[governance] Re: India to block Social Networks "like China"

[Sivasubramanian M]

Hello,

An update:
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*19 other sites, apart from Facebook and Google face prosecution for
'hosting offensive content':*
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Granting sanction to prosecute 21 social networking websites, including
Facebook and Google, the Union government on Friday said there was
sufficient material to proceed against them for offences of promoting
enmity between different groups of people.

They are “doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony” and hosting
content that is “provocative, assertive and propagates prejudicial to
national integration (sic),” it said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2798837.ece
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On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn at gmail.com>wrote:

> The Delhi High Court on Thursday warned social networking site Facebook
> India and search engine Google India that websites can be "blocked" like in
> China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove objectionable
> material from their web pages.
>
> "Like China, we will block all such websites," Justice Suresh Kait said
> while asking counsel for Facebook and Google India to develop a mechanism
> to keep a check on and remove "offensive and objectionable" material from
> their web pages.
>
> The two companies had moved the High Court seeking a stay on summons
> issued to them by a Delhi trial court that is hearing a private criminal
> complaint against them. Justice Kait did not stay the proceedings against
> the two websites before the magistrate's court. The case comes up for
> hearing at the lower court today.
>
> Former Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Google
> India, said the postings of "obscene, objectionable and defamatory"
> articles and other things cannot be "filtered" or "monitored".
>
> "No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can't be feasible to
> check such incidents. Billions of people across the globe, post their
> articles on the website. Yes, they may be defamatory, obscene but cannot be
> checked," Mr Rohatgi said.
>
> He tried to distinguish between Google India and its US-based holding
> company Google Inc. "The US-based Google Inc is the service provider and
> not me (Google India) and hence, we are not liable for the action of my
> holding company. Moreover, it is a criminal case where a vicarious
> liability can be fastened on a company which has no role, whatsoever, in
> the alleged offence," the lawyer argued.
>
> Citing provisions of the Information Technology Act, the counsel for
> Google India said these websites are protected by the law in respect of
> such "objectionable" material so far as they are not the authors. The
> websites, he said, may lose that legal protection if they either modify or
> monitor an article or comments or fail to deal with the complaints of an
> affected person or the government on such issues.
>
> More at
> http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/can-block-websites-like-china-delhi-high-court-warns-facebook-google-166383
>
> Sivasubramanian M
> ISOC India Chennai
> http://isocindiachennai.org
>
>
> facebook: goo.gl/1VvIG
> LinkedIn:  goo.gl/eUt7s
> Twitter: http://goo.gl/kaQ3a
> http://internetstudio.in/
>
>
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