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Vickram Crishna | 30 Nov 2012 04:39
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Re: On India's free press, Section 66A, Hindustan Times and Facebook

Apart from wondering whether discussions on the suitability of timings of Kingsly's substance ingestion is a fit topic for this list (aka NO), I wonder why Suresh's first message had such (such era) interesting errors, since it came off an one-key-at-a-time iPad and not a (possibly) Swype-enabled Android. I also agree that Kingsly's reply was even more mysterious. 
 
Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com

From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh-psnYtti16QOsTnJN9+BGXg@public.gmane.org>
To: "india-gii-exipcMZXGhH9nmKIgjYY/w@public.gmane.org" <india-gii-exipcMZXGhH9nmKIgjYY/w@public.gmane.org>
Cc: "india-gii-exipcMZXGhH9nmKIgjYY/w@public.gmane.org" <india-gii-exipcMZXGhH9nmKIgjYY/w@public.gmane.org>
Sent: Friday, 30 November 2012, 7:00
Subject: Re: [india-gii] On India's free press, Section 66A, Hindustan Times and Facebook

I understand each word but that sentence is total greek and latin to me

Are you on some interesting chemical substance this early in the morning?

--srs (iPad)

On 30-Nov-2012, at 6:52, Kingsly John <member+india-gii-4+VQVQEymQXR7s880joybQ@public.gmane.org> wrote:

> +++ Suresh Ramasubramanian [2012-11-30 03:20:25]:
>
>> Such era Dalal's moneylife has been on a regular series of exposes of Sahara,
>> moms like speak Asia etc.
>
> Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look
> more like?
>
> Kingsly
>
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Marsha Woodbury | 28 Jan 2012 16:00
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Re: india-gii Digest Fri, 27 Jan 2012

Of special interest to this group:

http://www.tprcweb.com/

The 40th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy

Friday September 21 to Sunday September 23, 2012.
Hosted by George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA

TPRC is an annual conference on communication, information and 
internet policy that convenes international and interdisciplinary 
researchers and policymakers from academia, industry, government, and 
nonprofit organizations. Its purpose is to present original research 
relevant to policy making, share information about areas where 
research is needed, and engage in discussion on current policy 
issues. The conference program consists of presentations selected 
from submitted paper abstracts, student papers, and proposals for 
panels, tutorials, and demonstrations.

TPRC is now soliciting abstracts of papers, proposals for panels, 
tutorials and demonstrations, and student papers for presentation at 
the 2012 conference, to be held September 21-23, 2012 at the George 
Mason University Law School, in Arlington, Virginia. These 
presentations should report current theoretical or empirical research 
relevant to communication and information policy.

Contributions may be from any disciplinary perspective - the sole 
criterion is research quality. Topic areas in previous conferences 
have included competition, antitrust, and other market issues; 
broadband deployment and adoption; spectrum and wireless application 
policy; media, old and new; intellectual property, technology, and 
Internet law; privacy, security, identity and trust; governance and 
institutions; innovation and entrepreneurship; and distributional 
outcomes and social goals.

Submission opens on March 1, 2012; links and instructions will 
provided here at that time. The deadlines are:

March 31, 2012: Main conference abstracts, and proposals for panels, 
tutorials and demonstrations. Acceptances/rejections will be provided 
by May 31, 2012. Complete papers for accepted abstracts will be due 
to TPRC on August 15, 2012.

April 30, 2012: Student papers. The student paper competition 
requires submission of completed papers rather than abstracts. 
Acceptances/rejections will be provided by June 30, 2012.

Details about submission requirements and review criteria can be 
found on these web pages:

     Conference Papers
     Panels and Tutorials
     Demonstrations
     Student Paper Competition

The journals Telecommunications Policy and Journal on Information 
Policy will both invite papers for special issues from this year's 
conference.

Please address inquiries to info@...

TPRC
4721 Windy Ridge Trail, Schertz, TX  78154
1.703.772.1079  info@...
Design & Hosting: Packetforward
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Pranesh Prakash | 26 Jan 2012 22:52
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Twitter to add to Balkanization of the Web

Dear all,
Twitter just announced that they will soon roll out country-level
masking of content.

http://goo.gl/icmIu

This seems to be yet another pointer to the increasing balkanization of
the Web.

So, different users see individualized search results based on personal
data, they see different maps depending on which country they are in,
they may or may not view a video depending on which country they are in,
and now they will see different tweets depending on their country.

In a recent symposium on social media and freedom of expression, Michael
Anti, the Chinese journalist and blogger, noted how increasingly one
needs a visa (think circumvention tools) to access the 'international'
Internet.   However, we're heading to a future where there is no one
'international' Internet.  Unless of course, we're already living in
that future.

Regards,
Pranesh

--

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
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Sudev Barar | 22 Jan 2012 03:07
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Another scam?

MaybeOT

For past few weeks I am noticing random calls from international numbers (+39, +99) etc coming my cell phone.

Interestingly all calls are of single, or at most two, rings. To me it looks like the calling party is deliberately trying to make me call back. Of course I have not since I do not recognize the number nor I have any near dear one there. Another aspect is the odd hours around Indian midnight that these come.

Could there be some money making angle to call back involved here?

--
Sudev Barar

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Vickram Crishna | 19 Jan 2012 17:28
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Datawind and Aakash

Copied from another mailing list:

As per an interview with the "CEO of Datawind in Mint a couple of days back.

His version is that the initial specs they were expected to meet were pretty lousy, with a 300 MHz processor
and obsolete resistive touch screens. After the initial lot of 10,000, the Govt is not expected to procure
any more. The product is said to be barely usable, leave alone being user friendly." 

He goes on to surmise the government will not place any orders beyond the 10,000 already in hand. 

This somewhat contrasts with a gushing review published in a major English language newspaper hardly a
couple of weeks back, which implied the product was flying off the shelves already, being cheap enough to
get users despite some 'teething trouble'. From this description, it seems more as though there aren't
any teeth at all. 

The twist in the tale comes from the fact that GoI, having specified a machine with minimal parameters that
it sourced from Datawind, then asked IIT-Jodhpur to specify something more sensible. Presumably to save
time, or perhaps in a reflection of the time-honoured practice of reusable code, the new specs turned out
to be somewhat similar to a tablet made by HP for the US military. 

Not quite what the doctor ordered, apparently, as what the Ministry really meant was a machine that would be
user-friendly. IITJ suggested a machine that would last in tough conditions. 
 
Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com
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Vickram Crishna | 18 Jan 2012 15:42
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Ministry affirms Internet intermediaries can be prosecuted

http://egov.eletsonline.com/2012/01/govt-sanctions-prosecution-of-google-facebook/
 
The Ministry of Communications & IT has sanctioned prosecution against 21 companies. It seems the provisions of the IT AA 2006-8 are not exactly what is written, in their eyes.

When did the government become 'they'? 

Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com
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Pranesh Prakash | 16 Jan 2012 20:03
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WSJ's India Real Time | Is India Ignoring its own Internet Protections?

<http://goo.gl/SfJ4g>

January 16, 2012, 4:42 PM IST

Is India Ignoring its own Internet Protections?

India’s information technology law of 2008 limits the liability of

Internet companies for material posted on their Web sites by users,

including anything government regulators deem objectionable. The

firms are supposed to be notified of offensive content — by users or

 the authorities — and then remove it when legally warranted.

If that’s how the system is supposed to work, then why did the

Indian government just sanction a criminal lawsuit against Google,

Facebook and 19 other companies that all but ignores those

protections in the information technology law?

That is one of the most puzzling elements of the legal drama over

free speech on the Web that is unfolding in New Delhi.

The case against the companies, brought by Urdu weekly journalist

Vinay Rai, accuses them of violating various provisions of India’s

criminal code by allowing material that is mocking or offensive to

religious and political figures to stay on their social networking

sites. There are charges of inciting communal passions and

disturbing public order – catchall stuff normally meant to give

police tools to rein in hooligans.

The punishments for these criminal offenses can include several

years of jail time and stiff fines. That these elements of the

criminal code are now being used to target Internet companies is

somewhat bizarre, especially when one considers the apparently

careful lawyering that went into drafting protections for Internet

companies a few years ago.

As Google and others fight the charges – today they are continuing

an appeal in Delhi High Court to quash the case – they will likely

make the case that the courts cannot ignore India’s I.T. law. “It

isn’t a trivial defense – the court cannot dismiss it,” said Sunil

Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for

Internet and Society, a civil liberties advocacy group. “The I.T.

act provides immunity to (Internet companies) and that should be the

 default starting position.”

A spokesman for India’s telecom ministry did not immediately respond

 to a request for comment. We’ve described Mr. Rai’s rationale for

filing the lawsuit in a separate post.

The crackdown on Web companies couldn’t come at a worse time for the

 emerging Internet sector in India, which many analysts believe has a

  potential to grow from about 100 million users to more than 300

million within a few years if nurtured. Facebook and Google

representatives declined to comment on the case.

The protections for Internet firms are fairly clear in Section 79 of

 the 2008 law, known as India’s I.T. Act Amendments. An

“intermediary,” or Internet firm, “shall not be liable for any third

 party information, data or communication link.” There are several

caveats, of course – the company can’t initiate or solicit the

harmful post and can’t coordinate with the offender. Under the rules

 that India put into place last April to implement the act, companies

  must remove material that is “grossly harmful, harassing,

blasphemous, defamatory” as well as anything “ethnically

objectionable, disparaging” or “otherwise unlawful in any manner.”

Internet companies and civil society advocates weren’t happy with

those guidelines, finding them far too draconian and subjective. But

 at least the law required that the companies be notified of such

content and be given a chance to remove it within 36 hours. (The

punishments for not removing offensive content within 36 hours would

 depend on the underlying laws governing that content in India; in

general, prison time and fines would both be possible.)

In the case of the Vinay Rai lawsuit, such procedures don’t appear

to have been followed. Google has told the court it hasn’t seen the

allegedly offensive material or been notified about it. Mr. Rai says

 he didn’t flag the content to Google or others, because he believed

 his duty as a citizen was to notify the government.

What was the point of passing the I.T. law if it’s being swept to

the side?

Amol is an India Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. You can

follow him and India Real Time on Twitter  <at> AmolSharmaWsj and

 <at> indiarealtime.

--

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283

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Suresh Ramasubramanian | 12 Jan 2012 02:45
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DoT proposes new rules for encrypted data access

These go far beyond what was earlier proposed I think
Does anybody have the original text of these?

http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/12001457/Govt-plans-rule-for-encrypted.html?h=A1
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Pranesh Prakash | 9 Jan 2012 12:23
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Microsoft hustled UK retreat on open standards, says leaked report

Computer Weekly alleges that they have a leaked UK Cabinet Office
briefing that shows that Microsoft bullied the UK government into giving
up its open standards definition, which in turn has led to the UK
government giving up on its larger open standards policy:
<http://goo.gl/pi1HM>

Microsoft hustled UK retreat on open standards, says leaked report

By Mark Ballard
January 6, 2012 4:38 PM

The British government withdrew its open standards policy after lobbying
from Microsoft, it has been revealed in a Cabinet Office brief leaked to
Computer Weekly.

The Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) also formerly
opposed the policy before Cabinet Office withdrew it. BIS supported
Microsoft's position against open standards, the backbone of the
government's ICT policy. The Business Software Alliance, infamous for
its lobbying against open standards policy in Brussels, also lobbied
against the government policy.

Microsoft took up direct opposition to the ICT Strategy's pledge to give
preference to technologies that supported open standards of
interoperability between government computer systems, said the briefing
paper.

The software supplier was concerned this would prevent companies from
claiming royalties on the point of exchange between those systems.

It complained specifically about the wording of UK procurement policy,
which in January 2011 established a definition to explain its edict that
open standards should be used in government computing wherever possible.
UK policy specified that "[open standards] must have intellectual
property made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis".

Microsoft said it supported the aims of UK open standards policy -
specifically that government systems should be interoperable, that it
should be possible for government to re-use purchased software
components, and that government should not be "locked-in" to using
particular technologies.

It also told the Cabinet Office it "agrees that open standards are key
to delivering this [policy mission]", said the brief.

But it opposed the Cabinet Office office definition of an open standard.
It said the definition of open standards adopted in the government ICT
strategy would hamper innovation and restrict "freedom of choice for
citizens".

It said the government should officially adopt standards only under
terms defined as Reasonable and Non-discriminatory (RAND). It referred
to this as FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory). This would
permit patent holders to claim royalties from anyone trying to implement
the standard.

It's position was identical to that taken by other representatives of
the corporate software establishment, led by the Business Software Alliance.

Their lobbying of government would effectively erase open standards from
UK policy, as it had already successfully done with the European
Commission's last statement on standards, the European Interoperability
Framework 2.0. Their preferred RAND licence terms are a standard feature
of non-open software standards including those encumbered with hardware
patents that have nevertheless come into widespread use such as GSM and
WiFi.

Microsoft told the Cabinet Office its open standards policy would
prevent RAND standards such as mp3 and GSM from being used in government
computer systems.

UK policy had however established a preference for open standards
"wherever possible". It would have allowed departments to use non-open
standards when there where no open options or when the widespread use of
a proprietary standard prevented alternatives from being deployed.

The Cabinet Office is expected to open a formal consultation on the
rescinded policy this month, a month after it was due to publish its
first list of mandated open standards.

The open source lobby has advised that abolishing the open standards
policy would undermine the other key element of government ICT policy,
to create a level-playing field open source software.

Open Forum Europe, a trade body, said FRAND terms precluded their
implementation by open source software suppliers because the open source
business model did not support collection of royalties.

In opposition to the patent lobby's arguments against open standards,
the Free Software Foundation Europe, a lobby group, has cited internet
standards in defence of royalty-free models.

Microsoft refused to talk to Computer Weekly about its consultation with
the Cabinet Office.

It said in a written statement: "Microsoft fully supports the
Government's ICT strategy and its goals of reducing cost and complexity,
and increasing information sharing, interoperability, openness and re-use."

The BSA said in a written statement it also supported government's
policy aims.

"However," it said, "reducing public procurement expenses in the UK does
not require the adoption of a policy which undermines the value of
Intellectual Property and Innovation."

Cabinet Office said in a written statement: "No lobbying has taken place
that has affected our approach in creating an Open Standards definition
that works for government."

BIS also refused to discuss its differences with Cabinet Office. It said
in a written statement: "Discussions are still ongoing between the
departments with many options being considered."

--

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
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ashok Jhunjhunwala | 9 Jan 2012 04:48
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QOS measurements

Dear friend on India GII list,

We are working on a project to measure the Quality of Service of Internet in
India. We need volunteers, who are willing to run a program in the
back-ground, while they are working on PC and connected to Internet. If you
are willing to (those who are not willing to, can ignore my mail), you have
to download a program as per instruction below, obtain a user-ID and
password from us and run the program by just clicking on downloaded program
six to seven times on different days of the week and possibly at different
times. The volunteers should be in India. See below for instruction:

All of you would have experienced the woes of Internet use in India.
Sometimes, we get good response to our browsing and other Internet
activities. More often than not, the response is poor. This quality of
service is unpredictable.

To address this problem, IIT Mandi and IIT Madras are jointly conducting a
study of Internet performance in India. This is sponsored by NIXI, the
National Internet Exchange of India, which interconnects all the different
service providers (BSNL, Reliance, Tata, etc). NIXI will use the results of
our study to improve Internet service in India.

This study depends on volunteers such as yourself. By running the tests from
your PC, you will be playing an important role in improving one of the key
infrastructures of modern India.

I request you to login to the broadband testing website and run the tests,
following the instructions attached. Run the tests at the specified times on
as many days as possible. Please write to sree <at> midascomm.com
expressing your intent to get involved and you will be provided with a
username/password. For any help, contact <mailto:sree-mFadIME7uQgybS5Ee8rs3A@public.gmane.org>
sree <at> midascomm.com.

Your participation in this effort is appreciated!

When running the program, you will request you to fill in minor details
(like name of your Internet service provider and type of connection) and
then just click auto-upload and run. It will run in background (you can do
what you want) for about 15 minutes at a time. I would be grateful for those
who are able to do it. You can also pass it to your friends / family
members, if they are willing to do it. I am hoping to get 50 volunteers in
different parts of country.

Ashok Jhunjhunwala

IIT Madras


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Satish Jha | 9 Jan 2012 02:48

Taking computing off the grid: OLPC XO 3.0 showcased in CES, Las Vegas

It was released in Santa Clara today.
Its a solar charger that comes with a tablet attached.. taking computing totally off the grid!
I may be biased in favour of OLPC but even the admirers of ipad need to stop and take a look at it...

 

Marvell and One Laptop per Child Unveil the XO 3.0 Tablet at CES

Also: The first Marvell ARMADA powered XO 1.75 laptop will begin shipping in March to school children in Uruguay and Nicaragua

Share 
By Marvell
Published: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 - 5:07 am

LAS VEGAS and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 8, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL), a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, and One Laptop per Child, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help every child in the world gain access to a modern education,demonstrated a fully functional version of the much-anticipated XO 3.0 – a low-cost, low-power, rugged tablet computer designed for classrooms around the globe – at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120108/SF31823 )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100719/SF36559LOGO-b )

"We're proud to introduce the XO 3.0 tablet, showcasing the design, durability and performance features that make it a natural successor for our current laptops, which have been distributed to more than 2.4 million children in 42 countries and in 25 languages," said Edward McNierney, Chief Technology Officer of One Laptop per Child. "The XO 3.0 builds on many of the technology breakthroughs we made with the XO 1.75, including the use of the Marvell® ARMADA® PXA618 processor, resulting in a significant decrease in power consumption—a critical issue for students in the developing world."

"Marvell is committed to improving education--and the human condition—around the world through innovative technology for Smartphones, tablets and a myriad of new cloud-delivered services.  Partnering with One Laptop Per Child is one way we can deliver a revolution where it matters most—to benefit children in some of the poorest places on the planet," said Tom Hayes,Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. and a member of the OLPC advisory board.  "Marvell has been with One Laptop per Child from the start and we're doing whatever it takes to help the organization realize its mission of providing meaningful educational opportunities to the 500 million school-aged children around the world."

Marvell and One Laptop per Child also announced today that the XO 1.75 laptop will begin shipping to customers in March 2012. Over 75,000 units of the XO 1.75 have already been ordered by OLPC projects in Uruguay and Nicaragua. The XO 1.75 uses the Marvell ARM-based ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor, which compared to the earlier XO 1.5, maintains performance while using only half the power. The XO 1.75 features a sunlight-readable screen and all the other features and design characteristics of the two previous versions of the XO laptop.

The XO 3.0 tablet will also feature the Marvell ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor and Avastar Wi-Fi SOC. Other features include:

  • Unique charging circuitry; the XO 3.0 is the only tablet that can be charged directly by solar panels, hand cranks and other alternative power sources
  • Standard or Pixel Qi sunlight-readable display
  • Android and Linux operating system support

About Marvell

Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a world leader in the development of storage, communications and consumer silicon solutions. Marvell's diverse product portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communications controller, wireless and storage solutions that power the entire communications infrastructure, including enterprise, metro, home and storage networking. As used in this release, the term "Marvell" refers to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries. For more information, visit Marvell.com.

About One Laptop per Child

One Laptop per Child (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression. In partnership with the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations and supported by comprehensive implementation and pedagogical services, OLPC seeks to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power connected laptop that empowers individual learning and growth.

Marvell, the M logo, and ARMADA are registered trademarks of Marvell and/or its affiliates.  Avastar is a trademark of Marvell and/or its affiliates.  Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.



--
Satish Jha 
T: 301 841 7422
F: 301 560 4909 
________________
 

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