Proposals regarding Internet governance are bound to generate serious friction. The online world, after all, has provided enormous opportunities to billions of denizens, largely because it has never been governed. And yet, as the Internet grows in importance, so do the risks inherent in the lack of regulation. There is a growing danger that the…
During a recent visit to India, President of the United States of America spoke about religious intolerance in India. However this time around the US has some advise from nearly 100 countries including India and that is to set up a National Human Rights Institution in the wake of the death of a black man…
The government could disallow controversial ‘zero rating’ plans floated by companies in its final policy on net neutrality but could make an exemption for delivery of essential government services such as education and health on a preferential basis. “Zero rating plans that involve commercial arrangements at the back-end violate the idea of net neutrality as…
A bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said one cannot be allowed to use indecent language for “historically respected personalities like Mahatma Gandhi”. The bench upheld the Bombay High Court’s decision of not quashing charge of sale/publication of obscene books, framed against accused Devidas Ramchandra Tuljapurkar, saying freedom of speech and expression does…
Keeping the issue of the Marathi satirical poem on Mahatma Gandhi in mind, the Supreme Court on Thursday has said that freedom of speech has to be given a broad canvas but with limits. Marathi poet Vasant Dattatraya Gurjar had written a poem ‘Gandhi Mala Bhetala Hota’ (‘Gandhi Met Me’) in 1984. The Bank of…
It would be a very boring world if writers agreed with each other all the time. But it is a tragic world when writers disagree with each other on a fundamental principle. And that principle is the freedom to speak, even in the face of threat or violence. Earlier this week at a gala in…
A review of Shawn M. Powers and Michael Jablonski, The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom by Richard Hill 2, April 2015 This review was originally published in boundary 2, at:https://boundary2.org/2015/04/29/dissecting-the-internet-freedom-agenda/ Disclosure: the author of this review is thanked in the Preface of the reviewed book. Both radical civil society organizations and…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended his government’s decision to ban a controversial documentary film about the fatal gang rape of a woman in New Delhi, saying it was to ensure the dignity of the victim was protected. The film “India’s Daughter” – which features an interview with one of the men who raped…
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday came under sharp attack for his government’s controversial circular threatening action against the media for any defamatory news, with Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing him of being a “hypocrite” and “anti-democratic”. “When there is criticism of the government, when the wrongdoings of his government is exposed…
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday came under biting criticism for his government’s controversial circular threatening action against the media for any “defamatory news,” with the Congress and the BJP accusing him of being a “hypocrite” and “anti-democratic.” An official order issued by the Delhi government has directed the administration to bring in notice…