Topic
Public Accountability
112 items.
24 Aug 2012
News
NE exodus: List containing 309 blocked URLs leaks onlineLatest reports coming in have confirmed that a list containing 309 URLs, whose ban the government had sought in light of the Assam violence and the subsequent NE exodus, has been leaked online.
24 Aug 2012
News
Internet expert Pranesh Prakash criticizes Indian cyber blockadesThe government's attempts to block social media accounts and websites that it blames for spreading panic have been inept and possibly illegal, a top internet expert said on Friday.
24 Aug 2012
News
India’s ethnic clashes intensify within social-media maelstromIt began in mid-July: First came a series of retaliatory killings between ethnic communities in the state of Assam in mid-July. Soon nearly 500,000 people had fled their homes for grim refugee camps. The central government belatedly sent in …
24 Aug 2012
News
India limits social media after civil unrestHas the Indian government lost its sense of humour? That’s what some in India were asking as word spread that authorities had pressured Twitter into blocking several accounts parodying the prime minister after civil unrest that saw dozens …
24 Aug 2012
News
Govt vs Tweeple: Has clampdown hit free speech?Has the Government crossed the line by ordering the blocking of several Twitter accounts, many belonging to prominent journalists? The debate was featured in NDTV on August 23, 2012.
24 Aug 2012
News
Govt orders blocking of 300 specific URLs including 16 Twitter accountsThe government stepped up its efforts to stop what it feels is an online campaign of misinformation and rumour mongering in the wake of lower Assam riots and ordered blocking of 16 Twitter accounts, including two belonging to journalists, …
24 Aug 2012
Blog post
Censoring the Internet: A brief manualBlocking websites on the Internet should be proportionate to harm they intend. However, the government of India's approach is against the principles of natural justice.
23 Aug 2012
News
Northeast exodus: Is there a mechanism to pre-screen social media content?The government has passed the blame buck on social media and blocked hundreds of websites, which it claims, hosted hate speech and inflammatory content, enough to incite violence. But is it feasible to pre-screen objectionable or …
23 Aug 2012
News
India limits social media after civil unrestIndian officials have gone too far in limiting text messages and pressuring local Internet firms as well as Twitter and others to block accounts, critics say.
23 Aug 2012
News
India Debates Misuse of Social MediaIndia has blocked more than 250 websites after provocative online content spread panic among people from the country's northeast, prompting some of them to flee Indian cities. The crackdown has sparked a debate about how the country will …
23 Aug 2012
News
Haphazard censorship? Leaked list of blocked websites in IndiaAn analysis of a leaked list of the websites blocked by Indian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on directions from the Department of Telecom bring to light the inconsistencies in India's online censorship efforts.
23 Aug 2012
News
Government asks Twitter to block fake 'PMO India' accounts; site fails to respondA standoff between the government and microblogging service Twitter, that has got India's online community up in arms, continues, as Twitter is still to act on India's requests to block some of the fake 'PMO India' accounts.
22 Aug 2012
News
Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem PanicThe Indian government’s efforts to stem a weeklong panic among some ethnic minorities has again put it at odds with Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.
22 Aug 2012
News
India blocks more than 250 Web sites for inciting hate, panicNearly 80 people have been killed and 400,000 displaced in fighting between Muslims and India’s Hindu Bodo tribespeople in Assam, a northeastern state of India, in recent weeks. The violence has prompted many northeasterners living in major …
26 Jun 2012
News
No more blocking of entire websites?The Madras HC has taken one step to ensure that entire websites are no longer blocked, but it doesn't mean that arbitrary takedowns will cease.
18 Jun 2012
News
India's struggle for online freedom"65 years since your independence," a new battle for freedom is under way in India — according to a YouTube video uploaded by an Indian member of Anonymous, the global "hacktivist" movement.
18 Jun 2012
News
'Anonymous' hackers to protest Indian Internet lawsGlobal hacking movement Anonymous has called for protesters to take to the streets in 16 cities around India on Saturday over what it considers growing government censorship of the Internet, writes Pratap Chakravarty.
4 Jun 2012
Blog post
The Web of Our StrifeAt the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, India proposed the formation of a Committee on Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) to address what it sees as a policy vacuum in internet governance.
24 May 2012
News
Kapil Sibal & Co shoot down motion to kill IT Rules: cite terrorism, drugsThe Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 (The Rules) continue to breathe after the statutory motion to annul them moved by member of parliament (MP) from Kerala P Rajeeve was defeated by voice vote in the Rajya …
24 May 2012
Blog post
Google Policy Fellowship Programme: Call for ApplicationsThe Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India Fellow, who will be selected by August 15, 2012.
30 Apr 2012
Blog post
Chilling Effects and Frozen WordsWhat if the real danger is not that we lose our freedom of speech and expression but our sense of humour as a nation? Lawrence Liang's op-ed was published in the Hindu on April 30, 2012.
27 Apr 2012
Blog post
Intermediary Liability in India: Chilling Effects on Free Expression on the InternetThe Centre for Internet & Society in partnership with Google India conducted the Google Policy Fellowship 2011. This was offered for the first time in Asia Pacific as well as in India. Rishabh Dara was selected as a Fellow and researched …
26 Apr 2012
News
Private sector censorsIf business decides what’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ speech, it can lead to multiple interpretations and arbitrary decisions. The article by Salil Tripathi was published in LiveMint on April 25, 2012.
25 Apr 2012
News
Views | Why the Left may for once be rightOn the opening day of the upcoming parliamentary session on Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha is set to vote on an annulment motion against the IT rules, moved by P. Rajeeve of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
25 Apr 2012
News
MPs to be taught ‘draconian’ IT Act Rules as India.net support galvanises for annul motionThe blog post by Prachi Shrivastava was published in Legally India on April 23, 2012.
25 Apr 2012
News
Mobilising support for freedom on the WebA motion in the Rajya Sabha has sought annulment of the IT intermediary guidelines, writes Deepa Kurup in this article published in the Hindu on April 22, 2012.
25 Apr 2012
News
Expect anti-net censorship echo in houseFor the anti-Internet censorship movement in the country, hope is now in sight. Their fight against the intermediary provisions (section 79) of the IT laws, according to which, an intermediary (website, domain owner) would have to take off …
25 Apr 2012
News
Campaign against curbs on websites gathers steamFor political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and his blogger-cum-journalist friend Alok Dixit, who both ran a website against corruption, a tryst with the blind side of law triggered their mission against “gagging” of the new-age Indian Internet …
13 Mar 2012
News
Save Your Voice — A movement against Web censorship‘Save Your Voice (SYV)’ is a movement against Web censorship and its main demand is the repealing of the Information Technology Act, said SYV founders, Aseem Trividi, a cartoonist, and Alok Dixit, a journalist, on Monday.
14 Feb 2012
News
Prometheus bound and gaggedFunny how a healthy person like me can collapse one day and end up in the hospital. The doctor who made me go through every lab test available, finally diagnosed the cause after a chat with me. Apparently, I collapsed because I’m getting …