Author: Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

Right to access Internet: An end to oppressive Internet shutdowns?

Posted on by Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

[This post has been authored by Mohd Rameez Raza (Faculty of Law, Integral University, Lucknow) and Raj Shekhar (NUSRL, Ranchi).]

The Internet is one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in day to day working, access to information, and most important facilitating active citizen participation in building strong democratic societies. Relying on the same belief, the Kerala High Court, in its monumental, decision has held ‘Right to Internet Access’ as a fundamental right. Thus, making the right to have access to Internet part of ‘Right to Education’ as well as ‘Right to Privacy’ under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

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Technology and CPC (Part II)

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This is the second part of a two-part article by Ankush Rai, a 3rd year student at NALSAR University of Law. Part 1 can be found here.

In the previous post, the author addressed courts’ initiative in deploying technology in civil litigation to issue summons to parties. This part deals with the topic of e-filing, and discusses the advantages of such integration along with the precautions that need to be observed with respect to the same.

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Technology and CPC (Part I)

Posted on by Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

[This is the first part of a two-part article by Ankush Rai, a 3rd year student at NALSAR University of Law.]

In a recent case, the Delhi High Court accepted that summons could be served by WhatsApp and also stated that a ‘double tick’ would prima facie imply that summons have been duly delivered. This case serves as an example of how courts in India have gradually allowed for summons to be served through various electronic means. Additionally, this case also brings forth two larger points for consideration. Firstly, law and society are constantly in flux and one should adapt to the changes in the other. In this case, the law has adapted to the technological changes in society with the help of courts. Secondly, technology can be used to fulfil the larger objectives of law and justice in an effective and efficient manner. Herein, sticking to the ancient and rigid means of delivering summons would have further delayed the disposal of the case. By accepting WhatsApp messages as summons the Court fulfilled the larger objective of an efficient and speedy trial.

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Protection for non-expressive use in India

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This post has been authored by Unmekh Padmabhushan, a final year student of National Law University, Jodhpur.

Machine learning is the process by which a piece of software is able to expand upon its capabilities and knowledge in a self-driven manner without any significant human input. This technology has been used, for example, in disaster warning systems and in driverless cars. Another scholarly use of such technology allows robots to derive patterns and significant correlations from enormous databases of texts in a manner impossible for human beings. This has led to led to an explosion in the ability of those working in the field of the humanities to analyse data like their natural sciences counterparts have done for years. [1]

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Delhi HC’s order in Swami Ramdev v. Facebook: A hasty attempt to win the ‘Hare and Tortoise’ Race

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This post has been authored by Aryan Babele, a final year student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Punjab and a Research Assistant at Medianama.

On 23rd October 2019, the Delhi HC delivered a judgment authorizing Indian courts to issue “global take down” orders to Internet intermediary platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter for illegal content as uploaded, published and shared by users. The Delhi HC delivered the judgment on the plea filed by Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. requesting the global takedown of certain videos which were alleged to be defamatory in nature.

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Welcoming The Era of Technology Friendly Laws in India

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This brief introduction to regulation of autonomous vehicles has been authored by Khushi Sharma and Aarushi Kapoor, second year students of Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur. [Ed. Note: This article was written before the 2019 Personal Data Protection Bill had been made public. Click here for the new Bill.]

India being the 7th largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in the year 2017-18, coupled with its automobile sector which is the 4th largest in the world, are key factors driving India’s economic growth. Technological advancement is both a cause and effect of this growth. Innovative minds rule India and the world today to such an unimaginable extent that the very idea of acar running by itself with onejust sitting back and relaxing, now seems a reality. The debut of driverless vehicles in India was at Defexpo 2016 in New Delhi where Novus Drive, a driverless shuttle was introduced. However, a recurring question is ‘Are we really ready yet?’

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Legality of Linking Social Media Accounts to Aadhar

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This post has been authored by Saara Mehta, a fifth year at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal. It discusses the legality of linking social media accounts to the government’s Aadhar scheme. 

On 20thAugust, 2019, the Attorney General of India, K.K. Venugopal, submitted to the Supreme Court that there was a need to link the social media profiles of users with their Aadhar numbers, and if required, have platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp share this number (which acts like a unique identity) with law enforcement agencies to help detect crimes. This, he argued, is needed to check fake news, defamatory articles, anti-national content, etc. This post aims to examine the legality of this potential move in the light of the Puttaswamy decisions, as well as the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 19 and 21.

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Internet Broadcasting: Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957

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This post has been authored by Anamika Kundu, a fourth year student at West Bengal University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata. It discusses Section 31D of the Copyright Act (put year), introduced in the 2012 Amendment.

With the advent of smartphones and numerous interactive mobile applications, listening to music through apps have become a common phenomenon across the world. However, this has created a number of issues pertaining to intellectual property in various jurisdictions including India. Section 31D of the Copyright Act was inserted through the Amendment of 2012. The provision essentially deals with statutory licensing for radio and television broadcasting of literary and musical works as well as sound recordings. Broadcasters are required to pay royalties to the copyright owner, at a rate fixed by the Copyright Board. A broadcaster wishing to communicate published work should do so by notifying copyright holders in advance. This notice includes information such as the broadcast content’s length and coverage region. Because of the restrictions placed on parties from entering into commercial negotiations to determine royalty rates, there has been huge criticism of this provision. Moreover, the owners of copyrights too are not given any mechanism to negotiate the terms of royalty with broadcasting agencies, which appears to be in violation of Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution.

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