IGF 2021 WS #153 Error 404 - Freedom of Speech not found

India is leading the world in terms of the number of internet shutdowns. The state of free speech in the country is abysmal to say the least. India is in its nascent stage when it comes to developments in tech policy. South Asia has been learning from scores of internet shutdowns in India. For example during anti-CAA protests, Bangladesh shut off internet in its bordering villages, the ongoing Rakhine state internet shutdown to give a few examples. The Internet has become a public square where people from all walks of life find space to express their opinions and learn. On one hand South Asian countries are adopting new ways and measures to restrict the free access to the internet, on the other hand Civil Society organisations are making profound impact on the ground to kickstart the discussion around protection of a free internet in the digital age.

Article 370 abrogated the special status of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, but the abrogation contrarily gave Kashmir a special status-- the longest communication blockade in the history. The state in the garb of fighting insurgency, is actually fighting transmission of ideas and information, which are imperative for democratic participation. The unprecedented frequent imposition of communication blockade in Kashmir and other areas amounts to collective punishment and a price for voicing dissent. Such network disruptions in India and neighbouring South Asian countries have also become a means of systemic discrimination and render history of violent political repressions and the existence of repressed communities living on margins, completely invisible to the outside world.

State cannot police its citizenry with network disruptions alone. To exert its political control with force, the states often deploy an array of surveillance tools to closely and extensively monitor the activities of its populace in the virtual space. The network disruptions along with surveillance measures are usually targeted at whistle-blowers, journalists, civil society organisations, activists and dissenters.

Such extreme measures of disruptions and mass surveillance in the 21st century are not limited to authoritarian states of South Asia, but have been impulsively embraced by “human rights respecting democratic nations” like India and Bangladesh. Hence, it poses as barrier to universal and basic access which is a fundamnetal need of the day especially when the entire world is grappling with Covid-19 pandemic.