The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology recently (8th May) provided answers to a number of questions (here and here), which were raised by the parliamentarians in the Rajya Sabha. We have extracted a set of 10 questions below, that deal with a number of issues including IAMAI’s role in blocking of content, Net Neutrality, proposals for amendment to the IT Act and accessibility of government website among others.
Question 1: (Monitoring and blocking of offensive online content)
(a) Whether it is a fact that the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee, in its meeting held on 5th September, 2014, has delegated the task of preparing a list of pornographic sites for blocking, to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry organization.
(b) If so, the reasons for entrusting a private entity with a function that ought to be discharged by Government agencies in public interest; and
(c) The measures being taken by Government to enhance and strengthen the capacity and technical expertise of Government agencies for monitoring and blocking of offensive online content?
Answer:
(a) and (b) In Writ Petition in the matter of Kamlesh Vaswani vs. Union of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order dated 29.8.2014 directed that it would be appropriate if the Government places the copy of the writ petition and interlocutory applications before the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee (CRAC), which has members from all sections of the Society including Government, Industry, Civil Society and Academy, for its consideration. The constitution of the Committee (CRAC) was revised and notified in Oct. 2010. The last CRAC meeting was held on 5th September 2014 to discuss issues relating to availability of pornography material on the Internet and filtering of the same by the service providers in the country. CRAC requested Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an association of members from content providers to lead the effort as part of Social responsibility, to collect and maintain the repository of blacklisted pornography sites from various sources including list of child pornography sites maintained by other countries. Further, IAMAI was requested to set up help lines and web portal for reporting of such sites through Crowd sourcing mechanism. IAMAI would regularly provide the list of such sites to Government for further appropriate action. Similar approach is adopted by other countries like Australia, United Kingdom and Unites States of America, where the Governments are working with Non – Government Organizations (NGOs) to filter pornography sites.
(c) The filtering of web sites with obscene / objectionable content poses significant technical challenge. These websites keep on changing the names, domain addresses and hosting platforms from time to time making it difficult to filter or block such websites using technical tools available in the market. Further “https” websites with encrypted content are used to transmit the pornographic content which makes filtering difficult as the data is encrypted. Therefore, the tools provide filtering to a limited extent only. The tools, in the process may also filter genuine content and degrade the performance of systems.
To address the issues effectively, Government is in regular touch with Internet Service Providers to upgrade their infrastructure and technology to effectively address the shortcomings with regard to identifying and blocking encrypted websites /URLs. Further, Social Networking sites are monitored by the security agencies in order to check / remove objectionable contents from the web sites in consultation with Indian Computer Emergency Team (CERT-In) in accordance with the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000. Government is in regular touch with Social Networking sites, having their offices in India, to disable objectionable contents at the source from their websites. Government has also initiated Research and Development programmes to deal with technical issues relating to encrypted communications from the point of monitoring and blocking.
Question 2: (Secure flow of public and private communications)
(a) The steps Government has taken or proposes to take to protect privacy and security of our citizens and elected leaders in view of recent global incidents of tapping of communications by US and UK agencies;
(b) Whether Government will control foreign agencies handling internal communications of our citizens and Government; and
(c) Whether Government will take initiative in this respect to bring together various Governments to ensure secure flow of public and private communications and protect exchange of communications of national interest among Government officials?
Answer:
(a) and (b) Sir, taking note of the disclosure by foreign media reports in June, 2013 about extensive electronic surveillance programmes deployed by the U.S. agencies to collect internet and telephony data, Government has expressed concerns over reported U.S. monitoring of internet traffic of India. Concerns with regard to violation of any of Indian laws relating to privacy of information of Indian citizens as well as intrusive data capture deployed against Indian citizens or Government infrastructure have been conveyed to the U.S. Government. In addition, the issue of U.S. cyber surveillance activities was discussed during the India-US Strategic Dialogue meeting held in New Delhi on 24 June 2013.
Government keeps on taking appropriate protective measures by way of an integrated approach with a series of legal, technical and administrative steps to ensure that necessary systems are in place to address the growing threat of cyber attacks. In this direction, Government has approved a framework for cyber security, including protection of critical sectors in country that envisages a multi-layered approach for ensuring defence-in-depth with clear demarcation of responsibilities among various agencies and departments. Government is also engaged with world community towards promoting the evolution of better international Internet governance-norms, through ongoing discussions at international fora.
(c) Government is promoting Indian players in the IT field to develop and offer Internet Services by having the servers located in India, in order to protect the interests and secrecy of communication of Indian citizens. Already Rediff and Indiatimes have set up Servers and accessories in the country to provide email and other services to Indian citizens.
Further, Government has notified email policy of Government of India on 19th Feb. 2015 to protect exchange of communications of National interest among Government officials. The policy mandates that only Government of India email service shall be used for official correspondence, the objective of the policy includes sensitizing the Government officials regarding protection of critical Government data and mandating the use of Government mail service for official communication. Government has also planned to install Secure & Dedicated Communication Network (SDCN) for Intra-Government Classified Communication.
Question 3: (Net Neutrality on the use of Internet)
(a) Whether TRAI has come out with a discussion paper on the use of internet particularly the Net Neutrality in the country
(b) If so, the details thereof
(c) Whether it is a fact that many people in the country are in favour of Net Neutrality and have given their comments to TRAI in this regard; and
(d) The stand of Government on Net Neutrality?
Answer:
(a) and (b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top services” on 27th March, 2015 for inviting comments from various stakeholders. This consultation paper also covers the issues related to Net Neutrality. The last date for receiving comments and counter comments is 24th April, 2015 and 8th May, 2015 respectively. Further, this consultation paper is available on TRAI website http://www.trai.gov.in.
(c) TRAI has received a large number of comments (more than 10 Lakh) in response to the consultation paper on “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top services”. This consultation paper also covers the issues related to Net Neutrality. These comments are uploaded in TRAI website http://www.trai.gov.in.
(d) Government notes with assurance the growth of internet in India and wide platform it has offered for innovation, investment and creativity. Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to Internet for all citizens of the country.
At present the issues pertaining to net neutrality are in consultation stage. Department of Telecommunications has constituted a committee in January, 2015 to examine various aspects of net neutrality and recommend overall policy and technical response to net neutrality. The committee has already held stakeholder consultation meetings with Over the Top (OTT) players, Telecom Service Providers/Internet Service Providers, Civil Society Member & Consumer groups, Multi stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) and various Associations/Industry bodies.
Based on the report of committee and TRAI recommendations Government will take a considered decision.
Question 4: (Resolving Net Neutrality Issue)
(a) How does Government proposes to address and resolve the Net Neutrality issue; and
(b) How does Government plans to ensure that telecom operators won”t pass on to the customers the burden of high spectrum price paid by them to the Government?
Answer:
(a) Government notes with assurance the growth of internet in India and wide platform it has offered for innovation, investment and creativity. Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to internet for all citizens of the country.
At present the issues pertaining to net neutrality are in consultation stage. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Regulatory framework for Over-the-top services” on 27th March 2015. This consultation paper covers the views of the service providers and OTT providers and related issues including net neutrality. The last date for receiving comments and counter comments is 24th April, 2015 and 8th May, 2015 respectively.
Department of Telecommunications has constituted a committee in January,2015 to examine various aspects of net neutrality and recommend overall policy and technical response to net neutrality. The committee has already held stakeholder consultation meetings with Over the Top (OTT) players, Telecom Service Providers/Internet Service Providers, Civil Society Member & Consumer groups, Multi stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) and various Associations/Industry bodies.
Based on the report of committee and TRAI recommendations Government will take a considered decision.
(b) Tariff for telecom services falls under purview of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). As per the existing tariff framework, tariff for telecommunication access service is under forbearance except for National Roaming and Rural Fixed Line Services. The service providers have the flexibility to decide various tariff components for different service areas of their operation. Tariffs are offered by service providers taking into account several factors including input costs, level of competition and other commercial considerations.
Question 5: (Position on Net Neutrality)
Whether in view of the fact that a committee has been formed within the Ministry to evolve its position on Net Neutrality, Government would ensure that the position on Net Neutrality is discussed in the Parliament and with the public, the details thereof?
Answer:
Government notes with assurance the growth of internet in India and wide platform it has offered for innovation, investment and creativity. Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to Internet for all citizens of the country.
At present, the issues pertaining to net neutrality are in consultation stage. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top services” on 27th March, 2015 for inviting comments from various stakeholders. This consultation paper also covers the issues related to Net Neutrality. The last date for receiving comments and counter comments is 24th April, 2015 and 8th May, 2015 respectively. Further, this consultation paper is available on TRAI website http://www.trai.gov.in.
Department of Telecommunications has constituted a committee in January, 2015 to examine various aspects of net neutrality and recommend overall policy and technical response to net neutrality. The committee has already held stakeholder consultation meetings with Over the Top (OTT) players, Telecom Service Providers/Internet Service Providers, Civil Society Member & Consumer groups, Multi stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) and various Associations/Industry bodies. The committee has been asked to submit its report by May, 2015 end.
Further, Statement on Calling Attention Notice by Sh. Derek O’ Brien Hon’ble MP, Rajya Sabha on ‘Issue of safeguarding Net Neutrality in the country’ was made by Hon’ble Minister of Communications & IT on 05.05.2015 and he replied on various queries, issues and aspects raised by Hon’ble Members of Rajya Sabha. (Copy of statement is annexed).
Based on the report of committee and TRAI recommendations Government will take a considered decision.
Question 6: (Amendment to IT Act, 2000)
(a) Whether Government is planning to amend the Information and Technology (IT) Act 2000 in the aftermath of the recent Supreme Court judgement that struck down Section 66A as unconstitutional, with a view to de-criminalize posting of offensive content on the Internet;
(b) If so, whether Government is planning to include procedural safeguards in such a provision to ensure that such provision is not misused by fundamentalist elements in Society to harass law-abiding citizens; and
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
Answer:
(a), (b) and (c) Presently, there is no proposal with the Government to amend the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000. However, Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted a Committee to examine the implications of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment quashing Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000 and to suggest appropriate legal remedy to fill gaps in the legal regime, if any, in the wake of the aforesaid judgment.
Also, an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri T.K. Vishwanathan, former Secretary, Law Commission & Secretary General has been set up by Ministry of Home Affairs to study and examine the existing domestic cyber laws and International Cyber legislations and recommend a road map with measures and amendments to the present laws for consideration of the Government.
Further, in order to comprehensively address the issues of Cyber Crimes, Ministry of Home Affairs has set up an Expert Group consisting of Academicians and Professionals of repute to prepare a roadmap for effectively tackling the Cyber Crimes in the country and give suitable recommendations on all facets of cyber crime. The five-member Expert Study Group comprises of Dr. Rajat Moona, Director General Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Professor Balakrishnan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Dr. Gulshan Rai, then Director General Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In), Professor Manindra Aggarwal, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and Professor D. Dass, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bengaluru. Shri Kumar Alok, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs is the Convenor of the Expert Group. The Terms of Reference of the Expert Group are:
i) To prepare a Road Map for effectively tackling the Cyber Crime in the country and give suitable recommendations on all its facets.
ii) Recommend possible partnerships with Public and Private Sector, NGOs, International Bodies and International NGOs.
iii) Any other special measures / steps the Expert Group may like to recommend with regard to tackling Cyber Crimes.
Question 7: (Broadband penetration in the county)
(a) Whether it is a fact that our country is ranked below Bhutan and Sri Lanka in terms of broadband penetration and ranks 125th in the world for fixed broadband penetration;
(b) Whether Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested that the multi-layered structure involved in the decision making for the sector needs to be overhauled;
(c) If so, the details thereof;
(d) Whether it is also a fact that TRAI has also suggested that the licence fee on the revenue earned from fixed line should be exempted for five years; and
(e) If so, the view of Government in this regard?
Answer:
(a) As per ‘The State of Broadband 2014: Broadband for All’ report, published by the Broadband Commission of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which was published in September 2014, the ranking of Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India with respect to Fixed Broadband penetration for 2013 are as under:
Fixed Broadband Penetration
(per 100 inhabitants) Rank
Bhutan 2.7 108
Sri Lanka 2.0 115
India 1.2 125
(b) to (e) Telecom Regularity Authority of India (TRAI) in its recommendations “Delivering Broadband Quickly: What we need to do?”, dated 17.04.2015 has inter alia, recommended the following
(i) Overhauling of multi-layered structure involved in the decision making in respect to National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project
(ii) Exemption of the license fee on the revenues earned on fixed line Broadband for at least 5 years.
A committee has been constituted on 29.04.2015 in Department of Telecommunications to examine the TRAI recommendations.
Question 8: (Law with the concept of Net Neutrality)
(a) Whether Government is bringing a law with the concept of Net Neutrality for consumers; and
(b) if so, by when?
Answer:
(a) and (b) Government notes with assurance the growth of internet in India and wide platform it has offered for innovation, investment and creativity. Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to internet for all citizens of the country.
The issues pertaining to net neutrality are in consultative stage. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top services” on 27th March, 2015 for inviting comments from various stakeholders. This consultation paper also covers the issues related to Net Neutrality. The last date for receiving comments and counter comments is 24th April, 2015 and 8th May, 2015 respectively.
Department of Telecommunications has constituted a committee in January, 2015 to examine various aspects of net neutrality and recommend overall policy and technical response to net neutrality. Committee has been asked to submit its report by May, 2015 end.
Based on the report of committee and TRAI recommendations Government will take a considered decision, in the best national interest.
Question 9: (Regulation of Over the Top services)
(a) The stand of Government in protection of Net Neutrality;
(b) Whether Government proposes to regulate Over-the-Top (OTT) services;
(c) The argument for and against for regulation of OTT services;
(d) The details of the growth of internet traffic and internet users over the years;
(e) The details of the revenue generated by different telecom companies over the years; and
(f) Whether the move to regulate OTT services will affect the growth of start-ups in the country?
Answer:
(a),(b),(c) & (f) Government notes with assurance the growth of internet in India and wide platform it has offered for innovation, investment and creativity. Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to internet for all citizens of the country.
At present the issues pertaining to net neutrality are in consultation stage. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also has released a consultation paper on “Regulatory framework for Over-the-top services” on 27th March 2015 for inviting comments from various stakeholders. This consultation paper also covers the issues related to Net Neutrality. The last date for receiving comments and counter comments is 24th April, 2015 and 8th May, 2015 respectively. This consultation paper covers the views of the service providers and OTT providers and related issues including net neutrality.
The main arguments in favour of OTT regulation is loss of traditional revenues from data and voice to telecom service providers, telecom service providers are subjective to all licensing and regulatory conditions whereas the OTT providers are not subjected to similar restrictions and that large scale OTT service in traditional services could significantly hampered the TSPs investment capability and growth. The TSPs are insisting on ‘Same Service Same Rules’ to maintain regulatory balance.
The main argument against OTT regulation is that the OTT players offer services through internet provided by TSPs and the TSPs are paid for internet services consumed by end users and OTT service lead to increase data usages and revenue to TSPs.
Department of Telecommunications has constituted a committee to examine various aspects and recommend overall policy and technical response to net neutrality.
Based on the report of committee and TRAI recommendations Government will take a considered decision in the best national interest
(d) Details of Internet subscribers are as under
For the period ending Dec-2013 Dec-2014 Internet subscribers (in Crores)
As per TRAI 23.87 26.74
As per IAMAI-IMRB report ‘Internet in India 2014’ > 30
(e) The trend of revenue from data usage from full mobility service (GSM+CDMA) segment is given below:
Quarter ending Revenue from data usage (in Rs. crore)
June 2013 3057.83
September 2013 3594.83
December 2013 4240.01
March 2014 4637.89
June 2014 5259.18
September 2014 5911.05
December 2014 6457.06
Question 10: (Government websites meeting international standards of web accessibility)
(a) Whether any survey has been conducted by Government regarding the number of Government websites that meet the international standards of web accessibility;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) Whether it is a fact that in an accessibility survey conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), not a single Government website was accessible; and
(d) The steps taken to improve web accessibility?
Answer:
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) The Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) have been adopted by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and have become a part of the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP). The GIGW accessibility guidelines are based on W3C”s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. These are internationally accepted guidelines on web accessibility and cover a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible.
DeitY has initiated the Website Quality Testing project which is being executed by Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) for testing and certifying the government websites. Under this project, 1000 websites have been undertaken for testing. Currently, around 950 websites of various Ministries/Departments, attached offices, societies have already been tested by STQC and test reports have been sent to the concerned Ministries/Departments for addressing the issues of non-compliance.
(c) and (d) No, Sir. However, as per the Web Accessibility Survey Report for Indian Government websites – 2012 of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), none of 10 Government websites were able to meet even the basic accessibility standards. The Government has undertaken following steps in this regard:
(i) The Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) have been adopted by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG). The GIGW guidelines adhere to the requirements of persons with disabilities and ensure compliance with level A of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as laid down by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). GIGW has incorporated all the level A success criteria and a few success criteria from level AA. This is sufficient to make the websites accessible.
(ii) Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has had three rounds of meetings with the Website Information Managers (WIMs) of various Government departments to sensitize the departments regarding addressing the non-conformance issues of their websites with GIGW. STQC along with e-Governance division of DeitY and NIC has conducted one-to-one discussion with the concerned departments and ministries to close the non-conformance areas.
(Sarvjeet is a Project Manager and Research Fellow at the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi)
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