Blog posts
3,108 items.
22 Aug 2011
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Financial Inclusion and the UIDSince 2009, when Nandan Nilekani began to envision and implement the Unique Identification Project, the UID authority has promoted the UID/Aadhaar scheme as a tool of development for India - arguing that an identity will assist in bringing …
22 Aug 2011
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Cyber Crime & PrivacyIndia is a growing area in the field of active Internet usage with 71 million Internet users.
19 Aug 2011
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Open Government Data in India (v2)The first draft of the second version of the Open Government Data Report is now online. Nisha Thompson worked on updating the first version of the report. This updated version of the report on open government data in India includes …
10 Aug 2011
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CCTV in UniversitiesBasic Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Infrastructure is used to observe movements from a central room, and consists of one or more video cameras that transmit video and audio images to a set of monitors or video recorders.
9 Aug 2011
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Re-thinking Key EscrowWould you make duplicates of your house keys and hand them over to the local police authority? And if so, would you feel safe? Naturally, one would protest this invasion of privacy. Similarly, would it be justified for the government to …
2 Aug 2011
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We, the Cyborgs: Challenges for the Future of being HumanThe Cyborg - a cybernetique organism which is a combination of the biological and the technological – has been at the centre of discourse around digital technologies. Especially with wearable computing and ubiquitous access to the digital …
2 Aug 2011
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Internet, Politics and TransparencyOn 15th April 2009, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) hosted a talk by Barun Mitra on “Internet, Transparency and Politics”. Barun Mitra is the Chairperson of Liberty Institute, a think tank based in Delhi. Liberty Institute …
27 Jul 2011
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Open Access to Scholarly Literature in India: A Status Report: Call for CommentsThe Centre for Internet and Society welcomes comments on the first draft of "Open Access to Scholarly Literature in India: A Status Report". This report, on open access to scholarly literature, with a special focus on scientific literature, …
25 Jul 2011
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UID: Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear?Isn’t it interesting that authorities ask you about your identity and you end up showing your proof of existence! Isn’t this breaching into one’s personal life? Why so much transparency only from the public side? Why can’t the government be …
24 Jul 2011
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The Challenges of Direct DemocracyIndia must weigh the pros and cons of various approaches to direct democracy and develop one of its own.
24 Jul 2011
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An Overview of DNA Labs in IndiaDNA fingerprinting has become the most precise and technologically advanced method for identifying crimes such as murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape. Police and judicial authorities and in some cases even private parties retain this in …
23 Jul 2011
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Video Surveillance and Its Impact on the Right to PrivacyThe need for video surveillance has grown in this technologically driven era as a mode of law enforcement. Video Surveillance is very useful to governments and law enforcement to maintain social control, recognize and monitor threats, and …
23 Jul 2011
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Consumer Privacy in e-CommerceLooking at the larger picture of national security versus consumer privacy, Sahana Sarkar says that though consumer privacy is important in the world of digital technology, individuals must put aside some of their civil liberties when it …
22 Jul 2011
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People are Knowledge – Experimenting with Oral Citations on WikipediaThe Centre for Internet and Society in association with the Wikimedia Foundation has produced a documentary film "People are Knowledge". The film evolved out of a project on Oral Citations in India and South Africa funded by the Wikimedia …
21 Jul 2011
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Privacy Matters, Guwahati — Event ReportOn June 23, a public seminar on “Privacy Matters” was held at the Don Bosco Institute in Karhulli, Guwahati. It was organised by IDRC, Society in Action Group, IDEA Chirang, an NGO initiative working with grassroots initiatives in Assam, …
21 Jul 2011
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Opening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public SectorThe Transparency & Accountability Initiative has published a book called “Opening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public Sector”. We at the Centre for Internet & Society …
20 Jul 2011
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Right to Privacy Bill 2010 — A Few CommentsEarlier this year, in February 2011, Rajeev Chandrasekhar introduced the Right to Privacy Bill, 2010 in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill is meant to “provide protection to the privacy of persons including those who are in public life”. Though the …
19 Jul 2011
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Privacy & Media LawIn her research, Sonal Makhija, a Bangalore-based lawyer, tries to delineate the emerging privacy concerns in India and the existing media norms and guidelines on the right to privacy. The research examines the existing media norms …
18 Jul 2011
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When Data Means Privacy, What Traces Are You Leaving Behind?How do you know yourself to be different from others? What defines the daily life that you live and the knowledge you produce in the span of this life? Is all that information yours or are you a mere stakeholder on behalf of the State whose …
15 Jul 2011
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My Experiment with Scam BaitingToday, as I am sure many of you have experienced, Internet scams are widespread and very deceptive. As part of my research into privacy and the Internet, I decided to follow a scam and attempt to fully understand how Internet scams work, …
12 Jul 2011
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RTI and Third Party Information: What Constitutes the Private and Public?The passing of the Right to Information Act, 2005 was seen as giving an empowering tool in the hands of the citizens of India, six years post its implementation, loopholes have surfaced with misuse of the many fundamental concepts, which …
8 Jul 2011
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Don't Shoot the Messenger: Speech on Intermediary Liability at 22nd SCCR of WIPOThis is a speech made by Pranesh Prakash at an side-event co-organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Internet Society on intermediary liability, to coincide with the release of Prof. Lillian Edwards's …
6 Jul 2011
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Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective (Revised Edition 2011)A G3ict White Paper researched and edited by the Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India. Editor: Nirmita Narasimhan, Revised edition: May 2011
27 Jun 2011
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The Centre for Internet and Society - Bulletin - July '11Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! In this issue we are pleased to present you the latest updates about our research, upcoming events, and news and media coverage. Subscribe to our newsletter and get monthly updates in your …
22 Jun 2011
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Statement of CIS, India, on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty at the 22nd SCCRThe twenty-second session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is being held in Geneva from June 15 to June 24, 2011. Nirmita Narasimhan and Pranesh Prakash are attending the conference. CIS delivered its statement, on …
22 Jun 2011
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Privacy and Security Can Co-existThe blanket surveillance the Centre seeks is not going to make India more secure, writes Sunil Abraham in this article published in Mail Today on June 21, 2011.
21 Jun 2011
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Policy Spotlight: 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility ActThe means and modes of communication have changed drastically in today’s age and the earlier bright lines, if they ever did exist have become increasingly blurred. The mainstreaming of social media has brought forth some new questions to …
20 Jun 2011
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CEPT to Set up Centre to Research Role of Internet in Social DevelopmentNishant Shah, Director (Research) at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore who will assist the centre, said: "No one predicted the outcome of the Arab Spring, because everyone was looking at the way Internet was being used …
17 Jun 2011
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Putting a Lid on Royalty Outflows — How the RBI can Help Reduce India's IP CostsWhile entrepreneurs, IP rights-holders and everyone else who has a stake continue to voice their opinions on the appropriate shape that the Indian IP regime ought to take, they tend to narrow their discussions to the language of substantive …
14 Jun 2011
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Copyright Enforcement and Privacy in IndiaCopyright can function contradictorily, as both the vehicle for the preservation of privacy as well as its abuse, writes Prashant Iyengar. The research examines the various ways in which privacy has been implicated in the shifting terrain …