Centre for Internet and Society

Draft IT guidelines may gag internet freedom

praskrishna — 2011-03-22T04:16:54Z

The draft rules proposed under the Information Technology Rules 2011 (due diligence observed by intermediaries guidelines) by the Indian government could lead to unprecedented levels of online censorship. This article by Shilpa Phadnis and Pranav Nambiar was published in the Times of India on March 11, 2011.

Intermediaries include telecommunications companies, internet service providers (ISPs) and blogging sites. Under the draft rules, intermediaries will have to notify users of their computer resource not to use, display, upload, publish, share or store a variety of `objectionable' content.

This includes infringement of proprietary information, blasphemy or abuse, information that could harm minors, content that impersonates another person or discloses sensitive personal information etc.

Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Centre for Internet and Society, said that these moves would have a chilling effect on internet freedom. For example Sec 3 (2)(a) states that any website with social media integrated into it and allows public to add content comes under the blanket surveillance regime. Sec 3 (h), which talks about impersonating another person, will potentially discourage cases like the fake IPL player who revealed rich information while keeping his real identity under wraps.

The draft rules use a standard set of rules across a variety of intermediaries including telecom service providers, blogging sites, online payment sites, e-mail service providers, and Web hosting companies.

Abraham believes that the government is explicitly targeting bloggers as a community and the draft rules are far from being tech neutral. "The government has come out with standard terms of use for due diligence. But you can't treat a small blogger on par with others who have large-scale commercial interests," he said.

According to the draft rules, an intermediary has to inform users that in case of non-compliance of its terms of use of the services and privacy policy, it has the right to immediately terminate the access rights of the users to its site. In case of infringement, the intermediary has to work with the user or owner of the information to remove access to the information.

Apar Gupta, partner in Accendo Law Partners, said intermediaries like blogs and search engines would have censorship powers. "It will not directly impeach the freedom of speech and expression. But intermediaries have to comply with some certain standards such as notify users on compliance issues,"he said.

Click below to find the original article in the Times of India

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For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/it-guidelines-gag-internet-freedom

Draft Bill on Right to Privacy

praskrishna — 2012-01-30T11:57:25Z

The Right to Privacy Bill.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/draft-bill-on-right-to-privacy

Draft Annual Report (2010-11)

praskrishna — 2014-10-21T23:55:55Z

This is the draft of the 2010-11 Annual Report.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/reports/annual-report-2010-2011.pdf

Draft Agenda

praskrishna — 2011-02-28T14:44:52Z

word file

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/freedom-expression-agenda

Dr. Surendra Pal

praskrishna — 2012-06-27T06:27:16Z

Dr.Surendra Pal is the associate director of the Indian Space Research Organization’s Satellite Centre and Programme Director of ISRO’s Satellite Navigation Program.

Pioneering the creation of India’s satellite navigation and communications systems, Dr. Pal was in charge of the design, development, and the fabrication of spacecraft-related telecommunication systems for all Indian scientific, remote-sensing and communication satellites. Further, he established essential satellite-based navigation schemes in India, such as developing the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) and GPS Aided and Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN).

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/surendra-pal

Dr. Rakesh Mehrotra

praskrishna — 2012-08-05T14:41:14Z

Dr.Rakesh Mehrotra has more than 30 years of experience in Telecom Operations, DTH Broadcasting, GMPCS and Satellite, Software Application, Global IT Solutions, and Mobile Communication Networks. He was the Ex-President, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Ex-VP ASC Enterprises Ltd (Zee TV), Ex-GM & COO, Crompton Greaves.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/rakesh-mehrotra

Dr. Pavanaja Featured in Vijayavani

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T07:49:55Z

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was invited to the office of Vijayavani, Kannada daily. Vijayavani runs a programme in which a celebrity will be invited to their office and have informal discussions with them. Later a lead article based on that discussions will be generated. The article which featured Dr. Pavanaja was published on November 16, 2015.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/dr-pavanaja-featured-in-vijayavani

Dr. Nishant Shah

praskrishna — 2014-03-31T12:11:56Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/dr-nishant-shah.pdf

Dr. Nadeem Akhtar

praskrishna — 2012-06-27T06:59:40Z

Dr. Nadeem Akhtar is currently working as Principal Research Engineer at the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT). He leads the network layer research team at CEWiT and also represents CEWiT at 3GPP Radio Access Networks Working Group meetings. His research interests lie in the field of mobile and broadband wireless access technologies. Dr. Akhtar is a member of IEEE Standards Association and ITU-APT Foundation of India.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/nadeem-akhtar