The Centre for Internet and Society
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Second International e-Governance Conference
https://cis-india.org/news/second-international-e-governance-conference-at-baghdad
<b>The second international conference on governance and electronics which is held under the motto "Together Toward Digital Inclusion" is organized by the National Committee for Corporate Governance Electronic Iraq and the United Nations Development Programme at Rashid Hotel in Baghdad from December 2-3, 2012. The event aims to review the achievements of the program e-governance Iraqi national, and discuss the challenges of applying e-governance as a tool to achieve public sector reform and digital inclusion.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham is a speaker at this event and is presenting on "Review of the Legal Environment in Iraq for Effective e-Governance", and "Government Interoperability Frameworks: Global Overview and implications for Iraq".</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Conference Agenda</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Sunday, December 2, 2012 </b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>09:00 – 10:00</td>
<td>Conference Registration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10:00 – 11:00</td>
<td>
<ul>
</ul>
<p>Opening Ceremony</p>
<ul>
<li>H.E. Nuri Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq</li>
<li>Ms. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator </li>
<li>H.E. Dr. Abdul Kareem Al-Samaraii, Minister of Science and Technology</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11:00 – 11:30</td>
<td>Break <br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11:30 – 12:30</td>
<td>
<p>Plenary session 1: e-Governance and Public Sector Reform<br />Chairman: Dr. Adil Matloob, Minister IT Advisor – Ministry of Science and Technology</p>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Thamir Al Ghadban, Head of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission (PMAC) </li>
<li>Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar, UNDP Expert </li>
<li>Q & A</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12:30 – 13:30</td>
<td>
<p>Plenary session 2: Citizen Inclusion into the Digital Society</p>
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Mr. Imad Naji, Director General - Ministry of Planning</li>
<li>Dr. Laurence Millar, UNDP Expert</li>
<li>Dr. Kathim Ibrisim, Director General - Ministry of Planning</li>
<li>Q & A </li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>13:30 – 13:40</td>
<td>
<p>Plenary Session 3: Challenges of e-Governance Implementation</p>
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Dr. Mahmood Kassim Sharief, Director General – Ministry of Science and Technology</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>13:40 – 14:00</td>
<td>Break</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>14:00 – 15:30</td>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>Workshop 1: Challenges of implementing an adequate telecommunications infrastructure and Highlighting the role of the private sector and the establishment of the concept of true public-private sector partnership in the field of e-governance</p>
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Mr. Jaber Zwayed Atiyah, Director General – National Security Commission</li>
<li>Dr. Rohan Samarajiva Lirne, UNDP Expert </li>
<li>Dr. Shahani Markus Weerawarana, UNDP Expert </li>
<li>Ms. Raghad Abdulrasoul National Centre for Consultation and Management Development/Ministry of Planning </li>
<li>Q&A </li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>13:30 – 14:30</td>
<td>Lunch @ AL-Rashid <br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monday, December 3, 2012</b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>09:00 – 09:15</td>
<td>Closure of the Plenary Session 3<br />Presentation of workshop results</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>09:15 – 10:45</td>
<td>Plenary Session 4: Effective Role of Local Governments in Framework of e-Governance Program<br />
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Dr. Kathim Ibrisim, Director General - Ministry of Planning </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Manu Srivastava, UNDP Expert </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Dr. Adil Abdullah Shuhaieb, member of e-Governance Committee in Missan Governorate </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Anmar Natik Mohammed, Manager of e-Governance Programme in Ninawa Governorate </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Eng Haider Shaker Yaji , Muthana Governorate </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Q&A </li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10:45 – 11:00</td>
<td>Break</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11:00 – 12:00</td>
<td>Plenary Session 5: Challenges of Government Interoperability Framework Implementation, Standards and Information<br />
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Mr. Mohammed Raji Mousa, Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Sunil Abraham, UNDP Expert </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Ammar Salih and Dr. Firas Hamadani/ Minister of Foreign Affairs </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Q&A</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12:00 – 13:00</td>
<td>
<p>Plenary Session 6: Building e-Services</p>
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Dr. Saad Najem / University of Mustanserieh </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Emilio Bugli Innocenti, UNDP Expert </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Dr. Adil Matloob, Minister IT Advisor – Ministry of Science and Technology </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Ahmed Saad, Director General – Ministry of Municipality and Public Work </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Q&A</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>13:00 – 14:30</td>
<td>Conference Closing Session<br />
<ul>
<li>Chairman: Dr. Samir Attar, Deputy Minister – Ministry of Science and Technology </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Looking forward</li>
<li>Adopt conference recommendation</li>
<li>UNDP Closing Speech</li>
<li>Government of Iraq Speech</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>14:30 – 15:30</td>
<td>Lunch @ AL-Rashid <br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Papers/Speakers Bio Summary</h2>
<h3>Plenary Session 1: e-Governance and Public Sector Reform</h3>
<p>Chairman: Dr. Adil Matloob, Minister IT Advisor – Ministry of Science and Technology</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>e-Governance and public sector reform/ Subhash Bhatnagar</b><br />The paper shares experiences from different countries of implementing e-Governance projects that have significantly contributed to governance reform by enhancing transparency and reducing corruption in delivery of public services. Some lessons are drawn for Iraq. E-Governance should be used as a means of implementing public sector reform agenda. The implementation of projects should be accelerated.</p>
<p><b><i>Subhash Bhatnagar</i></b><i> is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). Currently he is an honorary adjunct professor at the IIMA. He was a </i><i>Chair Professor, member of Board of Governors and the Dean of IIMA in his 30 year tenure at IIMA. </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>He has been a visiting Professor in universities in the US and Africa. He worked with the World Bank in Washington DC for six years serving as an advisor to to mainstream e-Governance in the operations of the Bank. </i><i>He has been a lead speaker in training workshops for ministers and legislators for 16 states in India. </i><i> </i><i>His research and consulting work has covered E-Governance, ICT for development, National IT Policy, and Corporate IT Strategy. He has hundred research papers and seven books to his credit which include two books on eGovernance. </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>He is on the editorial boards of seven international journals and has served as Chairman of International Committees in the ICT field. He serves on a number of central and state Government committees in Inda including the steering committee for ICT sector for formulating India’s 12<sup>th</sup> Five Year Plan. He was made a Fellow of the Computer Society of India in 1994. He has served on the boards of a number of educational institutions and private enterprises in India. He has travelled to nearly 60 countries, delivering public lectures and conference key notes</i></p>
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<h3>Plenary Session 2: Citizen Inclusion into the Digital Society</h3>
<p>Chairman: Mr. Imad Naji, Director General - Ministry of Planning</p>
<table class="vertical listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Citizen Inclusion into the Digital Society/ Laurence Millar </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This paper describes the importance of digital inclusion to achieve the e-governance Vision for Iraq. The paper reports on international experience in digital inclusion and e-governance, using examples from New Zealand, United Kingdom, Bahrain and Taiwan. These experiences illustrate how to develop a plan for increasing digital inclusion in Iraq which is aligned to the wider priorities for social and economic outcomes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Laurence Millar</b> is an independent advisor in the use of ICT by governments, and Editor at Large for FutureGov magazine. He is the lead advisor for the e-government strategy and second action plan for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and has also worked with other GCC countries on their e-government strategies. He provides expert advice to the government on the adoption of digital technology and broadband in schools; he is also Chair of 2020 Communications Trust, which is the leading provider of digital literacy programmes in New Zealand.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">During his career of more than 35 years, he has worked in the public and private sector, in the UK, USA, Asia and New Zealand. From 2004, he led the New Zealand e-government programme providing leadership in strategy and policy, establishing a foundation of shared infrastructure, and maintaining oversight of government ICT investment; he finished in the role of NZ Government CIO on 1 May 2009.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He is married with four adult children and lives in Wellington, New Zealand; he has a MA from Cambridge University and an MSc with distinction from London University.</p>
</td>
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<td>
<p><b>The role of ICTs in promoting public participation/ Dr. Kathim Ibrisim </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Participation is a basic feature of good governance, which suggests providing a democratic environment in the community that allows the integration of citizens, institutions of civil society, stakeholders and the poor and marginalized groups into policy-making and follow-up implementation. As much a democratic atmosphere allows for participation good governance can achieve the hopes of community regardless of its different components.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This paper provides an assessment of the reality of public participation in Iraq which is based on a survey of public participation in four sectors concerned with providing services (Health/Education/Higher Education/Water and Sanitation). It was carried out by the National Centre and the support of the ESCWA in 2011 - in the light of identification the main challenges facing the participation. It will focus on how to use ICT in promoting public participation in setting priorities and policy-making and follow-up implementation.</p>
</td>
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<tr>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Dr. Kathim Mohammed Breisem Okabi, </b>Director General of the National Center for Administrative Development and Information Technology since 2008, holds Ph.D. in object-oriented software engineering, M.A. in empirical computer science – 1989, Higher Diploma in systems analysis – 1982, and B.A. of Statistics – 1980.</p>
<p>Dr. Kazem served as a professor at the universities of Jordan (Al al-Bayt University/Philadelphia University) for the period 1996-2008, a professor at the Al-Tahadi University/Libya for the period 1983 – 1992, and a statistician for the period 1980 -1983.</p>
</td>
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</tbody>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Plenary Session 3: Workshop 1 (Challenges of implementing an adequate telecommunications infrastructure and<i> Highlighting the role of the private sector and the establishment of the concept of true public-private sector partnership in the field of e-governance</i>)</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chairman: Dr. Mahmood Kassim Sharief, Director General – Ministry of Science and Technology</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>ICT Infrastructure for e-Government and e-Governance in Iraq / Rohan Samarajiva Lirne</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Governments provisioning e government services have to address two specific policy principles with regard to infrastructure: ensure universal access to their services and assure a higher level of reliability than with comparable private services. Unlike a decade or so ago, governments today do not have to rely solely on common-access centers (telecenters) to provide universal access. In most countries, mobile signals cover almost the entirety of the population; most households have at least one electronic access device; the few that do not, can gain such access. Today’s smartphones have capabilities little different from the early telecenters, except for functionalities such as printing, scanning, etc. and the support of intermediaries. Therefore, delivering voice-based e government services in the short term and mobile-optimized web-based services in the medium term, with common-access centers performing specialized backup functions, is a viable strategy. Conventional web interfaces that adhere to common standards must be maintained but articulated with mobile applications and voice-based services provided through a government call center. In light of difficulties in supplying continuous electricity and security at the present time, special attention has to be paid to reliability. Reliability can be achieved, beginning with a proper understanding of requirements such as the importance of ensuring redundancy of suppliers, paths and media.</p>
<p><b><i> </i></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Samarajiva is founder Chair and CEO of LIRNEasia, a regional think tank focusing on ICT policy and regulation in the emerging Asia Pacific. He most recently completed a diagnostic report on the potential of the ICT Sector for inclusive growth in Bhutan for the Asian Development Bank. He is a member of the team supporting the World Bank to establish the Pacific ICT Regulatory Resource Center, based at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. He served as policy advisor to the Ministry of Post and Telecom in Bangladesh in 2006-07 and 2009. In 2002-2004, Samarajiva served as Team Leader of the Public Interest Program Unit of the Ministry for Economic Reform, Science & Technology of Sri Lanka. He was one of the designers of the USD 53 million plus e Sri Lanka Initiative (that had a major e gov focus) that led the way to rapid growth of fixed and mobile broadband in Sri Lanka. He was one of the founder directors of the ICT Agency. Samarajiva has been active in ICT (including telecom) policy and regulation for over 20 years. From 1998-1999, he served as Director General of Telecommunications in Sri Lanka at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. He taught at the Ohio State University in the US (1987-2000) and at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (2000-2003). </i></p>
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<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p><b>The role of private sector software development services companies in e-Government solution implementation/ Shahani Markus Weerawarana</b></p>
<p>Iraq is a country in transformation and has embarked on a compelling vision for e-Government based on a National e-Governance Strategy and Action Plan. Since the private sector plays an important and pivotal role in any national e-Government program, it is important to develop a comprehensive roadmap towards establishing a true public-private sector partnership in Iraq. As a prerequisite for such an endeavor, we review the current status of the e-Government program implementation in Iraq, the critical challenges that need to be addressed in achieving a robust public-private sector partnership in Iraq and the best practices prevalent globally and regionally with respect to addressing such issues along with the resultant policy and program implications. Based on this critical analysis, we formulate many recommendations that could be included in a public-private sector partnership development roadmap that would create momentum in establishing a competitive and vibrant private-sector role in a knowledge-based economic environment geared towards enabling the vision of e-Iraq.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><i>Shahani Markus Weerawarana has<b> </b>global experience in the IT industry, government and academia, in a professional career has spanned many different roles, including being an educator, engineer, entrepreneur, manager and researcher.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>Currently, she is a Visiting Scientist at Indiana University, USA and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Previously, she was the CTO at the ICT Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, which is the country's apex IT policy & planning agency for implementing the e-Sri Lanka program. At ICTA, she played a key role in providing technical guidance for many eGovernment projects, including spearheading the design and implementation of LankaGate, a 'FutureGov' Award winning project. Prior to joining ICTA, Shahani was the Head of Engineering at Virtusa (Sri Lanka), where she directly and indirectly led more than 600 IT professionals. Before joining Virtusa Shahani worked in the USA, at Prescient Markets Inc and at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center in New York.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>Her professional activities have included being a member in the Sri Lankan Presidential Task Force in English and IT, an adviser to the Royal Government of Bhutan in their Interoperability Framework and Enterprise Architecture initiative, and a member of the Open eGovernance Forum Advisory Board in the Pan Asia Network for Democratic eGovernance. She is a free & open source software advocate and is a Committer and PMC member in the Apache Software Foundation.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>Shahani has more than 50 academic publications and her academic activities include the formulation of Asia's first MBA in eGovernance program for the University of Moratuwa, and the supervision of more than 30 MBA and MSc research projects. Her research interests include e-governance, software engineering, parallel & distributed systems, e-science, and TLA practices in higher education. </i></p>
<p><i>Shahani has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University, USA. </i></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Assess the reality of the public-private partnership (PPP) and its role in promoting ICT for development/ Raghad Abdulrasoul</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This paper, a field survey in four service sectors (health, education, higher education, water and sanitation), aims at identifying the reality and types of PPPs and how could such partnerships contribute in the provision of or complement services within the target sectors in addition to understand and recognize the quality of the services provided by the private sector than in the public sector with a focus on the role of PPP in the promotion of ICT to support national development efforts and improve the quality of public services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Raghad Abdulrasoul, an expert at the National Center for Administrative Development and Information Technology, Higher Diploma in Development Planning/specialty in feasibility studies and B.A. of Statistics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">She has functional experience and participated in implementing projects with international organizations (UNICEF/UNDP/ESCWA) in different subjects dealing with the reform and modernization of the Iraqi public sector. She performed many advisory tasks for various institutions in the state in subjects (performance evaluation, organizational structures, job descriptions , mainstreaming of procedures). She provided a variety of lectures at the National Centre and state institutions in the areas of administration, planning and feasibility studies.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Workshop 2 Challenges for creating an enabling legal environment</span><br />Chairman: Mrs Afaf Khairallah Hussein, Prime Minister Office</p>
<table class="vertical listing">
<tbody>
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<p>Review of the legal environment in Iraq for effective e-Governance/ Sunil Abraham</p>
<p class="Standard" style="text-align: justify; ">This paper examines the legal environment and compares it to international best practices for information society aspects that have direct implication for e-governance. It begins with transparency and openness law where there is an examination of right to information/access to information law and subsidiary policies such as free/open source software policy, open content or access policy, open standards policy, electronic accessibility policy, open government data policy. Then it examines privacy law looking at various options for the horizontal statute and also the vertical statutes necessary to comprehensive protect citizen/consumer rights and also public interest simultaneously. This is followed by an examination of intellectual property rights law overall before a more focussed examination patent law and copyright law. The paper ends with examination of some miscellaneous statutes such as the Cyber Crime Law and Electronic Signature and Electronic Transactions Act.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Sunil Abraham is the executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore. CIS is a 4 year old policy and academic research organisation that focuses on accessibility by the disabled, intellectual property rights policy reform, openness [Free/Open Source Software, Open Standards, Open Content, Open Access and Open Educational Resources], internet governance, telecom, digital natives and digital humanities.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>He is also the founder of Mahiti, a social enterprise aiming to reduce the cost and complexity of information and communication technology for the voluntary sector by using free software. Sunil continues to serve on the board of Mahiti. He is an Ashoka fellow and was elected for a Sarai FLOSS fellowship. For three years, Sunil also managed the International Open Source Network, a project of United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, serving 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2007 - 2008, he managed ENRAP an electronic network of International Fund for Agricultural Development projects in the Asia-Pacific, facilitated and co-funded by International Development Research Centre, Canada.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Sunil currently serves on the advisory boards of Open Society Foundations - Information Programme, Mahiti, Tactical Technology Collective, Samvada and International Centre for Free/Open Source Software.</i></p>
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<td><b>Implementation of the e-system in the Iraqi elections/<i>Dr. Tariq Kazim Ajil, University of Thi Qar</i></b>
<ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Plenary Session 4: Effective Role of Local Governments in framework of e-Governance Program</h3>
<p>Chairman: Dr. Kathim Ibrisim, Director General - Ministry of Planning</p>
<table class="vertical listing">
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<p>Municipal e-Governance Platform / Manu Srivastava</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The paper discusses the Municipal eGovernance Platform developed by eGovernments Foundation (eGov). The paper sees this in the back ground of the policies and frameworks that the shaped the Municipal eGovernance sector in India. The paper discusses the basic design approach for developing the platform, the platform itself and then discusses the future direction for the platform.</p>
<p><b><i>Manu Srivastava</i></b><i> Bio: </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Manu Srivastava managed and a founding member of the eGovernments Foundation since 2003, that aims at creating an eGovernance Platform (Municipal ERP) to improve the efficiencies of City Municipalities leading to better delivery of services. </i><i> </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Between 2000 and 2003, Manu was the project leader of GlobeTrades (Silicon Valley), for creation an Internet platform for medium and large companies to set up industry specific Internet-based solutions to streamline global Procurement and Distribution. </i><i> </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>He </i><i>Architected and delivered award winning Citizen Services Solutions in area of eGovernance such as </i><i>Nirmala Nagara. </i><i> </i></p>
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<td style="text-align: justify; "><b>Ninawa e-Governance Roadmap/ Anmar Natik Mohammed, Manager of e-Governance Programme in Ninawa Governorate </b><br /></td>
</tr>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Plenary Session 5: Challenges of Government Interoperability Framework Implementation, Standards and Information</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chairman: Mr. Mohammed Raji Mousa, Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC)</p>
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<p><b>Government Interoperability Frameworks: Global Overview and implications for Iraq/ Sunil Abraham</b></p>
<p class="Standard" style="text-align: justify; ">This paper attempts to identify some next steps for the implementation of the Iraqi Government Interoperability Framework and National Enterprise Architecture[GIF/NEA]. The paper begins with an introduction which provides an historical overview of the GIF/NEA formulation process an the policy document itself. This is followed by a discussion of Open Standards to understand why the GIF/NEA and other open standards policies in the Iraqi government remain critical from a variety of perspectives. The paper then proceeds to look at GIFs across the world and attempts to characterize some of the strategies employed by governments to reach their policy objectives. The paper also features a examination of emerging semantic standards that are most useful from the perspective of storing government data. The paper ends with certain concrete recommendations for taking the open standards agenda forward with Iraqi e-governance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Sunil Abraham is the executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore. CIS is a 4 year old policy and academic research organisation that focuses on accessibility by the disabled, intellectual property rights policy reform, openness [Free/Open Source Software, Open Standards, Open Content, Open Access and Open Educational Resources], internet governance, telecom, digital natives and digital humanities.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>He is also the founder of Mahiti, a social enterprise aiming to reduce the cost and complexity of information and communication technology for the voluntary sector by using free software. Sunil continues to serve on the board of Mahiti. He is an Ashoka fellow and was elected for a Sarai FLOSS fellowship. For three years, Sunil also managed the International Open Source Network, a project of United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, serving 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2007 - 2008, he managed ENRAP an electronic network of International Fund for Agricultural Development projects in the Asia-Pacific, facilitated and co-funded by International Development Research Centre, Canada.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Sunil currently serves on the advisory boards of Open Society Foundations - Information Programme, Mahiti, Tactical Technology Collective, Samvada and International Centre for Free/Open Source Software.</i></p>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Plenary Session 6: Building e-services</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chairman: Dr. Saad Najem / University of Mustanserieh</p>
<table class="vertical listing">
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Breaking information silos: towards an Iraqi e-Service ecosystem supporting the life-event approach/ Emilio Bugli Innocenti</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This paper analyses the current status of the e-Service implementation within the e-Governance programmes in developing countries with a specific focus on the Life Event approach delivery of-e-Services along with the related Service Oriented Architecture. Then, it discusses the most suited SOA engineering methodology in order to boost e-Service re-use and integration. Finally, a combined SOA and Cloud Computing approach is proposed in order to provide an effective/efficient implementation of Iraqi e-Governance Action Plan along with a possible fast take-up of e-Services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Emilio Bugli Innocenti has 27 year experience in the ICT domain and over 20 in the e-Governance domain. As Senior e-Governance Consultant he has been working with assignments in transition and developing countries in the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, South America and South East Asia. He has been Project Manager of large International ICT projects targeting different sectors and e-Governance, in particular dealing with the implementation of e-Services. He is member of the Italian Industry Executive Association, IEEE Computer Society and Association for Computing Machinery. He holds a MSc in Physics and speaks English, Italian and French.</i></p>
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<p><b>E-governance and cloud computing services</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This lecture addresses the historical perspective of cloud computing from a virtual concept to provide computing as a public facility launched in the mid-sixties of the last century as well as the phases of computing services offered by individual computers and then the network to the services provided on line. It also addresses the benefits and types of cloud computing comparing between the benefits and weaknesses of each type. Furthermore, it particularly tackles the economic benefits of balancing security with information, through the architecture and various levels of cloud computing and its impacts on architectures that must be taken into consideration.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the ten risks will be put in cloud computing in particular.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Adil Matloob is one of the advisors to the Ministry of Science & Technology Baghdad, Iraq. He works in the field of knowledge based systems and artificial intelligence for the last 30 plus years. He was the managing director of the SoftDev limited; a British based company, and a technical director for the Washington based multinational company; the United Press International. He is one of the pioneers’ researchers on machine translation software in the beginning of the nineties with the product known as ArabTrans software. He works on Arabic data mining as well as Arabic abstraction and Arabic knowledge based system.</p>
Adil has M.Sc and PhD from Manchester University, Manchester, United Kingdom in 1977 & 1980 respectively.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/second-international-e-governance-conference-at-baghdad'>https://cis-india.org/news/second-international-e-governance-conference-at-baghdad</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen StandardsInternet GovernanceICT2012-12-11T10:50:29ZNews ItemArguments Against Software Patents in India
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/arguments-against-software-patents
<b>CIS believes that software patents are harmful for the software industry and for consumers. In this post, Pranesh Prakash looks at the philosophical, legal and practical reasons for holding such a position in India. This is a slightly modified version of a presentation made by Pranesh Prakash at the iTechLaw conference in Bangalore on February 5, 2010, as part of a panel discussing software patents in India, the United States, and the European Union.</b>
<p>This blog post is based on a presentation made at the <a href="http://www.itechlaw-india.com/">iTechLaw conference</a> held on February 5, 2010. The audience consisted of lawyers from various corporations and corporate law firms. As is their wont, most lawyers when dealing with software patents get straight to an analysis of law governing the patenting of computer programmes in India and elsewhere, and seeing whether any loopholes exist and can be exploited to patent software. It was refreshing to see at least some lawyers actually going into questions of the need for patents to cover computer programs. In my presentation, I made a multi-pronged case against software patents: (1) philosophical justification against software patents based on the nature of software; (2) legal case against software patents; (3) practical reasons against software patents.</p>
<h2>Preamble</h2>
<p>Through these arguments, it is sought to be shown that patentability of software is not some arcane, technical question of law, but is a real issue that affect the continued production of new software and the everyday life of the coder/hacker/software programmer/engineer as well as consumers of software (which is, I may remind you, everywhere from your pacemaker to your phone). A preamble to the arguments would note that the main question to ask is: <strong>why should we allow for patenting of software</strong>? Answering this question will lead us to ask: <strong>who benefits from patenting of software</strong>. The conclusion that I come to is that patenting of software helps three categories of people: (1) those large software corporations that already have a large number of software patents; (2) those corporations that do not create software, but only trade in patents / sue on the basis of patents ("patent trolls"); (3) patent lawyers. How they don't help small and medium enterprises nor society at large (since they deter, rather than further invention) will be borne out by the rest of these arguments, especially the section on practical reasons against software patents.</p>
<h2>What are Patents?</h2>
<p>Patents are a twenty-year monopoly granted by the State on any invention. An invention has to have at least four characteristics: (0) patentable subject matter; (1) novelty (it has to be new); (2) inventive step / non-obviousness (even if new, it should not be obvious); (3) application to industry. A monopoly over that invention, thus means that if person X has invented something, then I may not use the core parts of that invention ("the essential claims") in my own invention. This prohibition applies even if I have come upon my invention without having known about X's invention. (Thus, independent creation is not a defence to patent infringement. This distinguishes it, for instance, from copyright law in which two people who created the same work independently of each other can both assert copyright.) Patents cover non-abstract ideas/functionality while copyright covers specific expressions of ideas. To clarify: imagine I make a drawing of a particular machine and describe the procedure of making it. Under patent law, no one else can make that particular machine, while under copyright law, no one can copy that drawing.</p>
<h2>Philosophical Justification Against Software Patents</h2>
<p>Even without going into the case against patents <em>per se</em> (lack of independent creation as a defence; lack of 'harm' as a criterion leading to internalization of all positive externalities; lack of effective disclosure and publication; etc.), which has been done much more ably by others like <a href="http://www.researchoninnovation.org/">Bessen & Meurer</a> (especially in their book <a href="http://researchoninnovation.org/dopatentswork/">Patent Failure</a>) and <a href="http://www.againstmonopoly.org/">Boldrin & Levine</a> (in their book <a href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/againstnew.htm">Against Intellectual Monopoly</a>, the full text of which is available online).</p>
<p>But there is one essentially philosophical argument against software as subject matter of a patent. Software/computer programs ("instructions for a computer"), as any software engineer would tell you, are merely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm">algorithms</a> ("an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions") that are meant to be understood by a computer or a human who knows how to read that code.</p>
<p>Algorithms are not patentable subject matter, as they are mere expressions of abstract ideas, and not inventions in themselves. Computer programs, similarly, are abstract ideas. They only stop being abstract ideas when embodied in a machine or a process in which it is the machine/process that is the essential claim and not the software. That machine or process being patented would not grant protection to the software itself, but to the whole machine or process. Thus the abstract part of that machine/process (i.e., the computer program) could be used in any other machine/process, as it it is not the subject matter of the patent. Importantly, just because software is required to operate some machine would then not mean that the machine itself is not patentable, just that the software cannot be patented in guise of patenting a machine.</p>
<h2>Legal Case Against Software Patents</h2>
<p>In India, section 3(k) of the Patent Act reads:</p>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<p>(3) The following are not inventions within the meaning of this Act: (k) a mathematical or business method or computer programme (<em>sic</em>) <em>per se</em> or algorithms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As one can see, computer programs are place in the same category as "mathematical methods", "algorithms", and "business methods", hence giving legal validity to the idea propounded in the previous section that computer programs are a kind of algorithms (just as algorithms are a kind of mathematical method).</p>
<p>Be that as it may, the best legal minds in India have had to work hard at understanding what exactly "computer programme <em>per se</em>" means. They have cited U.S. case law, U.K. case law, E.U. precedents, and sought to arrive at an understanding of how <em>per se</em> should be understood. While understanding what <em>per se</em> means might be a difficult job, it is much easier to see what it does <em>not</em> mean. For that, we can look at the 2004 Patent Ordinance that Parliament rejected in 2005. In that ordinance, sections 3(k) and (ka) read as follows:</p>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote">
<p>(3) The following are not inventions within the meaning of this Act: (k) a computer programme <em>per se</em> other than its technical application to industry or a combination with hardware; (ka) a mathematical method or a business method or algorithms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus, it is clear that the interpretation that "computer programme <em>per se</em>" excludes "a computer programme that has technical application to industry" and "a computer programme in combination with hardware" is wrong. By rejecting the 2004 Ordinance wording, Parliament has clearly shown that "technical application to industry" and "combination with hardware" do not make a computer programme patentable subject matter.</p>
<p>Indeed, what exactly is "technical application to industry"? <a href="http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=technical">"Technical"</a> has various definitions, and a perusal through those definitions would show that barely any computer program can be said not to relate to a technique, not involve "specialized knowledge of applied arts and sciences" (it is code, after all; not everyone can write good algorithms), or not relate to "a practical subject that is organized according to scientific principles" or is "technological". Similarly, all software is, <a href="http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=software">by definition</a>, meant to be used in combination with hardware. Thus, it being used in combination with hardware must not, as argued above, give rise to patentability of otherwise unpatentable subject matter category.</p>
<p>In 2008, the Patent Office published a new 'Draft Manual Of Patent Practice And Procedure' in which it sought to allow patenting of certain method claims for software inventions (while earlier the Patent Office objected to method claims, allowing only device claims with hardware components). This Draft Manual was withdrawn from circulation, with Shri N.N. Prasad (then Joint Secretary of DIPP, the department administering the Patent Office) noting that the parts of the Manual on sections 3(d) and 3(k) had generated a lot of controversy, and were <em>ultra vires</em> the scope of the Manual (which could not override the Patent Act). He promised that those parts would be dropped and the Manual would be re-written. A revised draft of the Manual has not yet been released. Thus the interpretation provided in the Draft Manual (which was based heavily on the interpretation of the U.K. courts) cannot not be relied upon as a basis for arguments in favour of the patentability of software in India.</p>
<p>In October 2008, CIS helped organize a <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/the-national-public-meeting-on-software-patents">National Public Meeting on Software Patents</a> in which Indian academics, industry, scientists, and FOSS enthusiasts all came to the conclusion that software patents are harmful for <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/software-patents/software-patenting-will-harm-industry-consumer">both the industry as well as consumers</a>.</p>
<h2>Practical Reasons Against Software Patents</h2>
<p>This is going to be an attempt at distilling and simplifying some of the main practical arguments against patenting of software.</p>
<p>There are traditionally <a href="http://www.patenthawk.com/blog/2005/04/patent_economics_part_4_incent.html">four incentives that the patent system caters to</a>: (1) incentive to invent; (2) incentive to disclose; (3) incentive to commercialize; and (4) incentive to invent substitutes. Apart from the last, patenting of software does not really aid any of them.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<h3>Patent Landmines / Submarine Patents / Patent Gridlocks / No Exception for Independent Creation</h3>
<p>Given that computer programs are algorithms, having monopolies over such abstract ideas is detrimental to innovation. Just the metaphors say a lot about software patents: landmines (they cannot be seen/predicted); submarines (they surface out of the blue); gridlocks (because there are so many software patents around the same area of computing, they prevent further innovation in that area, since no program can be written without violating one patent or the other).</p>
<p>Imagine the madness that would have ensued had patents been granted when computer programming was in its infancy. Imagine different methods of sorting (quick sort, bubble sort) that are part of Computer Science 101 had been patented. While those particular instances aren't, similar algorithms, such as data compression algorithms (including the infamous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZW">LZW compression method</a>), have been granted patents. Most importantly, even if one codes certain functionality into software independently of the patent holder, that is still violative of the patent. Computer programs being granted patents makes it extremely difficult to create other computer programs that are based on the same abstract ideas. Thus incentives # (1) and (3) are not fulfilled, and indeed, they are harmed. There is no incentive to invent, as one would always be violating one patent or the other. Given that, there is no incentive to commercialize what one has invented, because of fear of patent infringement suits.</p>
<p>An apt illustration of this is the current difficulty of choosing a royalty-free video format for HTML 5, as it shows, in practical terms, how difficult it is to create a video format without violating one patent or the other. While the PNG image format was created to side-step the patent over the LZW compression method used in the GIF image format, bringing Ogg Theora or Dirac (both patent-free video format) to surpass the levels of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or VC-1 will be very difficult without infringing dozens if not hundreds of software patents. Chris DiBona of Google, while talking about <a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/whatwg@lists.whatwg.org/msg15476.html">improving Ogg Theora</a> as part of its inclusion in HTML 5 specifications said, "Here’s the challenge: Can Theora move forward without infringing on the other video compression patents?" Just <a href="http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:jRnXmHcZCMsJ:www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%2520LA%2520News%2520List/Attachments/140/n_03-11-17_avc.html+http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_03-11-17_avc.html&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in">the number of companies and organization that hold patents over H.264</a> is astounding, and includes: Columbia University, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (ETRI), France Télécom, Fujitsu, LG Electronics, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Robert Bosch GmbH, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, and Victor Company of Japan (JVC). As is the amount of royalties to be paid ("[t]he maximum royalty for these rights payable by an Enterprise (company and greater than 50% owned subsidiaries) is $3.5 million per year in 2005-2006, $4.25 million per year in 2007-08 and $5 million per year in 2009-10"; with royalty per unit of a decoder-encoder costing upto USD 0.20.)</p>
<p>Indeed, even the most diligent companies cannot guard themselves against software patents. FFII estimates that a very simple online shopping website <a href="http://webshop.ffii.org">would violate twenty different patents at the very least</a>. Microsoft recently lost a case against i4i when i4i surfaced with a patent covering custom XML as implemented in MS Office 2003 and MS Office 2007. As a result Microsoft had to ship patches to its millions of customers, to disable the functionality and bypass that patent. The manufacturers of BlackBerry, the Canadian company Research in Motion, had to shell out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTP,_Inc.#RIM_patent_infringement_litigation">USD 617 million as settlement</a> to NTP over wireless push e-mail, as it was otherwise faced with the possibility of the court shutting down the BlackBerry service in the U.S. This happened despite there being a well-known method of doing so pre-dating the NTP patents. NTP has also filed cases against AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Palm Inc. <a href="http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2005/12/15/rimntp_mud_splashes_microsoft.php">Microsoft was also hit by Visto Corporation</a> over those same NTP patents, which had been licensed to Visto (a startup).</p>
<ul><li>
<h4>Don't These Cases Show How Software Patents Help Small Companies?</h4>
<p>The astute reader might be tempted to ask: are not all of these examples of small companies getting their dues from larger companies? Doesn't all of this show that software patents actually help small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? The answer to that is: no. To see why, we need to note the common thread binding i4i, NTP, and Visto. None of them were, at the time of their lawsuits, actually creating new software, and NTP was an out-and-out "non-practising entity"/"patent holding company" AKA, patent troll. i4i was in the process of closing shop, and Visto had just started up. None of these were actually practising the patent. None of these were producing any other software. Thus, none of these companies had anything to lose by going after big companies. In other words, the likes of Microsoft, RIM, Verizon, AT&T, etc., could not file counter-suits of patent infringement, which is normally what happens when SMEs try to assert patent rights against larger corporations. For every patent that the large corporation violates of the smaller corporation, the smaler corporation would be violating at least ten of the larger corporation's. Software patents are more helpful for software companies as a tool for cross-licensing rather than as a way of earning royalties. Even this does not work as a strategy against patent trolls.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Thus, the assertion that was made at the beginning is borne out: software patents help only patent trolls, large corporations that already have large software patent portfolios, and the lawyers who draft these patents and later argue them out in court.</p>
</li><li>
<h3>Term of Patents</h3>
<p>Twenty years of monopoly rights is outright ludicrous in an industry where the rate of turnover of technology is much faster -- anywhere between two years and five months.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Software Industry Progressed Greatly Without Patents</h3>
<p>In India, software patents have never been asserted in courts (even though many have been <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/the-national-public-meeting-on-software-patents">illegally granted</a>), yet the software industry in India is growing in leaps and bounds. Similarly, most of the big (American) giants of the software industry today grew to their stature by using copyright to "protect" their software, and not patents.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Copyright Exists for Software</h3>
<p>As noted above, the code/expression of any software is internationally protected by copyright law. There is no reason to protect the ideas/functionality of that software as well.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Insufficient Disclosure</h3>
<p>When ordinary computer programmers cannot understand what a particular software patent covers (which is the overwhelming case), then the patent is of no use. One of the main incentives of the patent system is to encourage gifted inventors to share their genius with the world. It is not about gifted inventors paying equally gifted lawyers to obfuscate their inventions into gobbledygook so that other gifted inventors can at best hazard a guess as to precisely what is and is not covered by that patent. Thus, this incentive (#2) is not fulfilled by the current system of patents either -- not unless there is a major overhaul of the system. This ties in with the impossibility of ensuring that one is not violating a software patent. If a reasonably smart software developer (who are often working as individuals, and as part of SMEs) cannot quickly ascertain whether one is violating patents, then there is a huge disincentive against developing software in that area at all.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Software Patents Work Against Free/Libre/Open Source Software</h3>
<p>Software patents hinder the development of software and FOSS licences, as the licensee is not allowed to restrict the rights of the sub-licensees over and above the restrictions that the licensee has to observe. Thus, all patent clearances obtained by the licensee must be passed on to the sub-licensees. Thus, patented software, though most countries around the world do not recognize them, are generally not included in the default builds of many FOSS operating systems. This inhabits the general adoption of FOSS, since many of the software patents, even though not enforceable in India, are paid heed to by the software that Indians download, and the MP3 and DivX formats are not enabled by default in standard installations of a Linux OS such as Ubuntu.</p>
</li></ol>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Currently, the U.S. patent system is being reviewed at the administrative level, the legislative level, as well as the judicial level. At the judicial level, the question of business method patents (and, by extension, software patents) is before the Supreme Court of the United States of America in the form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilski_v._Kappos"><em>Bilski v. Kappos</em></a>. Judge Mayer of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC, which heard <em>In re Bilksi</em>) noted that "the patent system has run amok". The Free Software Foundation submitted a most extensive <a href="http://endsoftpatents.org/amicus-bilski-2009"><em>amicus curiae</em> brief</a> to the U.S. Supreme Court, filled with brilliant analysis of software patents and arguments against the patentability of software that is well worth a read.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/arguments-against-software-patents'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/arguments-against-software-patents</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsAccess to KnowledgeSoftware PatentsIntellectual Property RightsPublicationsPatents2012-03-13T10:43:12ZBlog EntryLetter on South Africa's IPRs from Publicly Financed R&D Regulations
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/letter-on-south-africas-iprs-from-publicly-financed-r-d-regulations
<b>Being interested in legislations in developing nations styled after the United States' Bayh-Dole Act, CIS responded to the call issued by the South African Department of Science and Technology for comments to the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Regulations.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/letter-on-south-africas-iprs-from-publicly-financed-r-d-regulations'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/letter-on-south-africas-iprs-from-publicly-financed-r-d-regulations</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsBayh-DoleIntellectual Property RightsOpen AccessOpen Innovation2011-08-04T04:42:15ZBlog EntrySoftware Freedom Pledge
https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015
<b>On September 19, 2015, celebrated globally as Software Freedom Day, a number of enthusiasts got together and collectively took a pledge.</b>
<br />
<p>We, who have gathered together for <a href="http://softwarefreedomday.org/">Software Freedom Day 2015</a>, believe that software freedom is both a matter of ethical principle as well as a matter of pragmatism, and is necessary for a democratic, open society.</p>
<p>We believe that it is desirable that all people, but especially governments, use, contribute to, and spread open standards, free/libre/open source software, open APIs, openly-licensed content (including open data, open access, and open education resources), leading to a vibrant public domain, and ensure that all of the above are accessible for all, including persons with disabilities and other marginalised sections of society.</p>
<p>Given that, we pledge to:</p>
<ul>
<li>use and spread free software amongst our family, friends, and neighbours, both in person and virtually.</li>
<li>demand that services we use in turn use open standards and open APIs, and thus be available for all using free/libre/open source software, without the payment of any royalties.</li>
<li>raise the issue of software freedom with our democratic representatives, to seek that they in turn respect and promote these principles.</li>
<li>as far as possible, making our own work openly available, and seek to convince our employers, publishers, producers, and other persons who might be in a position to restrict </li>
<li>work against any laws, policies — corporate or governmental — or technical restrictions that seek to prevent people from full exercise of their rights, and which are contrary to the above principles.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<p>Signed by:</p>
<p>Abhaya Agarwal <br />
Ananth Subray <br />
Asutosha Sarangi <br />
Chirag Sarthi J <br />
Prakash Hebballi <br />
Pranesh Prakash <br />
Ralph Andrade <br />
Subhashish Panigrahi <br />
Tito Dutta <br />
Veethika Mishra</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015'>https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsOpen SourceAccess to KnowledgeFLOSSOpen ContentFOSSEventTechnological Protection Measures2015-09-25T12:26:09ZBlog EntryHits and Misses With the Draft Encryption Policy
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy
<b>Most encryption standards are open standards. They are developed by open participation in a publicly scrutable process by industry, academia and governments in standard setting organisations (SSOs) using the principles of “rough consensus” – sometimes established by the number of participants humming in unison – and “running code” – a working implementation of the standard. The open model of standards development is based on the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) philosophy that “many eyes make all bugs shallow”.
</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://thewire.in/2015/09/26/hits-and-misses-with-the-draft-encryption-policy-11708/">published in the Wire</a> on September 26, 2015.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This model has largely been a success but as Edward Snowden in his revelations has told us, the US with its large army of mathematicians has managed to compromise some of the standards that have been developed under public and peer scrutiny. Once a standard is developed, its success or failure depends on voluntary adoption by various sections of the market – the private sector, government (since in most markets the scale of public procurement can shape the market) and end-users. This process of voluntary adoption usually results in the best standards rising to the top. Mandates on high quality encryption standards and minimum key-sizes are an excellent idea within the government context to ensure that state, military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies are protected from foreign surveillance and traitors from within. In other words, these mandates are based on a national security imperative.<br /><br />However, similar mandates for corporations and ordinary citizens are based on a diametrically opposite imperative – surveillance. Therefore these mandates usually require the use of standards that governments can compromise usually via a brute force method (wherein supercomputers generate and attempt every possible key) and smaller key-lengths for it is generally the case that the smaller the key-length the quicker it is for the supercomputers to break in. These mandates, unlike the ones for state, military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, interfere with the market-based voluntary adoption of standards and therefore are examples of inappropriate regulation that will undermine the security and stability of information societies.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Plain-text storage requirement</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First, the draft policy mandates that Business to Business (B2B) users and Consumer to Consumer (C2C) users store equivalent plain text (decrypted versions) of their encrypted communications and storage data for 90 days from the date of transaction. This requirement is impossible to comply with for three reasons. Foremost, encryption for web sessions are based on dynamically generated keys and users are not even aware that their interaction with web servers (including webmail such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail) are encrypted. Next, from a usability perspective, this would require additional manual steps which no one has the time for as part of their daily usage of technologies. Finally, the plain text storage will become a honey pot for attackers. In effect this requirement is as good as saying “don’t use encryption”.<br /><br />Second, the policy mandates that B2C and “service providers located within and outside India, using encryption” shall provide readable plain-text along with the corresponding encrypted information using the same software/hardware used to produce the encrypted information when demanded in line with the provisions of the laws of the country. From the perspective of lawful interception and targeted surveillance, it is indeed important that corporations cooperate with Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies in a manner that is compliant with international and domestic human rights law. However, there are three circumstances where this is unworkable: 1) when the service providers are FOSS communities like the TOR project which don’t retain any user data and as far as we know don’t cooperate with any government; 2) when the service provider provides consumers with solutions based on end-to-end encryption and therefore do not hold the private keys that are required for decryption; and 3) when the Indian market is too small for a foreign provider to take requests from the Indian government seriously.<br /><br />Where it is technically possible for the service provider to cooperate with Indian law enforcement and intelligence, greater compliance can be ensured by Indian participation in multilateral and multi-stakeholder internet governance policy development to ensure greater harmonisation of substantive and procedural law across jurisdictions. Options here for India include reform of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process and standardisation of user data request formats via the Internet Jurisdiction Project.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Regulatory design</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Governments don’t have unlimited regulatory capability or capacity. They have to be conservative when designing regulation so that a high degree of compliance can be ensured. The draft policy mandates that citizens only use “encryption algorithms and key sizes will be prescribed by the government through notification from time to time.” This would be near impossible to enforce given the burgeoning multiplicity of encryption technologies available and the number of citizens that will get online in the coming years. Similarly the mandate that “service providers located within and outside India…must enter into an agreement with the government”, “vendors of encryption products shall register their products with the designated agency of the government” and “vendors shall submit working copies of the encryption software / hardware to the government along with professional quality documentation, test suites and execution platform environments” would be impossible for two reasons: that cloud based providers will not submit their software since they would want to protect their intellectual property from competitors, and that smaller and non-profit service providers may not comply since they can’t be threatened with bans or block orders.<br /><br />This approach to regulation is inspired by license raj thinking where enforcement requires enforcement capability and capacity that we don’t have. It would be more appropriate to have a “harms”-based approach wherein the government targets only those corporations that don’t comply with legitimate law enforcement and intelligence requests for user data and interception of communication.<br /><br />Also, while the “Technical Advisory Committee” is the appropriate mechanism to ensure that policies remain technologically neutral, it does not appear that the annexure of the draft policy, i.e. “Draft Notification on modes and methods of Encryption prescribed under Section 84A of Information Technology Act 2000”, has been properly debated by technical experts. According to my colleague Pranesh Prakash, “of the three symmetric cryptographic primitives that are listed – AES, 3DES, and RC4 – one, RC4, has been shown to be a broken cipher.”<br /><br />The draft policy also doesn’t take into account the security requirements of the IT, ITES, BPO and KPO industries that handle foreign intellectual property and personal information that is protected under European or American data protection law. If clients of these Indian companies feel that the Indian government would be able to access their confidential information, they will take their business to competing countries such as the Philippines.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">And the good news is…</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the other hand, the second objective of the policy, which encourages “wider usage of digital Signature by all entities including Government for trusted communication, transactions and authentication” is laudable but should have ideally been a mandate for all government officials as this will ensure non-repudiation. Government officials would not be able to deny authorship for their communications or approvals that they grant for various applications and files that they process.<br /><br />Second, the setting up of “testing and evaluation infrastructure for encryption products” is also long overdue. The initiation of “research and development programs … for the development of indigenous algorithms and manufacture of indigenous products” is slightly utopian because it will be a long time before indigenous standards are as good as the global state of the art but also notable as an important start.<br /><br />The more important step for the government is to ensure high quality Indian participation in global SSOs and contributions to global standards. This has to be done through competition and market-based mechanisms wherein at least a billion dollars from the last spectrum auction should be immediately spent on funding existing government organisations, research organisations, independent research scholars and private sector organisations. These decisions should be made by peer-based committees and based on publicly verifiable measures of scientific rigour such as number of publications in peer-reviewed academic journals and acceptance of “running code” by SSOs.<br /><br />Additionally the government needs to start making mathematics a viable career in India by either employing mathematicians directly or funding academic and independent research organisations who employ mathematicians. The basis of all encryptions standards is mathematics and we urgently need the tribe of Indian mathematicians to increase dramatically in this country.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy</a>
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No publishersunilOpen StandardsInternet GovernanceSurveillanceFOSSB2B2015-09-26T16:46:53ZBlog EntryIt's September, and That Means It's Time for Software Freedom Day
https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day
<b>Software Freedom Day (SFD), which celebrates the use of free and open software, is just around the corner on September 17. When the day first started in 2004, only 12 teams from different places joined, but it has since grown to include hundreds registered events around the world, depending on the year.</b>
<p>The article was <a class="external-link" href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/09/17/its-september-and-that-means-its-time-for-software-freedom-day/">published by Global Voices</a> on September 17, 2016.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors">Supported</a> by several global organizations like Google, Canonical, Free Software Foundation, Joomla, Creative Commons and Linux Journal, Software Freedom Day draws its inspiration from the philosophy promoted by people like Richard Stallman who <a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors">argue</a> that free software is all about the freedom and not necessarily free of cost but provides the liberty to users from proprietary software developers’ power and influence.</p>
<p>SFD <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/its-software-freedom-day">encourages</a> everyone to gather in their own cities (here's a <a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/map/index.php?year=2015">map</a> of places where SFD is organized this year), educate people around them about free software, and promote the cause on social media (with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFD2016">#SFD2016</a> this year). There's also hackathons (hacking free software to modify the code and create what one wants to have in it), running free software installation camps, and even going creative with <a href="http://www.htxt.co.za/2015/09/03/flying-freedom-day-gloriously-combines-drones-and-craft-beer/">flying a drone running free software</a>.</p>
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<p><b>What are FOSS, free software, open source, and FLOSS?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Free and open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) are umbrella terms that are used to include both free software and open source software. Adopted by noted software freedom advocate Richard Stallman in 1983, free software has many names — libre software, freedom-respecting software and software libre are some of them. As defined by the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-intro.html">Free Software Foundation</a>, one of the early advocates of software freedom, free software allows users not just to use the software with complete freedom, but to study, modify, and distribute the software and any adapted versions, in both commercial and noncommercial form.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The distribution of the software for commercial and noncommercial form, however, depends on the particular license the software is released under. “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition">Open source</a>” was coined as an alternative to free software in 1998 by educational-advocacy organization <a href="https://opensource.org/history">Open Source Initiative.</a> Open source software is generally created collaboratively, made available with its source code, and it provides the user rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.</p>
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<p>From South Asia, there are <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/India">13 celebratory events in India</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Nepal?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">eight in Nepal</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Bangladesh?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">one in Bangladesh</a> and <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Sri%20Lanka?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">four in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">South Asian countries have seen adoption of both free software and open source software by individuals, organizations and the government. The <a href="http://www.fsmi.in/about">Free Software Movement of India</a> was founded in Bengaluru, India, in 2010 to act as a national coalition of several regional chapters working to promote and grow the free software movement in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Indian government has <a href="https://data.gov.in/about-us">launched</a> an open data portal at <a href="http://data.gov.in">data.gov.in</a> portal for sharing large datasets like the census data under free licenses. The government's <a href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf">new policy</a> emphasizes on adopting open source software. Moreover government's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology <a href="https://opensource.com/government/15/6/indian-government-includes-open-source-rfps">asked</a> vendors to include open source software applications while making requests for proposals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Similarly, there are several free and open source communities and organizations operating from the subcontinent, like <a href="http://mozillaindia.org/">Mozilla India</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_India">Wikimedia India</a>, the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CISA2K">Centre for Internet and Society, </a><a href="http://in.okfn.org/about/">Open Knowledge India</a>, <a href="http://mozillabd.org/">Mozilla Bangladesh</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Bangladesh">Wikimedia Bangladesh,</a> <a href="http://www.bdosn.org/about-bdosn">Bangladesh Open Source Network</a>, <a href="https://okfn.org/network/bangladesh/">Open Knowledge Bangladesh</a>, <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Nepal">Mozilla Nepal</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Nepal">Wikimedians of Nepal,</a> <a href="http://np.okfn.org/about/">Open Knowledge Nepal</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Pakistan">Wikimedia Community User Group Pakistan</a>, and the <a href="http://www.opensource.lk/">Lanka Software Foundation</a> in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a lecturer from Southern University Bangladesh, argues in a <a href="http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume42/number18/pxc3878099.pdf">research paper</a> that the use of open source software can help the government save a enormous amount of money that are spent in purchasing proprietary software:</p>
<blockquote class="quoted" style="text-align: justify; ">A Large amount of money of government can be saved if the government uses open source software in different IT sectors of government offices and others sectors, Because government is providing computer to all educational institute from school to university level and they are using proprietary software. For this reason government is to expend a large amount of many for buying proprietary software to run the computers. Another one is government paying significant amount of money to the different vendors for buying different types of software to implement e-Governance project. So, the Government can use open source software for implanting projects to minimize cost of the projects.</blockquote>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day'>https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day</a>
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No publishersubhaOpen StandardsAccess to KnowledgeFLOSSOpennessFOSS2016-09-17T15:42:46ZBlog Entryସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସ: ଆମ ହାତେ ଆମ କୋଡ଼ ଲେଖିବା
https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-day
<b>Software Freedom Day (SFD), which celebrates the use of free and open software, was celebrated in many cities today. The piece sheds light on the philosophy of software freedom, and how free and open source software is making a significant social change. I have also shared how anyone can contribute to the FOSS movement in different ways and celebrate SFD.</b>
<p>The blog post was mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="https://odia.yourstory.com/read/b3b56fd08a/-?c=16">Your Story</a>, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.odishastory.com/odia/2016/09/software-freedom/">Odisha Story</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://aajiraodisha.org/software-freedom/">Aajira Odisha</a> on September 17, 2016. The originally published piece can be <a class="external-link" href="http://psubhashish.com/post/150524560200/sfd">accessed here</a>.</p>
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<p>ଫ୍ରି ଓ ଓପନ ସୋର୍ସ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ପଛରେ ଥିବା ସାମାଜିକ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ଓ ପ୍ରତିଟି ବ୍ୟବହାରୀଙ୍କୁ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ବ୍ୟବହାର, ବଦଳ ଓ ବାଣ୍ଟିବାର ସୁଯୋଗ ଦେବା ଉଦ୍ଦେଶ୍ୟରେ ପାଳିତ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସ ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2For.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E0%25AC%25B8%25E0%25AC%25AB%25E0%25AD%258D%25E0%25AC%259F%25E0%25AD%25B1%25E0%25AD%2587%25E0%25AC%25B0&t=MGEyZDliNWFkMTM2YTUyNjUyN2VkOWVkMzlmYzBlYjUyZTE5ZDQ3MSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର </a>ଶବ୍ଦଟି ବୋଧେ ଆଉ କାହାରି ପାଇଁ ଅଜଣା ଅଶୁଣା ନୁହେଁ । ଆପଣଙ୍କ ମୋବାଇଲ ଫୋନରୁ କମ୍ପୁଟରଯାଏ ଓ ଏବେ ଏକ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ନ ଥାଇ ସେଠାରେ ଥିବା ଭଳି ଅନୁଭବିବା ପାଇଁ ବ୍ୟବହୃତ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FVirtual_reality&t=NWI3ZTNhNThmZGRjMjc2MWVkNjU0OTE3N2EwNmYyM2E5OTZhOGZjYSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ଭର୍ଚୁଆଲ ରିଆଲିଟି</a> ଓ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAugmented_reality&t=NDQ0OTRhYTM0YWVhYWExNTI2ZjQ3ODlmNjY3NmIyN2M3N2IzZWU1ZixtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ଅଗମେଣ୍ଟେଡ଼ ରିଆଲିଟି </a>ହେଡ଼ସେଟରେ ହାର୍ଡ଼ଓଏର ବା ଯାନ୍ତ୍ରିକ ଉପକରଣକୁ ସଠିକ ଭାବେ ପରିଚଳାନା କରିବା ହେଉଛି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରର କାମ । ଆଉ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରରେ ଟିକେ ଗୋଳମାଳ ହେଲେ କେବେ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.howtogeek.com%2F163452%2Feverything-you-need-to-know-about-the-blue-screen-of-death%2F&t=Yzc1NWI1MjU5MmE5NmZjZTNlMmRkMjE2ODg4ZDM5YzU0MWI0Y2IyOSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">କମ୍ପୁଟରର ସ୍କ୍ରିନ ନେଳି </a>ପଡ଼ିଯାଏ ତ ପୁଣି କେବେ କେବେ ମୋବାଇଲରେ ଠିକଣା ଜାଗାରେ ଯେତେ ଦବେଇଲେ ବି କାମକରେନା । ତେବେ ଉଣାଅଧିକ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରରେ ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଆଉ ତାଙ୍କ ଜୀବନ ପାଇଁ ତା’ର ଭୂମିକା ବାବଦରେ କେବେ ଶୁଣିନଥିବେ । ଆଉ ଏଇଟି ସତରେ ଏକ ଅନାଲୋଚିତ ବିଷୟ । ତେବେ ଏ ବିଷୟକୁ ବୁଝିବା ଆଗରୁ ଆମ ଚଳନ୍ତି ସମାଜର କିଛି ଉଦାହରଣ ଆଡ଼େ ଆସନ୍ତୁ ଆଖିପକେଇବା । ଦିନ ଥିଲା ଆପଣ ରେଡ଼ିଓରୁ ଆକାଶବାଣୀ ଲଗେଇ ଗୀତ, ଖବର, ନାଟକ ଆଦି ଶୁଣୁଥିଲେ । ହେଲେ କେବେ ଆକାଶବାଣୀ ଆପଣଙ୍କ ପାହୁଲାଟିଏ ମାଗିଥିଲା କି ନାଁ ଆପଣ ଭଲ ଭଲ ପ୍ରୋଗ୍ରାମ ଆସୁଛି ବୋଲି ଖୁସିରେ କେବେ କିଛି ଦେଇଥିଲେ? କିନ୍ତୁ ଆପଣଙ୍କ ଅଜାଣତରେ ଆପଣ ସତରେ କିଛି ଦେଇଛନ୍ତି । ତା’ ହେଉଛି ଟିକସ । ଆପଣ ଛୋଟରୁ ବଡ଼ ଯାଏ ଯାହା କିଣୁଛନ୍ତି ପ୍ରାୟ ସବୁ ଜିନିଷରେ ଟିକସ ଦିଅନ୍ତି ଆଉ ଚାକିରି କି ଅନ୍ୟ ଉପାୟରେ ପଇସା ଅରଜୁଥିଲେ ବର୍ଷ ଶେଷକୁ ଇନକମ ଟିକସ ବି ଦିଅନ୍ତି । ଏସବୁ ସରକାରଙ୍କ କାମରେ ଲାଗେ । ତେଣୁ ଆକାଶବାଣୀର ରେଡ଼ିଓ ପ୍ରୋଗ୍ରାମ ହେଉ କି ମୋଦିଙ୍କ ବିଦେଶ ବୁଲା ହେଉ ସବୁ ଆପଣଙ୍କ ପଇସାରେ ହିଁ ହେଉଛି । ସରକାରୀ ଓ ବେସରକାରୀ ଉଭୟ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଏଇ ଏକା ଜିନିଷ । ତେବେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର କ୍ଷେତ୍ରରେ ବି ଏଇ ଏକା ଅବସ୍ଥା । ସାଧାରଣରେ ଜଣାଶୁଣା ମାଇକ୍ରୋସଫ୍ଟର ଉଇଣ୍ଡୋଜ ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମ ପାଇଁ କେତେ ପଇସା ନିଜ ଅଜାଣତରେ ଦେଉଛନ୍ତି ତାହା ନୂଆ ଲାପଟପ କିଣିଲାବେଳକୁ କେବେ ଗଣିନଥିବେ । କିନ୍ତୁ ସେଇଟି ଜମାରୁ ମାଗଣା ଆସିନଥାଏ । ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରଟିଏ ଏକ ବା ଅନେକ ଉଚ୍ଚସ୍ତରର ନିର୍ଦ୍ଦିଷ୍ଟ କାମ କରୁଥିବା ବେଳେ ଏକ କମ୍ପୁଟର କି ମୋବାଇଲର ସାମଗ୍ରୀକ ହାର୍ଡ଼ଓଏର ବା ଯନ୍ତ୍ରପାତି ଓ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସବୁକୁ ପରିଚାଳନା ପାଇଁ ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରାଯାଏ । ବିଭିନ୍ନ ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମ ଓ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଭିନ୍ନଭିନ୍ନ ଉପାୟରେ ତିଆରି ହୁଏ । କେବେ ଏସବୁ ମାଇକ୍ରୋସଫ୍ଟ କି ଆପଲ ଭଳି ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ କମ୍ପାନି ତିଆରି କରି ବିକନ୍ତି ତ କେବେ କେବେ ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିବିଶେଷ ବା ଛୋଟ ବଡ଼ ସଂଗଠନ ମଧ୍ୟ ବିକନ୍ତି । କିନ୍ତୁ ଏସବୁ ବାଦେ ଆଉ ଏକ ଧରଣର ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଗଢ଼ାଳି ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିବିଶେଷ-ସଂଗଠନ-କମ୍ପାନି ମଧ୍ୟ ଅଛନ୍ତି । ସେମାନେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ତିଆରି କରି ଖାଲି ବଜାରରେ ଛାଡ଼ନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ ବରଂ ସେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରର <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSource_code&t=YjU1NjY2NTlkZTE3NmNiZDg3ODE3NzkzOTQxY2ZmYjdmNGI4M2Q2OCxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ସୋର୍ସ କୋଡ଼ </a>ମଧ୍ୟ ଛାଡ଼ନ୍ତି । ଅର୍ଥାତ ଗଣିତ କଷି ଫଳାଫଳ ସଙ୍ଗେ କିପରି କଷିଲେ ସୋପାନ ତଳକୁ ସୋପାନ ଲେଖି ବୁଝାଇଦିଅନ୍ତି । ଫଳରେ ଆଉ କେହି ସେହି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରରେ କିଛି ବଦଳ କରିବାକୁ ଚାହିଁଲେ କିମ୍ବା ପୁରୁଣା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରରେ କିଛି ନୂଆ ଯୋଡ଼ି ଉନ୍ନତ କରିବାକୁ ଚାହିଁଲେ ତାଙ୍କୁ ସେଥିରେ କେହି ବାଧା ଦେବେନାହିଁ । କିନ୍ତୁ ନୂଆ ଫଳାଫଳ ବା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରଟି ବଜାରରେ ଛାଡ଼ିଲା ବେଳେ ତାଙ୍କୁ ମୂଳ ଗଢ଼ାଳିଙ୍କୁ ଉପଯୁକ୍ତ ଶ୍ରେୟ ଦେବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । ଧରନ୍ତୁ ଆପଣ ଚନ୍ଦକାରୁ କଲରାପତରିଆ ବାଘର ଖୋଳ ଆଣି ତାକୁ ଧଳା ରଙ୍ଗ ମାରି ଧଳା ବାଘ କଲେ । ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ସେ ଧଳା ବାଘକୁ ଶିମିଳିପାଳରେ ଛାଡ଼ିଲା ବେଳେ ଚନ୍ଦକାରୁ ମୂଳ କଲରାପତରିଆ ବାଘ ଆଣିଥିଲେ ବୋଲି ଉଲ୍ଲେଖ କରିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । ମଜା କଥା ହେଉଛି ଏଭଳି ନିଆରା ଧାରା ଆମ ସମାଜରେ ଜମାରୁ ନୂଆ ନୁହେଁ । ଅକ୍ଷୟ ମହାନ୍ତି ସାଲବେଗଙ୍କ ଲିଖିତ ପୁରୁଣା ଗୀତକୁ ଆଉଥରେ ବୋଲିବା ପରେ ସେ ହଜିଲା ଗୀତସବୁ ଲୋକତୁଣ୍ଡରେ ଆହୁରି ଜଣାଶୁଣା ହେଲା । ହେଲେ ଅକ୍ଷୟ ମହାନ୍ତି ଗୀତର ଗାୟକ ଓ ସଙ୍ଗୀତ ନିର୍ଦ୍ଦେଶକ ଭାବେ ନାଁ ନେଲା ବେଳେ ସାଲବେଗଙ୍କ ରଚନାରୁ ବୋଲି ଲେଖିବାରେ ଉଣା କରିନାହାନ୍ତି ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଏହି ଧାରା ଆମ ସମାଜରେ ସବୁକାଳେ ସବୁସ୍ଥଳେ ରହିଛି । ହେଲେ ଆଧୁନିକ ସମାଜରେ ଅନେକ ଲାଭଖୋର କମ୍ପାନି ନିଜ ଲାଭ ଲାଗି ଏ ସାମାଜିକ ଚଳଣିଟିକୁ ପାଶୋରି ପକାଇଛନ୍ତି । ମାଇକ୍ରୋସଫ୍ଟରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ଆକୃତି, ଅପ୍ରାନ୍ତ ଯାଏ ପ୍ରାୟ ଅଧିକାଂଶ ସାଧାରଣରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହେଉଥିବା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ହେଉଛି <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FProprietary_software&t=NmQ5NGVjNzU0MDYxYzkzOGI3YzQ1MGQ5NTRiMzJmMjlmNWE3ZDBkOCxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ପ୍ରୋପ୍ରାଇଟରି </a>ବା ପୂରା ନିବୁଜ । ମାନେ ଆପଣ କେବଳ କିଣି ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିପାରିବେ କିନ୍ତୁ ବାଣ୍ଟିପାରିବେ ନାହିଁ କି କୌଣସି ବଦଳ କରିପାରିବେ ନାହିଁ । କଲେ ଆପଣଙ୍କ ବିରୋଧରେ କୋର୍ଟରେ ଉକ୍ତ କମ୍ପାନିମାନେ କେସ କରି ତଳିତଳାନ୍ତ ମଧ୍ୟ କରିପାରିବେ । ଏ କପିରାଇଟର ଫାନ୍ଦ ଏଡ଼େ କୁଟିଳ ଯେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ତିଆରି କରିଥିବା କମ୍ପାନିମାନେ ସବୁକାଳେ ତାଙ୍କର ମନୋମୁଖୀ ପତିଆରା ରଖିପାରିବେ । ଏଣୁ ଥୋକେ ଭାବିଲେ ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ ଧନୀ କମ୍ପାନିମାନଙ୍କର ଏ ଗୁମାନ ସେମିତି ଥାଉ । ଆମେ ଚାଲ ବିକଳ୍ପ ଓ ଉଚ୍ଚମାନର କିଛି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ତିଆରିବା । ଲୋକ ସ୍ୱାଧୀନ । ଯାହାକୁ ଯାହା ରସିବ ତାକୁ ସେ କିଆଫୁଲ ପରି ବାସୁ । ଆଉ ଏ ଥିଲା ଏକ ସାମାଜିକ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା । ବିକଳ୍ପ ବାଟଟି ହେଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା । ଏଥିରେ କୌଣସି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଗଢ଼ିଥିବା ମୂଳ ଗଢ଼ାଳି ଓ ତା’ ପରେ ସେଥିରେ ଯୋଗଦାନ କରିଥିବା ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ସମାନ ଭାବେ ସମ୍ମାନ ଦେଇ ଯୋଗଦାନକାରୀ ଭାବେ ସେମାନଙ୍କ ନାମ ଉଲ୍ଲେଖ କରାଯାଇଥାଏ । ଖାଲି ନାଁ ନୁହେଁ ଅନେକ ସମୟରେ ଖୋଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସଙ୍ଗେ ଜଡ଼ିତ ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିବିଶେଷ ଓ ସଂଗଠନସବୁ ଏମିତି ଆଖିଖୋସିଲା ଭଳି କାମ କରନ୍ତି ଯେ କିଣା ଆଉ ବୁଜା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର କିଣିବାରୁ କି ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବାରୁ ମନ ମରିଯିବ । ତିନି ବର୍ଷ ତଳେ Firefox ବ୍ରାଉଜର ତିଆରିରେ ଭାଗନେଇଥିବା Mozillaର ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀ ଯୋଗଦାନକାରୀମାନଙ୍କୁ ସମ୍ମାନ ଜଣାଇ ଆମେରିକାର ସାନ ଫ୍ରାନସିସ୍କୋ ସହରରେ ଏକ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.mozilla.org%2FMonument&t=ZTI1ZDNhYjdlMmFjYWI0ODVhMWMxYjU3ODc3MDEwYjdjNGU2M2Y5ZixtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ବିଶାଳ ସ୍ମାରକୀ</a> ଗଢ଼ି ସେଥିରେ ସମସ୍ତଙ୍କ ନାମ ଲେଖାଯାଇଥିଲା । ଭାବନ୍ତୁ ଏ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପରେ ସାମାନ୍ୟତମ ଯୋଗଦାନ କରିଥିବା ଲୋକଟିର ନାଁ ବି ଇତିହାସରେ ଲେଖାହୋଇ ରହିଗଲା । ୨୦୦୧ ମସିହାରେ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଓ ତା’ ପରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସମେତ ବାକି ବିଶ୍ୱଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ତିଆରି ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2For.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E0%25AC%2593%25E0%25AC%25A1%25E0%25AC%25BC%25E0%25AC%25BF%25E0%25AC%2586_%25E0%25AC%2589%25E0%25AC%2587%25E0%25AC%2595%25E0%25AC%25BF%25E0%25AC%25AA%25E0%25AC%25BF%25E0%25AC%25A1%25E0%25AC%25BC%25E0%25AC%25BF%25E0%25AC%2586&t=YWE1N2E5ZDlhNDU5NTY2MzM2ZjIwOTQ4NzkyNTQwOWI4OWZiNDkzOCxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର</a> ଇତିହାସ ବି ଏମିତି । ଏହି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ୱେବସାଇଟଗୁଡ଼ିକ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMediaWiki&t=MDZhOGJhMjRlY2I4YzlkMmYwNWYzMGM5OTliMWRkNDAwNDA1NTZkZSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ମିଡ଼ିଆଉଇକି</a> ନାମକ ଖୋଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରରେ ତିଆରି । ଆଉ ସେଇ ଏକା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରକୁ ନିଜ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ଅନୁସାରେ ବଦଳାଇ ଉଇକିଲିକ୍ସ ଓ ଉଇକିଟ୍ରାଭେଲ ଭଳି ଅଲଗା ଅଲଗା ୱେବସାଇଟ ଆଜି ଚାଳିତ ।</p>
<p>ତେବେ ଅନେକେ ଭାବୁଥିବେ ଯେ ଏ <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFree_software&t=MzBmMWZkOGNiMDM1ZDVlYTM5YmIyNDhmMmQxMDA2M2MzN2QyZDZkMyxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ଫ୍ରି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର</a> କଣ ସବୁବେଳେ ମାଗଣା? ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା କ୍ଷେତ୍ରରେ ଗତ କେଇ ଦଶନ୍ଧି ଧରି କାମ କରି ଏ ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନକୁ ବହୁ ଆଗକୁ ନେଇଥିବା <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FRichard_Stallman&t=MDc2MGQxYjJiYzVhMDNiYTM1MDFiZThiOThlZWU3ZDU4NTEwNDY5NixtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ରିଚାର୍ଡ଼ ଷ୍ଟଲମ୍ୟାନ</a> ଖୁବ ସହଜ ଓ ସରଳ ଢଙ୍ଗରେ ଏ ବିଷୟଟି <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnu.org%2Fphilosophy%2Fopen-source-misses-the-point.en.html&t=YWY5NDEzNTEyODc5NjYwMTMxYmFkNzA0MjU1NzEwOWUzNjExZmEzNSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ବୁଝାଇଦିଅନ୍ତି</a> ।</p>
<p>ଫ୍ରି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ମାଗଣାରେ ବଣ୍ଟାଯାଇପାରେ ବା କିଛି ଦରରେ ବିକାଯାଇପାରେ । କିନ୍ତୁ ଏଥିରେ ଥିବା “ଫ୍ରି” ମାଗଣା ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନ ଭଳି “ଫ୍ରିଡ଼ମ” ବା ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତାକୁ ସୂଚାଏ ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ତେଣୁ କୌଣସି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବା ଆଗରୁ ତା’ର କପିରାଇଟ ବାବଦରେ ସେଥିରେ ଥିବା ନିୟମାବଳୀ ପଢ଼ିଲେ ବୁଝାପଡ଼ିବ ଯେ ତାହା ଏକ ପ୍ରୋପ୍ରାଇଟରି କି ଫ୍ରି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର । ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ମଣିଷର ଜନ୍ମଗତ ଅଧିକାର । ଆଉ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବାଣ୍ଟିବା ଲାଗି । ବାନ୍ଧି ରଖିବା ଲାଗି ନୁହେଁ । କାରଣ କେହି ଜ୍ଞାନ ତିଆରି ନାହିଁ ବରଂ ସଭିଏଁ ଜ୍ଞାନର ନାନାଦି ଭଣ୍ଡାରକୁ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବା ପାଇଁ ବାଟ ତିଆରି କରିଥାନ୍ତି । ତେଣୁ ସେ ବାଟରେ ବାଡ଼ କିଆଁ? ନିକଟରେ ସମାଜର ଏହି ପୁରାତନ ଧାରାକୁ ବାହୁଡ଼ି ଯିବା ପାଇଁ ଅନେକ ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିବିଶେଷ, ସଂଗଠନ ଓ ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ କମ୍ପାନି ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ସେମାନେ ତିଆରୁଥିବା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରର ସୋର୍ସ କୋଡ଼ ଖୋଲାରେ ଦେଲେଣି । ଫଳରେ ସାଧାରଣ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ ଓ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଗଢ଼ାଳିଙ୍କ ହାତରେ ସ୍ୱାଧୀନ ଭାବେ ସେମାନେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରୁଥିବା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରକୁ ନିଜ ଆବଶ୍ୟକ ଅନୁସାରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିପାରିବେ । ଆଉ ସମାଜର ମୌଳିକ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ବିଭିନ୍ନତାର ବହୁରଙ୍ଗ ଏଥିରେ ସମୁଜ୍ଜଳେ ଫୁଟିଉଠିବ ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଆମ ସମାଜର ଏହି ବାଣ୍ଟିବାର ଧାରାକୁ ନୂଆ ଟେକନୋଲୋଜି ଯୁଗରେ ଉଜ୍ଜୀବିତ କରିବା ଲକ୍ଷରେ ଜଗତ ସାରା ୨୦୦୪ ମସିହାରୁ ସେପ୍ଟେମ୍ବର ମାସର ତୃତୀୟ ସପ୍ତାହରେ “<a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fsoftwarefreedomday.org%2F&t=YmZiZWNhMmY4ZWJlNjUxMDU3NDliOGE1MDA1NGQ3YTk1ZDk0ZDQwNCxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଫ୍ରିଡ଼ମ ଡେ</a>” ବା “ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସ” ପାଳିତ ହୋଇଆସୁଛି । ଏଥିରେ କୌଣସି ନିର୍ଦ୍ଦିଷ୍ଟ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ ଖୋଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ପଛରେ ଥିବା ଦାର୍ଶନିକ ଓ ସାମାଜିକ ଦୃଷ୍ଟିକୋଣଟି ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ବୁଝାଇବା ହେଉଛି ମୂଳ ଲକ୍ଷ । ଆଉ ଯେଯାଏ ବଡ଼ କମ୍ପାନି ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ତଥ୍ୟ ନ ଜଣାଇ କପିରାଇଟ ବଳରେ ବାନ୍ଧି ରଖିଥିବେ ସେଯାଏ ବ୍ୟବହାରୀ ବାପୁଡ଼ା ବା ଜାଣିବ କେମିତି ଏ ଭିତର ଗୁମର? ନିଜ ହାତରେ ନିଜ ଶାସନର ଡୋର ଧରିବା ଯେମିତି ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ନିଜ ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ ଲାଗୁଥିବା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏରର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ବି ଏକାଭଳି ପ୍ରତିଟି ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀର ଅଧିକାର । ତେଣୁ ଏ ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସକୁ ସଭିଏଁ ନିଆରା ଢଙ୍ଗରେ ପାଳନ୍ତି । <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.htxt.co.za%2F2015%2F09%2F03%2Fflying-freedom-day-gloriously-combines-drones-and-craft-beer%2F&t=ZjkyZDkzYTg2MmMxODBjMGQ3YWZlZjVhYjAwMTM0ZGM0NTI5MWY5ZSxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">ଆଫ୍ରିକାରେ</a> କିଛି ବର୍ଷ ଆଗରୁ ଫ୍ରି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଚାଳିତ ଏକ ଡ୍ରୋନ ବା ଚାଳକବିହୀନ ପବନଯାନଟିଏ ଛାଡ଼ିଥିଲେ । ଅନେକ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଲୋକେ ଏକାଠି ହୋଇ ଏ ବାବଦରେ ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ବାବଦରେ ଆଲୋଚନା କରନ୍ତି । ଆଉ ପୁଣି କେଉଁଠି ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ତାଙ୍କ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ଫ୍ରି ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ କରିବା ପାଇଁ କ୍ୟାମ୍ପ କରନ୍ତି । ଫଳରେ ଲୋକେ ନିଜ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ମାଇକ୍ରୋସଫ୍ଟର ବିକଳ୍ପ ଓ ଉବଣ୍ଟୁ ଭଳି ଖୋଲା ଲିନକ୍ସ ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମ କିମ୍ବା <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mozilla.org%2Fen-US%2Ffirefox%2Fnew%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dreferral%26utm_source%3Dfirefox-com&t=NGZlNzIwNGI0MmU0MjhiMjQ5MjVlZDQ5N2RkMDQxNWJiZDdhNmZjOCxtOFE1Q3pwMw%3D%3D">Mozilla Firefox</a> ଭଳି ବ୍ରାଉଜର ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ କରିପାରିବେ । ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସର ଚିହ୍ନ ସ୍ୱରୂପର ଲେଖକର ଏ ଲେଖାଟି ମଧ୍ୟ ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଲାଇସେନ୍ସରେ ଆଉ ଶ୍ରେୟ ଦେଇ କେହି ଚାହିଁଲେ ତାହାକୁ ପ୍ରକାଶ କରିପାରିବେ ।</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-day'>https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-day</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpen StandardsOpennessAccess to Knowledge2016-09-18T03:33:00ZBlog Entry(Lack of) Representation of Non-Western World in Process of Creation of Web Standards
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/lack-of-representation-of-non-western-world-in-creation-of-web-standards
<b>World Wide Consortium (W3C) as a standard setting organization for the World Wide Web plays a very important role in shaping the web. We focus on the ongoing controversy related to Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) and found that there was a serious lack of participation from people from non-western countries. We also found serious lack of gender diversity in the EME debate.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">W3C is the organization which sets the standard for HTML 5. Recently it got surrounded by controversy due to the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) draft specification (David Dorwin et al. 2016). EME aims to prevent piracy of digital video by making it hard to download the unencrypted video stream. But it also raises lots of issues regarding implementation in Free and Open Source Software, Interoperability, Privacy, Security, Accessibility and fair use. (Cory Doctorow 2016)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In this study we looked at aspects of the debate which both of the sides ignored, the third world! We found that out of 48 people who participated in the debate around EME on W3C's public-html mailing list, none of them were from the continents of Asia, Africa or South America. These regions make up almost 80 % of the world's population and more than 60 percent of world's internet users (Stats 2016). When a group of people doesn't get represented a in the standard making process it is expected that their concerns don't get represented either. The representation of people is specially important in the EME debate because laws around Digital Rights Management around the world are different. For example Indian laws does not disallow manufacture and distribution of circumvention tools whereas the law in USA does (Prakash 2016b). The cultural norms around the world are quite different and also the conditions under which people use the internet are different. India has the lowest average internet speed across the world (Akamai 2016). A large of fraction of Indian population (37% in 2010) accesses internet through Cyber Cafés (TRAI 2016). These factors makes the ability to download digital content much more important for an Indian internet user than a North American or European internet user.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Methodology</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We used BigBang<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a> python package to download the achieves of the public-html mailing list at W3C.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a> Our dump contains all the messages between 31st August 2010 to 15th May 2016. Then we filtered out all the emails with EME, encrypted media or DRM in the subject line. There were 472 such emails. We then de-duplicated the list of senders as some senders used multiple emails in the course of discussion. There were 48 unique senders afters de duplication. Then we looked up their social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, Github), personal website or page at employers site to determine the region they belong to and their gender. All the source code used for the analysis is available on our github repository.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3">[3]</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Result</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Regional Diversity</h3>
<table class="grid listing" style="text-align: justify; ">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Region</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Participant (%)</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Email (%)</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Africa</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Asia</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Australia and New Zealand</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>5 (10.4)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>16 (3.4)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Europe</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>13 (27.1)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>146 (30.9)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>North America</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>30 (62.5)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>310 (65.7)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>South America</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0 (0)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Total</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>48 (100)</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>472 (100)</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As mentioned in the Introduction above there was absolutely no participation from the whole continents of Africa, Asia, or South America with most of the emails being sent by North Americans.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Gender Diversity</h3>
<table class="grid listing" style="text-align: justify; ">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Gender</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Participant(%)</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Email(%)</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Male</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>47 (97.9)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>466 (98.7)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Female</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>1 (2.1)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>6 (1.3)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Total</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>48 (100)</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>472 (100)</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There was only one women participating in the discussing contributing 1.3 % of the emails sent. The numbers reflects widely discussed lack of gender diversity in Tech and Open communities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The debate inside W3C around EME also seriously lacked in gender diversity, which is typical of open communities.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Stakeholder Community</h3>
<table class="grid listing" style="text-align: justify; ">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Stakeholder Community</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Participants per work category</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>Emails sent per stakeholder category</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>FOSS browser developer</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>5</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>56</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Digital Content Provider</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>9</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>186</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>DRM Platform Provider</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>15</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>100</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Accessibility</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>4</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>47</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Security Researcher</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>0</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Privacy</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>2</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>2</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Other W3C Employee</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>3</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>10</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>None of the Above</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>10</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>71</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Total</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>48</b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>472</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We observe that there was no participation from the Security Researcher community and negligible participation from privacy community. Voice of Digital Content Provider was overrepresented with almost 40% of emails sent by them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Methodological remarks:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Participants are categorized on the basis stakes of their employer and not specifically on the work they do. For example someone who works on privacy in Google will be placed in "DRM platform provider" instead of "Privacy".</li>
<li>W3C and Universities are considered to neutral and their employees are categorized by the work they do.</li>
<li>Google's position is very interesting, it is a DRM provider as a browser manufacturer but also a content provider in Youtube and fair number of Google Employers are against EME due to other concerns. Therefore Christian Kaiser has been paced as Content provider because he works on Youtube, and everyone else has been placed as DRM provider.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Discussion and Future Work</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The lack of diversity in W3C is not unique. (Graham, Straumann, and Hogan 2015) showed a significant western bias in Wikipedia, gender bias in Wikipedia has also a well known and is being actively worked upon. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has also been criticized for under representing interests of non North American and West European world (Prakash 2016a).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We hope that W3C and other organizations will increase the diversity in their standard making process so that global voices actually shape the global internet.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Acknowledgement</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This work was done during my internship at The Center for Internet & Society, India. I thank Sunil Abraham for useful and timely feedback and Pranesh Prakash, Amber Sinha and Udbhav Tiwari for informed discussions.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Akamai. 2016. “Akamai State of the Internet Q1 2016.” Accessed August 20. <a href="https://www.akamai.com/uk/en/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/akamai-state-of-the-internet-report-q1-2016.pdf"><b>https://www.akamai.com/uk/en/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/akamai-state-of-the-internet-report-q1-2016.pdf</b></a>.</li>
<li>Cory Doctorow. 2016. “Interoperability and the W3C: Defending the Future from the Present.” <i>Electronic Frontier Foundation</i>. <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/interoperability-and-w3c-defending-future-present"><b>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/interoperability-and-w3c-defending-future-present</b></a>.</li>
<li>David Dorwin, Jerry Smith, Mark Watson, and Adrian Bateman. 2016. “Encrypted Media Extensions, W3C Editor’s Draft.” Accessed May 13. <a href="https://w3c.github.io/encrypted-media/"><b>https://w3c.github.io/encrypted-media/</b></a></li>
<li>Feminism, Geek. 2016. “Geek Feminism Wiki FLOSS.” <i>Geek Feminism Wiki</i>. Accessed October 5. <a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/FLOSS">http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/FLOSS</a>.</li>
<li>Graham, Mark, Ralph K. Straumann, and Bernie Hogan. 2015. “Digital Divisions of Labor and Informational Magnetism: Mapping Participation in Wikipedia.” <i>Annals of the Association of American Geographers</i> 105 (6): 1158–78. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2015.1072791"><b>10.1080/00045608.2015.1072791</b></a>.</li>
<li>Prakash, Pranesh. 2016a. “CIS Statement at ICANN 49’s Public Forum.” <i>The Centre for Internet and Society</i>. Accessed August 20. <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/icann49-public-forum-statement"><b>http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/icann49-public-forum-statement</b></a>.</li>
<li>Prakash, Pranesh. 2016b. “Technological Protection Measures in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010.” <i>The Centre for Internet and Society</i>. Accessed August 20. <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tpm-copyright-amendment"><b>http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tpm-copyright-amendment</b></a>.</li>
<li>Stats, Internet Live. 2016. “Number of Internet Users (2016) - Internet Live Stats.” Accessed August 20. <a href="http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/"><b>http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/</b></a>.</li>
<li>TRAI.. “Recommendations on National Broadband Plan.” Accessed August 20. <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Recommendation/Documents/Rcommendation81210.pdf"><b>http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Recommendation/Documents/Rcommendation81210.pdf</b></a>.</li>
<hr />
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a><sup> </sup> https://github.com/datactive/bigbang</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2"><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a><sup> </sup> https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3"><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a><sup> </sup> https://github.com/hargup/eme_diversity_analysis</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/lack-of-representation-of-non-western-world-in-creation-of-web-standards'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/lack-of-representation-of-non-western-world-in-creation-of-web-standards</a>
</p>
No publisherguptaOpen StandardsAccess to KnowledgeWeb StandardsEncrypted Media ExtensionsOpenness2016-10-20T01:44:41ZBlog EntryCPOV : Wikipedia Research Initiative
https://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov
<b>The Second event, towards building the Critical Point of View Reader on Wikipedia, brings a range of scholars, practitioners, theorists and activists to critically reflect on the state of Wikipedia in our contemporary Information Societies. Organised in Amsterdam, Netherlands, by the Institute of Network Cultures, in collaboration with the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, the event builds on the debates and discussions initiated at the WikiWars that launched off the knowledge network in Bangalore in January 2010. Follow the Live Tweets at #CPOV</b>
<p>Second international conference of the <em>CPOV Wikipedia Research
Initiative</em> :: March 26-27, 2010 :: OBA (Public Library Amsterdam,
next to Amsterdam central station), Oosterdokskade 143, Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Wikipedia is at the brink of becoming the de facto global reference
of dynamic knowledge. The heated debates over its accuracy, anonymity,
trust, vandalism and expertise only seem to fuel further growth of
Wikipedia and its user base. Apart from leaving its modern counterparts
Britannica and Encarta in the dust, such scale and breadth places
Wikipedia on par with such historical milestones as Pliny the Elder’s
Naturalis Historia, the Ming Dynasty’s Wen-hsien ta- ch’ eng, and the
key work of French Enlightenment, the Encyclopedie. <span id="more-10604"></span>The multilingual Wikipedia as digital
collaborative and fluid knowledge production platform might be said to
be the most visible and successful example of the migration of FLOSS
(Free/ Libre/ Open Source Software) principles into mainstream culture.
However, such celebration should contain critical insights, informed by
the changing realities of the Internet at large and the Wikipedia
project in particular.</p>
<p>The CPOV Research Initiative was founded from the urge to stimulate
critical Wikipedia research: quantitative and qualitative research that
could benefit both the wide user-base and the active Wikipedia community
itself. On top of this, Wikipedia offers critical insights into the
contemporary status of knowledge, its organizing principles, function,
and impact; its production styles, mechanisms for conflict resolution
and power (re-)constitution. The overarching research agenda is at once a
philosophical, epistemological and theoretical investigation of
knowledge artifacts, cultural production and social relations, and an
empirical investigation of the specific phenomenon of the Wikipedia.</p>
<p>Conference Themes: Wiki Theory, Encyclopedia Histories, Wiki Art,
Wikipedia Analytics, Designing Debate and Global Issues and Outlooks.</p>
<p>Follow the live tweets on http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23CPOV</p>
<p>Confirmed speakers: Florian Cramer (DE/NL), Andrew Famiglietti (UK),
Stuart Geiger (USA), Hendrik-Jan Grievink (NL), Charles van den Heuvel
(NL), Jeanette Hofmann (DE), Athina Karatzogianni (UK), Scott Kildall
(USA), Patrick Lichty (USA), Hans Varghese Mathews (IN), Teemu Mikkonen
(FI), Mayo Fuster Morell (IT), Mathieu O’Neil (AU), Felipe Ortega (ES),
Dan O’Sullivan (UK), Joseph Reagle (USA), Ramón Reichert (AU), Richard
Rogers (USA/NL), Alan Shapiro (USA/DE), Maja van der Velden (NL/NO),
Gérard Wormser (FR).</p>
<p>Editorial team: Sabine Niederer and Geert Lovink (Amsterdam), Nishant
Shah and Sunil Abraham (Bangalore), Johanna Niesyto (Siegen), Nathaniel
Tkacz (Melbourne). Project manager CPOV Amsterdam: Margreet Riphagen.
Research intern: Juliana Brunello. Production intern: Serena Westra.</p>
<p>The CPOV conference in Amsterdam will be the second conference of the
CPOV Wikipedia Research Initiative. The launch of the initiative took
place in Bangalore India, with the conference WikiWars in January 2010.
After the first two events, the CPOV organization will work on
producing a reader, to be launched early 2011. For more information or
submitting a <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/cpov/reader">reader</a>
contribution.</p>
<p>Buy your ticket <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/cpov/practical-info/tickets/">online</a>
(with iDeal), or register by sending an email to: info (at)
networkcultures.org. One day ticket: €25, students and OBA members:
€12,50. Full conference pass (2 days): €40, students and OBA members:
25.</p>
<p>Organized by the Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam, in
cooperation with the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore,
India.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov'>https://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov</a>
</p>
No publishernishantConferenceOpen StandardsDigital ActivismDigital GovernanceDigital AccessPublic AccountabilityResearchFeatured2011-08-23T02:52:25ZBlog EntryMS Format
https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.doc
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.doc'>https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.doc</a>
</p>
No publisheradminOpen StandardsPublications2011-08-23T03:07:11ZFileOo.org Format
https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.odt
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.odt'>https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-10-sept-2008.odt</a>
</p>
No publisheradminOpen StandardsPublications2011-08-23T03:06:49ZFilePDF Format
https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-09-sept-2008.pdf
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-09-sept-2008.pdf'>https://cis-india.org/openness/publications/standards/uploads/response-to-indian-open-standards-policy-09-sept-2008.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisheradminOpen StandardsPublications2011-08-23T03:06:23ZFileComments on the Draft National Policy on Software Products
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-draft-national-policy-on-software-products
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society submitted public comments to the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Information & Communications Technology, Govt. of India on the National Policy of Software
Products on December 9, 2016. </b>
<p> </p>
<h2>I. Preliminary</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>1.</strong> This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society, India (“<strong>CIS</strong>”) on the Draft National Policy on Software Products <a name="fr1" href="#fn1">[1]</a> (“<strong>draft policy</strong>”), released by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (“<strong>MeitY</strong> ”).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>2.</strong> CIS commends MeitY on its initiative to present a draft policy, and is thankful for the opportunity to put forth its views in this public consultation period.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>3.</strong> This submission is divided into three main parts. The first part, ‘Preliminary’, introduces the document; the second part, ‘About CIS’, is an overview of the organization; and, the third part contains the comments by CIS on the Draft National Policy on Software Products.</p>
<h2>II. About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>4.</strong> CIS is a non-profit organisation <a name="fr2" href="#fn2">[2]</a> that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, freedom of speech and expression, intermediary liability, digital privacy, and cyber security.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>5.</strong> CIS values the fundamental principles of justice, equality, freedom and economic development. This submission is consistent with CIS' commitment to these values, the safeguarding of general public interest and the protection of India's national interest at the international level. Accordingly, the comments in this submission aim to further these principles.</p>
<h2>III. Comments on the Draft National Policy on Software Products</h2>
<h3><strong>General Comments</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>6.</strong> CIS commends MeitY on its initiative to develop a consolidated National Policy on Software Products. We believe that there are certain salient points in the draft policy that deserve particular appreciation for being in the interest of all stakeholders, especially the public. An indicative list of such points include:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>A focus on aiding digital inclusion via software, especially in the fields of finance, education and healthcare.</li>
<li>The recognition of the need for openness and application of open data principles in the private and public sector. Identifying the need for diversification of the information technology sector into regions outside the developed cities in India.</li>
<li>Identifying the need for innovation and original research in emerging fields such as Internet of Things and Big Data.</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>7.</strong> We observe that the draft policy weighs in the favour of creating a thriving digital economy, which indeed is a commendable objective per se. However, there are certain aspects which remain to be addressed by the draft policy, to ensure that the growth of our domestic software industry truly achieves the vision set out in Digital India for better delivery of government services and maximisation of the public interest.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>8.</strong> We submit that the proposed policy should include certain additional guiding principles to direct creation of software and its end-utilisation. These principles would ensure responsible, inclusive, judicious and secure software product life cycle by all the relevant stakeholders, including the industry, the government and especially the public. An indicative list of such principles that we believe should be explicitly included in the policy are:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>Ensuring that internationally accepted principles of privacy are followed in software development and utilisation, including public awareness.</li>
<li>Requiring basic yet sufficient standards of information security to ensure protection of user data at all stages of the software product life cycle.</li>
<li>Enforcing lingual diversity in software to allow for India’s diverse population to operate indigenous software in an inclusive manner.</li>
<li>Mandating minimum standards on accessibility in software creation, procurement and implementation to ensure sustainable use by the differently-abled.</li>
<li>Focusing on transparency & accountability in software procurement for all public funded projects.</li>
<li>Implementing the utilisation of Free and Open Source Software (“<strong>FOSS</strong>”) in the execution of public funded projects as per the mandate of the Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India; thereby incentivising the creation of FOSS for use in both private and public sector.</li>
<li>For software to be truly inclusive of the goals of Digital India, it is essential that to provide supports to Indic languages and scripts without yielding an inferior experience or results for the end user in non-English interfaces. Software already deployed should be translated and localised.</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>9.</strong> The inclusion of these principles in substantive clauses of the policy will go a long way in ensuring the sustainable and transparent growth of domestic software product ecosystem.</p>
<h3><strong>Specific Comments</strong></h3>
<h4><strong>10.</strong> Development of a robust Electronic Payment Infrastructure</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>10.1.</strong> CIS observes that clauses 5.4 and 6.7 of the draft policy aim to establish a seamless electronic payment infrastructure. We submit that an electronic payment infrastructure should be designed with strong standards of information security, privacy and inclusivity (both accessibility and lingual).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>10.2.</strong> We recommend that the policy mandate minimum standards of information security, privacy and inclusivity in all payment systems across private and public sectors. The policy should, therefore, ideally specify the respective standards for these categories, for instance ISO 27001 and National Policy on Universal Electronics Accessibility <a name="fr3" href="#fn3">[3]</a>, alongside other industry standards for Electronic Payment Infrastructure.</p>
<h4>11. Government Procurement</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>11.1.</strong> CIS observes that clause 6.1 of the draft policy seeks to develop a framework for inclusion of Indian software in government procurement. It is commendable that the draft policy identifies the need for a better framework. CIS notes that the existing procurement procedure allows for usage of Indian software. In fact, the Government e-Marketplace(eGM) already has begun to incorporate some of these principles in general procurement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>11.2.</strong> Indeed, the presence of a transparent and accountable government procurement, which leverages technology and the internet, is key to ensuring a sustainable and fair market. CIS recommends that the policy refer to these guiding principles to enable the development of a viable cache of Indian software products by creating more avenues, including government procurement.</p>
<h4>12. Incentives for Digital India oriented software</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>12.1.</strong> CIS observes that clause 6.3 of the draft policy incentivises the creation of software addressing the action pillars of the commendable Digital India programme.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>12.2.</strong> For development of superior quality software which will ensure excellent success of the Digital India programme, CIS recommends that the incentives should be provided <em>contingent </em>to the incorporation of certain minimum standards of software development. Such products and services should, <em>inter alia</em>, adhere to the stipulations under National Policy on Universal Electronics Accessibility, the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites, Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011, etc. In the process, the software should be subjected to reviews by a neutral entity to gauge the compliance with the abovementioned minimum standards.</p>
<h4>13. Increasing adoption of Open APIs and Open Data</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>13.1.</strong> CIS observes that clause 6.6 of the draft policy promotes the use of open APIs and open data in development of e-government services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>13.2.</strong> We strongly recommend that open APIs and open data principles be adopted by software used in all government organizations, and non-commercial software . Open Data and Open APIs can serve a vital role in ensuring transparent, accountable and efficient governance, which can be leveraged in a major way within the policy by the public and civil society.</p>
<h4>14. Creation of Enabling Environment for Innovation, R&D, and IP Creation and Protection</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>14.1.</strong> CIS observes that clause 8.1 of the draft policy seeks to create an enabling environment for innovation, R&D, and IP creation and protection.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>14.2.</strong> CIS submits that the existing TRIPS-compliant Indian intellectual property law regime is adequately designed to incentivise creativity and innovation in the area of software development. The Indian Patents Act, 1970 read with the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions, 2016 do not permit the patenting of <em>computer programmes per se</em>. Several Indian software developers, notably small and medium sized development companies have made evidence-based submissions to the government previously on the negative impact of software patenting on software innovation <a name="fr4" href="#fn4">[4]</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>14.3.</strong> CIS recommends that the proposed policy re-affirm the adequacy of the Indian intellectual property regime to protect software development, in compliance with the TRIPS Agreement.</p>
<h2>IV. Conclusion</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>15.</strong> CIS commends the MeitY on the development of the draft policy. We strongly urge MeitY to address the issues highlighted above, especially emphasising the incorporation of essential principles such as information security, privacy, accessibility, etc. Adoption of such measures will ensure a fair balance between commercial growth of domestic software industry and the maximisation of public interest.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify;" />
<p>[<a name="fn1" href="#fr1">1</a>]. National Policy on Software Products (2016, Draft internal v1. 15) available at <a class="external-link" href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/National%20Policy%20on%20Software%20Products.pdf">http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/National%20Policy%20on%20Software%20Products.pdf</a></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/National%20Policy%20on%20Software%20Products.pdf">[</a><a name="fn2" href="#fr2">2</a>]. See The Centre for Internet and Society, available at <a class="external-link" href="http://cis- india.org">http://cis- india.org</a> for details of the organization,and our work.</p>
<p>[<a name="fn3" href="#fr3">3</a>]. See <a class="external-link" href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Accessible-format-National%20Policy%20on%20Universal%20Electronics.pdf">http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Accessible-format-National%20Policy%20on%20Universal%20Electronics.pdf</a></p>
<p>[<a name="fn4" href="#fr4">4</a>]. See <a class="external-link" href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52159304.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_me%20dium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52159304.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_me dium=text&utm_campaign=cppst</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-draft-national-policy-on-software-products'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-draft-national-policy-on-software-products</a>
</p>
No publisherAnubha Sinha, Rohini Lakshané, and Udbhav TiwariOpen StandardsNational Software PolicyOpen SourceOpen DataInternet GovernanceOpenness2016-12-12T14:45:11ZBlog EntryAdoption of Standards in Smart Cities - Way Forward for India
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities-way-forward-for-india
<b>With a paradigm shift towards the concept of “Smart Cities’ globally, as well as India, such cities have been defined by several international standardization bodies and countries, however, there is no uniform definition adopted globally. The glue that allows infrastructures to link and operate efficiently is standards as they make technologies interoperable and efficient.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities.pdf" class="internal-link">Click here to download the full file</a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Globally, the pace of urbanization is increasing exponentially. The world’s urban population is projected to rise from 3.6 billion to 6.3 billion between 2011 and 2050. A solution for the same has been development of sustainable cities by improving efficiency and integrating infrastructure and services <strong>[1]</strong>. It has been estimated that during the next 20 years, 30 Indians will leave rural India for urban areas every minute, necessitating smart and sustainable cities to accommodate them <strong>[2]</strong>. The Smart Cities Mission of the Ministry of Urban Development was announced in the year 2014, followed by selection of 100 cities in the year 2015 and 20 of them being selected for the first Phase of the project in the year 2016. The Mission <strong>[3]</strong> lists the “core infrastructural elements” that a smart city would incorporate like adequate water supply, assured electricity, sanitation, efficient public transport, affordable housing (especially for the poor), robust IT connectivity and digitisation, e-governance and citizen participation, sustainable environment, safety and security for citizens, health and education.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With a paradigm shift towards the concept of “Smart Cities’ globally, as well as India, such cities have been defined by several international standardization bodies and countries, however, there is no uniform definition adopted globally. The envisioned modern and smart city promises delivery of high quality services to the citizens and will harness data capture and communication management technologies. The performance of such cities would be monitored on the basis of physical as well as the social structure comprising of smart approaches and solution to utilities and transport.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The glue that allows infrastructures to link and operate efficiently is standards as they make technologies interoperable and efficient. Interoperability is essential and to ensure smart integration of various systems in a smart city, internationally agreed standards that include technical specifications and classifications must be adhered to. Development of international standards ensure seamless interaction between components from different suppliers and technologies <strong>[4]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Standardized indicators within standards benefit smart cities in the following ways:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Effective governance and efficient delivery of services.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">International and Local targets, benchmarking and planning.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Informed decision making and policy formulation.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Leverage for funding and recognition in international entities.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Transparency and open data for investment attractiveness.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">A reliable foundation for use of big data and the information explosion to assist cities in building core knowledge for city decision-making, and enable comparative insight.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The adoption of standards for smart cities has been advocated across the world as they are perceived to be an effective tool to foster development of the cities. The Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau Chaesub Lee is of the view that “Smart cities will employ an abundance of technologies in the family of the Internet of Things (IoT) and standards will assist the harmonized implementation of IoT data and applications , contributing to effective horizontal integration of a city’s subsystems” <strong>[5]</strong>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Smart Cities standards in India</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) partnered with Accenture <strong>[6]</strong> to prepare a report called ‘Integrated ICT and Geospatial Technologies Framework for 100 Smart Cities Mission’ <strong>[7]</strong> to explore the role of ICT in developing smart cities <strong>[8]</strong>, after the announcement of the Mission by Indian Government. The report, released in May 2015, lists down 55 global standards, keeping in view several city sub-systems like urban planning, transport, governance, energy, climate and pollution management, etc which could be applicable to the smart cities in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Though NASSCOM is working closely with the Ministry of Urban Development to create a sustainable model for smart cities <strong>[9]</strong>, due to lack of regulatory standards for smart cities, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in India has undertaken the task to formulate standardised guidelines for central and state authorities in planning, design and construction of smart cities by setting up a technical committee under the Civil engineering department of the Bureau. However, adoption of the standards by implementing agencies would be voluntary and intends to complement internationally available documents in this area <strong>[10]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Developing national standards in line with these international standards would enable interoperability (i.e. devices and systems working together) and provide a roadmap to address key issues like data protection, privacy and other inherent risks in the digital delivery and use of public services in the envisioned smart cities, which call for comprehensive data management standards in India to instill public confidence and trust <strong>[11]</strong>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Key International Smart Cities Standards</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Following are the key internationally accepted and recognized Smart Cities standards developed by leading organisations and the national standardization bodies of several countries that India could adopt or develop national standards in line with these.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify; ">The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - Smart Cities Standards</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ISO is an instrumental body advocating and developing for smart cities to safeguard rights of the people against a liveable and sustainable environment. The ISO Smart Cities Strategic Advisory Group uses the following working definition: A ‘Smart City’ is one that dramatically increases the pace at which it improves its social, economic and environmental (sustainability) outcomes, responding to challenges such as climate change, rapid population growth, and political and economic instability by fundamentally improving how it engages society, how it applies collaborative leadership methods, how it works across disciplines and city systems, and how it uses data information and modern technologies in order to transform services and quality of life for those in and involved with the city (residents, businesses, visitors), now and for the foreseeable future, without unfair disadvantage of others or degradation of the natural environment. [For details see ISO/TMB Smart Cities Strategic Advisory Group Final Report, September 2015 ( ISO Definition, June 2015)].</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The ISO Technical Committee 268 works on standardization in the field of Sustainable Development in Communities <strong>[12]</strong> to encourage the development and implementation of holistic, cross-sector and area-based approaches to sustainable development in communities. The Committee comprises of 3 Working Groups <strong>[13]</strong>:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Working Group 1: System Management ISO 37101- This standard sets requirements, guidance and supporting techniques for sustainable development in communities. It is designed to help all kinds of communities manage their sustainability, smartness and resilience to improve the contribution of communities to sustainable development and assess their performance in this area <strong>[14]</strong>.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Working Group 2 : City Indicators- The key Smart Cities Standards developed by ISO TC 268 WG 2 (City Indicators) are:</div>
</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="text-align: justify; ">ISO 37120 Sustainable Development of Communities — Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One of the key standards and an important step in this regard was ISO 37120:2014 under the ISO’s Technical Committee 268 (See Working on Standardization in the field of Sustainable Development in Communities) providing clearly defined city performance indicators (divided into core and supporting indicators) as a benchmark for city services and quality of life, along with a standard approach for measuring each for city leaders and citizens <strong>[15]</strong>. The standard is global in scope and can help cities prioritize city budgets, improve operational transparency, support open data and applications <strong>[16]</strong>. It follows the principles <strong>[17]</strong> set out and can be used in conjunction with ISO 37101.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ISO 37120 was the first ISO Standard on Global City Indicators published in the year 2014, developed on the basis of a set of indicators developed and extensively tested by the Global City Indicators Facility (a project by University of Toronto) and its 250+ member cities globally. GCIF is committed to build standardized city indicators for performance management including a database of comparable statistics that allow cities to track their effectiveness on everything from planning and economic growth to transportation, safety and education <strong>[18]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The World Council on City Data (WCCD) <strong>[19]</strong> - a sister organization of the GCI/GCIF - was established in the year 2014 to operationalize ISO 37120 across cities globally. The standards encompasses 100 indicators developed around 17 themes to support city services and quality of life, and is accessible through the WCCD Open City Data Portal which allows for cutting-edge visualizations and comparisons. Indian cities are not yet listed with WCCD <strong>[20]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The indicators are listed under the following heads <strong>[21]</strong>:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Economy</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Education</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Environment</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Energy</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Finance</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Fire and Emergency Responses</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Governance</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Health</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Safety</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Shelter</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Recreation</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Solid Waste</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Telecommunication and innovation</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Transportation</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Urban Planning</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Waste water</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Water and Sanitation</div>
</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This International Standard is applicable to any city, municipality or local government that undertakes to measure its performance in a comparable and verifiable manner, irrespective of size and location or level of development. City indicators have the potential to be used as critical tools for city managers, politicians, researchers, business leaders, planners, designers and other professionals <strong>[22]</strong>. The WCCD forum highlights need for cities to have a set of globally standardized indicators to <strong>[23]</strong>:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Manage and make informed decisions through data analysis</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Benchmark and target</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Leverage Funding with senior levels of government</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Plan and establish new frameworks for sustainable urban development</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Evaluate the impact of infrastructure projects on the overall performance of a city.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<h4 style="text-align: justify; ">ISO/DTR 37121- Inventory and Review of Existing Indicators on Sustainable Development and Resilience in Cities</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second standard under ISO TC 268 WG 2 is ISO 37121, which defines additional indicators related to sustainable development and resilience in cities. Some of the indicators include: Smart Cities, Smart Grid, Economic Resilience, Green Buildings, Political Resilience, Protection of biodiversity, etc. The complete list can be viewed on the Resilient Cities website <strong>[24]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Working Group 3:</strong> Terminology - There are no publicly available documents so far, giving details about the status of the activities of this group. The ISO Technical Committee 268 also includes Sub Committee 1 (Smart Community Infrastructure) <strong>[25]</strong>, comprising of the following Working Groups: 1) WG 1 Infrastructure metrics, and 2) WG 2 Smart Community Infrastructure.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The key Smart Cities Standards developed by ISO under this are:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>ISO 37151:2015 Smart community infrastructures — Principles and Requirements for Performance Metrics</strong><br />In the year 2015, a new ISO technical specification for smart cities- 37151:2015 for Principles and requirements for performance metrics was released. The purpose of standardization in the field of smart community infrastructures such as energy, water, transportation, waste, information and communications technology (ICT), etc. is to promote the international trade of community infrastructure products and services and improve sustainability in communities by establishing harmonized product standards <strong>[26]</strong>. The metrics in this standard will support city and community managers in planning and measuring performance, and also compare and select procurement proposals for products and services geared at improving community infrastructures <strong>[27]</strong>. <br />This Technical Specification gives principles and specifies requirements for the definition,identification, optimization, and harmonization of community infrastructure performance metrics, and gives recommendations for analysis, regarding interoperability, safety, security of community infrastructures <strong>[28]</strong>. This new Technical Specification supports the use of the ISO 37120 <strong>[29]</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>ISO/TR 37150:2014 Smart Community Infrastructures - Review of Existing Activities Relevant to Metrics<br /></strong>This standard addresses community infrastructures such as energy, water, transportation, waste and information and communications technology (ICT). Smart community infrastructures take into consideration environmental impact, economic efficiency and quality of life by using information and communications technology (ICT) and renewable energies to achieve integrated management and optimized control of infrastructures. Integrating smart community infrastructures for a community helps improve the lifestyles of its citizens by, for example: reducing costs, increasing mobility and accessibility, and reducing environmental pollutants.<br />ISO/TR 37150 reviews relevant metrics for smart community infrastructures and provides stakeholders with a better understanding of the smart community infrastructures available around the world to help promote international trade of community infrastructure products and give information about leading-edge technologies to improve sustainability in communities <strong>[30]</strong>. This standard, along with the above mentioned standards <strong>[31]</strong> supports the multi-billion dollar smart cities technology industry.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Several other ISO Working Groups developing standards applicable to smart and sustainable cities have been listed in our website <strong>[32]</strong>.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify; ">The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The ITU is another global body working on development of standards regarding smart cities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A study group was formed in the year 2015 to tackle standardization requirements for the Internet of Things, with an initial focus on IoT applications in smart cities to address urban development challenges <strong>[33]</strong>, to enable the coordinated development of IoT technologies, including machine-to-machine communications and ubiquitous sensor networks. The group is titled “ITU-T Study Group 20: IoT and its applications, including smart cities and communities”, established to develop standards that leverage IoT technologies to address urban-development challenges and the mechanisms for the interoperability of IoT applications and datasets employed by various vertically oriented industry sectors <strong>[34]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ITU-T also concluded a focused study group looking at smart sustainable cities in May 2015, acting as an open platform for smart city stakeholders to exchange knowledge in the interests of identifying the standardized frameworks needed to support the integration of ICT services in smart cities. Its parent group is ITU-T Study Group 5, which has agreed on the following definition of a Smart Sustainable City:<br />"A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects".</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify; ">UK - British Standards Institution</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from the global standards setting organisations, many countries have been looking at developing standards to address the growth of smart cities across the globe. In the UK, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has been commissioned by the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to conceive a Smart Cities Standards Strategy to identify vectors of smart city development where standards are needed. The standards would be developed through a consensus-driven process under the BSI to ensure good practise is shared between all the actors. The BIS launched the City's Standards Institute to bring together cities and key industry leaders and innovators to work together in identifying the challenges facing cities, providing solutions to common problems and defining the future of smart city standards <strong>[35]</strong>.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>PAS 181</strong> <em><strong>Smart city framework- Guide to establishing strategies for smart cities and communities</strong></em> establishes a good practice framework for city leaders to develop, agree and deliver smart city strategies that can help transform their city’s ability to meet challenges faced in the future and meet the goals. The smart city framework (SCF) does not intend to describe a one-size-fits-all model for the future of UK cities but focuses on the enabling processes by which the innovative use of technology and data, together with organizational change, can help deliver the diverse visions for future UK cities in more efficient, effective and sustainable ways <strong>[36]</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>PD 8101</strong> <em><strong>Smart cities- Guide to the role of the planning and development process</strong></em><em> </em>gives guidance regarding planning for new development for smart city plans and<em> </em>provides an overview of the key issues to be considered and prioritized. The document is for use by local authority planning and regeneration officers to identify good practice in a UK context, and what tools they could use to implement this good practice. This aims to enable new developments to be built in a way that will support smart city aspirations at minimal cost <strong>[37]</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>PAS 182<em> Smart city concept model. Guide to establishing a model for data</em></strong><em> </em>establishes an interoperability framework and data-sharing between agencies for smart cities for the following purposes:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>To have a city where information can be shared and understood between organizations and people at each level</li>
<li>The derivation of data in each layer can be linked back to data in the previous layer </li>
<li>The impact of a decision can be observed back in operational data. The smart city concept model (SCCM) provides a framework that can normalize and classify information from many sources so that data sets can be discovered and combined to gain a better picture of the needs and behaviours of a city’s citizens (residents and businesses) to help identify issues and devise solutions. PAS 182 is aimed at organizations that provide services to communities in cities, and manage the resulting data, as well as decision-makers and policy developers in cities <strong>[38]</strong>.</li>
</ol> </li>
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>PAS 180 Smart cities <em>Vocabulary</em></strong> helps build a strong foundation for future standardization and good practices by providing an industry-agreed understanding of smart city terms and definitions to be used in the UK. It provides a working definition of a Smart City- “Smart Cities” is a term denoting the effective integration of physical, digital and human systems in the built environment to deliver a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive future for its citizens <strong>[39]</strong>. This aims to help improve communication and understanding of smart cities by providing a common language for developers, designers, manufacturers and clients. The standard also defines smart city concepts across different infrastructure and systems’ elements used across all service delivery channels and is intended for city authorities and planners, buyers of smart city services and solutions <strong>[40]</strong>, as well as product and service providers.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Endnotes</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iec.ch/whitepaper/pdf/iecWP-smartcities-LR-en.pdf">http://www.iec.ch/whitepaper/pdf/iecWP-smartcities-LR-en.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/in/en/sustainable_cities/ideas/">http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/in/en/sustainable_cities/ideas/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/smart-cities-mission-welcome-to-tomorrows-world/article8163690.ece">http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/smart-cities-mission-welcome-to-tomorrows-world/article8163690.ece</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[4]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iec.ch/whitepaper/pdf/iecWP-smartcities-LR-en.pdf">http://www.iec.ch/whitepaper/pdf/iecWP-smartcities-LR-en.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[5]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref2042">http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref2042</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[6]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.livemint.com/Companies/5Twmf8dUutLsJceegZ7I9K/Nasscom-partners-Accenture-to-form-ICT-framework-for-smart-c.html">http://www.livemint.com/Companies/5Twmf8dUutLsJceegZ7I9K/Nasscom-partners-Accenture-to-form-ICT-framework-for-smart-c.html</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[7]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.nasscom.in/integrated-ict-and-geospatial-technologies-framework-100-smart-cities-mission">http://www.nasscom.in/integrated-ict-and-geospatial-technologies-framework-100-smart-cities-mission</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[8]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cxotoday.com/story/nasscom-creates-framework-for-smart-cities-project/">http://www.cxotoday.com/story/nasscom-creates-framework-for-smart-cities-project/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[9]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.livemint.com/Companies/5Twmf8dUutLsJceegZ7I9K/Nasscom-partners-Accenture-to-form-ICT-framework-for-smart-c.html">http://www.livemint.com/Companies/5Twmf8dUutLsJceegZ7I9K/Nasscom-partners-Accenture-to-form-ICT-framework-for-smart-c.html</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[10]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/in-a-first-bis-to-come-up-with-standards-for-smart-cities-115060400931_1.html">http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/in-a-first-bis-to-come-up-with-standards-for-smart-cities-115060400931_1.html</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[11]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.longfinance.net/groups7/viewdiscussion/72-financing-financing-tomorrow-s-cities-how-standards-can-support-the-development-of-smart-cities.html?groupid=3">http://www.longfinance.net/groups7/viewdiscussion/72-financing-financing-tomorrow-s-cities-how-standards-can-support-the-development-of-smart-cities.html?groupid=3</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[12]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=656906">http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=656906</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[13]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://cityminded.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Patricia_McCarney_PDF.pdf">http://cityminded.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Patricia_McCarney_PDF.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[14]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1877">http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1877</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[15]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/new-iso-standard-gives-cities-common-performance-yardstick">http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/new-iso-standard-gives-cities-common-performance-yardstick</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[16]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/dissecting-iso-37120-why-new-smart-city-standard-good-news-cities">http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/dissecting-iso-37120-why-new-smart-city-standard-good-news-cities</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[17]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=62436">http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=62436</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[18]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cityindicators.org/">http://www.cityindicators.org/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[19]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dataforcities.org/">http://www.dataforcities.org/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[20]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://news.dataforcities.org/2015/12/world-council-on-city-data-and-hatch.html">http://news.dataforcities.org/2015/12/world-council-on-city-data-and-hatch.html</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[21]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://news.dataforcities.org/2015/12/world-council-on-city-data-and-hatch.html">http://news.dataforcities.org/2015/12/world-council-on-city-data-and-hatch.html</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[22]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/37120_briefing_note.pdf">http://www.iso.org/iso/37120_briefing_note.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[23]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dataforcities.org/wccd/">http://www.dataforcities.org/wccd/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[24]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://resilient-cities.iclei.org/fileadmin/sites/resilient-cities/files/Webinar_Series/HERNANDEZ_-_ICLEI_Resilient_Cities_Webinar__FINAL_.pdf">http://resilient-cities.iclei.org/fileadmin/sites/resilient-cities/files/Webinar_Series/HERNANDEZ_-_ICLEI_Resilient_Cities_Webinar__FINAL_.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[25]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=656967">http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=656967</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[26]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:ts:37151:ed-1:v1:en">https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:ts:37151:ed-1:v1:en</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[27]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/news_archive/news.htm?refid=Ref2001&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ISO+Newsletter+November&utm_content=ISO+Newsletter+November+CID_4182720c31ca2e71fa93d7c1f1e66e2f&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20more">http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/news_archive/news.htm?refid=Ref2001&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ISO+Newsletter+November&utm_content=ISO+Newsletter+November+CID_4182720c31ca2e71fa93d7c1f1e66e2f&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20more</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[28]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/37120_briefing_note.pdf">http://www.iso.org/iso/37120_briefing_note.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[29]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://standardsforum.com/isots-37151-smart-cities-metrics/">http://standardsforum.com/isots-37151-smart-cities-metrics/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[30]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/executive_summary_iso_37150.pdf">http://www.iso.org/iso/executive_summary_iso_37150.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[31]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://standardsforum.com/isots-37151-smart-cities-metrics/">http://standardsforum.com/isots-37151-smart-cities-metrics/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[32]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/database-on-big-data-and-smart-cities-international-standards">http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/database-on-big-data-and-smart-cities-international-standards</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[33]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/itu-takes-internet-things-standards-smart-cities">http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/itu-takes-internet-things-standards-smart-cities</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[34]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="https://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2015/22.aspx">https://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2015/22.aspx</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[35]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/">http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[36]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-181-smart-cities-framework/">http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-181-smart-cities-framework/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[37]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PD-8101-smart-cities-planning-guidelines/">http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PD-8101-smart-cities-planning-guidelines/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[38]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-182-smart-cities-data-concept-model/">http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-182-smart-cities-data-concept-model/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[39]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iso.org/iso/smart_cities_report-jtc1.pdf">http://www.iso.org/iso/smart_cities_report-jtc1.pdf</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>[40]</strong> See: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-180-smart-cities-terminology/">http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/smart-cities/Smart-Cities-Standards-and-Publication/PAS-180-smart-cities-terminology/</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities-way-forward-for-india'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities-way-forward-for-india</a>
</p>
No publishervanyaOpen StandardsBig DataOpen DataInternet GovernanceSmart Cities2016-04-11T03:04:46ZBlog EntryDiscussion on Open Standards with Bernd Erk and Jiten Vaidya
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/discussion-on-open-standards-with-bernd-erk-and-jiten-vaidya
<b>Rootconf organised a discussion on open standards at CIS Bangalore office. Zainab Bawa, Karan Saini and Anwesha Das coordinated and organised the event.</b>
<p>The discussions created awareness on:</p>
<ol>
<li>Consequences of building your applications around non-open standards.</li>
<li>Risks associated with non-open standards.</li>
<li>How to build your applications around open standards.</li>
</ol>
<p>Open standards are important for:</p>
<ol>
<li>Business</li>
<li>Application development</li>
<li>Communications</li>
<li>Open internet</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="text-align: justify; "><span>The event kicked off with Bernd Erk talking about how the convenience of availing services from a few 'cloud' providers is killing open standards in the space. </span>Jiten Vaidya then discussed his experience running a successful open source product and business, and the future of open standards in the space. Kiran Jonnalagadda and Gurshabad Grover contributed to and moderated the subsequent discussion.</div>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/discussion-on-open-standards-with-bernd-erk-and-jiten-vaidya'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/discussion-on-open-standards-with-bernd-erk-and-jiten-vaidya</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpen StandardsOpennessEvent2019-07-04T16:53:37ZEvent