[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Event on online free speech on Wednesday

[Gautam John]

This might be of interest to those of you in Bangalore.

Thank you.

Best,

Gautam
________
http://blog.prathambooks.org/p/social-media.html


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anja Kovacs
Date: Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 5:19 PM
Subject: Event on online free speech on Wednesday
To: Gautam John


Free Speech Online in India under Attack? A Panel Discussion

When Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal suggested
pre-censorship for a range of popular online platforms and social
networking sites, this suggestion was soon met by a barrage of
criticism, which soon forced him to back down. Yet Sibal’s suggestion
is not the only threat to free speech on the Internet in India today:
legislation such as the Intermediary Due Diligence Rules and Cyber
Café Rules (also jointly known as the IT Rules) issued in April 2011
is equally dangerous for free speech online.

In this event, Achal Prabhala, Anja Kovacs and Lawrence Liang will
join moderator Sunil Abraham to discuss in more detail some of the
most direct threats to freedom of expression online that exist in
India today; the larger legal and social context of freedom of
expression and censorship, control and resistance in which they have
to be understood; and the steps that can be taken to ensure that
substantive protections for freedom of expression online will be put
into place.

Join us at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, on
Wednesday 21 December, at 5.30 pm.

Address: No. 194, Second 'C' Cross, Domlur 2nd Stage, Bangalore – 560071

Phone: +91 80 4092 6283

About the speakers:

Achal Prabhala is a researcher and writer from Bangalore who works on
access to knowledge and access to medicine.

Anja Kovacs works with the Internet Democracy Project, which engages
in research and advocacy on the promises and challenges that the
Internet poses for democracy and social justice in the developing
world.

Lawrence Liang is a lawyer and researcher at the Alternative Law
Forum. He works on the intersection of law, technology and culture and
has worked closely with film makes and artists in a number of
anti-censorship campaigns.

About the moderator:

Sunil Abraham is the Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and
Society in Bangalore.

This event is jointly organised by the Internet Democracy Project and
the Centre for Internet and Society