How the Modi government’s new IT rules jeopardise the right to privacy and free speech

The Centre’s recent attempts to provide clarification over the notification fail to allay concerns raised by civil society, tech companies and internet users.

Namrata Maheshwari

, 

Ria Singh Sawhney

 & 

Akhil Thomas

· Nov 22, 2021 · 07:30 am

How social media platforms are silencing Palestinian voices

Facebook acknowledged it had inaccurately labelled certain words commonly used by Palestinians online as incitement to violence.

Kelly Lewis, The Conversation

· May 28, 2021 · 11:30 pm

Modi government’s new IT rules raise the question: Is India becoming China?

The rules are not an attack on American big tech – they are an attack on the internet, say experts.

Ananya Bhattacharya, qz.com

· May 28, 2021 · 01:30 pm

How Facebook’s No 2 executive silenced an enemy of Turkey to protect the tech giant’s business

Newly disclosed emails amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign show the platform’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg agreed to block a Kurdish group’s page.

Jack Gillum, ProPublica

 & 

Justin Elliott, ProPublica

· Feb 27, 2021 · 09:30 pm

Internet shutdowns don’t just hinder some apps – they undermine the very idea of democracy

The disputes about internet shutdowns raise basic questions about the future of human life itself.

Eben Moglen

· Feb 02, 2021 · 07:30 am

Internet freedom in India declined for the third straight year in 2019-’20, says democracy watchdog

The watchdog said India had the most number of internet shutdowns in the world, even excluding the ones in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Scroll Staff

· Oct 14, 2020 · 07:44 pm

Eight states have had internet shutdowns in last one month, Kashmir enters 135th day of blockade

The shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir is now the second longest such period in India ever.

Scroll Staff

· Dec 17, 2019 · 12:58 pm

Porn ban: Indians rise to the challenge by downloading virtual private networks

VPN downloads shot up 405% right after the ban last year.

Kuwar Singh, qz.com

· Dec 03, 2019 · 01:30 pm

No plans to censor online streaming platforms, Centre tells Rajya Sabha

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said the government is ‘committed to freedom of speech and expression and privacy of its citizens’.

Scroll Staff

· Nov 28, 2019 · 09:13 pm

Self-regulation: Streaming services are not the problem, so why are they trying to be a solution?

Thousands of people will be offended by something or the other. Are streaming platforms giving the hecklers a veto?

Nikhil Pahwa, medianama.com

· Jan 23, 2019 · 07:00 pm

Not quite the world wide web: How private firms are restricting internet access based on location

Private companies – many based in the US – are blocking access to their websites from particular countries around the world.

Allison McDonald, The Conversation

· Jan 03, 2019 · 09:30 pm

China’s cyber authority erases more than 9,800 social media accounts of independent news providers

The agency said the accounts were deleted for ‘spreading politically harmful information’ and ‘defaming the nation’s image’.

Scroll Staff

· Nov 13, 2018 · 12:31 pm