by sflc_admin | February 7, 2017 In the last few years, India has witnessed a constant increase in the instances of Internet shutdowns in the country. These incidents point to the issuance of orders mostly by State Governments to block mobile and/or fixed line Internet services in an attempt to curb...

Introduction In 2008, Sabu Matthew George, an activist, filed a writ petition to ban ‘advertisements’ relating to pre-natal sex determination from search engines in India. According to the petitioner, the display of these results violated Section 22 of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation...

by sflc_admin | February 2, 2017 4CCon (Collaboration, Contribution, Community and Commons Conference), the second national conference by Free Software Movement of India (FSMI) took place from 26 January 2017 to 28 January 2017. The first day was for pre-conference workshops, and the second and thir...

The pending right to be forgotten petition came up for hearing before the Delhi High Court today. The case seeks the deletion of a court order, which has been reproduced on the website Indiankanoon.com, on the ground that it violates the petitioners’ right to privacy and reputation. This post looks ...

Sowmya Karun In a previous post , we critically examined the legislative and institutional framework for the protection of critical information infrastructures (“ CIIs ”) in India. The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (“ NCIIPC ”) has since revamped its website . This i...

Sidharth Deb* Since the announcement of India’s demonetisation policy, there has been a rapid surge in the number of online wallet transactions. The reasons for this are twofold: Cash scarcity; and The convenience afforded to consumers through e-wallet/online wallet services In furtherance of the po...

Last week, the Supreme Court admitted a petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s judgment upholding WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy. The revised policy allows it to share user data with its parent company, Facebook. While the petitioners were granted some relief, the High Court refused to consi...

by sflc_admin | January 25, 2017 We are partnering with FSMI in organizing 4Ccon , FSMI’s second national conference on free software. We will be there to talk and discuss about the state of the affairs in the fight against Software Patents, our ongoing work on Internet Shutdowns and of course, free...

By Smitha Krishna Prasad The Delhi High Court recently reversed a long standing order which implied that intermediaries such as social media platforms would be liable for third party content. Part I of this two-part series, discusses the background to the case, some relevant legal provisions, and th...

by sflc_admin | January 7, 2017 The 11th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held from 6th to 9th December, 2016 in Jalisco, Mexico, with the overall theme of “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”. The mandate for the IGF is contained in 2005′s Tunis Agenda of the World Summit on the In...

by sflc_admin | January 5, 2017 SWAYAM, the national Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) project established by Ministry of Human Rights Development (MHRD), is a laudatory effort set to serve as a source for courses related to all fields from high school to post graduation . This one stop destinatio...

by sflc_admin | January 5, 2017 The development of Aadhaar over the years has opened a Pandora’s box of litigations against its various claims and processes that range on the spectrum from privacy rights to compulsory carrying of Aadhaar cards by drivers . Prior to the drafting and operation of the ...

The 11 th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held earlier this month in Guadalajara, Mexico. Established as a result of the Tunis Agenda , the IGF provides a space for discussing issues relating to the internet, where stakeholders can engage on an equal footing. Though it is not a decision-making f...

This post discusses the Supreme Court’s order mandating playing of the national anthem in all movie theatres and the incongruities that emerge from it vis-à-vis freedom of expression. The post seeks to highlight the fundamental problem of making patriotism a forced expression. In a widely criticized...

In April 2016, two directives issued by two separate state governments in India made social media group administrators (‘administrators’) liable for content circulated by other members of the group. This came in the wake of a series of arrests in India for content posted on WhatsApp. This included a...

by Dhruv Somayajula* In this second part of our two post series on the Internet of Things, Dhruv examines the policy framework in India to analyse its applicability to the Internet of Things. In a previous post , we discussed the definition of the ‘Internet of Things’ (“ IoT ”), its uses and applica...

This post discusses the regulatory challenges that emerge from the changing nature of Facebook and other social networking websites Facebook has recently faced a lot of criticism for circulating fake news and for knowingly suppressing user opinions during the 2016 U.S. elections. The social media we...

Earlier, all online transactions through credit / debit cards issued in India were subject to a mandatory ‘second factor authorization’. Reserve Bank of India directs that this additional factor authorization requirement may be relaxed, at the option of the customer, for transactions of up to INR 2,...

By Smitha Krishna Prasad Medical and health records are increasingly digitised, and ease of access is considered one of the key benefits of this trend. However, patient privacy and security of such records are important concerns that need to be addressed both under the existing legal framework, and ...

The National Crime Records Bureau released their annual “ Crime in India ” report for the year 2015 earlier this year. This post analyses the trends in cybercrime traced through the report. The National Crime Records Bureau (“NCRB”) released their annual “ Crime in India ” report (“NCRB Report, or “...