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Abhijeet Singh Rawaley - 24th August 2017
A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India has reserved its decision on whether or not there is a ‘fundamental right’ (FR) to privacy in India. This article explores the momentous opportunity before the the world’s largest democracy to balance the individual right to privacy on one hand, and rapidly advancing technology flooding the […]
Nidhi Singh and Anurag Vijay - 23rd August 2017
A nine-judge constitution bench of Supreme Court of India is currently considering whether privacy is a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. This issue has emerged due to the legal challenges arising from Aadhaar or Unique Identification Number. Aadhaar is a twelve-digit unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents by the Government of India based […]
Parika Kamra - 23rd August 2017
The Indian legal community is currently on tenterhooks awaiting judgment from the Supreme Court about the compatibility of the Aadhaar system with the right to privacy, which is apparently due tomorrow. The case is made all the more interesting by the absence of an explicit right to privacy in the Indian Constitution. In this post, […]
Christina Moreno - 7th August 2017
German lawmakers have recently passed a controversial law, ‘Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz’ (Network Enforcement Act or NetzDG), which, in part, aims to counter online hate speech. Under the Act, social media companies operating in Germany are required to remove ‘clearly illegal’ content within 24 hours or risk fines of up to €50 million ($57 million). In not-so-clear cases, […]
Claire Overman and Andrew Wheelhouse - 27th April 2017
On 9 March 2017, the Third Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared inadmissible a complaint by the applicant, Mr Pihl, that his right to respect for his private life had been violated. He had complained to the ECtHR that Swedish legislation preventing him from holding a non-for-profit association responsible for a […]
Alvin Attalo - 21st April 2017
The Kenyan High court has, in a recent decision, struck a blow for freedom of expression. The case, Jacqueline Okuta& another v Attorney General & 2 others , sought to challenge the constitutionality of the offence of criminal defamation created under the provisions of section 194 of the Penal Code. The petitioners in this case instituted […]
Vrinda Bhandari - 4th April 2017
Although the Legislature and the Executive are the subject of regular political satire in India, last month the courts showed that contempt powers can be used to create a hitherto-unknown zone of immunity around the judiciary and legal profession in India. The case of Jolly LLB-2 The case involved the movie “Jolly LLB-2”. Here, a […]
Laurence Wilkinson - 17th March 2017
France is set to introduce a controversial new law which criminalizes the online ‘obstruction’ of abortion. The legislation will extend existing provisions that have made it a criminal offence in France to physically intimidate or pressure a woman with a view to stopping her from having an abortion. The original law was intended to prevent […]
Rory Kelly - 9th February 2017
In September a new batch of research assistants started at the Law Commission in London. Having collected them from reception, I brought them over to meet the rest of the criminal law team, and said, ‘Everybody, this is K and S, they’re new.’ At first glance, this appears to be a relatively innocuous encounter. However, […]
Lucy Maxwell - 19th January 2017
If access to government information is “necessary” for you to investigate and communicate about matters of “obvious public interest”, you may have a right to that information, according to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. In a much-anticipated judgment, the Grand Chamber has found that the right to freedom of expression […]
Karina Banfi - 25th November 2016
Argentina has taken a big step towards government transparency and accountability by enacting, on September 29th 2016, its very own Law on Right of Access to Information. This long-awaited law regulates the right of access to information, which includes the freedom to seek, receive and re-use information held not only by public authorities from the executive branch, […]
Mohd Owais Farooqui - 7th October 2016
Drones can be used for journalism, alongside many other civilian purposes. Ethical considerations such as safety and privacy are likely to arise in the context of drone journalism. This raises pertinent questions of whether journalists can use drones at all and whether capturing pictures in public places by drones is permissible under Indian law. Drone […]