SC constituted committee to explore technical solution to block videos of sexual offences on social networking sites

The Supreme Court of India on 22 March 2017 constituted a committee to explore a technical solution to block videos of sexual offences on social networking sites. The committee comprises of representatives from the Union government and internet majors.

The members of the committee that includes the nominees of Google India, Microsoft India, Yahoo India, Facebook and other internet intermediaries were given a time period of 15 days to meet and come up with a solution.

The representatives of all stakeholders were asked to participate in the meeting and inform it about the outcome of the meet on 20 April 2017, which is the next day for hearing the case.

The direction was passed by a bench of Justice MB Lokur and Justice UU Lalit while hearing a letter sent to former Chief Justice HL Dattu by a Hyderabad-based NGO along with two rape videos in a pen drive.

Earlier in the day, the officials from cyber security informed the apex court that internet was a wild highway and blocking objectionable content at the source was a technical challenge. It informed that clear guidelines should be issued to stop the circulation of such material. They had told the court that 50 countries have set up hotlines to stop child abuse in their jurisdiction but India was yet to start such a service.

The team of cyber security also informed the court that they are taking help of INTERPOL to stop child pornography. On receiving a complaint, internet service providers were asked to block the objectionable content.

Cyber security department is a wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).