Category: press

Adieu Kishan Gupta
{:refdef: style="text-align: center;"} ![Kishan Gupta](/images/kishan_gupta_5_23_2021.jpg) {: refdef} The entire Free Software Movement Karnataka (FSMK) family is in shock at the untimely demise of Kishan Gupta. Kishan was the prodigious kid who came to the 2014 camp as a participant and turned out to be a resourceful technical rockstar. His sense...
press
23 May 2021
MORE
Condemn the arrest of Disha Ravi
Free Software Movement Karnataka Strongly condemns the arrest of Disha Ravi, a climate change activist for supporting the Farmers Struggle and linking it to the Online ToolKit released by Greta Thunberg. We understand that she has been an activist bringing voices to communities in need. While authorities are trying to...
press
15 Feb 2021
MORE
Press Note: Condemnation of Internet Shutdown in Karnataka and other parts of India
The ongoing nation-wide resistance against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens exercise is growing everyday. The continuing repression of people participating in the protests by the autocratic government is a public knowledge now. Sadly, this repression has led to the death of two people in...
press
20 Dec 2019
MORE
On Pegasus Spyware and WhatsApp Surveillance
The Free Software Movement of Karnataka strongly condemns the targeted surveillance of activists, lawyers and journalists with the Israeli Pegasus spyware. WhatsApp itself has accepted that over 1,400 people were targeted globally through its platform. The targets include over 40 politicians (earlier reported to be 24), lawyers, journalists and academics...
press
04 Nov 2019
MORE
Free Ola Bini Solidarity Letter
Ola Bini is a developer, not a criminal. As technologists, free and open source developers, and individuals and organizations working to protect the security of the Internet, we wish to protest in the strongest terms the continuing illegal detention in Ecuador of Ola Bini, a cyber-security expert, privacy consultant, free...
press
17 May 2019
MORE
FSMI statement on Security of the Aadhaar personal data and ECMP Software
FSMI writes to the the CEO of UIDAI about a patched version of the Enrollment Client Management Platform (ECMP) software used for off-line Aadhaar enrollment, which can potentially be used to bypass geo-location and bio-metrics, and also change the mapping between personal data of Aadhaar holders and their bio-metric data....
press
05 May 2018
MORE
The Data Fiasco - Politics and Data
In short – FSMK condemns the misuse of personal data to alter the fate of democracy. FSMK also believes that the governments, state or central, should proactively push for the privacy of citizens, offline and online, and develop a dedicated framework for protection of data within the national borders. FSMK...
press
23 Mar 2018
MORE
FSMK welcomes Supreme Court's judgment that declares Right to Privacy a fundamental right
FSMK welcomes the historical judgment by a nine judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme court that declared the right to privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Article 21 seeks to protect the life and personal dignity of an individual. “This right to privacy is protected...
press
24 Aug 2017
MORE
STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP - STOP BLOCKING WAY BACK MACHINE
In a move that can only be seen as regressive, the Government of India has blocked access to the website ‘archive.org’, also called ‘Wayback Machine’. No official reason has been given for this block. As the name itself indicates, the website is a digital archive of material available over the...
press
09 Aug 2017
MORE
Statement on Indore Magistrates ban order
The District Magistrate of Indore has issued an order – Order/2956/RADM/2016, Indore/Date 14/11/2016 under Section 144 – banning any criticism on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.,on exchange of old currency that is “objectionable” or can “cause incitement”. The order is attached here. This, in effect, is a...
press
23 Nov 2016
MORE
Press statement on Free Basics issue
Facebook has launched a massive campaign in support of Free Basics program – which is a re­branded version of the infamous internet.org. The entire Free Basics fiasco is because the government is abdicating its responsibility of ensuring that the Internet remains a public utility. It has become essential for us...
press
01 Jan 2016
MORE
On revoke the Guidelines for Patenting
The Free Software Movement of India (FSMI) welcomes the decision of the Patent Office, made vide its Order of December 14, 2015, to revoke the Guidelines for Patenting of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs) issued on August 21, 2015. The Patent Office has stated in its aforementioned order that having received...
press
16 Dec 2015
MORE
Airtel 3G Script Injection
We as a community are shocked to see the response, an Israeli company, Flash Networks, purporting to be the creators of the software developed for Airtel's use also, has issued a 'Cease and Desist' notice, that threatens civil and criminal action against the Bangalore based developer Thejesh GN. FSMI appeals...
press
11 Oct 2015
MORE
Solidarity with Thejesh GN
Free Software Movement Karnataka(FSMK) expresses its deep anguish at the turn of events surrounding fellow hacktivst Thejesh GN, who exposed Airtel and its shady means of pursuing profits. While we do not condone the act of publishing proprietary code on Github, weheartily congratulate and salute the spirit of investigation and...
press
06 Oct 2015
MORE
Pass a law to ensure net neutrality
Airtel India, one of the leading mobile and Internet providers in the country recently announced that it will charge pre paid mobile customers more for using certain over the top services – starting off with VoIP services (such as Skype and Viber). The costs are in the range of Rs....
press
22 Apr 2015
MORE
On blocking of GitHub and other sites
Over the last few days, there have been reports that internet users in India are not able to access services like GitHub, PasteBin and Imgur. It is now increasingly becoming clear that these sites have been blocked by the ISPs (Internet Service Providers), with no explanation given. One ISP claims...
press
31 Dec 2014
MORE
On the raids by Software Companies
Free Software Movement of Karnataka, has released a press note expressing regret on the Software raids conducted on the small scale vendors/users in the name of violation of copy right laws. FSMK appeals to small scale vendors who are dependent on these soft wares for their livelihood to not panic,...
press
02 Nov 2013
MORE