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Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is an advocacy organisation born from https://t.co/hYIxzR64qM. IFF secures your civil liberties in the digital age.

Sep 22, 2022, 5 tweets

We promised you a quick explainer on the Draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 yesterday & we’re here to deliver! It represents a missed opportunity for legislative reform to bring the Indian telecom sector into the 21st century. 1/5

internetfreedom.in/the-draft-indi…

Now every telecom service, including OTT communication services, will have to obtain a licence from the Central Govt. This includes WhatsApp, Signal, Jitsi, G-Meet etc.! A win for large telecom companies, a huge loss for user rights. 2/5

Clause 24(2)(a) expands the surveillance powers under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (which authorised interception of messages transmitted through telegraphs) by extending it to “telecommunication services or network”, threatening End-to-End encryption. 3/5

Clause 24(2)(b) provides *for the 1st time* clear internet suspension powers, w/o fixing any of the issues of the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rules, 2017. It fails to enact any provisions for judicial oversight or to strengthen the powers of the review committee. 4/5

While we hoped the new Bill would finally do away with the errors introduced by the colonial-era law that was the Indian Telegraph Act, it creates the same concerns, threats & issues. Except, worse. 5/5

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