Introduction This post is a part of a series on online extremism, where we discuss the regulatory and legal issues surrounding the growing problem. This current post focuses counter-speech, which is one of the regulatory techniques. What is Counter Speech ? Counter-speech or counter narratives in co...
Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | November 2, 2016 In 2014, the Ministry of Human Rights Development (MHRD) announced the development of SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds), a national MOOC platform. Taking after the globally acclaimed MOOCs platforms such as edX and Coursera that run on o...
by Faiza Rahman Last week, a seven Judge bench of the Supreme Court commenced hearing the much-anticipated appeals to decide the scope of Sections 123 (3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 (“ RPA ”), arising out of the “ Hindutva cases” . However, on Tuesday, the Constitution bench caused a ...
Mr. Salman Khurshid, appearing on behalf of one of the Respondents in the first appeal commenced his arguments on the issue surrounding the interpretation of Sections 98 and 99 of the RPA. On the nature of the trial under Section 98, Mr. Khurshid submitted that it was a hybrid trial i.e. it had both...
The United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted in July 2016 highlights the need to counter extremist narratives online. In the recent past, extremist content, usually content aiding terrorist activity has become a global concern. This post examines the methods adopted by state authorities an...
Mr. Desai resumed his arguments from the previous day on the interplay of Sections 98 and 99 of the RPA. His submission has been that proceedings under Sections 98 and 99 are two independent and separate proceedings. According to him, proceedings under Sections 98 and 99 are civil in nature and are ...
Day 4 began with the constitutional bench rejecting a plea filed by an activist Ms Teesta Setalvad who requested the Court to redefine the meaning of ‘Hindutva’ as interpreted in the 1996 Manohar Joshi judgment and also sought a ban on the use of this term by the candidates while contesting election...
Introduction Online extremism and hate speech on the internet are growing global concerns. In 2015, the EU signed a code of conduct with social media companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter to effectively regulate hate speech on the internet. The code, amongst other measures, discussed stri...
By Aditi Prakash & Sthavi Asthana Parched is a story of four women: Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee) is a widow getting her 17 year old son, Gulab married to a young girl, Janaki (Leher Khan), who does not want to marry him. Lajjo (Radhika Apte) is a woman who is unable to conceive, and stuck in an...
Day 3 began with Mr. Shyam Divan’s arguments. He continued from the previous day and recapped the structure and scheme of his arguments. He began with the subject of corrupt practice and attempted to show how it has been dealt with by the Legislature over years. He tried to trace the legislative his...
Mr. Arvind P. Datar continued his arguments on Day 2. He commenced by referring to his earlier arguments from the previous day on the interplay of Sections 98 and 99 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 (‘RPA’) and reiterated the issues framed by the three judge bench mentioned here . He submit...
Today, a seven-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of India comprising of Chief Justice T.S Thakur and Justices Madan B. Lokur, S.A Bobde, A.K Goel, U.U Lalit, D.Y Chandrachud and L.N Rao commenced hearing a batch of petitions to examine whether appeals in the name of religion for votes ...
According to the National Cyber Security Co-ordinator, a national encryption policy is under consideration by the government and will be released soon . It has been reported that that the new policy will be designed to provide support to security agencies against terrorists, who are using tools like...
Evolution of the right and Global framework In the Internet age, when access to information is quick and easy, procuring personal information or past records about an individual is no longer a herculean task. The relevance of such information or the duration for which such data should be available f...
by sflc_admin | October 7, 2016 SFLC.in, in collaboration with iSPIRT (Indian Software Product Industry Round Table) organized a discussion on September 5, 2016 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, where we aimed to delve deeper into the technological components of the Aadhaar project and t...
by sflc_admin | October 7, 2016 On 6th September, 2016, SFLC.in organized the second in a series of consultations at the India International Centre, New Delhi on the various facets of hateful and harassing speech online. Both the roundtables had representation from industry, civil society, and media...
This post originally appeared on Scroll.in on 19th September 2016. On September 7, Seema (name changed) became the youngest person in India to get an Aadhaar number, after she was enrolled within five minutes of her birth in Khajuwala, Rajasthan. The government’s biometric-based identification syste...
Mobile Internet services have been suspended in Kashmir for the past 87 days. There has been a sharp increase in both the frequency and duration of ICT shutdowns in the past two years. We have been tracking ICT shutdowns since 2012 as part of our research for the Freedom on the Net- India Report ( 2...
By Shilpa Rao When the security advisors of BRICS countries met in New Delhi on September 15, 2016, they emphasised the need to improve cooperation in cybersecurity to combat cybercrime. They also agreed to enhance cybersecurity efforts through information sharing and improving cooperation between t...
The much-discussed IANA transition has finally been completed , now that the U.S. Government’s contract with ICANN for IANA Functions has expired . This brings to an end the governmental oversight of these functions, a plan outlined back in 1998 , and transfers it to a global multistakeholder commun...