media, information, the contemporary

Author: Smarika Kumar


  • Making a Classification Choice for the Internet: Between the Visible Car Parts and the Invisible Pizza Delivery

    This is the fourth and final research note from Smarika Kumar, one of the short-term social media research fellows at The Sarai Programme.

    In the last post, I discussed the role classification plays in locating the internet as a subject of law. I reflected on how two very different, yet competing identities: an identity upon function, and an identity upon means, have been framed for the internet in the debate around Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) regulation in India. Once these competing identities have been framed, the question that looms is how law negotiates between the two? This post attempts to reflect on this question.

  • The Role of Classification in Facilitating Identities for the Internet: The Case of VoIP Regulation

    This is the third research note from Smarika Kumar, one of the short-term social media research fellows at The Sarai Programme. In previous posts, I have focused on judicial discussions and reasoning, particularly upon how the authority of law over a certain vision of the internet is sought to be established through the process of…

  • Creating Authority of Law Over a New Technology: Reflections from Shreya Singhal

    This is the second research note from Smarika Kumar, one of the short-term social media research fellows at The Sarai Programme. The life of law is built upon the interpretation of words, terms, phrases in language, along with the claims of precision in relevant contexts. More than ever, analogies are a potent tool in legal…

  • Law’s Role in Development of the Internet

    In this post, Smarika Kumar, one of the researchers who received the Social Media Research grant for 2015, introduces her proposed work. As the internet begins to pervade our lives in increasing ways, the clamour to regulate it has heightened. Be it viral posts on social media urging violence, the easy availability of sexual content…