New rules that aim to protect the openness of the Internet will allow telecom and cable groups to prioritize and earn potentially vast income from some types of data, setting up likely clashes with regulators in the future. Telecom companies such as AT&T and Vodafone have convinced US and European regulators, finalizing so-called “net neutrality”…
The Dutch Sim card maker at the centre of NSA-GCHQ hacking claims has said it believes that the US and UK cyberspy agencies did indeed launch attacks on its computer systems. However, Gemalto denied that billions of mobile device encryption keys could have been stolen as a result. The Intercept alleged last week that spies…
US and British intelligence agencies hacked into a major manufacturer of Sim cards in order to steal codes that facilitate eavesdropping on mobiles, a US news website says. The Intercept says the revelations came from US intelligence contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Dutch company allegedly targeted – Gemalto – says it is taking the…
In any community, festivals are an important showcase of culture and creativity, and the cornerstone of economic development strategies to attract tourists. But governments often lack the tools necessary to measure the full impact of such multi-faceted events. A new publication from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics aims to fill the gap. Festival Statistics: Key concepts…
The transnational and multi-dimensional nature of Cyberspace and its growing importance presents new frontiers with unparalleled opportunities and challenges for access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethics.
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In a blow to transparency, the PMO has decided to block public access to the wealth declarations made by ministers. The details of assets and liabilities of the union council of ministers has been available online since 2010. However, the details are now password protected and can only be accessed by the authorized personnel. In…
Justifying retention of penal provision of Section 66A of Information Technology Act for posting offensive material on social networking sites, the Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that reach and impact of internet was wider and the level of restriction on this medium should be higher in comparison to print and television. Unlike print…
The footsteps of fascism can be heard – this time in the hallowed hallways of the national capital’s courts. A woman who filed an FIR against a man physically threatening her for her anti-Modi Facebook posts, found to her dismay that the Metropolitan Magistrate in the Tis Hazari courts let off the man accused of…
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…
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. But…