IAMAI to identify objectionable content on Internet: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The government has given the task of identifying objectionable content on the Internet to industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed Parliament on Friday. “Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an association of content providers, has been mandated to prepare a list of objectionable sites, particularly…

Delhi asks for blocking of Uber app

Delhi transport authorities have asked the central government to block the Uber app, saying that the cab aggregator has been operating illegally in the capital. The city government had banned Uber in December after one of its drivers was charged with raping a passenger, but it resumed operations just weeks later. The US-based company has…

Netizens tweet #No66A as government insists that the internet needs to be censored

When the previous Congress-led government started using section 66A of the Information Technology Act to suppress dissent, it received plenty of flak from the opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s supporters compared the government’s actions to strategies implemented during the Emergency and the leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley told Parliament that this amounted to excessive censorship. Read…

Breaking Down Section 66A of the IT Act

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which prescribes ‘punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.’ is widely held by lawyers and legal academics to be unconstitutional. In this post Pranesh Prakash explores why that section is unconstitutional, how it came to be, the state of the law elsewhere, and how we can…

Facebook may try out solar-powered planes and satellites as part of government’s Digital India plan

Facebook is open to testing pilot alternative technologies such as solar-powered planes and satellites in India to provide broadband connectivity as the world’s biggest social network looks at ways to participate in the government’s Rs 1.13-lakh crore Digital India programme. “The government is going great in adopting broadband connectivity for delivering services to citizens,” Chris Daniels, vice-president (products)…

e-governance kiosks evoke good response

The e-governance kiosks launched in the eight taluks of the district has come as a boon to the people of the district. Ten days after the launch of the scheme by the Fisheries Minister, K.A.Jayapal, in Nagapattinam, as many as 20,250 people have registered for obtaining various certificates from the revenue and social welfare departments.…

Freedom Of Speech vs Section 66A

Documentaries blocked, books banned, cartoonists jailed and ordinary citizens arrested for irreverent tweets and Facebook posts. It is a systematic attack on our freedom of speech, by governments old and new, and the ammunition has been provided by Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act. The most recent victim – a Mumbai based standup…