"Indian authorities appear to be unnerved by the explosion of the Internet, and have stumbled in their efforts to regulate it." - Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the Indian government to institute process for independent review and bring transparency to Internet blocking in India. In a sharply worded 108 page report on how India stifles free speech and dissent, which even calls for training judges peaceful expression standards, HRW also highlights curbs on free expression online, saying that laws such as India's IT Act, "can and do easily become tools to criminalize speech, often to protect powerful political figures," and while pointing to the Supreme Court judgment on Section 66A, it says that "any new laws should be consistent with the safeguards set forth in the court’s ruling and with international human rights standards." Internet specific issues raised 1. Issues related to blocking of Government sites: The blocking rules (under Section 69A of the IT Act) allow the central government to direct any agency or intermediary (ISPs, Websites etc) to block access to information, and if they fail to comply, they can be punished with fines and up to seven years in prison. Intermediaries don't raise objections: Even though the blocking rules allow the intermediary to raise objections, this rarely happens. Grounds for blocking not specified: The government doesn't specify grounds on which the content is being blocked, and asks for the orders to be kept confidential; ISPs can't even disclose the number of websites blocked. There's no provision for appeal. Lack of transparency with…
