The Ministry of Information Technology has announced Some Guidelines for Social Media and OTT platforms (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code).
"We are not framing any new law. we have made these rules under the existing IT Act. we are trusting the platforms to follow the regulations. The focus f these Guidelines is Self-regulation.", said the minister of MeITY, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
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| SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTT PLATFORM GUIDLINES -What about our Privacy? |
Social Media Guidlines:
The Government wants the social media companies to have a mechanism that will address the user's complaints. It wants the social media Intermediaries to appoint following officers in their companies:
Chief Compliance officer: Who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with Act and Rules.
Nodal contact officer: for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies.
Resident Grievance officer: who shall perform the functions mentioned under Grievance Redressal Mechanism.
All these officers should be the residents of India.
The government says it is empowering the users of social media and other intermediaries. It wants companies to have a chief compliance officer for significant social media companies as well. The rules call for social media companies to publish a monthly compliance report as well.
“If there are complaints against the dignity of users, particularly woman that exploits their private parts of individuals or nudity or in sexual acts, impersonation, etc, you will be required to remove that within 24 hours,” Prasad said.
Track originator of a message:
The Government wants the companies to track the originator of the message( the first person who sent the message ) if a message creates any problem on internet. It wants social media platforms to disclose the first originator of the mischievous tweet or message as the case may be.
For example, A person sends a video that criticises any government body or a famous person( No matter if its true or not) the companies have to track that person who had sent the message at very first. which is also a type of attack on us.
Public Order:
Further, Guidelines said that users cannot post anything that harms the "Public Order" but they didn't mentioned that what public order they are talking about.
It means that in future if we criticize their Government then they can block our accounts saying that our posts were disturbing the public order.
May end the "End To End Encryption" on Whatsapp:
Now, If they are talking about the Tracking of message originator then it points to the end of End To End Encryption. The End To End Encryption on whatsapp doesn't allow even whatsapp to read your messages, PR YE TO MODI JI KI SARKAR HAI. whatsapp can be forced by authorities to break the End To End Encryption and if they do not follow the rules, whatsapp may be banned.
The government says while it is not interested in the content of the message, they wish to know who started the ‘mischief’. It wants social media platforms to disclose the first originator of the mischievous tweet or message as the case may be. This will be required in matters related to security and sovereignty of India, public order, or with regard to rape or any other sexually explicit material.
OTT PLATFORM, DIGITAL MEDIA:
The government has called for a grievance redressal system for OTT platforms and digital news media portals as well. The government is also asking OTT platforms and digital news media to self-regulate and wants a mechanism for addressing any grievances.
While films have a censor board, OTT platforms will require to self-classify their movies and content based on age. The content will have to be classified based on age appropriateness. The government wants the OTT players to classify films based on 13+, 16+ and those for adults and clarified it is not bringing any kind of censorship to these platforms.
There has to be a mechanism of parental lock and ensuring compliance with the same. Platforms like Netflix already have an option for a parental lock.
For publishers of news on digital media, they will be “required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Program Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act thereby providing a level playing field between the offline (Print, TV) and digital media, ”according to the government.
It also wants a three-level grievance redressal mechanism. This will include self-regulation by the publishers;
self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers and oversight mechanism.
The government wants digital media to appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it. The officer shall take decision on every grievance received by it within 15 days.
There maybe one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. According to the rules, this body “shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.”
The body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not be resolved by the publisher within 15 days.
Further, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism. It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices and establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING:
The very first reason is Farmers protest. The Government has faced a lot of criticism due to the protest. The truth was going viral, so government had to take action to check this. Many big clashes took place on social media. Twitter was asked to delete some accounts that were criticizing the government but Twitter removed only few of them.
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Secondly, some movies on OTT platforms exposed the real truth which government was trying to hide. so not only they banned that movies but they are also taking caution for future.
MY OPINIONS:
Yes, I agree that there is explicit content on OTT platforms but everyone can decide what they really want to watch. I mean its a personal thing to decide that what should i watch and no one can direct me and if censor board approving a movie to go live on internet that you can't tell people not to watch. If you are asking social media companies to give you their users data, then you should delete the PRIVACY word from you dictionaries.
SOLUTIONS TO MAINTAIN YOUR PRIVACY:
The supreme court had said that these Guidelines have "No teeth". So there is less possibility of Implementation of these rules/laws.
But if they got Implemented then you can save yourself from being tracked by these simple tricks.
Now, our phones can be tracked by our IP address or Phone number.
1. So you can use VPN to hide your IP address.
2. For whatsapp, you can use a Non voIP number. Just search on Browser "Non voIP number" just go any link and copy the number paste it in whatsapp and get the code on the website from where you had copied the number. With these numbers you can register on almost any app.
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