Internet Democracy Project

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) invited comments on their consultation paper No. 7/2016 on Free Data. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments to TRAI, asking the regulator to take steps that would lead to the strengthening of the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services, 2016 Regulation, by giving business models which do not come under that regulation, but run the risk of having similar harms as discriminatory pricing, the same regulatory treatment. In general, we urge TRAI to develop a principle-based framework to preserve the Internet’s ability to function as an open and free infrastructure, which expands and refines principles that it has started to develop with the discriminatory tariffs regulation.   More

The Ministry of Home Affairs invited comments on the draft ​‘Geospatial Information Regulation Bill’. Through this, the ministry seeks to regulate the acquisition, dissemination, publication and distribution of geospatial information of India which is likely to affect the security, sovereignty and integrity of India. The Internet Democracy Project* submitted comments to the ministry, outlining reasons why the draft bill does not succeed in addressing the national security concerns, while at the same time being disastrous for businesses, communities and individuals alike.    More

TRAI held an Open House on 21^st January 2016, inviting stakeholders to put forth key points of their submissions. In response to a call for any additional comments on the consultation, we submitted the following brief points, which also reflects our intervention at the Open House.    More

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) invited counter comments on their consultation paper No. 8/2015 on differential pricing of data services. The Internet Democracy Project submitted counter comments to TRAI, outlining where we disagree with various submissions made in favour of differential pricing.    More

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) invited comments on their consultation paper No. 8/2015 on differential pricing of data services. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments to TRAI, outlining why differential pricing of data services in the Indian mobile telephony market further jeopardises the goal of wider access to a free, open and secure internet, and runs against consumer welfare and competition.    More

Comments were invited on the recently released Draft Outcome Document for the WSIS+10 Review process from UN member states, observer states and all relevant stakeholders till the 17^th of November 2015. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments on all the sections of the document. We also contributed once again to a joint civil society submission that resulted from the Civil Society Strategy Meeting that we co-organised at IGF 2015.   More

Comments were invited on the Zero-Draft for the WSIS+10 Review from UN member-states, observer states and all relevant stakeholders until 15^th October 2015. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments in the form of specific text proposals on all the different sections of the zero-draft. We also joined in on a submission by a diverse number of global civil society groups that participated in the Civil Society Coordination Event preceding the Second Informal Stakeholders Consultation and the Second Preparatory Meeting of the WSIS+10 Review in New York.   More

Until Friday 18 September, comments were invited on the UN Non-Paper for the WSIS+10 Review from UN member-states, observer states and all relevant stakeholders. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments in the form of specific text proposals on all the different sections of the non-paper, namely Digital Divide, ICT for Development, Human Rights, Internet Governance, Cyberspace and Follow-Up and Review. We also joined forces with other civil society organisations and representatives to submit comments on behalf of Asia-Pacific and BRICS.   More

From 3 to 5 September, a group of 38 people from 15 different countries participated in the Asian Regional Consultation on the WSIS+10 Review, co-oganised by the Internet Democracy Project. While the meeting originally aimed to gather views on a non-paper drafted by the UN appointed co-facilitators of the WSIS+10 Review process, a delay in the public release of this non-paper made this not possible. Nevertheless, the group collectively drafted and released a statement with key messages, based on the rich discussions it had around the topics of development, human rights and Internet governance. We have reproduced the statement below, as well as on the event website.   More

A Committee of the Department of Telecommunications released a report on net neutrality in May 2015. It included recommendations on the technical, regulatory and public policy concerns. The following report is Internet Democracy Project’s comments on the views expressed in the committee’s report.    More