INDIAN INTERMEDIARIES AND DIGITAL ETHICS RULES 2021 : A WILLING SURRENDER OF HUMAN FREEDOMS PART II

The hottest news in India as regards Democracy and Social Media is the new Digital Media Regulations 2021 that has been promulgated by the Central Government in India.

In the article “ Digital Social Technology: A Willing Surrender of Human Freedoms”, I stressed on the question as to why our Democratic Institutions are adopting the unethical business model of Digital Social Media as part and parcel of their interaction with the Indian public. Here the question is different

Why are Legal and Democratic Rights, Obligations and Freedoms of Humans and Human Institutions being surrendered to Unethical Technology- based Business Models?

A reading of the Digital Media Rules 2021 shows that, Our Democratic Government is surrendering the Democratic Obligations To Social Media Technology. This is not with any malafide intent by Democratic Institutions, rather it is a Faustian Pact between Democracy and Social Media Technology.

There are many experts, lawyers and activists who are screaming from the rooftops for anyone to notice that, these rules could allegedly lead to more censorship and surveillance by the Government. But, the one common denominator is absence of the question - why the Government has come to depend upon the “Social Media Intermediaries” in the first place?

Legally speaking, the Information Technology Act,2000 defines Intermediaries, confers certain rights and obligations on these Intermediaries and also lays out the consequences of the Intermediaries not fulfilling the same. Now, in the 2021 rules, the Executive has promulgated a new definition - “Social Media Intermediaries” and which entities qualify as “Social Media Intermediary”. However, the Central Government has mentioned that, the exact list of such intermediaries would be released later. It is curious that the Ministry of Information Technology has not simultaneously released such a list. The author of this article feels that, it is not proper at this juncture to speculate the member entities in that list as it would not only ruin the suspense!, but also would be contrary to democratic values of letting the appropriate authority to do its job.

The Author is a fervent supporter of Democracy as it is the one and only system that empowers humans today. If one reads through the Rules, as a lawyer and also as a common citizen of India, one would find that, the Central Government has delegated much of the data - "evidence and materials" gathering functions to the Social Media businesses for the purpose of maintaining law and order in a democratic country. Democracy asks Social Media to protect the Democratic Institutions and Way of Democracy in exchange for Self-Regulation. Because, the State is the Sovereign as per our Constitution, Self-Regulation Mechanisms are being “mandated” on the Social Media.

Whether these mechanisms would actually work is a totally different question and is quite doubtful solely due to the fact that, the inner workings of the Social Media Business Model is not only a political secret but are also protected as various forms of Intellectual Property. No doubt that the humans manning the Self-Regulation bodies would be very much interested to do justice to their jobs, but they are very much likely to be out-maneuvered and out-gunned by the Social Media entities themselves.

The activists, legal experts and the intellectual citizens are only concerned with the activities of a democratic government on these rules on the issues of alleged censorship, surveillance. However, the more urgent question would be,

Why is our Government asking Social Media Companies to actually track, store and analyse data about the users?.

Why are these activists and legal experts not questioning the blatant violations of privacy by the Social Media Entities? “Legendary” CEOs have long declared that Privacy is Dead. Instead of questioning these Legends, why are the humans responsible for Democracy, either surrendering Democracy to the Anti-Democratic Business Models and questioning Democratically Elected Government Systems and Human Institutions?

Both Politically and Legally,The Democratic Government is not the perpetrator. Legally Speaking, A Democratic Government has every right to adopt and utilise any available technology for upholding the Rule of Law and Maintaining Law and Order. There is no law that prohibits such action by a Democratic Government. At the same time such use is accountable and can be questioned under law. No Government Entity is above question. There is no law or rule that directly says that, there cannot be any question from any person or authority. Some human is always in charge. That is the legacy given by the British Made laws in India some of which are very much in force and an integral part of our legal system.

Nothing Actually Stands in the way of Democratic Governments to create Technology Tools to Ensure Law and Order.

The Social Media Business Model is by nature averse to being Questioned.There is no human always in charge. The Business Model is in charge. Even CEOs have to bend to this Business Model. Business Model cannot and should not be equated to Rule of Law.

The Democratic Government is the victim here of the sheer power that Social Media businesses have amassed.

The 2021 Rules are a clear indication that, Democracy has been brought to its knees by Social Media. Mandating Social Media Business to share data encapsulates the fact that, Social Media Business is Allowed to Gather Data first. The fact of Behaviour Data Extraction by Social Media is not something one can be ignorant of. One may be ignorant of the extent of such extraction as it is proprietary and secret. Social Media is not under any legal obligation to reveal any electronic data in its hands to Governments under the 2021 Rules, as it would clash with Intellectual Property Rights. However, the Social Media Business would use the 2021 Rules to their advantage only and not towards accountability.

Human Behaviour Becomes Intellectual Property owned by Social Media when converted to Electronic Data.

It is appalling that no activist, legal expert, think tank is pointing out this glaring on-the-face fact? Is it because they are unaware or because they are fully aware of what is happening not only In India but All Over the World?

Example, Australia announced that its legislation is ready without any changes on a Monday and on the next day, Facebook was able to make Australian legislators amend the legislation. Facebook blocks the Myanmar Military Regime. Yes, The Military coup may be a questionable one, but why is a for-profit business enterprise directly getting entangled in a Nation's Politics, military coup or not? Did any member of the Myanmar public formally request such action? Facebook takes advantage of the Democratic way of Protest to further it dystopian agenda of "disrupting" Human Society. We have allowed this "disruption" mindset to get out of hand.

All our activists, think tanks and legal experts are suffering from “Shell Shock” Human Actors, therefore, as a knee-jerk reaction are quick to point fingers at our Governments, as our Governments are the only institution that is accountable to Humans.

Social Media Business Is/Are A Law Unto Themselves and Are Not Accountable To Humans and Human Institutions.

The Message is Very Clear From Democracy - "Use Social Media At Your (Human) Risk".

As for our Human Actors ( Activists, Think Tanks, Legal Experts), we must take solace that their "shell shock attitude" proves that human nature exhibits itself in any crisis that is injected by Unethical Technology Business Models.

*First published on Linked In by the author on 27 February 2021.