Podcast

The Law & Tech Bulletin

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the year-end special episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

In this episode of our podcast, let's take a look back at the major events of the year as well as the headlines of the past two weeks:

This year, the digitisation of courts has been a major focus in the law and technology landscape. The Supreme Court's decision to live-stream the hearings of its constitution benches was one of the most noteworthy developments in this area. Several High Courts have also started live-streaming court proceedings. Now, taking a step further, the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, Justice Aravind Kumar, has approved the guidelines for live-streaming of court proceedings in the district judiciary of Gujarat. The pilot implementation of this project is expected to launch shortly.

Staying with the digitisation of courts: The Supreme Court is set to launch the 'Advocate Appearance Portal' on the first of January, 2023 as part of its efforts to make the court registry paperless. With the introduction of this new mechanism, the appearance slip will be received online and at the time of login, verification of the AOR will be done by software through One Time Password.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court launched an updated version of its mobile app. The platform gives access to law officers to view court proceedings in real time. They can also check the status of their cases, orders, judgements, and pendency of cases. In March this year, the Supreme Court had also launched the software 'FASTER' to transmit court orders swiftly and securely through electronic mode.

The dissemination of information through online platforms, its repercussions, and the government’s moves to control it has been one of the key flashpoints in the law and technology space in the year gone by. One of the most talked about cases in this space has been Twitter moving the court against a series of blocking orders issued by the Central government. The Government had issued these orders between February 2, 2021 to February 28, 2022, and had also directed the microblogging platform to suspend multiple accounts. Challenging the move in the Karnataka High Court, Twitter has argued that the Central government was not empowered to issue “general” orders to block social media accounts.

Earlier this month, the Kerala High Court observed that search engines like Google cannot claim to be mere intermediaries. Issuing a verdict on pleas seeking erasure of personal details of the litigants from Google search, a division bench of the High Court opined and I quote, “Keeping aside the Intermediary Rules etc., we are of the firm view that Google cannot claim itself as a mere intermediary, allowing the contents to appear for the viewers or users in the digital platform.” end of quote. The bench added and I quote again, “There is no difficulty for Google during the era of advancement of AI to create a tool and identify particular data and remove the same. If that is not done, it would really infringe the claim based on the right to be forgotten," end of quote.

The Bombay High court has observed that social media has become an important pillar of democracy as long as it is not misused. The Court made this observation while quashing an FIR against a man who hacked the Facebook page of an MLA and abused his political opponents. The court opined and I quote, “The social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. today has become a powerful medium for exchange of views, expressing opinions, counter opinions, posting critical or satirical comments and thus has become one of the important pillars on which our democracy stands," end of quote. However, the court added that a balance had to be struck between the need for healthy use of social media and the need for preventing misuse of social media.

Latest from the legal-tech startups space: CIIE.CO, the startup accelerator and incubator located at IIM Ahmedabad, has published a report on the legal tech startup ecosystem titled ‘Beyond the Bench: Promise of Indian Legal Tech Startups’. The report highlights that though at 1.3 billion dollars the size of the Indian legal services market is very small, with over 650 startups, India ranks second in terms of the number of legal tech startups in the world. These startups are primarily working on four product categories - Legal Service Delivery, Process Efficiency, Access to Legal Recourse and DIY tools. The report summarises that while Artificial Intelligence is believed to hold promise for many legal tech models, the vernacular nature of documentation currently poses a challenge. On the other hand, the opening up of a large domestic market to tech interventions, increasing investments, and validation of new technology led models like Online Dispute Resolution are making the sector buoyant.

More on legal-tech startups: Alternative investments platform LegalPay, which specialises in legal, insolvency and distressed financing assets, has launched a two-million dollar Justice and Inclusion Fund. Through this fund, LegalPay plans to invest up to fifty lakh rupees each in over thirty startups in the next two years. The fund aims to invest in businesses that are trying to solve problems in the legal space through innovative technology.

And now a quick wrap of the key judicial appointments of the year: 2022 witnessed three Chief Justices heading the Supreme Court of India. Justice NV Ramana, who had taken over as the 48th Chief Justice of India in April 2021, passed the baton to Justice UU Lalit in August this year. CJI UU Lallit headed the apex court for a tenure of 74 days and was succeeded by Justice DY Chandrachud, who has become the 50th Chief Justice of India.

Those were highlights of the year and the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is available across all major platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Anchor. Do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune in to this bulletin on YouTube. Please also share your feedback to help us make this bulletin better and more useful for you. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Have a wonderful, wonderful New Year and toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the twelfth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The central government has released the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 for public consultation. The revamped bill has been released almost three months after the withdrawal of its earlier iteration. In the current version, the bill proposes “purpose limitations” around data collection; and higher penalties ranging from 50 crore to 500 crore rupees for data breaches and non-compliance. It also has provisions to ease cross-border data flows, and to exempt state agencies from the law in the interest of national security. The government has also proposed to set up a Data Protection Board as the adjudicating body to enforce the provisions of the Bill. Once finalised, the bill is likely to be tabled in the Parliament during the budget session next year.

Justice DY Chandrachud, who took over as the Chief Justice of India earlier in November has said that he aims to use technology in the listing of cases in order to reduce human interface. Addressing his felicitation organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, the CJI said that the apex court was trying to prepare the SOP for employing technology in the listing of cases. He added and I quote, “It should not be dependent on who is the Chief Justice. It is also important to institutionalise this process so that it does not die down when after two years I am here bidding farewell to all of you.” End of quote.

In yet another push to deepen digitisation, the Jharkhand High Court has launched a new version of its e-filing software. The new platform enables filing pleadings, plaints, written statements, replies and various applications before the High Court and District Courts. It also allows filing of new cases and pleadings with the use of readymade templates, bulk filing of applications and e-signing of pleadings amongst several other features. The software also enables online payment of court fee, judicial deposit, fine, penalty etcetera. The High Court has also launched a file tracking system to track the movement of physical files and documents of the receiving or dispatch sections.

The Kerala High Court has ruled that courts should consider default bail applications filed online and they need not insist on physical filing of such applications. In his judgement Justice A Badharudeen said and I quote, “Now we are in the E-world. In many Courts e-filing is made mandatory and steps to complete mandatory e-filing in all Courts in India are on its final call. Such being the scenario, how can a court ignore an application filed through e-filing mode to hold that there was no petition filed within time for want of production of physical copy of the same within time." End of quote.

The All India Gaming Federation and other online gaming companies have withdrawn their petitions from the Madras High Court challenging Tamil Nadu government's ordinance for Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games. This after the state government informed the court that the ordinance has not been notified yet, and argued that the petitioners were seeking a premature prayer.

Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru has been awarded the Infosys Prize 2022 in Humanities. According to the Infosys Science Foundation the prize has been awarded to him for his insightful understanding of the Indian Constitution, especially his carefully argued account of the importance of the landmark ‘basic structure doctrine’ adopted by the Supreme Court in 1973. The Infosys Prize celebrates the achievements of the recipients and awards them for their contributions to science and research impacting India.

Those were the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is available across all major platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Anchor. Do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune in to this bulletin on YouTube. Please also share your feedback to help us make this bulletin better and more useful for you. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the eleventh episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

Microblogging platform Twitter has told the Karnataka High Court that the Central government was not empowered to issue “general” orders to block social media accounts. Media reports quoted Twitter’s counsel as saying, “There can’t be general blocking orders unless the content violates the grounds under 69A.” Remember, Twitter had moved the court against a series of blocking orders issued by the Central government from February 2, 2021 till February 28, 2022, which also included direction to suspend multiple accounts.

The Supreme Court has upheld the decision by the Delhi High Court dismissing petitions by WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, challenging the Competition Commission probe into the messaging app’s 2021 privacy policy. While rejecting the petitions, a bench comprising Justices MR Shah and Sudhanshu Dhulia observed and I quote, “The CCI is an independent authority to consider any violation of the provision of the Competition Act 2002. When having prima facie opined that it is a case of violation of 2002 Act and thereafter when the proceedings are initiated by the CCI, it cannot be said that the initiation of the proceedings of the CCI are wholly without jurisdiction.”

The Delhi High Court has introduced a neutral citation system for all its judgments. Under this mechanism, a unique neutral citation number is auto-generated for every verdict uploaded on the official website of the High Court. The neutral citation number consists of three elements - Year, DHC and an auto generated number. These citation numbers are available at the top of each page of the judgement.

More from the Delhi High Court - The court has directed the Central government to take appropriate measures to amend the Notaries Act, 1952 and rules to facilitate digitisation. The bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also noted that the High Court had previously directed the Centre to consider the issue of digitisation and to complete it by the thirtieth of June, 2016.

The E-Gaming Federation, the industry body for gaming companies in India, has said that it will move the Madras High Court against the ordinance passed by the Tamil Nadu government to ban online gaming. Earlier this month, the state government promulgated an ordinance to ban online games such as rummy and poker. The gaming industry criticised the law and argued that it clubs games of skill with games of chance.

And now the big appointment of the fortnight: The Central government has notified the appointment of Justice DY Chandrachud as the next Chief Justice of India. He will take over the reins of the apex court after current CJI UU Lalit demits office on the eighth of November. Justice Chandrachud will be the fiftieth Chief Justice of India, and will serve for two years, till the tenth of November, 2024. Prior to his elevation to the Supreme Court in 2016, he had served as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court for almost three years. Before that he had also served as a Judge of the Bombay High Court from March 2000 to October 2013.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the tenth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

In a historic move, the Supreme Court started live-streaming the proceedings of Constitution Benches on the twenty-seventh of September. On the first day, proceedings of three separate Constitution Benches led by Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul, respectively were live-streamed on Youtube. Justice Chandrachud, who also heads the apex court's e-committee and has spearheaded the live-streaming project, began the hearing in his courtroom with an announcement "we are virtual". The feeds saw over 8 lakh cumulative views.

The Central government has told the Supreme Court that the government is framing a new bill towards data privacy and protection. The submission was made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before a Constitution Bench which was hearing petitions challenging the 2016 privacy policy of WhatsApp. Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan argued that there was a cleavage in the WhatsApp privacy policy which was applied to Europeans and the one applied in India. He added that the standard used in the EU was much higher and privacy enjoyed by them was of higher order. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted to the court that it was the stand of the Government that Indian users cannot be discriminated against the other users of WhatsApp. He also requested the bench to hear the matter after the new bill had been put in place. The Court recorded this submission and posted the matter for consideration next on January 17, 2023.

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition by Facebook India challenging an order of the competition watchdog CCI calling for a probe against it in relation to WhatsApp's privacy policy of 2021. Justice Yashwant Varma rejected the plea saying there has to be some end to the "luxury to litigate". Facebook India had moved the single judge bench after a division bench of the high court in August dismissed its impleadment application in a related matter and granted it liberty to challenge the CCI order by way of a separate writ petition.

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Central Government in a plea challenging directions issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team to virtual private network service providers to store user information. The CERT-In directions under challenge require VPN service providers to store names, addresses, phone numbers, email IDs, and IP addresses of customers for a period of five years. The petition, which was filed by SnTHostings, a VPN service provider, argued that the April 28 directions were unconstitutional and violated the privacy of citizens.

And now the big appointment of the fortnight: Senior Advocate R Venkataramani has been appointed the Attorney General for India. He took over from KK Venugopal whose tenure as the AG ended on the thirtieth of September. Remember, in the last episode of this podcast we had told you that Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was likely to succeed KK Venugopal. However, he reportedly declined the Government’s offer.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the ninth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Supreme Court will soon be included in the National Judicial Data Grid. This means that all apex court orders rendered since its establishment in 1950 will soon be available over the National Judicial Data Grid along with statistics on case pendency, disposal and filing details. The Supreme Court will also be accessible on the e-courts mobile application, which previously only provided access to District Courts and High Courts.

More from the Supreme Court - In a bid to increase transparency and accessibility, the apex court has decided to live-stream the proceedings of all constitution bench hearings from the twenty-seventh of September. The decision was taken unanimously by thirty judges of the Supreme Court at a meeting headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit. In 2018, the court had ruled in favour of live-streaming, as per citizen rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, that verdict remained to be implemented.

The Madhya Pradesh high court has opposed a petition before the Supreme Court that seeks to declare virtual hearing as a fundamental right. The High Court has argued that the existence of infrastructure does not confer an automatic right on lawyers to argue through virtual modes. In this case, the petitioner had argued that the denial of access to hearing through virtual mode is akin to denial of Fundamental Rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice DY Chandrachud has expressed concerns over social media users failing to differentiate between oral remarks made by judges during court proceedings and the actual order. Justice Chandrachud clarified that such remarks were merely dialogues during hearings and were meant to open up channels of deliberation. He also emphasised that such observations could be corrected by lawyers as well, and added that they must not to be treated as verdicts.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the Criminal Procedure Identification Rules, 2022. The new law, cleared by the Parliament earlier this year, has repealed the Identification of Prisoners Act and has increased the powers of law enforcement agencies and courts to process biometrics, DNA samples, etcetera of criminal offenders.The law has been challenged in different High Courts on concerns regarding collection of biometric data, especially in the absence of a data protection law.

And now the big appointment buzz of the fortnight: Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi is likely to return as the Attorney General of India. According to reports, he is expected to succeed KK Venugopal when the latter demits office as the fifteenth attorney general of India on the thirtieth of september. This will be Mukul Rohatgi's second stint as AG, after his first stint between June 2014 and June 2017.

See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the eighth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Supreme Court has asked courts and tribunals to avoid uploading on their websites scanned versions of printed copies of their judgments. The apex court has called the practice of printing and scanning documents a futile and time-consuming process. The bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna observed that uploading scanned documents does not serve any purpose, and made the case for judgment copies to be accessible and digitally signed.

Justice Chandrachud, who is also the Chairperson of the Supreme Court E-Committee, has exhorted lawyers to e-file cases and all case related documents. Speaking at an event organised by the Orissa High Court on completion of one year of Record Room Digitisation Centre, Justice Chandrachud said that the practice of bringing hard copies to the court was counterproductive to the aim of reducing carbon footprints.

Microblogging platform Twitter has told the Delhi High Court that being an intermediary, it cannot decide whether any content is lawful or not. The company added that it can take down content from its platform only on orders by a court or a government agency, or if it violates the platform's terms of service. Twitter was responding to a PIL which had highlighted that a Twitter handle named Atheist Republic was posting objectionable content, and that Twitter was not acting against the handle despite several complaints.

The Central Government has informed the Delhi High Court that it will introduce social media regulations, including guidelines on permanent suspension of social media accounts, in the future. However, the Centre did not specify a timeframe as it responded to the court’s query on whether the government was contemplating regulatory measures to govern the matter of social media platforms banning Indian citizens.

The Telecom Department has sought the views of sector regulator TRAI to prepare a framework for regulating internet calling and messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Google Meet, etcetera. News agency PTI has reported, quoting a government official, that the Telecom Department has sent back a recommendation of the TRAI on internet telephony issued in 2008 for review. The government has asked the regulator to come up with a comprehensive reference now.

The Delhi High Court’s division bench has rejected appeals by WhatsApp and its parent company Meta against a single bench order declining to interfere with the CCI probe into WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy. The Competition Commission of India had ordered the investigation after making a prima facie observation that it was violative of the Competition Act, 2000.

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Central Government in a plea challenging internet shutdowns to prevent cheating during examinations. The petition filed by the Software Freedom Law Center has detailed internet shutdowns in five states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal. It has argued that these shutdowns did not comply with the guidelines issued in the Anuradha Bhasin versus Union of India Supreme Court order of 2020.

Meanwhile, the Internet and Mobile Association of India or IAMAI is believed to have written to the Central Government, urging it to control internet shutdowns in the country. News agency Reuters has reported quoting sources that in its letter the industry body has argued that ‘federal control’ will help streamline the execution of internet suspensions.

And now the big appointment: Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice UU Lalit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on the 27th of August. Justice Lalit, who has succeeded Justice NV Ramana, is the second Chief of Justice of India to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the Bar. The new CJI has chalked out three priorities for his 74-day tenure, which are: ensuring that at least one constitution bench is functioning in the Supreme Court throughout the year, listing cases for hearing in the apex court, and mentioning urgent matters.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the seventh episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Kerala High Court has observed that the right to be forgotten cannot be claimed as an absolute right even after acquittal in cases. The observation was made by a division bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Sophy Thomas while considering a batch of pleas seeking erasure of the petitioners' personal details from Google search results and legal resource website Indian Kanoon. Justice Mustaque added that even if the litigants were acquitted, one may need to know what the case was that was registered against them.

The Delhi High Court has asked the central government whether it was planning to frame guidelines on the issue of banning Indian citizens from social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The question was posed by Justice Yashwant Varma to the government counsel while hearing a batch of petitions related to the suspension of social media accounts. The court has asked the government to respond within three weeks and has listed the matter for further hearing for the seventh of September.

The Karnataka High Court is changing the rules under the Civil Procedure Code in order to speed up communication, especially in government litigation. One of the key changes being introduced is the tagging of mobile numbers and email addresses of concerned government officers so that they receive real time updates on cases. The High Court also plans to issue summons through private courier companies and has already initiated the process of enrolling them. It is also working on a process for serving summons through email.

The Bombay High Court has refused to take hard copies of an affidavit by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in a case related to the environment. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Gauri Godse observed that it was high time the state government and its agencies started using the e-filing system. It also directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Registrar, Registrar General and the Prothonotary & Senior Master to consider issuing appropriate directions or obtaining appropriate directions from the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on the issue of e-filing of documents.

The National Company Law Tribunal has decided to take up only urgent matters through video conferencing in all its benches due to shortage of members. The decision will remain in effect till further orders.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT is working on a new draft law, Digital India Act, to regulate all things digital. The Economic Times has reported quoting sources that the upcoming digital regulatory framework will be a comprehensive law to address convergence in technologies, services, and devices. It will cover social media platforms, OTT platforms, and online apps as well as metaverse and blockchain-based crimes or offences. The new regulation is expected to replace the existing IT Act 2000 by the winter session of the Parliament.

The big appointment this fortnight: The Central Government has notified the appointment of Justice UU Lalit as the 49th Chief Justice of India. He will take over after current CJI NV Ramana’s term ends on the 26th of August.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the sixth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Central Government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill 2021 from the Lok Sabha. The bill has been withdrawn after the joint parliamentary committee suggested 81 changes to it. Announcing the move, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted and I quote, “The bill will soon be replaced by a comprehensive framework of global standard laws including digital privacy laws for contemporary & future challenges’. Remember, the bill which was first introduced in 2018 sought to protect an individual's data over cyber space and regulate the accessibility to personal data by companies and the government. However it was sent to the joint parliamentary committee after the opposition alleged that the proposed law violated fundamental rights of citizens.

The Supreme Court has allowed impleadment of all high courts that have stopped hybrid hearings. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the impleadment of the high courts while hearing a set of petitions seeking declaration of access to virtual hearing as a fundamental right. The petitioner had argued that the denial of access to hearing through virtual mode is akin to denial of Fundamental Rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

The Government has told the parliament that since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the high courts and the district courts across the country have performed a total of 1.92 crore virtual hearings. Amongst high courts, Karnataka High Court has topped the list with almost eight lakh virtual hearings. On the other hand, Delhi is in first place in terms of the number of virtual hearings conducted at district courts.

Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud has made a strong case for the use of modern social media tools such as Twitter and Telegram by the judiciary. Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Justice Chandrachud said that the judiciary will lose the game if it does not shed its inhibition of using these modern means of communication. Making the pitch for judicial institutions to be the harbingers of change, he added that he thinks the judiciary can earn the respect of the community at large, provided it adopts and comes on to the platforms which are so prevalent in the society.

A quick look at the global headlines: Three French iOS developers have moved a California Federal Court against iPhone-maker Apple. The developers have accused Apple of aggressive and improper monopolisation of the App Store, which they have claimed has ‘stifled competition’.

A US judge has allowed a lawsuit against payments major Visa in a child pornography case. The lawsuit has accused Visa of helping PornHub’s parent company MindGeek profit from child porn by providing its payment services.

And now the big appointment: Former Head Legal at Disney Plus Hotstar Amrita Mukherjee has quit the entertainment giant to join tech major Meta as Director Legal. A Symbiosis Law School graduate, Amrita Mukherjee had joined Star TV Network in 2008 as a Legal Manager. Prior to that she had worked with multiple law firms, starting her career at Udwadia Udeshi and Berjis in 2002.

Those were the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is now available across all major platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Anchor. Do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune in to this bulletin on YouTube. Please also share your feedback to help us make this bulletin better and more useful for you. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the fifth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Indian Government is looking to make big tech companies like Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft pay Indian news organisations a share of revenue for using their original content. Speaking to The Times of India, Minister of State for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrashekhar said and I quote, “The market power on digital advertising that is currently being exercised by the Big Tech majors, which places Indian media companies at a position of disadvantage, is an issue that is seriously being examined in the context of new legislations and rules."

The Supreme Court has granted bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in all six cases filed against him by the UP Police. While passing the order, the Bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice AS Bopanna noted that Zubair had already been granted bail by a Delhi Court in a similar case filed by the Delhi Police. They said and I quote, “Essentially the gravamen of allegations are tweets by him. He has been subjected to fairly sustained probe by Delhi Police. We don't find reason for his deprivation of liberty to persist further.” The court also refused to stop the Alt News co-founder from tweeting. Denying the UP government’s request, Justice Chandrachud said and I quote, "We cannot anticipatorily interdict him from exercising his right of free speech."

A Bengaluru Court has passed a ‘John Doe’ order, directing social media platforms to take down a photograph which was widely circulated to make false and defamatory claims against Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala of the Supreme Court. In this photograph, which went viral following the remarks by Justices Kant and Pardiwala against former BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma, certain individuals were wrongly identified as the two Supreme Court judges. The photograph in question was shot at a lunch hosted by journalist N Ram and his wife.

The Delhi High Court has observed that Domain Name Registrars or DNRs must create a mechanism for trademark owners to raise objections and seek cancellation of registration granted to any infringing domain name. Hearing the Snapdeal versus GoDaddy and Others case, Justice Prathiba M Singh directed the DNRs to file an affidavit in the matter. The court also directed the Central Government’s counsel to seek instructions from the government, as to the manner in which DNRs providing services in India despite being based out of other countries, could be made to implement orders passed by Indian courts.

Online travel aggregator platform Cleartrip has suffered a data breach. The platform has informed its users that there has been a security anomaly that entailed illegal and unauthorised access to a part of Cleartrip’s internal systems. However it has assured that aside from some details which were part of user profiles, no sensitive information has been compromised. The company has also said that users can choose to reset their passwords as a precautionary measure.

The Karnataka High Court has invited expressions of interest from vendors to conduct proof of concept for video conferencing and live streaming solutions. These solutions will be used to create a video conferencing platform for hearings and for live streaming of court proceedings in the High Court as well as District Courts.

The big appointment this fortnight: Former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Sameer Chugh has joined gaming platform Games24x7 as its Chief Legal Officer. In a career spanning over two-and-a-half decades, Mr Chugh has worked in various companies across sectors, including Bharti, Essar Group and Cummins India.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the fourth episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

Social media giant Twitter has moved the Karnataka High Court against the Indian Government’s order to take down some content. The microblogging platform has challenged several of the government’s ‘Blocking Orders’ issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. In a petition filed before the High Court, Twitter has argued that the orders are procedurally and substantially deficient of the requirements of Section 69A. It has also alleged that they demonstrate excessive use of powers, and are disproportionate. The move has come after the Ministry of Electronics and IT wrote to Twitter in June, warning it of penal action if the tweets asked to be taken down were not blocked. Reports suggest that in its letter, the ministry had detailed serious consequences of non-compliance, including, but not limited to, criminal proceedings against Twitter’s Chief Compliance Officer.

A cyber unit of the Delhi Police arrested Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, on the twenty-seventh of June for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. The arrest was based on a complaint by a police officer. The officer had noticed a post from a Twitter handle objecting to Mohammed Zubair’s tweet from March 2018. The tweet in question uses images from a hindi movie produced in 1983. And last week, a Sitapur court in UP sent Zubair to six days’ police custody. This case pertains to a May 27 tweet by Zubair, in which he referred to Bajrang Muni, Yati Narsinghanand, and Anand Swaroop as ‘hate mongers’. However, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in this matter.

The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association has written to Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar, urging the Court to initiate contempt proceedings against those misusing live-streamed videos of court proceedings. The letter alleged that these videos were being misused by individuals on social media for personal or commercial purposes. It also highlighted that such misuse was against the Live Streaming Rules, 2021.

The Jammu & Kashmir government has directed that court orders for release of prisoners should not be communicated through telephone. In its notification, the J&K government said that such orders should be given effect to, only if communicated physically or through the official software launched by the Supreme Court. Remember, in March this year the Supreme Court had launched Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records or FASTER- a digital platform to communicate interim orders, stay orders, bail orders, and so on.

And now, the big international headline - the European Parliament has adopted the Digital Services Package, comprising the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. The package, which was first proposed by the European Commission in 2020, sets out a comprehensive rulebook for online platforms. While the Digital Services Act aims at enabling the protection of users' rights online, the Digital Markets Act focuses on creating fair and open online markets.

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the third episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

Justice DY Chandrachud, who is slated to become the fiftieth Chief Justice of India in November this year, has made a case for the resolution of complicated issues of policy and society through public deliberation, discourse, and the engagement of citizens with their representatives and the Constitution. Speaking at an event in King's College, London, Justice Chandrachud said that the use of the court as the first line of defence to solve complicated social issues was a reflection of the waning power of discourse and consensus building. He added, and I quote, ‘The growing litigious trend in the country is indicative of the lack of patience in the political discourse. This results in a slippery slope where courts are regarded as the only organ of the State for realisation of rights, obviating the need for continuous engagement with the legislature and the executive.’ End of quote. Justice Chandrachud also talked about the digitisation of Indian courts and said that the next phase of the eCourts project in India seeks to aid ease of doing business by tackling judicial pendency.

The central government has issued an advisory to its employees, banning the use of third-party VPN services as well as cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox. It has also cautioned them against using third-party toolbars or downloading pirated software. These guidelines are part of a document released by the National Informatics Centre or NIC, listing good and bad cybersecurity practices for government employees. The NIC has said that the employees must adhere to these guidelines, or else they could be penalised.

The central government has banned 35 WhatsApp groups for allegedly spreading false information about the armed forces recruitment scheme, Agnipath. According to some media reports citing government sources, these WhatsApp groups were allegedly also used to coordinate protests, which resulted in violence at some places.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held that social media intermediaries like YouTube are duty-bound to block channels whose videos violate their guidelines. The court made these observations while cancelling bail granted to a YouTuber, who was arrested for making derogatory statements against Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister MK Stalin. The court also observed that the intermediaries were not expected to insist on an FIR or any court orders to remove such videos.

The Calcutta High Court has restrained the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, or NUJS, from discontinuing online courses started by it in 2012 for already enrolled students. The court has ordered that these students be allowed to complete the courses even if those have been de-recognised by the University Grants Commission. The court observed that when a premier institute like the NUJS announces a particular course, no student would ordinarily go behind the announcement and try to verify whether the UGC had approved it. It added that the students were most likely to presume that such approval had been obtained. Therefore, the court opined that at this point of time it would be most inequitable and unjust to de-recognise the course, cancel it, and direct refund of fees.

The Competition Commission of India has ordered a probe against the online movies and events ticketing platform, BookMyShow. The competition watchdog noted that the ticketing platform’s exclusive agreements with cinemas and multiplexes can potentially reduce competition in the relevant market.

Let’s now turn our attention to the big appointment of the fortnight: Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Pavit Singh Katoch has quit the firm to join news-tech platform InShorts as Group General Counsel. Katoch is a 2007 graduate of University Law College, Bangalore. He also holds an MBL from NLSIU, Bangalore and an LL.M. from Queen Mary University, London.

And before we go, here’s a piece of news from the Patna High Court, where the judges are set to get new iPhones soon. Yes, you heard it right! The high court has issued a tender notice inviting bids for supply of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro, with 256 GB storage space for all its judges.

Those were the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is now available across all major platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Anchor. Do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Please also share your feedback to help us make this bulletin better, more useful for you. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into the second episode of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here's what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has released fresh draft amendments to the I-T Rules, 2021, almost a week after rescinding the first draft. The draft proposes the creation of government-appointed appeal committees. These committees will be able to veto content-moderation decisions taken by social media intermediaries like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. If the proposal is approved and implemented, it will allow users, who may be dissatisfied with the content moderation decision taken by a company's grievance officer, to appeal that decision before the government-appointed committee. Currently, the only recourse a user has in such cases, is to move the courts. The draft also proposes that a grievance officer will have to address complaints about content which is patently false, infringes copyright, and threatens the integrity of India, among other things, within 72 hours. Currently, companies get fifteen days to address user complaints.

Two leading virtual private network service providers, ExpressVPN and Surfshark are shutting down their servers in India. The decision follows the directives issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team on the twenty-eighth of April. The directives require VPN providers to store user data for five years. The service providers will need to store validated customer names, their physical addresses, email IDs, phone numbers, and the reason they are using the service, along with the dates they use it. They will also have to keep a log of the IP and email addresses that the customer uses to register the service, as well as all IP addresses issued to a customer. The VPN providers have said that these directions are "incompatible with the purpose of VPNs, which are designed to keep users' online activity private". However, both ExpressVPN and Surfshark have assured Indian users that they can continue to use their services through servers outside India, without any change in experience.

Rajeev Chandrashekar, the minister of state for Electronics and IT, recently met stakeholders from the online gaming sector. The meeting was attended by online gaming platform owners, bureaucrats, gaming federations, and lawyers. Later, the minister tweeted - and I quote, "Had a two hour brainstorming session with young entrepreneurs in the online gaming space on how the government can help them grow, expand and innovate," end quote. The Economic Times has reported, quoting sources, that the central government is developing a national framework to operate online gaming platforms. This, the report says, is aimed at ensuring that these platforms are "effectively regulated" without impeding their growth. Remember, the online gaming sector has been in the legal crosshairs due to the "games of skill versus games of chance" debate. More than half a dozen cases are pending in the Supreme Court against online gaming.

The Supreme Court’s e-Committee is working on a proposal to launch an independent platform to live-stream court proceedings. Reports suggest that the apex court is aiming to implement this plan before the retirement of CJI NV Ramana on the twenty-sixth of August. The platform will also be available for use by the High Courts and the district courts.

And the big global story now: A group of Democrat and Republican senators in the United States has proposed a new law, The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act, to break up the ad businesses of tech giants. The proposed law seeks to ban companies that process over 20 billion dollars annually in advertising business from participating in more than one part of the digital ad process. If approved, the law will force tech majors like Google and Facebook to spin off their advertising businesses. Experts believe this could also impact the Indian internet market, since India’s contribution to digital advertising revenues has been rising.

Time now for the legal tech startup of the fortnight… and this time let’s talk about LegalMind. The company provides AI and data analytics-driven solutions for legal assistance. These include a contextual legal search engine, an analytics platform to predict the motions of the judges and parties, a legal document summariser and a tool to find the most influential precedents for a case.

Those were the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is now available across all major platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Anchor. It is also available on YouTube and will soon be on Apple Podcasts. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!

Hello and welcome! I am Bhavin, and you have tuned into The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn, a show where we bring you the latest from the law and technology space.

Here’s what made headlines in the last fortnight:

The Supreme Court has granted more time to its technical committee to submit the final report in the Pegasus spyware case. The apex court had set up the panel in October 2021, to look into the allegations that the software, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, was used for unauthorised surveillance. In its interim report, the panel informed the court that it has so far received and tested 29 mobile devices, suspected to be infected by Pegasus spyware. It has also recorded statements of petitioners, journalists, and other allegedly affected persons, as well as contacted experts and agencies. The three judge bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana granted it time till the twentieth of June for the submission of a comprehensive report.

The Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court has issued notice to the state government, seeking its response to a PIL filed by the Udaipur Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The industry body has moved the court against frequent internet shutdowns in Udaipur. The petitioners have stated that since January 2020, the administration has issued at least 26 orders, restricting Internet access for about 506 hours in the Udaipur Division. They have claimed that 'frequent and wanton' suspension of internet services has led to irreparable economic damage to them and others. Remember, in a verdict delivered on the tenth of January, 2020 the Supreme Court had held that internet shutdowns can be resorted to only as a drastic measure in exceptional circumstances.

The Delhi High Court has directed Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to remove defamatory videos against dairy giant Amul. The videos, which accused Amul of indulging in cruelty to cows, were uploaded by the administrator of a vegan group. The dairy major called it a ‘malicious and slanderous campaign’ and alleged that it was launched to create bias, fear and psychosis in the minds of the public to give up Amul dairy products.

The Delhi High Court has imposed a cost of ten thousand rupees on the former interim Director of the CBI, M Nageswara Rao. Mr Rao had filed a writ petition challenging social media platform Twitter’s decision to remove his verification tag, the blue tick. The court noted and I quote, there was absolutely no justification which warranted the writ petition to be filed bearing in mind that the earlier writ petition was disposed of on April 7. Last month the court had disposed of a plea with similar prayers, giving liberty to Mr Rao to re-apply for a verification tag.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen courts across the world conducting hearings through video conferencing. Taking this digital adoption a step further, Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madras High Court recently heard a case via WhatsApp. Justice Swaminathan, who was in Nagercoil to attend a wedding function, said that due to the “fervent prayer of the petitioner” he decided to hold an emergency sitting and conduct the case through Whatsapp.

And now, the big appointments in the Legal Tech space: financial solutions company RazorPay has appointed Sachin S as its Director Legal. Prior to this=Sachin was Assistant General Counsel at Flipkart, where he headed the legal vertical for FinTech, Insurance Tech & Payments. Also in the fintech space… AI-powered working capital financing firm CredAble has appointed Gaurav Dugar as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Before this, he has worked with leading law firms such as Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Trilegal.

Time now for the legal tech startup of the week… and this week let’s talk about LegalKart. Founded in 2019, the company provides tech solutions to legal professionals for practice management. It also offers instant legal consultation and AI-powered online document verification, among other services. In the past, it used to offer only audio-based consultation, however earlier this month the company launched a video call feature which it has developed in-house.

Moving on. Here’s something for those of you working on innovative ideas to transform our systems of law and justice. The Agami Prize 2022 is here. It’s a biennial prize which recognises innovative ideas that serve justice. There are two prize categories: The Shamnad Basheer Prize for mature initiatives and the idea prize for early-stage initiatives. For more, visit the agami website, which is mentioned in the description.

Those were the big stories for this fortnight. Our podcast is now available across all major platforms. Check the description for the details. See you soon with the next instalment of The Law and Tech Bulletin from Lawyers Learn. Till then, toodle-oo!