Google Continues With Its Censorship Drive In India

Google has been in controversies from time to time. Whether it is illegal data gathering, censorship of Google news searches, manipulation of search results, etc, Google has been doing it all. In fact, it seems Google is actively helping Indian government and its agencies for messing up with Aadhar project, UIDAI, World Bank or any other similar post that questions the wrong practices of Indian government.

What is more astonishing is that India does not have a “Constitutionally Sound Law” for Lawful Interceptions, E-Surveillance, Websites Blocking, Internet Censorship, etc says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based ICT law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India. Praveen Dalal has spearheaded the exclusive centre for protection of human rights in cyberspace that keeps a close watch upon civil liberty issues of cyberspace.

One of the most controversial projects imposed by Indian government upon Indian citizens is unique identification project of India (UID project of India) or Aadhar project of India. It is managed by Nandan Nilekani led unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Both Aadhar project and UIDAI are unconstitutional and operating without any Legal Framework and Parliamentary Oversight, informs Dalal.

Aadhar project and UIDAI are based upon deceit and deception. There is no legal framework, no defined policies and guidelines and most importantly no procedural and civil liberty safeguards.

However, nothing can match the evil practice of websites and Internet censorship in India done by Indian government, its agencies and commercial companies operating in India. For instance, Google has been censoring critical web posts regarding Aadhar project of India and unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) for the past two or more years. Further, it has also temporarily filtered some of our posts questioning the practice of World Bank to grant unaccountable loans to countries like India. Further, international loans and grants related posts questioning the role of World Bank and Indian government are also poorly placed in search results.

Our latest article has been censored by Google News twice at this and this. Of course, this is neither a co incidence nor a technical glitch that Google is currently facing. The truth is that unaccountable, illegal and unconstitutional websites blocking, Internet censorship and e-surveillance exercise along with lack of legal framework makes Aadhar project and UIDAI very dangerous project and authority. These activities censorship and e-surveillance are supported by the draconian cyber law of India. Citizens wake up before it is too late. Meanwhile here is the controversial interview that has been censored twice.

Unique identification project (UID project) or Aadhar project of India is always portrayed as a welfare scheme. In reality, Aadhar project and UIDAI have evil intentions. In fact, Aadhar project and UIDAI are the most evil projects of India till now. What is more surprising is why this e-surveillance and big brother project has not been scrapped by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO). It is high time for us to actively protest against the Aadhar project and UIDAI before it is too late.

Censorship And E-Surveillance Makes Aadhar Project And UIDAI Dangerous

Aadhar project and UIDAI are based upon deceit and deception. There is no legal framework, no defined policies and guidelines and most importantly no procedural and civil liberty safeguards.

However, nothing can match the evil practice of websites and Internet censorship in India done by Indian government, its agencies and commercial companies operating in India. For instance, Google has been censoring critical web posts regarding Aadhar project of India and unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) for the past two or more years. Further, it has also temporarily filtered some of our posts questioning the practice of World Bank to grant unaccountable loans to countries like India.

This article has been censored by Google News twice at this and this. Of course, this is neither a co incidence nor a technical glitch that Google is currently facing. The truth is that unaccountable, illegal and unconstitutional websites blocking, Internet censorship and e-surveillance exercise along with lack of legal framework makes Aadhar project and UIDAI very dangerous project and authority. These activities of censorship and e-surveillance are supported by the draconian cyber law of India. Citizens wake up before it is too late. Meanwhile here is the controversial interview that has been censored twice.

Unique identification project (UID project) or Aadhar project of India is always portrayed as a welfare scheme. In reality, Aadhar project and UIDAI have evil intentions. In fact, Aadhar project and UIDAI are the most evil projects of India till now.

What is more surprising is why this e-surveillance and big brother project has not been scrapped by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO). In this interview of Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based ICT Law Firm Perry4Law and a Supreme Court Lawyer, he has shared his opinion and concerns regarding Aadhar project and UIDAI.

Q 1. Is India ready for a controversial project like Aadhar?

A 1. In my personal opinion, India is not yet ready for either Aadhar Project/UID Project or Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). In fact, both Aadhar and UIDAI are “Highly Undesirable” at this stage. Aadhar and UIDAI must be preceded by a Constitutionally Sound Legal Framework and Parliamentary Oversight. Both of these are missing presently making it an “Unconstitutional Project”.

Q 2. What is the process of making a constitutionally sound law in India?

A 2. Constitutionally preparation of a Legislation/Bill is the duty of Indian Government and it must be passed by the Parliament of India. In this case, an authority like UIDAI is suggesting the Bill that (UIDAI) itself is devoid of any Constitutional Validity. Indian Government must come up with its own Bill on Aadhar Project as even the Bill by UIDAI is mere “Eyewash” and does not make much difference. Even if it is passed by Parliament of India, the Unconstitutional Nature of the Aadhar Project and UIDA would remain the same.

Q-3. What are the serious concerns that have been ignored by Indian Government, UIDAI and Indian Cabinet?

A-3 I found it really surprising the way the Bill prepared by UIDAI was cleared by Cabinet and introduced in the Parliament. Many issues, including Profiling, Privacy Safeguards, Civil Liberties Protection, E-Surveillance, etc have been totally neglected by UIDAI and Cabinet and perhaps would be ignored by the Parliament of India as well.

Q 4. How do you see the present activities of Aadhar project and UIDAI?

A 4. The present exercise of taking Biometric Details of Indians is simply “Unconstitutional”. A Project and Authority without any Legal Sanction and Parliamentary Oversight cannot indulge in these activities on such a mass scale. I believe the Government of India is violating various Civil Liberties of Indian though Aadhar Project and UIDAI by making it, Directly and Indirectly, Relevant and Mandatory.

Q-5. Is Aadhar project and UIDAI still not governed by any legal framework and what are the recent developments in this regard?

A 5 Yes. Till now the position has not changed. Rather it has become worst where the District like Mysore has made UID Number Mandatory for various Public Services even though UIDAI claims it to be Optional. Practically UID never was, and never will be, Optional.

Q 6. What are the possible Civil Liberty violations that Indians can face in near future?

A 6. There are great chances that Biometric Details of Indian would be shared with Intelligence Agencies of India and Law Enforcement Agencies of India. Projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). Central Monitoring System (CMS), etc would love to utilise these Biometric Details.

India And E-Delivery of Public Services Development Policy Loan

This is the updated version of my previous article on similar topic. E-delivery of services has been seen as an essential part of e-governance in India. However, e-governance itself is based upon good governance that also in a corruption free manner.

E-governance has the potential to eliminate corruption but in the Indian context e-governance itself has become a source of corruption. What is surprising is the fact that this is happening right in front of and under the nose of World Bank. The bigger question is whether the World Bank or Indian government is accountable for loans and grants that are never utilised for the benefit of common man in India?

Recently the World Bank and Indian government signed a loan agreement of $150 million for the e-delivery of public services in India. The loan has been granted as the e-delivery of public services development policy loan to be utilised under the national e-governance plan of India (NEGP).

Although the intentions are good yet the final outcome is not difficult to predict. India has a very poor track record of policy formulation and its implementation. For instance, policies pertaining to cyber law, cyber security, encryption, telecom, telecom security, mobile security, etc are still missing.

Further, India also has a poor track record of e-governance utilisation and providing of electronic delivery of services in India. We have no legal enablement of ICT systems in India and legal framework for e-delivery of services in India is also missing. In fact, as per e-governance experts of India, e-governance in India is dying. Without a mandatory e-governance services in India, e-delivery of services in India cannot be achieved.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, “The Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their mindset and stress more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement. India needs a services-based approach that is not only transparent but also backed by a more efficient and willing Government. Presently the Bureaucrats and Government of India are in a “resistance mode” towards novel and effective e-governance policies and strategies and they are merely computerising traditional official functions only. This is benefiting neither the Government nor the citizens and is resulting in wastage of thousands of crores of public money and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank Grants amount”.

“The Governmental will and leadership is missing in India. To worsen the situation the Government of India is concentrating more upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroots level action is missing and the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government. India is suffering from the “vicious circle” of defective e-governance, as the basic input .i.e. governance itself is poor. India needs a “virtuous circle” of e-governance through good governance that would have multiplication and amplification effect upon e-governance efforts of Indian Government, says Praveen Dalal.

E-delivery of public services in India is missing and World Bank is not at all interested in establishing transparency and accountability in Indian NEGP. World Bank must ensure accountability of Indian NEGP in order to show that its loans are actually meant for growth and development of Indian masses rather than benefiting few politicians and bureaucrats as is happening right now.

In these circumstance, the e-delivery of public services development policy loan would just add to the woes of Indians as this type of e-governance would be a source of corruption itself rather than removing the mass corruption existing in India. No time in the past the need for a strong and effective Jan Lokpal Act is felt more than the present circumstances where neither India nor International organisations like United Nations, World Bank, UNDP, etc are questioning the acts and omissions of Indian government.

World Bank Loans Accountability And Google’s Censorship

India is one of the most Endemic E-Surveillance Countries of the World, says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India. India is also perhaps the only country of the World where Phone Tapping and E-Surveillance is done without Judicial Scrutiny, informs Dalal. If this is not enough we have an Endemic E-Surveillance oriented Cyber Law in India, says Dalal.

Information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) is the sole cyber law of India. It also carries provisions that are clearly illegal and unconstitutional. For instance, provisions regarding e-surveillance, Internet censorship and website blocking are violative of the Constitution of India, says Dalal.

In India websites can be blocked by mere written directions by governmental agencies. Further, constitutional and legal web posts can be removed or censored by merely asking for the same. What is surprising is the fact that even big companies like Google are more than willing to obey the illegal and unconstitutional orders of Indian government.

I wrote a critical article titled “Does World Bank Sees What Happens to Its Loans? For some strange reasons, this article of mine was censored by Google. Of late Google has been censoring and messing up with search results regarding views and opinions that are critical to Indian government. For instance, articles on Aadhar project and UIDAI are frequently censored by Google. Thanks to the draconian cyber law of India, this is now possible without following any due process in India.

Recently e-delivery of public services development policy loan has been granted by World Bank to India. However, there is no accountability for the loan so granted and till now neither World Bank nor Indian government has shown any initiatives or laid down any blueprint in this regard. Till now no practical and effective e-governance has been ensured by either World Bank or Indian government and public at large has been fooled in this regard.

Now Google is trying to manipulate with the news results as well as search engines results pages (SERPS) by expressly going against its motto of don’t be evil. However, irrespective of the draconian cyber law of India, censorship by Google, and manipulations by Indian government, we would keep a close watch upon the recent loan of World Bank. If need arise, we may directly contact World Bank for any clarification in this regard.

Does World Bank Sees What Happens To Its Loans?

Loans are granted by international organisations and institutions for the development of a nation. But it is a rare occasion when such loans are actually utilised for the development of such nation. On the contrary, such loans just ensure the personal development of ministers and bureaucrats and common man never receives the benefits of such loans or grants.

Recently the World Bank and Indian government signed a loan agreement of $150 million for the e-delivery of public services in India. The loan has been granted as the e-delivery of public services development policy loan to be utilised under the national e-governance plan of India (NEGP). However, the bigger question is would this loan be utilised for the benefit of common man?

Keeping in mind the past record, the answer seems to be in negative. India has a poor track record of e-governance utilisation and providing of electronic delivery of services in India. We have no legal enablement of ICT systems in India and legal framework for e-delivery of services in India is also missing. In fact, as per e-governance experts of India, e-governance in India is dying. Without a mandatory e-governance services in India, e-delivery of services in India cannot be achieved.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, “The Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their mindset and stress more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement. India needs a services-based approach that is not only transparent but also backed by a more efficient and willing Government. Presently the Bureaucrats and Government of India are in a “resistance mode” towards novel and effective e-governance policies and strategies and they are merely computerising traditional official functions only. This is benefiting neither the Government nor the citizens and is resulting in wastage of thousands of crores of public money and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank Grants amount”.

“The Governmental will and leadership is missing in India. To worsen the situation the Government of India is concentrating more upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroots level action is missing and the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government. India is suffering from the “vicious circle” of defective e-governance, as the basic input .i.e. governance itself is poor. India needs a “virtuous circle” of e-governance through good governance that would have multiplication and amplification effect upon e-governance efforts of Indian Government, says Praveen Dalal.

E-delivery of public services in India is missing and World Bank is not at all interested in establishing transparency and accountability in Indian NEGP. World Bank must ensure accountability of Indian NEGP in order to show that its loans are actually meant for growth and development of Indian masses rather than benefiting few politicians and bureaucrats as is happening right now.

The loans granted by World Bank must be tied up and accountable loans. These loans must be tied up with performance and achievement and must be released in stages only. Once the first stage is accomplished satisfactorily then only the next stage loan must be given.

However, neither World Bank nor Indian government is in a mood to actually utilise the granted loans for the betterment of Indian masses. Why and for whom these loans are granted would always remain a big question.

ICT Skill Development In India

Information and communication technology (ICT) is one area that is technical in nature and requires effective skills to utilise its benefits. In the Indian context, ICT skills have not yet been developed properly. Part of the reason for the same is the academic nature of our educational system. Another reason for the weak ICT skill development is India absence of legal framework for information society in India.

For instance, legal enablement of ICT systems in India is missing. Similarly, there are no laws for providing mandatory e-governance services in India. Till now we do not have any electronic delivery of services framework in India. The problem is that ICT skill development has not been represented properly at the national policy making level.

Even the national e-governance plan of India (NEGP) has failed to make any mark in this regard. This is because skill development in India is not upto the mark in this regard. Areas like cyber law skill development in India, e-courts skill development in India, online skill development in India, technical education and skill development in India, etc are still not explored.

Further, no efforts have been made to ensure techno legal ICT skill development in India. We have a single techno legal ICT skill development institution in India. The same is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB).

PTLB is providing ICT skill development trainings and courses in India in fields like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, information warfare and cyber warfare, cyber terrorism prevention, e-courts, online dispute resolution (ODR), police training, lawyers training, judges training, etc.

If you are interested in getting world class techno legal ICT skill development trainings and coaching in India, get yourself enrolled at PTLB.

ICT And IPR Skill Development In India BY PTLB

Information and communication technology (ICT) related issues require expertise to handle and manage. However, skill development in India is not upto the mark in this regard. Areas like cyber law skill development in India, e-courts skill development in India, online skill development in India, technical education and skill development in India, etc are still not explored.

Similarly, intellectual property rights in India (IPRs in India) are also complicated in nature. They cover a range of areas like copyright, trademarks, design, patents, geographical indications, semiconductor protection, traditional knowledge, etc. Technological issues of IPRs in India are difficult to understand and apply. Cyber crimes are affecting IPRs like trade secrets and data protection severely. Techno legal IPR skill development in India is the need of the hour.

Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is the exclusive techno legal institution of India that provides techno legal ICT and IPR skill development in India. PTLB is also providing e-discovery related litigation, LPO and KPO support in India and world wide.

Both ICT and IPR related issues are becoming more challenging and complicated. Future issues in these areas would require techno legal trainings and skill development. The sooner we start this the better it would be for the ICT and IPR professionals of India.

IPR Services In India

Intellectual property rights services in India (IPRs services in India) are world known. We have professionals and firms that are world renowned in this regard.

However, today’s IPR environment has become Techno Legal in nature. IP Professionals of India must be well versed with both Technical and Legal Aspects of IPRs.

Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) specialise in Techno Legal IPR Services. Further, PTLB is also managing the exclusive techno legal IPR LPO and KPO of India.

While the IPR field is thriving upon innovation yet IPRs service providers are themselves have to be more innovative to cater the service requirements of these IP owners. PTLB manages one such resource that provides innovative IPR LPO, KPO and techno legal services to clients worldwide.

If you are interested in the techno legal intellectual property rights services in India and abroad, keep a close watch upon the IP Blog of PTLB. The Blog is covering areas like copyright, trademarks, patents, traditional knowledge, semiconductor industry, geographical indications, etc.

Why Is Google Messing Up With Search Placements?

It is no more a secret that Google do censor and filter search results. Whether they are news, search engine results pages (SERPS) or realtime results, Google do manipulates the results. Now this manipulation, censorship or filtering may be a compulsion due to orders or direction form a government like Indian government or may be due to some rouge employee who is messing up with search results.

Surprisingly, Google has neither admitted nor denied these allegations though they have been leveled against it since 2010. What is more interesting is the fact that news and opinions about Aadhar project of India and unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) are the one that are mostly censored and manipulated with.

The government of India gained draconian, unconstitutional and illegal e-surveillance, Internet censorship, website blocking and many such Orwellian powers through the information technology amendment act, 2008 (IT Act 2008). The IT Act 2008 amended the sole cyber law of India i.e. information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) and conferred unregulated and unreasonable e-surveillance and censorship powers upon Indian government and its agencies. Till now the Indian government has not prescribed procedural safeguards and guidelines subject to which these Orwellian powers can be exercised. As a result the government is using these powers without any accountability and transparency.

This was bound to happen as people of India never objected to the draconian cyber law of India that becomes a nightmare after the 2008 amendments. Now the civil liberties of Indians like right to privacy, freedom of speech and expression, right to know, etc are at stake. Internet censorship in India kept on increasing and India citizens remained silent. It is high time that the present unconstitutional cyber law of India must be repealed.

India has become a police state and commercial companies like Google have to comply with various directions and order of Indian government and its agencies. Neither Google nor Indian government is going to protect your civil liberties and resorting to self defence is the only possible option to reclaim some of your civil liberties.

National Frequency Allocation Plan 2011 Of India

The draft national frequency allocation plan 2011 of India (NFAP 2011) is one of the most important and arguable plan of India. Various government departments have their own interests and concerns that are preventing formulation of a NFAP of India.

The responsibility to formulate the NFAP 2011 rests with the wireless planning and coordination wing (WPCW) department of telecommunications (DoT). WPCW had issued the draft NFAP 2011 in the third week of March upon which various inputs have been provided.

Various government departments and telecom operators have written to the DoT and expressed disagreement with the plan. DoT will send all these views to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), which will come up with the final version of the NFAP 2011.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, the NFAP 2011 must be legally effective and technologically sound. Presently, issues like Encryption, VOIP, Satellite Phones, Spectrum Allocation, etc are not properly addressed by Indian Government, informs Dalal.

The NFAP 2011 would be an integral part of the national telecom policy of India hence it is essential that we must have a new and effective telecom policy for India. In fact, the national telecom policy of India 2011 has already been proposed and it may cover NFAP 2011 and allied matters as well.

Let us see how effective national telecom policy of India 2011 and NFAP 2011 would finally be.

Working Group On Information Security, Electronic Banking, Technology Risk Management and Cyber Frauds Of RBI

This is the updated version of my previous article on similar topic. This article is discussing the constitution of a working group by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to bring necessary techno legal banking reforms in India. Both technical and legal reforms have been suggested by the report of working group that if implemented by banks of India would go a long way in bringing banking reforms in India.

Now the RBI has issued a notification for the implementation of the suggestions of its working group. Banks need to ensure implementation of basic organisational framework and put in place policies and procedures which do not require extensive budgetary support, infrastructural or technology changes, by October 31, 2011. The rest of the guidelines need to be implemented within period of one year unless a longer time-frame is indicated in the circular.

In the past, RBI constituted a working group on information security, electronic banking, technology risk management and cyber frauds. The working group submitted its report in the recently upon which public inputs were invited. After analysing the public inputs, the final draft has been recently released and notified by the RBI.

RBI has also directed that all banks would have to create a position of chief information officers (CIOs) as well as steering committees on information security at the board level at the earliest. This direction was provided through the information technology vision document for 2011-17 (IT Vision 2011-17) and the recent notification of the draft report. This document has suggested many technological as well as legal reforms for banking sector of India.

RBI has recently acknowledged the risks of e-banking in India. There are many problems from which the online banking or Internet banking in India is suffering. The most important pertains to maintaining effective cyber security for banking and financial sectors of India. Similarly, there are no effective Internet banking laws in India or online banking laws in India. In the absence of stringent laws in this regard, online banking risks in India are increasing. However, of all the shortcomings, nothing can match the absence of encryption laws and standards in India. In the absence of proper encryption norms in India, e-banking in India is really insecure.

Although, RBI has been taking many far reaching and important steps yet e-banking in India still very risky. Of late, cases of phishing and banking frauds have increased tremendously in India. Further, cyber due diligence of banks in India is still a far dream. Even the directions of RBI to appoint CIOs and steering committees on information security have not yet been implemented.

Cyber security for banking and financial institutions of India is not in proper shape. Even due diligence requirements under the cyber law of India are not properly met. This has forced RBI to upgrade ATM security in India. Further, RBI has also imposed penalty upon 19 banks for non compliance with the regulatory requirements.

Indian banks are poor at cyber security policy formulation and its implementation. Cyber Security Policy is an issue that is very important for Banks of India, says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi base ICT law firm Perry4Law and leading cyber law expert of India. With the growing use of Internet Banking, ATM machines, Credit and Debit Cards, Online Banking, etc, Banks of India must also upgrade their Cyber Security Infrastructure and establish a Cyber Security Policy, suggests Dalal.

RBI must rigorously implement the directions and suggestions made in the report of working group. Without stringent actions, the report would never be actually and practically implemented by Indian banks.