Legal framework for Social media to be clearly defined
The “proposals turn online companies into censors and undermine encryption”, Mozilla said, concern over India's plan to change the rules for social media and other platforms.
Mozilla, the not-for-profit entity behind the web browser Firefox, has called out the Narendra Modi government’s perceived attempt to stifle free speech over the Internet. Government has a strong concern over the misuse of social media platforms and spreading of fake news.
With the recent notification on Centre has proposed to introduce rules that will require social media and e-commerce platforms to proactively take down “unlawful” user content that the government or its agencies determine to be offensive. As per the landmark judgement by Honorable Supreme Court guidelines, Internet companies were only expected to remove content when they were directed by a court to do so.
On December 24, the ministry of electronics and information technology put up the proposal to amend the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines Rules) 2018 and invited comments.
Amba Kak, Mozilla’s public policy adviser, said in a recent blog post that the ministry’s attempt to foist the new set of rules on the intermediaries turned the logic of the Singhal judgment “on its head”.
The government is now trying to amend the rules to make sure that every social media platform to “remove or disable access” to unlawful when it receives actual knowledge about such an offensive post either in the form of a court order or “on being notified by the appropriate government or its agency” .
Kak described the government’s plan to change the rules for social media and other platforms as a “blunt and disproportionate” fix to the problem of harmful online content.
Mozilla, which is a passionate advocate of data protection and privacy rights, believes that “the proactive obligation on services to remove “unlawful” content will inevitably lead to over-censorship and “chill free expression”.
The technology firm asserted that any regulatory intervention to this complex issue must be preceded by a wide-ranging and participatory discussion process.
The new rules will require social media platforms and messaging apps to deploy tools to identify and curb unlawful content.“The intermediary shall preserve such information and associated records for at least 180 days for investigation purposes, or for such longer period as may be required by the court or by government agencies who are lawfully authorized,” the draft rules say.
Other privacy advocates are coming out in strong support of Mozilla’s stand.
Dr. Karnika Seth, a lawyer specialising on IT Act, said: “Even if the government wants to place reasonable restrictions, rules have to be objective and clearly spelled out. It should not be left to the authorities to interpret them in their own ways. There is a need to revisit the Section 69 of the IT Act in the light of the Supreme Court judgment on right to privacy.”
Section 69 of the IT Act confers powers on the government to “issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource”.
Section 79 of the Act provides immunity to the service provider or ISP for any offence or contravention committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence or contravention.
Pavan Duggal, cyber law expert, said: “The government needs to revisit Section 69 and Section 79 of the Information Technology Act in the light of the Supreme Court judgment on right to privacy. These sections puts curbs on individual privacy and the government cannot have unreasonable powers to curb individual liberty. The proposed change in rules to Section 79 of the Act cannot run contrary to the Supreme Court judgment.
The proposed rules could curb individual freedom as the government could seek information from the social media firms and not sharing such information would be an offence. The genesis of the new rules is in a calling attention motion that was admitted in the Rajya Sabha in last year’s monsoon session which drew attention to the misuse of social media platforms and spreading of fake news.
Earlier, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the minister for DeitY, had underscored the government’s resolve to “strengthen the legal framework and make social media platforms accountable under the law”.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.