The following
article originally appeared in The
Hindu on December 15, 2014. An excerpt is below, and the full text can be
accessed here.
If you are reading this article, you have in all
likelihood committed a crime. According to Indian law — specifically, Section
66A of the amended Information Technology Act — you could be facing a fine and
a prison sentence of up to three years for having sent “by means of a computer
resource or communication device” information that is “grossly offensive or has
menacing character” or information you know “to be false, but for the purpose
of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury,
criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will.”
The IT Act’s vagueness and comprehensiveness are
troubling at many levels. Instances of Section 66A’s use have been infrequent
but arbitrary. Several prominent examples date from 2012, such as a Jadavpur
University professor arrested for disseminating a cartoon of Ms. Mamata
Banerjee, a businessman in Puducherry charged for a supposedly offensive tweet
against a politician, and the arrest of two young women in Maharashtra over
comments related to Bal Thackeray’s funeral. Last year, the IT Cell of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) compared the ostensibly draconian nature of
Section 66A to the Emergency, with several leaders urging that it be amended or
watered down.
Just last week, the Supreme Court requested clarity on
Section 66A from the Centre, pointing to the inadequacy of the law and the
arbitrariness of its use. The government, in its reply, defended the law: “even
a single unlawful/illegal message or image has a potential to tear the social
fabric and destroy peace and tranquillity.”
The inadequacies of India’s Internet regime are not
relegated to this one particularly contentious piece of legislation. In
reality, the Indian state, Indian society, and the Indian economy confront a
series of interrelated dilemmas pertaining to the future of the Internet. The
manner in which these dilemmas are addressed will be crucial to determining
India’s future as an open society, a secure state, and a competitive economy.