![]() An important point to note is that only the Central government can exercise this power of directing intermediaries to block access to online content directly, and not the State governments. What is the procedure for blocking access to content online?Ī detailed procedure for blocking content is provided by the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 (IT Rules, 2009) that have been formulated under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. For example, courts may order internet service providers to block websites which provide access to pirated content and violate the plaintiff’s copyright. Second, courts in India, also have the power to direct intermediaries to make content unavailable in India to provide effective remedy to the victim/plaintiff. Section 69A draws its power from Article 19(2) of the Constitution which allows the government to place reasonable restrictions on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. Section 69A allows the government to direct an intermediary to “block for access by the public.any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource” if it is “necessary or expedient to do so, in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence”. The Government of India gets this power from Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. First, given the reach of the internet and its potential to cause significant harm to online users, governments across the world reserve the power to monitor and issue directions for regulation of the online content being available in their jurisdictions. There are two routes through which content can be blocked online - executive and judicial. In which situations can online content be blocked to the public? This is probably because the app stores’ servers where the mobile apps are hosted are considered safer than servers where the desktop versions are hosted. While the VLC website has been banned, the VLC app continues to be available for download on Google and Apple stores. This is also being used to explain why the present ban is a soft ban rather than a hard ban. It pointed out that Cicada’s targets were spread over a number of regions, including India. It is being suggested that this was part of a longer cyberattack campaign that started in mid-2021 and was still active in February 2022. ![]() Although VLC is not a Chinese app, reports from cybersecurity firms, such as Symantec, in April this year suggested that Cicada, a hacker group allegedly backed by China, has been using the VLC Media Player to deploy a malicious malware loader. Lack of authoritative information from the government has led to speculation that VLC was banned along with the 54 Chinese applications in February this year. This is despite the fact that when trying to access the website previously, the message “The website has been blocked as per order of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under IT Act, 2000”, was displayed. These applications have been met with similar responses stating that “no information is available” with the Ministry. Civil society organisations have repeatedly filed RTI applications with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Given VLC’s popularity, the ban on the VLC website caused quite a kerfuffle. Apart from being free and open source, VLC easily integrates with other platforms and streaming services and supports all file formats without requiring additional codecs. It continues to be one of the most popular media players. VLC gained popularity in India in the late 90s when advancements in information technology led to the penetration of personal computers in Indian homes. ![]() Although there is no official information on the ban, VLC states that according to its statistics, its website has been banned since February this year. The story so far: The website of VideoLAN Client (VLC) has been banned in India.
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