Blog posts
3,108 items.
11 Apr 2015
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Shreya Singhal and 66AMost software code has dependencies. Simple and reproducible methods exist for mapping and understanding the impact of these dependencies. Legal code also has dependencies --across court orders and within a single court order. And since …
6 Apr 2015
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Call for Essays: Studying Internet in IndiaAs Internet makes itself comfortable amidst everyday lives in India, it becomes everywhere and everyware, it comes in 40 MBPS Unlimited and in chhota recharges – and even in zero flavour – the Researchers at Work (RAW) programme at the …
6 Apr 2015
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Announcing Silicon Plateau #01We are very pleased to announce that the RAW programme is supporting a new collaborative publishing project led by T.A.J. Residency / SKE Projects and or-bits.com. The first volume of the series titled 'Silicon Plateau' will feature …
5 Apr 2015
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Conference on Standards Settings Organizations (SSO) and FRAND, NLSIURohini Lakshané attended the Conference on Standards Settings Organizations (SSO) and FRAND held at NLSIU, Bengaluru on March 21 and 22, 2015. It was organised by the MHRD Chair on Intellectual Property Rights, Centre for Intellectual …
4 Apr 2015
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GSMA Research OutputsThis is a collection of research under our GSMA project that we have undertaken in collaboration with Privacy International. The research has sought to understand different legal and regulatory aspects of security and surveillance in India …
31 Mar 2015
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Whose Open Data Community is it? - Accepted AbstractMy paper titled 'Whose Open Data Community is it? Reflections on the Open Data Ecosystem in India' has been accepted for presentation at the Open Data Research Symposium to be held during the 3rd International Open Data Conference …
31 Mar 2015
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Security, Governments and Data: Technology and PolicyOn January 8, 2015, the Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with the Observer research foundation, hosted the day long conference "Security, Governments, and Data: Technology and Policy" The conference discussed a range of …
30 Mar 2015
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Railway Takeaways for Digital IndiaExtending the approach of the Railway Budget to telecommunications and broadband. For the first time since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed the government last year, we have something more than grand aspirational statements to …
30 Mar 2015
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2nd National Language Conference, BhubaneswarInstitute of Odia Studies and Research organised 2nd National Language Conference beginning on Monday, March 30, 2015 and ending on April 2, 2015 at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. This conference was organised in collaboration with …
29 Mar 2015
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Three reasons why 66A verdict is momentousEarlier this week, the fundamental right to freedom of expression posted a momentous victory. The nation's top court struck down the much-reviled Section 66A of the IT Act — which criminalized communications that are "grossly offensive", …
29 Mar 2015
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Report on 15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in HindiThe highlight of the session was that the students on completion of the 15 days training, were able to write passages in Hindi. All the participants were able to do basic computing, such as opening files, saving them in different locations, …
29 Mar 2015
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Big win for freedom of speech. Really?The 66A ruling was historic, but what about the provisions regulating speech online and offline that still exist within the ITA, the IPC and other laws.
27 Mar 2015
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What 66A Judgment Means For Free Speech OnlineThis week India's Supreme Court redefined the boundaries of freedom of speech on the internet. With the Court's decision in Shreya Singhal & Ors. v. Union of India, Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, has been struck down …
27 Mar 2015
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India's Supreme Court Axes Online Censorship Law, But Challenges RemainThe Supreme Court of India took a remarkable step to protect free expression on March 24, 2015, striking down controversial section 66A of the IT Act that criminalized “grossly offensive” content online. In response to a public interest …
27 Mar 2015
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Hindustani Language: We Are WikipediaIn 2014, the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) embarked on a new social media-based initiative - WeAreWikipedia. The aim of the project was "One Wikimedian every week to tell untold community stories on …
27 Mar 2015
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Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia and India – Section OutlinesThe Centre for Internet and Society has been invited to contribute two sections to the Asia Internet History - Third Decade (2001-2010) book edited by Dr. Kilnam Chon. The sections will discuss the activities and experiences of civil …
26 Mar 2015
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Internet censorship will continue in opaque fashionA division bench of the Supreme Court has ruled on three sections of the Information Technology Act 2000 - Section 66A, Section 79 and Section 69A. The draconian Section 66A was originally meant to tackle spam and cyber-stalking but was …
26 Mar 2015
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Historic day for freedom of speech and expression in IndiaIn a petition that finds its origin in a simple status message on Facebook, Shreya Singhal vs Union of India marks a historic reinforcement of the freedom of speech and expression in India.
26 Mar 2015
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Fear, Uncertainty and DoubtMuch confusion has resulted from the Section 66A verdict. Some people are convinced that online speech is now without any reasonable restrictions under Article 19 (2) of the Constitution. This is completely false.
24 Mar 2015
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Report on the Progress in Bengali Language TestingThe Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is doing a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages. This blog post captures the key updates of the work done by CIS team for Bengali language.
24 Mar 2015
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No more 66A!In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has struck down Section 66A. Today was a great day for freedom of speech on the Internet! When Section 66A was in operation, if you made a statement that led to offence, you could be prosecuted. We …
24 Mar 2015
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Interviews with App Developers: Open Source, Community, and Contradictions – Part IIIThe following is a third post within a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Through this research, CIS attempts to understand how the developers interviewed …
24 Mar 2015
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Interviews with App Developers: Name of the Game (Part IV)The following is a concluding piece in a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Within this research, CIS attempts to understand how they engage with the law …
24 Mar 2015
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Figures of Learning: The ReaderAs part of its Making Methods for Digital Humanities project, CIS-RAW organized two consultations on new figures of learning in the digital context. For a proposed journal issue on the theme of ‘bodies of knowledge’ which draws upon these …
23 Mar 2015
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Report on the Progress in Assamese Language TestingThe Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is doing a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages. This blog post captures the key updates of the work done by CIS team for Assamese language.
23 Mar 2015
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Mobile App Developer Series: Terms of Agreement – Part IVThe following is Part Four in a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Through this research, CIS attempts to understand how the developers interviewed engage …
19 Mar 2015
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TRAI-ing Times: The Story So Far24th December, 2014 marked a pivotal moment in the Indian experience with network neutrality. On this date, one of India’s largest telecom players, Bharti Airtel, announced the introduction of a new ‘VoIP’ usage policy for its mobile users.
19 Mar 2015
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Intellectual Property Rights — Open Access for ResearchersIn the year 2013, Nehaa Chaudhari had worked on a module on Intellectual Property Rights for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Open Access Curriculum (Curriculum for Researchers) as part of a …
19 Mar 2015
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Announcing the dates, theme and tentative tracks for the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest 2015We are pleased to announce that the Global Congress will be held from 15th-17 December 2015. The theme of the 2015 Global Congress is Three Decades of Openness; Two Decades of TRIPS. The four tentative tracks include Openness, User Rights, …
17 Mar 2015
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What Does Facebook's Transparency Report Tell Us About the Indian Government's Record on Free Expression & Privacy?Given India's online population, the number of user data requests made by the Indian government aren't very high, but the number of content restriction requests are not only high on an absolute number, but even on a per-user basis.