The last one year has seen a number of interesting developments around the Aadhaar project, such as the notification of the Aadhaar Act, Aadhaar enrolment being made mandatory for availing various benefits and subsidies from the Government, and a series of incidents where individuals’ Aadhaar information was leaked from Government databases.

SFLC.in, in association with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, IT for Change, Internet Democracy Project, Centre for Internet and Society, and Foundation for Media Professionals, is organizing a public discussion titled “Access Denied: Internet Shutdowns in a Digital India” on Monday, April 24, 2017 at Hauz Khas Social, 9A & 12, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi.

4CCon (Collaboration, Contribution, Community and Commons Conference), the second national conference by Free Software Movement of India (FSMI) took place from 26 January 2017 to 28 January 2017. The first day was for pre-conference workshops, and the second and third day were for the actual conference. Free Software Foundation Tamil Nadu (FSFTN), a member organization of FSMI, hosted the conference which was organized in B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Vandalur, Chennai.

We are partnering with FSMI in organizing 4Ccon, FSMI’s second national conference on free software. We will be there to talk and discuss about the state of the affairs in the fight against Software Patents, our ongoing work on Internet Shutdowns and of course, free software. The conference will be held from 26th to 29th of January 2017 in Chennai.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multi-stakeholder public policy dialogue initiated by the United Nations Secretary-General, has been an annual affair for more than a decade. The 11th IGF is set to take place from 6th to 9th December at Guadalajara, Mexico with the theme of ‘Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth’. This 4 day conference is an opportunity to discuss current as well as emerging issues in the field of digital freedoms, cyber security, Internet governance, and others, that require brainstorming, expert views, and co-operation amongst all stakeholders.

Our Counsel, Prasanth Sugathan was part of a panel on privacy at the Digital Citizen Summit organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in Bangalore on 11th November, 2016.  This session focused on digital privacy and other related concepts that have been brought into the limelight in recent times due to the emerging issues of big data, encryption, digital attacks, data mining, cyber security, anonymity, and surveillance.

SFLC.in is pleased to announce the release our report titled “Online Harassment: A Form of Censorship” on November 22, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Lecture Hall 1, India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi, at an event we are organizing in association with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, Internet Democracy Project, IT for Change, and the Foundation for Media Professionals.

Free Software Movement of Karantaka (FSMK) organizes annual week long technical camps for students, with a special emphasis on Free & Open Source Software (FOSS), its significance, benefits, and contribution towards an internet ecosystem that is free (as in Freedom) and accessible to all. SFLC.in was a proud co-organizer of the FSMK Camp, 2016 held from 18th to 24th July, 2016 and had the opportunity to conduct workshops with the young students on the broad themes of privacy, creative commons, and software patents.

The advances made possible by the advent of the Internet have impacted the notion of free speech in a great many ways. Online intermediary platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google enable individuals to be active publishers of information in addition to passive recipients. The possibility for anonymity that comes with the Internet adds further value by enabling open discourse and criticism in even the most repressive of regimes.

SFLC.in, Democratic Alliance for Knowledge Freedom (DAKF) and InfoPark Ernakulam Public Library Branch are jointly organising a discussion session to gather inputs from various stakeholders for the upcoming IT Policy of the Kerala State Government.The participants include Government representatives, Free Software Activists, Industry representatives, civil society organisations, Trade Union representatives and others. The workshop will be held on 16th July 2016, 9:30 am at the Tapasya building, InfoPark, Kakkanad, Kochi.