Law Explained India

Internet Shutdown Panel at NullCon, 2020

Anwesha Das -

Internet shutdown has become a pretty regular event in today’s world. India has seen the most number of shutdowns. Internet shutdowns are the “intentional disruption” of wired connection or mobile internet and /or both. Primarily carried on by the Government authorities with the aim of controlling the communication and the flow of information accessible over internet. The shutdowns vary in time, period, place, area and duration.
Since the internet has become an essential to our physical world. It is critical for smooth working of every infrastructure. From health care to transportation, banking to business to Government Administration.
Any and every form of internet shutdown not only slams the internet but disrupts the daily life of every individual.
At NULLCON 2020 we, HasGeek, as a part of RootConf initiative, organized a panel on “Anatomy of Internet Shutdowns”. It was organized as a part of Media Track at NullCon. There were few core questions to which we were trying to find answers through this panel.

  • What is the internet shutdown? The definition.
  • What happens when there is no internet?
  • How does it affect the daily life of people?
  • What is the administrative process to be followed for slamming the interment?
  • What does the law say about shutdowns? Both nationally and internationally?
  • Is there any grievance authority?
  • How a shutdown in one geographical location is different from another?
  • What are the alternative means of communication in the event of internet shutdown?
    We had panelists coming from different fields and expertise bringing their unique experience to the panel. We had
  • Shehla Rashid,
  • Ramanjit Singh Chima,
  • Prateek Waghre
  • Arjun, as panelists
    and Zainab Bawa, CEO HasGeek as our moderator.
    The panel turned out to be an informative and interactive session. Though we had to wrap the panel in an hour due to the time constraint but the extended Q&A, discussions took place for more than an hour outside the room.
    The interest around the session convinced us to organize more such events in the future.