The Centre for Internet and Society http://editors.cis-india.org These are the search results for the query, showing results 141 to 155. Call of Duty - No Russian http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/call-of-duty-no-russian <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/call-of-duty-no-russian'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/call-of-duty-no-russian</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-07-20T11:28:08Z Image Zeenab Aneez http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/zeenab-aneez <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/zeenab-aneez'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/zeenab-aneez</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-07-19T11:20:49Z Image How are Indian Newspapers Adapting to the Rise of Digital Media? http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/how-are-indian-newspapers-adapting-to-the-rise-of-digital-media <b>How are Indian newspapers adapting to the transition to digital news production, distribution, and consumption? How are they changing their journalistic work, their newsroom organisations, and their distribution strategies as digital media become more important? These are the questions we are pursuing in a joint pilot project with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Cross-posted from the <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/new-project-how-are-indian-newspapers-adapting-rise-digital-media">Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism</a></em>.</p> <hr /> <p>The Indian newspaper market is vibrant and diverse, and rising print circulation has so far shielded it from the digital disruption the industry has faced in many high income countries.</p> <p>But internet access and use is rapidly growing in India, driven especially, by cheap smartphones and mobile web access. And both attention and advertising is moving to digital media.</p> <p><em>How are Indian newspapers adapting to this change? How are they changing their journalistic work, their newsroom organisations, and their distribution strategies as digital media become more important?</em> These are the questions we are pursuing in a joint pilot project with the <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/">Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism</a>, University of Oxford.</p> <p>As part of the project we are interviewing editors and journalists working with newspapers in English, Hindi and Malayalam (one newspaper for each language) to better understand how different Indian newspapers are adapting to the rise of digital media.</p> <p>The study will result in a joint report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford that we hope will help Indian journalists and newspapers as they navigate their digital transition, their colleagues elsewhere in the world facing similar issues, and academics and media policy makers keen to understand how the development of digital media—and the ways in which other actors respond to these developments—are reshaping our information environment.</p> <p>We expect to publish the report in December 2016. The research team includes <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team#zeenab">Zeenab Aneez</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team#sumandro">Sumandro Chattapadhyay</a> from CIS, and RISJ Director of Research <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-rasmus-kleis-nielsen-director-research">Rasmus Kleis Nielsen</a>. <a href="http://jmi.ac.in/aboutjamia/centres/media-governance/faculty-members/Mr_Vibodh_Parthasarathi-1620">Vibodh Parthasarathi</a> from CCMG, Jamia Millia Islamia, will contribute to the study as an advisor.</p> <p>The project builds on a recently completed study of <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/publication/digital-journalism-start-ups-india">"Digital Journalism Start-Ups in India"</a> conducted by Arijit Sen and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/how-are-indian-newspapers-adapting-to-the-rise-of-digital-media'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/how-are-indian-newspapers-adapting-to-the-rise-of-digital-media</a> </p> No publisher sumandro Digital News Journalism Digital Knowledge Research Digital Media Researchers at Work 2016-07-06T14:28:13Z Blog Entry Studying Internet in India (2016): Selected Abstracts http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/studying-internet-in-india-2016-selected-abstracts <b>We received some great submissions and decided to select twelve abstracts, and not only ten as we planned earlier. Here are the abstracts.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3><strong>Abhimanyu Roy</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>The Curious Incidents on Matrimonial Websites in India</em></strong></p> <p>What is love? Philosophers have argued over it, biologists have researched it and in the age of the internet, innovators have disrupted it. In the west, dating websites such as OKCupid and eHarmony use all manner of algorithms to find its users their optimal match. In India’s conservative society though, dating is fast-tracked or skipped altogether in favor of marriage. This gives rise to a plethora of matrimonial sites such as Jeevansathi.com and Shaadi.com. This is where things get tricky.</p> <p>Matrimonial websites are different from other internet-enabled services. The gravity of the decision and the major impact that it has on the lives of users brings in pressure and a range of emotions that are not there on casual transactions such as an Uber ride or a foodpanda order. From outright fraud to online harassment newspaper back pages are filled with nightmare stories that begin on a matrimonial website. So much so, that in November of last year, the Indian government decided to set up a panel to regulate matrimonial sites in order to curb abuse. The essay will analyze India’s social stand on marriage, the role of matrimonial websites in modern day India, the problems this awkward amalgamation of the internet and love gives rise to and the steps authorities and matrimonial companies are taking to prevent these issues from occurring.</p> <h3><strong>Anita Gurumurthy, Nandini Chami, and Deepti Bharthur</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Internet as Sutradhar: The Aesthetics and Politics of Digital Age Counter-power</em></strong></p> <p>The open Internet is now a feeble, wannabe, digital age meme. The despots have grabbed it and capitalism has colonised it. But the network that engulfs its users is also a multi-headed organism; the predictables have to make peace with the unpredictables, both arising as they do with the unruly affordances of the network. The much celebrated public domain of open government data, usually meant for geeks and software gurus dedicated to the brave new 'codeful' future, has meant little for marginal subjects of India's development project. Data on government websites have been critiqued worldwide for often being too clunky to catalyse civic use or too obscure to pin down government efficacy. However, as an instrument of accountable governance, data in the public domain can help hold the line, fuelling vanguard action to foster democracy. Activists engaged in the right to food movement in India had reason to rejoice recently when the Supreme Court of India pulled up the central government for delay in release of funds under the MGNREGA scheme and violating the food security law. The series of actions leading to this victory enjoins deeper examination of the MGNREGS website, the design principles of the MIS that generates reports based on the data, and the truth claims that arose in the contingent context marking this struggle. <em>What were the ingredients of this happy irony; the deployment of the master's tools to disband the master's house? What aesthetics and principles made for a public data structure that allowed citizens to hack into state impunity? And what do such practices around the digital tell us about the performativity of the Internet - not as a grand, open, phenomenon for the network to access the multitude, but as the inane, local, Sutradhar (alchemist who produces the narrative), who allows truths to be told?</em></p> <h3><strong>Aishwarya Panicker</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>How Green is the Internet? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly</em></strong></p> <p>Groceries at your doorstep, data on your fingertips, an Uber at the tap of a button and information overload- human negotiations with the internet have definitely changed drastically in the past few decades. Research in the area, too, has transformed to not just the supply of internet to the masses, but has evolved to include innovative and revolutionary ideas in terms of internet infrastructure and governance. With over 3.2 Billion internet users in the world, and over 400 million of these from India, this is no surprise.</p> <p>However, while environmental sustainability remains at the forefront of many-a-government, there is little data / debate / analysis / examination of the environmental impact of the internet. This is true especially for India. In 2011, Joel Gombiner wrote an academic paper on the problem of the Internets carbon footprint, with a premise based on the lesser known fact that the ICT industry has been ‘responsible for two to four percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions’- an area that the Climate Group’s Smart 2020 report had focused on back in 2008 as well. Clearly this is a war on the environment that is yet to receive large-scale attention.</p> <p>How can we move beyond particular fascinations with the internet and engage holistically with the internet? By moving towards a dimension of internet infrastructure studies, that has large policy and implementation benefits. This paper, then, will seek to elucidate four central issue areas: first, as the third highest country in terms of internet use, what is the current environmental impact of internet usage in India? Second, are there any regulatory provisions that give prescriptive measures to data centres and providers? Third, do any global standards exist in this regard and finally, what future steps can be taken (by the government, civil society and individuals) to address this?</p> <h3><strong>Deepak Prince</strong></h3> <p>One of the most important effects of increasing internet connectivity coupled with universal electronic display screens, multimedia digital objects and supple graphic interfaces, is the proliferation of systems of enunciation. The business letter, typewriter, electric telegraph and radio, each in its own time, transformed how humans make sense in different forms of writing. Some of these survive to this day (forms of address from letters, the abbreviations and ‘cablese’ from telegraph operators etc). Now, we find new spaces of networked sociality emerging at rapid speeds, and everyday, we forget many others that are now outdated, no longer ‘supported’ or desired. How does one study this supple flow of discourse? Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of tracing collective assemblages of enunciation (the structuring structures of discourse) and Gilbert Simondon’s Law of relaxation (where technical elements created by complex ensembles are released into a path of technological evolution where they may or may not crystallize the formation of new ensembles) are two philosophical notions that seek to address this problem. The anthropologist Ilana Gershon suggests that new social media platforms like Facebook have a detrimental effect on sociality because they impose a neo-liberal notion of personhood on its users, through the interface. I take this as my point of departure, and based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a new media marketing agency, I attempt to draw out how ‘posting’ is modulated on facebook, about how subjectivity is configured within the complex matrix comprising a constant flow of posts, the economy of ‘liking’, algorithmic sorting and affects that do not cross the threshold of the screen.</p> <h3><strong>Maitrayee Mukerji</strong></h3> <p>By some latest estimates, around 35% of the population access the Internet in India using multiple devices. As Indians browse, search, transact and interact online, one can observe the increasing intertwining of the Internet in their everyday lives. But, how much do we know about the influence and impact of the Internet on Indian and in India? Advances in big data technologies provide an exciting opportunity for social science researchers to study the Internet. So, trends can be detected, opinions and sentiments can be calibrated, social networks can be discovered by using technologies for collecting and mining data on people online. But are social science researchers in India equipped enough to do a rigorous and detailed study of the India? Leaving aside debates on epistemology, ontology and methodology of researching Internet using big data analytics, the very first challenge is limited access to data. A cursory scan of the available research would indicate that the data – tweets, trends, comments, memes etc. have generally been collected manually. The bulk of the data is collected by private companies and available either at a price or by writing programs to access them through APIs. The latter allows only limited extraction of data and more often than not has a learning curve. Access to raw data, through institutional repositories or special permission, if available is only to select few. Legal and ethical issues arise if one considers scrapping websites for data. The essay is an attempt to articulate the challenges in accessing data while making attempts to study the Internet using big data analytics.</p> <h3><strong>Muhammed Afzal P</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Internet Memes as Effective Means of Social and Political Criticism</em></strong></p> <p>By looking at the user-generated memes posted from the Malayalam Facebook pages “Troll Malayalam” and “International Chalu Union”, this essay argues that political memes function as effective means of social and political criticism in Kerala. In a society where conversations often tend to feature examples from popular films, memes from these pages use images from popular culture including television to respond to current affairs as well as contemporary social and political questions. Often described mistakenly as 'trolls' by the practitioners themselves, a major portion of the memes have a progressive content in terms of discussing questions related to religion, sexuality, nationalism, etc. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that many Malayalis see these memes as instant 'news analysis' of current affairs. The argument of this essay will be advanced through an analysis of the memes that were produced in relation to contemporary socio-political and cultural questions such as beef ban, the rise of right-wing politics in Kerala, the question of religious conservatism, etc. Through this the essay seeks to investigate how internet memes creatively contribute to social movements and also to see how critical questions in cultural criticism are translated into "the popular.'</p> <h3><strong>Dr. Ravikant Kisana</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Archetyping the 'Launda' Humor on the Desi Internet</em></strong></p> <p>Humor on the internet has proven a massive social unifying force for young, upper class Indian millennials. The humor is not just consumed via Western (mainly US) humor collectives such as 9GAG, Cracked, etc - the proliferation of 'Indian' humor pages on the Facebook and the countless YouTube comedy channels is testament to the localisation of this content. However, the humor which is seen as a unifying force is largely 'launda' aka. 'heteronormative-upper caste-male' in its sensibilities. Comedy collectives like TVF, with its popular channel 'Q-tiyapa' had to create a separate handle 'Girliyapa' to cater to feminist themes. The idea is that humor by default is male, and 'feminist humor' needs a separate space.</p> <p>This essay seeks to study the 'launda'-cultural attributes of online Indian humor. It will seek to document and wean archetypes of comedy tropes which fit this mode. The area of the documentation will be YouTube comedy channels and Facebook humor pages—however, the same can be extended to Twitter handles and the suchlike.</p> <h3><strong>Siddharth Rao and Kiran Kumar</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Chota Recharge and the Chota Internet</em></strong></p> <p>Uniform ​and affordable Internet is emerging as one of the fundamental civil rights in developing countries. However in India, the connectivity is far from uniform across the regions, where the disparity is evident in the infrastructure, the cost of access and telecommunication services to provide Internet facilities among different economic classes. In spite of having a large mobile user base, the mobile Internet are still remarkably slower in some of the developing countries. Especially in India, it falls below 50% even in comparison with the performance of its developing counterparts!</p> <p>This essay presents a study of connectivity and performance trends based on an exploratory analysis of mobile Internet measurement data from India. In order to assess the state of mobile networks and its readiness in adopting the different mobile standards (2G, 3G, and 4G) for commercial use, we discuss the spread, penetration, interoperability and the congestion trends.</p> <p>Based on our analysis, we argue that the network operators have taken negligible measures to scale the mobile Internet. Affordable Internet is definitely for everyone. But, the affordability of the Internet in terms of cost does not necessarily imply the rightful access to Internet services. Chota recharge is possibly leading us to chota (shrunken) Internet!</p> <h3><strong>Smarika Kumar</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Why Mythologies are Crucial to Understand Governance on the Internet: The Case of Online Maps</em></strong></p> <p>How does one study internet in India? This essay proposes to provide one possible answer to this question through its central argument that internet, like other technologies, is very much a part of a “mythological” or “fictional” narrative of the history of this country, and without an understanding of these mythologies, the development of internet governance in the country cannot be hoped to be understood. This central argument is traced in the essay through the debates and discussions on law and policymaking around online maps. The essay, in its first part, explores what a “mythological” account of the history of India might mean, and what role technological developments play in it. It does so by tracing the narrative of mapmaking in medieval India and its deep ties with magic, secrecy and mythical stories. It then surveys how modern mapping surveys in the colonial period interacted with the idea of the “native”, and argues that such interactions created a dichotomy between “native” sciences, folklore on the one hand, and colonial achievements, national security on the other. It argues that it is this latter strand of a certain “national security” vision of technology which found dominant voice in the regulation of maps in India post-independence, yet the sense of the unknown, mystical, or “mythological” in such technological deployment as mapmaking requires, survived. The essay finally uses such evidence to trace how even in online interactions, and internet governance design in India- this aspect of the mystical and the fear of it often sustains, driven by a (repressed?) memory of mythology, through the use of analogies. And it is within this twilight zone, within this frontier between “mythology” and nation-building, that a governance design for online maps is being presently constructed in India. The essay then argues that it becomes crucial to understand such mythologies around technology generally and internet specifically and the manner they interact with law and policymaking in order to really get a sense of a 21st century India’s experience of the internet.</p> <h3><strong>Sujeet George</strong></h3> <p><strong><em>Understanding Reddit: The Indian Context</em></strong></p> <p>Even as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter seek to carve a niche within the Indian social media landscape, the presence and impact of news aggregator website reddit seems relatively unnoticed. Known for its excessive self­-referentiality and inability to emerge from a restricted pool of informational flow, reddit nevertheless has come to be a major focal point of convergence of news and public opinion, especially in the United States. The web interface, which allows for users with overlapping interests to converge under a common platform namely the “subreddit,” allows the possibility of understanding questions of user taste and the directions in which information and user attention flow.</p> <p>This paper seeks to offer 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.</p> <h3><strong>Supratim Pal</strong></h3> <p>India, being a multilingual country, owes a lot to the Internet for adding words to the vocabulary of everyday use in different languages.</p> <p>This paper would critically examine how Net words like "selfie", "wall", "profile" and others have changed the way Indians write or talk. For example, a word like "nijaswi" was not there in Bengali language five years back but is used across several platforms as a translation of "selfie".</p> <p>On one hand, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has helped us to express in short messages and on the other, we all have picked up use of punctuation marks like colon or a semicolon to express our emotion - which have got another name, "emoticons".</p> <p>The paper would be more practical in approach than theoretical. For example, it would feature chat (another example of CMC) conversations 10 years ago when hardly an emoticon was used, and that of today's when we cannot think of a chat without a "smiley" or a "sticker". Even the linguist, David Crystal, probably could not have thought that in 15 years, the language (not just lingua franca, English) would change worldwide since he first tried to theorize Internet language in 2001.</p> <p>Today, a linguist need not to have a proper publication to introduce a word in any language but Netizens can re-invent words like "troll" or "roast" to criticize one or "superlike" to celebrate an achievement or even "unfriend" someone to just relax.</p> <h3><strong>Surfatial</strong></h3> <p>Surfatial is a trans-local collective that operates through the internet. We use conversations to aid learning outside established structures. We are concerned with enabling disinhibition through the internet, for expressing what may not be feasible in physical reality. What role does partial or complete anonymity play in this process of seeking “safe” zones of expression? Fake profiles on social media offer such zones, while perhaps also operating to propagate, mislead or troll.</p> <p>Our essay would argue:</p> <ol><li>That there is a desire to participate in speculative fora in the Indian cultural context and the internet has created space for philosophical questioning among contemporary Indian participants which can develop further, despite common assertions that online spaces are largely uncivil and abusive.</li> <li>That anonymous and pseudonymous content production offers a method for exploring and expressing with a certain degree of freedom.</li> <li>Spam-like methods used in sub-cultural outreach efforts on social media have proved effective in puncturing filter bubbles.</li></ol> <p>Our essay would be drawn from experiments via Surfatial’s online engagement platforms (Surfatial’s Study groups and post_writer project) to examine:</p> <ol><li>Extent of participation.</li> <li>Disinhibition facilitation and dialoguing.</li> <li>Reach.</li> <li>Emergence and development of ideas.</li> <li>Creating an archive of internet activity and re-processing it into new forms of presentation.</li></ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/studying-internet-in-india-2016-selected-abstracts'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/studying-internet-in-india-2016-selected-abstracts</a> </p> No publisher sumandro Researchers at Work Featured Internet Studies RAW Blog 2016-07-06T06:24:42Z Blog Entry Data for Governance, Governance of Data, and Data Anxieties http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties <b>The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) organised a panel discussion on 'The Data Explosion – How the Internet of Things will Affect Media Freedom and Communication Systems?' at Deutsche Welle's Global Media Forum 2016, held in Bonn, Germany during June 13-15, 2016. Sumandro Chattapadhyay was invited as one of the panelists.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Introduction to the Panel</h2> <p>The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) will result in a vast network of Internet-connected devices that generate enormous volumes of data about human behavior and interactions. This data explosion will potentially reshape how media organizations both collect and report news, while at the same time fundamentally shifting how communications networks are organized worldwide. Yet currently most of the discussion about the IoT has focused on its spread in developed countries via the popularization of Internet-connected consumer devices.</p> <p>In this panel we will discuss how the IoT may develop differently in the Global South and how it could present either a threat to open access to data and information, or an opportunity to improve media systems worldwide. We will also examine the impact of the data explosion in developing countries and what mechanisms need to be created in order to ensure the huge new mountain of data is used and governed responsibly.</p> <p>The discussants were Carlos Affonso Souza (Director, <a href="http://itsrio.org/en/">Institute for Technology and Society</a> of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Lorena Jaume-Palasi (Director for Communications, <a href="http://www.eurodig.org/">European Dialogue on Internet Governance, or EuroDIG</a>, Switzerland), and Sumandro Chattapadhyay (Research Director, the Centre for Internet and Society, India); and the conversation was led by Mark Nelson (Senior Director, <a href="http://www.cima.ned.org/">Center for International Media Assistance, or CIMA</a>, USA).</p> <p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/the-data-explosion-how-the-internet-of-things-will-affect-media-freedom-and-communication-systems/a-19116102">Deutsche Welle</a></em>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Audio Recording</h2> <iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/269045180&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" height="166" width="100%"></iframe> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Things/Writings I have Mentioned</h2> <ul> <li><a href="http://aqicn.org/map/world/">Air Pollution in World: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://openenvironment.indiaopendata.com/#/airowl/">India Open Data Association - AirOwl</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://openenvironment.indiaopendata.com/#/dashboard/">India Open Data Association - Open Environment Data Project</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://scroll.in/article/805909/in-rajasthan-there-is-unrest-at-the-ration-shop-because-of-error-ridden-aadhaar">Anumeha Yadav - 'In Rajasthan, there is ‘unrest at the ration shop’ because of error-ridden Aadhaar'</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://thewire.in/2016/05/16/before-geospatial-bill-a-long-history-of-killing-the-map-in-order-to-protect-the-territory-36453/">Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Adya Garg - 'Before Geospatial Bill: A Long History of Killing the Map in Order to Protect the Territory'</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://savethemap.in/">Save the Map</a>.</li></ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties</a> </p> No publisher sumandro Digital News Geospatial Information Regulation Bill UID Data Systems Digital Knowledge Research Aadhaar Researchers at Work 2016-07-03T05:59:48Z Blog Entry Files http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T17:31:39Z Folder Files http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T17:29:44Z Folder Files http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T17:26:24Z Folder Files http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T17:26:06Z Folder Files http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T17:24:35Z Folder Kiran A B, Elonnai Hickok, and Vanya Rakesh - Policies and Standards across Five International Smart Cities http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/SmartCitiesPoliciesStandards-20160608 <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/SmartCitiesPoliciesStandards-20160608'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/SmartCitiesPoliciesStandards-20160608</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T16:36:02Z File Files http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files <b></b> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files</a> </p> No publisher sumandro 2016-06-10T16:34:02Z Folder Comments on the RBI's Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/comments-on-the-rbi-consultation-paper-on-peer-to-peer-lending <b>The Reserve Bank of India published a Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending on April 28, 2016, and invited comments from the public. CIS submitted the following response, authored by Elonnai Hickok, Pavishka Mittal, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Vidushi Marda, and Vipul Kharbanda.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>1. Preliminary</h2> <p><strong>1.1.</strong> This submission presents comments and recommendations by the Centre for Internet and Society (<strong>“CIS”</strong>) on the Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending (<strong>“the consultation paper”</strong>) by the Reserve Bank of India (<strong>“RBI”</strong>) <strong>[1]</strong>.</p> <h2>2. The Centre for Internet and Society</h2> <p><strong>2.1.</strong> The Centre for Internet and Society, CIS <strong>[2]</strong>, is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social processes and structures through the internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa.</p> <p><strong>2.2.</strong> This submission is consistent with CIS’ commitment to safeguarding general public interest, and the interests and rights of various stakeholders involved. The comments in this submission aim to further the concerns of citizens’ and users’ rights in the context of products, services, and transactions facilitated by digital media technologies, the , the principle that regulation should be defined around functions of the acts concerned, and not the technologies of delivery. Our comments are limited to the clauses that most directly have an impact on these concerns.</p> <h2>3. Response</h2> <h3>3.1. Whether there is a felt need for regulating peer to peer lending platforms?</h3> <p><strong>3.1.1.</strong> Peer to peer (<strong>“P2P”</strong>) lenders are platforms serving as marketplaces for the lenders and the borrowers of funds to connect. Their very business model does not render them as a provider of finance, as they aspire to function as pure intermediaries to enable lending and borrowing.</p> <p><strong>3.1.2.</strong> The Section 45I.(f)(iii) of the RBI Act, 1935 <strong>[3]</strong>, provides RBI the authority to classify any financial institution as a non-banking financial company (<strong>“NBFC”</strong>) “with the previous approval of the Central Government and by notification in the Official Gazette.” Since the P2P lending platforms do not provide any finance themselves, undertake acquisition of financial instruments, deliver financial and/or insurance services, or collect financial resources directly, the only ground for classifying such companies as “financial institutions” <strong>[4]</strong> appears to be their involvement in “managing, conducting or supervising, as foreman, agent or in any other capacity, of chits or kuries as defined in any law which is for the time being in force in any State, or any business, which is similar thereto” <strong>[5]</strong>. P2P lending platforms can be considered to be brokers and thus there are other aspects that merit scrutiny such as antitrust issues, obligations of either party, company activities and the transactional system involved, as we will discuss in this document.</p> <p><strong>3.1.3.</strong> The consultation paper itself states that the balance sheet of the platform cannot indicate any borrowing / lending activity, which entails that the platform cannot itself provide finance or receive any funds for the provision of loans to others. Platforms are not allowed to determine the interest rates as they are not a party to the transaction. Neither would they be liable in cases of default by the borrower. These rules, standard for P2P platforms in other jurisdictions as well, confirm the assumption that the platform itself is not providing finance and thus, cannot be entrusted with any liability, obligation from the transaction.</p> <p><strong>3.1.4.</strong> Further, with RBI raising the threshold asset size for an NBFC to be considered systemically important (NBFC-ND-SI) from Rs. 100 Crores to Rs. 500 Crores <strong>[6]</strong>, and Economic Times reporting that one of the biggest Indian P2P lending platform’s enterprise valuation (which can be taken as indicative of its net assets) is Rs 50 Crores <strong>[7]</strong>, we may assume that most P2P lending platforms will have net assets worth less than 500 crore, at least in the near future; although there is a possibility for exponential growth with some companies.</p> <p><strong>3.1.5.</strong> Given the limited sphere of operation, restricted ability (by design) of these platforms to shape interest rates and other features of financial instruments, and their generally non-systemically-important nature, we would submit that the regulation of such P2P lending platforms are kept to an absolute minimum, so that their economic viability is not undermined, and at the same time the key risks associated with their operations are addressed by RBI.</p> <h3>3.2. Is the assessment of P2P lending and risks associated with it adequate?</h3> <p><strong>3.2.1.</strong> CIS observes that the following are the key risks involved with the operations of the P2P lending platforms, and these are being respectively addressed by, or can be addressed by RBI in the following manners.</p> <ol type="A"><li><strong>Insufficient information about the conditions of lending, leading to defrauding of the borrower:</strong> The borrower may not receive appropriate information about the terms of the loan, and/or the P2P lending platform may not act in a “fair” manner (say, in case of collusion between the P2P lending platform and the lender, or the lending platform and the borrower), which may lead to defrauding and/or economic loss of either party. By classifying P2P lending platforms as NBFCs, RBI will ensure that these companies follow the Guidelines on Fair Practices Code for NBFCs <strong>[8]</strong>, which extensively addresses concerns related to this type of risks.<br /><br /></li> <li><strong>Insufficient information about the borrower, or her/his ability to repay the loan, may lead to non-repayment and economic loss of the lender:</strong> If the P2P lending platform allows the lender to offer loans to borrowers without acquiring and/or providing sufficient information to the lender about the borrower’s credit history and/or ability to repay the loan, modes of formulating security for loans, this may heighten the risks of non-repayment of loans. By classifying P2P lending platforms as NBFCs, RBI will ensure that these companies follow the Master Circular – 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) Guidelines – Anti Money Laundering Standards (AML) - Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 - Obligations of NBFCs <strong>[9]</strong>, which extensively addresses concerns related to this type of risks.<br /><br /></li> <li><strong>Credit-related information of the lenders and the borrowers collected by P2P lending platforms may not be made available to other financial institutions and that will lead asymmetry in credit information available across various actors in the sector:</strong> Credit information, related to both lending and borrowing practices of entities using the platform concerned, is a key asset of the P2P lending platforms. Lack of sharing of such information with Credit Information Companies, for economic reasons or otherwise, may however, lead to information asymmetry within the financial sector, which will structurally weaken the entire sector (with pieces of credit information being distributed across actors and not being shared internally). By classifying P2P lending platforms as NBFCs, RBI will ensure that these companies follow the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 <strong>[10]</strong>, which extensively addresses concerns related to this type of risks.<br /><br /></li> <li><strong>P2P lending platforms diversifying their financial operations without informing RBI and hence without appropriate regulatory control:</strong> It is possible that P2P lending platforms may decide to diversify their activities. There have been similar examples in other related sectors, say e-commerce marketplaces, that have started their own product re/selling companies that use the same online marketplace concerned. By classifying P2P lending platforms as NBFCs, RBI will ensure that these companies provide RBI with detailed and regular reports of their economic activities and investments, which is expected to address concerns related to this type of risks.</li></ol> <h3>3.3. Are there any other risks which ought to be addressed?</h3> <p><strong>3.3.1.</strong> CIS observes that as part of the usual transaction related activities of the P2P lending platforms, the companies will come into possession of what has been defined as “sensitive personal data or information” by the Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011 <strong>[11]</strong>. The concerns related to this type of risk is directly addressed by the Rules concerned, and may not require additional attention from the RBI.</p> <p><strong>3.3.2.</strong> CIS observes that as borrowers and lenders start using specific P2P lending platforms, the data regarding their credit histories and/or “financial reputation” will be owned by these companies. While such information might be shared internally within the financial sector through the Credit Information Companies, the borrowers and lenders themselves may not get direct access to such data. Hence, the borrowers and lenders will not be able to move easily and smoothly to a new P2P lending platform and make use of their existing credit information and/or “financial reputation” when accessing services offered via the new P2P lending platform. In other words, the borrowers and lenders may face a <em>service provider lock-in</em>, and inability to move between P2P lending platforms easily, without explicit access to their own credit history/reputation, and will not have the ability to migrate such information from one P2P lending platform to another (or to any other agency, for that matter). CIS submits that RBI must provide a mechanism to allow users to migrate between platforms as it has not been discussed in the consultation paper.</p> <h3>3.4. Is the proposed approach to regulating these platforms adequate?</h3> <p><strong>3.4.1.</strong> CIS observes that while classification of P2P lending platforms will appropriately address key risks associated with their operations (as listed in 3.2.1. A-D), it will not address a major risk emerging out of their operations that is unique to the technological basis of the business concerned (as mentioned in 3.3.2.), and further, it will impose substantial financial and management obligations that have a very high probability of undermining the economic viability of this emerging and niche sector of intermediated direct lending and borrowing.</p> <p><strong>3.4.2.</strong> CIS observes that these financial and management obligations may involve the following topics among others discussed: 1) minimum net worth requirement for registration, 2) minimum investments required to be made government securities, 3) transferring of minimum percentage of net profits to RBI, 4) guidelines regarding corporate governance <strong>[12]</strong>, etc.</p> <p><strong>3.4.3.</strong> Given this, CIS submits that instead of classifying P2P lending platforms as “Misc NBFCs,” a new sub-classification is created under the category of NBFC for such platforms, that directly addresses the key risks associated with businesses of P2P lending platforms, and protects lenders as well as borrowers while enhancing transparency in operations. This new sub-classification of P2P lending companies should also be divided into systemically-important and non-systemically-important like other NBFCs, and requirements regarding financial operations and corporate management should only be enforced for the former category of P2P lending companies.</p> <h3>3.5. Any other relevant issues pertaining to P2P lending</h3> <p>Beyond the issues already discussed above, CIS seek clarity from the RBI around the following aspects:</p> <ol><li><strong>Transactional system pertaining to P2P lending:</strong> <ol type="a"> <li>What are the requirements and prerequisites for mandating the collection of user identity?</li> <li>Establishing a maximum sum that can be transferred per transaction.</li></ol> </li> <li><strong>Company activities:</strong> <ol type="a"><li>Fees that can be charged by platforms.</li> <li>How data security can be best addressed.</li> <li>How the financial transactions are brokered.</li> <li>Modes of redressal.</li> <li>Restitution to users if something goes amiss in the transaction.</li> <li>Insurance that the company has to buy or capital on hand to support.</li></ol> </li></ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Endnotes</h2> <p><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a href="https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=3164">https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=3164</a>.</p> <p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org/</a>.</p> <p><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a href="https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/RBIA1934170510.pdf">https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/RBIA1934170510.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[4]</strong> See Section 45I.(c) of RBI Act, 1923, last amended on January 07, 2013.</p> <p><strong>[5]</strong> See Section 45I.(c)(v) of RBI Act, 1923, last amended on January 07, 2013.</p> <p><strong>[6]</strong> See: <a href="https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/pdfs/PNNBFC200315.pdf">https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/pdfs/PNNBFC200315.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[7]</strong> See: <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/faircent-com-raises-pre-series-a-funding-of-250k/articleshow/47630279.cms">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/faircent-com-raises-pre-series-a-funding-of-250k/articleshow/47630279.cms</a>.</p> <p><strong>[8]</strong> See: <a href="https://rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=7866">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=7866</a>.</p> <p><strong>[9]</strong> See: <a href="https://rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewMasCirculardetails.aspx?id=8168">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewMasCirculardetails.aspx?id=8168</a>.</p> <p><strong>[10]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/acts/credit-information-companies-act.aspx">http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/acts/credit-information-companies-act.aspx</a>.</p> <p><strong>[11]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[12]</strong> See: <a href="https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_NBFCNotificationView.aspx?Id=3706">https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_NBFCNotificationView.aspx?Id=3706</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/comments-on-the-rbi-consultation-paper-on-peer-to-peer-lending'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/comments-on-the-rbi-consultation-paper-on-peer-to-peer-lending</a> </p> No publisher sumandro Privacy Reserve Bank of India Data Protection Research Network Economies P2P Lending Researchers at Work 2016-06-01T20:21:13Z Blog Entry Comments on the National Geospatial Policy (Draft, V.1.0), 2016 http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-national-geospatial-policy-draft-v-1-0-2016 <b>The Department of Science and Technology published the first public draft of the National Geospatial Policy (v.1.0) on May 05, 2016, and invited comments from the public. CIS submitted the following comments in response. The comments were authored by Adya Garg, Anubha Sinha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>1. Preliminary</h2> <p><strong>1.1.</strong> This submission presents comments and recommendations by the Centre for Internet and Society (<strong>"CIS"</strong>) on the proposed draft of the National Geospatial Policy 2016 (<strong>"the draft Policy / the draft NGP"</strong>) <strong>[1]</strong>. This submission is based on Version 1.0 of the draft Policy released by the Department of Science and Technology (<strong>"DST"</strong>) on May 5, 2016.</p> <p><strong>1.2.</strong> CIS commends the DST under the aegis of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for its efforts at seeking inputs from various stakeholders to draft a National Geospatial Policy. CIS is thankful for this opportunity to provide a clause-by-clause submission.</p> <h2>2. The Centre for Internet and Society</h2> <p><strong>2.1.</strong> The Centre for Internet and Society, CIS, <strong>[2]</strong> is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social processes and structures through the internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa.</p> <p><strong>2.2.</strong> This submission is consistent with CIS’ commitment to safeguarding general public interest, and the interests and rights of various stakeholders involved. The comments in this submission aim to further the principle of citizens’ right to information, instituting openness-by-default in governmental activities, and the various kinds of public goods that can emerge from greater availability of open (geospatial) data created by both public and private agencies and crucially, by the citizens. The submission is limited to those clauses that most directly have an impact on these principles.</p> <h2>3. Comments and Recommendations</h2> <p><em>This section presents comments and recommendations directed at the draft policy as a whole, and in certain places, directed at specific clauses of the draft policy.</em></p> <p><strong>3.1.</strong> The draft policy should make references to five policies applicable to geospatial data, products, services, and solutions</p> <p><strong>3.1.1.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy lists the key policies related to geospatial information and sharing of government data, namely the National Map Policy 2005, the Civil Aviation Requirement 2012, the Remote Sensing Data Policy 2011 and 2012, and the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy 2012 (“NDSAP”).</p> <p><strong>3.1.2.</strong> CIS submits that apart from the policies mentioned above, Geospatial Data,Products, Services and Solutions (“GDPSS”) are also intricately linked to concepts of “open standards,” “open source software,” “open API,” “right to information,” and prohibited places” These concepts are governed by specific acts and policies, and are applicable to geospatial data, as follows:</p> <ul><li>Adoption of Open Standards: CIS observes that the draft policy captures the importance of open standards in the section 1.4 of the draft policy. It states that “A very high resolution and highly accurate framework to function as a national geospatial standard for all geo-referencing activity through periodically updated National Geospatial Frame [NGF] and National Image Frame [NIF] by ensuring open standards based seamless interoperable geospatial data.”<br /><br />CIS submits that the Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance <strong>[3]</strong> which establishes the Guidelines for usage of open standards to ensure seamless interoperability, and the Implementation Guidelines of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012 <strong>[4]</strong> listing two key open standards for geospatial data - KML and GML, should be mentioned in the draft policy.<br /><br />CIS recommends that the final version of the NGP embrace open standards as a key principle of all software projects and infrastructures within the purview of the Policy. This is essential for easier sharing and reuse of open (geospatial) data.<br /><br /></li> <li>Adoption of Open Source Software: The Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India states that the “Government of India shall endeavour to adopt Open Source Software in all e-Governance systems implemented by various Government organisations, as a preferred option in comparison to Closed Source Software” <strong>[5]</strong>. As the draft policy proposed to guide the development of GDPSS being developed and implemented both by the Government of India and by other agencies (academic, commercial, and otherwise), it must include an explicit reference and embracing of this mandate for adoption of Open Source Software, for reasons of reducing expenses, avoiding vendor lock-ins, re-usability of software components, enabling public accountability, and greater security of software systems.<br /><br /></li> <li>Implementation of Open APIs: To actualise the stated principle to “[e]nable promotion, adoption and implementation of emerging / state of the art technologies” as well as to ensure the “[a]vailability of all geospatial data collected through public funded mechanism to all users,” CIS suggests that final version of the NGP must refer to and operationalise the Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Government of India <strong>[6]</strong>. This will ensure that the openly available geospatial data is available to the public, as well as to all the government agencies, in a structured digital format that is easy to consume and use on one hand, and is available for various forms of value addition and innovation on the other.<br /><br /></li> <li>Right to Information Act 2005: The framework for reactive disclosure of information and data collected and held by the Government of India, as well as the basis for proactive disclosure of the same, is enshrined in the Right to Information Act 2005 <strong>[7]</strong>. The draft NGP, CIS proposes, should refer to this Act, and ensure that whenever an Indian citizen request for such government data and/or information that is of geospatial in nature, and the requested data and/or information is both shareable and non-sensitive, the citizen must be provided with the geospatial data and/or information in an open standard and under open license, as applicable.<br /><br /></li> <li>Refer to Official Secrets Act, 1923: The Official Secrets Act defines “Prohibited Places” and prohibits all activities involving “sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly; or indirectly, useful to an enemy or (c) obtains collects, records or publishes or communicates to any other person any secret official code or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or other document or information which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy” <strong>[8]</strong>. This provides the fundamental legal basis for regulation, expunging, and stopping circulation of geospatial data containing information about Vulnerable Points and Vulnerable Areas. CIS submits that this Act should be referred to in this context of ensuring non-publication of sensitive geospatial data (that is geospatial data related to Prohibited Places).<br /><br /></li></ul> <h3>3.2. Grant adequate permissions to the public to re-use geospatial data</h3> <p><strong>3.2.1.</strong> CIS observes that section 1.4 of the draft policy states that, “Geospatial data of any resolution being disseminated through agencies and service providers, both internationally and nationally be treated as unclassified and made available and accessible by Indian Mapping and imaging agencies.”</p> <p><strong>3.2.2.</strong> CIS recommends the abovementioned section be broadened to include not only availability and accessibility of geospatial data, but also its re-use. Further, such accessibility, availability and re-use should not be only limited to public and private entities such as Indian mapping and imaging agencies, but as well as to Indian people in general.</p> <p><strong>3.2.3.</strong> CIS further submits that section 1.4 be revised as “[g]eospatial data of any resolution being disseminated through agencies and service providers, both internationally and nationally be treated as unclassified and made available, accessible, and reusable by Indian mapping and imaging agencies in particular, and by the people of India in general.”</p> <h3>3.3. Ensure Open Access to shareable and non-sensitive geospatial data</h3> <p><strong>3.3.1.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy directs all “geospatial data generating agencies” to classify their data into “open access,” “registered access,” and “restricted access.” The document, however, neither defines “geospatial data generating agencies”, nor does it clarify what conditions the data must satisfy to be classified as one of the three types. Without a listing of such conditions (at least necessary, and not sufficient, conditions), nothing restricts the agencies from classifying all generated geospatial data as “restricted.”</p> <p><strong>3.3.2.</strong> Further, CIS observes that the draft policy aims to provide geospatial data acquired through public funded mechanism to be made available to the public at free of cost. It is submitted that the policy should not only be made available for free of cost, but it should also be made available in open standard format under an open license.</p> <p><strong>3.3.3.</strong> As defined in the section 1.3, the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (“NDSAP”) applies to “all shareable non-sensitive data available either in digital or analog forms but generated using public funds” <strong>[9]</strong>. Clearly all shareable <strong>[10]</strong> and non-sensitive <strong>[11]</strong> geospatial data, either in digital or analog forms, and generated using public funds should be proactively disclosed by the government agency concerns in accordance to the NDSAP. CIS recommends that the draft policy makes an explicit reference to NDSAP when discussing the topic of Open Access geospatial data, and re-iterates the mandate of proactive publication of shareable and non-sensitive government data.</p> <p><strong>3.3.4.</strong> Further, the process for defining an open government data license to be applied to all open government data sets being published under the NDSAP, and through the Open Government Data Platform India, is in progress. Given this, it is absolutely crucial important that the draft NGP takes this into consideration, and mandates that Open Access geospatial data must be published using the open government data license to be defined by the Implementation Guidelines of the NDSAP, when applicable.</p> <h3>3.4. Lack of clarity regarding the clearances and permits required for data acquisition and dissemination, and the procedures thereof</h3> <p><strong>3.4.1.</strong> Section 1.8 of the draft policy states that “[a]ll clearances / permits, as necessary, for data acquisition and dissemination be through a single window, online portal. These clearances be provided within a time span of 30 days of filing the online request.” CIS observes that the draft policy does not specify the kind of clearances/permits needed before a public or private entity, or an individual, can undertake acquisition and dissemination of geospatial data. It neither clarifies under what circumstances and conditions application for such clearance / permits would be required for users.</p> <p><strong>3.4.2.</strong> Since the recently published draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill (“GIRB”) 2016, directly addresses this topic of clearance / permit required to acquire and share geospatial information <strong>[12]</strong>, it will be effective if the NGP can refer to this Bill and provide an overall governance framework for the same. Further, CIS noted that the time span of 30 days mentioned in the draft policy is inconsistent with the time period specified in the GIRB (which is 90 days).</p> <p><strong>3.4.3.</strong> CIS recommends that the draft policy also be amended suitably to include the circumstances and conditions under which required permissions shall be issued. Accordingly, the draft policy should reference the standardised and time bound security vetting process envisaged in the GIRB.</p> <h3>3.5. Clarification Needed regarding “Cybersecurity is to be ensured through … use of Digital Watermarks for authentication of GDPSS”</h3> <p><strong>3.5.1.</strong> CIS submits that the draft policy does not elaborate on the use of “Digital Watermarks” to ensure cybersecurity, neither it is explained who will authenticate GDPSS, under what conditions, and for what reasons. CIS recommends that the draft policy be amended suitably to specify the same.</p> <h3>3.6. Remove Classification of Non-Public (at Present) Satellite / Aerial Imagery as Restricted by Default</h3> <p><strong>3.6.1.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy recommends that “[s]atellite/aerial images of resolution other than those currently made available on websites” should all be “classified for restricted access.”</p> <p><strong>3.6.2.</strong> CIS submits that blanket categorisation of all satellite / aerial imagery of resolution that is not currently available through a public website (for whatever reason it might be) as “restricted access” should be re-evaluated, given the immense importance of such imagery to mapping agencies and industry participants using GDPSS.</p> <p><strong>3.6.3.</strong> CIS recommends that the section be revised to define clear principles for defining satellite /aerial imagery as “open,” “registered,” and “restricted.”</p> <h3>3.7. Governance of User-contributed Geospatial Data</h3> <p><strong>3.7.1.</strong> A key resource and feature of contemporary geospatial industry in particular, and the digital economy in general, is the proliferation of user-contributed and user-generated geospatial data and information. CIS observes that this crucial topic, as well as the unique governance concerns that it raises, has not been addressed in the draft policy at all. CIS requests the DST to consider this matter with due attention to the specific nature and values of such user-contributed and user-generated in the digital economy on one hand, and in emergency contexts such as natural disasters on the other, and prepare a framework for its appropriate governance as part of the NGP itself.</p> <h3>3.8. Protect Geospatial Privacy of Citizens by Defining Sensitive Personal Geospatial Data and Information</h3> <p><strong>3.8.1.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy lacks rules for collection, use, storage, and distribution of geospatial data from an individual’s privacy standpoint. Further, neither does the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 address these concerns <strong>[13]</strong>. Section 3 of the Rules define “Sensitive personal data or information”, which do not include geospatial information.</p> <p><strong>3.8.2.</strong> The argument of violation of constitutional right to privacy was pleaded in a case against Google and other private mapping agencies in 2008 <strong>[14]</strong>. In the judgment, Madras HIgh Court noted that there existed no legislation/guidelines to prohibit mapping programmes from conducting their activities indiscriminately, and the lack of one thereof prevented the Court from injuncting such activities. Thus, there exists a judicial ambiguity on the aspect of collection and use of geospatial data.</p> <p><strong>3.8.3.</strong> CIS submits that the draft policy may be suitably amended to ensure that collection, processing and dissemination of geospatial information is in consonance with the constitutionally protection of an individual’s privacy.</p> <h3>3.9. Clarification Needed regarding “Mechanisms to be put in place to evaluate / audit GDPSS creation, consumption and distribution”</h3> <p><strong>3.9.1.</strong> The draft policy suggests that “mechanisms to be put in place to evaluate/audit GDPSS creation, consumption and distribution” without clarifying the scope, purpose, and purview of this mechanism, and most crucially it does not describe what exactly will be evaluated / audited. CIS submits that this section is revised and expanded.</p> <p><strong>3.9.2.</strong> The same section also identifies the need for a “framework to be put in place to assess the data collection versus its utilization towards government program and socio-economic development.” CIS observes that this is a very promising and much welcome gesture by the DST, but this section must be developed as a separate and detailed mandate. At the least, the NGP may suggest that a more detailed guideline document regarding this framework will be developed in near future.</p> <h3>3.10. Data Taxation and Geospatial Cess</h3> <p><strong>3.10.1.</strong> The draft policy refers to imposition of “data taxation (geospatial cess)” and use of “licensing” of geospatial data to raise money for geospatial activities of the Government of India. CIS is of the opinion will severely affect the geospatial industry in the country in particular, and will raise the monetary barrier to public use of geospatial data and maps in general; and hence must be strictly avoided.</p> <h3>3.11. Data Dissemination Cell</h3> <p><strong>3.11.1.</strong> CIS submits that instead of development of a separate Data Dissemination Cell within all government agencies to operationalise the mandate of the NGP, the Chief Data Officers within all government agencies identified under the implementation process of the NDSAP be given this complementary responsibility. This would ensure effective channelisation of human and financial resources to take forward the joint mandate of NGP and NDSAP towards greater public availability and use of (shareable and non-sensitive) government data.</p> <h3>3.12. Special Infrastructure for Governance, Management, and Publication of Real-time Geospatial Data</h3> <p><strong>3.12.1.</strong> A key term that the draft policy does not talk about is “big data.” The static or much-slowly-changing geospatial data such as national boundaries and details of Vulnerable Points and Vulnerable Areas are really a very small part of of the global geospatial information. The much larger and crucial part is the real-time (that is continuously produced, stored, analysed, and used in almost real-time) big geospatial data – from geo-referenced tweets, to GPS systems of cars, to mobile phones moving through the cities and regions. Addressing such networked data systems, where all data collected by digital devices can quite easily be born-georeferenced, and the security and privacy concerns that are engendered by them, should be the ultimate purpose of, and challenge for, a future-looking NGP.</p> <p><strong>3.12.2.</strong> Further, with increasing number of government assets being geo-referenced for the purpose of more effective and real-time management, especially in the transportation sector, the corresponding agencies (which are often not mapping agencies) are acquiring a vast amount of high-velocity geospatial data, which needs to be analysed and (sometimes) published in the real-time. CIS submits a sincere request to DST to highlight the crucial need for special infrastructure for such data, as well as its governance, and identify the key principles concerned in the next version of the draft NGP.</p> <h3>3.13. Sincere Request for Preparation and Circulation of a Second Public Draft of the National Geospatial Policy</h3> <p><strong>3.13.1.</strong> CIS commends the DST for publishing the draft policy, and facilitating a consultation process inviting stakeholders and civil society to submit feedback. The NGP envisages to address crucial concepts of privacy, licensing, intellectual property rights, liability, national security, open data, which cut across and impact various technology platforms, industries and the citizens.</p> <p><strong>3.13.2.</strong> In view of the multifarious issues highlighted that arise at the intersection of various legal and ethical concepts, CIS respectfully requests the DST to conduct another round of consultation after the publication of the second draft of the NGP. Multiple rounds of consultation and feedback would contribute to the robustness of the lawmaking process and ensure that the final policy safeguards the general public interest, and the interests and rights of various stakeholders involved.</p> <p><strong>3.13.3.</strong> CIS is thankful to DST for the opportunity to provide comments, and would be privileged to provide further assistance on the matter to DST.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Endnotes</h2> <p><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/Draft-NGP-Ver%201%20ammended_05May2016.pdf">http://www.dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/Draft-NGP-Ver%201%20ammended_05May2016.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org/</a>.</p> <p><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a href="https://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/Published%20Documents/Policy_on_Open_Standards_for_e-Governance.pdf">https://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/Published%20Documents/Policy_on_Open_Standards_for_e-Governance.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[4]</strong> See: <a href="http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf">http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[5]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[6]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Open_APIs_19May2015.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Open_APIs_19May2015.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[7]</strong> See: <a href="http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm">http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm</a>.</p> <p><strong>[8]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.archive.india.gov.in/allimpfrms/allacts/3314.pdf">http://www.archive.india.gov.in/allimpfrms/allacts/3314.pdf</a>, sections 2(d) and 3(b).</p> <p><strong>[9]</strong> See: <a href="https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf">https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[10]</strong> See section 2.11 of NDSAP.</p> <p><strong>[11]</strong> See section 2.10 of NDSAP.</p> <p><strong>[12]</strong> See: <a href="http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/GeospatialBill_05052016_eve.pdf">http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/GeospatialBill_05052016_eve.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[13]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf</a>.</p> <p><strong>[14]</strong> J. Mohanraj v (1) Secretary To Government, Delhi; (2) Indian Space Research Organisation, Bangalore; (3) Google India Private Limited, Bangalore, 2008 Indlaw MAD 3562.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-national-geospatial-policy-draft-v-1-0-2016'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-national-geospatial-policy-draft-v-1-0-2016</a> </p> No publisher sumandro Open Standards Open Data Open Government Data Featured Geospatial Data National Geospatial Policy Openness 2016-06-30T09:40:59Z Blog Entry Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges, May 26-27, 2016 http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges-may-26-27-2016 <b>A workshop on “Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges” is being organised by the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Centre for Internet and Society, during May 26-27. It is also supported by the Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi, Free Software Movement of India, Knowledge Commons, PEACE, and Center for Advancement of Public Understanding of Science & Technology. This is a legal and technical workshop to be attended by various key researchers and practitioners to discuss the current status of the implementation of the project, in the context of the passing of the Act and the various ongoing cases.</b> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h1>Workshop Programme</h1> <h3>First Day, May 26</h3> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>9:00-9:30</td> <td><strong>Registration</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>9:30-10:00</td> <td>Prof. Dinesh Abrol - <em>Welcome</em><br />Self-introduction and expectations of participants<br />Dr. Usha Ramanathan - <em>Overview of the Workshop</em></td> </tr> <tr> <td>10:00-11:00</td> <td><strong>Current Status of Aadhaar</strong><br />Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Researcher, New Delhi - <em>What the 2016 Law Says, and How it Came into Being</em><br />S. Prasanna, Advocate, New Delhi - <em>Status and Force of Supreme Court Orders on Aadhaar</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11:00-11:30</td> <td><strong>Tea Break</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>11:30-13:30</td> <td><strong>Direct Benefits Transfers</strong><br />Prof. Reetika Khera, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi - <em>Welfare Needs Aadhaar like a Fish Needs a Bicycle</em><br />Prof. Ram Kumar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai - <em>Aadhaar and the Social Sector: A critical analysis of the claims of benefits and inclusion</em><br />Ashok Rao, Delhi Science Forum - <em>Cash Transfers Study</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>13:30-14:30</td> <td><strong>Lunch</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>14:30-16:00</td> <td><strong>Aadhaar: Science, Technology, and Security</strong><br />Prof. Subashis Banerjee, Deptt of Computer Science &amp; Engineering, IIT, Delhi - <em>Privacy and Security Issues Related to the Aadhaar Act</em><br />Pukhraj Singh, former National Cyber Security Manager, Aadhaar, New Delhi - <em>Aadhaar: Security and Surveillance Dimensions</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>16:00-16:30</td> <td><strong>Tea Break</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>16:30-17:30</td> <td><strong>Aadhaar - International Dimensions</strong><br />Prof. Chinmayi Arun, Center for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi - <em>Biometrics and Mandatory IDs in other parts of the world</em><br />Dr. Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties - <em>International Dimensions of Aadhaar </em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>17:30-18:00</td> <td><strong>High Tea</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>18:00-19:00</td> <td><strong>Video Presentations</strong></td> </tr> </tbody> <tbody></tbody> </table> <h3>Second Day, May 27</h3> <table> <tbody> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>9:30-11:00</td> <td><strong>Privacy, Surveillance, and Ethical Dimensions of Aadhaar</strong><br />Prabir Purkayastha, Free Software Movement of India, New Delhi - <em>Surveillance Capitalism and the Commodification of Personal Data</em><br />Arjun Jayakumar, SFLC - <em>Surveillance Projects Amalgamated</em><br />Col Mathew Thomas, Bengaluru - <em>The Deceit of Aadhaar</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11:00-11:30</td> <td><strong>Tea Break</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>11:30-10:30</td> <td><strong>Aadhaar: Broad Issues - I</strong><br />Prof. G Nagarjuna, Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai - <em>How to prevent linked data in the context of Aadhaar</em><br />Dr. Anupam Saraph, Pune - <em>Aadhaar and Moneylaundering</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>13:00-13:30</td> <td><strong>Video Presentations</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>13:30-14:30</td> <td><strong>Lunch</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>14:30-15:30</td> <td><strong>Aadhaar: Broad Issues - II</strong><br />Prof. MS Sriram, Visiting Faculty, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore - <em>Financial lnclusion</em><br />Nikhil Dey, MKSS, Rajasthan (TBC) - <em>Field witness: Technology on the Ground</em><br />Prof. Himanshu, Centre for Economic Studies &amp; Planning, JNU - <em>UID Process and Financial Inclusion</em><br />Discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>15:30-16:00</td> <td><strong>Conclusion</strong></td> </tr> </tbody> <tbody></tbody> </table> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges-may-26-27-2016'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges-may-26-27-2016</a> </p> No publisher sumandro UID Big Data Privacy Internet Governance Aadhaar Biometrics 2016-05-26T10:29:43Z Event
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