India’s internet freedom is worth examining from two main points of view. First, from the perspective of the country’s highly religious society and the consequent selectiveness of online content. And secondly, the governmental trends (or rather, trendless) restrictions. To those not well versed in Indian culture, you might find the nature and amount of online content censored surprising. However, it is important to highlight that this very populous nation is actually a sum of many different cultures and religions, both of which are key elements of Indian life and thus online life as well. Therefore there is a great amount of sensitive material by default.
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India’s internet has over 300 million users, which makes the world’s second biggest base of users, after China (that has almost twice as many). However, considering that the two countries’ populations are relatively close to each other, India’s numbers point to a worse availability. Luckily, if you are interested in connecting to the country, you can always utilize a VPN service that provides safe and easy access to Indian websites. Since less that 25% of the population uses the internet, IPv4 and somewhat older models of network are still the norm. For the safer protocol of IPv6, the availability is consequently not that good. Support varies between 10-20% usually.
The basics of internet law and regulation in India were laid out in the Information Technology act of 2000. The sanction experienced criticism in terms of limitations on freedom of speech in section 66. In effect for fifteen years, there are finally plans for alteration in 2015. The government has total authority over the internet of the country, possessing the power to shut down the network entirely. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team is responsible for upholding the safety that the government defined. An easy way to bypass restrictions is using a VPN service to pass through any imposed limitations while enjoying anonymity, and using a SmartDNS service to stream content on full speed.
Social media has become very popular in India. So much so that there is actually a technology de-addiction clinic in the city of Bangalore. Since the internet is accessible to all castes, there are widespread discussions about the system itself. Social media platforms are places where no physical harm can come upon a member of a certain caste, therefore some people are more open about their views towards the caste system. Since more extreme views (simply opposing it counts as such) are also present, blogs are very frequently censored in India. Facebook and other similar sites of social media have been banned temporarily. Furthermore, the Indian government created their own networking websites. Think Hollywood and Bollywood; the situation is the same with Facebook and Orkut, for example.
Torrents and P2P services are similarly not welcome in India. The Pirate Bay and Torrentz are the most prominent examples of these blocks. Video streaming websites like Vimeo are also not available in the country, even though it is more often concerned with art rather than light entertainment. Pornography of any kind is banned in India. Thus, we conclude that several elements that simply do not correspond to Indian culture are censored or not allowed. On the other hand, websites that enable the quick exchange of cultural aspects like social media – even though occasional filtering hits them – are nevertheless allowed.
Streaming availability in India is not the best; most of the services deemed popular are not available in the country. Instead, similarly to social media sites, India runs its own variants of streaming services. Some of them include Spuul, Eros Now, and free service PopcornTime is accessible. For the more recognized services of Europe and North America, Spotify is not available. Apple Music is, but Google Play Music is not allowed (the relationship between the company and India is not the best). Guevra, or Rdio however are rarely seen additions. Netflix does not flex in the country, but there are plans to do so from 2016 and onwards.
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