![]() The Telecom Bill consolidates three anachronistic laws: The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and The Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Protection) Act, 1950-all of which govern the telecom sector. ![]() It is still technically open to revision following the ongoing public consultation on the bill-and one can only hope that it’s dropped-but why should one worry about it, especially considering it is not yet law? ![]() The Draft Telecom Bill is perhaps the most dangerous of this spate of laws/draft laws published by the government. In effect, these new/redesigned laws, which the government will no doubt package as necessary in the interest of ‘national security’ and other such seemingly paramount objectives, will enable untrammelled censorship and surveillance and, by that token, erode privacy and free speech. ![]() The combined impact of these laws will be to undermine and imperil privacy in communication over WhatsApp, Signal, Facetime and other internet-based messaging services render the use of VPNs such as Tor ineffective (VPN use in India rose 671 per cent during the pandemic) expand the writ of the government to shut down the internet for arbitrarily determined reasons lead to censorship on social media platforms and enable the government and its agencies to take ‘temporary possession’ of any or all telecom services, such as Gmail or WhatsApp, Netflix or Jio. ![]() In recent months, it has also published new CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) Guidelines, which requires VPNs (virtual private networks) to record all customer personal data, and has put out the Draft Telecommunication Bill 2022, which will fundamentally change the way we access and experience the internet. On 28 October, it notified the IT Intermediary Amendment Rules 2022, which enables it to establish a Grievance Appellate Committee with powers to direct social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook to take down content. It has been a busy time for the government. ![]()
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