EFF says new Indian rules on online content threaten the free and open internet
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is a US-based non-profit digital rights group has termed the changes for the new IT rules for online intermediaries as draconian. It notes that the new IT rules 2021 threaten the idea of a free and open internet built on a bedrock of international human rights standards.
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HIGHLIGHTS
The EFF has released a report in which it has spoken about the new IT rules 2021.
The report highlights that the new rules create new possibilities for government surveillance of citizens.
It has highlighted issues like decryption of messaging platforms, stringent rules for removal of online content, and insufficient deadlines to act upon the new rules.
New digital media rules âgo far beyond whatâs permissible in a democracyâ: Plea in Delhi HC
The plea argues that the government is trying to do through the new rules what it couldnât with section 66A of IT Act.
09 Mar, 2021
âWe see these rules as undermining the very essence of freedom of the press as far as digital media is concerned,â Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of the
Wire, said on Monday after the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Modi government on a plea challenging its new rules for digital media.
He was explaining why the Foundation for Independent Journalism, the trust which runs the
States/UTs can t administer digital media rules thenorthlines.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenorthlines.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The power to administer the newly framed rules to regulate social and digital media has “not been delegated” to state governments, the Union information and broadcasting ministry has said after learning about a notice served to two editors of an Imphal-based news portal under the new regulations.
Under the new rules notified on February 25, Imphal West district magistrate Naorem Praveen Singh had served notices to The Frontier Manipur’s (TFM) executive editor Paojel Chaoba and associate editor Kishorechandra Wangkhemcha at their homes in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, on Tuesday morning.
The notices had allegedly served by armed policemen and dealt with a chat show whose topic centred around “a media under siege” and had discussed the new laws to regulate websites and video-streaming platforms.