Blogs by SFLC India

Nine-judge Constitution Bench of SC hears arguments on right to privacy

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | July 19, 2017 A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court (SC), comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) J.S. Khehar and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, J. Chelameshwar, S.A. Bobde, A. Nazeer, R.K. Agrawal, R.F. Nariman, A.M. Sapre, and S.K. Kaul, heard arguments today on whether ...
by sflc_admin | July 18, 2017 Today, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) heard the batch of 22 petitions led by Justice K.S. Puttaswamy & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. [W.P.(C). No. 494/2012], which challenge various aspects of the Aadhaar scheme. This Bench was forme...

Revised CRI Guidelines – Ambiguity replaces certainty

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | July 6, 2017 Say No To Software Patents The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has published the modified Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs) by office order dated 30-6-2017. The revised guidelines have done away with the three-stage te...

Hearing Update: Shantha Sinha & Anr. v. Union of India; June 27th, 2017

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | June 28, 2017 The Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 27, 2017, heard the petition against notifications making Aadhaar mandatory for social welfare schemes [Shantha Sinha & Anr. v. Union of India (W.P. (C) 342/2017)] for the grant of interim relief. You can read the summary from the...

Delhi Tech Talks [June 23, 2017; New Delhi]

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | June 26, 2017 On June 23, 2017, the second edition of Delhi Tech Talks – a collaborative series of quarterly discussions on the state of tech policy in India – was organized by the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi (CCG), Centre for Internet and So...

Real World IoT Security Conference 2017 [June 20, 2017; Bengaluru]

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | June 25, 2017 SFLC.in was a community partner at the Real World Internet of Things Security Conference (RISC) organized by the EFY Group on 20th June 2017 at Hotel Park Plaza, Bengaluru. In view of the fact that lack of security is the greatest challenge facing IoT deployments today,...

Panel Discussion on 03 June 2017: “Tech Policy Talks”

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | June 2, 2017 Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in), along with Democratic Alliance for Knowledge Freedom (DAKF), is organizing a panel discussion titled, “Tech Policy Talks” on Saturday, June 3, 2017, from 10:00 -13:00 (10 AM to 1 PM) at IBIS Kochi City Center Hotel, Padma Jn....
by sflc_admin | May 29, 2017 (image credit: inmediahk ) SFLC.in joined 17 other non-governmental organisations from across the globe as amicus in a voluntary intervention filed before France’s highest court, the Council of State (Conseil d’État), raising serious concerns about a ruling of France’s d...

Hearing Update: Shantha Sinha & Anr. v. Union of India; May 19th, 2017

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 19, 2017 The petition against notifications making Aadhaar mandatory for social welfare schemes- Shantha Sinha & Anr. v. Union of India [W.P. (C) 342/2017] was taken up in the Supreme Court today before a bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha for interim relief. ...

Summary Report – Revisiting Aadhaar: Law, Tech and Beyond [May 9, 2017; New Delhi]

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 15, 2017 On 9th May, 2017, SFLC.in in association with IT for Change and Digital Empowerment Foundation, organized a panel discussion titled “Revisiting Aadhaar: Law, Tech and Beyond” at India International Centre, New Delhi. Saikat Datta, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and...

RTI responses provide copies of Internet shutdown orders

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 5, 2017 India has seen a steep rise in the number of Internet shutdowns over the last few years. At SFLC.in, we have been tracking such instances of Internet shutdowns – see our dynamic Internet Shutdown Tracker at internetshutdowns.in for details. These shutdowns are generally i...
by sflc_admin | May 5, 2017 The last one year has seen a number of interesting developments around the Aadhaar project, such as the notification of the Aadhaar Act, Aadhaar enrolment being made mandatory for availing various benefits and subsidies from the Government, and a series of incidents where...

Supreme Court hears the Aadhaar-PAN case; updates from Day 6

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 4, 2017 Arguments in the Supreme Court litigations around linking Aadhaar with PAN, challenging the constitutionality of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, were concluded today by Senior advocate Mr. Arvind Datar (also see our updates from day 1 , day 2 , day 3 , day 4 , and da...

Supreme Court hears the Aadhaar-PAN case; updates from Day 5

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 3, 2017 The ongoing challenge in the Supreme Court regarding the linking of Aadhaar for filing of income tax returns, and making it mandatory for PAN, has reached Day 5 when the Union of India continued its arguments. We have been updating details from court proceedings from day ...

Supreme Court hears the Aadhaar-PAN case; updates from day 4

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | May 2, 2017 The State’s reply in the Aadhaar-PAN linking case was heard today (our coverage of arguments from previous hearings can be accessed at these links: Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3 ). Attorney General, Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, arguing for the State laid down the following points: The only...

Supreme Court hears the Aadhaar-PAN case; updates from Day 3

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | April 28, 2017 The hearing for the Aadhaar-PAN case spilled over to day 3 with Senior Counsel, Shyam Divan making his concluding remarks. Attorney General, Mukul Rohtagi, representing Union of India is scheduled to raise his arguments in reply on Tuesday, 2nd May, 2017. Updates from ...

Supreme Court hears the Aadhaar-PAN case; updates from Day 2

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | April 27, 2017 The Supreme Court today continued the hearing on cases filed against linking Aadhar to PAN and making it mandatory for filing income tax returns [Binoy Viswam v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 247/2017 & S G Vombatkere and Anr. v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 277/2017...
by sflc_admin | April 26, 2017 On 24th April, 2017, SFLC.in in association with Digital Empowerment Foundation, Internet Democracy Project, IT for Change, Centre for Internet and Society, and Foundation for Media Professionals organized a public discussion titled “Access Denied: Internet Shutdowns i...

UIDAI / Aadhaar: Breaches and Leaks

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | April 24, 2017 News reports of Aadhaar numbers and related information leaking have been appearing frequently since early February 2017. We are collecting information on leaks involving UIDAI / Aadhaar in order to make the data more accessible. We invite everyone to improve this data...

SFLC.in’s comments on TRAI’s consultation paper on net neutrality

by SFLC India on in Technology, Media & Telecommunications
by sflc_admin | April 17, 2017 In January 2017, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India published what is expected to be the last in a series of Consultation Papers on net neutrality in India, and invited public comments on several questions related to the issue. Much of the focus of this consulta...