MediaNama Daily: Section 69A: Where domains (may) go to die.

🥇If There’s One Story To Read Today  Repeatedly Non-Compliant Domain Name Registrars May Be Construed As Violating Public Order The government’s used Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, to block all sorts of things online in the interest of preserving public order, the state, and much more. Sometimes, it’s tweets and Twitter accounts. At other times, it’s a satirical website calculating how much dowry you can demand of an unfortunate bride’s family. The list goes on. But, there might be a new use case on the block. Suppose you’re a domain name registrar, and you’ve repeatedly not complied with court orders. That could be construed as violating public order—which could be “considered relatable grounds” for a court to block your URL or website under Section 69A! This isn’t us hypothesising on Section 69A, by the way—this was a thesis presented by India’s IT Ministry to the Delhi High Court in a trademarks violation case last month. Of course, these are just theories for now, but there’s one question on our mind: if a platform gets blocked, what’s the fate of the thousands of domains registered with it? [Read, 4 minutes]   Click here to subscribe to MediaNama Daily and receive the best of tech policy in your inbox.  📺 In Case You Missed It Our hybrid roundtable on ‘Exploring User Verification’ held in Delhi on March 23, 2023, saw some pretty intense discussions on the topic 👀 Watch the full video here. 🔖Highlights: February Following our event on TRAI’s…