Written by 
tl;dr
We are pleased to share our legislative brief on digital rights for the Winter Session 2024 of the Indian Parliament – a round-up of digital rights issues for parliamentarians to consider as the session convenes on Monday, November 25, 2024. In the brief, we highlight key areas of concern in the domains of digital and freedoms rights, data privacy, data protection, censorship, and adjacent concerns, that require extensive deliberation in both houses of the Parliament.
Important documents:
- IFFs Legislative Brief on Digital Rights – Winter Session 2024 (link)
- IFF Legislative Brief on Digital Rights – Monsoon Session 2024 (link)
- Prior Legislative Briefs (link)
Introduction
The Winter Session of the Indian Parliament will commence on November 25, 2024 and is expected to conclude on December 20, 2024 as per a press release from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. A total of 15 bills have been listed for consideration, which includes the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, key ports and shipping bills namely the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024, Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Indian Ports Bill, 2024.
The previous session of the parliament came to an end on August 09, 2024, when both Houses of Parliament adjourned sine die. The Session saw the introduction of 14 bills, of which 4 were passed by the Lok Sabha and 3 by the Rajya Sabha. Out of all the bills, namely the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2024, the Appropriation Bill, 2024 as passed by Lok Sabha, and the Finance Bill, 2024 were passed by both Houses and received presidential assent. During the Session, the Parliament presented and passed the Union Budget for 2024-2025. Read our Digital Rights Review of the monsoon session here. Both houses witnessed increased rates of productivity: Lok Sabha sat for 135% of the allocated time and Rajya Sabha for 112%.
Potential issues to be deliberated upon in the upcoming session
- Endless waiting: Digital Personal Data Protection Act and Rules
During the 2023 Monsoon session, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (“DPDPA”), 2023 was introduced on August 3, 2023. It was passed on August 7, 2023 in the Lok Sabha and on August 9, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha, with a combined deliberation of merely two hours across both Houses, with minimal inputs from neutral and opposition MPs, without due consideration to parliamentary rules and procedure. With over a year having lapsed since the DPDPA, 2023 was passed, the same is yet to be enforced. Further, considering that the Rules under the DPDPA, 2023 are yet to be notified, the law as of date is rendered ineffective. Several missed timelines, set by MeitY itself, to release the rules under the DPDPA, 2023 have led to uncertainty. In October 2023, it was reported that the rules would be released for public consultation and that there would be a 45-day long consultation period. The latest timeline that has been promised is reporting in November, 2024 promising the release of the rules by the end of the month. In light of some reporting around the finalisation of the 21 draft rules under the DPDPA, 2023 and its imminent release, the Ministry must reconsider the reported 45-day timeframe for inviting public comments. Despite continued promises of notifying the Rules, the Union government has been consistently pushing the date of notification or issuing a public consultation on them till date.
- Rules to surveil, disconnect and over-regulate: Four new draft rules issued under the Telecommunication Act, 2023
The Telecommunications Act (“Telecom Act”), 2023 was introduced on December 18, 2023 and passed on December 20, 2023 in the Lok Sabha, and just a day later in the Rajya Sabha—with over 140 opposition MPs suspended and amid a state of chaos, disarray, protest, and walkouts in the Parliament. A repackaged version of the colonial Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Telecom Act confers government authorities with unbridled powers and infringes on individual privacy. In addition to allowing for excessive surveillance and suspension of internet services without adequate accountability, oversight, or necessary procedural safeguards, it missed a huge opportunity to introduce reforms and create a rights-centric law. The Telecom Act has been partially notified, whereby on June 26, 2024, Sections 1, 2, 10 to 30, 42 to 44, 46, 47, 50 to 58, 61 and 62 went into effect and on July 5, 2024, Sections 6 to 8, 48 and 59(b) went into effect.
In August 2024, the Department of Telecommunications (“DoT”) released four draft rules under the Telecom Act, namely the draft Telecommunications (Procedures and Safeguards for Lawful Interception of Messages) Rules, 2024, draft Temporary Suspension of Telecommunication Services Rules, 2024, draft Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024 and draft Telecommunications (Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure) Rules, 2024. The four rules come with a pandora’s box of problems, notably, with little to no effort to fix the issues existing in the previous rules, including increased surveillance and suspension powers.
- Awaiting good governance: Upcoming Digital India Act
The upcoming legal framework, “Digital India Act” (“DIA”) will overhaul the Information Technology (“IT”) Act, 2000. News reports have revealed that the legislation will “govern the digital space on key issues such as online harm, de-platforming, doxxing, and social media algorithms”, in addition to a prospective list of the types of content that may be regulated. MeitY organised two meetings, on March 09, 2023 and May 23, 2023 in Bengaluru and Mumbai respectively, where the former Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar listed the broad goals, principles, and structure of the upcoming ‘DIA’. Among the more contentious aspects raised was the potential removal of the ‘safe harbour’ clause for intermediaries. Recent reporting suggests that there is consideration of smaller, more urgent amendments/reforms to the IT Act, 2000 in the interim instead of overhauling the entire framework. To ensure that any draft DIA or amendments to the IT Act, 2000 is reflective of the recent developments in the digital ecosystem, the existing lacunae and inadequacies in the IT Act, 2000 must be subject to significant scrutiny from diverse perspectives. Further, the new digital legal framework must be based on constitutional principles, enshrining constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
- Uncertainty on free speech: The draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 has been withdrawn
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (“MIB”) released the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 for public consultation on November 10, 2023. However, MIB did not make the comments that it received during the consultation public. After concluding consultations, MIB reportedly circulated a watermark copy of the revised draft Broadcasting Bill, 2024 with a select set of stakeholders after holding private, closed-door meetings with them. Although the 2024 bill was never officially published by MIB, several unofficial copies of the bill were found to be circulated online. Soon after, it was reported that MIB asked the ‘privileged stakeholders’ to return physical copies of the Broadcasting Bill, 2024 “without any feedback” and that MIB is “withdrawing”/”reconsidering” the bill. MIB never acknowledged the 2024 draft nor did they clarify any of the other questions raised by stakeholders regarding the closed-door consultations or the revisions to the bill. Concerns about the Broadcasting Bill, 2024 still loom large. If it were to resemble the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 then risks remain that censorship of speech which is unpalatable to the Union government or politically influential and powerful communities may become formalised.
- Threats of Censorship: Notice issued against Wikimedia
In July 2024, news agency Asia News International (ANI) filed a suit for defamation before the Delhi High Court alleging that Wikipedia pages about ANI carried “false and misleading” content. In the backdrop of this litigation, as per news reports in November 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation was issued a notice by the MIB prompted by complaints alleging bias and inaccurate information on the platform. While a copy of the notice by the MIB has not yet been made public, according to press reports, the MIB questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher instead of an intermediary (as under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000) while initiating legal action. The Internet Freedom Foundation has filed a Right to Information application with the MIB to receive a copy of the order. The litigation before the Delhi High Court coupled with the notice issued by MIB has sparked a larger policy issue on platform governance and the status of safe harbour provisions for intermediaries in India. It is crucial that access to knowledge and freedom of speech and expression are kept at the forefront of any policy choices.
There’s this and much more in our Legislative Brief
This is a sneak peek at some of the issues we have covered in-depth in our brief, including data on telecom and internet connectivity; statistics on implementation of schemes; details on key areas of digital governance such as public consultations, privacy and data protection, free speech, access to internet, and surveillance. For more analysis, statistics, and insight into future legislative developments related to digital rights, see here!