Centre for Internet & Society

Hakon 2016 by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 15, 2016 10:04 AM
Udbhav Tiwari attended attended Hakon 2016, a conference held between September 30 and October 2, 2016 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India,on behalf of CIS under the Hewlett Cyber Security Project.
IANA Transition: A Case of the Emperor’s New Clothes? by Vidushi Marda — last modified Nov 03, 2016 06:20 AM
Transparency is key to engaging meaningfully with ICANN. CIS has filed the most number of Documentary Information Disclosure Policy (DIDP) requests with ICANN, covering a range of subjects including its relationships with contracted parties, financial disclosure, revenue statements, and harassment policies. Asvatha Babu, an intern at CIS, analysed all responses to our requests and found that only 14% of our requests were answered fully.
Tech companies like Gmail, WhatsApp may be asked to store user information by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 14, 2016 01:12 AM
The government is moving to formulate rules that will require technology ‘intermediaries’— including email services like Gmail, chat apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat or even ecommerce firms like Amazon — to retain user information, a development that is expected to be met with determined opposition.
Why Open Access Has To Look Up For Academic Publishing To Look Up by Anubha Sinha — last modified Oct 12, 2016 04:22 PM
In an important development, the US Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against the India-based OMICS group for harassing authors to publish in its journals.
National Cyber Defence Summit 2016 by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 10, 2016 12:54 PM
National Cyber Defence Summit – 2016 was organized by the National Cyber Safety and Security Standards in association with State & Central Governments, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, AICTE & Anna University on 30 September and 1 October 2016 in Chennai. Vanya Rakesh attended the summit.
Tech for the blind: How app developers can help end the ‘disturbing touchscreen trend’ by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 10, 2016 12:46 PM
At their introduction, touchscreens was so refreshing and how we had rushed to get those touch devices. Meanwhile, there was a separate world that came crashing down with the advent of touch enabled phones. Just like me, I’m sure not many may have thought how touchscreens almost ended the messaging ability of visually impaired. Now, with services moving from phone calls to online (services and apps), it’s getting more difficult.
A Market Structure for Digital India by Shyam Ponappa — last modified Oct 10, 2016 02:09 AM
If delivery is priced below cost, communications services will be unsustainable and ineffective. The stress in the telecom sector is evident from the data. The market capitalisation of listed telecom operators has been stagnant since the 3G auction in 2010, while the government collected Rs 2.83 lakh crore of non-tax charges from them.
Grants:APG/Proposals/2014-2015 round2/The Centre for Internet and Society/Impact report form by Tanveer Hasan — last modified Oct 09, 2016 02:40 PM
This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their results to date. For progress reports, the time period for this report will the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). For impact reports, the time period for this report will be the full 12 months of this grant, including the period already reported on in the progress report (e.g. 1 January - 31 December of the current year).
Internet Democratisation: IANA Transition Leaves Much to be Desired by Vidushi Marda — last modified Nov 03, 2016 07:52 AM
At best, the IANA transition is symbolic of Washington’s oversight over ICANN coming to an end. It is also symbolic of the empowerment of the global multistakeholder community. In reality, it fails to do either meaningfully.
How we celebrated Software Freedom Day by Subhashish Panigrahi — last modified Oct 07, 2016 02:02 AM
A small group of 6 FOSS contributors from communities such as Mozilla, Wikimedia, Mediawiki, Open Street Map and users of FOSS solutions gathered in Bengaluru to celebrate Software Freedom Day. Subhashish Panigrahi who was a part of the event, reports the developments.
If all goes well, Indian IT Act may enter 21st century by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 06, 2016 04:49 PM
The government is aiming to refresh the main law governing information technology by giving it a revamp which it hopes will bring it in tune with the times and address criticisms about its weaknesses, a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
Services like TwitterSeva aren’t the silver bullets they are made out to be by Sunil Abraham — last modified Oct 06, 2016 04:31 PM
TwitterSeva is great, but it should not be considered a sufficient replacement for proper e-governance systems. This is because there are several serious shortcomings with the TwitterSeva approach, and it is no wonder that enthusiastic police officers and bureaucrats are somewhat upset with the slow deployment of e-governance applications. They are also right in being frustrated with the lack of usability and scalability of existing applications that hold out the promise of adopting private sector platforms to serve citizens better.
Localisation experiences in Kannada and Tulu Wikipedias by U.B.Pavanaja — last modified Oct 06, 2016 01:51 AM
It has become a fashion to talk about the digital divide in India. These talks are going on for more than 2 decades now. Nevertheless there is no doubt about the need of taking the benefits of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for common man.
Not Everyone Plays by the Rules in the Digital Playground: Addressing Online Child Sexual Exploitation by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 05, 2016 03:08 PM
Japreet Grewal spoke at a panel on 'Prevention through Awareness and Education' at a meeting titled 'Not Everyone Plays by the Rules in the Digital Playground:Addressing Online Child Sexual Exploitation' that was organised by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Singapore (ICMEC) and TULIR - Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse, India on October 3-4, 2016 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
An 'app'ening world by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 05, 2016 12:24 AM
A ‘forward’ has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp about the privacy concerns relating to that instant messaging app; it’s asking for permission to share user data with Facebook.
Changing Wikipedia’s (and society’s) male bias is work in progress by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 04, 2016 11:02 PM
Shyamal Lakshminarayanan was on the trail of Maude Lina West Cleghorn, a little-known amateur British entomologist who lived in Calcutta in the early 1900s.
Indian language localization community meets in New Delhi by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 03, 2016 01:26 PM
Localization is one of the less glamorous aspects of computing. Despite the fact that less than 6% of the world speaks English, a majority of projects don't feel inclined to accommodate the rest of the population. One of the primary reasons for sticking to English is the steep learning curve and the lack of standardization in various aspects of the localization process.
Eye on Mumbai by Prasad Krishna — last modified Oct 02, 2016 10:22 AM
The feeds will be beamed to a video wall that stretches 21 feet across at the police’s command and control room.
Workshop on Innovation, Economic Development and IP in India and China by Anubha Sinha and Rohini Lakshané — last modified Oct 09, 2016 04:41 AM
Anubha Sinha and Rohini Lakshané presented at the SMU-JINDAL-RENMIN Workshop on “Innovation, Economic Development, and IP in India and China,” co-organised by the Singapore Management University, O.P. Jindal Global University, and Renmin University of China, in Delhi during September 27-28, 2016. Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, delivered the inaugural address at the workshop.
Mobilizing Online Consensus: Net Neutrality and the India Subreddit by Sujeet George — last modified Sep 27, 2016 04:52 AM
This essay by Sujeet George is part of the 'Studying Internet in India' series. The author offers a preliminary gesture towards understanding reddit’s usage and breadth in the Indian context. Through an analysis of the “India” subreddit and examining the manner and context in which information and ideas are shared, proposed, and debunked, the paper aspires to formulate a methodology for interrogating sites like reddit that offer the possibilities of social mediation, even as users maintain a limited amount of privacy. At the same time, to what extent can such news aggregator sites direct the ways in which opinions and news flows change course as a true marker of information generation responding to user inputs.