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<font size="3">Dear Wikipedians,</font>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">This email is the result of
the stimulating discussions that I have had over three days with
members of the Wikipedia community at the Wiki Conference India 2011 in
Mumbai. The kind of enthusiasm that was visible across the spectrum
of participants – and it indeed was a wide spectrum from 10 year
old editors to representatives from various language communities to
persons with disabilities - has prompted me to write this letter to the
community members appealing them to extend their support to the
campaign to ensure that the ecosystem for Wikipedia – which is
first and foremost a free/open Internet - survives in India.</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">The threat to free/open
Internet is REAL in India. The new <span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Information
Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2011</span></span>
threaten to curtail our freedom on the Internet. As the
demonstrations over the map issue outside the venue during the
conference showed, there could indeed be threats to the way the
community operates in India. These threats have multiplied manifold
by the notification of these rules.</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3"><b>How do the rules
operate ?</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">The rules, at first look,
seem innocuous, as it provides a set of guidelines for intermediaries
to operate in India. But, when you look deeper, the rules are
essentially a control on the users and a coercion on the
intermediaries to implement those controls. The rules require the
intermediary (Wikipedia will fall under the definition of the
intermediary) to enforce a set of terms and conditions on their
users. This includes asking the users not to post any content that
will be<font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
considered as g</span></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>rossly
harmful</b></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
harassing, </span></span></span></font><b><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">blasphemou</span></span></font></b><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>s</b>,
<b>defamatory</b>, </span></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>obscene</b></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
pornographic, paedophilic, </span></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>libellous</b></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
invasive of another's privacy, </span></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>hateful</b></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
or racially, ethnically objectionable, </span></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>disparaging</b></span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, <b>threatening friendly relations with foreign states</b>, or otherwise
unlawful in any manner whatever. Thus any editor who posts a content
on a historical event, a person or anything that could be perceived
to come under this wide list could be courting trouble.</span></span></span></font></font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">The critical provision of
the rules is that anyone who is not happy with any content that is
posted on the intermediary site, and this could include a person who is
upset with a map or a description of a historical event or person,
could write to the intermediary asking them to remove the content. The
intermediary on getting such a request is mandated to comply with
the request within a period of 36 hours. The rules neither require
the complainant to produce a court order, nor does it give an
opportunity for a content creator to reply to such a demand. The
intermediary who does not comply with such a request loses the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_harbor#Internet" target="_blank">safe-harbour</a>
protections that it otherwise enjoys. Such a mechanism threatens the
well-honed, time tested procedure of content creation in the
Wikipedia and exposes the Wikipedia to legal actions.</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3"><b>Questions of privacy</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">The Wikipedia community
includes a large number of users who use pseudonyms and their
information is protected as per the <a href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy" target="_blank">privacy
policy</a> of Wikipedia. The rules could force Wikipedia, on getting
a written request from a Government agency authorised under the rules
to divulge information of the user, including facts like IP addresses
from which the user posted. As the rules do not mandate a court order for gaining access to private information of users and only require a written
request, as against an elaborate procedure in the case of Internet
monitoring or telephone tapping, this threatens
the right to privacy
of Wikipedia editors. <br>
</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">We, as a community of Internet users have to ensure that our
freedom on the internet- to
use it as a platform for public discourse, as a means of knowledge
dissipation- is not curtailed in any manner by such draconian rules. I
request you to be a part of the campaign to get these rules
amended by signing this <b><a href="http://softwarefreedom.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97&Itemid=83" target="_blank">online
petition</a></b>, by writing to your MP and by spreading this message
through Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, <a href="http://identi.ca" target="_blank">identi.ca</a> and in
every possible manner to Indian citizens ….</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">Warm regards,</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
</p>
Prasanth Sugathan<br>
Legal Counsel,<br>
Software Freedom Law Center<br>
K-9 Second Floor, Birbal Road, <br>
Jangpura Extension,<br>
New Delhi-110014<br>
Phone# <a href="tel:%2B91-11-43587126" value="+911143587126" target="_blank">+91-11-43587126</a><br>
Cell: <a href="tel:%2B91%209013585902" value="+919013585902" target="_blank">+91 9013585902</a><br>
<a href="http://www.sflc.in" target="_blank">www.sflc.in</a><br><br><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
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