FSMK protests against the attack of freedom in the Internet

FSMK protests against the attack of freedom in the Internet

Internet Freedom is under sever attack from many quarters – the Ministry of Information and Technology, various state governments, the police, international lobbying and now certain major Internet Service Providers (ISP's) such as Reliance Communications, Airtel and MTNL have joined the league.

After trying to constrain the nature of opinion that could be put up on the Internet in the form of the hasty IT Intermediaries Bill which faced tremendous opposition, now major websites such as Vimeo for video sharing, and various peer-to-peer file sharing or the Torrent sites commonly used for exchange of large files between users are being blocked by these ISP's, without any instructions issued by the Government.

We have already seen the effect of the IT Rules in which a huge number of requests are now being directed to intermediaries such as Google, Facebook, etc for taking down statements critical of the Government and political figures. Cases are being instituted by the Police under the IT Act against circulating of cartoons, calling it a cyber crime. All this shows that our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in a democratic framework are currently under attack.

Equally worrying is the tendency of courts to issue blanket orders -- called John Doe orders – in the USA to protect the Intellectual Property of certain media companies, which have been wholeheartedly endorsed by corporations like Reliance Communications – an Internet Service Provider acting in the interest of Reliance as a Media company to block a large number of Torrent sites.

Free Software Movement Karnataka is a team of Internet activists and technology enthusiasts coming from various walks of life. We understand that without openly criticising the stands and actions of the freedom curbing authorities today freedom in the Internet is at stake,which consequentially would cripple the transparent functioning of democracy.

Join us to understand details of the Internet censorship and shutting down of websites issue; how it would impact you and the nation as a whole.

Internet is the voice of people today, don't let them dumb us down!

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Thomas Paine

June 9th Internet Freedom protest

Attack on Internet freedom is going on in an unprecedented scale. Nothing less than a digital mutiny will be able to show the disgruntle we as users of the Internet are facing.

Censorship of expression, shutting down of content sharing websites, and autonomous blocking of websites by ISPs have all been going on, taking us users for a ride. It is high time we all stand up for our rights in the internet, else this cancer will perpetuate stagnating the dynamic system that the internet has grown into.

Various groups are associating to demonstrate their anguish by various means. Our methods might be different, our understanding varied but the objective is one - Securing freedom in the internet, for us users.

FSMI, will also be joining in the campaign called on the 9th of June in the name of OpIndia. Here is what we have to say:

There is an attack on Internet Freedom from many quarters – the Ministry of IT, various state governments and the police and now certain major
Internet Service Providers (ISP's) such as Reliance and Airtel. Major sites such as Vimeo and various Torrent sites commonly used for exchange
of large files are being blocked by these ISP's, even though no instructions have been issued by the Government.

We have already seen the effect of the IT Rules in which a huge number of requests are now being directed to intermediaries such as Google,
Facebook, etc for taking down statements critical of the Government and political figures. Cases are being instituted by the Police under the IT
Act against circulating of cartoons, calling it a cyber crime. All this shows that our democratic freedoms guaranteed under the constitution are
currently under attack. Equally worrying is the tendency of courts to issue blanket orders – called John Doe orders -- to protect the Intellectual Property of certain media companies. Reliance, a ISP is acting in the interest of Reliance as a Media company to block a large number of Torrent sites.

To protest against such actions of the Government and the ISP's, FSMI calls for protests accross the country on the 9th of June 2012. FSMI also will co-ordinate with other organisations who have called for similar protests on 9th June.