Software Patent Manoeuvres

This chapter explores the politics and geopolitics of software patents. Beginning with an introduction to patents as intellectual property (IP), it explores its conflictual nature, especially in the context of free and open source software. This chapter deals with the Indian State’s ambivalent attitude towards the patenting of software, the pressure brought by the Business Software Alliance and others to harmonize India’s patent laws with US requirements, and the consequences of ‘patent thickets’ and its impact on creativity and innovation. It highlights the fact that there is growing recognition of the need for software sovereignty in India, illustrated by the fact that the Indian government has invested in a number of organizations that are committed to local solutions in software, although this ethos is contested by the IP and patent lobbies.

Leisure, Surveillance, and the Private Sector in India

This chapter furthers the exploration of surveillance in India against the background of the Snowden revelations and WikiLeaks by focusing specifically on the role played by the private sector in the extension of surveillance, often through public–private partnerships. It explores the political economy of the surveillance industries in India against the power of ‘code’ and ‘algorithmic power’. It highlights the role played by transnational search and social networks such as Google and Facebook, and the nature of the power to control affective behaviour. It also deals with the use of code in India’s leisure industries and illustrates Polanyi’s ‘double movement’ in the use of code by communities in India as an expression of its democratization.

Introduction

This chapter introduces some of the key themes related to digital India against the background of India’s political economy and digital geopolitics. It introduces the contributions made by David Harvey to understanding the new forms of imperialism and Karl Polanyi’s critique of the all-sufficient, self-correcting market. Both their contributions provide a framework to understand the rollout of the digital in India. The Indian State’s many digital entanglements reflect its ambitions to become a knowledge superpower, although, as this chapter argues, these ambitions sit uneasily within the multifaceted reality of an unevenly developing India and pressure from one of its strongest trade partners, the USA. India has developed extraordinary capacities in some areas such as satellites, but its complexities are a legion. This chapter argues that the rollout of the digital simply has to contend with the country’s many complexities.

The Politics and Geopolitics of Internet Governance

Internet governance (IG) became a global issue after the Snowden revelations that highlighted the fact that there was mass spying by privately owned companies on behalf of the NSA. This chapter deals with the politics of IG, the ambivalent nature of India’s shifting commitments to the multistakeholder model, and the role played by civil society in Internet politics in India against the background of ICANN’s own history and contemporary status. The Indian government’s position on IG is complex given that it has adopted both a statist attitude towards its governance and considered the ITU as a natural governor of the Internet, along with a position that is supportive of multistakeholderism, although this ethic is not reflected in its facilitation of civil society involvements at a local level.

The Expansion of Politics as Control

This chapter begins with an introduction to surveillance as both theory and practice, beginning in the era of the British Empire, followed by Foucauldian theory and the specific nature of digital surveillance in contemporary India. It explores the State’s many investments in the surveillance of its citizens against the reality of insufficient legal support for privacy. It highlights the complexities and compulsions of Aadhaar as well as the geopolitics of surveillance and India’s surveillance partnerships with the USA. It also explores the ambiguities of e-governance, the politics of transactional efficiencies against the creeping power of ‘code’, as well as the persistence of caste and other markers of identity that have made a comeback in the context of a resurgent nationalism in India.

Conclusion

This chapter provides a background to some of the challenges faced by the Indian State in its attempt to remain a sovereign nation in matters related to the digital. It specifically highlights the IP challenges that it faces, and also illustrates Indian successes in the digital realm. Simultaneously, it highlights the fact that poverty, the agrarian crisis, Maoism, and other ruptures in Indian society cannot be wished away or solved with more injections of technology and the digital. The chapter attempts to ground India’s tryst with the digital within its local politics and geopolitical compulsions, but also importantly against its contemporary political economy and reality of uneven development. It argues that India’s digital future, to an extent, will depend on how best it invests in bridging other divides in the society.

The WIPO Treaty for the Visually Impaired as a Double Movement

The WIPO Treaty for the Visually Impaired was preceded by the Indian government amending its copyright laws in support of the rights of the visually impaired. This chapter explores the nature of Indian advocacy in relation to one of the best global success stories linked to the expansion of communication rights. The chapter highlights issues related to access to knowledge against the background of global media advocacy, beginning with the MacBride Report and the WSIS. It highlights the role of the Indian State in both national and global advocacy—its commitment to the rights of people with disabilities in the context of the ‘book famine’, in contrast with countries such as the USA and the regional bloc, the EU, that opted to support the interests of the copyright industries. It uses Polanyi’s concept of the ‘double movement’ to illustrate the State’s role in correcting an imperfect market.

Digital (Transgenic) Seed and Its Copy

The politics of digital seed in India is one of the best illustrations of the fact that it is inherently difficult to contain any product that has been digitally processed. This chapter explores digital seed in India within the attempt to privatize seeds by companies such as Monsanto. Both seed and the turn towards precision agriculture can be seen as attempts to control the independence and sovereignty of farmers in India and curb their autonomy. This chapter deals with digital seed in the context of the farming crisis in India and highlights the spread of ‘copy seed’ and the virtual impossibility of curbing its use. Farmers are an extremely important vote bank and no government can risk alienating this sector. This chapter provides a succinct introduction to the global political economy of seed and precision agriculture and its rollout in India.