Internet Governance: A Developing Country Perspective

As the Internet gains an almost ubiquitous status in much of today’s world, the governance of the Internet has become an important subject of study. Internet governance affects various critical issues such as open access, freedom of expression, innovation and new applications, commerce, development, and security. To date much of the discourse on Internet governance has been within the ranks of politicians, political analysts, as well as I-School and Communications School researchers. Internet governance discussions are often dictated by geopolitical issues. The perceived hegemony of the developed West regarding the governance of the Internet is increasingly facing challenges from developing countries. Some of these developing countries have even sought to exercise control over the Internet within their countries. All of these issues make Internet governance a potentially important area of study for Information Systems researchers and academics. In this paper, I briefly trace the history of Internet governance, and using that as the basis, explore more deeply the issue of Internet governance from a developing country – namely India’s perspective. The paper examines various issues and their genesis, and then provides some potential approaches for dealing with global Internet governance

Soft-skills Training and Cultural Sensitization of Indian BPO workers: A Qualitative Study

This paper describes a study of soft-skills training at a large Business Process Outsourcing Firm located in Bangalore, India. Soft-skills training pertains to social and customer handling skills in addition to cultural sensitization of Indians to other cultures. Soft-skills are very important for the success of BPO firms, yet there is not much in the literature that addresses soft-skills training of BPO workers. This study attempts to bridge the gap. It adopts a qualitative approach using a combination of methods such as the long interview, secondary sources research and actual observation. The results are used to develop a framework for future studies in this area

The Growth of Global Internet Censorship and Circumvention: A Survey

The Internet has, within a period of twenty years, become the primary medium of information exchange in the world. It is also arguably the primary source of information in the world. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have made the vast trove of information available and accessible to everybody. Email and social network applications such as Facebook and Twitter have enabled people all over the world to meet, collaborate and participate in joint activities. The Internet has also gradually become a tool of dissidence in repressed nations all over the world - to spread information, plan and organize activists and conduct protests. Not surprisingly, repressive regimes see the Internet as a threat. Under the guise of protecting their citizens from the negative effects of the Internet (such as pornography and hate speech), they have, and are, actively curbed Internet use by their citizens by adopting various censorship measures and blockades. In this paper I have surveyed the history of Internet censorship by various countries, starting from 1991. Governments all over the world use various means – legal, political, technical, and coercive – to control and restrict Internet content. Cataloging all such efforts by all the countries would be beyond the scope of this paper. Despite that, I have tried to focus on the various methods of censorship and blockades used by various countries around the world. I have also provided a brief description of recent attempts by Myanmar and Egypt to completely block the Internet, with a discussion of the technique and methods involved. Finally, I have also briefly discussed the push-back efforts by citizens of the world, who are actively and innovatively finding ways to circumvent the most pernicious of these censorship efforts and blockades

The (Continuing) Evolution of India’s Telecom Policy

This paper traces the evolution of India’s Telecommunications policies from its colonial days to the present time. The policies have undergone major shifts. During the British rule of India, the policies were strictly motivated by the colonizer’s need to control the native population. After independence, the policies were dictated by the need for self-sufficient development and Fabian socialism, which led to other problems that curtailed telecommunications growth in India. In the last decades of the twentieth century, sheer economic survival imperatives led to the gradual opening up of India to market economies. This gave impetus to accelerated growth in the telecom sector. However, while the growth of India’s telecom sector, especially the cellular telecom sector has been spectacular in the last decade, the basic question of whether it has actually achieved the avowed developmental policy objectives of the government remains in doubt. This paper seeks to critically focus on evolution of telecommunications policies in India, discuss the philosophy behind the policies, their successes and failures over the years, current trends and the future outlook for telecommunications in India

Historical Consciousness of Cybersecurity in India

This paper examines conceptual developments in the history and evolution of cybersecurity in India. We look at cybersecurity very broadly, starting from the history and development of ICTs, specifically telecommunications in India during the colonial period, their role as a security apparatus to the British, and the continuation and refinement of this role by the Indian government after independence. We trace the evolution of telecommunications and computing in India starting from the 1960s, the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure, the role of ICTs in national security and development, and the gradual ascent of cybersecurity as a security apparatus, and ICT policy deliberations

Examining the Relevance of Indian Logical Traditions and Present-day AI Developments

This paper is an essay on the differences between “formal” Western logic and Indian logical traditions and how the latter impacts present-day AI developments. Upon the colonization of India, Western philosophers often dismissed Indian logical constructs as being underdeveloped or clumsy. Others, however, saw such denigration as emanating from Western racial prejudice rather than objectivity. This debate has persisted. I discuss the salient aspects of this debate, and then focus on the inductive aspects of Indian logic. This is especially relevant to the present, when there is an explosion of artificial intelligence based applications. I discuss the salient features of the new developments in Generative AI, and then attempt to show how the models in Generative AI are connected to Indian logic with its focus on inductive reasoning rather then deductive reasoning. It is useful for students and researchers of present-day AI to be aware of alternate systems of logic, which may be useful in developing newer AI models and applications

Evolution and Diffusion of ICTs in the Indian Railways: A Historical Analysis

The Indian Railway system is one of the largest socio-technical systems in the world. It has existed for over 160 years, starting from the British Colonial times. It continues to play a critical role in present-day India. It’s continued functioning is dependent not only on the personnel who are employed in the railways, but also the technologies that go into the system. A critical technology in the functioning of the railway system is information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs are deployed in almost every facet of the railway system. But these ICTs did not manifest themselves recently. They have been continuously deployed in some form or other since the inception of the railways. The systems and technologies have evolved, and there has been continuous diffusion of these technologies over the entire system. Their evolution has been based on the political economy, societal needs and pressures, and have thus been socially constructed. The technologies developed within one area of the railway system have been diffused and adapted into other areas. In this paper we study and analyze the adoption, adaptation, evolution, and diffusion of ICTs within the Indian Railway system over a period of 160 years. Our study shows that ICT evolution and diffusion in large socio-technical system is continuous and cyclical, and dictated by political exigencies, societal needs, regional politics, as well as resistance and public-relations considerations. The flow of power was often, if not always, bi-directional. These considerations have affected ICT evolution in Indian railways even more than the sophistication of the technologies themselves. Our study also shows how the adoption of ICTs follow cycles of rise and fall, even as they continue to grow in size overall, and offers lessons for other emerging economies on issues related to ICTs in large socio-technical systems

Information Policy Interactions: Net Neutrality and Access to Information in US and India

The tremendous growth and ubiquity of the Internet in today’s world makes access to information much easier than ever before. Many global forums consider access to information as a basic right and an absolute necessity for the sustainable economic development of nations and an indispensable instrument for human growth. Net neutrality is the concept that all citizens should have equal and non-discriminate access to the Internet and networked services, without any restrictions. This paper looks at the history and evolution of the concept of net neutrality and the associated concept of access to information in the context of the United States and India. U.S. and India are chosen since they are both large democracies accounting for the second and third largest number of Internet users. US is the world’s largest and mature economy, whereas India is an emerging economy. Both countries are current dealing with the issue of digital divide, and both countries are currently embroiled in animated debates concerning net neutrality and access to information. The paper offers a contrast between the approaches taken by the two countries and the interactions among the government, regulators, the law and citizens. The results of this study could be used as a basis by countries that are embarking on information policy formulations

Emergent AI, Social Robots and the Law: Security, Privacy and Policy Issues

The rapid growth of AI systems has implications on a wide variety of fields. It can prove to be a boon to disparate fields such as healthcare, education, global logistics and transportation, to name a few. However, these systems will also bring forth far-reaching changes in employment, economy and security. As AI systems gain acceptance and become more commonplace, certain critical questions arise: What are the legal and security ramifications of the use of these new technologies? Who can use them, and under what circumstances? What is the safety of these systems? Should their commercialization be regulated? What are the privacy issues associated with the use of these technologies? What are the ethical considerations? Who has responsibility for the large amounts of data that is collected and manipulated by these systems? Could these systems fail? What is the recourse if there is a system failure? These questions are but a small subset of possible questions in this key emerging field. In this paper, we focus primarily on the legal questions that relate to the security, privacy, ethical, and policy considerations that emerge from one of these types of technologies, namely social robots. We begin with a history of the field, then go deeper into legal issues, the associated issues of security, privacy and ethics, and consider some solutions to these issues. Finally, we conclude with a look at the future as well as a modest proposal for future research addressing some of the challenges listed

ICTs for Surveillance and Suppression: The Case of the Indian Emergency 1975-1977

Information and Communications technologies (ICT) pervade society. The Internet, wireless communication, and social media are ubiquitous in and indispensable in society today. As they continue to grow and mushroom, there are new and increased calls from various segments of the society such as technologists, activists, sociologists, and legal experts, who issue warnings on the more nefarious and undesirable uses of ICTs, especially by governments. In fact, government control and surveillance using ICTs is not a new phenomenon. By looking at history, we are able to see several instances when ICTs have been used by governments to control, surveil, and infringe on basic rights of their citizens. It is useful to document and study those instances, so that we may understand what is at stake, and how such situations can be perpetrated as well as prevented or at least curtailed. In this paper, I trace the case of the “Internal Emergency” that was promulgated in (democratic) India between 1975 and 1977 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The paper examines the use and abuse of ICTs by the Indian government against its own people, along with its ramifications