[Reader-list] Regulation of the Internet by the Indian State - 2nd Sarai I-Fellowship Post

[Raman Chima]

Hello again everyone,

This is to my second and somewhat late post on my Sarai-CSDS
I-Fellowship project on the Regulation of the Internet by the Indian
State. I apologize for my posting somewhat later than my scheduled
date.

I'm currently in the stage of still studying the various already
document instances of internet regulation by the Indian State and
moreover, the general legal and policy frameworks towards the
protection of speech and expression on the Internet. I've come across
a wide array of matter on the latter, especially connected with the
American legal track record with the same. A lot of this stems from
the famous US case of Reno v. ACLU (available at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-511.ZS.html among other
places) which essentially clearly established the Internet as a medium
where freedom of speech and expression were protected in a manner such
that a statute which interfered with the adult citizen's speech and
expression on the Internet was unconstitutional.

This essentially started a whole line of cases where the US judiciary
has protected the Internet from legislative enactments which would
have chilled the exercise of the right to freedom of speech and
expression on it. The reason why I've spend some time carefully
analyzing this case and the various bits of academic commentary on it
is to essentially clearly cull out how legal systems which protect the
exercise of freedom of speech and expression engage with the Internet
with a focus on regulation by governments. We can clearly see the
explicit recognition and engagement of the US judiciary with the
Internet, with somewhat positive developments also coming about in the
EU with the European Court of Human Rights at least acknowledging that
Internet users have a clear right of privacy and  protection for the
same.

The problem with India on this point is quite clear; no Indian Court
has ever been called to adjudicate on the issue of the protection of
the right of freedom of speech and expression flowing under Article
19(1)a of the Indian Constitution with relation to the Internet. Its
not exactly a case of tabula rasa though; its not very well known but
the Bombay High Court appointed a committee in suo moto writ petition
no. 1611 of 2001 which presented a report in 2002 on measures
recommended to protect minors from pornographic and obscene material
on the Internet. The report is available online at
http://www.cyquator.com/html/vol1.pdf and is definitely worth a read
to anyone interested in this area. It essentially advocated a system
whereupon minors should be protected by filtering software installed
at computers designated for them at cybercafes and on home computers.
It for the first time referred to the precedent established by the US
case of Reno v. ACLU and said that measures such as blocking sites was
not legally acceptable nor feasible.

I'm currently working on several other points connected with the
jurisprudence of freedom of speech on the Internet and I'll post them
as they coalesce into a more distinct shape.

Again, looking forward to any comments,

Sincerely,
Raman