Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

Category: Regulation

BBC Documentary Ban: Yet Another Example of the Government’s Abuse of its Emergency Powers

Posted on by Tech Law Forum NALSAR
[This post by Paras Khetan and Anish Gupta, 2nd year students at NLSIU, Bangalore, explains how the  order blocking the BBC Documentary is violative of the IT Act and the rules thereunder. It also brings forth the larger problem of constant abuse of the government’s emergency powers under the IT Rules.]

Introduction

Recently, the government issued an order blocking the airing of the BBC documentary titled, ‘India: The Modi Question.’ The government invoked its emergency powers under Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021 (‘IT Rules’) to direct YouTube and Twitter to block URLs that enabled access to the documentary. The government in its order cited the impact of the documentary to “undermine the sovereignty and integrity of India” as the ground for banning the documentary. While the validity of the order is currently under challenge in the Supreme Court, the authors are writing this paper in anticipation of the judgement and suggest how the Court should decide the matter at hand. We argue that the government order is plagued with illegality for violating the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (‘IT Act’) and the rules thereunder. The order does away with the safeguards relied upon by the landmark judgement in Shreya Singhal v Union of India while upholding the constitutionality of Section 69A. We shall also conceptualise and situate the recent happenings into the larger paradigm of executive aggrandizement and the constant abuse of emergency powers by the government.

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The Telecommunications Reforms: A Step towards a Surveillance State (Part I)

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[This is the first part of a two-part post analyzing the Draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022. It is authored by Intisar Aslam, a second-year student at National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi. The second part can be found here]

Recently, the Ministry of Communications released the Draft  Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022 (“Draft Bill”), which seeks to bring sweeping reforms in the telecom sector of the country. The significance of the Bill has increased manifold due to its expansive nature and character, which seeks to include social media platforms and OTT communication services within the ambit of ‘telecommunication services.’ The Draft Bill aims to make up for the changing dynamics and advances in technology and telecom regulatory framework by consolidating the present archaic telecom legislations, namely, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885; the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1833; and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful) Possession Act, 1950. This article analyses the extensive powers granted to the government and its likelihood of misuse. It further argues how certain provisions are violative of the fundamental rights of individuals and lastly, the article discusses the unwarranted dissolution of powers of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

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Policy Lessons for India from Europe’s Artificial Intelligence Act

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[Ed Note: The following post is part of the TLF Editorial Board Test 2021-22. It has been authored by Mehreen Mander, a fourth year student of NALSAR University of Law.]

Of late, the Government of India has been prioritizing the development, adoption and promotion of Artificial Intelligence. In 2018, substantial funding was allocated to the national program for artificial intelligence. Many Union Ministries are also making great leaps in the field of AI. In 2017, the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry set up an AI Task Force which, in its report, hailed the potential of AI to be a solution to many socio-economic problems across ten identified sectors. Furthermore, the Union Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology set up four committees to prepare a roadmap for the National Artificial Intelligence Programme.

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Regulating Real Money Games: Examining Alternatives to Prohibition (Part I)

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[This is the first part of a two-part post authored by Mitali Kshatriya, a fourth-year law student at RMLNLU, Lucknow. Part II can be found here]

The Indian Gaming Industry is expected to swell to $2.8 Billion with an annual growth rate of 40%. Indian gamers have a 13% share of global game sessions and are expected to add 40 million online gamers during 2020−22. A significant part of India’s gaming industry consists of real money gaming. The increasing popularity of real money games has led to problems such as addiction, misleading advertisements, overspending by users etc. This has led states enacting knee-jerk legislations imposing blanket bans on real money games.

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Legal issues with Blockchain in Corporate Governance System of Indian Banks

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[This post has been authored by Harinie. S, a fourth-year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad]

The recent onset of economic recession highlights the need to overhaul the governance system of the largest player of the economy- the banks. The failure of Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Yes Bank, and the downfall of Dhanalakxmi bank’s management are a result of a bad corporate governance system. The same has been acknowledged by the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’).

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