GNI Publishes it Annual Report for 2014

The Global Network Initiative (GNI) published its Annual Report for 2014 including within it more recent developments including the decision by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. The report devotes a considerable portion towards a comment on a study by Copenhagen Economics which estimated the cost of intermediary liability laws on online businesses in India. It further states, that two petitioners in the case, namely IAMAI and Mouthshut utilised the report in their submissions before the court.

GNI is a multi-stakeholder organisation, which includes, academica, civil society, internet firms and investors. By including diverse constituents, funding research and promoting compliance with best practices in Internet firms it has a definite appeal and collaborative flair. Often interests of various stakeholders are divergent, however such processes help in avoiding adversarial positions. Infact on some issues there can be unexpected alliances. For instance, the protection of online intermediaries from liability finds a large degree of agreement between both civil society (given it protects freedom of speech) and online firms (avoids harsh legal sanctions for the acts of an end user).

The text of the complete report is available on the following link.