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Saturday 22 July 2017

What Business Are You In ?

For the entire Telecom Industry , the one lesson they must learn after the latest announcement of Shri Mukesh Ambani , is what Ted Levitt wrote in his seminal essay ( Marketing Myopia / 1960 ) :

" What business are you in ? If you don't make yourself obsolete , someone else will "

He went on to quote the example of the US Railroads , who thought they were in the “ RAILROAD BUSINESS “

Along came Henry Ford with his Model T , saying : I am in the business of TRANSPORTING PEOPLE

And made the railroads obsolete ( at least in USA ) , as far as PEOPLE BUSINESS was concerned !

I still cannot forget when I had a 30 minute one-to-one meeting with late Shri Dhirubhai Ambani , in February 1990 , when , for a short period , he was Chairman of L&T

I said :

Sir , I just resigned as General Manager ( Planning & Development ) of L&T , after working for 31 years

I was hoping that he would dissuade me from resigning

To my utter surprise , he said :

Very Good ! Despite being son of a Bania , why did you work for someone else for 31 years ?

Dhandho Karo ( Start your own business ) . If you need funds , just tell me . I keep a separate fund for people from Saurashtra

The he explained to me in details , his plans for a backward integration of his business :

" From Fabric to Yarn to Petro-Chemicals ( which are basic raw materials for synthetic yarn ) to Refining to Production to Exploration of Oil "

It is high time for the giants of Telecom Industry to ask of themselves :

WHAT BUSINESS ARE WE IN ?

Are we in the business of “ MOBILE TELEPHONY “ or are we in the business of “ MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT “ ?

Then , after 5 years , what business should we be in ?

Should we continue to remain in “ MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT “ or should we consider ourselves in the business of “ MOBILE SOLUTIONS “ for ANY / EVERY problem faced by a user ?

And should we continue our “ Backward Integration “ into the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY or should we integrate with Start Ups in HEALTH-CARE / EDUCATION / EMPLOYMENT ?

The writing is on the Wall – for professional executives who can read !

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23 July 2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Privacy does not live here !

Once upon a time it did , but no more

A time when people lived on the ground and visited each other in their offices to conduct business or in their homes for small talk

Then around 1981 , came IBM PC ( and clones called, “ IBM Compatibles “ ) , followed by Internet around 1990

That started the deluge !

· E-Mailing / Messaging Apps ( one – to – one / one – to – many )

· Search Engines / Job Portals

· Social Media sites / E Commerce sites / Aggregation sites of every type

· Hardware ( Smart phones / Tablets / Laptops / Wrist Bands )

· Spiders / Crawlers / Cookies / Mobile Apps / Chat Bots

· Headsets ( AR / VR ) / Hepatic Gloves / Holograms / Google Glasses

· Artificial Intelligence / Cloud / IP V.6

· Robots ( to give me medicines or keep me company in 85^th year of life )

And , with or without my permission , these “ apparitions / contraptions “ captured – and made available for everyone to view – EVERYTHING about me ( - for monetary considerations or in exchange for INFORMATION about the users ! )

This was information about me , which , until their arrival , was known to only a few .

Information such as :

· Who I am ( name )

· Where and when, I was born / who were my parents

· Where I grew up / where I live currently

· Do I live in a rented place or in an owned flat

· What Schools / Colleges I attended ( - and degrees I acquired )

· What Companies I worked for and salaries I got

· How I travel to work ( own vehicle or public transport )

· Where I go for my holidays / what books I read

· Who I married and who are my children ( - and how many )

· If divorced , how much alimony I pay and to whom

· Where I invest my money ( Banks – Funds – Equity etc )

· How much I have borrowed from whom and for how long

· My Credit ranking ( including my spending history / card wise – wallet wise )

· What are my eating ( food ) preferences and the restaurants I visit

· What I do for entertainment ( Music / Movies / Videos )

· What clothes I wear and how often do I buy

· Who are my friends and how often I phone / text them / meet them

· What ailments I suffer from and what medicines I take

· What minor offences ( traffic ) or crimes that I have committed

· What elections I have contested ( won and lost )

· Who are my doctors / lawyers / brokers / agents etc

· What web sites I visit and how often and for how long

· What do I search on the Net / What RSS feeds I subscribe to

· What TV channels I watch and Radio Stations that I listen to

· Every photo of mine ever taken ( selfie or otherwise )

· Every phone call that I ever made or received

· Every Email / Text message that I ever sent or received

· Every blog / comment that I ever posted on the Web

· Every face-to-face communication that I engaged in

And when that ( dreaded ? ) SINGULARITY arrives ( when Computer / Internet / Artificial Intelligence combination , is expected to get smarter than the human beings ) , expect the following :

· Even things about me , which I may have left out in the above list , will be known to the GOD( Give Our Data ) residing in the CLOUD (no need for any permission )

· That O3 ( Omnipresent / Omniscient / Omnipotent ) , will dictate my life

· Hopefully , O3 will be governed by Issac Asimov’s “ 3 Laws of Robotics “

· ARIHANT will ensure the survival of HUMANITY

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/10/fast-forward-to-future-3-f.html

Postman does not knock at my door anymore

He knows , “ Privacy does not live here “

22 July 2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Wednesday 19 July 2017

#RighttoPrivacy ! Thank You Your Honours !

Thank you Your Honours ,

Thank you for taking time out to read my following E mail sent to you [ supremecourt@nic.in ], yesterday morning .

Privacy? Parish the Thought !

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/privacy-parish-thought.html

Today’s Hindustan Times [ 20 July ], carries following report :

“ Right to Privacy isn’t absolute, observes the Supreme Court “

A rare 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court said the RIGHT TO PRIVACY IS NOT ABSOLUTE, making its first observations on Wednesday as it began hearing on an issue that could have a sweeping impact on issues such as the Aadhaar scheme and the law criminalising homosexuality.

The bench began the process to decide if privacy can be regarded as a fundamental right guaranteed to all Indians, a question that arose from the legal challenge to the Aadhaar programme that activists say impinges on the right to privacy.

“ If privacy is about right to make a choice, then choice in what areas ? Family, sexual orientation, gender identity, surveillance, what all? ” , it observed.

In addition to the Section 377 case, the SC’s ruling on privacy will impact a case against mobile communication application WhatsApp in which petitioners have opposed its policy to share user data with its parent Facebook.

‘ NEED TO DEFINE PRIVACY ’

During the hearing the bench felt that right to privacy was too “amorphous” a term and said that to recognise privacy as a definite right, it had to first define it.

“How do we DEFINE privacy ?

What are its CONTENTS ?

Its CONTOURS ?

How can the State REGULATE privacy ?

What OBLIGATIONS does the State have to PROTECT a person’s privacy ? ”

Justice Chandrachud asked the lawyers representing petitioners in Aadhaar case.

AN ATTEMPT TO DEFINE THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY MAY CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD, the bench said.

The observations may or may not be a part of the court’s final ruling.

Justice Chandrachud also posed several questions on data protection in the age of social media, saying ,

· SOCIAL MEDIA did not exist when the CONSTITUTION was made.

· IF PEOPLE HAVE PUT THEMSELVES IN THE PUBLIC REALM USING TECHNOLOGY, IS THAT NOT A SURRENDER OF THEIR RIGHT TO PRIVACY?,” the judge said, asking if right to privacy is non-negotiable.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan placed before the bench a statement made by a minister in March admitting privacy was “probably a fundamental right” and “part of individual liberty.”

Divan said in the internet age, one should have the right of “ informational self-determination ”. “ I should know how much I should put forward and not be compelled,” he submitted.

He complained there was hardly any data protection in this digital age, leading to a compromise in privacy.

Former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium said right to liberty and lead a life of dignity includes the right to privacy.

“The right to liberty means the right to make personal choices, the right to develop one’s personality, one’s aura, one’s thinking and actions, the freedom of religion and conscience, the freedom to believe or not believe,” he told the bench, which will continue hearing the case on Thursday.

Thank you Your Honours ;

Thank you for making me , a “ party ( in absentia ) to the on-going litigation “

My humble submission :

· If those who drafted our Constitution in 1947 , could not have foreseen the CONTOURS that SOCIAL MEDIA will acquire in 2017 , it was understandable

· But in 2017 , when 10 year old children are coding Mobile Apps employing Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality / Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Neural Networks / Hepatic Interfaces / Holographic Projections etc , would anyone understand if lawyers / jurists ( of this Software Super Power , India ), decided to bury their heads in the sand , hoping that they will , somehow escape getting buried under the inevitable Sand Storm of TECHNOLOGY ?

20 July 2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Tuesday 18 July 2017

Privacy ? Perish the Thought !

Following is an extract from ( Economic Times / 18 July ) :

Vidhi to help in Data Shield Law

MEITY ( Ministry of Electronics and IT ) , is working on drafting a law on Data Protection

· In this , it is being helped by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy [ arghya.sengupta@gmail.com / vidhi@vidhilegalpolicy.in ]

· MEITY will also seek help from eminent jurists and lawyers of the country

· There will be a larger stake-holder discussion exercise after release of the first draft

· Arghya Sengupta ( Founder of Vidhi ) said :

“ Aadhaar is only one part of this eco-system which is admittedly becoming larger

There is an issue with regard to what the private operators are doing with the citizens’ data , every time people sign onto an app and it asks for multiple permissions to access photos etc

I have little hesitation in admitting that successive generations will possibly think that we were fools that every time we downloaded an application, we signed away our rights

So , there is a larger question which is not just an Aadhaar related question but in terms of who owns our data and what happens with personal data that is shared

That is the framework that we need and that’s essential the need of the hour

Be it Governments, individuals or any private entity – any entity that processes large data should have some obligation with respect to data handling

The legislation should have rules pertaining to obligation of data handlers , ways of collection of data , its use , and do’s and don’ts for any kind of onward sharing

“

MY TAKE :

· In the drafting team , besides Jurists and Lawyers , include some Data Scientists

· Get this team to agree on the definitions / meanings of the following TERMS , before releasing of that FIRST draft :

# Private

# Data

# App

# Permission

# Access

# Download

# Sign

# Rights

# Own

# Personal

# Share

# Entity

# Processing

# Obligation

# Handling

# Collection

# Use

· Already the line delimiting the HARDWARE from SOFTWARE is getting blurred ( eg : storing data in DNA or STEM CELLS )

· Technology has ( almost ) evolved to the point where there is NO NEED to ask any PERMISSION from anyone ( who is creating – processing – handling etc of data ).

Any device that you carry or wear , will automatically transmit your every single THOUGHT to a CENTRAL SERVER !

And that ARIHANT will also SAVE the humanity from Artificial Intelligence !

· Under Internet of Things ( IoT ) , each living human will get assigned 50,000 TRILLION , unique IP Addresses , under IP V 6.0 ( including for that packet of food we eat and that bottle of water we drink ! ) – that is 10 BILLION IP addresses for each hair on our bodies !

· We will be “ Watched / Measured / Imaged / Listened to / Analysed / Administered / Governed “ , every second of our lives ( - and no one will even ask for any permission ! )

Anyone wearing an AR / VR device ( which will be everyone ! ) , will know who we are and what we are doing , at ANY MOMENT !

· The Omnipresent CLOUD will tell us , what we should NEED and what we should DESIRE and where we should TRAVEL and what we should SEE ! May be , even how long we should LIVE !

A 9 Judge bench of the Supreme Court [ supremecourt@nic.in ] , has been set up to decide whether “ Right to Privacy “ is ( or is not ) , a Constitutional Right of Indian citizens

I urge the Hon Judges to invite some eminent “ DATA SCIENTISTS “ for deposing their technical views on this subject , before passing their order

After reading my following blogs , Hon Judges might want to ask them :

“ Will technology render India’s Constitution , irrelevant ? If yes , how soon ? “