News & Media
Live Chat: Win for Free Speech
Join us for a live chat at 5.30 pm on SC striking down the Section 66A of the IT Act which had permitted the arrest of people for posting "offensive content" on the internet.
IT Leaders, Lawyers Welcome SC Ruling on 66A of the IT Act
The Supreme Court of India has delivered a landmark judgment in scrapping section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which prescribed 'punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.' and had been branded as grossly 'unconstitutional' by various lawyers and legal advisors.
Indian Court Strikes Down Section of Law Punishing Offensive Posts
The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a section of a law that allowed the authorities to jail people for offensive online posts, in a judgment that was regarded as a landmark ruling on free speech in India.
What the experts said on live chat
Three eminent panellists shared their views and answered questions from readers on the Supreme Court verdict striking down Section 66 A of the IT Act that allowed the arrest of people posting “offensive content” on the Internet, in a live chat hosted by The Hindu.
India’s Supreme Court strikes down law that led to arrests over Facebook posts
Judge rules that section of the information technology law was unconstitutional, had wrongly swept up innocent people and had a ‘chilling’ effect on free speech.
India High Court: No Takedown Requests On Social Sites Without Court, Gov't Order
Indian police will no longer be able to threaten Internet users and online intermediaries with jail merely on the basis of a complaint that they have posted “offensive” posts online.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 66A Of IT Act
In a major boost to freedom of speech online in India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, reading down a draconian law that was poorly conceived, tragically worded and caused ordinary citizens to be jailed for so much as a comment on Facebook that annoyed just about anyone.
Indian Supreme Court Overturns Law Barring ‘Offensive Messages’ Online
India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down legislation barring “offensive messages” online, saying it violated constitutional guarantees of free expression.
‘A safe Internet and a free Internet can co-exist’
Striking down of 66A kicked off celebrations in the IT capital.
Netizens Rejoice Over SC Ruling to Keep the Net Free
The Supreme Court ruling to strike down Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act has been welcomed by the city’s netizens.
Internet becomes vernacular with relaunch of e-bhasha
With the relaunch of e-bhasha as a mission mode project, there is a fresh urgency to create content and technical solutions in Indian languages.
India's plan to offer citizens digital lockers poses a privacy threat, say experts
The Indian government launched a test version of a service called the digital locker last month that allows citizens to store scanned versions of important documents online, something that experts say poses a serious threat to people’s privacy.
Tech Law Form @ NALSAR
The event was organized by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad on March 7 and 8, 2015. Geetha Hariharan participated as a speaker. She gave a lecture on Perspectives on Internet Governance.
Delhi Govt Sets Up WiFi Task Force
Delhi government is believed to have set up a task force to enable WiFi in the city. The task force, which has been recently constituted, includes entrepreneur and start-up advisor Mahesh Murthy, Medianama founder Nikhil Pahwa and Center for Internet Society director Pranesh Prakash, as per a report by PTI.
Live Chat: Aadhaar: An identity crisis?
The Aadhaar card is not compulsory for citizens and "no person should be denied any benefits or ‘suffer’ for not having the Aadhaar cards issued by Unique Identification Authority of India," the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
If you thought India is a country where freedom of speech and expression are fundamental rights, think twice!
Having contributed significantly in growing pollution and corruption indices, there's one place where India seems to hold the top spot is: imposing restrictions on social media contents. There have been over 5,800 restriction requests recorded in the second half of 2014, as per Facebook's Government Requests Report.
India tops list of content restrictions requests, says Facebook
India has again topped the list of content restriction requests in the second half of 2014 with over 5,800 requests recorded in Facebook's Government Requests Report released on Sunday.
Roundtable on ICANN Accountability
The roundtable was organised by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), National Internet Exchange of India and Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi at the Indian International Centre, New Delhi on 13 March 2015. Geetha Hariharan participated in the roundtable.
Uploaded and blocked, a daylong battle rages on the web over BBC documentary
It was a daylong tussle between uploads and takedowns. Netizens kept uploading the controversial BBC documentary, 'India's Daughter', on video-sharing websites even as several of them were blocked within hours on Thursday. By 9pm, the hour-long film had been removed from at least four locations on YouTube. One of them had already gathered over 1.04 lakh views by then. The documentary which deals with the December 16 Nirbhaya rape case was still available on another video-sharing website, dailymotion.com, where two of three such uploads even had an advertisement preceding the video. It could also be seen on vimeo.com, another video-sharing service.
Vox Pol Workshop on the Role of Social Media and Internet Companies in Responding to Violent Online Extremism
On March 5-6, 2015, the VOX-Pol network convened a workshop at Central European University in Budapest on the role of social media and internet companies in responding to violent online political extremism and the impacts on freedom of expression.
