Internet Access Is A Fundamental Human Right In Cyberspace

Civil liberties protection in cyberspace has taken a centre stage these days. International community is getting serious in protecting valuable civil liberties that are openly violated by various nations. For instance, the Council of Europe issues a resolution that prohibits abuse of state secrecy and national security for violating civil liberties. Similarly, United Nations has also declared that access to Internet is a basic human right that cannot be taken away by national governments.

A few years back talking about human rights in cyberspace generated skeptic reactions. Things have not changed much even today but at least now we know that human rights can be extended to cyberspace. For instance, blanket e-surveillance, Internet censorship and websites blocking cannot be adopted lest human rights are absolutely ignored. The cyber law trends in India 2011 have shown that India has performed poorly on all these front. In fact, India is acting desperately to control technology.

At Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we have been supporting the efforts that can ensure recognition of human rights in cyberspace at both national and international level. At the national level, India is still not ready and willing to recognise human rights in cyberspace. At the international level, part of human rights in cyberspace has started gaining importance.

For instance, the United Nations (UN) has declared that right to access to Internet is a human right. Similarly, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has also supported this stand of UN through a recently released report.

The report has analysed the first ever of state regulations on Internet access within the 56-member OSCE. Finland and Estonia have already declared access to Internet as a human right and this is a good step in right direction. PTLB welcomes these reformative actions of Finland and Estonia.

Countries around the world are restricting human rights in cyberspace by citing national security, sovereignty, law and order and many such grounds. While none can doubt that national security is an important function of a sovereign state yet there must be a harmony between national security and human rights.

Giving a blind and absolute primacy to national security even if clearly means violating basic human rights is not a wise approach for a welfare state like India. We hope Indian government would consider empowering Indian netizens by recognising and strengthening their human rights in cyberspace.

Mobile Governance Policy Of India

Mobile governance (m-governance) is an innovative method of using mobile technologies for effective governance and public services delivery. M-governance facilitates many public services in almost real time and without hassles. However, along with the benefits of m-governance it has many drawbacks as well.

Firstly, we have no implementable m-governance policy in India. In the absence of proper planning and a sound m-governance policy it is not a wise option to utilise m-governance services in India.

Secondly, we have no dedicated legal framework for m-governance in India. This may create problems in cases of mobile banking, m-governance, m-commerce, etc. Of course, we have information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) as the cyber law of India yet it is far from perfect for even e-governance purposes and it is not at all applicable to m-governance environment.

Another issue pertains to the exercises of e-surveillance and phone tapping by Indian government and its agencies. Till now we have no lawful interception law in India. Phone tapping is done under the colonial and outdated Indian telegraph act 1885 and e-surveillance is done under the IT Act 2000. Both these acts are violating the letter and spirit of Indian constitution and have incorporated many unconstitutional provisions that are well beyond the parliamentary and judicial scrutiny.

Recently, the ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT) has launched the central monitoring system project of India. It has the capabilities to monitor all sorts of telecommunication and electronic communications. However, it is a pure executive exercise with no legal framework, civil liberty safeguards and parliamentary and judicial scrutiny.

At the international level some development for safeguarding the human rights in cyberspace has been taking place. United Nations has declared that access to Internet is a human right. This shows that human rights protection in cyberspace cannot be ignored by nations in future.

Finally, m-governance cannot succeed till we ensure cyber security for m-governance in India. Till now even the basic level cyber security is missing in India and we have no cyber security policy in India. Further, the IT Act 2000 need to be suitably amended or a dedicated legislation for m-governance must be enacted in India.

All these issues are integral part of the m-governance policy of India. Before jumping upon the fancy idea of m-governance we must ensure that it can operate and flourish in India.