Sonia Gandhi is taking after her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. Not only is she the undisputed leader of the Congress party; her government is also trying to curb freedom of expression.
Delhi has decided to prosecute Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft and several other websites and social networks. The ostensible reason is, they carry offensive content that could undermine religious and communal harmony. But minister Kapil Sibal earlier also complained about objectionable content defaming Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Indira Gandhi and Emergency
The government action is reminiscent of the Emergency when Indira Gandhi was in power. She jailed her critics and gagged the media. That is exactly what Delhi is threatening to do now. The websites and social networks have been told to remove the “objectionable” content. If they fail to do so, their representatives in India could be jailed under existing laws.
This is not normal practice. One may sue writers and publishers of offending books and articles for libel. They may also be prosecuted for acting against national interests. In Singapore, bloggers have been prosecuted for inflammatory posts likely to hurt religious and racial harmony.
India, however, has gone further. Instead of prosecuting the individuals who expressed “objectionable” views, it has decided to crack down on the websites and social networks where they posted their thoughts.
This is like shooting the messenger for carrying bad news.
Internet giants like Google and Yahoo and social networks like Facebook and Twitter can’t be compared to publishers of books and newspapers. Newspapers and book publishers publish what they choose. Bloggers and social network users, on the other hand, decide what to post on Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot – the blogging platform owned by Google.
These differences don’t matter to the Indian government, which just wants the “offensive” content removed.
China Delhi’s new role model
“Otherwise, like China, we may pass orders banning all such websites,” said Justice Suresh Kait of the Delhi High Court.
So China has become the role model for Delhi.
India wanted more items removed than China, according to the Google Transparency Report. In 2010-11, the Indian government made 68 content removal requests and wanted 358 items removed while the Chinese government made three content removal requests and wanted 121 items removed. Google complied with 51 per cent of the requests from India and 67 per cent from China.
India ranked 122nd on Reporters Without Borders’ 2010 Press Freedom Index which looked at 178 countries. It said:
The abundance and diversity of the media in “the world’s biggest democracy” is without parallel. Journalists are generally free to report what they like but are harassed by local despots in some states. They also have to be wary of religious activists, armed groups in the northeast, organized crime in the big cities and the security forces in Kashmir. Journalists operating in regions with armed conflicts do not enjoy the same guarantees and protections as those in the rest of the country. The government is hesitant about giving press visas to foreign reporters.
Related posts:
