asmita-bakshi-october-18-2019-dystopia-vs-development
<b>On 26 July, Azmat Ali Mir, 26, landed in her hometown, Srinagar. A day later, uncertainty and panic gripped the Kashmir valley—the Amarnath yatris (pilgrims) and other tourists were being evacuated, there was heavy military deployment and news reports claimed that there could be a threat to the border.</b>
<p>The article by Asmita Bakshi was <a class="external-link" href="https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/dystopia-vs-development-the-kashmir-paradox-11571377960811.html">published by Livemint</a> on October 19, 2019. Ambika Tandon was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But Mir had a lot of work to do—she had events planned as part of her startup Manzar Experience Curators, which promotes Kashmiri art, culture and fashion made and produced locally for audiences outside the state, particularly Bengaluru, where she now lives. “We are so used to things like this, we were like, ‘these things will keep happening, curfew <em>laga denge</em> (they will impose a curfew), that means you need to have ration in your home. But until then, you have to do your work’," Mir tells me over the phone from Bengaluru. “I had very little time, my tickets were already booked for 5 August, there was so much work, I had no time to think. I was going around, signing contracts, getting things done."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But soon, it became clear that things would be different this time. By August 1, fear and tension had escalated. Rumours of war grew louder, and additional troops were flown in. “The guy who heads the agency that was to help with online promotions for my event said things don’t seem okay and we should wait and see how this goes," says Mir. “Our lives, both personal and professional, are governed around the political calendar of Kashmir."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Across town, on 26 July, Sheikh Samiullah, 28, from downtown Srinagar was at a café called ZeroBridge Fine Dine along with his team and representatives from the state administration, including deputy commissioner Shahid Choudhary, to launch the Android app for his company FastBeetle. The logistics startup, launched last year by Samiullah and co-founder Abid Rashid Lone, is often called “Kashmir’s Dunzo", and provides door-to-door delivery services for businesses ranging from online grocers and retail commerce to pharmacies and individuals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The launch of their iOS app was scheduled for 13 August, the day after Eid. But this had to be cancelled a few days later due to the prevailing situation in the valley. Today, FastBeetle’s operations—which run on the internet—have ceased. “I invested all my savings in this company. For me, it’s not possible to run this again. It is like starting from the beginning. I have a massive liability on my head," Samiullah tells me in Delhi, where he has gone from running a profitable business to being unemployed and now searching for work.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the same period, Qazi Zaid, 30, who runs and edits the news platform Free Press Kashmir, was in overdrive. “As journalists living in Kashmir, we aren’t just reporting the conflict, we are also living the conflict. We are members of the same society," he says. “One of the last stories we did was on the panic—how panic is being manufactured and the standard response of people who are scared and entering panic mode. That’s what happened with us as well." Free Press Kashmir, which is primarily an online news portal, has not published for close to three months. And now Zaid is in the Capital, exploring ways to save his news portal from complete closure and prevent the 15 young journalists he employs from being rendered jobless.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These young Kashmiris and their organizations have been driven into a state of near-obscurity since 5 August, when the Union government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted the state of Jammu and Kashmir its special status, and subsequently sent the valley into a communication blackout. Two and a half months later, only landlines and post-paid mobile services (excluding SMS) have been restored. Internet and data services remain closed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With thousands of arrests, instances of violence from both militants and the Armed Forces reported in the international press, the impact of this shutdown has been immense. But it has also inflicted a huge monetary cost. A report in the BBC, published on 8 October, stated that “the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates the shutdown has already cost the region more than $1.4bn (around ₹9,800 crore), and thousands of jobs have been lost".</p>
<p><strong>Shutting down of startups</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a region ridden with decades of armed conflict and the presence of the Indian armed forces in large numbers, entrepreneurship is no easy feat. Kashmiris have typically chosen public sector jobs, but the valley’s entrepreneurs agree that over the last decade or so, young and resilient men and women from the valley had been working to change this with online and offline ventures.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In fact, the startup ecosystem in Kashmir seemed to have been poised for growth. Notably, in September last year, the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI), established by the state government, released the J&K Startup Policy 2018, which aimed to boost the startup ecosystem by granting founders a monthly allowance of up to ₹12,000 for a period of one year during incubation. Recognized startups would be provided with one-time assistance of up to ₹12 Lakh for product research and development, marketing and publicity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was around this time that Samiullah started FastBeetle. He had noticed that though logistics companies existed, they catered largely to big organizations like Amazon. FastBeetle tied up with smaller businesses, including close to 200 women in the valley who were making and selling apparel and other wares on Instagram. “They would have trouble going out every day on multiple deliveries since it is a conservative society," he says. FastBeetle had over 30 merchants within its first month of operations. Over the first five months, they had grown to making 100 deliveries per day, employed a team of six, got an office space and two bikes. In a year, they had generated a positive cash flow despite numerous internet shutdowns imposed in the valley.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Since August 5, the company has been plunged into what Samiullah believes is an interminable downturn. He estimates monetary losses at approximately ₹15 lakh, not considering the ₹4 lakh he invested in the Android app and another ₹3 lakh on the iOS app that never took off. In the unlikely event that restrictions are lifted immediately and business as usual resumes in the valley, it will cost him another ₹10 lakhs to restart the company.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Financial losses aside, he says, it is the time and passion he had invested in the business that won’t come back. And his young employees face an uncertain future as well. One of his delivery boys, Arsalan Shabir Bhat, 21, doesn’t know what the future holds both for him or the valley. “The salary of ₹10,000 for me was good, I was satisfied. “<em>Aage ka nahi pata par haalaat bohot kharab hai. Filhaal toh baithe hi hai ghar pe</em> (I don’t know about the future but the current situation is grim. For now, I am sitting at home)," he says.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Through all this, the state administration and Union government are trying to push the narrative of development. In late September, minister of state for finance and corporate affairs Anurag Thakur, told news outlets: “Our government has taken a historic decision to abrogate Article 370. Now, J&K will witness massive development." Yet, the 33 startups registered with the JKEDI and 70 with the Startup India portal in J&K, among others that run on private funding and bootstrapping models, have been struggling since this decision was taken. Earlier this week, militants attacked two non-local apple traders in the valley, casting doubt on the claim that Kashmir is safe for business.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was to assess conflicting claims such as these, by providing an insight into the lives of people in the valley, that Zaid restarted Free Press Kashmir in 2017 (it was previously shut down in 2014), using investments from his family business. “It’s all the more important now. Because authentic voices from Kashmir are not coming out," says Zaid. He says that while the international media focuses on Kashmir from a breaking news perspective and some of the Indian press takes a nationalistic line, human perspectives from the valley largely remained unheard.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“There was a gap of a human narrative coming out of Kashmir, which we saw and filled," he says. “If we were to relaunch right now, I don’t think there would be a lot of positive stories. There would be stories of struggle, survival, trauma, pain, hardship. That’s what we would be reporting right now."</p>
<p>With a civil curfew reportedly in place in the valley as a means of protest, even businesses that could have provided financial assistance to these startups are not in operation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“The economy is so badly hit and it will take another year or two years or more—no idea how long—to recover. Because right now advertisers will take some time to recover as well," says Zaid. “I don’t think we can sustain that long. Our business was at 50% of sustenance and now it’s down to 0. Traffic is down to 0 form 350,000-500,000 hits."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some investors like Asmat Ashai, who runs the US-based non-profit organization Funkar International, would provide financial assistance to young Kashmiri artists, nevertheless maintain that the difficult situation will not deter them from providing support. “I will continue to help anyone who asks me for help because we cannot give up and we will not be broken. We will stay the course and save whatever we have in spite of the abrogation of all the articles. That is paperwork. Kashmiris will not be broken."</p>
<p><strong>Lost hope</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to the Software Freedom Law Foundation, a legal services organization working to protect digital freedom, Kashmir has had the maximum number of internet shutdowns in the country—55, of varying durations and extents, in 2019 alone, and a total of 180 since 2015. This time however, the shutdown was far more severe—all media and communication platforms, including landlines, internet, news publications and certain television services were suspended. “A large majority of businesses today rely on the internet for some part if not all of their function," says Ambika Tandon, policy officer, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bengaluru.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS published a digital book titled <em>Internet Shutdown Stories</em> in May 2018 which tracked how internet blockades impact lives and livelihoods in India. “We collected stories from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and digital marketing firms in Kashmir that were on the brink of closing down due to the frequency of shutdowns in the valley. The reporters spoke to musicians who used YouTube as a means to earn a livelihood and popularity, and were doubly upset with the effect on their income and their freedom of expression. Given the absence of any public notice before shutdowns, or information regarding the extent and duration of shutdowns, the government definitely has the minimal responsibility of compensating direct losses incurred by those who cannot afford it," says Tandon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Take the example of Furqan Qureshi, who set up KartFood, popularly called “Kashmir’s Zomato", when he was still pursuing a commerce degree from Islamia College, Srinagar. He started in 2017 and would take orders on call. Once the response grew, Qureshi had a website and application built. But for two months thereafter, in May and June 2017, there was a clampdown on the internet. “I suffered a loss of close to ₹1.5 lakh and that time I had no investment, but I had employed people and was responsible for them, so I persevered and started again from July. It’s always about working from scratch in Kashmir. Whenever there is a shutdown, you start from zero," he says on the phone from Bengaluru.</p>
<p>Qureshi says they always fought the odds and remained in business through internet shutdowns during which the team, which stood at 25-30 as on 5 August, would call customers and coordinate deliveries on the phone.</p>
<p>This dedication is what eventually resulted in his first round of investment in February 2018, from a local Kashmiri businessman. “I upgraded the app, included more restaurants, added delivery tracking features and was creating jobs."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Since 5 August, however, not only have communication channels been hit, initially there was complete restriction on movement within the valley. “I had to leave Kashmir around six or seven days after the clampdown, since I live in an area where there was stone-pelting every day and the police was entering homes and picking up boys. My parents were scared and said it was better to go to Bengaluru and stay here," he says, now hoping he can set up a small restaurant in the city, using whatever he has managed to save.</p>
<p>As young entrepreneurs leave, the JKEDI remains hopeful that the startup ecosystem will bounce back once normalcy returns. “I think as soon as the internet starts working again we will push the things here as well, with the policy we are trying to give some incentive to these people, so that we can get these startups back and they can inspire other people to start their own," says Irtif Lone, in-charge, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Business Modelling, JKEDI.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“It is difficult for people to choose to pursue a startup and these situations make it even tougher. We will be pushing all the startups that have made a mark and are now suffering due to the financial constraints. They will be given an incentive as soon as possible so that none of them are starved for finances."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But there are doubts about whether such promises can be fulfilled. In any case, it may already be too late. Shayan Nabi, 29, who ran a digital marketing company and had invested in other ventures of his own such as KashmirCalling (to coordinate private carpooling), has given up hope. As he waits for his employees to receive the emails he has sent asking them to look for alternative opportunities, he himself is facing professional uncertainty in Delhi. “I have been very vocal about providing internet freedom in Kashmir. It’s a basic human right. But it always falls on deaf ears." He adds: “I had ideas about making Kashmir digital. But I am sorry, not any more. Not after all the humiliation we have been through."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The road to recovery from here is paved with crippling debt, unemployment and loss of morale. What was once seen as an act of resilience amidst conflict, has today crumbled due to a State diktat, paradoxically executed with promises of peace and prosperity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When Mir finally landed in Bengaluru on the morning of 5 August, she broke down when she finally heard the news. Today, with payments stuck with vendors and Mir’s inability to reach her artisans and wazas (Kashmiri cooks) in the valley, the Manzar website reads, “All verticals of Manzar Experience Curators... are currently unoperational due to the unprecedented lockdown in Kashmir". She fears that her venture, which set out to create conversations about Kashmir around the country, has lost all meaning and purpose. “I am not someone who set out with hate, I set out with love and passion and this idea of changing things," she says.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Do you think with the kind of environment that this country has created for a Kashmiri today, I can go out and do what I do? Is it safe for someone like me to take a place somewhere in Bengaluru to open a place that serves authentic Kashmiri food? I am scared it could be burnt down the next day."</p>
<p>The question she now asks herself transcends the uncertainty of business in the valley, and straddles a precariousness both political and personal: “Where do I go from here?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-asmita-bakshi-october-18-2019-dystopia-vs-development'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-asmita-bakshi-october-18-2019-dystopia-vs-development</a>
</p>
No publisherAsmita BakshiFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2019-10-20T06:31:00ZNews ItemWill FASTag raise privacy concerns?
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-shreya-nandi-prathma-sharma-october-15-2019-will-fastag-raise-privacy-concerns
<b>FASTag, an electronic device that enables direct, cashless toll payment, has been touted as the Aadhaar for vehicles as it would help the government track movement of automobiles. But the move can also stoke fresh concerns on privacy.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Shreya Nandi and Prathma Sharma was <a class="external-link" href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/will-fastag-raise-privacy-concerns-11571125214325.html">published in Livemint</a> on October 15, 2019. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The device can track movement of vehicles, toll booth cameras can catch traffic law violations, prevent crime, and help authorities curb tax evasion.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the movement of commercial vehicles will be tracked by revenue authorities by integrating with e-way bill system under <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/ihmcl-gstn-to-ink-pact-to-link-fastag-with-gst-e-way-bill-system-on-oct-14-11570973104434.html" target="_blank">Goods and Services Tax (GST)</a> to curb revenue leakage, experts believe that tracking personal vehicle is a matter of concern.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is not that the government will only use the stored data or video under limited and well-defined circumstances such as for evidence in case of traffic accidents, according to Pranesh Prakash, fellow, Centre for Internet Society.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“As transport minister Gadkari said (on Monday), the government will also use the video or data for any for analysis. And that will happen in a non-consensual manner, and outside the purview of a data protection framework, and without paying heed to the Supreme Court's landmark judgment on privacy," Prakash said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On Monday, transport minister <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/gadkari-says-revenue-from-toll-collection-to-hit-rs-1-lakh-crore-in-5-years-11571057140954.html" target="_blank">Nitin Gadkari</a> said cameras at the toll booth will take photos of passengers in a vehicle, which will be useful for the home ministry as there will be a record of the vehicle’s movement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">FASTag, which comes into effect 1 December, uses radio frequency identification technology to enable direct toll payments from a moving vehicle. The toll fare is deducted from the bank account linked to FASTag. It will not only encourage cashless payments at toll plaza, but also decongest national highways, thereby ensuring seamless movement of vehicles, and reduce pollution and logistics cost.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Amid privacy concerns related to sharing Aadhaar details with banks, telecom companies or any other authority for fulfilling KYC norms, the Supreme Court had in September last year ruled that Aadhaar can only be used for welfare schemes and for delivering state subsidies. It had barred private companies from using Aadhaar data for authenticating customers.<br />Another expert said since FASTag data includes information that is personally identifiable with the vehicle owner, it can be misused if shared with various entities.<br />"With FASTag being linked with National Vehicle Database (Vahan database), it does raise privacy concerns, specially as Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways, has admitted that the government has provided access to Vahan and Sarathi database to 32 government and 87 private entities for ₹65 crore till date," Salman Waris Managing Partner, TechLegis Advocates & Solicitors, said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“With the Personal Data Protection Bill still in the making there are little regulatory measures to prevent or even punish FasTag data breaches," Waris said.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-shreya-nandi-prathma-sharma-october-15-2019-will-fastag-raise-privacy-concerns'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-shreya-nandi-prathma-sharma-october-15-2019-will-fastag-raise-privacy-concerns</a>
</p>
No publisherShreya Nandi and Prathma SharmaInternet GovernancePrivacy2019-10-18T15:22:27ZNews ItemThe Mother and Child Tracking System - understanding data trail in the Indian healthcare systems
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-international-ambika-tandon-october-17-2019-mother-and-child-tracking-system-understanding-data-trail-indian-healthcare
<b>Reproductive health programmes in India have been digitising extensive data about pregnant women for over a decade, as part of multiple health information systems. These can be seen as precursors to current conceptions of big data systems within health informatics. In this article, published by Privacy International, Ambika Tandon presents some findings from a recently concluded case study of the MCTS as an example of public data-driven initiatives in reproductive health in India. </b>
<p> </p>
<h4>This article was first published by <a href="https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/3262/mother-and-child-tracking-system-understanding-data-trail-indian-healthcare" target="_blank">Privacy International</a>, on October 17, 2019</h4>
<h4>Case study of MCTS: <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/big-data-reproductive-health-india-mcts" target="_blank">Read</a></h4>
<hr />
<p>On October 17th 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip Alston, released his thematic report on digital technology, social protection and human rights. Understanding the impact of technology on the provision of social protection – and, by extent, its impact on people in vulnerable situations – has been part of the work the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Privacy International (PI) have been doing.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, <a href="https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/2996/privacy-internationals-submission-digital-technology-social-protection-and-human" target="_blank">PI responded</a> to the UNSR's consultation on this topic. We highlighted what we perceived as some of the most pressing issues we had observed around the world when it comes to the use of technology for the delivery of social protection and its impact on the right to privacy and dignity of benefit claimants.</p>
<p>Among them, automation and the increasing reliance on AI is a topic of particular concern - countries including Australia, India, the UK and the US have already started to adopt these technologies in digital welfare programmes. This adoption raises significant concerns about a quickly approaching future, in which computers decide whether or not we get access to the services that allow us to survive. There's an even more pressing problem. More than a few stories have emerged revealing the extent of the bias in many AI systems, biases that create serious issues for people in vulnerable situations, who are already exposed to discrimination, and made worse by increasing reliance on automation.</p>
<p>Beyond the issue of AI, we think it is important to look at welfare and automation with a wider lens. In order for an AI to function it needs to be trained on a dataset, so that it can understand what it is looking for. That requires the collection large quantities of data. That data would then be used to train and AI to recognise what fraudulent use of public benefits would look like. That means we need to think about every data point being collected as one that, in the long run, will likely be used for automation purposes.</p>
<p>These systems incentivise the mass collection of people's data, across a huge range of government services, from welfare to health - where women and gender-diverse people are uniquely impacted. CIS have been looking specifically at reproductive health programmes in India, work which offers a unique insight into the ways in which mass data collection in systems like these can enable abuse.</p>
<p>Reproductive health programmes in India have been digitising extensive data about pregnant women for over a decade, as part of multiple health information systems. These can be seen as precursors to current conceptions of big data systems within health informatics. India’s health programme instituted such an information system in 2009, the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS), which is aimed at collecting data on maternal and child health. The Centre for Internet and Society, India, <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/big-data-reproductive-health-india-mcts" target="_blank">undertook a case study of the MCTS</a> as an example of public data-driven initiatives in reproductive health. The case study was supported by the <a href="http://bd4d.net/" target="_blank">Big Data for Development network</a> supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The objective of the case study was to focus on the data flows and architecture of the system, and identify areas of concern as newer systems of health informatics are introduced on top of existing ones. The case study is also relevant from the perspective of Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to rectify the tendency of global development initiatives to ignore national HIS and create purpose-specific monitoring systems.</p>
<p>After being launched in 2011, 120 million (12 crore) pregnant women and 111 million (11 crore) children have been registered on the MCTS as of 2018. The central database collects data on each visit of the woman from conception to 42 days postpartum, including details of direct benefit transfer of maternity benefit schemes. While data-driven monitoring is a critical exercise to improve health care provision, publicly available documents on the MCTS reflect the complete absence of robust data protection measures. The risk associated with data leaks are amplified due to the stigma associated with abortion, especially for unmarried women or survivors of rape.</p>
<p>The historical landscape of reproductive healthcare provision and family planning in India has been dominated by a target-based approach. Geared at population control, this approach sought to maximise family planning targets without protecting decisional autonomy and bodily privacy for women. At the policy level, this approach was shifted in favour of a rights-based approach to family planning in 1994. However, targets continue to be set for women’s sterilisation on the ground. Surveillance practices in reproductive healthcare are then used to monitor under-performing regions and meet sterilisation targets for women, this continues to be the primary mode of contraception offered by public family planning initiatives.</p>
<p>More recently, this database - among others collecting data about reproductive health - is adding biometric information through linkage with the Aadhaar infrastructure. This data adds to the sensitive information being collected and stored without adhering to any publicly available data protection practices. Biometric linkage is aimed to fulfill multiple functions - primarily authentication of welfare beneficiaries of the national maternal benefits scheme. Making Aadhaar details mandatory could directly contribute to the denial of service to legitimate patients and beneficiaries - as has already been seen in some cases.</p>
<p>The added layer of biometric surveillance also has the potential to enable other forms of abuse of privacy for pregnant women. In 2016, the union minister for Women and Child Development under the previous government suggested the use of strict biometric-based monitoring to discourage gender-biased sex selection. Activists critiqued the policy for its paternalistic approach to reduce the rampant practice of gender-biased sex selection, rather than addressing the root causes of gender inequality in the country.</p>
<p>There is an urgent need to rethink the objectives and practices of data collection in public reproductive health provision in India. Rather than continued focus on meeting high-level targets, monitoring systems should enable local usage and protect the decisional autonomy of patients. In addition, the data protection legislation in India - expected to be tabled in the next session in parliament - should place free and informed consent, and informational privacy at the centre of data-driven practices in reproductive health provision.</p>
<p>This is why the systematic mass collection of data in health services is all the more worrying. When the collection of our data becomes a condition for accessing health services, it is not only a threat to our right to health that should not be conditional on data sharing but also it raises questions as to how this data will be used in the age of automation.</p>
<p>This is why understanding what data is collected and how it is collected in the context of health and social protection programmes is so important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-international-ambika-tandon-october-17-2019-mother-and-child-tracking-system-understanding-data-trail-indian-healthcare'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-international-ambika-tandon-october-17-2019-mother-and-child-tracking-system-understanding-data-trail-indian-healthcare</a>
</p>
No publisherambikaBig DataData SystemsPrivacyResearchers at WorkInternet GovernanceResearchBD4DHealthcareBig Data for Development2019-12-30T17:18:05ZBlog EntryParticipation in ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 meetings
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/participation-in-iso-iec-jtc-1-sc-27-meetings
<b>From October 14 - 18, 2019, Gurshabad Grover, participated in the meetings of ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 held in Paris, the committee that develops international standards for IT Security techniques.</b>
<p>Gurshabad focused on the meetings of working group 5 that deals with identity management and privacy technologies. Some highlights of the participation:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span>I represented the Indian delegation's contributions in the comment </span><span>resolution meeting on WD TS 27570: Privacy guidelines for smart cities.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span>Since </span><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT207_com_zimbra_date">October 2018</span><span>, I have been a co-rapporteur on the working groups' </span><span>study period on the impact of machine learning on privacy. At this </span><span>meeting, we presented our interim report. We are extending the study </span><span>period for six months to further collaborate with SC 42 (that deals with </span><span>artificial intelligence standards) to document privacy aspects for the </span><span>applications and use cases they have developed.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span>I will now be a co-rapporteur on the study period on `Privacy for </span><span>fintech services', which was initiated in this meeting. We will be </span><span>surveying privacy standards and data protection regulations to assess </span><span>the need for new work items (standards/guidelines document) in the space.</span></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/participation-in-iso-iec-jtc-1-sc-27-meetings'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/participation-in-iso-iec-jtc-1-sc-27-meetings</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet GovernancePrivacy2019-11-02T06:31:46ZNews ItemIndia's HIV-positive trans people find 'new strength' in technology
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/reuters-annie-banerji-october-17-2019-indias-hiv-positive-trans-people-find-new-strength-in-technology
<b>Shoved, cursed and ridiculed, Nisha's hospital visits were always stressful as a transgender woman and got worse after she was diagnosed as HIV-positive.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Annie Banerji was <a class="external-link" href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2019/10/16/indias-hiv-positive-trans-people-find-new-strength-in-technology.html">published in Reuters</a> on October 17, 2019 and mirrored in the Jakarta Post as well. Ambika Tandon was quoted. It was mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/health-it/indias-hiv-positive-trans-people-find-new-strength-in-technology/71599241">ET Healthworld.com</a> as well.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But a new app introduced as part of a drive to end an HIV epidemic in India by 2030 is providing her and the transgender community better access to doctors, lifesaving drugs - and hope - although it has raised concerns about digital privacy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has the world's third largest population living with HIV - 2.1 million people - according to UNAIDS, with recognition that help is needed in the transgender community where the prevalence is 3.1% compared to 0.26% among all adults.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nisha tested HIV positive last year after earning a living as a sex worker in New Delhi. On the job, she said, condoms would often break or she would not use one for more money.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"That was a bad idea. I ended up with HIV. I felt suicidal after I found out," Nisha, 29, a trans woman who goes by one name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"It didn't help that going to the hospital was torturous. People made faces, passed lewd comments ... a doctor even kicked me out."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Despite the Supreme Court recognizing India's 2 million transgender people as a third gender with equal rights in 2014, they are often kicked out by their families and denied jobs, education and healthcare, leading them to begging or sex work.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Trans women like Nisha say they face "double discrimination" and the risk of being shunned and abused - first because of their gender identity and then because of their HIV status.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But a counselling program along with a new app is helping health workers track down HIV-positive transgender people, monitor their treatment and link them to doctors and antiretroviral therapy (ART) to suppress the AIDS virus.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"I have found new strength. I don't feel depressed or nervous anymore," said Nisha, who now begs at traffic lights.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The app helps keep me physically healthy and she ensures I'm mentally and emotionally (healthy)," she said, pointing to her outreach worker Samyra, an HIV-positive trans woman.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The eMpower app - developed by IBM in partnership with India HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - monitored more than 1.2 million people between January 2018 and March 2019.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>'Half the battle won'</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With mobile tablets in hand, HIV-positive transgender outreach workers keep a tab on others in their community living with HIV and counsel them and accompany them to see doctors.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"I tell them 'I'm like you. I'm HIV-positive and I'm taking medicines too. You're not alone'," said Samyra, who works with Vihaan, a national initiative to expand counselling, outreach and follow-up programs to people living with HIV.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"That makes a huge difference because it's coming from one of your own. Half of the HIV battle is won when you have someone to hold your hand along the way."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Health experts said transgender focused initiatives like this and the launch in March of India's first HIV treatment clinic in Mumbai city run for and by LGBT+ people were pushing the country towards its target to end the epidemic by 2030.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But to achieve this target they said it was critical for patients to stick with ART. Sometimes stigma and side effects can cause them to drop out of the treatment.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">That is why health workers follow up with clients every few months and record information on the eMpower app, including their weight, viral load and CD4 - white blood cells that fight HIV - and advise them on everything from their diet to safe sex.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">They also note whether a client has faced discrimination, and arrange for partners and family members to get tested.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sonal Mehta, head of India HIV/AIDS Alliance, said the app has helped boost Vihaan's outreach numbers as well as the confidence of trans clients and workers, who often come from poor, semi-literate backgrounds.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The trans clients definitely feel much more secure ... but the outreach workers themselves also feel very empowered. They are professional officers working on the field, talking to doctors, government officers, engaging with various organisations," she said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Double-edged sword</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While such technological advances are seen as key in the HIV/AIDS fight, health and software experts warn they can come at the cost of privacy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The eMpower app creates a profile for each client with personal information including name, biometric ID number, occupation and monthly income, and a map pinning their location.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Without proper safeguards, such an app runs the risk of data breach and sharing information with third-parties, which can further ostracize an already marginalized community, said Ambika Tandon, a cyber security expert.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The potential to monetize is definitely a risk factor," said Tandon, policy officer in gender-based research at the Banaglore-based Centre for Internet and Society.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"Another is informational privacy ... (clients) may not necessarily know where their information is being stored, who will have access to it ... There could be multiple points at which their data could be vulnerable."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Saravanan RM, a senior technical officer at India HIV/AIDS Alliance, said the eMpower app a "fool-proof system".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He said all sensitive data was stored on the organisation's server, which could only be accessed by specific workers through a password-protected system.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">None of the information can be seen by any partners - not IBM, state or federal governments. It is further beefed up by a mobile device management (MDM), he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"For example, if any device is lost or has gone into someone else's hands, what we can do through MDM is clean out the entire tablet and the data will not be acquired," he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. V Sam Prasad, India program manager of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the app should not be dismissed because there was a privacy risk as it came with major benefits.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Several HIV-positive transgender people like Swati, a trans woman who contracted HIV after injecting drugs, felt the same.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"Even if it (personal data) is leaked, what's the worst that could happen? I've faced unimaginable things. Nothing scares me, at least not such things," said Swati, 25, after a follow-up meeting with her outreach worker at her one-room home.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"It is (eMpower) saving me. It is not an enemy."</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/reuters-annie-banerji-october-17-2019-indias-hiv-positive-trans-people-find-new-strength-in-technology'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/reuters-annie-banerji-october-17-2019-indias-hiv-positive-trans-people-find-new-strength-in-technology</a>
</p>
No publisherAnnie BanerjiInternet Governance2019-10-18T15:28:18ZNews ItemPanelist at launch of Google-UNESCAP AI Report
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/panelist-at-launch-of-google-unescap-ai-report
<b>Arindrajit Basu was a speaker at the panel launching the Google-UNESCAP AI Report at the GovInsider Forum held at the United Nations Convention Centre in Bangkok on October 16, 2019. </b>
<p>Click to <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/launch-the-ai-report">view the agenda</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/panelist-at-launch-of-google-unescap-ai-report'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/panelist-at-launch-of-google-unescap-ai-report</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet GovernanceArtificial Intelligence2019-11-02T06:48:25ZNews ItemFarming the Future: Deployment of Artificial Intelligence in the agricultural sector in India
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-delivery-of-public-services-elonnai-hickok-pranav-bidare-arindrajit-basu-siddharth-october-16-2019-farming-the-future
<b>This case study was published as a chapter in the joint UNESCAP-Google publication titled Artificial Intelligence in Public Service Delivery. The chapter in its final form would not have been possible without the efforts and very useful interventions by our colleagues at Digital Asia Hub,Google, and UNESCAP.</b>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Findings.jpg" alt="Findings" class="image-inline" title="Findings" /></p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although agriculture is a critical sector for India’s economic development, it continues to face many challenges including a lack of <span>modernization of agricultural methods, fragmented landholdings, erratic rainfalls, overuse of groundwater and a lack of access to </span><span>information on weather, markets and pricing. As state governments create policies and frameworks to mitigate these challenges, the </span><span>role of technology has often come up as a potential driver of positive change.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Farmers in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are facing significant challenges. For hundreds of years,these farmers have relied on traditional agricultural methods to make sowing and harvesting decisions, but now volatile weather patterns and shifting monsoon seasons are making such ancient wisdom obsolete. Farmers are unable to predict weather patterns or crop yields accurately, making it difficult for them to make informed financial and operational decisions associated with planting and harvesting. Erratic weather patterns particularly affect those farmers who reside in remote areas, cut off from meaningful accessto infrastructure and information. In addition to a lack of vital weather information, farmers may lack information about market conditions and may then sell their crops to intermediaries at below-market prices.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Against this backdrop, the state governments and local partners in southern India teamed up with Microsoft to develop predictive AI services to help smallholder farmers to improve their crop yields and give them greater price control. Since 2016 three applications have been developed and applied for use in these communities, two of which are discussed in this case study: the AI-sowing app and the price forecasting model.</span></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/publications/AI%20Report.pdf">Click to read</a> the report here.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-delivery-of-public-services-elonnai-hickok-pranav-bidare-arindrajit-basu-siddharth-october-16-2019-farming-the-future'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-delivery-of-public-services-elonnai-hickok-pranav-bidare-arindrajit-basu-siddharth-october-16-2019-farming-the-future</a>
</p>
No publisherElonnai Hickok, Arindrajit Basu, Siddharth Sonkar and Pranav M BInternet GovernanceArtificial Intelligence2019-10-16T13:41:02ZBlog EntryAI Opera- AI as a total work of art
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ai-opera-ai-as-a-total-work-of-art
<b>On October 11, 2019, Shweta Mohandas and Mira were invited as panelists for the 'AI Opera- AI as a total work of art' event organized by Goethe as part of the India Week Hamburg 2019 held in Bangalore. CIS was an event partner. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The panel had to present different perspectives and possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The discussion was facilitated by German artist, performer and filmmaker Christoph Faulhaber. For more info, <a class="external-link" href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/sta/ban/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21670394">click here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ai-opera-ai-as-a-total-work-of-art'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ai-opera-ai-as-a-total-work-of-art</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet GovernanceArtificial Intelligence2019-10-14T14:30:56ZNews ItemWe need a better AI vision
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/fountain-ink-october-12-2019-arindrajit-basu-we-need-a-better-ai-vision
<b>Artificial intelligence conjures up a wondrous world of autonomous processes but dystopia is inevitable unless rights and privacy are protected.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post by Arindrajit Basu was published by<a class="external-link" href="https://fountainink.in/essay/we-need-a-better-ai-vision-"> Fountainink</a> on October 12, 2019.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">he dawn of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has policy-makers across the globe excited. In India, it is seen as a tool to overleap structural hurdles and better understand a range of organisational and management processes while improving the implementation of several government tasks. Notwithstanding the apparent enthusiasm in the government and private sectors, an adequate technological, infrastructural, and financial capacity to develop these models at scale is still in the works.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A number of policy documents with direct or indirect references to India’s AI future—to be powered by vast troves of data—have been released in the past year and a half. These include the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (which I will refer to as National Strategy) authored by NITI Aayog, the AI Taskforce Report, Chapter 4 of the Economic Survey, the Draft e-Commerce Bill and the Srikrishna Committee Report.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While they extol the virtues of data-driven analytics, references to the preservation or augmentation of India’s constitutional ethos through AI has been limited though it is crucial for safeguarding the rights and liberties of citizens while paving the way for the alleviation of societal oppression.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In this essay, I outline the variety of AI use cases that are in the works. I then highlight India’s AI vision by culling the relevant aspects of policy instruments that impact the AI ecosystem and identify lacunae that can be rectified. Finally, I attempt to “constitutionalise AI policy” by grounding it in a framework of constitutional rights that guarantee protection to the most vulnerable sections of society.</p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">In the manufacturing industry, AI adoption is not uniform across all sectors. But there has been a notable transformation in electronics, heavy electricals and automobiles.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is crucial to note that these cases, still emerging in India, have been implemented at scale in other countries such as the United Kingdom, United States and China. Projects were rolled out to the detriment of ethical and legal considerations. Hindsight should make the Indian policy ecosystem much wiser. By closely studying the research produced in these diverse contexts, Indian policy-makers should try to find ways around the ethical and legal challenges that cropped up elsewhere and devise policy solutions that mitigate the concerns raised.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">***</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">B<span>efore anything else we need to define AI—an endeavour fraught with multiple contestations. My colleagues and I at the Centre for Internet & Society ducked this hurdle when conducting our research by adopting a function-based approach. An AI system (as opposed to one that automates routine, cognitive or non-cognitive tasks) is a dynamic learning system that allows for the delegation of some level of human decision-making to the system. This definition allows us to capture some of the unique challenges and prospects that stem from the use of AI.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The research I contributed to at CIS identified key trends in the use of AI across India. In healthcare, it is used for descriptive and predictive purposes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For example, the Manipal Group of Hospitals tied up with IBM’s Watson for Oncology to aid doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of seven types of cancer. It is also being used for analytical or diagnostic services. Niramai Health Analytix uses AI to detect early stage breast cancer and Adveniot Tecnosys detects tuberculosis through chest X-rays and acute infections using ultrasound images. In the manufacturing industry, AI adoption is not uniform across all sectors. But there has been a notable transformation in the electronics, heavy electricals and automobiles sector gradually adopting and integrating AI solutions into their products and processes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is also used in the burgeoning online lending segment in order to source credit score data. As many Indians have no credit scores, AI is used to aggregate data and generate scores for more than 80 per cent of the population who have no credit scores. This includes Credit Vidya, a Hyderabad-based data underwriting start-up that provides a credit score to first time loan-seekers and feeds this information to big players such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, among others. It is also used by players such as Mastercard for fraud detection and risk management. In the finance world, companies such as Trade Rays are being used to provide user-friendly algorithmic trading services.</p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">AI is also being increasingly used in the education sector for providing services to students such as decision-making assistance and also for student-progress monitoring.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The next big development is in law enforcement. Predictive policing is making great strides in various states, including Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. A brainchild of the Los Angeles Police Department, predictive policing is the use of analytical techniques such as Machine Learning to identify probable targets for intervention to prevent crime or to solve past crime through statistical predictions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Conventional approaches to predictive policing start with the mapping of locations where crimes are concentrated (hot spots) by using algorithms to analyse aggregated data sets. Police in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have partnered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a Memorandum of Understanding to allow ISRO’s Advanced Data Processing Research Institute to map, visualise and compile reports about crime-related incidents.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There are aggressive developments also on the facial recognition front. Punjab Police, in association with Gurugram-based start-up Staqu has started implementing the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) which uses digitised criminal records and automated facial recognition to retrieve information on the suspected criminal. At the national level, on June 28, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) called for tenders to implement a centralised Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS), defining the scope of work in broad terms as the “supply, installation and commissioning of hardware and software at NCRB.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">AI is also being increasingly used in the education sector for providing services to students such as decision-making assistance and also for student-progress monitoring. The Andhra Pradesh government had started collecting information from a range of databases and processes the information through Microsoft’s Machine Learning Platform to monitor children and devote student focussed attention on identifying and curbing school drop-outs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In Andhra Pradesh, Microsoft collaborated with the International Crop Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to develop an AI Sowing App powered by Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite. It aggregated data using Machine Learning and sent advisories to farmers regarding optimal dates to sow. This was done via text messages on feature phones after ground research revealed that not many farmers owned or were able to use smart phones. The NITI Aayog AI Strategy specifically cited this use case and reported that this resulted in a 10-30 per cent increase in crop yield. The government of Karnataka has entered into a similar arrangement with Microsoft.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Finally, in the defence sector, our research found enthusiasm for AI in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) functions, cyber defence, robot soldiers, risk terrain analysis and moving towards autonomous weapons systems. These projects are being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation but the level of trust and support in AI-driven processes reposed by the wings of the armed forces is yet to be publicly clarified. India also had the privilege of leading the global debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) with Amandeep Singh Gill chairing the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (UN-GGE) on the issue. However, ‘lethal’ autonomous weapons systems at this stage appear to be a speck in the distant horizon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">***</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A<span>long with the range of use cases described above, a patchwork of policy imperatives is emerging to support this ecosystem. The umbrella document is the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence published by the NITI Aayog in June 2018. Despite certain lacunae in its scope, the existence of a cohesive and robust document that lends a semblance of certainty and predictability to a rapidly emerging sphere is in itself a boon. The document focuses on how India can leverage AI for both economic growth and social inclusion. The contents of the document can be divided into a few themes, many of which have also found their way into multiple other instruments.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">NITI Aayog provides over 30 policy recommendations on investment in scientific research, reskilling, training and enabling the speedy adoption of AI across value chains. The flagship research initiative is a two-tiered endeavour to boost AI research in India. First, new centres of research excellence (COREs) will develop fundamental research. The COREs will act as feeders for international centres for transformational AI which will focus on creating AI-based applications across sectors.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/AIinCountries.jpg/@@images/16b4af34-cb6d-423c-be35-e45a60d501cf.jpeg" alt="AI in Countries" class="image-inline" title="AI in Countries" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This is an impressive theoretical objective but questions surrounding implementation and structures of operation remain to be answered. China has not only conceptualised an ecosystem but through the Three Year Action Plan to Promote the Development of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry, it has also taken a whole-of-government approach to propelling the private sector to an e-leadership position. It has partnered with national tech companies and set clear goals for funding, such as the $2.1 billion technology park for AI research in Beijing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The contents of the NITI document can be divided into a few themes, many of which have also found their way into multiple other instruments. First, it proposes an “AI+X” approach that captures the long-term vision for AI in India. Instead of replacing the processes in their entirety, AI is understood as an enabler of efficiency in processes that already exist. NITI Aayog therefore looks at the process of deploying AI-driven technologies as taking an existing process (X) and adding AI to them (AI+X). This is a crucial recommendation all AI projects should heed. Instead of waving AI as an all-encompassing magic wand across sectors, it is necessary to identify specific gaps AI can seek to remedy and then devise the process underpinning this implementation.</p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">A cacophony of policy instruments by multiple government departments seeks to reconceptualise data to construct a theoretical framework that allows for its exploitation for AI-driven analytics.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The AI-driven intervention to develop sowing apps for farmers in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are examples of effective implementation of this approach. Instead of other knee-jerk reactions to agrarian woes such as a hasty raising of Minimum Support Price, effective research was done in this use-case to identify a lack of predictability in weather patterns as a key factor in productive crop yields. They realised that aggregation of data through AI could provide farmers with better information on weather patterns. As internet penetration was relatively low in rural Karnataka, text messages to feature phones that had a far wider presence was indispensable to the end game.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">***</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">T<span>his is in contrast to the ill-conceived path adopted by the Union ministry of electronics and information technology in guidelines for regulating social media platforms that host content (“intermediaries”). Rule 3(9) of the Draft of the Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018 mandates intermediaries to use “automated tools or appropriate mechanisms, with appropriate controls, for proactively identifying and removing or disabling public access to unlawful information or content”.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Proposed in light of the fake news menace and the unbridled spread of “extremist” content online, the use of the phrase “automated tools or appropriate mechanisms” is reflective of an attitude that fails to consider ground realities that confront companies and users alike. They ignore, for instance, the cost of automated tools: whether automated content moderation techniques developed in the West can be applied to Indic languages or grievance redress mechanisms users can avail of if their online speech is unduly restricted. This is thus a clear case of the “AI” mantra being drawn out of a hat without studying the “X” it is supposed to remedy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second focus of the National Strategy that has since morphed into a technology policy mainstay across instruments is on data governance, access and utilisation. The document says the major hurdle to the large scale adoption of AI in India is the difficulty in accessing structured data. It recommends developing big annotated data sets to “democratise data and multi-stakeholder marketplaces across the AI value chain”. It argues that at present only one per cent of data can be analysed as it exists in various unconnected silos. Through the creation of a formal market for data, aggregators such as diagnostic centres in the healthcare sector would curate datasets and place them in the market, with appropriate permissions and safeguards. AI firms could use available datasets rather than wasting effort sourcing and curating the sets themselves.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A cacophony of policy instruments by multiple government departments seeks to reconceptualise data to construct a theoretical framework that allows for its exploitation for AI-driven analytics.The first is “community data” and appears both in the Srikrishna Report that accompanied the draft Data Protection Bill in 2018 and the draft e-commerce policy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But there appears to be some conflict between its usage in the two. Srikrishna endorses a collective protection of privacy by protecting an identifiable community that has contributed to community data. This requires the fulfilment of three key conditions: <i>first,</i> the data belong to an identifiable community; <i>second, </i>individuals in the community consent to being a part of it, and <i>third</i>, the community as a whole consents to its data being treated as community data. On the other hand, the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade’s (DPIIT) draft e-commerce policy looks at community data as “societal commons” or a “national resource” that gives the community the right to access it but government has ultimate and overriding control of the data. This configuration of community data brings into question the consent framework in the Srikrishna Bill.</p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">The government’s attempt to harness data as a national resource for the development of AI-based solutions may be well-intentioned but is fraught with core problems in implementation.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The matter is further confused by treating “data as a public good”. This is projected in Chapter 4 of the 2019 Economic Survey published by the Ministry of Finance. It explicitly states that any configuration needs to be deferential to privacy norms and the upcoming privacy law. The “personal data” of an individual in the custody of a government is also a “public good” once the datasets are anonymised. At the same time, it pushes for the creation of a government database that links several individual databases, which leads to the “triangulation” problem, where matching different datasets together allows for individuals to be identified despite their anonymisation in seemingly disparate databases.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Building an AI ecosystem” was also one of the ostensible reasons for data localisation—the government’s gambit to mandate that foreign companies store the data of Indian citizens within national borders. In addition to a few other policy instruments with similar mandates, Section 40 of the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill mandates that all “critical data” (this is to be notified by the government) be stored exclusively in India. All other data should have a live, serving copy stored in India even if transfer abroad is allowed. This was an attempt to ensure foreign data processors are not the sole beneficiaries of AI-driven insights.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government’s attempt to harness data as a national resource for the development of AI-based solutions may be well intentioned but is fraught with core problems in implementation. First, the notion of data as a national resource or as a public good walks a tightrope with constitutionally guaranteed protections around privacy, which will be codified in the upcoming Personal Data Protection Bill. My concerns are not quite so grave in the case of genuine “public data” like traffic signal data or pollution data. However, the Economic Survey manages to crudely amalgamate personal data into the mix.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It also states that personal data in the custody of a government is a public good once the datasets are anonymised. This includes transactions data in the User Payments Interface (UPI), administrative data including birth and death records, and institutional data including data in public hospitals or schools on pupils or patients. At the same time, it pushes for a government database that will lead to the triangulation problem outlined above. The chapter also suggests that said data may be sold to private firms (unclear if this includes foreign or domestic firms). This not only contradicts the notion of public good but is also a serious threat to the confidentiality and security of personal data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">***</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">T<span>herefore, along with the concerted endeavour to create data marketplaces, it is crucial for policy-makers to differentiate between public data and personal data individuals may consent to be made public. The parameters for clearly defining free and informed consent, as codified in the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill need to be strictly followed as there is a risk of de-anonymisation of data once it finds its way into the marketplace. Second, it is crucial for policy-makers to define clearly a community and parameters for what constitutes individual consent to be part of a community. Finally, along with technical work on setting up a national data marketplace, there must be protracted efforts to guarantee greater security and standards of anonymisation.</span></p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">The National Strategy mentions that India should position itself as a “garage” for AI in emerging economies. This could mean Indian citizens are used as guinea pigs for AI-driven solutions at the cost of their rights.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Assuming that a constitutionally valid paradigm may be created, the excessive focus on data access by tech players dodges the question of the capabilities of analytic firms to process this data and derive meaningful insights from the information. Scholars on China, arguably the poster-child of data-driven economic growth, have sent mixed messages. Ding argues that despite having half the technical capabilities of the US, easy access to data gives China a competitive edge in global AI competition. On the contrary, Andrew Ng has argued that operationalising a sufficient number of relevant datasets still remains a challenge. Ng’s views are backed up by insiders at Chinese tech giant Tencent who say the company still finds it difficult to integrate data streams due to technical hurdles. NITI Aayog’s idea of a multi-stream data marketplace may theoretically be a solution to these potential hurdles but requires sustained funding and research innovation to be converted into reality.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The National Strategy suggests that government should create a multi-disciplinary committee to set up this marketplace and explore levers for its implementation. This is certainly the need of the hour. It also rightly highlights the importance of research partnerships between academia and the private sector, and the need to support start-ups. There is therefore an urgent need for innovative allied policy instruments that support the burgeoning start-up sector. Proposals such as data localisation may hurt smaller players as they will have to bear the increased fixed costs of setting up or renting data centres.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The National Strategy also incongruously mentions that India should position itself as a “garage” for the use of AI in emerging economies. This could mean Indian citizens are used as guinea pigs for AI-driven solutions at the cost of their fundamental rights. It could also imply that India should occupy a leadership position and work with other emerging economies to frame the global rights based discourse to seek equitable solutions for the application of AI that works to improve the plight of the most vulnerable in society.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">O<span>ur constitutional ethos places us in a unique position to develop a framework that enables the actualisation of this equitable vision—a goal the policy instruments put out thus far appear to have missed. While the National Strategy includes a section on privacy, security and ethical implications of AI, it stops short of rooting it in fundamental rights and constitutional principles. As a centralised policy instrument, the National Strategy deserves praise for identifying key levers in the future of India’s AI ecosystem and, with the exception of the concerns I outlined above, it is at par with the policy-making thought process in any other nation.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When we start the process of using constitutional principles for AI governance, we must remember that as per Article 12, an individual can file a writ against the state for violation of a fundamental right if the action is taken under the aegis of a “public function”. To combat discrimination by private actors, the state can enact legislation compelling private actors to comply with constitutional mandates. In July, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, a Rajya Sabha MP, suggested a law to combat algorithmic discrimination along the lines of the Algorithmic Accountability Bill proposed in the US Senate. There are three core constitutional questions along the lines of the “golden triangle” of the Indian Constitution any such legislation will need to answer—those of accountability and transparency, algorithmic discrimination and the guarantee of freedom of expression and individual privacy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Algorithms are developed by human beings who have their own cognitive biases. This means ostensibly neutral algorithms can have an unintentional disparate impact on certain, often traditionally disenfranchised groups.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the <i>MIT Technology Review</i>, Karen Hao explains three stages at which bias might creep in. The first stage is the framing of the problem itself. As soon as computer scientists create a deep-learning model, they decide what they want the model to finally achieve. However, frequently desired outcomes such as “profitability”, “creditworthiness” or “recruitability” are subjective and imprecise concepts subject to human cognitive bias. This makes it difficult to devise screening algorithms that fairly portray society and the complex medley of identities, attributes and structures of power that define it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second stage Hao mentions is the data collection phase. Training data could lead to bias if it is unrepresentative of reality or represents entrenched prejudice or structural inequality. For example, most Natural Language Processing systems used for Parts of Speech (POS) tagging in the US are trained on the readily available data sets from the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>. Accuracy would naturally decrease when the algorithm is applied to individuals—largely ethnic minorities—who do not mimic the speech of the <i>Journal</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to Hao, the final stage for algorithmic bias is data preparation, which involves selecting parameters the developer wants the algorithm to consider. For example, when determining the “risk-profile” of car owners seeking insurance premiums, geographical location could be one parameter. This could be justified by the ostensibly neutral argument that those residing in inner-city areas with narrower roads are more likely to have scratches on their vehicles. But as inner cities in the US have a disproportionately high number of ethnic minorities or other vulnerable socio-economic groups, “pin code” becomes a facially neutral proxy for race or class-based discrimination.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">T<span>he right to equality has been carved into multiple international human rights instruments and into the Equality Code in Articles 14-18 of the Indian Constitution. The dominant approach to interpreting the right to equality by the Supreme Court has been to focus on “grounds” of discrimination under Article 15(1), thus resulting in a lack of recognition of unintentional discrimination and disparate impact.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A notable exception, as constitutional scholar Gautam Bhatia points out, is the case of <i>N.M. Thomas </i>which pertained to reservation in promotions. Justice Mathew argued that the test for inequality in Article 16(4) is an effects-oriented test independent of the formal motivation underlying a specific act. Justice Krishna Iyer and Mathew also articulated a grander vision wherein they saw the Equality Code as transcending the embedded individual disabilities in class driven social hierarchies. This understanding is crucial for governing data driven decision-making that impacts vulnerable communities. Any law or policy on AI-related discrimination must also include disparate impact within its definition of “discrimination” to ensure that developers think about the adverse consequences even of well-intentioned decisions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">AI driven assessments have been challenged on grounds of constitutional violations in other jurisdictions. In 2016, the Wisconsin Supreme Court considered the legality of using risk assessment tools such as COMPAS for sentencing criminals. It affirmed the trial court’s findings and held that using COMPAS did not violate constitutional due process standards. Eric Loomis had argued that using COMPAS infringed both his right to an individualised sentence and to accurate information as COMPAS provided data for specific groups and kept the methodology used to prepare the report a trade secret. He additionally argued that the court used unconstitutional gendered assessments as the tool used gender as one of the parameters.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Wisconsin Supreme Court disagreed with Loomis arguing that COMPAS only used publicly available data and data provided by the defendant, which apparently meant Loomis could have verified any information contained in the report. On the question of individualisation, the court argued that COMPAS provided only aggregate data for groups similarly placed to the offender. However, it went on to argue as the report was not the sole basis for a decision by the judge, a COMPAS assessment would be sufficiently individualised as courts retained the discretion and information necessary to disagree.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">By assuming that Loomis could have genuinely verified all the data collected about similarly placed groups and that judges would exercise discretion to prevent the entrenchment of inequalities through COMPAS’s decision-making patterns, the judges ignored social realities. Algorithmic decision-making systems are an extension of unequal decision-making that re-entrenches prevailing societal perceptions around identity and behaviour. An instance of discrimination cannot be looked at as a single instance but as one in a menagerie of production systems that define, modulate and regulate social existence.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The policy-making ecosystem needs, therefore, to galvanise the “transformative” vision of India’s democratic fibre and study existing systems and power structures AI could re-entrench or mitigate. For example, in the matter of bank loans there is a presumption against the credit-worthiness of those working in the informal sector. The use of aggregated decision-making may lead to more equitable outcomes given that there is concrete thought on the organisational structures making these decisions and the constitutional safeguards provided.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Most case studies on algorithmic discrimination in Virgina Eubanks’ <i>Automating Inequality </i>or Safiya Noble’s <i>Algorithms of Oppression</i> are based on western contexts. There is an urgent need for publicly available empirical studies on pilot cases in India to understand the contours of discrimination. Primary research questions should explore three related subjects. Are specified ostensibly neutral variables being used to exclude certain communities from accessing opportunities and resources or having a disproportionate impact on their civil liberties? Is there diversity in the identities of the coders themselves? Are the training data sets used representative and diverse and, finally, what role does data driven decision-making play in furthering the battle against embedded structural hierarchies?</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">A key feature of AI-driven solutions is the “black box” that processes inputs and generates actionable outputs behind a veil of opacity to the human operator. Essentially, the black box denotes that aspect of the human neural decision-making function that has been delegated to the machine. A lack of transparency or understanding could lead to what Frank Pasquale terms a “Black Box Society” where algorithms define the trajectories of daily existence unless “the values and prerogatives of the encoded rules hidden within black boxes” are challenged.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ex-<i>post facto</i> assessment is often insufficient for arriving at genuine accountability. For example, the success of predictive policing in the US was drawn from the fact that police have indeed found more crimes in areas deemed “high risk”. But this assessment does not account for the fact that this is a product of a vicious cycle through which more crime is detected in an area simply because more policemen are deployed. Here, the National Strategy rightly identifies that simply opening up code may not deconstruct the black box as not all stakeholders impacted by AI solutions may understand the code. The constant aim should be explicability which means the human developer should be able to explain how certain factors may be used to arrive at a certain cluster of outcomes in a given set of situations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The requirement of accountability stems from the Right to Life provision under Article 21. As stated in the seven-judge bench in <i>Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India</i>, any procedure established by law must be seen to be “fair, just and reasonable” and not “fanciful, oppressive or arbitrary.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Right to Privacy was recognised as a fundamental right by the nine-judge bench in <i>K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India</i>. Mass surveillance can lead to the alteration of behavioural patterns which may in turn be used for the suppression of dissent by the State. Pulling vast tracts of data on all suspected criminals—as in facial recognition systems like PAIS—create a “presumption of criminality” that can have a chilling effect on democratic values.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Therefore, any use, particularly by law enforcement would need to satisfy the requirements for infringing on the right to privacy: the existence of a law, necessity—a clearly defined state objective—and proportionality between the state object and the means used restricting fundamental rights the least. Along with centralised policy instruments such as the National Strategy, all initiatives taken in pursuance of India’s AI agenda must pay heed to the democratic virtues of privacy and free speech and their interlinkages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India needs a law to regulate the impact of Artificial Intelligence and enable its development without restricting fundamental rights. However, regulation should not adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach that views all uses with the same level of rigidity. Regulatory intervention should be based on questions around power asymmetries and the likelihood of the use case adversely affronting human dignity captured by India’s constitutional ethos.</p>
<blockquote class="synopsis" style="text-align: justify; ">As an aspiring leader in global discourse, India can lay the rules of the road for other emerging economies not only by incubating, innovating and implementing AI powered technologies but by grounding it in a lattice of rich constitutional jurisprudence that empowers the individual.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The High Level Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG) set up by the European Commission in June 2018 published a report on “Ethical Guidelines for Trustworthy AI” earlier this year. They feature seven core requirements which include human agency and oversight; technical robustness and safety; privacy and data governance; transparency; diversity, non-discrimination and fairness; societal and environmental well-being; and accountability. While the principles are comprehensive, this document stops short of referencing any domestic or international constitutional law that helps cement these values. The Indian Constitution can help define and concretise each of these principles and could be used as a vehicle to foster genuine social inclusion and mitigation of structural injustice through AI.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the centre of the vision must be the inherent rights of the individual. The constitutional moment for data driven decision-making emerges therefore when we conceptualise a way through which AI can be utilised to preserve and improve the enforcement of rights while also ensuring that data does not become a further avenue for exploitation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">National vision transcends the boundaries of policy and to misuse Peter Drucker, “eats strategy for breakfast”. As an aspiring leader in global discourse, India can lay the rules of the road for other emerging economies not only by incubating, innovating and implementing AI powered technologies but by grounding it in a lattice of rich constitutional jurisprudence that empowers the individual, particularly the vulnerable in society. While the multiple policy instruments and the National Strategy are important cogs in the wheel, the long-term vision can only be framed by how the plethora of actors, interest groups and stakeholders engage with the notion of an AI-powered Indian society.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/fountain-ink-october-12-2019-arindrajit-basu-we-need-a-better-ai-vision'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/fountain-ink-october-12-2019-arindrajit-basu-we-need-a-better-ai-vision</a>
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No publisherbasuInternet GovernanceArtificial Intelligence2019-10-14T13:55:59ZBlog Entry