India stays out of global declaration on future on Internet
Recently the “Global Declaration on the Future of the Internet” was released, in which India has not joined.
The Declaration is a political commitment between the partners to develop a positive vision for the Internet and digital technologies. Its aim is to keep the Internet open, free and neutral.
About 60 countries/organizations have signed this declaration. These include the US, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and France. India, China and Russia are among the large countries not part of the declaration.
The main tenets of this declaration:
- Commitment to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people,
- Promote a global Internet that will ensure free flow of information. It will also provide inclusive and affordable connectivity.
- Promote trust in global digital practices, including the protection of privacy.
- Preserving and strengthening a multi-stakeholder approach to digital governance.
- Earlier, a report titled “The Return of Digital Authoritarianism: Internet Shutdown” was published.
The following facts were highlighted in this report:
- The number of countries having internet shutdown increased from 29 in the year 2020 to 34 in the year 2021.
- India was the top country to impose internet shutdown for the fourth consecutive year in the year 2021.
- India is also not a signatory to the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime, 2001.
- Data sharing provisions violate national sovereignty under the Budapest Convention. Currently, it is the only legally binding multilateral convention on cybercrime and electronic evidence.
Source – The Hindu
