ARE YOUR DIGITAL CONVERSATIONS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY?

According to the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, framed by the GOI, the social media intermediaries/plat forms must adhere to a tight set of rules which some perceive as ‘unconstitutional’

Beware! People who spread rumours, fake news and other immoral/illegal data, without the fear of consequences, no longer have that blanket privacy.

In February this year, the Government of India had framed the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. According to these rules, the social media intermediaries/platforms are to adhere to a vastly tighter set of rules within three months, which ended on 25 May.

The new IT guidelines provide a means of addressing grievances of content that can be harmful to national security as well as the modesty or safety of an individual.

Even those who innocently forward messages that may later be considered a national security concern on either the government’s directive, or as pointed out by another ‘conscientious citizen’, may face the wrath of the law.

While the set of government’s new IT rules do include positive aspects, it largely comprises rules that could put users’ privacy and people’s right to free speech under jeopardy. Not surprisingly, many citizens and information security experts believe these new rules could pose many restrictions on the citizens.

To get a better understanding of whether the fears are rational, we spoke to experts regarding how these new rules will impact social media users.

NO PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET

To explain how unsafe our data is online, Mukesh Choudhary, Chief Technology Officer and Cybercrime Consultant to the

Jaipur Police, cites how even President Joe Biden’s account was hacked. “Recently, the data of 533 million Facebook users, out of which 6 million were Indians, were leaked. The LinkedIn data of the users were also breached. In 2020, an 18-year-old pulled off a major breach, hacking many Twitter accounts including many high-profile accounts such as that of President Joe Biden, demanding bitcoins in return. Apparently, he accessed the accounts in collaboration with a Twitter employee,” points out Mukesh.

Ramesh Loganathan, past president, Hysea, believes that sacrifice of privacy is a price that every Internet user has to pay. “There are some security issues on all platforms. So if you use the Internet, your security and privacy can be compromised,” he warns. “For starters, major social media platforms use your data to sell them to targeted ads on the basis of your geographical coordinates, your ideologies, the posts you like, pages you follow, etc.”

BE SMART

As Ramesh points out, there have been allegations on many such platforms for selling user data to the government and advertisers regularly as they take all the required permissions from the users in their lengthy safety and privacy policies, which no one ever reads.

“In fact, those with the power to control our information have been known to knowingly end up sharing/losing it. So, every citizen should be very careful about what one posts on social media platforms.”

Despite Ramesh’s apprehensions, Mukesh Choudhary believes that while the new rules will have an impact on people voicing their opinion on social media platforms, it won’t be much. “People can still raise their opinions but they must choose their words smartly to convey their point,” he advises. “People can also consider moving to alternative apps such as Telegram and Signal, which are already being used by many Indians as well as don’t cooperate with the Police departments.”

NECESSITY OF THE NEW RULES

Quite unlike Ramesh, whose concerns that the new rules will infringe people’s right to privacy, Sandeep Mudalkar, CEO of Sytech Labs Pvt. Ltd, and a cyber security and forensic expert, has a rather opposite perspective.

Sandeep believes that the new IT rules are not only advantageous for the public but also the need of the hour. “When non-consensual audio–visual content is published online, hampering the integrity of a woman or man, gets reported to authorities, the police further reports it to a US-based organization to figure out the origin of the source,” explains Sandeep. “Similarly, there has been a rampant spread of fake news on the Internet recently. Even such content gets sent for verification to relevant authorities. Companies take seven to ten days to take down such content, by which time in most cases sensitive content (photos/videos) is already downloaded, taken screenshots of and circulated even more widely, and the fake news is spread like wildfire.”

Sandeep further points out how the consequences of such delays pushed many victims into depression and to the brink of suicides. “However, the new rules mandate the removal of non-consensual intimate pictures within 24 hours, while non-verified content needs to be taken down within 36 hours upon receiving orders from the Government,” he says.

JEOPARDY TO FREE SPEECH

Despite his optimism, Sandeep admits that platforms’ complying with the Government’s new IT rule could also pose a threat to free speech. “The government could also make sure that any criticism against them is also taken

The government could also make sure that any criticism against them is also taken down by the social media. In the recent past when the government asked certain social media organizations to take down anti-government content, these websites refused as it was against their policies. Now with respect to the new rules, there will not be an intermediary body to stop them from controlling the content online — SANDEEP MUDALKAR, CEO of Sytech Labs Pvt. Ltd.

“There are some security issues on all platforms. So if you use the Internet, your security and privacy can be compromised. For starters, major social media platforms use your data to sell them to targeted ads on the basis of your geographical coordinates, your ideologies, the posts you like, pages you follow, etc.”

— RAMESH LOGANATHAN, past president Hysea

Recently, the data of 533 million Facebook users, out of which 6 million were Indians, were leaked. The LinkedIn data of the users were also breached. In 2020, an 18-year-old pulled off a major breach, hacking many Twitter accounts including many high-profile accounts such as that of President Joe Biden, demanding bitcoins in return. Apparently, he accessed the accounts in collaboration with a Twitter employee

— MUKESH CHOUDHARY, CTO

and Cybercrime Consultant to the Jaipur Police

down by the social media platforms. In the recent past when the government asked certain social media organizations to take down anti-government content, these websites refused to do so as it was against their own policies. However, now with the power shifting into the hands of the government with respect to the new rules, there will not be an intermediary body to stop them from controlling the content online,” he states.

Major social media platforms use your data to sell them to targeted ads on the basis of your geographical coordinates, your ideologies, the posts you like, pages you follow, etc.

TABLES TURNED

Readers might remember that in December 2020, WhatsApp faced users’ flak because of its new privacy policy of sharing data with their associate companies, which even led to users switching to other apps such as Signal and Telegram.

However, the tables seem to have clearly turned now, with WhatsApp now filing a petition in the Delhi High Court against the new governmental IT rules. The company stated that the new IT rules require them to track the originator of a message, which has no legal sanction. They argue that such tracking doesn’t protect people such as journalists and political activists from arbitrary state action.