I am in favour of a strong stance against this bill being passed in any form. There should be (almost) no compromises. The only regulation I can possibly support is regulating map providers so that they blank out all military areas, but this bill is much much larger in scope than that. We should directly raise the question of what goal is really achieved by this bill? Since ostensibly, the main purpose of the bill i.e. preserving the '*security, sovereignity and integrity of India*' can still be threatened because geospatial data (satellite imagery etc) for India is still available to people outside India. Many have suggested that this is not really about integrity but representation i.e. international boundaries, to compel map providers to show India's boundaries, as declared by the GoI. This in fact Google already does, they show all of J&K as India's territory. Even if they don't in my opinion amounts to restriction on freedom of speech if you are not allowed to make a map showing that one part of the country is claimed by other governments, or a map showing that some people, somewhere are demanding a new state. This bill will also severely affect NGOs which definitely cannot afford the process of licensing for every single map they wish to use/publish. It could also be used as a tool to silence dissent if organizations publish maps the government doesn't like.
The *email template* to be sent out is top priority. Is there someone already working on it? It should reject the bill altogether explaining why this bill doesn't really achieve its stated purpose and also how it will stifle GIS innovation in India. The wording of the email template will need to be simple language, without tech jargon. On Monday, May 9, 2016 at 10:38:46 AM UTC+5:30, Dilip Damle wrote: > > Or else all those small players will have to go Underground as happens in > oppressive regimes. > > On Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 9:37:30 PM UTC+5:30, Gagan Bansal wrote: >> >> On Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 11:06:40 PM UTC+5:30, Dilip Damle wrote: >> > HI, >> > >> > I was shocked to see this news today. >> > >> > >> http://www.businessinsider.in/PoK-and-Arunachal-as-disputed-territories/articleshow/52129850.cms >> >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > A part from the news >> > >> > "To add to this, the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill would soon >> be brought to tables, and any person or institution acquiring and >> disseminating any geospatial imagery or data of any part of India through >> space or aerial platforms will be required to first seek permission and >> license from a government authority." >> > >> > A so a large part of what we are doing here will become Illegal >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > Rgards >> > Dilip Damle >> >> Hi, >> >> Here are my observations: >> # I feel if this bill is passed in partial/modified or full, not at all >> good for small companies/startup that are working on open source map >> data/OSM or creating geospatial data in some form. as big companies >> (International mapping companies or utility/telecom companies) can easily >> set up a division to liaison with licensing authority on monthly basis or >> as per requirement. But for small companies this would not be possible. So >> in any form of licensing is problematic. >> >> # Another major point, In India most of the geospatial companies are >> service companies which are working for government agencies. So data >> ownership for such services would be with govt. agencies hence licensing >> policy is not applicable here and would not affect these companies. Most >> likely all research/educational institutions would not be included in >> licensing policy. So very small segment of industry is affected. To raise >> the voice there are very few people if we compare this bill with net >> neutrality bill. >> >> So tackling the problem is not very simple. >> >> We should put this issue that this bill is against "Digital India" and >> "Make in India" objective and I feel its truly against these. >> >> Regards, >> Gagan > > -- Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more about us by visiting http://datameet.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to datameet+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
