Concern over impact of Internet control rules on free speech

Cyber activists, bloggers and legal experts are crying foul over the new rules and guidelines under the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, that lay additional focus on content regulation and information security, besides dealing with cyber terrorism and data protection.They have termed it an attempt to gag free speech by giving intermediaries like Internet Service Providers, web hosting companies, search engines and cyber cafes the right to control content. The new rules require hosts or owners of websites to take action against “objectionable content” that is considered “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.”