According to news reports India’s Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal asked internet companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo to screen content which may be deemed inflammatory.
While the Indian government has regularly made noises about online content being screened, the suggestion from the minister that human beings should be used to screen content instead of automatic checks. This demand is a little strange and quite impractical.
With over millions of hours of video content generated and billions of blog posts published a year, it would require thousands of people to actually screen such content manually.
What is more interesting is that the government has not defined what is inflamatory and is asking the companies to take do it themselves.
Criticism for the move
Kapil Sibal’s comment have been made fun of on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. It is ironic that what he set out of control was dished out to him.
Politicians are often criticized about their views and made fun of on social media websites. It is next to impossible to try and control the internet.
Clarifications have come in that the government is not looking to censor online content. I guess we have not heard the last of this issue as most governments around the world are looking for some sort of control over content.
I do not like any sort of censorship on the internet. It kills creativity and dialogue. In my opinion governments should not try to find ways to censor or control the internet but actually use internet tools to reach out to people and get their opinions.
What are your views? Do drop in your comments.
(via Economic Times)
Image Credit: daviddicke.com
4 Comments
I hate these ignorant ministers!!!!!!!!!
If truth is defamatory, then the government has no right to suppress the truth. Internet works in such a way that only what is true remains and everything that is incorrect is automatically filtered out over time. There is neither any need, nor any purpose is screening content.
And what all do they think they will filter? Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, blogs, blog comments, Tumblr, picasa, flickr? The list goes on. They probably don’t even have any idea how many platforms there are to share content on the internet.
On second thoughts, this might be good idea to solve the unemployment problem of the country.
Its really a bad move from government side. I think they are afraid of youth making revolutions through Facebook and all. The recent example was a success of Anna’s campaign.
@Gourang: I do not think the government is afraid but seems to be out of touch with technology and its impact especially regarding social media.