Wed, 01/12/2022 - 12:44
Online Censorship
Freedom of Speech
SFLC.in’s Bug Bounty Challange

SFLC.in’s Bug Bounty Challenge

SFLC.in invites bright minds from law schools to take part in our exciting Bounty Hunt Challenge.

In this challenge, participants have to find bugs in our Free Speech Tracker.

SFLC.in’s Free Speech Tracker is a crowd-sourced initiative started by SFLC.in to collect data on free speech violations happening across the country both online and offline. The tracker maintains databases of judgments in the free speech realm, cases that are sub judice in court, instances of website blocking, art censorship, book bans, cases on intermediary liability etc. The tracker also provides a brief insight into provisions in Indian Laws such as the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology act which pose restrictions on free speech.
Participants have to identify cases or instances using any reliable source. These cases must fall under any of the above mentioned categories and must not be on our tracker. There is no time limit for sending in the entries.

How to identify these bugs?

Go through our database and see if we missed out on anything in the following categories:

  • Cases filed against individuals under speech restricting laws, like Sedition, UAPA, Hate Speech, Defamation, etc. These can either be cases which are sub judice or in which final judgment has been declared.

  • Bans on books or other literary work.

  • Instances of website blocking.

  • Art Censorship- It includes banning movies which are deemed offensive to a few individuals to banning paintings or sculptures which could potentially hurt sentiments of a religious group.

  • Gag orders- these essentially restrict media or any person from releasing any information or comment being passed on to public. These orders are not limited to the Government alone, the judiciary is also infamous for passing this.

  • Cases related to Intermediary Liability. In India intermediaries are safe from prosecution for the illegal content hosted by them which has been put by the users. Section 79 of the IT Act provides for this protection. Any case which relates to intermediary liability can be included.

  • Restrictive Social Media Policies of companies or any other organisations which indirectly censor the speech of their employees online. These policies are coercive in nature and cause a chilling effect.

How to send in the entry?

Compile all the information you could gather related to the bugs you spot and send it in to us at freespeech@sflc.in

What is the Bounty?

  • An entry with more than 30 bugs will receive- A Goodie bag with a T-shirt and swags and a certificate.

  • An entry with more than 20 bugs will receive- A bag of SFLC.in swag and a certificate

  • Everyone else who is able to find a bug will receive a certificate from us

 

 

 

bug bounty
free speech