8/11/2019 Government Should Openly Regulate the Internet

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Government should openly regulate the Internet.

Internet is the latest version of free media. TVs, Radios are the examples of free media but theyare a part of one sided communication. While it is not the case with internet. With thetechnological advancement, this internet is a boon to the common people. Its one way in which

we can communicate with the news channels, government thru' their websites and mails. Withfree/ unregulated internet, we can be a part of the real democracy that INDIA has adopted andmost importantly the freedom of speech and expression can be enjoyed in real terms. One of therecent example is Delhi rape case. The Justice Verma panel asked for suggestions regarding the

provisions that are to be made in the laws for women. Facebook played a very important role forthe protests being held in Delhi and then all around the country. It played the role of awakeningand uniting youth for India for a cause. This can only be done if the Internet is not completelyregulated by the Government. As we all see, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube is banned in ourneighbors like China and Pakistan. Ours having the so called LARGEST DEMOCRACY, shouldnot put a wrong example in front of the world by completely regulating the internet.

As the topic suggests government regulation of internet has taken up speed in the recent past.USA has drafted 2 controversial bills called SOPA (stop online piracy act) and PIPA(Protectinternet piracy act).Wikipedia was shutdown in protest of these 2 acts.Internet censorship iswidely practised through various rules and regulations inChina.In india too , much debate took place when Kapil Sibal said that Facebook and Google mustsubmit their content for "screening".

While the proponents of censorship speak about how various issues like piracy , defamation ,obscenity , or personal attacks against a particular person or group of authority can be controlledthe people against the regulation opine that it will curtail their freedom of expression which inmany cases becomes a very important (and sometimes the only ) way to make their voice heard

The recent example of internet regulation in India arose during the demise of Shri Bala SahebThackrey. We saw how a girl in Mumbai just updated the status on Facebook mentioning thatMumbai should not be shut down because of such demise and reading this Shiv Sainiks attackedher house. She was taken to the police station saying her status update was against law as it hurtthe feeling of one community/ group. Because she and her family were not feeling safe inMumbai, they fled away to their native in Gujarat. This led to the controversy which puts agreat question mark on the laws regarding internet protest and security of individualagainst injustice. This was followed by Govt. of India restricting the access to certain pages onsocial networking sites saying they add fuel to the fire and spread false information. One such

page was Indian Army Fans on Facebook. These undue regulations on internet puts a bigquestion mark on our democracy too.

i agree to your point. One of the website which we all use for downloading the songswww.songspk.pk (initially www.songs.pk) is damaging in a huge manner to the bollywood'smusic industry. The fact is, songs are available on this website even before they are legally

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released. God knows how they do it, what kind of links they have got, but one thing is certainsuch websites are the reason for the huge revenue loss for music industry in particular.

As per an article in the Hindu daily; In India, 381 million mobile phone owners have access to the

Internet with an additional 125 million who access the Internet through smart devices, computers andlaptops. However, easy access makes it more vulnerable. Let us look at this in brief.In recent times, fraud and defamatory activities are at large. Cartoons and write-ups which arederogatory in nature are circulating the free web. Many in the government have condemned thesepractices in socialising websites as Facebook, Twitter, etc.Moving on, copyright materials are sometimes plagiarised which makes it very difficult to give due creditto the writer or the website concerned.Finally, piracy in itself poses an immense threat to several organisations because some websites guidethe consumers towards free products as opposed to buying them from the respective vendors.But, restricting information will certainly prevent the common mass from expressing their humble

opinion, the example of which has been cited by @akki2711 : the Facebook row and the controversyover the Right to Information Act.Content surveillance and regulation should be done but the govt. also has to see to it that India does not

earn the tag of being just an electoral democracy.

Let us break down the issues and analyse each of them..

1) To what degree will the regulation be enforced and which services are likely to be regulated?

My friends here have indicated the ills of piracy and cyber frauds. While I support this aspect, Ialso believe there is a very thin line between what is acceptable content and what is not. We are ayoung democracy. The average age of an Indian is just 25 years, as against 35 in China. Withthis fact in mind, it's easy to see how many Indians who contribute the most to the economicgrowth depend on Internet as a primary source of information. With the huge amount ofinformation we can see a significant improvement in human capital. As of September 2011, thenumber of Internet users in India was 112 million and this figure is growing! Indiscriminateregulation will stifle free sharing of information and adversely affect our devoloping economy.

In the recent ITU conference on discussions regarding this UN proposal in Dubai, many of thelarge European economies as well as the US were against the complete regulation. I believe toothat the regulation is best applied to only telecom sector companies and not be all encompassing.

2) On what basis is the regulation going to be imposed and how?

Who will decide which content is unacceptable is a question of cultural and moral ramifications.What is acceptable to me might not be acceptable to someone else. The spirit of internet itselfwas free expression. And the debate can be a long one.

With the huge number of internet users around the world there are significant technologicalimpediments to regulation. Attempts of doing this in China and Singapore have been partly

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succesful mainly because of their political model which is vastly different from that in India.Further, there are always ways to surpass control in an internet environment with a growing poolof people not only contained with free spirit but also the technological know how.

Dear friends, while all of us would have ample points to ponder on why the internet should not

be completely regulated, the other side of the coin, that regulation is necessary as in the recentcase of exploitation of a 17 year old by 2 older guys, luring her, and sexually assaulting her, brings forth that regulation is a necessary evil. For any resource to grow, fully reach its potential,to make a difference, regulation is necessary, as it makes sure that the right path is taken, theethically correct one. Here, awareness plays a key role, the media or others for that matter oftenhighlight the cons of the decisions/ laws that govt makes, but rarely do the advantages gethighlighted, awareness in terms of clarity, in terms of accessibility by the layman, has to begiven importance.

Finally, civil society servants and members are to ensure better involvement with the govt. tosettle grieviences regarding formulations and procedures.

Though I believe laws are necessary to regulate the internet, but laws should be such as to notoverreach into the right to privacy, right to free speech and expression, they should be in accordto respecting the basic rights that the constitution of India awards to all its citizens.

A transparent body should be constituted for reviewing of all laws, all violations of the laws pertaining to the internet, which is not answerable to the govt. directly, I believe that the judiciary has a greater role to play here in formulation of this body, as has always been the case,it ensures fair treatment to all under its purview. Mis-use of these laws to be made directly

punishable under the acts, and speedy trial ensures so as to not mar its time-relevance.

While I agree that the Internet can be a place for potential mishaps such as these as it indeed is, I believe that regulation on this account needs to be largely self-driven. It's not just the virtualworld that is full of threats. The real world too is replete with them. The brutal Delhi gang-rape isa case in point.Just like it's a decision call understanding what is safe and what isn't in a real world scenario, sois it on the internet. Awareness might be a more feasible alternative.

I think regulation of internet can be divided into three categories, based on their purpose:

1. To stop online piracy - While copyrights should be a matter of concern to the music and filmindustries banning the sites completely would be too strict an action. SOPA and PIPA act of USwas opposed by prominent sites because that would curb the distribution of information.

2. To avoid defamation of person/authority/government - Social networks like facebook andtwitter provide a powerful medium to people to express their greivances, opinions, thoughts onvarious matters through cartoons or text which might be hurtful. However these opinions are of a

person and everyone is entitled to their freedom of speech. Regulating this would curb this

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fundamental right. We have seen the response of people in banning such speeches in case of twogirls' opinion on Bal Thackerey. Kapil Sibal's demand on sites facebook, twitter to screen eachand every status was also discarded.

3. To avoid hate speech/potentially violent content - This can be dangerous and should be

regulated. We have seen the mass destruction that video 'Innocence of Muslim' generated all overthe world. Also, the mass exodus of North Easterns from different parts of India was result ofsuch hate speech. These contents can be effectively used by some nation against another todisturb law and order in a war like situation.

However, it is very important to hold liberal views while regulating and appropriate guidelinesshould be prepared on the content that should come under this regulation.

The ITU conference held at Dubai already mentioned by @SarayuSheshadri was convened forthis same reason and the outcome best explains about Internet regulation. The countries thatvoted against any regulation over the internet were the democratic ones like the US,EU and Indiaand the countries that supported were mostly the supporters of the one party rule likeRussia,China and Arab countries where there is already no freedom of speech and the internetregulation further worsens the situation.

The discussion brought forth varied views about internet regulation. Several reasons favoring theregulation were indicated. Most prominent of them being controlling piracy, defamation andcyber frauds. Obscenity on the internet was also pointed out as a motivation to regulate theinternet.Likewise there were strong reasons to refute the need for regulation. Stifling the right toexpression being the most prominent of them. The internet being a source of knowledge, it isalso a concern that excessive regulation might restrict the free flow of knowledge especiallyamong the developing economies. Another concern being misuse of regulatory authority.

Although we could not arrive at a mutually acceptable opinion, I believe the discussion openedour eyes to a very relevant issue from more than one point of view. So we can now safely saythat even though regulation at its extreme is undesirable, we do need an appropriate level ofregulation to prevent misuse of the freedom that is available through the internet. An adequatelywell defined law in this regard, with clearly defined boundaries is what is needed.

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