[bestbits] SFLC.in’s report titled “Online Harassment: A Form of Censorship”

[Mishi Choudhary]

Hello everyone,


*SFLC.in’s report titled “Online Harassment: A Form of Censorship”*

On November 22, 2016, SFLC.in released a report titled “Online
Harassment: A Form of Censorship
<http://sflc.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/OnlineHarassment_SFLCin.pdf>”
at an event organized in New Delhi in association with the Digital
Empowerment Foundation, Internet Democracy Project, Foundation for Media
Professionals, and IT for Change. The The report was jointly released by
Mr. Baijayant Panda (Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha), Mr. Arvind Gupta
(National Head, Information and Technology, BJP), Mr. Anyesh Roy [Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell), Delhi Police], Mr. Chetan
Krishnaswamy (Director, Public Policy, Google India), Ms. Mahima Kaul
(Head of Public Policy, Twitter India), Mr. Saikat Datta (Cyber Security
Consultant and Consulting Editor, Scroll.in), and Ms. Anja Kovacs
(Director, Internet Democracy Project).

SFLC.in has been studying online harassment as form of censorship that
forces people out of participation in online policy discourses. This
report’s goal is to explore this phenomenon in detail, document how
people experience the effects of harassment in their lives as we work
towards finding a workable and understandable ways to address the
problem. The report is supported by the Software Freedom Law Center, New
York and Jigsaw, a New York based think tank, and features dialogues
with key stakeholders, including social media platforms and 18 prominent
individuals comprising legislators, journalists, civil society actors
and targets of online harassment campaigns, who have had first hand
glimpses at the plight of the harassed. The individuals interviewed are:

1.     Abhinandan Sekhri, Co-founder, NewsLaundry

2.     Arvind Gupta, National Head, Information and Technology, BJP

3.     Baijayant Panda, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

4.     Bishakha Datta; Executive Director, Point of View

5.     Hartosh Singh Bal; Political Editor, The Caravan

6.     Inji Pennu; Writer, activist

7.     Karuna John; Freelance journalist

8.     Kavita Krishnan; Secretary, All India Progressive Women’s Commission

9.     Meena Kandasamy; Poet, writer, activist

10.  Navrang S B; Former Head of Social Media, BJP

11.  Prabir Purkayastha; Editor, Newsclick

12.  Rajeev Chandrasekhar; Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

13.  Rakshit Tandon; Cyber Security Expert and Consultant

14.  Ravish Kumar; News Anchor, NDTV India

15.  Rega Jha; Editor, BuzzFeed India

16.  Rohit Chopra; Associate Professor, Santa Clara University

17.  Saikat Datta; Journalist

18.  Sheeba Aslam; Journalist, scholar and Islamic writer

In addition, the report offers overviews of existing state and non-state
responses to online harassment, and takes stock of existing campaigns
against online harassment and Indian stakeholders who are active in this
domain. It finds, among others, that greater transparency and
responsiveness in content moderation processes adopted by online speech
platforms like social media websites, blogs, and discussion boards,
along with renewed focus on capacity building for law enforcement agents
could go a long way towards addressing the issue. Educating people about
existing mechanisms for combating online harassment is highlighted as
another area deserving attention.

The report also details a number of measures that could be adopted by
users of online speech platforms to guard themselves against online
harassment and abuse, both in the form of general safeguards applicable
to every-day Internet use, as well as responses when users are faced
with targeted online harassment campaigns. It also lays out a set of
draft best practices that could be adopted by online intermediaries to
limit harassment on their networks, though these are mere suggestions at
this stage that require substantial deliberation before they can be
formalized.**

-- 
Warm Regards
Mishi Choudhary, Esq.
Legal Director
Software Freedom Law Center
1995 Broadway Floor 17| New York, NY-10023
Direct: +1-212-461-1912| Main: +1-212-461-1901| Fax: +1-212-580-0898
www.softwarefreedom.org



President and Executive Director
SFLC.IN
K-9, Second Floor, Jangpura Extn.| New Delhi-110014
Main: +91-11-43587126 | Fax: +91-11-24323530
www.sflc.in



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