Blogposts

Featured

IFF submits its comments on the Draft Approach Paper for creating a Digital Address Code

We have provided our comments on the Draft Approach Paper for creating a Digital Address Code, highlighting governance issues around geospatial data, data protection issues around the use of geospatial data, and potential surveillance and function creep challenges which will arise from DAC.

12 November, 2021

7 min read

Rohin Garg &

Gyan Tripathi

RTI

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The Delhi High Court directs the CIC to provide a time frame within which our second appeal for information on surveillance orders will be decided

MHA originally claimed that the RTIs on e-surveillance is exempt for national security, but CIC directed the MHA to re-hear the matter. MHA now claims that it has destroyed the info! We filed another appeal before the CIC, and the Delhi HC directed the CIC to tell the HC a timeline for our appeal.

12 November, 2021

4 min read

Tanmay Singh &

Anandita Mishra

mha

Featured

IFF files a Writ Petition against MHA’s refusal to provide information on electronic surveillance orders issued under the IT Act

We filed 6 RTI applications in Dec 2018 seeking information about Electronic Surveillance orders passed under Section 69 of the IT Act. Three years have passed since, and we apprehend that the information sought is being continuously destroyed during the pendency of the RTI proceedings.

11 November, 2021

5 min read

Anandita Mishra

Project Panoptic

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Project Panoptic has partnered with Amnesty International & Article 19 to launch #BanTheScan in India

IFF's Project Panoptic has partnered with Amnesty International and Article 19 to launch the #BanTheScan campaign against the rampant proliferation of facial recognition use in Hyderabad.

11 November, 2021

4 min read

Anushka Jain

Anuradha Bhasin

Featured

Digital Transparency: A Right to Information Report for October 2021

Since our last report for the month of September, IFF has filed 49 RTI requests. Here is an overview of the requests filed and an analysis of the responses we have received from the different public authorities.

11 November, 2021

7 min read

Gyan Tripathi

pegasus

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IFF’s Statement on the Supreme Court Pegasus Committee

Read our statement on the committee of technical experts appointed by the Supreme Court of India to look into the Pegasus spyware revelations made in July.

10 November, 2021

3 min read

Anushka Jain

Twitter

IFF questions the legality of Tripura Police’s direction to block accounts on Twitter

West Agartala Police issued a notice under Section 91 of CrPC directing Twitter Inc. to block 68 Twitter pages/accounts. We wrote to the police highlighting the legal infirmities in the notice.

09 November, 2021

4 min read

Krishnesh Bapat

PrivacyofThePeople

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#PrivacyOfThePeople: Small borrowers and digital lending apps

In the latest post in our #PrivacyOfThePeople series, we look at the impact of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 on digital lending application users. We examine both illegal and ‘legal’ lending apps and look at how the data protection bill will impact digital lending.

08 November, 2021

8 min read

Simrandeep Singh

Telecom

Featured

Introducing IFF’s Connectivity Tracker #MapTheDigitalDivide

IFF is introducing its Connectivity Tracker, compiling available data related to connectivity each quarter, like: telecom subscriptions, internet connections, penetration rates, average data usage per user, and more. This edition contains data from Jan '20 to Aug '21.

03 November, 2021

7 min read

Rohin Garg