Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Internet promotes freedom of speech' that was published in Newsband

Internet promotes freedom of speech

Our government should do something drastic to strengthen efforts to protect free speech online. The court rightly hauled up the Uttar Pradesh government over its arrest of scholar and writer Kanwal Bharti for his Facebook post criticising the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal. The same court, however, refused to stay the implementation of the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011, which require websites to take down objectionable material posted by third-party users within 36 hours of being notified of the need to do so. Thus it is become clear that the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes offensive online content is the executive: politicians and policemen.

Thanks to a simple Facebook post, Mr. Bharti was charged under Sections 153 and 295A of the IPC. Mr. Bharti’s harassment was made possible thanks to the discretion government exercises in regulating cyberspace.

Arresting writer Kanwal Bharti is just an attempt by the state to suppress those who raise their voice against the injustice being done and the irony that it is being done under the garb of Sections 153 & 295A of the IPC.. It is a gross violation of freedom of speech and expression. The judiciary should strike down these provisions at the earliest.

The Internet fosters freedom of speech on a global scale. The Internet is the largest common area that has ever existed. Anything that anybody wishes to say can be heard by anyone else with access to the internet, and this world-wide community, is as large and diverse as humanity itself. Therefore from a practical point of view, no one community´s standards can govern the type of speech permissible on the Internet. The principle of freedom of speech is also embedded in the Internet´s robust architecture. Because of the Internet´s robust design, it is impossible to completely block access to information, except in very limited and controlled circumstances.

Progress of human civilization depends on individual expression of new ideas, especially unpopular ideas, then the principle of freedom of speech is the most important value society can uphold. The more experience someone has with the Internet the more strongly they generally believe in the importance of freedom of speech, usually because their personal experience has convinced them of the benefits of open expression.

The Internet not only provides universal access to free speech, it also promotes the basic concept of freedom of speech.

Supreme Court is regarded as the guardian of Indian constitution and the fundamental rights of the citizens including right against exploitation and right to freedom of speech. But here what it did was partially protect the people of India from draconian IT act which has many legal loopholes. Politicians use IT act as dreaded weapon against anyone and can get them arrested too. This will eventually lead to evaporation of trust from Indian judiciary also. Hence this particular act should be deleted or amended.