Is Internet Censorship an Obstacle to the RTI Act and
Freedom of Speech?
BY- Vipra Sharma
With the advent of the modern era, we live in a world where one click is all we
need to access any information. The Internet as we call it, is a powerful tool for communication, learning, etc. It has become such an integral part of our lives
that it is really hard to actually live without it now. And as much as the Internet
has helped there are several disadvantages to it as well, i.e. people have
unlimited access to all kinds of information which can be misused at any point
in time, especially living in a country like India, where religion is a very
sensitive topic to people and so on.To prevent this misuse of information the government often censors content on
the internet so as to avoid any such kind of conflicts, in their defense, but this
thing can also be seen as a way of hiding the information that the people have a
right to know about.
Internet censorship can restrict people from talking about their views and opinions freely which ultimately is a restriction towards Freedom of Speech and Expression, which is granted by the Constitution of India under Article 19(1)(a) to its citizens, which allows the people to share their views without any hesitation. Often the government or private organisations uses internet censorship to prevent being questioned by critics about several of their decisions and its often justified in the name of national security or public peace and safety.
But if censoring public information is the way to protect the subjects of the government, then why not let the people decide for themselves whether they want to access to information or not. People have been provided the privilege to question decisions made by the superiors which concerns them and their interests, then why is there a need to censor that information. The constitution and the government itself has provided us the right to speech and expression, and RTI Act 2005,
Which clearly states that “It's an act to
provide for setting out the practical regime of Right to Information for
citizens to secure access to Information under the control of Public
Authorities , in order to promote Transparency and Accountability in the
working of every public authority, the Constitution of a Central
Information Commission and State Information Commission and for
matters connected there with or incidental thereto.”
Therefore Internet censorship is a growing problem not only in our country but
in the world, if a country is said to be Democratic, that defines that the people
are free to question the actions of the government that they choose and voted
for.
The governments using censorship prevents people from accessing
information about several political and social issues, which ultimately silence
the dissents and prevents people from being open about their disinterest towards
certain issues and that is dictatorship and not a democratic republic country.
There can’t be both freedom of speech and laws disregarding freedom of speech
in the same place and the same time, if people have been given the right to
speak and it cannot be taken back whenever the government feels like it.
Disregarding the fundamental rights in a democratic country is an undermining
to the democratic process.
In conclusion, Internet Censorship is an obstacle to the RTI Act and Freedom of
speech and though It may seem like a small problem considering there are more
major issues outside the tech world, but it has become a world that people have
started relying on more and it will continue to grow in the coming generations.
And if the biggest and major platform which is used for communication and
discussion of various events all around the world gets tampered with again and
again, just because the people who are sitting in higher positions do not want
their actions to be questioned, that is seriously a very big problem and a threat
to the rights provided and people should learn to fight about their rights online
as well as offline. Until and unless everyone in a country is involved with the
actions of their government and question them about their decisions, it cannot
progress.
