Tech law & policy researcher. #a2k #privacy #FoE #AI #infosec #FOSS #a11y zhōngyōng & anēkāntavāda. Fellow: @lirneasia + @yaleisp Past: @cis_india
Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
- Tweets 121,590
- Following 587
- Followers 17,498
- Likes 45,035
Pinned Tweet
I've a paper out in @IPPRJournal on content blocking and Internet shutdowns in #India from the perspective of international human rights law.
Comments welcome. Do share widely!
PDF: ippr.in/index.php/ippr/artic…
HTML: pranesh.in/scholarly/article…
#FoE #censorship #IHRL
2
21
47
41,656
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
It's been 7 years since we flagged CAPTCHAs excluding deaf-blind netbanking customers with @TheOfficialSBI.
At least let them be multimodal or offer OTP, we said.
Security we were told.
Then SBI introduces OTP screen AFTER the audio-image CAPTCHA. 🤬
DeafBlind still wait.
ALT screenshot of correspondence over the years between DRA and SBI on inaccessible CAPTCHAs denying entry to deafblind customers. https://groups.google.com/g/wethepwd/c/sTPkExPOUVs/m/wmRxMN5ACQAJ
When foreign banks work fine with a username and password (and that too via a password manager), why don't Indian banks?
Why do Indian banks require a captcha + otp + specific browser + no password managers + (on mobile: access to GPS location + no developer perms + no USB)?
13
15
663
When foreign banks work fine with a username and password (and that too via a password manager), why don't Indian banks?
Why do Indian banks require a captcha + otp + specific browser + no password managers + (on mobile: access to GPS location + no developer perms + no USB)?
91
70
1,061
75,412
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
Enjoyed writing something lighter. A bird that made a stopover in #Tiruvannamalai during its Europe-Africa winter migration. Do read :)
7
57
297
5,364
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
It's worth noticing how responsibly @YanagizawaD is exploring the space of AI-generated research.
Everything is labeled as AI, and he is not spamming these papers into journals.
This is how we should explore AI-driven paper writing: with full disclosure.
3
32
216
17,864
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
Migratory birds arrive in #Chennai as Pallikaranai and other sites buzz with early-season sightings and diverse species, reports @GeethaSrimathi. thehindu.com/news/cities/che…
3
4
1,195
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
the number of government schools in india has gone down by ~10% over the last decade. why?
school consolidation is a reform aimed at improving learning outcomes for students and improving fiscal efficiency by leveraging a higher density of students in every school.
i explain this reform and review the little empirical evidence available on it in my first substack post (link below)
3
12
44
2,942
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
Originally built as a water reservoir in 1874, a young Antoni Gaudi did the structural calculations
Later it was an old people's home, storage for the fire brigade, a car park
Converted to a library in the late 1990’s led by architects Lluis Clotet + Ignacio Paricio Ansuategui
Grad school is hard but I have never been more inspired to study in my life because this is what my university library looks like
ALT Library in a tall brick structure with high arches
ALT Skylights and arches of a library in a tall brick structure that was formerly a water tower of
ALT Library in a tall brick structure with high arches
7
140
1,170
30,793
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
‘There is poison in cigarettes’
1968 Soviet anti smoking poster
Shirt 👇
19
462
3,121
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
Folks pressing for a "kill switch"....just you wait...cannot believe DOT is actually entertaining all this....
At what point will a lawyer like Nappinai suggest that two people speaking to another in a quiet voice so others don't overhear should be seen as a crime if it is done without a Department of Telecommunications licence? #privacy #surveillance #India
thetechtrace.substack.com/p/…
1
153
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
India, 2030. Talking directly to another human is not allowed. If you have to say anything, you speak into you phone using an app called Batchit* where your Aadhaar-fingerprinted communication is first processed by MHA. Any thing deemed “offensive” results in the message being blocked and the police is dispatched to your door. People accepted this because someone said “something, something national security.” Courts accepted it because they heard “something, something national security.”
*(pronounced baatcheet, but spelled this way because GoI has a sense of humour and decided to make its name an anagram for another aap they attempted to block in 2026)
At what point will a lawyer like Nappinai suggest that two people speaking to another in a quiet voice so others don't overhear should be seen as a crime if it is done without a Department of Telecommunications licence? #privacy #surveillance #India
thetechtrace.substack.com/p/…
3
5
451
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
The 9yo borrowed a Simpsons book from the library and was sorely disappointed
74
556
14,778
421,669
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
At what point will a lawyer like Nappinai suggest that two people speaking to another in a quiet voice so others don't overhear should be seen as a crime if it is done without a Department of Telecommunications licence? #privacy #surveillance #India
thetechtrace.substack.com/p/…
1
15
25
3,077
Post-Dobbs:
There's far more discussion of #abortion rights on Indian social media now than during the passage of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act in 2021. Just goes to show how significant the cultural influence of the US is. #softpower
1
4
491
Something I've recently changed my mind on: folks who think that all the AI escaping sandboxes episodes are all about bad sandboxing techniques are wrong.
1
1
8
838
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
Soviet cartoon (1983) criticising the British Nationality Act, showing two policemen pulling a KKK hood over Britain
34
184
1,651
90,162
India has now pulled BitChat from the App Store through Apple.
BitChat works over Bluetooth with no internet, no phone number and no account. That is exactly why Delhi wants it gone. In July the government shut down the network around Jantar Mantar, and protesters used BitChat to keep talking.
The government has now gone after the network, then the code on GitHub, and now the app store. Each step has been aimed at the same target, which is leaving people with no way to communicate when the internet is cut off.
Apple's notice says the app "includes content that is illegal in India" and never names any content. Apple simply complied.
reclaimthenet.org/apple-remo…
2
12
69
1,750
Pranesh Prakash retweeted
For clarity, THIS is what they said is copyrighted.
As a 10/21 fair use hearing nears, @ConcordMusic counsel wasted no time yesterday in calling the Third Circuit's @RossIntel decision to Judge Lee's attention in their NDCA suit v @Anthropic. Per yesterday's thread (below), it may very well *not* help them in a suit re *gen* AI:
4
6
47
21,589