Policing the Net, privately

ALMOST EVERYONE concerned with keeping the digital landscape free and secure has written to the Indian government. Watchdogs of Internet freedom, security experts, encryption specialists, academics and even human rights organisations have all been petitioning Ravi Shankar Prasad, who heads the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), against the Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018. The changes envisaged are far-reaching, making the intermediaries (service providers) accountable for the content on their platforms and no longer eligible for safe harbour protection (see ‘Amendments are lethal to free speech’,

The amended guidelines define intermediaries as any service that has more than five million users in India. Such companies will have to take down questionable content within 24 hours and ensure the traceability of messages. User data will have to be provided within 72 hours of a government request. Intermediaries would also have

NEW DELHI