{"id":34542,"date":"2018-10-31T11:44:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T06:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34542"},"modified":"2018-10-31T11:44:49","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T06:14:49","slug":"making-the-internet-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/making-the-internet-disappear\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Internet disappear:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/making-the-internet-disappear\/article19879182.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making the Internet disappear<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courts must take into account the exceptional character of Net shutdowns and their impact on civil liberties<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What does the law states?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The High Court of Gujarat set the precedent by invoking Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to uphold an Internet shutdown.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Section 144, which has its roots in the colonial-era British police-state, authorizes prohibitory orders to \u201cprevent obstruction, annoyance or injury to any person lawfully employed, or danger to human life, health or safety, or a disturbance of the public tranquility, or a riot, of an affray.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Is the ban on the Internet legit?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps realizing that Section 144 of the CrPC was a poor peg on which to hang Internet shutdowns, in August 2017, the government notified certain \u201cSuspension Rules\u201d, taking the cover of yet another colonial law \u2014 the Telegraph Act of 1885.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While these rules were meant to bring transparency and clarity to the procedure through which Internet services were suspended, they remain deeply problematic in themselves.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How often has the government banned internet so far?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Jammu and Kashmir<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The valley has led the list in facing the most number of internet shutdowns in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In total the valley has seen around 40 internet shutdowns since 2011.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Rajasthan<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s largest state by area and known for its forts and palaces has seen 3 internet shutdowns so far in 2017. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Haryana<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state has seen 5 shutdowns so far in 2017. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Uttar Pradesh<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internet services have so far been suspended for 2 times in the state. In June 2017, after the main accused of the Saharanpur violence was arrested, internet services were shut down across the entire district for two days.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Odisha<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So far internet services have been taken down 2 times in 2017.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are the new rules legislated that allow Internet ban?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The communication ministry has issued new rules that allow the government to temporarily shut down phone and internet services during a \u201cpublic emergency\u201d or for \u201cpublic safety\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new rules were notified by the Department of Telecommunications on August 8. They don\u2019t clearly define \u201cpublic emergency\u201d or \u201cpublic safety\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What can be the consequences of such bans in a democracy?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Constitution of India provides the right to freedom of speech and expression in Article 19 of the constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The constitution of India does not specifically mention the freedom of press. Freedom of press is implied from the Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Thus the press is subject to the restrictions that are provided under the Article 19(2) of the Constitution..<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Freedom of speech and expression is not absolute. As of now, there are 8 restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression. These are in respect of the sovereignty and integrity of the country. These 8 restrictions were:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Security of the state<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Friendly relations with foreign states<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Public Order<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decency or morality<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contempt of Court<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defamation<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Incitement to offence<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sovereignty and integrity of India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A blanket ban on the internet infringes the Right to expression as guaranteed under the constitution of India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, the constitutional validity of imposing internet shutdowns, especially under Section 144 of the CrPC is not legit since it does not contain the appropriate legal power to order a suspension of Internet services<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that context, any internet shutdown should really take place under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act and Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such a ban contradicts with the very essence of the Indian democracy<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the suggested way ahead?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The courts must take into account the exceptional character of Internet shutdowns and their impact on core civil liberties before validating them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The notion that the government must have the ability to control the Internet in order to preserve law and order further disempower the individual against the state, and achieve a temporary illusion of security at the cost of a permanent loss of freedom.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Designating certain officers who can authorize Internet shutdowns and form a \u201creview committee\u201d, whose scope shall be limited to deciding whether the declaration was valid or not shall make the ban more legit<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making the Internet disappear:\u00a0 Context Courts must take into account the exceptional character of Net shutdowns and their impact on civil liberties What does the law states? The High Court of Gujarat set the precedent by invoking Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to uphold an Internet shutdown. Section 144, which has&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/making-the-internet-disappear\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Making the Internet disappear:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704826722},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34542","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\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}