The Centre for Internet and Society
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July 2010 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet & Society. We bring you updates of our research, news and media coverage, information on our events and other updates for the month of July 2010.</b>
<h2><b>News Updates</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Call for Case Studies on ICT</b><br /> CIS invites organisations to participate in a study focusing on best practices in the use of ICTs in education for persons with disabilities.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/d03jS0">http://bit.ly/d03jS0</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Networking? Not working</b><br /> Concerns about privacy, wastage of time and trivialized communication are some reasons ‘refuseniks’ are going off sites such as Facebook and MySpace, writes Shreya Ray in Livemint.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/dpdKhX">http://bit.ly/dpdKhX</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Digital them about yourself?</b><br /> If you’re on Facebook or have a blog, you could be a digital native, says Akhila Seetharaman.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/ahA6Ts">http://bit.ly/ahA6Ts</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Next CPOV Conference in Leipzig</b><br /> Two CPOV conferences have been held so far. The first one in Bangalore and the second one in Amsterdam, the third is to be held in Leipzig.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/cLN8XE">http://bit.ly/cLN8XE</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS featured in the <span class="visualHighlight">Report on Research and Funding Landscape within the Arts and Humanities in India</span><br /> Centre for Internet and Society has been listed as an area of excellence and innovative research in this report.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9GJsJ7">http://bit.ly/9GJsJ7</a></p>
<p><b>UID Act may be released for debate, may be introduced in monsoon session</b><br /> An article by Karen Leigh & Surabhi Agarwal in livemint on June 30, 2010.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9Hq5dg">http://bit.ly/9Hq5dg</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>A New Age in News</b><br /> Citizen journalism and online piracy were key topics during the opening day of the Mekong Information and Communication Technology conference. The 2010 Mekong ICT conference in Chang Mai, Thailand, has brought together an experienced crowd of experts from all over the globe. They have gathered to discuss the status, trends and the current situation of the ICT world.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/bdGzbQ">http://bit.ly/bdGzbQ</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Activists welcome privacy Bill, but point out concerns</b><br /> Experts have welcomed the government's move to bring in a law for protecting individual privacy, amid concerns about the potential misuse of personal data it is collecting to execute social welfare and security schemes.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/bnddaJ">http://bit.ly/bnddaJ</a></p>
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<h2><b>Upcoming Events</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Locating Gender Politics in the New Techno-Industrial Complex: A Lecture by Dr. Lisa McLaughlin</b><br /> The Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), IT for Change and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) are hosting a lecture by Dr. Lisa McLaughlin, Associate Professor in Media Studies and Women's Studies, Miami University, Ohio, USA at CIS, Bangalore on 23 July, 2010.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9zy2Fa">http://bit.ly/9zy2Fa</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Promoting Education through ICT</b><br /> ICT workshop in New Delhi from 27th to 29th October, 2010...Registrations to begin soon!<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9flyEK">http://bit.ly/9flyEK</a></p>
<h2><b>Research</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Attention Economy - A Brief Introduction</b><br /> This post examines attention economy as a brief prelude to a paper and monograph to be published on it. It examines the current theses on attention economy and a few approaches to reading attention economy in gaming besides foregrounding the attention economy and its functions and influence in MMORPGs.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/OP7QFl">http://bit.ly/OP7QFl</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Making of an Asian City</b><br /> Nishant Shah attended the conference on 'Pluralism in Asia: Asserting Transnational Identities, Politics, and Perspectives' organised by the Asia Scholarship Foundation, in Bangkok, where he presented the final paper based on his work in Shanghai. The paper, titled 'The Making of an Asian City', consolidates the different case studies and stories collected in this blog, in order to make a larger analyses about questions of cultural production, political interventions and the invisible processes that are a part of the IT Cities.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/MXxyXP">http://bit.ly/MXxyXP</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Internet, Society and Space in Indian City: First Report</b><br /> This is the first report on the progress of the research on Internet, Society and Space in Indian City. The post is a collection of some of the initial focus of these studies. I have started simultaneously exploring and testing various arguments and have listed some key observations from the ones that are nearing completion.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/Ndmday">http://bit.ly/Ndmday</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Digital Natives Workshop in Taipei: Only a Few Seats Left!!!</b><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society in collaboration with the Frontier Foundation is holding a three day Digital Natives workshop in Taipei from 16 to 18 August, 2010. The three day workshop will serve as an ideal platform for the young users of technology to share their knowledge and experience of the digital and Internet world and help them learn from each other’s individual experiences.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/P4mCKv">http://bit.ly/P4mCKv</a></p>
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<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>NMEICT Funds Book Conversion Project for the Print Disabled</b><br /> IIT, Kharagpur, Daisy Forum of India, Inclusive Planet and the Centre for Internet and Society have joined hands to undertake a project for the print disabled. The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) is funding this project.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/bWHi00">http://bit.ly/bWHi00</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Right to Read: Campaign Updates</b><br /> A nationwide campaign on Right to Read was co-organised by CIS along with the Daisy Forum of India and Inclusive planet to highlight the lack of content in accessible formats and accelerate change in the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, which presently does not permit the conversion of books in accessible formats for the benefits the blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled persons. The campaign is affiliated with the global R2R campaign started by the World Blind Union in April 2008.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/akoaSj">http://bit.ly/akoaSj</a></p>
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<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Analysis of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010</b><br /> CIS analyses the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010, from a public interest perspective to sift the good from the bad, and importantly to point out what crucial amendments should be considered but have not been so far.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/KLBQDx">http://bit.ly/KLBQDx</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>A Guide to Key IPR Provisions of the Proposed India-European Union Free Trade Agreement</b><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society presents a guide for policymakers and other stakeholders to the latest draft of the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement, which likely will be concluded by the end of the year and may hold serious ramifications for Indian businesses and consumers.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/Rw7whN">http://bit.ly/Rw7whN</a></p>
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<h2><b>Openness</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Open Access to International Agricultural Research</b><br /> Open access advocates have urged the top management of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research to give open access to its research publications. A report by Subbiah Arunachalam on 3 June, 2010 was also circulated to all the signatories of the letter.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/cspMYY">http://bit.ly/cspMYY</a></p>
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<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Catching up on broadband</b><br /> The govt can invest some of the Rs 1,00,000 crore from the spectrum auctions to help India catch up on broadband, says Shyam Ponappa in his latest article published in the Business Standard on July 1, 2010.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/ag67TU">http://bit.ly/ag67TU</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2010-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-10T09:41:01ZPage'Containing Inflation' - A myth
https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/containing-inflation-a-myth
<b>We need problem-solving, not confused rhetoric or misguided action, says Shyam Ponappa. The article was published in Business Standard on 7 August, 2008.</b>
<p>It’s as if there’s a conspiracy to beat India’s growth surge to pulp, making sure the economy is hamstrung in the months and years ahead. Those of us seeking rational signals in the economy have watched incredulously as the cost inflation from edible oil, food and energy was misconstrued as overheating from 2006, leading to a series of misguided, self-destructive steps. Moreover, there has been a baffling obscurantism spread by many different quarters — the RBI, the Finance Ministry, and many economists including from the private sector, the media and press — spouting irrational sophistry about the need for the sledgehammer of rising interest rates “to contain inflationary pressures”.</p>
<p>Mutterings about the pass-through of international energy prices are of a piece. The effect of pass-throughs is to increase inflation further, and unlikely to reduce short-term demand (i.e. control inflation), unless the increase is so large that the economy slumps because of a drop in demand.</p>
<p>The build-up with the convoluted explications started with the RBI’s nagging suspicion [sic] in October 2006 that there “could be elements of overheating in the Indian economy”. This led to the hike of the repo rate from 7 per cent to 7.25 per cent, making financing more expensive in the Indian economy. By December 2006, the RBI raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to reduce inflationary pressures, and by the end of January 2007, raised the repo rate to 7.5 per cent citing the demand-supply mismatch in food. By March 2007, the repo rate was raised to 7.75 per cent and the CRR by 50 basis points to 6 per cent citing continuing inflationary pressure. In June, the repo rate was raised to 8 per cent.</p>
<p>The benefit of hindsight makes it evident to all of us including the RBI and the government that these measures have done nothing to improve the supply of food or edible oil, or for the surge in petroleum prices. Inflationary pressures are expected to continue into 2009 despite these actions that have slowed the economy. So, what is the purpose, other than reducing growth precipitously? All that increasing rates and financing costs will do is to kill India’s growth story. This shows clearly in the figure in the slowdown from 2007 in GDP growth and in the Index of Industrial Production.</p>
<p>Increasing rates can only curb inflation by reducing growth so much that demand is curtailed for those whose ability to buy food increases because of higher earnings. That’s what the obfuscatory talk of “containing demand” boils down to: forcing the economy to slow so that some people can afford to buy less food. It is also clear that by increasing demand through the loan waiver and NREGS without addressing supply constraints, the government’s actions increased inflationary pressures. Likewise if the Pay Commission recommendations are implemented now instead of delayed for a year.</p>
<p>What rising financial costs have done to the Indian economy is to vaporise all prospects of high growth and profits. Further aggravated by the global slowdown and the repercussions of the continuing meltdown of home loans and overleveraged US consumers, this has reduced the prospects of currency inflows that have so far provided a ballast to India’s dream investment run.</p>
<p>Corrective Actions Require Substance, Less Form: The government and RBI could take a constructive, problem-solving approach to growth, inflation, interest and exchange rates, provided their purpose is solution-oriented and not a preoccupation with appearing to take action. These involve (a) avoiding gamesmanship — loan waivers, NREGS, the imperfections of the PDS — and addressing more effectively (b) fuel taxes and pricing, and (c) supply and distribution.</p>
<p>The first step may be to acknowledge that in the short term, there is little that can be done to ameliorate high food prices with one exception, while taking measures to improve supply over the medium and long term. The exception is interim steps to help the poor through food coupons that enable direct subsidies through existing retail systems.</p>
<p>Over the medium term, a system using smart cards needs to be planned and implemented through the retail network that provides direct subsidies for food and fuel to lower-income users. On fuel, there has to be a concerted move to reduce taxes and remove anomalies in petrol and diesel pricing (i.e. subsidising private vehicle owners, inappropriately encouraging the growth of small diesel vehicle manufacture and sales).</p>
<p>Equally important, we have to learn to take the good examples of applied research and extension to make them more of a reality. It’s as simple or as difficult as getting good applied research work done in the field, and providing convincing extension support to local farmers. I had the opportunity recently to review an excellent instance of applied research, combined with sound extension practices that ensure supplies of fresh vegetables wholesale, organised and channelled flawlessly.</p>
<p>Of course, unique aspects make this not easy to replicate. The first is a well-managed farmers’ cooperative. This was organised in Ladakh by the late Rigzin Namgyal Kalon of Leh with great foresight, integrity and ability some 40 years ago. Mr Kalon had the ability to see how farmers could prosper by organising themselves for supplying farm produce to the sizeable army presence in Ladakh. When Mr Kalon passed away in 2002, his peers had the good sense to appeal to his family to continue to lead their effort. The second is a wholesale buyer (the Army). The third is the presence of an institute engaged in effective applied research in agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry in Ladakh. Started as the Field Research Laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, this is now the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research. This combination of elements provides the ingredients for a winning formula for the farmers of Ladakh.</p>
<p>Here are object lessons for those who see the potential for cooperatives, but think it cannot work in India. After all, there is Anand (the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd) and its extension to the National Dairy Development Board to prove that it can be done. We have to stop thinking of shortcuts, learn to replicate these ways, and teach ourselves to collaborate.</p>
<p>Read the original in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bsl.co.in/india/news/%5Ccontaining-inflation%5Cmyth/330667/">Business Standard</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/containing-inflation-a-myth'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/containing-inflation-a-myth</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:30:56ZBlog EntryRIM Offered Security Fixes
https://cis-india.org/news/rim-offered-security-fixes
<b>In India Talks, BlackBerry Maker Said It Could Share Metadata, Notes Show</b>
<p>Research In Motion Ltd. has offered information and tools to help India conduct surveillance of wireless email and messaging services on RIM's popular BlackBerry, say people familiar with the negotiations, illuminating RIM's dealings as it seeks to balance sovereign security concerns with its customers' privacy.</p>
<p>In a series of discussions that intensified this summer, RIM offered to provide crucial information that would help the Indian government track down messages sent via the company's popular and encrypted corporate email service, according to those familiar with the confidential talks and to minutes of meetings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>In a July 26 meeting, RIM representatives told Indian officials "they have a setup to help the security agencies in tracking the messages in which security agencies are interested," according to an Indian government summary of the meeting.</p>
<p>The Waterloo, Ontario, company has become an industry leader in part on the strength of a secure technology that offers information privacy to customers. But as RIM seeks to expand, it is grappling with how its promise of user confidentiality is encountering resistance from governments around the globe.</p>
<p>RIM's challenge, along with Google Inc.'s face-off with China over censorship issues, illustrates the growing tensions between Western technology giants, who seek to woo millions of emerging-market consumers with increasingly sophisticated technology, and governments that are trying to maintain security in the face of it.</p>
<p>The stakes are high in India, the world's No. 2 wireless market, behind China, with 635 million subscribers. Emerging economies are vital to RIM as its smartphones face competition in North America from Apple Inc.'s iPhone and devices that run on Google's Android software. RIM's new international subscribers for the first time outnumbered new North American subscribers in the quarter that ended Feb. 27, according to brokerage GMP Securities.</p>
<p>Discussions between RIM and India took a public turn Thursday when India's government threatened to block some BlackBerry services from the country's telecommunications networks unless the services could be opened to surveillance by Aug. 31. On Friday, an Indian government official said RIM had assured India it would meet the deadline.</p>
<p>A spokesman for RIM in India declined to comment on negotiations with India. Sachin Pilot, India's Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology said Friday there are promising signs that the company is willing to cooperate, but there's no deal "until I have something in writing."</p>
<p>RIM has come under scrutiny in recent months amid contentious negotiations with countries including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have also sought to monitor BlackBerry services for threats to national security.</p>
<p>A person familiar with the negotiations in the U.A.E. said officials in the region believed RIM had been holding back from them technological solutions that had been offered to Western governments, specifically in regards to BlackBerry Messenger.</p>
<p>RIM declines to discuss its negotiations with governments and didn't comment on negotiations in India and other countries.</p>
<p>In a statement issued Thursday, RIM outlined its guidelines for how far it is willing to go in helping carriers meet surveillance needs. RIM said it will only help carriers meet strict national-security rules, won't provide more access than its competitors already do and won't alter the security architecture of its corporate email servers in response to government needs.</p>
<p>"RIM maintains a consistent global standard for lawful access requirements that does not include special deals for specific countries," the statement said.</p>
<p>Governments are pressuring RIM to comply with their demands for information in part because unlike other smartphone vendors, it operates its own network of servers, the biggest of which is in Canada, outside their monitoring reach and jurisdiction.</p>
<p>That contrasts with devices such as the iPhone, which don't operate their own email services. Governments generally have laws that allow them to monitor traffic on mobile and computer networks operating within their own countries.</p>
<p>Talks between RIM and various countries have centered mostly on data routed through the company's system for corporate emails, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and its instant-messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger, whose high levels of encryption can prevent government monitors from deciphering content or determining sender or recipient. RIM has said that even it can't decrypt BlackBerry corporate emails.</p>
<p>India's security services argue they need access to selected emails to ward off criminal and terrorist threats. "In terms of our issues of national security, any responsible government would not want to compromise," said Mr. Pilot, the communications minister. "I don't think what we are asking is out of the ordinary vis-à-vis other countries."</p>
<p>Security and technology experts say each country has different surveillance needs, technology infrastructures and laws governing how security forces and police can access data. It is generally Internet service providers and telecommunications carriers that must implement the country's monitoring regime, and the kinds of help RIM gives carriers in doing that varies with each nation, says a person familiar with RIM's operations.</p>
<p>According to minutes taken by the Indian side, the parties discussed whether RIM could provide "metadata" from encrypted corporate emails—information such as the email's sender and recipient and the time sent. "After some persuasion, the [RIM] representative agreed that they can provide the metadata of the message," according to an Indian summary of one discussion.</p>
<p>Cyber-security experts say such metadata would give government intelligence services important leads to locate BlackBerry traffic on corporate email servers, where messages are in decrypted form. It wasn't clear under what circumstances RIM would agree to divulge such information.</p>
<p>In the meetings, RIM also promised to develop tools to help Indian authorities tap into third-party Internet chat services, such as Google's Gmail, that run on its handsets, according to the meeting minutes. It isn't clear whether or how RIM has proposed to help security officials decode BlackBerry Messenger.</p>
<ul><li> <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/08/13/backupberry-options-for-blackberry-addicts/?KEYWORDS=RIM">Just in Case: Backup Options for Addicts</a></li><li><a class="external-link" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575426942856075682.html">RIM Optimistic About India</a></li><li><a class="external-link" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575420050826635826.html">Saudis Await RIM Ruling</a></li></ul>
<p>RIM also appears to have put itself in a role of educating Indian officials over the operation of its network and on network security in general, suggesting to officials that emails that aren't subject to heavy corporate encryption can be viewed with assistance from local carriers.</p>
<p>Governments that have been reviewing their data-access arrangements with RIM have been sharing information with each other, said an official in the region with knowledge of the Indian negotiations.</p>
<p>The U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's largest economies, upped their ante with RIM weeks before India did. Both countries have been negotiating with RIM for the same kinds of access to data that India wants, but people familiar with talks in the Gulf countries say they have been acrimonious.</p>
<p>Government officials say RIM has taken a condescending attitude to developing countries' security demands, and say they believe the company was holding out on solutions to access information, such as on BlackBerry Messenger, that had been offered to other countries.</p>
<p>"They refuse to listen to us," said a person familiar with the negotiations. "It's like we aren't speaking the same language."</p>
<p>Anger boiled over last month with the U.A.E. announcing a ban on BlackBerry email, Internet and instant-messaging services from Oct. 11, citing a lack of progress in more than three years of negotiations. Saudi Arabia followed with a threatened ban on BlackBerry Messenger.</p>
<p>Tensions were fueled when RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis said in an interview earlier this month with The Wall Street Journal that many of the nations the company deals with aren't tech-savvy and don't understand the Internet. "We work with these countries to educate them," he said.</p>
<p>Negotiations between the U.A.E. and RIM are ongoing. The government says it remains optimistic of a solution. In Saudi Arabia, telecommunications regulators announced earlier this week that RIM had offered them a technical fix that would let them access data from BlackBerry Messenger.</p>
<p>In RIM's home country of Canada, the U.S. and other countries, police and security agents typically must get a court order to gain access to things like the content of emails.</p>
<p>India's regulations in this area are murky. An 1885 law that has been updated over the years allows the government to intercept Internet traffic "on the occurrence of any public emergency." A 2008 law gives bureaucrats in various agencies the authority to order monitoring of any entity's Web traffic, though the matter can be challenged in court.</p>
<p>It remains unclear whether RIM's promise to provide metadata to corporate messages will be enough to satisfy India's concerns. A more drastic solution, says Sunil Abraham of the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society, would be for the government to require RIM to build a BlackBerry data center within India—something that could cost tens of millions of dollars, people familiar with the matter say—and then classify the company as an Indian Internet service provider.</p>
<p>Such a move would put India on stronger legal footing, analysts say, to demand data from RIM as well as companies whose employees use BlackBerrys. Under such a scenario, "the government would be allowed to get a room inside RIM and install whatever machines they want to monitor that traffic," Mr. Abraham said.</p>
<p>It wasn't clear from the government documents summarizing the meetings between RIM and the government whether such an option is being considered. The company would vehemently oppose such a classification, people familiar with the situation say. In the U.A.E, RIM has balked at the government's request that it set up a local data center, people familiar with those negotiations said.</p>
<p>Read the original in <a class="external-link" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575427312899373090.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">Wall Street Journal</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/rim-offered-security-fixes'>https://cis-india.org/news/rim-offered-security-fixes</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2011-04-02T10:24:12ZNews ItemGovt and BlackBerry firm wait for the other to hang up
https://cis-india.org/news/govt-and-blackberry
<b>Sunil Abraham speaks to Archna Shukla on the stand-off between the Government of India and RIM. The news was published in expressindia.com.</b>
<p><strong>What is the current stand-off between the government and RIM all about? </strong></p>
<p>The current logjam is with regards to BlackBerry messenger, email and web traffic. Around two years ago, the government had asked BlackBerry to allow it to monitor the text messages (SMSes) and phone calls exchanged through its platform. The government has since then been monitoring these services with the help of telecom service providers. It, however, still doesn’t have any means to monitor, intercept or decrypt BlackBerry’s messenger, email and web exchanges. The government wants to put in place a surveillance infrastructure to monitor these services and is asking BlackBerry to cooperate. </p>
<p><strong>What is unique about BlackBerry services? Why doesn’t the government have a similar problem with Nokia or Apple? </strong></p>
<p>Companies such as Apple do not provide email and messenger services in India. They only sell their handsets in the country. Nokia recently started providing such services under the Nokia Messaging Services Platform. The service, which includes enterprise solutions, consumer services and Nokia’s own messaging solution Ovi mail, is still in beta format. Nokia’s India spokesperson said the company will set up servers for its various services inside India whenever it kickstarts the functions in a full fledged manner.</p>
<p>Canadian firm Research in Motion (RIM), makers of BlackBerry, on the other hand, provides all these services alongside selling its handsets. It also manages all its data and traffic on its own without giving the access to anybody. The servers for these services are installed outside India. The government is concerned that keeping servers outside the country will give access to foreign authorities to monitor its local traffic and information. In the US, for instance, this kind of monitoring will be possible under the provisions of the Patriot Act.</p>
<p><strong>Is BlackBerry the only one to use strong encryptions? </strong></p>
<p>The use of strong encryption in information technology is prevalent in both the wireless industry and Internet platforms. BlackBerry, however, uses a superior encryption that is highly reliable and secure and it owes its popularity in the world markets to this feature mainly. According to Sunil Abraham, the Executive Director of Bangalore-based advocacy group Centre for Internet and Society, BlackBerry uses strong encryption with 256 bit keys. In comparison, gmail.com and Citibank.co.in use only 128 bit keys.</p>
<p>“If you have encryption on while visiting citibank.com or when using an offline mail client like MS Outlook Express, the government can identify the encrypted service that you are using and the recipient of your encrypted messages. Then they can launch a targeted brute-force attack to intercept and decrypt specific communications,” he says, adding that with the BlackBerry, the government can only see that you are having an encrypted transaction with the BlackBerry servers. They cannot identify the recipients and web services. This makes the brute-force attack difficult as a lot of time is spent decrypting unimportant messages.</p>
<p><strong>What is the problem that RIM is facing in UAE and Saudi Arabia? </strong></p>
<p>In UAE, it is facing the same problem as in India. In Saudi Arabia, BlackBerry will instal computer servers, which would allow the government some access to user’s data.</p>
<p><strong>Can the Indian government and RIM meet half-way?</strong></p>
<p>Unlikely. Though, as per PTI reports,</p>
<p>BlackBerry has made an attempt to break the logjam by offering metadata and relevant information to security agencies which will enable them in lawful interception, it has has failed to enthuse them. At a meeting between government officials and RIM, company’s representatives said that “they can provide the metadata of the message like the Internet Protocol address of BES and PIN and International Mobile Equipment Identity of the BlackBerry mobile”, sources said. Metadata is loosely defined as data about data. It provides information about a certain item’s content like how large the picture is, the colour depth, the image resolution when the image was created, and other data. A text document’s metadata may contain information about how long the document is, who the author is, when the document was written, and a short summary of the document. However, sources said the RIM, which has nearly one million subscribers across India, failed to enthuse the security agencies who want an uninterrupted access to the messaging services on BlackBerry platform. The security agencies apprehend that BlackBerry services in the present format pose a serious security threat.</p>
<p>The government may argue that if surveillance is allowed in some countries, it should have the same access, too.</p>
<p>So far, RIM’s public stand has been that its security architecture was specifically designed to provide corporate customers with the ability to transmit information wirelessly while providing them with the necessary confidence that no one, including RIM, could access their data.</p>
<p>Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society says there is a possibility of a compromise behind the doors and the citizens may never get to know that a surveillance regime and infrastructure have been put in place to monitor their communications. </p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Govt-and-BlackBerry-firm-wait-for-the-other-to-hang-up/657828/">Click</a> to read the original.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/govt-and-blackberry'>https://cis-india.org/news/govt-and-blackberry</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2011-04-02T10:46:54ZNews ItemJune 2010 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet & Society. We bring you updates of our research, news and media coverage, information on events for the month of June 2010.</b>
<h3><b>News Updates </b></h3>
<p><b>Dont hang up on this one</b><span><br /> </span>Is 3G the next twist in the mobile phone growth story?<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9NkaVP" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/9NkaVP</a></p>
<p><b>Peeping Toms In Your Inbox </b><span><br /> </span>Nothing’s safe any more—not your mobile number, nor your e-mail—as they’re put on offer for the benefit of telemarketers, writes Namrata Joshi and Neha Bhatt in an article published in the Outlook.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/ckmRRH" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/ckmRRH</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>I don't want my fingerprints taken</b><br /> Through this article published in Down to Earth, Nishant Shah looks at the role of the state as arbiter of our privacy.<span><br /> </span><a href="http://bit.ly/aYdMia" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/aYdMia</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>An artist's hunt for lost stepwells</b><span><br /> </span>As part of the Maps for Making Change project, Kakoli Sen has brought to light some facts which she stumbled upon while mapping the stepwells in Vadodara. She mapped these and also discovered 14 such architectural heritage structures. The news was covered in the Times of India.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/dxtwJU" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/dxtwJU</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Facebook, privacy and India </b><span><br /> </span>Does Facebook's decision to open out user information and data to third party websites amount to an invasion of privacy and should users' seriously consider getting out of the site? Sunil Abraham doesn't think so.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/a2HzhT" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/a2HzhT</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>APC starts research into spectrum regulation in Brazil, India, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa</b><span><br /> </span>Communication infrastructure is the foundation of the knowledge-based economy and while there has been a boom in the construction of undersea cables bringing potentially terabits of capacity to the African continent, the ability to deliver broadband to consumers is hampered by inefficient telecommunications markets and policies. Wireless connectivity offers tremendous potential to deliver affordable broadband to developing countries but inefficient spectrum policy and regulation means the opportunity to seize the advantages brought about by improvements in wireless broadband technologies are extremely limited.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/a67ut8" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/a67ut8</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>WIPO Proposals Would Open Cross-Border Access To Materials For Print Disabled</b><span><br /> </span>The print disabled feel that the possible UN recommendations being negotiated upon may come up short, reports Kaitlin Mara in this article.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/99kbS0" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/99kbS0</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Potential of Open Development for Canada and Abroad </b><span><br /> </span>IDRC held a panel discussion on 'The Potential of Open Development for Canada and Abroad' on May 5, 2010 in Ottawa.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/aSp8J3" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/aSp8J3</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>A letter to CGIAR in support of Open Access </b><span><br /> </span>Professor Subbiah Arunachalam wrote a letter to CGIAR apprising them of the need for, and advantages of making their research output Open Access. <br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/doJmAe" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/doJmAe</a></p>
<hr />
<h3><b>Upcoming Event</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Internet, Culture, and Society - Looking at Past, Present, and Future Worldwide</b><br /> It is now well known that with 4.5 billion mobile phone owners in the world and increased Internet penetration, global cultures and communities have experienced shifts in their economic, political, and social well-being due to the digital revolution. As a scholar and consultant who works worldwide, Prof Ramesh Srinivasan will illustrate how new media technologies have been used creatively to enable political movements in Kyrgyzstan, literacy and educational reform in India, and economic development across the developing world. In addition to this, he will discuss some of digital culture's biggest challenges, including considering how the Web can start to empower different types of cultural perspectives and knowledges.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/c9cIvc" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/c9cIvc</a></p>
<hr />
<h3><b>Research</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Survey: Digital Natives with a cause?</b><span><br /> </span>This survey seeks to consolidate information about how young people who have grown up with networked technologies use and experience online platforms and tools. It is also one of the first steps we have taken to interact with Digital Natives from around the world — especially in emerging information societies — to learn, understand and explore the possibilities of change via technology that lie before the Digital Natives. The findings from the survey will be presented at a multi-stakeholder conference later this year in The Netherlands.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/cUtKhV" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/cUtKhV</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Queer Histories of the Internet: An Introduction</b><span><br /> </span>Nitya Vasudevan and Nithin Manayath introduce the Queer Histories of the Internet through this blog post discussing broadly the relationship between queer identity and technology.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9xdYRv" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/9xdYRv</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Separating the 'Symbiotic Twins'</b><span><br /> </span>This post tries to undo the comfortable linking that has come to exist in the ‘radical’ figure of the cyber-queer. And this is so not because of a nostalgic sense of the older ways of performing queerness, or the world of the Internet is fake or unreal in comparison to bodily experience, and ‘real’ politics lies elsewhere. This is so as it is a necessary step towards studying the relationship between technology and sexuality.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/9PV9YW" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/9PV9YW</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The power of the next click...</b><span><br /> </span>P2P cameras and microphones hooked up to form a network of people who don't know each other, and probably don't care; a series of people in different states of undress, peering at the each other, hands poised on the 'Next' button to search for something more. Chatroulette, the next big fad on the Internet, is here in a grand way, making vouyers out of us all. This post examines the aesthetics, politics and potentials of this wonderful platform beyond the surface hype of penises and pornography that surrounds this platform.<br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/95twmz" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/95twmz</a></p>
<hr />
<h3><b>Telecom</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>India's sorry spectrum story </b><span><br /> </span>In this article published in the Business Standard on June 3, 2010, Shyam Ponappa analyses the spectrum story in India. He says that the approach to spectrum management is an object lesson in how not to use information and communications technology for development. <br /> <a href="http://bit.ly/cojFFT" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/cojFFT</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2010-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-10T09:38:46ZPageCatching up on broadband
https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/catching-broadband
<b>The govt can invest some of the Rs 1,00,000 crore from the spectrum auctions to help India catch up on broadband, says Shyam Ponappa in his latest article published in the Business Standard on July 1, 2010.</b>
<p>When it comes to broadband, India is “notably lagging its peers”, to quote Booz & Co, an international consulting firm.<span class="visualHighlight">1 </span>Its report recounts our pathetic coverage — less than half the anticipated 20 million — and recommends that both industry and government must act in concert. Spelling out the roles for both, it concludes that we need a national policy to improve fixed-line infrastructure more rapidly than the current market-based approach does, as well as satellite-based communications.</p>
<p>The report recommends this because advanced economies have broadband on widespread fixed-line networks, and many are pursuing strategies to further empower their citizens through state action, as before. The effects are many, but let’s start with examining costs. <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/general/pdf/070110_18.jpg">Figure 1</a> shows the relative cost of broadband in a sample of countries.</p>
<p>India seems favourably placed with its low purchasing power parity (PPP) cost. However, relative to costs in India, this is about 6 per cent of average monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita, ranked 78th, as shown in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/general/pdf/070110_19.jpg">Figure 2</a>. In comparison, the first 23 countries — Macao, Israel, Hong Kong, the US, Singapore, etc., Greece and Spain included — have costs below or close to 1 per cent; the next 16 have costs below 2 per cent. As the 39 countries have PPP costs of only 0.25 per cent to twice India’s cost, India’s cost as a percentage of its GNI is six times theirs, i.e. Indian users have to pay relatively more. Increasing GNI, while desirable, is harder, more complex, and will take much longer. By contrast, costs can be reduced quickly by sharing network resources and limiting government collections to a reasonable percentage of revenues, instead of auctions and arbitrary levies.</p>
<h3>Broadband leaders</h3>
<p>Wired Asian countries like Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea already offer broadband on the next generation of high-speed networks. Singapore’s approach especially should be of interest to India, with policies supporting a blend of public subsidies and private investment, while separating three activities: infrastructure, network operations (wholesale), and user services (retail).2</p>
<p>Two years ago, Singapore set out to create an environment with more open access to downstream operators by separating the building of infrastructure from the running of the network. It drew on the experience of local community networks in countries like Britain, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Three Singapore companies partnered with Axia Netmedia, a Canadian broadband company, to form a consortium called OpenNet, the infrastructure operator. OpenNet uses one partner’s existing network (SingTel’s) as a base. With a government grant of 750 million Singapore dollars, OpenNet is building an extensive fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) grid to be completed by 2012. The second partner is a subsidiary of Singapore Power, SP Telecommunications, which leverages Singapore Power’s experience in developing infrastructure. The third, Singapore Press Holdings, is a leading media services company.</p>
<p>The network operator, a subsidiary of StarHub (a cable and phone operator), is Nucleus Connect. Residential services at 100 mbps have been announced, to be provided by over 10 retail service operators. While some analysts opine that increased competition may not lead to appreciable cost reduction, Singapore is already ranked fifth-lowest in cost as a percentage of average monthly GNI per capita.</p>
<p>Can India do some catching up?<br />a) Can India do something similar? Don’t we need to? How?</p>
<p>The answer to the first question is: only if the government decides on a concerted drive.</p>
<p>To the second: yes, to be competitive.</p>
<p>To the third: with a comprehensive, integrated systems approach. It is insufficient if only one or a few ministries and agencies are involved, because the development and execution of solutions require cutting across turf boundaries. The conventional approach of the ongoing Trai consultation followed by recommendations addressed by the DoT is simply inadequate, because their charter is too limited. Many issues concerning commercial and user decisions, particularly of government agencies and the Department of Defence, and radical changes in approach need active participation from these players as well as the private sector for resolution. Examples are Booz & Co’s recommendations of a better fixed-wire network, and satellite communications in the Ka band, or the possibility of exploiting the cable and satellite TV network of around 110 million households. The entire communications network, or at least the backbone, needs to be shared for efficiency, unlike the existing limited tower-sharing. Also, state governments need to be closely involved in issues like Rights of Way and user needs.</p>
<p>b) Governments at the Centre and all states need to facilitate the productivity of their citizens, instead of hamstringing them with taxes, levies, auctions and dysfunctional policies. This is more easily said than done, with our predatory history, fractious coalitions at the Centre and states, and freewheeling, combative state governments. Governments at all levels have to coordinate this problem-solving initiative for all stakeholders, adapting the experience of leading broadband countries, instead of predatory behaviour seeking personal gains. The consultative process needs to agree on goals, and then figure out practical ways to achieve them.</p>
<p>c) With inspired leadership and a constructive approach, half of the over Rs 1,00,000 crore from the 3G and BWA auctions could support a broadband gambit drawing on concepts like Singapore’s public-private partnership, instead of being just a damaging revenue-collection exercise. Again, easier said than done, but with result-oriented, strong leadership to elicit enlightened employee engagement, even MTNL and BSNL could be partners in a core network in a role like SingTel’s. A public-private network-builder can draw on the combined strengths of its participants to provide a platform for a number of private operators. Separating the infrastructure building and operations from wholesale network services and end-user services could make this feasible and practicable.</p>
<ol><li>
<p class="discreet">“Bringing mass broadband to India: Roles for government and industry”, Booz & Co, June 7, 2010: http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/Bringing_Mass_Boadband_To_India.pdf.</p>
</li><li>
<p class="discreet">“Singapore gets wired for speed”, Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/technology/15iht-rtechbroad.html?ref=internet.</p>
</li></ol>
Read the original in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-catching-upbroadband/399894/">Business Standard</a>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/catching-broadband'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/catching-broadband</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:32:27ZBlog EntryDont hang up on this one
https://cis-india.org/news/dont-hang-up
<b>Is 3G the next twist in the mobile phone growth story? </b>
<p>The ubiquitous mobile phone is the story of the decade that just passed us by. Now with the superfast 3G technology set to storm the market, consumers are eagerly awaiting faster data access and multimedia services, and it isn't time to hang up on the Indian telecom story.</p>
<p>From a clunky walkie-talkie like device that was nearly as exclusive as the landline, to an “anywhere, anytime” device that doubles as your computer, browser, map or even digital cash, the mobile phone has taken rapid strides in recent years.</p>
<p>In early 2000, Karnataka and Maharashtra led the mobile phone growth. However, experts often differ on when exactly the cellphone “explosion” began and what triggered it. Is it low-cost, mass market handsets that made it possible for just about anyone to “be connected” or the sophisticated smart phone that brought hitherto unforeseen experiences onto the mobile? Further, like mobile phone manufacturers, service providers too have been involved in a fierce price war to woo customers.</p>
<h3>Sustained growth</h3>
<p>According to an April 2010 TRAI report, there are 601.22 million wireless phone connections in the country and a teledensity (phones per 100 people) of over 50.98.</p>
<p>While wireless connections are growing by nearly three per cent every
month, wireless connections declined by 0.4 per cent in April.</p>
<p>So what will 3G do that will change the way we connect to our devices?</p>
<p>Currently, our mobile phones are devices that we use to talk, stay connected — even feel safe in this instant connectivity — click or transfer pictures, listen to music or capture videos. “The future will be about livelihood applications.</p>
<p>Services, which have thus far focussed on how to get money from consumers' pockets, will move towards evolving ways to put money back in their pockets,” says S.R. Raja, president and co-founder of Mobile Monday.</p>
<p>Mr. Raja alludes to services in the agricultural sector or existing commerce-based applications that will get a boost once 3G enters.</p>
<p>For instance, he points to a Sasken Technologies pilot initiative in rural Tamil Nadu which helps women's self-help groups sell their produce by providing access to pricing details, thereby eliminating middlemen.</p>
<p>While larger services and societal applications in the field of e-learning and telemedicine are likely to pick up, for the common user it means access to live video and multimedia content. The 3G rollout will transform the way we use our cellphone, experts say.</p>
<p>Scepticism</p>
<p>However, others are sceptical and far less optimistic about this “radical change” and believe that the 3G take-off may not be as smooth as people would like to believe.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“3G may not deliver in the short-term for the ordinary Indian. Smart phones are still expensive. Data services will be expensive as telecom operators will try to recoup what they spent on the spectrum auction,” says Sunil Abraham, researcher and director of the Centre for Internet and Society.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The Government should start considering spectrum a public good and additionally consider open or shared spectrum to lower costs for projects run by public institutions or non-governmental organisations. Only then will the poor of India transcend SMS, he adds.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read the original article in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/2010/06/15/stories/2010061565420300.htm">Hindu</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/dont-hang-up'>https://cis-india.org/news/dont-hang-up</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2011-04-02T11:42:41ZNews ItemIndia's sorry spectrum story
https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/sorry-spectrum-story
<b>In this article published in the Business Standard on June 3, 2010, Shyam Ponappa analyses the spectrum story in India. He says that the approach to spectrum management is an object lesson in how not to use information and communications technology for development.</b>
<p></p>
<p>The network of roads is mostly public property. What if the government decided to make more money from our use of this property? Made users pay for these public assets, whether the roads are there, or yet to be built? Demanded upfront fees for a fixed-term right, followed by annual fees marked-to-market to reflect “fair market value”?</p>
<p>All roads would be expensive, and few people would be able to afford their use. Imagine what it would do to plans to build new roads. Imagine how much you would have to pay for road use, how road usage would drop, the sheer inconvenience it would cause, and the impediments to productivity that will be created.</p>
<p>This is not happening to the majority of our roads, but it is to communications, especially broadband. With some differences, this is what spectrum fees are about. The major difference is that spectrum fees are levied on operators, not end users (the equivalent for roads would be fees from government agencies/road operators).</p>
<p>For instance, Bharti and Vodafone paid upfront fees of Rs 12,300 crore and Rs 11,000 crore, respectively, for 3G spectrum. This is one reason why the country won’t get widespread broadband networks in a hurry, nor would it get reasonably priced services. The investment in spectrum fees and networks is so high that operators will probably offer limited, high-margin products. They will focus on high-traffic routes and ignore the rest, serving 50-100 million, instead of a billion — this is exactly the opposite of what we need.</p>
<h3>The spectrum story</h3>
<p>This approach to spectrum management is an object lesson in how not to use information and communications technology (ICT) for development. Each operator is exclusively assigned a sliver of spectrum. The resulting “scarce spectrum” predicament demonstrates why this approach is entirely unsuitable for optimising net benefits. Optimisation requires making trade-offs between technology, economics and commercial interests for development and the common good.</p>
<p>The situation is aggravated by three additional factors:</p>
<ul><li>Too many operators in a franchise area (12-16 in India, as against an international average of three to five), resulting in limited capacity and high capital costs.</li><li>Limited availability of spectrum for commercial use, because of the extent assigned to the government, defence and the public sector.</li><li>The government’s periodic efforts to extract as much revenue as possible from spectrum — an exploitative approach — instead of nurturing capacity to generate fair tax returns over the long term. Even in advanced economies, high auction bids have been disastrous.</li></ul>
<h3>Consequences</h3>
<p>The average spectrum available per user is of the order of 5.5 MHz in India, compared to an international average of about 22 MHz. Delhi and Mumbai have cell sites that are less than 100 metres apart, compared with around 200 metres in Istanbul, 300 metres in Munich, and 350 metres in Berlin. Decreased inter-cell distances increase interference, thus restricting capacity. If each operator has more spectrum, traffic-handling capacity increases at a lower cost. Improving technical efficiency at the cost of economic efficiency loses out on capacity at low cost. Cellular operators in India are forced to extract greater spectrum efficiency, which sounds good until you factor in the increased costs and opportunity losses.</p>
<p>The report titled “An assessment of spectrum management policy in India”, Plum Consulting, December 2008, by David Lewin, Val Jervis, Chris Davis, Ken Pearson, estimates that spectrum assignments increased to international norms would have lowered industry costs by an 21 per cent (Rs 11,700 crore or $2.6 billion in 2008). This would have resulted in a more extensive coverage at less cost, with greater consumer welfare.</p>
<p>The result is high-cost infrastructure for operators as well as for users. Too many operators make for increased capital costs for each operator, and cumulatively for all operators — unless they use common networks. Higher efficiency requires more base stations and more advanced technology, both adding to costs. Despite this, operators are exhorted to improve their spectrum efficiency. After a detailed assessment, the report concludes:</p>
<ul><li>The claims regarding the scale of the capacity increases possible with the use of various techniques are significantly overstated.</li><li>In the case of adaptive multi-rate (AMR) codecs, this technique is already being deployed on a widespread basis.</li><li>The claims wrongly assume that the capacity gains from the different techniques are additive. This is simply not true in a number of cases. For example, the gain achievable with DFCA is less if AMR has already been implemented.</li><li>There are substantial costs associated with deploying advanced techniques — both for operators in terms of network upgrades and for end users in terms of new handsets.</li><li>It is important to be aware that deployment of some of the techniques, such as AMR HR, leads to lower quality of service.</li><li>The focus on spectrum optimisation techniques for 2G networks fails to take into account the fact that the efforts of the suppliers have now shifted from 2G optimisation to 3G deployment.</li></ul>
<p>Those making these claims seek more intensive deployment of advanced techniques to maximise technical spectrum efficiency. But a better policy objective, as we argue (in a later section), is overall economic efficiency. From this perspective, it only makes sense to deploy advanced technologies when this is a lower cost way of increasing capacity than adding further base stations. Indeed it is against the interest of the Indian economy to deploy them if this is not the case.</p>
<p>The approach is counterproductive and against our interests. Advanced economies are doing the opposite, encouraging investment in broadband to improve productivity, while India’s policies actually constrain productivity.</p>
<p>A third consequence is the non-availability of spectrum in the more efficient bands, eg, 700-900 MHz. This has a negative effect on last-mile roll-out and services in rural areas. Lack of coverage in the hinterland is a severe deficiency in areas that are poorly served by fixed-line networks. It only perpetuates the vicious circle of low potential in rural areas with deficient broadband and Internet access.</p>
<h3>The curse of spectrum auctions</h3>
<p>Two recent developments have created additional burdens. One is the 3G auction, with bids of over Rs 67,000 crore (almost $15 billion). Another is the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s recommendation that 2G operators with over 6.2 MHz must pay for additional spectrum at prices determined by the 3G auction, resulting in a precipitous fall in the shares of major operators.</p>
<p>Why should governments be concerned when stock prices fall? For the same reasons, they should want stable markets: Investment and prosperity, leading to public welfare. It makes little sense to entice investment into high-potential, sunrise sectors, only to batter successful enterprises with arbitrary “taxes”. Bharti described the changes as “shocking, arbitrary and retrograde”; Vodafone called them “opaque, illogical and discriminatory”.</p>
<p>Like an absurd play, events have taken a surreal turn, with the Department of Telecommunications reportedly demanding spectrum fees from the defence department. However, no additional demands were made on companies cashing in on assigned spectrum rights that sold for windfall gains without any networks or users. This seems equally absurd.</p>
<p>The government needs to give up making short-term revenue killings, and instead, maximise net welfare through building productive capacity. Ubiquitous broadband is good for productivity and for the environment. As for auctions, remember that collections from revenue sharing after the New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP ’99), far exceed the bids. Let us have the wisdom to collect those golden eggs over time, instead of eating the goose now.</p>
<p>Read the original in <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-india/s-sorry-spectrum-story/396828/">Business
Standard</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/sorry-spectrum-story'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/sorry-spectrum-story</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:33:45ZBlog EntryAPC starts research into spectrum regulation in Brazil, India, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa
https://cis-india.org/news/research-into-spectrum-regulation
<b>Communication infrastructure is the foundation of the knowledge-based economy and while there has been a boom in the construction of undersea cables bringing potentially terabits of capacity to the African continent, the ability to deliver broadband to consumers is hampered by inefficient telecommunications markets and policies. Wireless connectivity offers tremendous potential to deliver affordable broadband to developing countries but inefficient spectrum policy and regulation means the opportunity to seize the advantages brought about by improvements in wireless broadband technologies are extremely limited. </b>
<h3>Spectrum policy in a nutshell</h3>
<p>Television, mobile phones, wireless networking and amateur radio all transmit their data using radio waves. Different parts of the radio spectrum are used for different radio transmission technologies and applications and ranges of allocated frequencies are often referred to by their provisioned use (for example, wireless spectrum or television spectrum). Spectrum policy around the world focuses on three factors – allocation, assignment and enforcement. </p>
<ul><li>Allocation sets aside spectrum for specific uses such as cell phones at 1.9 GHz, and broadcast TV at 500 Mhz.</li><li>Assignment is most widely carried out through spectrum auctions. In a spectrum auction, those who make the highest bid secure use of the spectrum. </li><li>Enforcement (within nations) is usually split between two institutions – a governmental/ministerial one that overseas spectrum relating to and reserved for national security and a regulatory one for the enforcement of spectrum that fulfils commercial and/or socio-economic objectives.</li></ul>
<p>We are seeing accelerated change in the capacity of wireless technologies to deliver affordable access. According to wireless pioneer Martin Cooper, “every 30 months the amount of information that can be transmitted over a given amount of radio spectrum doubles”. However, without forward-looking policy and regulation that can embrace the rapid change in wireless technologies, African, Asian and Latin American countries will miss the opportunity to allow affordable, pervasive wireless broadband infrastructure to develop in their countries.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, one of the biggest barriers to utilising this opportunity is simply a lack of awareness of global trends and of what policy and regulatory processes exist to manage spectrum.</p>
<p>APC’s new research: Understanding spectrum regulation<br />The overall goal of APC’s new research project is to provide an understanding of spectrum regulation in several countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, not just in terms of making information available, or how spectrum is assigned, but who deals with spectrum and what policy or regulatory framework is currently in use.</p>
<p>The procedures governing spectrum allocation and assignment are often opaque, highly technical and governed by an inner circle of technical experts in the regulators, operators and equipment suppliers in each country. An important dimension of the research will lie in decoding some of this complexity and making the information as transparent and accessible as possible. The research will also seek to examine arguments that proclaim the scarcity of spectrum1.</p>
<p>The research is timely as the rapid growth of wireless and mobile in Asia, Africa and Latin America is raising fresh questions about the use of spectrum and the policies that govern it. Civil society-based alliances such as the Open Spectrum Alliance in South Africa2 and the national broadband campaigns in South Africa3, Ghana and Nigeria are raising spectrum issues. Digital migration and the opportunity it creates to make use of white spaces in frequencies currently allocated for broadcasting for broadband wireless networks has renewed interest by governments in auctioning off blocks of spectrum as a revenue-generating mechanism. The research will feed into this dynamic context of debate and dialogue on spectrum regulation and wireless broadband.</p>
<h3>Indians look beyond the present</h3>
<p>In India the research will go beyond the current status of spectrum regulation and and also will look at the current and potential use of pooled spectrum and infrastructure sharing by mobile operators. Pooled spectrum is an alternative to the open spectrum approach with licensed network/facilities providers and regulated rates/tariffs (because of the rationale of network economies). The Indian study will also explore two additional areas which could also be of value in other parts of the world:</p>
<ul><li>Whether spectrum rights can remain publicly owned/operated by the government, while usage rights are made available for a fee; and, the costs and benefits of larger bands of open spectrum versus the experience-curve benefits of legacy systems, with indicative time frames. <br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>The APC open spectrum for development initiative will be implemented in partnership with the Open Society Institute (OSI), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Shuttleworth Foundation in South Africa and the Centre for Internet and Society in India. OSI is supporting the research in Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria and IDRC the research in Brazil and India. <br /></li></ul>
<p> Read more about the APC’s <a class="external-link" href="http://www.apc.org/en/projects/open-spectrum-development">Open spectrum project</a></p>
<a class="external-link" href="http://www.apc.org/en/news/apc-starts-research-spectrum-regulation-brazil-ind">Click here</a> for the original article in APC
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/research-into-spectrum-regulation'>https://cis-india.org/news/research-into-spectrum-regulation</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2011-04-02T11:56:04ZNews ItemMay 2010 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet & Society. We bring you updates of our research, news and media coverage and information on our events in this bulletin of May 2010</b>
<h3><b>News Updates</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India slowly gets to grips with ecommerce<br />Growth in computer use and Internet penetration will help e-commerce.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/India-gets-to-grips-with-ecommerce" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/India-gets-to-grips-with-ecommerce</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">World Wide Web Consortium for All<br />Indian web designers have long ignored needs of people with different disabilities but a new dedicated wiki aspires to change that, writes Malvika Tegta<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-for-all" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/www-for-all</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Biometry Is Watching<br />In its first steps, the UID drive encounters practical problems, raises ethical questions, reports Sugata Srinivasaraju in Outlook.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/biometry-is-watching" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/biometry-is-watching</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">What Women Want: The ability debates<br />In this article published in the Hindu, Deepa Alexander argues that the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act (1957) are restrictive and discriminatory.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/what-women-want" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/what-women-want</a></li>
<li>CIS – Internet is neither good nor bad<br />This post is also available in: French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil)<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/Internet-not-good-not-bad" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/Internet-not-good-not-bad</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Right to Read event in Brussels<br />A 'Right to Read' event is being held at the European Parliament, Brussels on 4 May 2010.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/right-to-read-brussels" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/right-to-read-brussels</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Mapping the things that affect us<br />'Map for making change' is a project using geographical mapping techniques to support struggles for social justice in India<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/mapping-the-things" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/mapping-the-things</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">'UID is being forced'<br />CIS feels that the UID project is forced on the citizens.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/UID-is-forced" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/UID-is-forced</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">ID programme faces first challenge over privacy, data<br />The government is looking to the ID programme to help ensure that various welfare programmes reach the poor<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/id-programe-faces-challenge" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/id-programe-faces-challenge</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Their India has no borders<br />Bangalore felt far for them, they would mark it outside the country. India, for migrant labourers, is different from the India we know<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/their-india-has-no-borders" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/their-india-has-no-borders</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Scrap UID project, say people's organisations<br />The unique identification number project is executed without any legislative or parliamentary sanction.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/Scrap-UID-project" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/Scrap-UID-project</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">UID info can be misused<br />Public organisations, NGOs and concerned citizens feel UID may become an easy database for anti-social elements.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/uid-info-can-be-misused" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/uid-info-can-be-misused</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">UID project draws flak from civil rights activists<br />The unique identification project is drawing a flak from civil rights activists.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/UID-project-draws-flak" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/UID-project-draws-flak</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Citizens' forums want UID project scrapped<br />Citizens' forums and groups have stepped up their attack on the Unique Identification Project calling for the complete scrapping of the project.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/citizens-forums-want-UID-scrapped" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/citizens-forums-want-UID-scrapped</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Disability rights groups oppose changes to Copyright Act<br />Disability rights groups are up in arms against a Bill proposing an amendment to the Copyright Act, 1952, reports Aarti Dhar in an article published in the Hindu on April 23, 2010.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/disability-groups-oppose-copyright-amendments" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/disability-groups-oppose-copyright-amendments</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Centre for Study of Culture and Society seeks Programme Associate<br />The Higher Education Cell, Centre for Study of Culture and Society is looking for a Programme Associate to help develop e-content and conduct training programmes for projects under its Social Justice and Networked Higher Education Initiatives.<a href="https://cis-india.org/news/position-announcement" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/news/position-announcement</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><b>Research</b></h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives at Republica 2010<br />Nishant Shah from the Centre for Internet and Society, made a presentation at the Re:Publica 2010, in Berlin, about its collaborative project (with Hivos, Netherlands) "Digital Natives with a Cause?" The video for the presentation, along with an extensive abstract is online.<a href="https://cis-india.org/research/dn/dnrepub" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dnrepub</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><b>Accessibility</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Right to Read in the European Parliament: A Report</b><br />The European Blind Union and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue supported an event sponsored by seven MEPs in the European Parliament to discuss the way forward for EU to support the Treaty for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Other Reading Disabled which has been proposed at the World Intellectual Property Organisation by Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Paraguay.<a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-europe" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-europe</a></p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Intellectual Property</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 2010 Special 301 Report Is More of the Same, Slightly Less Shrill Pranesh Prakash examines the numerous flaws in the Special 301 from the Indian perspective, to come to the conclusion that the Indian government should openly refuse to acknowledge such a flawed report. He notes that the Consumers International survey, to which CIS contributed the India report, serves as an effective counter to the Special 301 report.<a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/2010-special-301" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/2010-special-301</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Exceptions and Limitations in Indian Copyright Law for Education: An Assessment<br /></b>This paper examines the nature of exceptions and limitations in copyright law for the purposes of the use of copyrighted materials for education. It looks at the existing national and international regime, and argues for why there is a need for greater exceptions and limitations to address the needs of developing countries. The paper contextualizes the debate by looking at the high costs of learning materials and the impediment caused to e-learning and distance education by strong copyright regimes.<a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/exceptions-and-limitations" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/exceptions-and-limitations</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Technological Protection Measures in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010<br /></b>In this post Pranesh Prakash conducts a legal exegesis of section 65A of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010, which deals with the stuff that enables 'Digital Rights/Restrictions Management', i.e., Technological Protection Measures. He notes that while the provision avoids some mistakes of the American law, it still poses grave problems to consumers, and that there are many uncertainties in it still.<a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/tpm-copyright-amendment" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/tpm-copyright-amendment</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Telecom</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>China Club instead of Bombay Club?<br /></b>Emulate China's coordinated policies for strategic sectors, and we'll rely less on commodity exports, says Shyam Ponappa in his article in the Business Standard on May 13, 2010.<a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/China-club-Bombay-club" target="_blank"><br />http://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/China-club-Bombay-club</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2010-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-10T10:00:54ZPageChina Club instead of Bombay Club?
https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/China-club-Bombay-club
<b>Emulate China's coordinated policies for strategic sectors, and we'll rely less on commodity exports, says Shyam Ponappa in his article in the Business Standard on May 13, 2010.</b>
<p>With the momentum of the past few years, India’s potential for growth is enormous, despite the chaotic loose linkages. In sectors like power and telecommunications, this translates to demand far outstripping capacity. Some contend that domestic inability to build capacity — i.e., being able to actually pull it off, as against the perpetual potential — will conscribe not only these sectors, but also limit overall growth. So the argument goes, e.g., let China build India’s power plants, because we need the power and don’t have capacity/they do it cheaper.</p>
<p>Comparative advantage notwithstanding, this reasoning is fallacious given the realities of national interests and self-interest. To understand why, consider the naïveté of the underlying assumptions — about “rational man”, that capitalism is fair, capital is immobile, surplus value accrues to countries and not to companies, or that the pursuit of self-interest maximises societal <a class="external-link" href="http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/papers/free-software/BMind.pdf">benefits</a>.</p>
<p>Our quandary is aggravated by our inability so far to orchestrate supportive policies for even a level playing field. Ironically, one need only consider India’s approach to IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) in the initial growth years to realise this. India’s policies in IT and ITeS, while far from perfect — in fact, sneaked through by stealth, as in the preferential 64 kbps communications lifeline, and the tax breaks for software service exporters — provided the foundations for transforming IT and then ITeS/BPO/KPO (Business Process and Knowledge Process Outsourcing).</p>
<p>These sectors also benefited from a controlled exchange rate, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) managed a steady depreciation during those years. But they did not have another vital ingredient of coordinated policies as did the Asian tigers: low borrowing rates (<a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/general/pdf/050610_03.jpg">see the diagram</a>)</p>
<p>This is one reason why, for instance, India’s machine tool manufacturers or shipbuilders have not matched the growth of knowledge-based services. The former need inexpensive, long-term capital for production and marketing, as well as for continuous innovation, upgrade and <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wu.ac.at/europainstitut/noeg/raju_s2.3-2">scale</a>.</p>
<h3>Why labour arbitrage and not products</h3>
<p>This is also one reason why we lack product orientation, because product design, development and marketing require the support of easy access to cheap capital for a long period. Labour arbitrage needs little capital. Therefore, we have been better mercenaries than producers of products, compared with the chaebols (Samsung, Hyundai) or keiretsu (Mitsubishi, Dai-Ichi/Mizuho). There are, of course, many additional reasons: their education, training, work practices, our policies against large corporations, etc.</p>
<p>With growth in domestic markets across a broad range — telecom equipment, engineering goods, power — there are domestic manufacturing initiatives, such as L&T and Bharat Forge in power generation joining Bhel, or Tejas Networks in optical switching. But for the transformational changes we have witnessed in IT, we need coordinated industrial policies that support domestic manufacturing, because that’s the competition. Unthinking acceptance of “open markets” without heed to how others — including developed economies — cosseted and built their manufacturing capacity will ensure that India stays a raw materials and commodities exporter, while importing trains, aircraft, machine tools, and equipment for power generation, telecommunications and defence.</p>
<h3>Integrated policies work</h3>
<p>Ideally, supportive policies comprise a coordinated range, such as state and central taxes, favoured locations with good infrastructure — energy, transport and communications, subsidised land, favourable exchange and interest rates, preferred access to domestic markets, and barriers to unfair competition, like import tariffs not below the WTO floor, and safeguard duties. Without this orchestration, the victors are companies and countries that have understood these principles, and have these systems in place. (This applies equally to farm products.)</p>
<p>Many are apprehensive that what works elsewhere will not work in India because of malpractices, as seen in recurring scams. There is every need for systems with integrity, and for enforcement with penalties. But just as corruption in government or civil society does not do away with the need for either, misuse does not negate the need for incentives. It would be self-damaging to lose the opportunity to try and get our act together simply because of apprehensions of corruption and/or incompetence. That would be like not subsidising food for the poor; it’s a different matter that we need better methods to prevent gross misappropriation.</p>
<p>The consequence of heedless, ad hoc muddling through instead of orchestrated strategies is that manufactured imports will dominate our markets, while domestic manufacturing is fragmented, hamstrung or absent. Having said that, consider India’s needs in electricity or communications — telecom, Internet and broadcasting — and it is apparent that crafting policies is not simple. So many conflicting images, some based on facts, others, mere impressions, which are often more important than facts. What should policy-makers do for our needs on such a massive scale with growing shortfalls?</p>
<h3>Emulate China</h3>
<p>The short answer: learn from China. In the power sector, Chinese suppliers have the following advantages:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Low-cost access to capital.</p>
</li><li>
<p>An exchange rate advantage (10-30 per cent).</p>
</li><li>
<p>No sales tax and octroi, aggregating to about 11 per cent.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Zero customs duty on equipment for large plants (China imposes a 30 per cent import duty)</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Corrective action discussed for years has not resulted in concrete steps. The power ministry, citing supposed user benefits, opposes the planning commission’s recommendation of a safeguard duty. This is as shortsighted as “free electricity” that undercuts investments in power.</p>
<p>In telecommunications, consider Huawei, with revenues of over $20 billion, nurtured for 20 years with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as an R&D partner and guaranteed customer, vis-à-vis, say, Tejas Networks from Bangalore, with no government support.</p>
<p>Our policies need to focus on our long-term interests with strategic intent and execution, as in other countries, balancing costs with the benefits of domestic capabilities. These sectors need government procurement support, not criteria that disqualify Indian companies in strategic sectors like power and communications. They also need interim methods for Chinese companies to contribute while upgrading our skills and processes. Our aim needs to be a level playing field.</p>
<p>Read the original article in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=393889">Business Standard</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/China-club-Bombay-club'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/China-club-Bombay-club</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:35:05ZBlog EntryThe Right Ring Tone
https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/ring-tone
<b>Focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales, says Shyam Ponappa in his article published in the Business Standard on April 1, 2010.</b>
<p>Just five years ago, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was India’s second most profitable company, with net profit of nearly Rs 6,000 crore — nearly equal to Hindustan Unilever’s revenues — with over Rs 36,000 crore in revenues. By March 31, 2010, BSNL expects a big loss, while a competitor, Bharti, with revenues of only Rs 8,000 crore then, has caught up in revenues and is far more profitable. Mahaganar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), too, is struggling to stay profitable.</p>
<p>While these public sector giants are in a graveyard spiral, they still have valuable assets in their reach and their networks of hundreds of thousands of kilometres. They also have a corps of technical professionals, with unmet user needs burgeoning in cities, towns, and all over India’s hinterland.<br /><br />How can BSNL/MTNL be extricated from their predicament, and built up to become more like a State Bank of India, instead of a moribund Air India and the once-dominant Indian Airlines? Consider the present and future possibilities.<br /><br />The pertinent facts are:</p>
<ul><li>The network and capacity are valuable assets for operations, provided services are rationalised and extended in commercially sound ways.</li><li>Neither BSNL nor MTNL has been able to successfully capitalise on its headstart in WiMAX and 3G.</li><li>Given present trends, both will run up mounting losses.<br /></li></ul>
<p>All management and employees, including the Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officers, will have to engage in radical changes voluntarily. This is why all stakeholders, including the government, have to seek collaborative solutions, to resolve anachronistic legacy situations that cannot continue on terms as fair as possible, including a VRS, and possibly pay cuts for deferred profit-sharing. The alternative is losing a strategic backbone network-operating capability, something India needs, with the associated hardship for so many employees.</p>
<h3>Dire prospects</h3>
<p>The outlook for both BSNL and MTNL shows in their performance (Figures 1 and 2).<br /><br />For BSNL and MTNL, increased employee costs after the Pay Commission recommendations, together with declining fixed-line revenues, led to deteriorating profits. Meanwhile, years of stalled procurement, decreasing earnings and a recommendation to divest 30 per cent have all led to a stand-off at BSNL, with a threatened strike. Whether in public or private sector, there have to be good services with good profits; otherwise, competitors will devour them.</p>
<h3>Doing the unthinkable</h3>
<p>Are there ways out? Can these investments in equipment and people be resuscitated by some miracle of management and IT engineering to be at the heart of the country’s expanding communications services? Can their personnel pull together?<br /><br />That magic could come about if individuals and interest groups rise above themselves, avoiding opportunistic self-enrichment, and approach problems collaboratively instead of antagonistically, and if the government can abjure misguided fiscal zeal.</p>
<ul><li>Instead of divesting a stake as a one-shot, revenue-raising deal, induct a strong partner to build services and revenues.</li><li>Serve user needs, instead of offering “products” with some internal geographic or technological definitions that are not easily understood.</li><li>Rationalise services like EVDO cards (broadband data cards) that are not customer-centric, because if they work in the rest of the country, they don’t in Delhi and Mumbai, and vice versa.</li><li>BSNL and MTNL could go for collaborative data-streaming with 2.4 Mbps EVDO cards usable everywhere, offered with a service level and style that can only come with a hands-on partner changing the off-putting way BSNL and MTNL treat customers.</li><li>Get politicians out of procurement, and induct technology like wireless corDECT at 512 Kbps for rural areas if appropriate, even if it is “old” and not state-of-the-art, instead of waiting for years for alternatives that aren’t there of 3G or LTE (Long-Term Evolution or 4G), and will cost much more.</li><li>Move up to 3G/LTE after some years of generating profits.</li><li>Work with India’s technology companies to build local equivalents of Huwaei and ZTE, with India’s assured markets. (This requires policies far beyond the ambit of the DOT, as in the way China has nurtured Huawei/ZTE for years.)<br /></li></ul>
<p>Put the whole package together, end-to-end, and BSNL/MTNL could be winners, as would the public.* Private operators will face competition if this happens, but they can gain from the rise in business levels. These are big issues for immediate consideration and action. Such challenges are best addressed collaboratively.</p>
<p>Although collaboration seems far removed, notable exceptions like Amul, Operation Flood, the Sirmour farmers’ cooperatives for irrigation, SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) and Infosys prove that it is feasible.</p>
<h3>Problem-solving vs confrontation and attrition</h3>
<p>Thinking and acting in our collective interests require making hard choices after cost-benefit analyses. From this perspective, we should address BSNL and MTNL from an assessment of India’s needs and available alternatives, rather than only as a historical mess. True, the mess has to be dealt with, but with forward-looking considerations of public benefits for the common good. Employees need to recognise this, juxtaposed with the consequences of unyielding self-interest. We need problem-solving, not battles of attrition from hardened, silo positions of unions, government, and management, or ITS versus the rest, or any entrenched interest group. These legacy positions are “dug in”, and perpetual confrontation leads to desecration: of service capability, of competitive staying power, productivity and of sheer employability. There is so much more they could do for a potential one billion users.<br /><br />It isn’t that self-improvement is not being attempted, like the Sanchar Nigam Executives Association (SNEA) addressing processes such as Call Detail Record (CDR) systems for customer care and billing, or Managed Services and Managed Capacity, Bharti’s innovations in outsourcing not only development and maintenance, but even procurement to Ericsson, as recommended by the Pitroda committee.** The change that is required is for all groups to pull together, however simplistic it may sound. Then, these national assets — the networks and human resources — can be leveraged to compete effectively with private operators.</p>
<p>Read the original article in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponapparight-ringtone/390367/">Business Standard</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/ring-tone'>https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/ring-tone</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:39:51ZBlog EntryApril 2010 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! We bring you updates of our research, events and news for the month of April 2010.</b>
<h2><b>News Updates </b></h2>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription"><b>Worries voiced over ID Project</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The Government of India's Unique Identification (UID) Project came under flak at a workshop organised jointly by the Citizen Action Forum (CAF), the People's Union of Civil Liberties - Karnataka, the Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society - An article in The Hindu - 17th April.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/worries-voiced-over-id-project" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/worries-voiced-over-id-project</a></p>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription"><b>UID: A debate on the Fundamental Rights</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>UID: A debate on the Fundamental Rights - was jointly organized by the Citizen Action Forum, People's Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka, Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society on April 16th at IAT, Queens Road, Bangalore - An article in the Prajavani news paper - April 17th. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/uid-a-debate-on-fundamental-rights" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/uid-a-debate-on-fundamental-rights</a></p>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription"><b>UID is an invasion of Privacy: Experts</b><br /> The Nandan Nilekani headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) came in for much criricism at the first of a series of debates on the issue organised in the city on Friday - Deccan Chronicle, April 17th.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/uid-is-an-invasion-of-privacy-experts" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/uid-is-an-invasion-of-privacy-experts</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Experts debate on UID and rights </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Bangalore, Apr 16, DHNS: A debate on ‘UID and Fundamental Rights’ organised by several city-based organisations, discussed the social, ethical issues, economic and legal issues that accompanies the UID. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/experts-debate-on-uid-and-rights" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/experts-debate-on-uid-and-rights</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Amendment to Copyright Act opposed </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>A report on the press conference held on 15th April, at the Press Club, Bangalore: The Hindu <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/amendment-to-copyright-act-opposed" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/amendment-to-copyright-act-opposed</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>They fight for the visually challenged </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Times News Network - A report on the press conference held at the Press Club, Bangalore on 15th April, 2010. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/they-fight-for-the-visually-challenged" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/they-fight-for-the-visually-challenged</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Digital Natives Research Project Coordinator </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, in collaboration with Hivos Netherlands, is looking for a Research Project Coordinator to help develop a knowledge network and coordinate international workshops for the project "Digital Natives with a Cause?" <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/research-coordinator" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/research-coordinator</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Expel or not? That is the question </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The decision of an international school to expel 14 students for their alleged ‘promiscuous’ behaviour has led to much debate and discussion. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/expel-or-not" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/expel-or-not</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Nokia eyes GeNext to tap mobile email mkt </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Finnish handset giant banks on youth to be in the technology race <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext</a></p>
<h3><b>Research</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Critical Point of View: Videos </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The Second event for the Critical Point of View reader on Wikipedia was held in Amsterdam, by the Institute of Network Cultures and the Centre for Internet and Society. A wide range of scholars, academics, researchers, practitioners, artists and users came together to discuss questions on design, analytics, access, education, theory, art, history and processes of knowledge production. The videos for the full event are now available for free viewing and dissemination.</p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Colour Me Political </b><br /> What are the tools that Digital Natives use to mobilise groups towards a particular cause? How do they engage with crises in their immediate environments? Are they using their popular social networking sites and web 2.0 applications for merely entertainment? Or are these tools actually helping them to re-articulate the realm of the political? Nishant Shah looks at the recent Facebook Colour Meme to see how new forms of political participation and engagement are being initiated by young people across the world.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn2" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn2</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Meet the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine</b><br />Digital Natives live their lives differently. But sometimes, they also die their lives differently! What happens when we die online? Can the digital avatar die? What is digital life? The Web 2.0 Suicide machine that has now popularly been called the 'anti-social-networking' application brings some of these questions to the fore. As a part of the Hivos-CIS "Digital Natives with a Cause?" research programme, Nishant Shah writes about how Life on the Screen is much more than just a series of games. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn1" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn1</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Digital Natives with a Cause? </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Digital Natives With A Cause? - a product of the Hivos-CIS collaboration charts the scholarship and practice of youth and technology with a specific attention for developing countries to create a framework that consolidates existing paradigms and informs further research and intervention within diverse contexts and cultures. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/dn/dnrep" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dnrep</a></p>
<h2><b>Advocacy</b></h2>
<h3><b>Accessibility</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>e-Accessibility: A Wiki Project </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Envisaged and funded by the National Internet Exchange of India, and executed by the Centre for Internet and Society, a Wiki site pertaining to issues of disability and e-accessibility has recently been launched. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-a-wiki-project" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-a-wiki-project</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Copyright Law as a tool for Inclusion </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Can Copyright Law be used as a tool for Inclusion? Rahul Cherian examines this in his blog on copyright. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/copyright-law-as-tool-for-inclusion" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/copyright-law-as-tool-for-inclusion</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Web Accessibility as a Government Mandate?</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><b> </b><br /> </span>Is Web accessibility just a Government Mandate? Should private sites be ignored? Wesolowski examines this in light of the steps taken by ictQATAR to make its website accessible to W3C standards, and hopes that Qatar and eventually all other Arab nations will follow suit and make Web accessibility much more of a mandate. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/web-accessibility-government-mandate" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/web-accessibility-government-mandate</a></p>
<h3><b>Intellectual Property</b></h3>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription"><b>When Copyright Goes Bad </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>A part of the Access to Knowledge Project, this short film by Consumers International is available on DVD and online at A2Knetwork.org/film. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/when-copyright-goes-bad" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/when-copyright-goes-bad</a></p>
<h3><b>Openness</b></h3>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Research Project on Open Video in India </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Open Video Alliance and the Centre for Internet and Society are calling for researchers for a project on open video in India, its potentials, limitations, and recommendations on policy interventions. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/open-video-research" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/open-video-research</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Does the Social Web need a Googopoly?</b><br />While the utility of the new social tool Buzz is still under question, the bold move into social space taken last week by the Google Buzz team has Gmail users questioning privacy implications of the new feature. In this post, I posit that Buzz highlights two privacy challenges of the social web. First, the application has sidestepped the consensual and contextual qualities desirable of social spaces. Secondly, Google’s move highlights the increasingly competitive and convergent nature of the social media landscape. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/does-the-social-web-need-a-googopoly" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/does-the-social-web-need-a-googopoly</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>The (in)Visible Subject: Power, Privacy and Social Networking </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>In this entry, I will argue that the interplay between privacy and power on social network sites works ultimately to subject individuals to the gaze of others, or to alternatively render them invisible. Individual choices concerning privacy preferences must, therefore, be informed by the intrinsic relationship which exists between publicness/privateness and subjectivity/obscurity. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/the-in-visible-subject-power-privacy-and-social-networking" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/the-in-visible-subject-power-privacy-and-social-networking</a></p>
<h3><b>Internet Governance</b></h3>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Does the Safe-Harbor Program Adequately Address Third Parties Online? </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>While many citizens outside of the US and EU benefit from the data privacy provisions the Safe Harbor Program, it remains unclear how successfully the program can govern privacy practices when third-parties continue to gain more rights over personal data. Using Facebook as a site of analysis, I will attempt to shed light on the deficiencies of the framework for addressing the complexity of data flows in the online ecosystem. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/does-the-safe-harbor-program-adequately-address-third-parties-online" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/does-the-safe-harbor-program-adequately-address-third-parties-online</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Sense and censorship </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Sunil Abraham examines Google's crusade against censorship in China in wake of the attacks on its servers in this article published in the Indian Express. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/sense-and-censorship" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/sense-and-censorship</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Report on the Fourth Internet Governance Forum for Commonwealth IGF </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>This report by Pranesh Prakash reflects on the question of how useful is the IGF in the light of meetings on the themes of intellectual property, freedom of speech and privacy. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/report-on-fourth-IGF" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/report-on-fourth-IGF</a></p>
<h3><b>Telecom</b></h3>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription" style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Right Ring Tone </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>Focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales, says Shyam Ponappa in his article published in the Business Standard on April 1, 2010. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span><a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/ring-tone" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/ring-tone</a></p>
<h2><b>Other Advocacy</b></h2>
<p class="ecxdocumentdescription" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Maps for Making Change Wiki Now Open to the Public </b><br /> Since December 2009, CIS has been coordinating and nurturing the Maps for Making Change project, organised in collaboration with Tactical Tech. During the past four months, participants have been on a challenging yet fertile and inspiring journey that is now slowly coming to an end. Would you like to know more about what has happened in the time that has passed? The Maps for Making Change wiki is a good place to start. <br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/others/maps-for-making-change-wiki-now-open-to-the-public" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/others/maps-for-making-change-wiki-now-open-to-the-public</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2010-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomIntellectual Property RightsAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAW2012-08-13T04:51:19ZPageNokia eyes GeNext to tap mobile email mkt
https://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext
<b>Finnish handset giant banks on youth to be in the technology race</b>
<p>In a booming market, the rich as well as the poor might like to shrink the Internet--at least while on the go.</p>
<p>To woo 20-something, jet-set executives and the man on the street with no computer, cellphone firm Nokia has begun to boost its mobile email market.</p>
<p>By targeting business users, in competition with other handheld service providers like BlackBerry, Nokia's 'all-new' E63 model has a whole range of business and personal mail and media options built in, said Viral Oza, the Finnish firm's India head of media and online marketing on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Unrelated, earlier mobile operator MTS launched a prepaid service with free surfing for websites like Yahoo and Wikipedia.</p>
<p>Airtel and BSNL also have introduced affordable Internet plans.</p>
<p>Oza said his company targets people aged below 25, a population segment expected to grow from the current share of 47 per cent to 55 per cent by 2016. "It is a generation that has grown with technology, entering professions, at the same time wanting to keep in touch with their friends," he said. So they get corporate mail, personal media and chatting in future. The firm is set to launch its instant messaging, Ovi Chat, in India soon, he added.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, there are also downloadable free email solutions, including 'pushmail', which are compatible with scores of other models, Oza said.</p>
<p>Pushmail that allows real-time delivery without logging in and collecting (pulling) mail manually is a boon to executives on the move. You can get icons for your Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and Yahoo on your handset--and even link your mobile to your office mail server.</p>
<p>At the same time, first-time email user can register with the free Ovi Mail--without using a computer. Ovi--meaning door in Finnish--is Nokia's Internet services brand that covers games, music, maps and messaging.</p>
<p>Observers see this as part of the technology trend in the country. Mobile email users are growing at 96 per cent a year to cross 50 million by 2014, experts note. Only six per cent of the mobile users have email access on their handsets, while 78 per cent would like to have it, Oza pointed out.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"For most of our people mobile phone will be the only way to access the Internet," said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society here. As opposed to personal computers, cellphones are cheap, sharable, portable and are easily chargeable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, Abraham noted that Nokia, a pioneer in userfriendly and innovative cellphone interfaces, now has lagged behind in the tech race and has to catch up with better and more creative features.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"You have to make it all simple and accessible," he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Growing from its device market, Nokia is now moving more into the Internet arena in direct competition with players like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Apple. Experts note that the battle among handset makers, portals and mobile telephony operators will intensify this year as economies are recovering after the slowdown.</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/90589/Nokia+eyes+GeNext+to+tap+mobile+email+mkt.html">Read the original story in India Today</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext'>https://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2011-04-02T12:48:01ZNews ItemMarch 2010 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2010-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! We bring you updates of our research, news, and events for the month of March 2010 in this bulletin.</b>
<h3><b>News Updates</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>An Open Answer to Office</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>OpenOffice with its new features is giving Microsoft Word tough competition, says Deepa Kurup in this article published in The Hindu.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/open-office" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/news/open-office</a></p>
<h3><b>Upcoming Events</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>CPOV: Wikipedia Research Initiative</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The second WikiWars conference will be held in Amsterdam from 26 to 27 March 2010<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>CI Global Meeting on A2K</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>CIS is a co-sponsor of the Consumers International Meeting on A2K to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 21 and 22, 2010.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/events/ci-global-meeting-a2k" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/events/ci-global-meeting-a2k</a></p>
<h3><b>Research</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>India Game Developer Summit Bangalore 2010</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /> </span>The India Game Developer Conference held at Nimhans Convention Centre on the 27th of February, 2010 was attended by Arun Menon who is working on The Gaming and Gold Project at The Centre for Internet and Society. The Developer forum brought together game developers from different sectors of the Game Production Cycle, with hardware manufacturers like Nvidia demonstrating their latest 3d technology and Software developers like Crytek and Adobe demonstrating the latest in developer tools for creating and editing games on multiple platforms.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/gaming/india-game-developer-summit-in-bangalore-2010" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/gaming/india-game-developer-summit-in-bangalore-2010</a><br /> <br /> <b>10 Legendary Obscene Beasts</b><br /> Nishant Shah analyses a peculiar event of vandalism which has now become the core of free speech and anti-censorship debates in mainland China. Looking at the structure of user generated knowledge websites and the specific event on the Chinese language encyclopaedia, 'Baidu Baike', he shows how, in cities where spaces of political spectacle and public protest are quickly diminishing, the Internet has become a tool for producing new public spaces of demonstration and protest.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/grants/ISShanghai/itcity4" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/grants/ISShanghai/itcity4</a></p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>WikiWars - A report</b><br /> In this blog, Nishant Shah analyses about the WikiWars, the first of the three events held in Bangalore on January 12 and 13.<br /> <a href="https://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/wwrep" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/wwrep</a></p>
<h3><b>Telecom</b></h3>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"><b>Understanding Spectrum</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><b><br /> </b></span>What is spectrum and how do government and commercial decisions on this scientific phenomenon affect public facilities and costs? Shyam Ponappa examines this in his latest blog published in the Business Standard on March 4, 2010.<b><br /> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum%0c" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2010-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2010-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomIntellectual Property RightsAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-08-13T05:02:42ZPage