On Thursday, the government held its first consultation with industry stakeholders, policy advocates and legal experts on the general principles of the Digital India Act (DIA), with the definition of Internet intermediaries and their safe harbors among the main topics of discussion.
Minister of State for Electronics and Informatics Rajeev Chandrasekhar He said that in the 2000s, there were few types of intermediaries and they had safe harbors, but now they have morphed into multiple types of platforms that are functionally very different from each other. These, he said, required “very different types of guardrails and regulations.”
Chandrasekhar also discussed the rules for handling data captured by invasive devices such as spy glasses and wearables, telling PTI that DIA will reaffirm itself after two more rounds of discussion with stakeholders.
As part of DIA’s proposed online security and trust principle, the minister sought stakeholder views on requiring strict regulation of privacy-invading devices such as spy camera glasses and wearable technology prior to their entry into the Internet. the marketplace with strict KYC requirements for retail sales with appropriate criminal law penalties.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has been working on a draft Digital India Act to replace the primary digital law, the IT Act 2000, and address the challenges posed by the Internet today.
Laying out DIA’s objectives, he said the new law should evolve through rules that can be updated and address Digital India principles such as open internet, online security and trust, responsibility and quality of service, adjudication mechanism and new technologies.
Article 79 of the IT Law states that an intermediary shall not be responsible for any third party information, data or communication link that it makes available or hosts. This provides online platforms immunity from legal action for sharing illegal content.
Chandrasekhar said that the greater diversity and complexity of Internet The platforms justified a legitimate question: “Should there be a safe harbor?” “And,” she added, “if there is a need for a safe harbor, who should be entitled to it? The whole logic of the safe harbor was that I am a platform that has absolutely no power or control over the content that some other consumer creates on my platform. But in this day and age, is that really necessary and required?”
He added that in the current scenario, anonymity combined with platforms “posing as dumb intermediaries” had led to a situation of crime, illegality and harm to users.
In the past, the government has warned social media platforms that could lose safe harbors for not complying with Indian laws.
The minister’s presentation proposed that the DIA could include principles on fair trading practices, choice, competition, online diversity, fair market access and ease of compliance for start-ups.
“Openness as a policy goal addresses these issues. We have to find solutions on how to deal with monopolies or duopolies and the large technological presence on the Internet. As we move forward, we will discuss what the solution should be, whether it should be in DIA or in competition law.”
Nasscom asked about the regulatory design that the new law will create and possible provisions on start-ups and cybersecurity.
The minister said: “There are certain things that will be dealt with under the criminal laws regarding harm to users, illegalities and online crimes. In the broader aspect of regulation, we would like this to be a design that is as light, as digital, and as different to a conventional regulator as possible.”
Other important suggestions from stakeholders included considering the fear of multiple layers of regulations and the potential overlap of rules between sector regulators such as the RBI or Sebi. The legal experts also raised the issues of implementation of the provisions of the bill and coordination with state law enforcement agencies. Stakeholders added that the bill should effectively govern emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and deep tech.
Legislation can govern the digital space on key issues such as online harm, platform removal, doxxing and social media algorithms The bill, along with the recently published bills on the digital personal data protection bill and the telecommunications bill, is part of a “comprehensive legal framework.”
