<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:20.0pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">Parliament - Say no to Internet Censorship</span></p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">The Government
notified on April 13, 2011 the Information Technology (Intermediaries
guidelines) Rules, 2011 prescribing guidelines to be observed by the
intermediaries. The rules were issued in exercise of the powers conferred by
clause (zg) of subsection (2) of section 87 read with sub-section (2) of
section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000). The
provisions of the new rules are unconstitutional as they affect the right to
freedom of speech and expression as well as right to privacy of citizens, are
arbitrary being violative of Art. 14 of the Constitution of India and are ultra
vires of the parent act. SFLC.in [1] has come out with an ebook, Legal analysis
of IT(Intermediaries guidelines)Rules 2011 [2] explaining the impact of the
guidelines which the government has come up with.</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">FSMK[3] with support
of other organizations is planning a national level campaign against this law
which will be discussed in parliament on the second half of the budget session
which starts from April 24th. Hence we have chosen 21st April for the nation
wide campaign against the law. Content regarding the campaign and the issue is
being updated, [4].</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">Please let me know
if the organizations that you are associated with can support us for this
campaign. We are maintaining a list of all organization who are supporting us
[5].</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">Also please support
this campaign by sharing the link of the website[4] and also by signing the
petition [6].</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">If you are in
Bangalore, please join us on 5:00 pm on 21st April at Town Hall.</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">We are also looking
for any creative posters/ideas related to this topic which will help us in
spreading the word. Please feel free to share such content with us so that we
can update it in the website.</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[1] - <a href="http://softwarefreedom.in/">http://softwarefreedom.in/</a></p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[2] - [pdf] <a href="http://softwarefreedom.in/attachments/article/125/LegalAnalysis_ItIntermediaryRules.pdf">http://softwarefreedom.in/attachments/article/125/LegalAnalysis_ItIntermediaryRules.pdf</a></p>


<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[3] - <a href="http://fsmk.org/">http://fsmk.org</a></p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[4] - <a href="http://friendsofinternet.wikispaces.com/">http://friendsofinternet.wikispaces.com/</a>
</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[5] - <a href="http://friendsofinternet.wikispaces.com/List+of+friends+of+internet">http://friendsofinternet.wikispaces.com/List+of+friends+of+internet</a>
</p>

<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt">[6] - <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/mps-of-india-support-the-annulment-motion-to-protect-internet-freedom-stopitrules">http://www.change.org/petitions/mps-of-india-support-the-annulment-motion-to-protect-internet-freedom-stopitrules</a></p>


<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Regards, <br><br>Vignesh<br><a href="http://fsmk.org" target="_blank">http://fsmk.org</a><br><br><br><br>