Convergence Bill-More dangerous than the Carnivore?
The Convergence Bill that is presently before the Parliament has the
potential to become the most Anti-Freedom legislation in India...atleast
to the Indian Netizens or Citizens of India who are also Netizens.
The power conferred by the Bill to regulate Internet content is
likely to be a tool in the hands of the political parties to meet their
own ends rather than serve the people.
Detailed Story here.
Netizens and Fellow Countrymen, Arise Awake and Stop Not until
Freedom is Restored !!!
The revised Communication Convergence Bill ready for passage in the
Indian Parliament has introduced some vital clarifications that deal with
Internet Content that needs to be taken note of by the community....
Consequent to the Communication Convergence Bill, every form of broadcast
over Internet will become a subject matter of regulation.
In summary, the very basic premise of the Communication Convergence
Bill that attempts to bring a "Homogeneous Regulatory Framework" for the
Convergent medium is a fundamentally unsound proposition and will
be a serious threat to the freedom of Netizens. If the Netizens are not
given the exemptions that are legitimately due to them, the Bill deserves
to be buried in its entirety rather than exist in its controversial form.
Detailed Story here.
TRAI Re-appoints Itself
The re-emergence of Convergence Bill draft has achieved one important
objective. It has protected the jobs of all the TRAI members under the
guise of providing continuity in policy making.
Detailed Story here.
Taxing Information Access
The announcement of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC)
including "Online Information and Database Retrieval" is a surprising move
and a cause of serious concern to the Internet based business activity.
What is also important is that the interpretations given by the tax
authorities can provide legal implications in some cases...
Detailed Story here.
DMCA Leads to Arrest of a Russian in USA
In a case of international ramifications, the FBI arrested Russian
citizen Dmitry Sklyarov who was in Las Vegas to deliver a lecture on electronic
book security, on July 16, 2001, on charges of distributing a product designed
to circumvent copyright protection measure.
If DMCA is going to be applied to foreigners visiting USA, many have
to avoid visiting USA just as they would avoid visiting Afghanistan or
Libya. For the same reason the issue is not only the concern of the free
speech organisations in USA, but also of the entire world.
Detailed Story here.
Income Tax Act to be Amended to Tax E-Commerce
Close on the heels of imposing service Tax on Web Content, it is reported that
the Government is considering amendment to Income Tax Act so that establishments who conduct E-Commerce
without being physically present in India will be subject to Indian Income Tax.
Indians have more to earn from outside India
than what foreigners can earn from Indians through E-Commerce and if this short sighted move
prompts other nations also to impose similar tax on Indians, India will lose more than what it can gain.
It is also doubtful if the effort will be legally sustainable.
TOI Report Here
An Open Source Initiative in Audio Communication
Radiophony an innovative audio solution in communications
for ordinary people has been launched as an Open Source Initiative by Dr Arun Mehta and Mr
Vickram Crishna
of Delhi. This is a project to make a new speech synthesizer to enable voice and data access
with alternatives to keyboard and mouse driven methods, at costs well below the
forbidding levels of data communication today.
More Details Are Here
Cyber Space was Born Free..
But is Found every where in Chains.
It is a fact of life that the Cyber space is what it is today because
of the instant appeal it created in the "Naturally Freedom Loving" human
community.
On the Internet, the Commercial interests that are imposing various
kinds of restrictions on Cyber space some justified and many not so justified.
... therefore there should a gateway to the Internet which will
either anonymize the netizen and take him to the Free Cyber Space or Digitally
Tag him and take him to the Digital nation.
Detailed Story here.
Hate Sites and ICANN's Role
Dealing with Hate Sites has been one of the concerns of the regulatory
agencies concerned with Cyber Space. Hate sites against individuals
can be handled under defamation laws...It is the hate sites against Countries and Communities which have often
defied a legal solution.
In this context we would like to bring to the notice of the Indian Government
a site www.hinduism.org...For this the Indian Government or any
other organisation having a claim on "hinduism", must file an arbitration
notice to ICANN and claim a right to own the hinduism.org site...
Detailed Story here.
Tax Imposed on Internet Speech
In a significant blow to Information providers on the Internet, struggling
to find revenue resources, Government of India has brought "Content" under the
Service tax" ambit. Accordingly, from July 16, 2001, Internet service providers and
websites which provide information on payment will have to pay the service tax of 5%.
In the process, the Government has betrayed its lack of wisdom
by taxing a fledgling service with no significant revenue prospects.
The content providers who were exploring options of charging a fee for their
services would now find the administrative hassles too much of a burden.
Possibly this should encourage them to offer the services free instead of charging
a nominal fee.
If Internet content is considered as "Speech", as the majority seem to think,
the "Tax" could be challenged as "Illegal". If the Government has a right to tax "Internet Speech"
for which people are willing to pay money, then any "Lecture" or "Seminar" or "Music Show"
in the real world for which "participation fee" is collected should
also come under Service Tax. If not, this would amount to "Digital Discrimination".
Detailed article here.
Mrs Sushma Swaraj opposes Content Regulation
It is reported that Mrs Sushma Swaraj, the Minister of Information and
Brodcasting has sent her recomendation to the Telecom group that Content Regulation has to be kept out
of the purview of the Convergence Commission of India.
Related Articles
Resolving Conflicts in the Judicial and Other functions of the Convergence Commission
Communication Convergence bill-What's Wrong?
Communication Convergence bill-What's Right?
MIT to Educate Public on Cyber Porn
Ministry of Information and Technolgy
has launched a web site Netsafety.nic.in
to educate the public on Cyber Porno and how to deal with it. Considering the importance of
education as a means of prevention of crimes, this is a step in the right direction. We hope
several more such initiatives would come forth from the Government.
Detailed Story in Economic Times
Why Don't we consider a Digital Certificate as a Proper Introduction?
It is necessary for Banks to request RBI to include "Digital
Certificate" as one of the means of identification that can be used as
an Introduction, provided the Certifying Authority has added the
confirmation of identity and his Certification Practice Statement
indicates an acceptable level of prudence.
Details here.
Kerala Takes Lead for OSS initiative
It is encouraging to note that the Government of Kerala is supporting the
initiative of the Free Software Foundation of India....
Compared to the approach taken by the Karnataka Government
to create a Zero Piracy State by force, with the appointment of a "Compliancy
Officer", the approach of Kerala Government is refreshingly positive.
This strategy has the potential of pushing Kerala ahead in Indigenous Software
development ahead of its neighbours...unless Karnataka and Tamil Nadu wake
up and follow suit.
Details here.
Ethical Hackers Wanted
In pursuance of its Community related services, Naavi.com perceives
an emerging need for "Ethical Hackers" in India. A beginning would be made by Naavi.com to develop a
list of Ethical Hackers who are willing to extend their services on demand for legally
approved purposes.
Interested persons can write to Naavi at Cyber Law Solutions Ltd, 11/10, R E Apartments,
Unnamalai Ammal Street, T.Nagar, Chennai, 600017 with a detailed bio data and a recent photograph.
The applications will be screened by a committee and approved person's names would be put up on the website.
Cyber Law Solutions Ltd would offer Ethical Hacking Services when required, through
the affiliated expert panel.Suitable remuneration would be determined on case to case basis.
Registrants would appreciate that this is an emerging requirement and we donot have contracts on hand.
Hence registrants have to perhaps wait for some time before their registrations can bring them revenue.
Naavi
July, 4, 2001
TRIPS to be reviewed
WTO is considering revisiting TRIPS to accommodate some developments regarding
Copyright in Digital Media. In particular it is likely to consider accommodating two treaties
namely the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright Treaty
as well as the 1996 WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty.
Detailed Story at Europemedia.net
What is the Nature of this Cyber Crime?
A very interesting Cyber Crime has been reported from Belgium. A Belgian
site named Euregio.net has alleged that some portion of text appearing
in its sub site Internet horoscopes.com has been stolen and reproduced
in invisible form on a site called Women.com. It has therefore filed a
suit for copyright infringement
The interesting fact of the case is that the reproduced text is said
to appear in white fonts on white bckground and hence is normally
not visible. ... Under the circumstances, will law consider this as "Copyright Infringement"?
Details here.
Microsoft faces Expanded Patent Suit
Microsoft is facing a Patent suit from a Santa Clara-based firm,
InterTrust. According to InterTrust, Microsoft's
Windows MediaPlayer, ME and XP OS software,
infringe on its patents covering digital rights management.
Detailed Story at CIOL.com
