On August 21, 2012, the Indian Government asked ISP’s to block 245 webpages with inflammatory and hateful content, following the exodus of a large number of people belonging to the North Eastern ethnic community from cities like Bangalore and Pune, among others. Here's a round up of opinions on Internet Freedom. We will continue updating this post as we come across more such opinions. - August 31, 2012: The Supreme Court today refused to hear a plea challenging the decision of the Centre and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block some websites to prevent piracy of commercial content. The petitioner, Jiten Kumar Jain, has been directed to approach the Delhi High Court. Read more. * August 29, 2012: Software Freedom Law Center talks about Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 that provides the Central Government, the power to block access by the public of any information, to maintain public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offense amongst other things. It also points out that any such direction for blocking can only be given by the Secretary, Department of Information Technology, on a recommendation made by a Designated officer in an emergent situation. However, it points out that the communications for the recent ban on social networking sites were signed by a Director (DS-II)of the Department of Telecommunications and not a Joint Secretary. It also states that various Civil Society organizations including Sflc.in have been trying to help GoI, DIT in particular, in making responsible policies with…
