Recent revelations in the Hindu have raised concerns over the extraordinary extent of domestic surveillance online, without any legal and procedural framework to protect privacy.
The criminalisation of online speech in India is of concern as the authorities have prosecuted legitimate political comment online and personal views expressed on social media.
Since 2003, the institutional structure of internet censorship and filtering has centred on the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT), a department of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that serves as a nodal agency for accepting and reviewing requests from a designated pool of government officials to block access to specific websites.
Just days before the United Nation’s led Internet Governance Forum in Indonesia, India, held its own – and first of its kind – conference on cyber governance and cyber security, Mahima Kaul writes
The regulation of social media in India has been a subject of great controversy, Mahima Kaul writes
India’s Right To Information act is being challenged by questions of privacy protection, Mahima Kaul reports
In the aftermath of a murder of a delivery driver and discovery of explosive devices in his van, a small underground group took responsibility, but news editors refused to carry the group’s statement, leading to a print blackout in Manipur. Mahima Kaul reports
In an unprecedented move, the heads of India’s three major media regulators, all retired judges, sat on a single platform with the current Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, to discuss the way forward for media regulation. Mahima Kaul reports
The New Delhi High Court has given Facebook and Google one month to submit suggestions on how minors can be protected online in India. Mahima Kaul reports
As talk in India turns to media plurality and regulation, attention is turning to murky ownership structures and monopolistic practices. Mahima Kaul reports
Index, in partnership with the European Council on Foreign Relations, held a debate launching the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, with a special report on The Multipolar Challenges to Freedom of Expression
Two surveillance entities are being set up to monitor Indian citizens’ communications, Mahima Kaul writes
