Internet Freedom Foundation

Last updated
Internet Freedom Foundation
FormationAugust 15, 2016;7 years ago (2016-08-15)
Founders Apar Gupta, Aravind Ravi Sulekha, Karthik Balakrishnan, Rachita Taneja, Raman Jit Singh Chima, Rohin Dharmakumar, Kiran Jonnalagadda, Nikhil Pahwa
Type Charitable organization
FocusDigital Rights
Location
Area served
India
Website internetfreedom.in

Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is an Indian digital rights organisation that advances liberty, equality, fraternity and social justice in the digital age. IFF has three verticals of work that include strategic litigation, policy engagement and civic literacy.

Contents

Background

IFF was formed out of the SaveTheInternet.in campaign which was a volunteer-driven campaign and launched on August 15, 2016. [1] The campaign in support of net neutrality garnered over 1.2 million signatures and led the TRAI to prohibit discriminatory practices by companies on the internet. [2]

To enable structured engagement, the co-founders of the SaveTheInternet.in campaign established IFF to work on issues of privacy, free speech, net neutrality, and innovation on the internet. IFF became a staffed organisation in 2018 and Apar Gupta took over as the Executive Director where he served till March, 2023. [3]

Work

IFF has a wide mandate of work. It undertakes court litigations, policy engagement and advocacy campaigns against digital surveillance, blocking of websites, [4] technology related interference in elections, [5] free speech violations, [6] internet censorship, [7] [8] net neutrality, and defends encryption. [9]

Projects

Zombie Tracker

Zombie Tracker is a tool built by IFF in partnership with Civic Data labs to track cases under Section 66A as a "data-driven evidence-based solution" to highlight the continued use of Section 66A, which was struck down by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. [10] The tracker along with strategic litigation lead to a closure of all 66A cases. [11]

Project Panoptic

Project Panoptic tracks the development and implementation of facial recognition technology projects in India with an aim to increase transparency and accountability around the use of Facial recognition technology in India. The tracker was built by IFF along with volunteers from Datakind and Frappe. As of November 2021, Project Panoptic has been tracking 78 FRT projects across the country, with an estimated cost of 9.6 billion rupees. [12] IFF's Project Panoptic along with Amnesty International and Article 19, launched the Hyderabad leg of BanTheScan campaign. Hyderabad is one of the most surveilled cities in the world, with 600,000 cameras monitoring its citizens all the time. [13]

Digital Patrakar Defence Clinic

Digital Patrakar Defense Clinic ( DPDC) offers pro-bono legal assistance and representation to Indian journalists, cartoonists, bloggers, and any individuals who use the medium of the internet to report on daily affairs. [14]

Public Campaigns

Speech Bill

In March 2017, IFF drafted a law to reform India's defamation law which was introduced in Lok Sabha as a Private Member's Bill by Tathagata Satpathy. [15] The bill garnered more than 2000 signatures and 54 organisational supporters, including India's largest publishing houses.

Keep Us Online

In April 2017, IFF launched a campaign against internet shutdowns in India called KeepUsOnline. They petitioned the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology to introduce credible measures to stop arbitrary internet shutdowns in India. [16]

Save Our Privacy

Launched in 2018, SaveOurPrivacy is a public initiative launched by a collective of 35 organizations including IFF, which put across a model draft law called "Indian Privacy Code, 2018". [17] The code has seven core principles, one of which calls for surveillance reform. It advocates for a law that limits mass or 'dragnet' surveillance, and lays down clear rules governing individual surveillance. [18] It also seeks the strengthening and protection of the right to information. After going through multiple revisions, the draft was filed as a private member's bill in the parliament, twice. The collective creates resources for public awareness and continuously engages with government representatives. [19]

Strategic Litigation

IFF has petitioned or intervened in cases relating to Internet Shutdowns, [20] WhatsApp Privacy, [21] the Right to be Forgotten, [22] CCTV surveillance, [23] PUBG bans, [24] Section 66A arrests, [25] Aadhaar Social-Media Linking. [26] It has represented public interest litigants and open source tools such as VLC Player which were blocked in India. [27]

Publications

IFF publishes open working papers from fellows. The first research paper by Nakul Nayak studied the law and impact of internet shutdowns in India, [28] and the second research paper by Apar Gupta and Abhinav Sekhri called attention to the continued use of Section 66A of the IT Act, despite the Supreme Court striking it down. [29] In addition to this IFF published issue specific briefs and explainers such as those on the Digital Data Protection Act, 2023, a quarterly tracker on internet connectivity and briefs for parliamentarians.

Support

IFF is a donor-driven organisation with recurring monthly payment subscriptions for members. [30] It is also organisationally supported by Indian startups and a grant from UNESCO. [31] It also publishes monthly transparency reports [32] and is rated by Guidestar [33] and Credibility Alliance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance</span> Intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population

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Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for purposes of well-intent, while at the same time reducing its potential for harm. It advocates for transparency, accountability, and limiting the collection of personal information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privacy International</span>

Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its current executive director, since 2012, is Dr Gus Hosein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open Rights Group</span> UK digital rights advocacy group

The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including mass surveillance, internet filtering and censorship, and intellectual property rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet censorship in India</span> Overview of Internet censorship in India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Digital Rights</span> Advocacy group

European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an international advocacy group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. EDRi is a network collective of non-profit organizations (NGO), experts, advocates and academics working to defend and advance digital rights across the continent. As of October 2022, EDRi is made of more than 40 NGOs, as well as experts, advocates and academics from all across Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information Technology Act, 2000</span> Act of the Parliament of India

The Information Technology Act, 2000 is an Act of the Indian Parliament notified on 17 October 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet censorship</span> Legal control of the internet

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Access Now</span> Non-profit organization

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Save Your Voice is a movement against internet censorship in India. It was founded by cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, journalist Alok Dixit, socialist Arpit Gupta and Chirag Joshi in January 2012. The movement was initially named "Raise Your Voice", before it was renamed. The movement started from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, under the frontier-ship of the movement's four founders; with a "Langda March" at Ujjain. The movement opposes the Information Technology Act of India and demands democratic rules for the governance of Internet. The campaign is targeted at the rules framed under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Fight for the Future is a nonprofit advocacy group in the area of digital rights founded in 2011. The group aims to promote causes related to copyright legislation, as well as online privacy and censorship through the use of the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Software Movement of Karnataka</span> Non-profit organization for support for the free software movement

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in India</span> Overview of mass surveillance in India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swecha</span> Free software movement non-profit organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikhil Pahwa</span> Indian journalist and digital rights activist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mishi Choudhary</span> American lawyer

Mishi Choudhary is a technology lawyer and online civil liberties activist working in the United States and India. She is the senior vice president and general counsel of Virtru, a role she started in 2022. Prior to that role, Mishi was the Legal Director of the Software Freedom Law Center as well as the Founder of SFLC.in. SFLC.in brings together lawyers, policy analysts and technologists to fight for digital rights, produces reports, and studies on the state of the Indian internet, also has a productive legal arm. Under her leadership, SFLC.in has conducted landmark litigation cases, petitioned the government of India on freedom of expression and internet issues, and campaigned for WhatsApp and Facebook to fix a feature of their platform that has been used to harass women in India.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apar Gupta</span> Indian lawyer and digital rights activist

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References

  1. ↑ "Hello world - and happy Independence Day!". Internet Freedom Foundation. 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  2. ↑ "India's Net neutrality crusaders". livemint.com. Mint. 9 May 2015. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Transitions and achieving our true potential". Internet Freedom Foundation. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  4. ↑ "Not just porn, Indian telecom firms are blocking other websites, too". qz.com. Quartz India. 11 February 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  5. ↑ Chaturvedi, Anumeha. "Internet Freedom Foundation, Constitutional Conduct, ex CECs among others appeal to EC to reign in digital platforms". The Economic Times. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ Martineau, Paris. "India is Cracking Down on Ecommerce and Free Speech". Wired. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  7. ↑ Goel, Vindu (14 February 2019). "India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship". The New York Times . Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Netflix will regulate its content in India. It swears that's not a bad thing". edition.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  9. ↑ "WhatsApp is at risk in India. So are free speech and encryption". vox.com. Vox. 19 February 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  10. ↑ Zombie Tracker https://zombietracker.in/ . Retrieved 29 November 2021.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "SC's direction: Stop prosecuting people under S.66A". Internet Freedom Foundation. 2022-10-12. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  12. ↑ Panoptic Project https://panoptic.in/ . Retrieved 29 November 2021.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "Hyderabad". Ban the Scan: Hyderabad. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  14. ↑ Digital Patrakar Defence Clinic https://patrakardefence.in/ . Retrieved 29 November 2021.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ "Now, debate on defamation law goes online". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. The Times of India. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  16. ↑ "'Keep Us Online,' says a new campaign by the Internet Freedom Foundation against internet shutdowns in India". factordaily.com. Factor Daily. 20 March 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  17. ↑ "SaveOurPrivacy". SaveOurPrivacy. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  18. ↑ "Citizens' group unveils draft law on data protection that safeguards the right to privacy". scroll.in. Scroll.in. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Save Our Privacy". SaveOurPrivacy. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  20. ↑ "Our Legal Work". Internet Freedom Foundation. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  21. ↑ "WhatsApp privacy policy affects users' rights? Supreme Court to examine". The Economic Times. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Delhi HC accepts intervention against a Right to be Forgotten case in India". medianama.com. MediaNama. 21 September 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  23. ↑ "'CCTV project a voyeur's dream, will lead to surveillance state': Delhi govt gets legal notice". theprint.in. The Print. 7 June 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  24. ↑ "PUBG Mobile: IFF moves Gujarat High Court against the ban". hindustantimes.com. Hindustan Times. 9 April 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  25. ↑ Christopher, Nilesh. "Police using lapsed law to curb e-speech: Internet Freedom Foundation". The Economic Times. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Madras HC: Internet Freedom Foundation to act as an intervener in WhatsApp traceability case". medianama.com. MediaNama. 28 June 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  27. ↑ Singh, Manish (2022-11-14). "India lifts download ban on VLC". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  28. ↑ Nayak, Nakul (September 25, 2018). "The Legal Disconnect: An Analysis of India's Internet Shutdown Laws". SSRN   3254857.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. ↑ Sekhri, Abhinav; Gupta, Apar (October 31, 2018). "Section 66A and Other Legal Zombies". SSRN   3275893.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ↑ "Donate". internetfreedom.in. Internet Freedom Foundation. 19 February 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Organisational Donors and Supporters". internetfreedom.in. Internet Freedom Foundation. 13 May 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  32. ↑ "Transparency and Finances". internetfreedom.in. Internet Freedom Foundation. 25 September 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  33. ↑ Guidestar. "Profile of, "Internet Freedom Foundation"".
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