{"id":194073,"date":"2022-07-05T13:22:27","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T07:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=194073"},"modified":"2022-07-05T13:22:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T07:52:27","slug":"vasudev-devadasan-writes-the-conflict-between-free-speech-and-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/vasudev-devadasan-writes-the-conflict-between-free-speech-and-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Vasudev Devadasan writes: The conflict between free speech and consent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article \u201cVasudev Devadasan writes: The conflict between free speech and consent<\/strong>\u201d published in The Indian Express<\/strong> on 5th Jul 22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS2 – Government policies and interventions<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: Sharing of non-consensual intimate images<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: The Delhi High Court in Mrs. X v Union of India<\/strong> is confronted with a familiar problem. A woman whose nude photos were shared online without her consent approached the Court to block this content.<\/p>\n

The case highlights the need for courts, law enforcement, and technology platforms to have a coordinated response to the sharing of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) online.<\/p>\n

What are the legal provisions wrt NCII in India?<\/h5>\n

Publishing NCII is a criminal offence<\/strong> under the Information Technology Act 2000.<\/p>\n

The Intermediary Guidelines 2021<\/strong> provide a partial solution. They empower victims to complain directly to any website<\/strong> that has allowed the uploading of non-consensual images or videos of a person in a state of nudity or engaging in a sexual act.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> This includes content that has been digitally altered to depict the person as such. The website must remove the content within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, or risk facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n

What are the associated issues?<\/h5>\n

Issue with intermediary guidelines<\/strong>: The approach listed in these guidelines relies on victims identifying and sharing every URL<\/strong> hosting their intimate images.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> Further, the same images may be re-uploaded at different locations or by different user accounts in the future.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> While the Intermediary Guidelines do encourage large social media platforms to proactively remove certain types of content, the focus is on child pornography and rape videos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> Victims of NCII abuse have few options other than lodging complaints every time their content surfaces, forcing them to approach courts.<\/p>\n

Efforts by tech companies to tackle spread of NCII<\/h5>\n

Meta recently built a tool to curtail the spread of NCII (www.stopncii.org)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> The tool relies on a \u201chashing\u201d technology<\/strong> to match known NCII against future uploads. The victim\u2019s private images stay with them, with only the hash being added to a database to guard against future uploads.<\/p>\n

Similar technology is already used against child-sex abuse material (CSAM) with promising results.<\/p>\n

What are the concerns associated with use of image matching tech?<\/h5>\n

Image-matching technology could be used for surveillance<\/strong> or to simply remove unpopular (but not illegal) content from the internet.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> The CBI has already reportedly asked Microsoft to deploy its \u201cPhotoDNA<\/strong>\u201d tool (an image-matching software built to identify CSAM) for investigatory purposes.<\/p>\n

The use of automated tools also raises free speech concerns<\/strong> that lawful content may accidentally be taken down. Automatic filters often ignore context. Content that may be illegal in one context may not be illegal in another.<\/p>\n

Way forward<\/h5>\n

If well-designed and administered, other websites could eventually use Meta’s NCII hash database<\/strong> to identify illegal content they may be unwillingly hosting.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> Victims could report NCII abuse at a centralised location and have it taken down across a range of websites.<\/p>\n

The government can also play a role in facilitating a redressal mechanism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> For example, Australia<\/strong> has appointed an \u201ce-Safety Commissioner<\/strong>\u201d. He receives complaints against NCII and coordinates between complainants, websites, and individuals who posted the content \u2013 with the Commissioner empowered to issue \u201cremoval notices\u201d against illegal content.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s reported overhaul of the IT Act is an opportunity to develop a coordinated response to NCII-abuse<\/strong> that will provide victims meaningful redress without restricting online speech.<\/p>\n

Going forward, courts may consider tasking a state functionary or independent body with verifying the URLs and coordinating with online platforms and internet service providers.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> If courts direct platforms to take down NCII, they should only do so where the NCII-content will be illegal in every foreseeable context.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post is based on the article \u201cVasudev Devadasan writes: The conflict between free speech and consent\u201d published in The Indian Express on 5th Jul 22. Syllabus: GS2 – Government policies and interventions Relevance: Sharing of non-consensual intimate images News: The Delhi High Court in Mrs. X v Union of India is confronted with… Continue reading Vasudev Devadasan writes: The conflict between free speech and consent<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-194073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}