

India to Revise Enforcement of Internet Law - eshvk
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/world/asia/india-to-scale-back-enforcement-of-facebook-comments.html

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bwb
Super super scary. Not much of a democracy without freedom of expression.

"After Renu Srinivasan, 20, Ms. Dhada’s friend, clicked “Like” on Ms. Dhada’s
Facebook post, she was also arrested."

Glad to see such a massive round of outrage. Hopefully Australia follows suit
with their silly lawsuit win against google.

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cmadan
The text of the legislation in question

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66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service,
etc.

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication
device,—

(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing
annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal
intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such
computer resource or a communication device,

(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing
annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or
recipient about the origin of such messages,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three
years and with fine.

Explanation.— For the purpose of this section, terms “electronic mail” and
“electronic mail message” means a message or information created or
transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or
communication device including attachments in text, images, audio, video and
any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message.

=====

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denzil_correa
It is indeed a step in the right direction as far as law is concerned. As for
most other things in India, effective implementation always remains a concern.

The girls named in the article Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan have been set
free with all charges dropped. Shreya Singhal, a student from Delhi, has also
filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against Section 66A of the IT act
[1]. The SC has accepted this PIL challenging this act [2]. In addition, the
Supreme Court of India has asked for an explanation (within a four week time
frame) from the Maharashtra government (the state in which the girls reside)
regarding the arrests [3].

[1]
[http://www.livemint.com/Politics/PumX6XBqAeMAeNpspY1BLM/Who-...](http://www.livemint.com/Politics/PumX6XBqAeMAeNpspY1BLM/Who-
is-Shreya-Singhal.html)

[2] <http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=782088>

[3] <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20551955>

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dharmach
With the arrival of all electronic communication tools people and government
are discovering implications of these media, as well as a new context to the
term freedom of expression. It will take some time to crystallize what is
acceptable and what is not.

