[Reader-list] Internet Censorship and the Indian State - Sarai Independent Fellowship 2007 (First post)

[Raman Chima]

Hello all,

I'm Raman Jit Singh Chima, and I'm currently a B.A.LL.B. (Hons)
student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.
This my first post regarding the Sarai Independent Fellowship project
that I'm working on this year, which deals with the subject of   he
regulation of the Internet by the Indian State through legal
structures and mechanisms.

I've attempted to chart out below a rough outline of my project in
terms of its objectives and methodology along with its current status.
(I'll tried to keep it a bit short here in this post; if anyone wants
a detailed look at my project outline I'll be more than happy to mail
it to you at your request):-

The Internet may seem to be a rather radically free and chaotic
space/medium of expression, but what most scholars (and indeed recent
experiences) have shown that is far from immune to regulation. While
there are indeed many forms of regulation and by different actors, its
the role of the State that I want to examine here. The main reason
behind that is that the regulation of areas connected with speech and
expression by authority in the form of the State is supposed to be
restricted so as to  protect the right of freedom of speech and
expression. In order to protect anything though, you need to clearly
establish the manner in which the State is engaging with it currently
and it this point that underscores my project.

I'm trying to to chart out the empirical aspects of Internet
regulation in India and its linkages with normative frameworks. The
focus of this project is thus on the following two goals;

FIRSTLY, to track out and study the manner in which the Indian State
regulates the Internet through legal structures and connected
mechanism (both through formal legal rules as well as through informal
measure such as police regulation of cyber-cafes, control over
Internet Service Providers etc).
SECONDLY, to analyze how this regulatory framework relates to the
constitutional safeguards with respect to the limitations on state
action viz. free speech and expression and whether it respects these
constraints.

I'm currently in the stage of examining textual sources for
information about censorship law and practice in general in India as
well as information about Internet regulation overall. I'd be really
interested in comments and ideas, especially with regards sources of
information that any of you might think may be useful. I'm
specifically interested in knowing about instances of regulation of
the Internet by the Indian State which any of you might have instanced
happening at a lower level (like in terms of cyber-cafes, city police
notices and raids etc) and not only nation wide censorship instances
such as the blocking of blogs and yahoogroups (though if you know of
instances other than the most recent blog ban and the earlier Kyunhun
group case it would be of tremendous use).

Also, I planned out my project with the idea of basing any findings
and analysis on clear evidence about actual instances of the Indian
State regulating or at least seeking to regulate the Internet in
everyday life in a manner prejudicial to freedom of speech. Thus
suggestions as to people who would be good to interview in this regard
would be really useful, though I'm currently limited to physical
meetings/field work being possible only in Bangalore (or in Delhi
during June or October).

Looking forward to any comments or other input,

Sincerely,
Raman.