BackVictory for free speech
The Supreme Court has done well to strike down the controversial Section 66A of the IT Act
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In recent years, India has seen many incidents of citizens being arrested for something they posted online. The Supreme Court has done well to strike down the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which was added in 2008, eight years after the original law was passed by Parliament.
The provisions of Section 66A were bound to be misused. People could be put in jail for anything that was deemed grossly offensive or of a menacing character. These are delightfully vague terms that provided easy opportunities for harassment.
Many are quite rightly celebrating the court decision. Now two important issues lie ahead. First, will other laws be adequate to maintain public order when disturbances such as riots are being fanned by false messages on social networking sites? Second, is it now time for the courts to strike down other controversial cyber laws that allow authorities to block websites or force Internet companies to take down websites they host?
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