Govt plans new platform to flag online posts
NEW DELHI: As the process of amending the Information Technology Act, 2000 gathers pace, the Centre is considering an alternative system for faster adjudication of cases related to cyberspace, revolving around what experts term a civil takedown of content.
The alternative system would be worked out in such a way that the process has legal sanctity and confers powers on the government to take strict action on complaints against offensive content, officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
“The idea is that people who do not want to approach courts or the police regarding violative online content, say a video that the user wants taken down, can have an alternative,” said one of the officials.
The official added that one of the options is to set up a website for grievance redressal that would address such complaints speedily. At present, complainants can either challenge the content they find offensive in the courts or report it to intermediaries, if any are involved, to address their concerns.
“The ideal time frame for action would be 48 hours, so that the content can be contained. Cases of women’s safety or cyber frauds can also be reported this way,” the official said. “Of course, criminal cases would need more time to investigate. This wouldn’t clash with that.”
At present, for cases that do not constitute a crime, a possible civil solution is to approach the courts. “The ministry of electronics and information technology has been receiving a far greater number of complaints,” a second official said. “There is a need for strengthening of cybersecurity, the provisions relating to intermediaries are also in the works and the country should soon have a data protection law as well.”
In February 2019, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) noted that over 60,000 cybercrime cases were recorded in the previous three years. “As per data maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau, 12,317, 21,796 and 27,248 cases of cybercrime incidents have been registered in year 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively,” the ministry said.
NCRB’S data show that 44,546 more cases of cybercrime were registered in 2019.
MHA runs a cybercrime reporting portal, cybercrime.gov.in, that was initially started in 2019 to record cases relating to the safety of women and children online. It dealt with online content such as rape videos and child pornography, but has since expanded to include other kinds of cases as well, such as cyber fraud.
The portal has no fixed time frame for resolution of cases. “Substantive parts of the IT Act are up for a new avatar,” the second official said. “The government is also revisioning how digital services are provided and consumed.”
The first official added that right now, services are provided in different forms, such as cloud services, small applications, big applications, intermediaries and third-party content. “There needs to be a reassessment. There are companies that have gained dominance across different forms. Their positions have to be clarified.”
NS Nappinai, a Supreme Court advocate and founder of Cybersaathi, said the move would be welcome. “A remedy for a civil takedown {of offensive content} would be most welcome,” she said. “I would urge the ministry to evaluate a shorter time period than 48 hours, since under the IT Act the takedown period for intermediaries is 36 hours and international trends are for takedowns in 24 hours or less.”
She added that victims had little recourse to immediate civil options over offensive content against them posted online. “The only issue is that the victim should not be made to run from pillar to post. A cohesive system has to be worked out,” she added.
Nappinai stressed that the issue is complex because everyone assumed that an intermediary meant an online entity. “One may be a digital entity and not online but still be able to avail the safe harbour granted to intermediaries under section 79 of the rules.” Section 79 pertains to intermediary guidelines, which provides safe harbour for intermediaries in a way that they are exempt from penal action for content shared by users.
“There is need to gain an understanding of whether they are entitled to safe harbour under all roles,” said the second official.
AN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL SAID THAT RAI WAS ONLY TRYING TO ‘MOTIVATE THE STUDENTS WHO HAVE JOINED CLASSES AFTER A LONG PERIOD’ DUE TO COVID
NEW DELHI: Several parents’ groups in the Capital raised objections on Thursday after a video on social media purportedly showed the Delhi government’s director of education asking students at a state-run school to “fill the answer sheets with anything” if they did not know the answers, and that there would be leniency in marking as long as there was something written on paper.
The official, Udit Prakash Rai, also appeared to say in the video that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) would give marks even if the students simply copied the questions down instead of attempting to answer them.
HT has seen the video but could not independently verify its authenticity. It was also not clear who had recorded it.
According to Ashok Aggarwal, the national president of the All India Parents Association, the video showed Rai talking to Class 12 students.
“I have written to the chief minister on the matter, asking him to take necessary action against the director. It is shocking that the director of education is issuing such instructions to students and asking them to write just anything or copying the questions on the answer sheet. He also said that they have spoken to CBSE on it,” Aggarwal said, adding that the video was shot on Wednesday. He did not, however, specify where the recording was made, who had made it, or how he knew about the details of the video.
Despite repeated attempts, Rai did not respond to calls and messages seeking comments.
An education department official, who asked not to be named, said that Rai was only trying to “motivate the students who have joined classes after a long period” due to the Covid pandemic.
A CBSE spokesperson said the Delhi education department could “give the context to this specific video”. When asked whether the board had any discussion with the department over marking, CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi said no such discussion had taken place.
In the video posted on social media, Rai appears to be telling students: “Do not leave the answer sheet blank. Answer all questions. If you don’t know the answers, copy the questions in the space allotted for answers but don’t leave it blank. Write anything you remember, or can think of, but don’t leave it blank. We have spoken to your teachers and they have said that they will mark you if something is written on the answer sheets. We have also told CBSE that if the child writes anything, they should be marked.”
In another video, he appeared to issue corresponding instructions to teachers, asking them to tell students to not leave question papers blank.
Aprajita Gautam, the president of the Delhi Parents’ Association, said such instructions would harm the future prospects of children.
The Delhi Congress criticised the official’s comments. “What kind of education model is this? Director Udit Prakash Rai is telling children that if they don’t know anything, they should write the questions and that the students would be marked on it. [They said] we have spoken to CBSE and students will be marked. This is playing with the future of children,” it tweeted on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, criticised the comments. Naveen Kumar, media head of Delhi BJP, tweeted in response to the video: “This is the level of education in Delhi,”
The government did not comment on the matter.
To be sure, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has been focusing on school education ever since they came to power in 2015. The pass percentage of the first batch of Class 12 students under the AAP government was 85.9% in 2016. It has improved over the years to 88.2% (2017), 90.6% (2018), 94.24% (2019) and 99% in 2020.
Last year, as many as 569 students from Delhi government schools passed the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to medical colleges.