The world’s largest democracy saw the beginning of the world’s longest internet shutdown on 4th August 2019. This shutdown, part of a complete communication cut, lasted 552 days. The Indian government implemented this in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of article 370 of the country’s constitution with the claims of preventing the spread of inflammatory content. Kashmir is a contested territory to which India and Pakistan both lay claims. This move of the Indian government took away some privileges granted to the region when its king agreed to unification with the country. The Right-wing Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, currently the majority party in India, has always been vocal about its stance on absolute integration of Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim majority region.
This shutdown remains a mere reflection of the crackdown on the rights and liberties of the people of India, particularly against those who openly criticize the state. While censorship of any dissent is strengthening each passing day, attacks against minorities in digital spaces have only been increasing. These instances result in gross human rights violations against marginalized communities but the environment created by the party at the center only increases their frequency.
The Bulli Bai Case was one such case in which mock auctions of Muslim women took place on the micro-blogging site, Twitter. Pictures of young women were taken without their consent and posted on a GitHub App. The intent behind the app was to objectify these women, degrade them and feed into the misogynistic narrative where communal supremacy is played on the female body. This was a clear violation of their right to dignity and dignified life.
Even after many calls for justice and intervention from the civic body, the government remained mum on the issue. A complaint was registered with the Delhi Police on 4th July 2021, when the app went live. However, no arrests were made until months later and the accused, who had connections with online Right-Wing places, were eventually granted bail.
This highlighted multiple issues relating to general notions of human rights in the digital age and particularly under authoritative governments. The focus also needs to be on the detrimental effects this has on the mental health and general well-being of the victims besides the social stigma they have to face. In the case of women, victim blaming is another issue they have to face. In this case, violation of privacy remains only a surface issue.
While there are laws against the use of social media pictures of individuals without their consent—particularly in sexually explicit and inappropriate contexts— under Section 67A and Section 67B of the Indian constitution, there remains a significant gray area as laws are yet to catch up with the constantly evolving internet.
The global community needs to draw definite legislation to tackle such issues where the internet becomes a safe space for all identities. This has to be done by empowering people and institutions in a way that the state does not get access to unbridled power in the process. The balance is tricky to maintain but the changing digital spaces require some level of intervention.
Although no one was held accountable for this violation of human rights, the recent emergence of AI-generated images creates a further challenge to locating this very accountability. During the first week of February 2023, non-consensual deepfake porn images of a female Twitch streamer were circulated on the internet. While this despicable practice is not a new phenomenon, the inclusion of AI certainly is. Ethical questions pertaining to this technology only complicate the questions about digital freedom and the protection of people against its misuse. There are no proper legal mechanisms for victims of such crimes as the existing ones which are already inadequate are further falling behind in keeping up with the rate of these new age violations.
References:
Centre of Governance & Human Rights (CGHR). (n.d.) Human rights in a digital age. (n.d.). The University of Cambridge. Retrieved from https://www.cam.ac.uk/cammagazine/humanrightsinadigitalage.
Institute for Internet & Just Society. (n.d.). Digital Human Rights. Institute for Internet & Just Society. Retrieved from https://www.internetjustsociety.org/digital-human-rights.
Mahapatra, S. (2021). Digital Surveillance and the Threat to Civil Liberties in India. Digital Surveillance and the Threat to Civil Liberties in India. Retrieved from https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en/publications/giga-focus/digital-surveillance-and-the-threat-to-civil-liberties-in-india.
PIB Delhi. (2020, February 7). Cyber Crimes. (n.d.). PIB Delhi. Retrieved from https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1602398.
Ramesh, M. (2021, July 6). “Sulli Deals”: How photos of Muslim women were misused on a GitHub app. DAWN.COM. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1633549.
SFLC.in. (n.d.) Internet Shutdowns Tracker. SFLC.in. Retrieved from https://internetshutdowns.in/.
Walker-Munro, B. (2023, February 6). Scams, deepfake porn and romance bots: advanced AI is exciting, but incredibly dangerous in criminals’ hands. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/scams-deepfake-porn-and-romance-bots-advanced-ai-is-exciting-but-incredibly-dangerous-in-criminals-hands-199004.