Dear Readers,

The internet changed the way the world worked – and played – forever. Physical distance is losing significance with every passing day. One could be anywhere in the world and may stand up to be heard from there itself. For any government such ease of access to the masses is a source of discomfort, for if people can easily reached, public opinion can be as easily moulded an dremoulded, which might sometimes he bad news for the political health of the ruling.

Ideally, there should be no restriction on freedom of expression, but like all freedoms, free speech is also prone to abuse, which justifies the imposition of reasonable restrictions on limited grounds. There is nothing wrong if the content accessible through the internet is also subject to the same restrictions so long as the exercise of authority is legal and fiar.

This is a challenging task, given the limitless scope of the Internet and its ever increasing delth. Concentrating too much of monitoring powers in the hands of the authorities is dangerous as it heightens the possibilities of misuse. It is this tightrope walk that the law has to undertake when it comes to monitoring the World Wide Web.