Internet Freedom

For a country that will have more than 1.3 billion Indians connected to Internet by 2025, making Web safe from user harm, online criminality, disinformation and misinformation has to be a joint goal

India's internet freedom score improved by two points to 51 in the global ranking following efforts to bridge the digital divide in the country, the US government-funded NGO Freedom House said on Tuesday. The improvement in the score is also based on reduced frequency and intensity of internet shutdowns in the country. "Internet freedom in India marginally improved over the last year, following four years of decline, as efforts to bridge the country's digital divides expanded access to the internet. While the government continues to impose internet shutdowns, they have reduced in their frequency and intensity," Freedom on The Net 2022 said. India's score was 49 in Internet Freedom in 2021. According to report, legal challenges to laws enabling the government to censor online content, including against the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, have seen limits imposed on some powers. "However, the state continues to block online

Rajasthan is second after Jammu and Kashmir when it comes to suspending net service over law and order issues

Twitter India has blocked over 80 links, including tweets and some accounts, after receiving legal notices from the central government sent through 2021

US, all the EU members and 32 non-EU countries have signed a declaration that represents 'political commitment among partners to advance a positive vision for the internet and digital technologies'

For the first time in three years, Internet and mobile services remained unaffected in J&K on Independence Day which is being celebrated in the Valley in a relaxed atmosphere, officials said

The state is tightening its control over what we read, watch, hear or laugh at, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. Why not facilitate our soft power instead of clamping down on its strengths?

India also ranked second in terms of volume of legal demands for content removal after Japan, Twitter said in a blog that provided an update to its transparency report

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"As an international affairs researcher and a columnist, it looks like I can only go the route of entertainment, food and beverage now," the international relations professor wrote on Jan. 31

The Consumer Technology Association, which represents companies like IBM, Microsoft and Sony, also blasted the effort, saying it would "make compliance all but impossible"

The Privacy Checkup tool has been live since 2014 and the new version is rolling out globally this week

One of the greatest threats, Freedom House said, is efforts by China to remake the digital world in its "techno-dystopian" image