‘National effort required to prevent the knowledge inside Indian libraries from disintegrating’ Premium

He points out how Gandhi himself wrote a letter in 1930 to Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India, informing him of his plans to begin the Dandi March and defy the Salt Laws. Malamud, a staunch believer in nonviolence, believes it’s important to have a story and explain why you are doing a certain thing. He’d like to consider himself a civil servant. 

After his 20-minute long talk at the Underline Center in Bengaluru, Carl Malamud, technologist and public domain advocate who took on the Indian government to make the building codes accessible, gets addressed as the ‘original internet pirate.’ 

“I’m not a pirate,” he corrects, and explains why. 

In the years 2012 and 2013, Malamud bought over 18,000 Indian Standards from the Bureau of Indian Standards spending more than $10,000 and published them online. And then, he wrote a letter to the Bureau. 

“You will be delighted to know that more people have access to your standards,” the letter read.  “They were not delighted,” Malamud laughs. 

A legal battle ensued. A few years later, BIS published most standards on its website for free. The petition in court was withdrawn. Nowhere during this process, Malamud chose to hide behind anonymity, unlike a pirate.  

“I’ve learned a lot from not only Gandhi but also from Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. There is a way to question authority and to make change,” says the self-proclaimed Gandhian.

He points out how Gandhi himself wrote a letter in 1930 to Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India, informing him of his plans to begin the Dandi March and defy the Salt Laws. Malamud, a staunch believer in nonviolence, believes it’s important to have a story and explain why you are doing a certain thing. He’d like to consider himself a civil servant.