Recent news reports showing that the National Intelligence Agency is using a Gmail ID to solicit public assistance (in the course of active investigations related to the Hyderabad bomb blasts of February 21st) exposes the callous attitude of our authorities towards national security and in particular data security norms.?

The blocking instructions issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) of 78 url's and a further 55 Facebook pages have created a storm of protests.

The geopolitics of the Internet broke open during the first half of December at an international conference in Dubai convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN affiliate agency with 193 national members.

The recent World Conference on International Telecommunications – WCIT 12 – in Dubai on revising the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR's) ended quite acrimoniously, with 89 countries signing the new ITR's while the US, Canada, EU and Japan walking out.

We have already written about the forthcoming International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) conference – World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) – that is being held after 14 years in Dubai.

There are two forthcoming international events that have created a huge debate on who will control the Internet in the future.

On the basis of actual media practice, cultural commentator Sadanand Menon evaluates the democratic potential of the Internet and to what extent it can be realised.

 The recent protests by major websites and online organisations on the threat to Internet from certain proposals of US lawmakers has drawn worldwide attention. Though the US lawmakers talked about of copyright violations, the real thrust was against user generated content.

Parminder Jeet Singh, director at IT For Change, argues for the need for regulating and governing the Internet for public good by responsible, equitable and democratic global governance structures.