Indian law promotes arbitrary removal and blocking of websites, website content, and online services —making it much easier than getting offline printed speech removed Without getting into questions of what should and should not be unlawful speech, let's take a look at how Indian law promotes arbitrary removal and blocking of websites, website content, and online services, and how it makes it much easier than getting offline printed speech removed. --Pranesh Prakash...
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Twitter's choice: Should it defend free-speech or be a pure commercial venture?
-The New York Times It started five years ago after a young engineer in San Francisco sketched out a quirky little Web tool for telling your friends what you were up to. It became a bullhorn for millions of people worldwide, especially vital in nations that tend to muzzle their own people. But this week, in a sort of coming-of-age moment, Twitter announced that upon request, it would block certain messages...
More »In Chhattisgarh Assembly, RTI Applicants Face New Hurdles by Prakhar Jain
THE CHHATTISGARH Assembly will now consider an applicant’s intent before giving information under RTI. It might even refuse the application if it is convinced it has been made with mala fide intent. This clearly goes against the RTI Act, which says that an applicant requesting information shall not be required to give any reason. But can intent be ascertained without asking the reason? The Assembly enforced this rule last month by...
More »Protest against appointment of accused in illegal mining
-The Hindu Samajika Parivarthana Janandolana (SPJ) and Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), Karnataka, have appealed to Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to rethink the appointment of IAS officer E. Shivalingamurthy to the post of the Director of Women and Child Welfare Department. An appeal In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, SPJ State organiser Y. Mariswamy has said Mr. Shivalingamurthy is one of the three IAS officers against whom a high-level committee,...
More »Supreme Court panel report on Bellary illegal mining in early February by Meera Mohanty
The Supreme Court-appointed committee investigating illegal iron ore mining in Karnataka is tying up loose ends in Bellary district and will be submitting its final report early next month. The court's forest bench is to hear the case again on February 3. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC), whose investigations prompted the Supreme Court to suspend mining in iron ore-rich areas of the state, affecting nearly a fourth of the country's production,...
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