An object in the outer space that orbits or circles around an object which is bigger than the object itself is a satellite. There are two types of satellite natural (which includes moon that is orbiting the earth) and the second type of satellite i.e. artificial such as (International space station orbiting the Earth). The first artificial satellite was an attempt made by the Russians in which a beach-ball sized space probe was lifted on 4th October, 1957 and was named Sputnik.

COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World Wide Radio Coverage?-Officer Arthur C Clarke’s book in which he proposed the first practical concept of communication satellite.

A communications satellite is an  artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications.

About 2000 communication satellites are in the Earth’s orbit, used by both private and government organizations. The purpose of communication satellite is that they relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated geographical points. They use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies.

Communication satellites also play a vital role in the global telecommunication system. There are three types of  communication satellites namely telecommunications, broadcasting and data communications working in different fields and providing us with cellular services, weather forecasts, social networking sites and  our most dear Netflix which provides us with shows that are now available globally.

One of the largest domestic communication satellites in Asia pacific region is the Indian National Satellite; it is operational with nine communication satellites that are laced in geostationary orbit.

Indian Space Research Organization lunched its first communication satellite in June, 1981 which was named as APPLE (Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment) though an experimental satellite it was launched successfully by Ariane-1 from Kourou, French Guiana  almost 39 years back it was a milestone achieved by the Indian scientists. APPLE was a sandwich shaped satellite which had a Metosat on top and CAT (Capsule Ariane Technique) module below. APPLE was used in several communication experiments including relay of TV programmes and radio networking. APPLE was introduced to the nation on 13 August, 1981 by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister than handed over the model of the satellite to the minister of Communication, and the address marked the “Dawn of India’s Satellite Communication era”. The addressing of the Prime Minister on 15th August was carried out by the APPLE satellite.

WORKING OF THE SATELLITE

The satellite is itself a self contained communication system with having the ability to receive signals from Earth and to retransmit those signals back with the use of a transponder and integrated receiver and transmitter of radio signals.

The weight of the satellites should be as light as possible because the cost of launching a satellite is heavy on the pocket and also the cost is based on the weight of the satellite. Satellites must be operative at a very high reliability of more that 99.9% in the vacuum of space with no prospect of maintenance or repair. The communication satellites contain antennas and transponders which receive and retransmit signals, the power system including solar panels that provide power and the propulsion system which includes the rockets that propel the satellite. To maintain a satellite’s orbital position the process is called “station keeping” and “attitude control” means made by using the satellite’s thrusters.

Satellite is continuously operatable over its entire lifespan. Electronical systems and communications payload are operatable with the internal power which is ruled by the satellite, whenever the sun is blocked by the earth the batteries in the satellite is used and they are recovered by the excess current generated by the solar panels in the presence of light.

INDIAN SPACE WORK REGARDING COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

The Indian National Satellite System is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-Pacific region with nine operational communication satellites place in geo-stationary orbit. Established in 1983 with commissioning of INSAT1-B, it initiated a major revolution in India’s communication sector and sustained the same later.

 G-SAT15 was launched on 11th November,2015,after an everlasting countdown of 11 hours and 30 minutes the Ariane launch vehicle lifted off right on schedule at 3:04 am on that day, after a successful flight of 43minutes 24 seconds G-SAT15 separated from the Ariane super stage in an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit. ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of G-SAT 15, after immediately separating from the launch vehicle. Normal health was revealed after the preliminary health checks of the satellite.

India’s telecommunication satellite G-SAT 30 was successfully launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) ON January 17, 2020 from Kourou launch base, French Guiana by Ariane 5 VA 251.

INDIA REGARDING THE SATELLITE COMMUNICATION POLICY 1997 & 2000

Though there were policy formation in the region of space and there were various laws created for the space and the protection for the satellites sent to the space. A lot was expected from the policy of 1997 for the satellite communication sector in India but only the following 4 points were discussed and kept in mind.

1)      Developing satellite communication launch vehicles and ground equipment industry in India.

2)      Making available and developing further the infrastructural built through the government operated Indian National Satellite System (INSAT)

3)      Encouraging private sector investments in space industry.

4)      Allowing to a very limited extent use of foreign satellite for services in India.

The government realized the insufficiency of the policy in 2000 the government framed “norms” for implementation of this policy the scope of the policy was elaborated by the norms of 2000. The norms in the 2000 policy classified satellite communication services in two broad categories of “domestic” and “international”. Preference was given to satellites and the norms whether they are right or wrong the use of “foreign satellites” for the domestically communication, lacked norms for the use of foreign satellites for international communication. On the following points the norms of the 2000 policy were focused.

1)      Telecommunications

2)      Broadcasting

3)      Educational and developmental communications

4)      Security communications for Defence Ministry / Services

Education and security communications are the rapidly growing sectors and their growth is considerable. In both these cases the normal procedure for adopting the license may not be applicable and also the financial arrangements for INSAT both these sectors may be different.

THE SPACE ACTIVITIES BILL, 2017

This bill has been proposed to protect and promote the space activities of India. The participation of the nongovernmental/private sector is encouraged under the guidance and authorization of the Department of Space. Many startups have shown interest in the space system activities and also the participation of private sectors would help the space agency to grow in size. Also various telecommunications and DTH service providers have shown interest in the investment of the satellites so that they can provide their customers with the best of the services.

 FUTURE OF THE COMMUNICATION AND VARIOUS OTHER TYPES OF SATELLITES

With the evolution of the satellites from the Sputnik to the very present day sophisticated satellite the world as well as the ISRO has shown rapid and commendable changes in the evolution of satellite. The agencies are now concerned about increasing the satellite life span form 10-15 years to 20-30 years in the near future. There is also a lot of focus on technical innovations such as low cost reusable launch vehicle.

Along with the development in the space area the focus should also be on the protection of the environment and the harm it causes the environment and also the debris which falls out in the seas to which there are no claims one such recent example is of the Chinese satellite which fell down only after serving few days in the outer space which fell on its own land.

Stringent laws is the need of the hour and accountability is what is required in the collection of debris around the world and that is why more focus is on the environmental impact of the satellite which should also be reusable and renewable.

SOURCES OF CONTENT

1)    ISRO – https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/gsat-30

2)    Norms and guidelines of the Satellites communication policy 2000-https://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/article-files/indias-space-policy-0/satcom-ngp.pdf

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Today, social media is used by almost everyone in the world be it one form or the other. Social media is any digital tool, which allows the users to create and share any content with the public. Social media surrounds a wide range of other websites and applications.

Anyone having access to the internet can sign up for a social media account and can use that account to share and post any content and this content reaches to anyone who visits their account/profile/page.

Social media is used by individuals to stay in touch with friends and family, for social shopping networks, for sharing economy networks while it is used by businesses as a market to grow and expand their business and also to promote and sell their products. Some of the social media platforms used are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Wikipedia.

Social media has not just confined its wings to sharing information and pictures, earlier predicted a basis of one-way communication, social-media has now become a platform of sharing thoughts, ideas, and reviews thus exercising freedom of speech to the amplest.

It’s a free platform where people find ownership. They speak on their own behalf without anyone guiding them and keeping an eye on what they have to filter while expressing. It is marked to be the widest source of original expression of speech amongst people not confining to any particular age group.

Considering the psychological aspect of why did social media become such a huge platform of expressing opinions and views, we can reach to a conclusion that India being an Illiberal democracy, where although elections are held considering the votes of citizens but the transmission of power, fulfillment of promises and upliftment of the general public through legal means is opaque. So, people have always had their share of debates and opinions which never paved way to the outside world due to lack or fear of power, for example- In 2011, Aseem Trivedi started a nationwide anti-corruption movement India against Corruption gathered pace in India. He started a cartoon based campaign, Cartoons Against Corruption to support the movement, launched a website www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com and displayed his cartoons in the MMRDA ground, Mumbai during the hunger strike of Anna Hazare but the website was banned by Mumbai Crime Branch for displaying “defamatory and derogatory cartoons” in Dec, 2011 following his website’s ban. Thus, social media came as a blessing to people for voicing out their views and opinions, organizing protests, forming groups for discussing and assembling agendas in total exercising their freedom of speech.

We have seen some great moments in the past which started on the internet and took the world by storm, the most recent example of such a movement which gained world-wide public support and engagement was “Black Lives Matter”. This movement which started off as a mere hash tag spread likes wildfire. People expressed their opinions and views as to why racism is an offense and should be put to stop. Another most recent example of social media movement would be Agrima Joshua’s standup case which involved a clip of the stand-up comedian presenting a set with mentioning Shivaji Maharaj in her satire. This was not galloped by audience like cheese but incase turned out to be a huge ruckus for the comedian, the rage crossed boundary when a man from Gujarat went public on his YouTube channel and gave open rape threat to the lady which became a concern for him. Everyone stood up on social media for the woman and defended her saying open rape threats are not justifies. Within 24 hours of the movements, Vadodara Police arrested the man and took him behind the bars which once again marked the power of Social media as an expression of opinions, speech and Justice.

Freedom of Speech and Expression

Under article 19(1) (a)[1]of the Constitution of India Right to freedom of speech and expression is one of the major fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens under part III of the Constitution of India. According to it:

All citizens shall have the right

(a) To freedom of speech and expression;

Freedom to Speech and Expression means a citizen has the right to express one’s own opinions freely by way or writing, printing, pictures, mouth or by any other mode. This means that expression of one’s idea through any communicable medium including writing, printing, pictures or mouth or visible representation including signs gestures etc.

This right is only available to the citizens and not to all persons, this means that every person within the territory of India does not have this right but it is available only to the citizens of India.

Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression is not an absolute right and it allows the govt. of India to frame laws and to impose restrictions in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India.

Although there is no particular legislation which covers the leverage of expression and opinions or violation on social media but there are certain provisions in cyber-law which can be addressed in case of any violation or misuse of Social media, let’s study them in brief.

(a) Under Chapter XI of the Act, Sections 65, 66, 66A, 6C, 66D, 66E, 66F, 67, 67A and 67B contain punishments for computer related offences which can also be committed through social media viz. tampering with computer source code, committing computer related offences given under Section 43, sending offensive messages through communication services, identity theft, cheating by personation using computer resource, violation of privacy, cyber terrorism, publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form, material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form, material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form, respectively.

(b) Section 69 of the Act grants power to the Central or a State Government to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, for preventing incitement to commission of any cognizable offence, for investigation of any offence.

(c) Section 69A grants power to the Central Government to issue directions to block public access of nay information through any computer resource on similar grounds.

(d) Section 69B grants power to the Central Government to issue directions to authorize any agency to monitor and collect traffic data or information through any computer resource for cyber security.

(e) Section 79 provides for liability of intermediary. An intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by him in the

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Of all these provisions, Section 66A has been in news in recent times, though for all the wrong reasons. Before discussing the issue in detail, it is desirable to first have a look at Section 66A, the provision itself. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 inserted vide Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 provides punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc. and states:

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device-

(a) Any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character;

(b) Any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

(c) Any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.

Social Media and Freedom of Speech and Expression

Everybody needs a platform where he needs to express him/her and which is the fundamental right of every citizen in India in which he has the right to express oneself. Today Internet and Social Media has become an important communication tool through which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of speech and expression and exchange ideas and information with each other. However, freedom of speech and expression does not confer a right on the citizens the right to speak or publish anything and everything without responsibility. It is not an unbraided license giving immunity for every possible use of language and prevents punishment for those who abuse this freedom.

The legislature has the power to enact laws under Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression to impose restrictions on the following grounds:

·         Sovereignty and Integrity of India

·         Defamation

·         National Security

·         Public Order

·         Decency

·         Friendly relations with foreign states.

In today’s world where Internet and social media play a major role in almost everyone’s life, access to this medium has also been recognized as a fundamental human right. The state is under a constitutional obligation to ensure conditions in which all citizens can meaningfully and effectively enjoy these rights and to also prevent dominance by a few over others. In India there is no specific legislation, which deals with social media. However, there are certain provisions in the so called cyber laws that cane used to seek redressal in case of any violation of any rights in the social media including cyber space and internet. In Muzzafar Nagar Riots, through investigations it was revealed that hate contents circulated on social media has sparked communal clashes. For almost half a dozen communal clashes in India it was proved that the reason was the contents posted on social media. The present cyber laws in India are neither appropriate nor adequate in this respect. Though social media is the best platform to express yourself freely and without any fear but the content that you put on the blog or post any video or photo stays on the internet forever and can be accessible by anyone and everyone, there needs to be regulation on the social media as well. In the past few years’ social media has played an outstanding role and a suitable place for people moving towards the concept of equality, justice, and accountability of the powerful people, the social media and internet are the key sources through which there is transmission of ideas from one place to the other, an excellent opportunity for the people who want to make others aware of their rights and duties through a digital platform. Even the freedom of speech and expression is recognized by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which holds communication and internet in high esteem and also provides practical applicability of the right of speech and expression through the medium of altered media channels. LIC v Manubhai D Shah[2] the judgment held that the right to freedom of speech and expression would include the freedom of a citizen as a viewer/listener/reader to receive and to communicate or disseminate information and ideas without interference. It is the constitutional obligation of the state to ensure conditions in which these rights can be meaningfully and effectively enjoyed by all citizens and prevent its monopoly or dominance by a few. While talking about the freedom and the rights of the citizens what also needs to be focused on is that the freedom to speech and expression is not an absolute right there are certain reasonable restrictions on this right so that the state can be saved from being jeopardized, in the interest of integrity, sovereignty and security of India. But in the case of Anuraddha Bhasin v Union of India[3] in which the Supreme Court criticized the shutdown of the internet for an unjustifiable duration and said that the lockdown of the internet is to governed by different provisions like the temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017 where suspension can be utilized for a temporary duration only and rule which involves the shutdown of the internet should adhere to the principle of proportionality. Keeping in mind the accessibility of the internet in today’s world there needs to be protection and securitization of the data and the information available of our citizens on the internet, the international standards also provide for the protection of freedom of expression and right to equality the protection provided by the international standards must be the backbone of any states and response to hate speech, intolerance and discrimination. States needs to ensure that there is protection of human rights when they come in contact with private individuals it is also necessary that there is effective exercise of the rights of individuals so that they freely receive and impart ideas.

RESTRICTIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

There is imposition of restrictions both on social media and the fundamental guaranteed to us by the Constitution, in social media there is restriction in the form that pornographic material and obscene content is banned and is not shown on the internet comparing it to the restriction imposed under article 19 (2) which says that there is reasonable restriction on the fundamental right given under article 19 (1) (a). Rather than defining and introducing new ‘objectionable speech’ despite what should be assessable is India’s laws and policies as they relate to freedom of expression which might be against the standards set by the Constitution. Considering this there would be an ensurance that there is distinction between socially objectionable and legally objectionable it remains at its place as it should be. Since this is followed there would be assurance that Constitution is being operationalized as intended by its authors. In Secretary, Ministry of Information And Broadcasting, Government of India and Others v Cricket Association of Bengal and Others[4], the Supreme Court held that to ensure there is freedom of speech, it is necessary that the citizens have the benefit of plurality of views and range of opinions on all public issues. Considering all the points about the restrictions imposed on social media and rights of the citizens it can be stated that rather than banning and censoring of social media it would be much better if there is better surveillance and regulation it would be desirable that it protects the rights of the citizens. T is the need of the hour that the hate content which is a despair of our country should be removed and blocked and the culprits who create such discord should be punished for the same according to the laws mentioned, on the other hand there should not be complete surveillance of the content being constantly posted on the internet because then that would get between the way of expressing oneself and putting out to the public their thoughts and ideas. There is a very thin line between regulation and hindrance, if there is over regulation on the social media then that would by intolerable for the citizens and would lead to the hindrance of their private fundamental rights which is guaranteed to them by the Constitution of India.

CONCLUSION

Social Media is a very powerful source of expressing the feeling of agitation, happiness and various other human emotions but there should be control on everything and everything has to be done in a regulated manner, Since the past few years there has been a constant increase in the ill utilization of the social media which has given the government to regulate social media where it can censor all the illegal acts. In both directions there need to be a stoppage on the objectionable and illegal content which is being uploaded on the internet and also there can be violation of civil rights of people as an inevitable consequence of censorship. The current IT laws are inadequate and insufficient to cope up with the dynamic changes around the globe, therefore there should be a midway of solving things there should be regulation of social media in such a way that it does not violate the fundamental right of the citizens what is desirable is a specific regulation which regulate social media. The need of the hour is that the government should form a regulatory committee specifically for this purpose and frame laws which seem to be fulfilling in the respect of regulating social media and our freedom of speech and expression.

On seeing the present scenario we can say that yes, social media has been a provider of a platform for people to express and present emotions like rage, grief, opinions and feelings. It not only has made citizens more woke and informed but has even helped in shaping the government according to the needs of the public. As there is bane so is boon, Social media has been blamed at points for forging identities, cyber bullying, intolerant opinions and even on moral grounds such as slut-shaming, fat-shaming. There are few provisions which guide the control of social media in terms of speech and expression but no formal legislation that contributes towards it. In conclusion, it is a gift if used as a means of expression, knowledge and presentation and may turn it way upside down if used otherwise.

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Although data and social media regulation is the need of the hour and should be implemented as soon as possible but we should also keep on the mind the rights we provide to our citizens and the duty to protect the data of our country within our country, recent changes s we have seen like banning of the 59 Chinese applications by the Indian Government was a very brave  decision by our government which led to the protection of our date and not transferring our information to the  originator of these applications which would be misused and used to hinder our country’s security and integrity which is of utmost important. Moreover the soldiers were even asked to uninstall 89 applications which included all sort of social media handles which they used to socialize with their family members and friends but nothing come before the nation and mother India our citizens are I full support of this movement and have shown their support by willfully boycotting Chinese products and encouraging ‘Make In India” as instructed by the Hon”ble Prime Minister of India.

REGULATORY AUTHORITIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

The regulatory authorities of social media that governs it are of the following two types.

A.    Statutory/ State authorities

B.   Non statutory authorities

1)      Internet Service Providers

2)      Social Media Agencies

 STATUTORY AUTHORITY

(LAWS WHICH REGULATE THE INDIAN SOCIAL MEDIA)

The Indian social media is very vulnerable and demands the security of its people and their data. Data is of two type’s personal data and non personal data; personal data includes the characteristics, traits and various attributes which are the key ingredients of finding the identity of an individual and non personal data means that data which cannot be used to find the identity of a person. And the Data Protection Bill aims at minimizing the use of individual’s private data so that there is less invasion of their privacy. Since the decision given by Supreme Court in a nine judge bench verdict which includes ‘Right to Privacy’ as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution overruling the judgment given in MP Sharma case 1958 and Kharak Singh case 1961[2]where in both these cases it was held that Right to Privacy is not a Fundamental Right and does not come under Article 21 of the Constitution. The various acts which govern cybercrime and social media regulations are The Information Technology Act, 2000, The Indian Penal Code 1860, The Data Protection Bill and various other acts and bills which provide shelter to the victims and their honour.

The Information Technology Act, 2000

The Information Technology Act, 2000 was introduced by the Indian Parliament on 17 October, 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.

Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 talks about the computer related offences undertaken in section 43 and imposes punishment of about 3 years and a fine of about five lakh or with both. In Kamlesh Vaswani v/s Union of India[3], the petitioner challenged the constitutionality of sections 66, 67, 69, 71, 75 as they are insufficient in restricting the pornographic material on the internet, it was contended by the petitioner that pornography be banned and the material should be made unavailable. Indian Service Providers for Internet Association said that any material cannot be removed from the internet unless orders are received from the government because if one site is removed dozens of other sites stand to cover the material

Section 66 B talks about the punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device and that person is aware that the property or the communication device is stolen shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may be extended for a term of three years or with fine of rupees one lakh or with both.

Section 67 states that any person who publishes or transmits or causes to publish any material in an electronic form which displays the other party to be full of lust and has curiosity of being indulged in any sexual activity and intends to draw that a person is interested in sexual acts shall be at the first conviction  with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with a fine of rupees five lakh  and on the second or subsequent with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees. In Aveek Sarkar & Anr v/s State of West Bengal in which a parochial term ‘Hicklin Test’ for determining obscenity and set the ‘Community standards Test’ as the basis of the determination

Section 67 A[4] states that whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be transmitted or published in any electronic form any sexually explicit material or conduct shall be at first conviction punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years wand with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees and in the second conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine which may extend to rupees ten lakh.

Under section 67 B any sexual activity or electronic material which contain indecent images depicting children in a sexually offensive manner also including any advertisements, texts, downloads exclusively depicting children and includes children to online relationship with one or more children and on sexually explicit act or manner which maybe a cause of offense to a reasonable adult, facilitating abuse of children, recording in any electronic form of own abuse or any explicit content showing children shall be punished with imprisonment on first conviction with a term which may extend to five years and extending to fine of rupees ten lakh rupees and on second conviction or subsequent conviction with imprisonment which may extend to a term of seven years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 is the official criminal code of India the code was drafted on the recommendations of the first law commission of India established in 1834 under the charted act of 1833 under the chairmanship of Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay. It came into force in 1862 during the British raj in India; the code has been amended since then and is now supplemented by other criminal provisions.

In the Penal Code there are various sections which point out towards the misuse of the social media and the relevant punishments applicable on such misuse.

Section 153 A talks about promoting enmity between groups of different religion, race, caste, place of birth, language, residence etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony it includes- whoever by words either spoken or written or by signs visible representations or otherwise attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, caste, language or community creates feeling of ill-will, hatred or enmity. Organizes any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the ones who participate in these activities should be trained in using criminal force or violence or participating in activities which intend to use violence or criminal force and which can create a false sense of fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst the members of such religious, racial, linguistic groups shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.

Section 468 points out at forging documents or electronic forged documents which shall be used for the purpose of cheating shall be punished with imprisonment of either seven years and shall also be liable to fine. The court held liable two partners for the falling of bricks which led to the death of two nuns, here the partners went into a contract with a constructor by making it appear in a forged document that a fictitious person was a contractor.[5]

Section 509 makes intention to insult the modesty of the woman. When a man intending to outrage the modesty of a woman exposes himself in a indecent manner to a woman he has committed an offence under this section, and will be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and will also be liable to fine. A recent such example can be the Instagram conversation in ‘Boys Locker Room’ where conversations about girl’s modesty were held and leaking indecent pictures and making a mockery of them seemed like a very decent concept and a casual conversation, although necessary actions were taken by the cyber cell according to laws and case was filed under relevant provisions.

DATA PROTECTION BILL

Looking at the shortcomings of the IT Act, 2000 the bill introduced by the government promises to fill up the loopholes which cannot be corrected by the act of 2000, the committee was headed by the retired Supreme Court judge B.N Srikrishna. Though the Bill of 2019 was criticized by the original drafter and said that the changes made are very harmful as the government can access the data of the people at any time and it has dangerous consequences based on the sovereignty of the country. Currently the data is regulated through the companies that use the data for compensating the individuals, in case there is any negligence caused while handling their data. The expert committee in its report mentioned that when the IT Act was introduced it was sufficient according to the digitization of the era, but now with digitization changes need to be made. To ensure that there is complete compliance with the bill a Data Protection Authority was set up which had members who are well versed in the field of Data Protection and Information Technology, on non satisfaction an individual can complaint to the authority. Orders of the authority can be appealed to the Appellate Tribunal and further on the appeal will lie in the Supreme Court. While talking about the leverage government will have on a individuals there are also certain restrictions which comes along the bill like processing of personal data only for clear, lawful purposes adding to which the data fiduciaries should take certain transparency and accountability measures like implementation of security safe guards and introduction of a place where the grievances of the people can be entertained certain fiduciaries which deal with sensitive data like ( bio metrics, financial data) etc have to be more cautious and maintain high level security. The data can be utilized with the permission of the person or the consent given by the person, it can also be confirmed by the person whether his data is being utilized, about correctness of his data, correction or erasure of his data as well.

PRIVACY VIOLATION BY SOCIAL MEDIA

Nothing is private is the mantra now a days where people are still figuring out on how to make their posts and pictures private a survey tells us that about 41% of India’s population is still unaware about the privacy settings available on Facebook or any other social networking sites. Even after controlling some privacy related issues they cannot be fully secured since the option of tagging is available to the friends in the list, which makes their picture available for everyone and at the click of the button anyone can access it.

NON STATUTORY AUTHORITIES

Since non statutory authorities have a primary role to play in the regulation of social media, they are very important for the security of the country.

1)      SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCIES

The dominant role players in the social network market is the social media agencies which have control over displaying the person’s feed. Although their choices determine the uploading of the feed, but some updates are criticized by the users like the Instagram update a few years back which was back lashed by the users and it had to revert back to the idea of reading numbers as a source of advertisement.

2)      INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

They have a crucial role to play in the censorship of the content and have an eye out for everybody. Like in China if any misguided information is transfers the ISPs immediately comes into action and the culprit is behind the bars since there is a lot of censorship in China. Some steps are also taken in countries like UK and Sweden, since it is not feasible and also not possible to curb out the originator and sender of each and every text the states have found that it is better to impose liabilities on intermediaries who host, transmit and take place in such offensive tasks. IT Act also provides severe fine on the ISPs if they find that they are incapable of removing content not made for the internet which stands banned from the internet usage of India.

CONCLUSION

  As we all know that excess of anything is bad so is the excess of regulation of social media because the fundamental rights and the sanctity of the Constitution of India needs to be kept in mind, data should be regulated in a controlled and civilized manner by fulfilling the needs of the security and also keeping in mind the rights of the citizens and their protection. Rights, responsibilities and duties of the state authorities, non state authorities and the citizens should be understood by them respectively and there should be a sense of so cooperation amongst everyone. It can also be stated that what is not good for such a diverse society like India is community hate, hate speech and communal rights a monitoring on such tasks is the need of the hour and should be put into force immediately

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