by sflc_admin | April 26, 2016 Indian law on patentability of computer programmes is abundantly clear in that Section 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 explicitly excludes computer programmes per se, mathematical methods and algorithms from patent protection. Moreover the recent Guidelines for Examinatio...
Technology, Media & Telecommunications
The European Parliament adopted the new Rules on Data Protection on the 14th of April, 2016. The new R egulation replaces the General Rules on Data Protection, 1995 and the 2008 framework decision on cross-border data processing in police and judicial cooperation within the EU. In January 2012, the ...
The topic of human rights on the Internet has been one of significant interest, right from finding mention in the WSIS Declaration of Principles in 2003, to the UN Human Rights Council’s First Resolution on Internet Free Speech , which declared that the rights available to people offline must also b...
by sflc_admin | April 18, 2016 The number of internet blackouts in India is on a rise over the last few years. In the first quarter of 2016, mobile internet services were suspended on four different occasions, out of which, two incidents were recorded in the state of Gujarat. Moreover, five differen...
ICANN recently announced the successful evaluation of four additional proposed IDN (Internationalized Domain Names) ccTLD strings for India. This was done through a fast track process that was approved by the ICANN Board in 2009. After the successful evaluation of the four new IDN strings (Malayalam...
A Delhi district court last week dealt with a case of voyeurism by awarding the accused with a year’s simple imprisonment along with a fine of ten thousand rupees. A point of interest was the characterisation of the offence of voyeurism under Section 354C of the Indian Penal Code in terms of privacy...
By Aishwarya Ayushmaan Recently, reports emerged in the media regarding the requirement of a ‘loyalty form’ from Urdu authors and editors whose works were acquired for bulk purchase by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL). The NCPUL , which operates under the Ministry of Human...
Global Public Interest is a difficult term to define. Any attempt to define it has always been met with resistance, or dissatisfaction. Yet, it features prominently in ICANN’s universe – through its bylaws, documents and contracts. In this post, I recapitulate the discussions surrounding global publ...
by sflc_admin | March 21, 2016 Now that the inevitable death of Free Basics by Facebook has happened and the dust has settled, the real outlines of the government of India’s Internet and Digital India policies are coming into focus. The four pillars of the government’s intentions have been declared ...
by sflc_admin | March 19, 2016 The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial & Other Subsidies, Benefits & Services) Bill, 2016 (hereinafter Aadhaar Bill ) was discussed, voted and passed in the Lok Sabha on 11th March, 2016 . The many contentions raised,clarified and debated upon by the Gov...
Yesterday, the Human Rights Council came out with an advance unedited version of a report ( A/HRC/31/65 ) of the Special Rapporteur on protection of human rights while countering terrorism. This report in particular deals with protecting human rights while preventing and countering violent extremism...
One of the important outcomes of the WSIS+10 review was the establishment of the CSTD (Commission on Science and Technology for Development) Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (WGEC). Subsequently, the establishment of the WGEC was announced in February with Peter Major as its chair and the nomin...
This article was first published on The Wire on 6th March, 2016. The original post can be accessed here . By Aarti Bhavana The recommendations for the post-transition ICANN, as they currently stand, change the power dynamics within ICANN. Governments will now get a say in key operational decisions, ...
Principle in A.P. Shah Report Description of Principle Corresponding provision in Aadhaar Bill Comments/Concerns Enrolling Agency (EA) Requesting Entity (RE) Notice (During collection & Other notices) Both, EAs & REs ‘collect’ information for their specific purposes of enrollment & au...
With the final two chartering organizations confirming their approval yesterday, the co-chairs of the CCWG-Accountability sent the Final Report to the ICANN Board, which has now been transmitted to the NTIA. Today’s CCWG meeting outlined the work that lies ahead in the upcoming months. Work Stream 1...
The office of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age, was created last year by the UNHRC , and today, in the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur, Joseph A. Cannataci submitted the Report on the Right to Privacy. The mandate of the UNHRC require...
The most discussed topic floating around the surprisingly chilly winds of Marrakech this week has been the CCWG-Accountability proposal. Over the past few weeks we traced the evolution of each recommendation of this Final Report , which was sent to all the chartering organizations for their approval...
The noise surrounding the recent controversy regarding a tweet by Indian actor (and UN Ambassador for Gender Equality) Anupam Kher made it difficult to look into why it caught so much attention. That it did is beyond doubt, garnering over six thousand hits, significantly more than almost all of his ...
We Hate This Hate Story Too! By Aarushi Mahajan and Shweta Kabra Here is a line from the movie to give you a trailer of what lies ahead: “Tum toh pehle bhi bikao thi, ab tumhari keemat badal gayi hai” (You’re an item whose value in the market has changed). In a story about rich, powerful and vindict...
The discourse around Aadhaar has only aggravated since its inception, and one of the primary contentions of the debate has been lack of a statutory force behind the initiative. Amidst all the speculations, the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, ...