Courtesy: Shutterstock
Innovation has its dark side, and digital black market sites are a shady offshoot. Hackers and terrorist networks use these portals to carry out their activities, mostly undetected, but as this infographic shows, the law does catch up with them frequently
Courtesy: IEEE Spectrum
The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Cooperation (BECA), the last of the India-U.S. foundational agreements, will enable India to avail of U.S. expertise on geospatial intelligence and to sharpen the accuracy of weapons and automated hardware systems used for military purposes. But the over-emphasis on imaging in the agreement overlooks the likelihood of a clash between the telecom and meteorological technologies, which can hurt India’s crucial capabilities in space-based weather forecasting and disaster management
Courtesy: Gateway House
The Bilateral Investment Treaty has been losing favour as a dispute resolution mechanism since the recession of 2008. India has terminated several BITs after receiving an unfavourable award in a 2012 case. These terminations have created uncertainty regarding existing foreign investments and are not the answer to disputes. A balance is needed, especially for emerging markets, which must protect against claims whilst ensuring confidence in business. The analysis below provides some options
Courtesy: exit.al
Digital black markets or “dark net marketplaces” which facilitate the transaction of contraband and illegal services, pose a silent, relatively unnoticed threat to the economy. Hackers, organised criminal networks and terrorist groups use these sites, their advanced security features enabling anonymity when executing cybercrimes. This infographic looks at some of the security crackdowns that have eliminated only some of these sites as they have proved to be resilient
Courtesy: Pacom
Canada, which has been slow to respond to a changing trans-Pacific neighbourhood, can join India and the ASEAN member states to embark on a trilateral dialogue on the Indo-Pacific’s importance in terms of political, strategic and other domains. An alignment in outlook can strengthen the security and prosperity of a region, currently mired in U.S.-China rivalries
Courtesy: Medium
The Draft Policy, issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in February, is a welcome step for India and globally, but its all-inclusive definition of a fast, click-and-buy world requires some refining: is it intended to be an internet policy or a specific e-Commerce policy?
Courtesy: Wikipedia
With Misson Shakti, India is now part of a rarefied club of global space powers which have demonstrated capability for missile-based anti-satellite weapons
Courtesy: Forbes
Fintech refers to a service or product which cuts across technology and finance. Covering everything from blockchain/cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence to data and the Internet-of-Things, it is becoming integral to India’s development agenda. This table sets out the various constituents of fintech and the regulations governing them
Courtesy: Gateway House & CIGI
The use of terrestrial geoengineering techniques, such as carbon capture, is necessary to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Agreement’s targets. Terrestrial geoengineering is different from atmospheric climate engineering: the latter does not remove the very source of the increased greenhouse effect, which are anthropogenic greenhouse gases. India and Canada must collaborate on carbon capture and propose multilateral regulations for unethical atmospheric climate engineering
Courtesy: Nextgov
Participants in a recent discussion on digital issues, hosted by Gateway House, brought to the fore some universal concerns about trust, tech imperialism and the militarisation of cyberspace