Ed. Note.: This 101, by Kaustub Bhati, is a part of the NALSAR Tech Law Forum Editorial Test 2016. Have you ever used a torrent to download something not available freely? You must have. Ever wondered how it works and why there is so much fuss about it being illegal and people using it might…
Refugee crisis in a digital age
Ed. Note.: This post, by Kaustub Bhati, is a part of the NALSAR Tech Law Forum Editorial Test 2016. How many people worldwide are currently displaced or stateless? How many people are adrift in the Mediterranean Ocean in search of a new home? What helps them in this perilous journey and guides them to their…
Meet the New Internet, Same as the Old, Old Internet – except its not the Internet (Part III – the Future of Networks)
This is the third post in this series; the first two, which set the background for the issue, are available here and here. The question therefore becomes – is it time we look beyond the ‘internet’ as it exists, to newer models of communication? The ‘models’ I refer to here are not absolutely novel –…
Meet the New Internet, Same as the Old, Old Internet – except its not the Internet you know (Part II – The Tangled Wires)
This is the second in my three-part series on the issue. The first and third parts are available here and here. Tangle One I’ll start with a side-note. In public debate, somehow, Network Neutrality ends up being represented as an absolutist concept, as “ISPs should perform no discrimination between the data travelling on their networks”….
Meet the New Internet, Same as the Old, Old Internet – except its not the Internet you know (Part I – a bit of Background)
This is the first post in my three-part series on Network Neutrality, the internet, innovation, and the future of networks. The second and third post are available here and here. The fundamental idea of the Schumpeterian model of Creative Destruction images a continuous cycle of Creation and Destruction of monopolies, presenting a continuous story of…
Role of Intermediaries in Countering Online Abuse: Still a Work In Progress, Part II
This is the second in a two-part series by Jyoti Panday of Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, on the role of intermediaries in addressing online abuse. The first part of this post is available here. SIZE MATTERS The standards for blocking, reporting and responding to abuse vary across different categories of platforms. For example,…
Role of Intermediaries in Countering Online Abuse: Still a Work In Progress, Part I
The TechLawForum@NALSAR is happy to bring you a detailed two-part post by Jyoti Panday of Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, on the role played by Intermediaries in countering abuse on the internet. Jyoti is a graduate of Queen Mary’s University, London. Her work focuses on the interaction between intermediaries, user rights, and and freedom of expression. …
Editors' Picks (05/05/2015)
1) Facebook’s Internet.Org is a privacy nightmare, Nikhil Pahwa, Medianama. 2) How ICANN pressures net engineers to give it behind-the-scenes control of the web, Kieren McCarthy, The Register. 3) Appearing happy on Facebook may be used against you in a court of law, Amanda Hess, Slate. 4) Online fact checking tool gets a big test with…
Shreya Singhal, and how Intermediaries are simply Intermediaries Once Again – Striking down the Chilling Effect
The concept of ‘intermediary liability’ in all its nuances, as I have written before, is one of the bulwarks of the internet as we know it, including one of the aspects of it that we all know and love – the power it gives to each and every individual to exercise their right to free…
A Victory, and Moving Forward – TRAI Consultations on OTTs
Last week, the Supreme Court of India in its judgment in the case of Shreya Singhal and Ors. v Union of India has decreed S. 66A of the Information Technology Act unconstitutional in its entirety, and at the same drastically restricted the ambit of Ss. 69A and 79 by reading into them the jurisprudence of…