Author
Sunil Abraham
93 items.
1 Oct 2019
28 Aug 2019
Blog post
Linking Aadhaar with social media or ending encryption is counterproductiveShould Aadhaar be used as KYC for social media accounts? We have recently seen a debate on this question with even the courts hearing arguments in favour and against such a move.
4 May 2019
Blog post
Sunil Abraham - Key Listener Speech at Wikimedia Summit 2019The Wikimedia Summit 2019 – formerly known as "Wikimedia Conference" or "Chapters Meeting" – took place on 29–31 March 2019 in Berlin. Sunil Abraham made a speech at the summit organized in Berlin.
13 Feb 2019
Blog post
Intermediary liability law needs updatingThe time has come for India to exert its foreign policy muscle. There is a less charitable name for intermediary liability regimes like Sec 79 of the IT Act — private censorship regimes.
3 Jan 2019
Blog post
Registering for Aadhaar in 2019It is a lot less scary registering for Aadhaar in 2019 than it was in 2010, given how the authentication modalities have since evolved.
30 Nov 2018
Blog post
Regulating the Internet: The Government of India & Standards Development at the IETFThe institution of open standards has been described as a formidable regulatory regime governing the Internet. Given the regulatory and domestic policy implications that technical standards can have, there is a need for Indian governmental …
24 Nov 2018
Blog post
Statement on Serious Allegations against CIS Members and the CIS Workplace on Social MediaIn light of serious allegations raised on social media about CIS members and workplace, we wish to provide a detailed update at this stage.
24 Sep 2018
Blog post
A trust deficit between advertisers and publishers is leading to fake newsTransparency regulations is need of the hour. And urgently for election and political advertising. What do the ads look like? Who paid for them? Who was the target? How many people saw these advertisements? How many times? Transparency …
16 Aug 2018
Blog post
India's Contribution to Internet Governance DebatesIndia's Contribution to Internet Governance Debates", an article by Sunil Abraham, Mukta Batra, Geetha Hariharan, Swaraj Barooah and Akriti Bopanna, was recently published in the NLUD Student Law Journal, an annual peer-reviewed journal …
31 Jul 2018
Blog post
Spreading unhappiness equally aroundThe section of civil society opposed to Aadhaar is unhappy because the UIDAI and all other state agencies that wish to can process data non-consensually.
31 Jul 2018
Blog post
Lining up the data on the Srikrishna Privacy Draft BillIn the run-up to the Justice BN Srikrishna committee report, some stakeholders have advocated that consent be eliminated and replaced with stronger accountability obligations. This was rejected and the committee has released a draft bill …
13 Jun 2018
Blog post
NITI Aayog Discussion Paper: An aspirational step towards India’s AI policyThe National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence — a discussion paper on India’s path forward in AI, is a welcome step towards a comprehensive document that reflects the government's AI ambitions. The 115-page discussion paper attempts to …
12 Jun 2018
Blog post
Why NPCI and Facebook need urgent regulatory attentionThe world’s oldest networked infrastructure, money, is increasingly dematerialising and fusing with the world’s latest networked infrastructure, the Internet.
23 Apr 2018
Blog post
What’s up with WhatsApp?In 2016, WhatsApp Inc announced it was rolling out end-to-end encryption, but is the company doing what it claims to be doing?
28 Mar 2018
Blog post
Cambridge Analytica scandal: How India can save democracy from FacebookHegemonic incumbents like Google and Facebook need to be tackled with regulation; govt should use procurement power to fund open source alternatives.
15 Mar 2018
Blog post
Analysis of ICANN revenue shows ambiguity in their recordsWe, The Centre for Internet and Society, have been instrumental in having ICANN become transparent about their revenue with our persistent requests for their sources of revenue.
22 Jan 2018
Blog post
Data Protection: We can innovate, leapfrogAbout 27% of India's population is still illiterate or barely literate. Most privacy policies and terms of services for web and mobile applications are in English and therefore it is only 10% of us who can actually read them before we …
10 Jan 2018
Blog post
Fixing Aadhaar: Security developers' task is to trim chances of data breachThe task before a security developer is not only to reduce the probability of identity breach but to eliminate certain occurrences.
23 Apr 2017
Blog post
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in India: Opportunities for Advocacy in Intellectual PropertyCentre for Internet & Society worked on a three part case study. The first case study on digital protection of traditional knowledge was published by GIS Watch in December 2016. The other two case studies along with the synthesis overview …
31 Mar 2017
Blog post
It’s the technology, stupidEleven reasons why the Aadhaar is not just non-smart but also insecure.
31 Mar 2017
Blog post
How Aadhaar compromises privacy? And how to fix it?Aadhaar is mass surveillance technology. Unlike targeted surveillance which is a good thing, and essential for national security and public order – mass surveillance undermines security. And while biometrics is appropriate for targeted …
19 Feb 2017
Blog post
Big Data in Governance in India: Case StudiesThis research seeks to understand the most effective way of researching Big Data in the Global South. Towards this goal, the research planned for the development of a Global South big data Research Network that identifies the potential …
17 Dec 2016
Blog post
Inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC)The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC) on 15 December 2016. The WGEC sought inputs on two questions that will guide the …
12 Dec 2016
Blog post
CIS Submission to TRAI Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi NetworksThis submission presents responses by the CIS on the Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks published by the TRAI on November 15, 2016. Our analysis of the solution proposed in the …
9 Dec 2016
Blog post
The Digital Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Questions Raised by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library in IndiaThis is an edited version of part three of a study that considers the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) through aspects of intellectual property in India, namely, mobile patents, free and open source …
6 Oct 2016
Blog post
Services like TwitterSeva aren’t the silver bullets they are made out to beTwitterSeva 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 …
28 Aug 2016
Blog post
CIS Submission to TRAI Consultation on Proliferation of Broadband through Public WiFi NetworksThe Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) is grateful for the opportunity to comment on this Consultation Paper (“Paper”). The comments were prepared by Sunil Abraham, Sharath Chandra Ram, Vidushi Marda, and Thejaswi Melarkode. Special …
5 Apr 2016
Blog post
Surveillance ProjectThe Aadhaar project’s technological design and architecture is an unmitigated disaster and no amount of legal fixes in the Act will make it any better.
2 Apr 2016
Blog post
CIS - A2K Work Plan: July 2016 - June 2017One of the key mandates of the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is to work towards catalyzing the growth of the free and open knowledge movement in Indic languages. CIS has been a steward of the …
16 Mar 2016
Blog post
Press Release, March 11, 2016: The Law cannot Fix what Technology has Broken!We published and circulated the following press release on March 11, 2016, as the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. This Bill was proposed by finance …