Internet Freedom Foundation defends online freedom, privacy and innovation in India.

Born out of the SaveTheInternet.in movement for net neutrality, IFF works on a range of issues including net neutrality, free expression, privacy and innovation.

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Blogposts

Section66A

SC’s direction: Stop prosecuting people under the unconstitutional S.66A

SC has issued important directions to ensure that people are not prosecuted under S.66A, which was struck down in Shreya Singhal. This significant order is a result of sustained effort by PUCL which was provided legal support by IFF.
12 October, 2022
4 min read
Krishnesh BapatKrishnesh Bapat
Censorship

VideoLAN has issued a legal notice to DoT and MeitY for banning their website in India

VideoLAN’s URL from which users download the VLC Media Player appears to have been banned by the DoT in India since March 2021. This was done without any prior notice, or affording VideoLAN an opportunity of hearing, which is contrary to the Indian law.
04 October, 2022
4 min read
Anandita MishraAnandita Mishra
Censorship

In proceedings before CIC, IFF obtains website censorship orders from DoT and MTNL

We appealed to the Central Information Commission (‘CIC’), which held hearings on both the RTIs on 20.09.2022. Before the hearing, MTNL reconsidered its stance and informed us that they had blocked 4700 websites in 2020-21. CIC directed DoT to provide copies of the banning orders from 2020-21.
03 October, 2022
4 min read
Tanmay SinghTanmay Singh & Krishnesh BapatKrishnesh Bapat
e-commerce

#PrivacyOfThePeople: End of season sale of your privacy on e-commerce platforms

The e-commerce industry, which has witnessed significant growth alongside the advancement of technology, also presents privacy dilemmas to everyday customers. Through this post, we bring to light the the implications of data-driven marketing on our right to privacy.
01 October, 2022
7 min read
Tejasi PanjiarTejasi Panjiar & Anushka JainAnushka Jain
vpn

Delhi HC issues notice in SnTHosting’s challenge to legality of CERT-In’s Directions

Tl;dr The Delhi HC has issued notice in a petition filed by SnTHostings challenging the legality of Direction No. 20(3)/2022-CERT-In dated April 28, 2022 (‘2022 Directions’) by the The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (‘CERT-In’). SnTHostings provides hosting, Virtual Private Network (‘VPN’) and Virtual Private Server (‘VPS’) services. The 2022 Directions presented an existential crisis to SnTHostings as they mandated it to collect a range of personal data and share it with CERT-In on de
28 September, 2022
4 min read
Krishnesh BapatKrishnesh Bapat, Anandita MishraAnandita Mishra & Tanmay SinghTanmay Singh
SocialMediaComplianceWatch

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of May 2022

tl;dr Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of May, 2022. The latest of these was published by WhatsApp on July 1, 2022. The reports contain similar shortcomings, which exhibit lack of effort on the part of the social media intermediaries and the government to further transparency and accountability in platform governance. The intermediar
26 September, 2022
12 min read
Anandita MishraAnandita Mishra
SocialMediaComplianceWatch

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of April 2022

Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of April, 2022.
26 September, 2022
12 min read
Anandita MishraAnandita Mishra
Telecom

The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 retains its colonial roots

Read our initial explainer on the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022. We highlight how the bill represents a missed opportunity for legislative reform to bring the Indian telecom sector into the 21st century.
22 September, 2022
10 min read
Anushka JainAnushka Jain & Tejasi PanjiarTejasi Panjiar
Data Protection

#5Questions to ask before installing an app

Before you install any app on your phone, ask yourself these 5 questions.
22 September, 2022
5 min read
Anushka JainAnushka Jain
personaldata

Har Ghar Privacy Violation? #SaveOurPrivacy

The Har Ghar Tiranga campaign ended on August 15, 2022. However, the data collected under the campaign is still available on the website. We wrote to the Ministry of Culture to highlight this grave privacy violation.
21 September, 2022
5 min read
Tejasi PanjiarTejasi Panjiar, Gyan TripathiGyan Tripathi & Anushka JainAnushka Jain

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Campaigns & Projects

The Digital Patrakar Defence Clinic provides pro bono legal assistance to all journalists in India who face legal threats related to their reporting.

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IFF’s Project Panoptic aims to bring transparency and accountability to the relevant government stakeholders involved in the deployment and implementation of facial recognition technology (FRT) projects in India.

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#SaveOurPrivacy is an online collective launched in May, 2018 to safeguard your privacy and ensure a citizen centric data protection law.

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The ‘Zombie Tracker’ is a platform which monitors cases which include a charge under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000 which was deemed unconstitutional by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v Union of India.

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