2016 was a year of impact. Thanks to over a million voices of Indians like you, net neutrality was front and centre in government offices, newsrooms, and the floor of our Parliament, resulting in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announcing the first set of rules to safeguard an open internet and prevent discrimination from corporate lobbies.
The overwhelming support we received on the Save The Internet campaign led to us launching the Internet Freedom Foundation -- a volunteer driven organisation dedicated to advancing user rights by working on net neutrality, free expression and fighting censorship, privacy and encryption, and innovation. And we’ve hit the ground running!
Over the span of our initial 6 months last year, we were able to:
- continue fighting for safeguarding net neutrality by engaging the TRAI on passing binding rules to prevent harmful behaviour by telecom companies;
- advocate for the protection of privacy and user concerns in public WiFi and Digital India policy proposals;
- intervene before the Delhi High Court to provide a user voice around protecting free expression and rights in its ‘Right to be Forgotten’ hearing in the Laksh Vir Singh Yadav case;
- monitor legal arguments before appellate courts regarding protecting privacy and safeguarding your data on mobile messaging platforms;
- legally warn government officials from censoring your freedom to speak online and discuss issues of the day on social media
- support efforts to reform laws that chill the functioning of the press and free expression
Could you help IFF continue this work and expand the campaign to protect Indian internet freedoms in 2017 by donating an amount of your choice or volunteering your skills?
In 2017, we hope to achieve some big milestones. We’ve already begun work on supporting research and aiding policymakers, building campaigns and legal interventions, and deploying technology in order to protect users and advance the public interest. We are committed to fighting for your voice and ensuring we advance net neutrality, free expression, privacy, and innovation.
This Republic Day, could you support our work in 2017 to help safeguard the rights guaranteed to you by our Constitution and ensure you can exercise them online? Help us by pitching in.
More about us and how we use your donations:
We raise funds from Indians who share our values, like you. These funds will be used to promote and advocate a free and open internet that offers freedom, privacy and innovation. We are, as a collective, unaffiliated with any political party or organisation. Our belief in an open internet is above whatever political affiliations individual members have. We are not associated with any company, industry association or non-government organisation. We form our positions independently and implement them through issue specific partnerships where needed.