VR-Zone

India's acting minister of telecommunications, Kapil Sibal, is meeting officials from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook today to discuss the proposed censorship.

 

Sibal cited examples where political leaders were, in his view, unfairly maligned by people online, and he asked that Google and the others properly monitor what is posted online.

 

The monitoring suggestions go so far as to include special people with the responsibility to approve or reject content before it goes online, instead of the existing monitoring technology already in place, which Sibal clearly believes is failing to do the job.

 

 

The internet firms were reluctant to comment on the issue, but indicated that they would follow any laws on the subject, but could not decide on what is or is not legal to post online. This suggests that they are staunchly against the idea of monitoring content and would rather remove illegal material when complaints are made, as is currently the case.

 

India has been stepping up efforts this year to monitor and control the transmission of data online, with new rules for ISPs that require them to delete offensive material, and a plan for a government-run monitoring unit for websites and social networks. The country also tightened controls last year on encrypted calls and messages over phone networks like that supplied by RIM's Blackberry.

 

This level of censorship has given the country a negative image abroad, particularly considering the complaints focus on comments made about political figures, which raises questions about the possible violation of the right to free speech. 

 

Source: New York Times