Social Network Sites Summoned in Delhi, India
The building of Rohini Courts Complex
An Indian court in Delhi summoned 21 websites, including Facebook, Orkut, Google, YouTube and others this past Fri, 23 Dec, 2011, to answer to charges of criminal conspiracy. Other charges filed include “selling, publicly exhibiting and (circulating) obscene, lascivious content.”
See NewsX video below NewsX from India with news coverage on the 21 websites being summoned in Delhi:
Summary of NewsX Broadcast on Social Network Sites being charged in Delhi, India
The Delhi court order for the 21 named websites, including many popular social networks, came three days after a civil court ordered these same websites to remove content that " might offend religious sentiments." Only a subset the companies summons appear in the Rohini Court on Friday. Those present claimed they had not yet received a copy of the summons. According to the broadcast report, all 21 defendants have to submit a compliance report by Feb 6 in addition to being compelled to remove content deemed objectionable by the courts else face legal action.
The report includes a phone interview the Muslim Cleric Maulana Rashid who frames the issue in terms of "Freedom Vs. Responsibility" criticizing the named companies for using their resources to distribute offensive content. Websites in India are already restrained from webcasting "anti-religious" or "antisocial’ content".
The video also includes an interview with the Indian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Kapil Sibal, who has warned Social Networking sites in the past that they are responsible for screening their content and maintaining compliance with current regulations on what is defined as allowable content. Kapil Sibal’s position is that defamatory content on social networking sites hurts public sentiment. In addition, obscene pictures and posts on politicians violates Indian law.
He states that the images and statements on the platforms naming "Google, Facebook and the like." the subject matter of which was so offensive.
Sibal’s four part justification for censorship of Social Networks in India:
- May hurt religious sentiment
- May Social Tension
- Violent content on social media
- Danger to National Security
Sibal goes on to say that he is concerned about peace and harmony in India.
Depending on the legal outcome of these actions, Social Networks operating in India and other countries outside of their homeland, these large companies will no doubt be required invest in further operational zing enforcement of country-specific content regulations and censorship on a global basis will be challenging. For India and China, given the large populations and market size, the stakes are huge!
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Date: December 24, 2011
Categories: News
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