Column: Net neutrality’s regulatory tightrope

In the US, President Barack Obama’s recent statement, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue regulations embracing principles of “net neutrality” (NN)—seen by some as the gold standard for supervising internet traffic—created quite a stir and inevitably had cross-border effects, including in India. A series of articles appeared in the local media, both supporting…

How India must deal with cyberwar

The mellow rays of the winter sun glinted off the drum major’s baton as the colourfully attired brass band marched past the Chief of the Army Staff to the stirring strains of Deshon ka Sartaj Bharat at the end of the Army Day parade. In the speech that followed, the Chief exhorted the Army to…

Expert Panel Formed on e-governance

The State government on Friday constituted an expert committee to formulate the policy framework for implementation of e-governance at all levels. The move comes in the wake of a Central government panel’s recommendation for mandatory ICT skills among government employees. It had suggested that basic ICT skills should be a must even at the entry…

Trends in the Online Education sector in 2014

The online education sector saw a lot of investments this year in the country, along with the entry of new players through acquisitions, new initiatives or partnerships. Additionally, various government policies to encourage e-learning, various MOOC initiatives by universities and the digitization of books underscored the growing importance of e-learning in the country. Let us…

Web Freedom Again Beset in 2015

Government censorship of the Internet is a cat-and-mouse game. And despite more aggressive tactics in recent months, the cats have been largely frustrated while the mice wriggle away. But this year, the challenges for Silicon Valley will mount, with Russia and Turkey in particular attempting to tighten the controls on foreign-based Internet companies. Indeed, major…