In 2022, We Get That 1885 Feeling – on draft Telecommunication Bill, 2022

Source: The post is based on an article “In 2022, We Get That 1885 Feeling” published in The Times of India on 24^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2

Relevance: Telecommunication Bill 2022 and problems associated with it.

News: The government has recently come up with a draft of Telecommunication Bill, 2022.

The draft bills look similar to the colonial Telegraph Act of 1885 and there are many other problems associated with the draft bill

What are the problems associated with the draft Telecommunication Bill, 2022?

OTT: The provision to include OTT can weaken technical protections available to users. It can even lead to smaller online service providers such as Telegram or Signal not offering services in India.

Further, regulation of OTT platform can lead to the same problem of CERT-In cyber security. It led to the closure of Indian servers by several global VPN providers

SC Judgments: The draft has ignored recent judgment in the domain of privacy protection and freedom of expression.

For example, the first and second Puttaswamy judgments required surveillance reform.

It provided disapproval of systems of mass surveillance and the requirement of judicial supervision.

But clause 51 of the bill allows GoI to direct any service provider to provide any information for the arrested person even without any civil or criminal proceedings.

Further, Shreya Singhal judgment was related to freedom of expression which provided that there should be disclosure of orders to block website.

The recent Anuradha Bhasin judgment deals with the safeguards for internet shutdowns.

Therefore, it seems that the bill has ignored all these judgments related to privacy protection and freedom of expression.

Net Neutrality: There is no mention of net neutrality in the draft bill.

Wording: The wordings of Clause 53 and clause 24(2) are same as the wording of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

What can be the further course of action?

First, the draft focuses only on growth in connectivity and the constitutional objective in the regulation has not been given attention.

Therefore, there is a need to look into the constitutional aspect in the regulation of telecommunication.

Second, there should have been more focus on the democratic quality of connectivity.