Saturday 28 March 2015

Supreme Court Erred In Reading Down Section 79(3)(b) And Rule 3(4): Praveen Dalal

The judgment of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (24th March 2015), Writ Petition (Criminal) No.167 Of 2012 (PDF) is not just about Section 66A but many other sections and rules as well. For instance, Section 79 of IT Act 2000 and Rule 3 of Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 have also been analysed by Supreme Court.

As the constitutionality of these provisions was challenged, Supreme Court had limited choices. Supreme Court preferred to narrow down these provisions to keep them operational and constitutional. But it has not been realised at what cost this has been done.


Indian cyber law has never been appropriate since its inception. Too much stress is given to suppress civil liberties and enhance e-surveillance. However, it has now reached a stage where immediate steps must be taken to protect civil liberties in cyberspace on the one hand and projects like Digital India on the other. This is also the high time to leave politics and do positive things for Indian masses.

Source: Cjnews India.

Sunday 15 March 2015

Digital India And Aadhaar Related Critical Policy Suggestions And Views Of Praveen Dalal

Digital India is a promising initiative of Indian Government. However, like any new and good project, Digital India is also suffering from many shortcomings and weaknesses. It is imperative on the part of Indian Government to remove these limitations of Digital India project instead of suppressing the same. It is also important that any critical view or suggestion regarding Digital India project must not be either suppressed or censored by Indian Government or technology platforms like Google, Twitter, etc.

There are many critical opinions regarding Aadhaar and Digital India projects. It is believed that by clubbing the digital India project with Aadhaar, Indian Government has made Digital India the digital panopticon of India.

There are also many reported cases of censorship activities of Google and Twitter in India. The dissenting tweets and posts regarding Digital India were censored by both Google and Twitter repeatedly. It would be better if these companies would respect civil liberties in cyberspace in the future.

This post is sharing the critical and other views and recommendations of Praveen Dalal regarding Digital India and Aadhaar Projects that have been shared at Twitter for public at large but are not easy to find due to censorship activities. These are as follows:



(3) Twitter Continues Censoring Digital India Related Dissenting Tweets. Source: Perry4Law News Centre,





(8) The Biggest Problem Of Digital India Project Is That It Lacks A Clear Cut Policy And Implementation Plan,


(11) Unconstitutional And Illegal Biometrics Collection Laws And Practices In India- Source: CEPHRC,















This consolidate list would provide a readymade reference list of all Digital India and Aadhaar related critical views and opinions of Praveen Dalal at a single place. We hope our readers would find this post and these tweets useful and productive.

Source: IIPS.