Recent debates on Internet censorship in India have focused to the allegedly free-for-all nature of the internet. Those of us who have argued against internet censorship have been somewhat misrepresented as arguing for absolute freedom whereby the reasonable restrictions laid down in Article 19 (A) of the Constitution of India don’t apply. Nothing could be farther than the truth. It has been said that the internet can be used to incite...
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RTI activist gives ‘bribe’ CD to Speaker
-The Hindustan Times A Right to Information activist has submitted a video CD to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, in which a BJP Lok Sabha MP has been allegedly shown receiving cash and in return promising land to a private party. RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya submitted the controversial “cash-on-camera” CD, to the Speaker on April 27 and sought an impartial probe into the matter. He requested the Speaker to reopen the...
More »Chilling effects and frozen words-Lawrence Liang
While freedom of speech and expression is an individual right, its actualisation often relies on a vast infrastructure of intermediaries. In the offline world, this includes newspapers, television channels, public auditoriums, etc. It is often assumed that the internet has created a more robust public sphere of speech by doing away with many structural barriers to free speech. But the fact of the matter is that even if the internet enables...
More »Maha govt trying to 'kill' RTI Act, Hazare told
-PTI Right To Information activist Anil Galgali has asked Anna Hazare to prevail upon Maharashtra Government to cancel the new RTI rules in the state. The new rules stipulate that any request for information must not exceed 150 words, should be related to one subject matter only and if required, separate applications must be made if it relates to more than one topic, Galgali, Chairman of Athak Seva Sangh, said. Amendments in...
More »More sedition cases against anti-nuke protestors than Maoists, militants by Pallavi Polanki
The speed and determination with which the Tamil Nadu government has been slapping its citizens right, left and centre with colonial-era laws, it would seem as if a full-fledged war of independence is raging in the fishing villages of Idinthakarai and Kudankulam along the coast of Tamil Nadu. According to findings by a team led senior journalist Sam Rajappa, in just four months between September (when the protest movement against the...
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