 "Rajeev Chandrasekhar")
The draft Digital India Bill, which seeks to replace the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to address the challenges posed by the Internet and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), will have special provisions for safeguarding children, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, said on Tuesday. The draft of the Bill will be released by the first week of June for public consultation.
“In the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, special restrictions were imposed on the platforms processing children’s data. Based on the same principle, there will be specific measures in the DIA [Digital India Act] to protect children and give them a safer and more trusted Internet than an adult,” Chandrasekhar told Business Standard.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Tuesday conducted a second round of consultations with big techs, start-ups, industry bodies, policy advocates, and law experts on the broad principles of the Digital India Bill. The proposed legislation aims to review the definition and classification of internet intermediaries and the need for safe harbour for them.
However, the government has ruled out the previously anticipated provision of creating a new regulator for the Internet. “Just like the IT Act does not have any additional regulator, there is no need for a digital regulator in the new Act. There are sectoral regulators and various institutions created in other laws,” he said.
During the stakeholders’ meeting, Chandrasekhar reiterated the need for a review of the safe harbour provision in the IT Act that provides immunity to online platforms from legal action for content shared on them.
“Currently, those who are conducting illegalities are untraceable because they are anonymous, and the onus falls on the government to protect the citizen who has been aggrieved by the content or misinformation on the platform. I want to propose that we actively think through in the DIA that we do away with Section 79 (of the IT Act) safe harbour completely and say that it is the responsibility of the platforms to do whatever due diligence they have on misinformation and toxic and illegal content,” Chandrasekhar said.
A potential index of the proposed Bill comprises components such as digital government, open internet, online safety and trust including user harm, intermediaries, accountability, regulatory framework, emerging technologies, risks and guardrails.
“The user harm regulations will be at the heart of how we deal with AI and emerging technologies. The guardrails and principles will be established with the prism of user harm,” he added.
The ministry has previously suggested age-gating, or age-based restrictions, by regulating addictive technologies and protecting minors’ data, and safety and privacy of children on social media, gaming, and betting apps as key components in the DIA. It has also put forward adjudication against user harms from revenge porn, cyber-bullying, dark web, defamation, or doxxing, etc.
According to the goals of the DIA proposed by the government, the new law should evolve through rules that can be updated later, as and when required.
“Disruptions in technology are normal. We have assumed it in this law, so it is not prescriptive but principles and rule-based. This is going to mark a reasonable change in the way the government legislates the digital space. We are not going to hardcode all the dos and don’ts,” the minister said.
The government is likely to propose amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in parallel with the enactment of the Digital India Act (DIA) to effectively deal with new types of cybercrimes.
According to a presentation made during the consultations, an accountable internet needs a whole-of-government response for “a unified, coordinated, efficient and responsive” governance.
The draft Bill will also present principles for free competition to rein in the Big Tech for alleged abuse of market dominance. The minister said the component of the open internet will address the challenges of market dominance.
Proposed framework Key provisions of the draft Digital India Bill
- Age-gating, or aged-based restrictions, by regulating addictive technologies
- Rules on content monetisation and revenue sharing
- Algorithmic transparency and periodic risk assessment of platforms
- Definition and regulation of high-risk AI system
- Rules for ‘discretionary’ moderation of fake news on
- social media
