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India’s Internet Control Rules Finalized; Blasphemy?

If there's a segment that indicates how poorly thought out India's finalized Internet control rules are, it is sub-rule 2 and 4 of the segment pertaining to Intermediaries in the country's finalized Information Technology rules: the first of which defines what actions by a user can result in the removal of content (via intermediaries like ISPs, hosting service providers and social networks), and the latter, which defines who can get the content removed, and how. You can find a copy of the final rules here (pdf, specifically between page 11 and 14), and an annotated version of the Intermediary guidelines here, and there are significant changes. In our opinion, these rules give the Indian government the ability to gag free speech, and block any website it deems fit, without publicly disclosing why sites have been blocked, who took the decision to block it, and just as importantly, providing adequate recourse to blogs, sites and online and mobile businesses, for getting the block removed. These rules are applicable to intermediaries, through which access to content will be controlled It is a set of rules that we think is manipulative in its approach, but clearly in line with a pattern we have observed with government regulations relating to digital activity, what we like to call the troika of paranoia - increasing monitoring, identification and the power to restrict/block; 7,500 to 9,000 orders for interception of telephones per month is not a joke. If you think it's unlikely that any well known large sites might be…

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Written By

Founder @ MediaNama. TED Fellow. Asia21 Fellow @ Asia Society. Co-founder SaveTheInternet.in and Internet Freedom Foundation. Advisory board @ CyberBRICS

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