Recent months have seen increase in freedom of expression and freedom of suppression from one side !! Many of you by now should have known the timeline of events concerning Kapil Sibal`s efforts to censor internet and High courts pathetic display of ignorance and arrogance towards Social media sites and Constitution as a whole!
Internet, unlike anything in the past, is a spectrum of ideas and it can’t be defined with particular ideology. One is quick to compare it with news medias, books etc. Internet can be anything depending on what you want to see it as. It can be from online gaming portal , place to gather information , a bank (don’t remember when I last visited my bank in person) , a place to meet friends , discuss and solve issues , to meet your loved ones who are on other side of the planet , a stage to spill all the dirty beans (scams , scandals ) and much more.
So putting a blanket term for internet is plain stupidity. Internet has been very effective in one thing , spread of information. For a person from rural area , if there was no internet , it would take ages to find even the simplest information. Today I can not only find the information I want , but also relevant , agnostic information pertaining to it. For eg , difference between Jan Lokpal and Govt`s Lokpal. It has also made world news and world events more reachable. Previously we used to depend on 5 minutes “World news” section in local news channel, which won’t even give enough emphasis on the issue. Or one page allocated in newspapers for world news. And world news coverage usually was given to entertaining news, rather than pressing issues. Today I can track any event happening in the world with minute to minute update, in-depth details, and varying thoughts about it. Internet in the hands of the rural villagers is a boon which no government or education system can achieve, bringing entire knowledge of this universe upon few click of a button.
Image Credit : Hindu
So why censor such technology?
The very reason it unloads entire information on your screen, is the very reason our rulers are afraid of. A single tweet is all that is enough today to bring out a major issue to the public domain. Previously it has to pass through various mediums, like reporters, editors etc. And already with many news agency in the hands of powerful and rich , the effectiveness of such major incident could be down played , or totally suppressed ( Occupy wall street , SOPA , Paid news , allocation of homes by indian govt to reporters , etc etc..). And for the rulers it was easy to handle countable number of media outlets . But with the increasing number of users online and the anonymity it offers, anyone can be whistle blower! And it becomes even more difficult when the content one posts , could not be taken down by the rulers , since it is no longer within their reach. Google transparent report is all one needs to look at if one wants to know the real motive behind the recent censoring crusade carried out by our rulers!
Obviously our rulers cant parade on the media stating, many are posting critical stuff of us on internet and we want it removed , which will eventually lead to more coverage of such posts. That is where religion comes in.
Religion on the other hand is a spectrum of stupidity and irrational ideology. When we have plenty of religion and particularly in india , anything and everything , one way or the other , in one religion or the other can be taken as offending , sinful and outright objectionable.
It is also very easy to draw the lines of “It offends me” ,where one sees fit , mainly because it is their personal “Wall of rationality” , smaller it is , more offending anything can be for them.
Religion as such in my opinion is evolving too. Many of the practices in many of the religion are now considered “Too medieval” . It is the hard-core fundamentalist who want these condemned practices to be upheld ,even if needs sacrifice of Freedom of speech , expression. What they forget is this very freedom that enables them to carry out such speech , moral policing , upon others is possible because other secular citizens have allowed them to do so. This very fact is always forgotten.
Minister Sibal has knowingly or unknowingly have unleashed the war for rationality. The core issue will now have to be scrutinized , ie the religion itself ! Will the courts take the words of medieval books to uphold ones faith , at the same time suppressing the freedom of expression and speech ?
How far are we going to sacrifice freedom of expression and speech to soothe the fundamentalist ?
Today few photoshopped picture offend the fundies , tomorrow it will the atheist who will be in spotlight for speaking against religion . By saying that “God doesn’t Exist” , even today in some rural places and hard core fundies , can and will elicit a undesirable response. Actually in recent news , one person posting the same on facebook have resulted in 5 years of jail in Indonesia, Even though we are from it , but we might well be laying the foundation for it today. For them , what they know is the sanctity and sacred field . Anything against it or opposing it cant be tolerated that easily. Mainly because, search to seek the truth is almost died in them. If you have been a frequent viewer of “Neeya Nana” program in Vijay TV (Tamil Channel) , you will come across such deep rooted , undeviating ideologist and practisers on the show. However well you tell them its not true or doesn’t work ,it will not have any effect , mainly because , their mind is so tuned and fixed to the thought , it doesnt works. Call it a placebo effect or repeated exposure to false information and false stimulus to attain a fixed response and thought towards the stimuli.
It so happened with my grandma , when I told her that Sai Baba`s ash formation is a trick , she didn’t believe me , but when I showed her the video , she was first taken aback , then later resorted to “ But he does good , who cares if it’s a trick or not “. I don’t blame her , its years and years of BELIEF , which cant be changed overnight.
Even though I don’t totally support the morphing stuff , because to oppose to these medieval practices doesn’t necessarily need extreme content . At the same time , as one quote says , which I love too
“Even though I disagree with what you say , but I will fight till the end for the right for you to say it “
If religion has any effect on these true believers, then its time they show it with love and affection. They should even have the courage to say that “ Those photoshopped materials have ZERO effect on what we believe” , ie , in my opinion is the honest and truthful faith. Nay speakers will continue to spill venom , and they cant be stopped on a medium such as internet.
What might be small victory , if the websites in question are blocked , will be the starting point of moral policing in large scale supported by politicians for vote bank !
The rage over IT Minister Kapil Sibal was very evident on twitter than any other social sites. Indians were quick enough to create a Streisand effect and almost instantly proved how Sibal was wrong on all fronts. The very idea of controlling the social site contents met with enormous amount of “could be Deemed Offensive” contents via tweets starting with the hash tag #IdxotKapilSibal.
The very idea to raise this issue during the parliament session would raise doubts about the intention of the minister. People are now more aware than before and quick to see through these political smoke screen. UPA tried to create a diversion with FDI which met with backlash from all quarters and now this censorship diversion.
Even if we take it in its face value, the concept of pre-screening is a Himalayan task to achieve. He also said he didn’t want it to be automated, but to be screened by humans. Many recalled this to the emergency period of India, during which all press publishing office used to be filled with party people and each line should be approved by them before it gets printed. The very nature of putting someone or some group to screen a traffic which is almost amounts to at least 20-40% of world`s user generated comments / pictures could be considered a punishment. That doesn’t include the personal bias one might have on a comment and also regional language one has to deal with. This very idea is laughable at most and anything similar to word filter could be bypassed within seconds using # , or * or whatever and our human minds are now well programmed to grab the core with just few starting letters .. like “SH^T” or “ A$% H@#$ “. If then, govt should openly come out in public and spill out the words it intend to censor , which I think would be epic to look into.
That was the easy part , what about pictures and video ? Even though there are rudimentary tools to deal , like “similar images” from Google image search , but then a computer simply doesn’t know in what context the picture of someone or a thing is used . It could be an event , a genuine party press meet , is this govt going to censor it ? And where does the govt draw the line on which photo to be included and which not ?
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This is all pure fantasy by a minister who simply doesn’t understand the working of the internet and its more about personal (party) fulfillment to take down contents which is critical about their party.
With so many farmers dying daily , inflation soaring to new heights , rupee plunging to new low , corruption rampant at every corner , Does this govt has any point of concern to these than sticking out their head where they are very eager in taking away the peoples liberty ?
These people (illiterates of technology) should know that we netizens are already up in arms if any such socially offensive stuff pops up and we also make sure those kind of stuff doesn’t reach the “casual users”. Also to create a myth that internet will serve as communal violence planning hideout is too hilarious. Even if such people who are determined to do so wont able to create enough momentum from a 5% population (net users) . These people , whatever screening you do will find ways to send out the message . When this tech-savvy population is even reluctant to come out to vote , the myth of them going out on street to start a communal violence is just too good only to be in movie , possibly starring Ar!ndham Chow…
Its time IT minister gets his priorities right than creating myths and possibly using it as a tool to suppress critics upon his party. How about IT minister call upon ISP`s and order to bump the basic speed upto to at least 1MBPS within 4 months for a start ? How about asking them to launch feasible 3G plans for people ? Or even setting up or encouraging Host providers to have their servers wholly in India rather than in U.S ? and cut the peering cost within India to half ?
When you can easily take something lightly when a opposition says seriously and in turn give a funny rebuttal , its not too much to ask to a national party to take things lightly of these petty stuff and carry on with much larger picture of making India a better place. Also I would happily say “Welcome to Internet !! “ .
It is also high time for net users of India to know about Net neutrality , Right for Privacy (read UID ), and spend little time on politics , economics and world events , as they have serious repercussion in India directly or indirectly (Eg : Fall of rupee )
Past Few months have shown how really our govt is dragging on key issues and gives us a peek into how laws for this country are made , without giving any rational to it. I am also wondering the state of other bills , laws passed by this government. Luckily we had the chance to look indepth about this bill.
I simply cant understand this stupid govt.
1.) First they call only one civil society group on framing the Lokpal bill , not giving a F about others who have other says on the bill too
2.) Omits key issues , promises the team anna to table both bill , but the end becomes D-Bag and tables thier bill
3.) Then after pressure , now calls the same team to frame , now includes all but few points from jan lokpal , If so where they blind and deaf at the first meeting ?
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4.)Then they call upon all-party meet to discuss upon the bill
5.) When they first tabled thier retarded bill , didnt they know it was flawed ? and if they are so sure about thier bill , why did they now include points from Jan-lokpal bill ?
6.) Now they are reluctant to remove their flawed bill stating few rules , If its retarded bill , why waste the time in reading it out, making others listen and waste precious time of the standing committee ?
This govt should be awarded the MEGA TROLL AWARD . I wonder the precarious state of other similar bills passes by this govt.
I previously posted about Arvind Kejriwal`s speech on difference about thier Lokpal and govt`s Lokpal Bill. Today I just want to post few resources where people can use to print , spread and even equip with basic knowledge on Jan Lokpal bill. There are too many doubts going on about the Bill. Its it better to know the difference between the Jan Lokpal which is proposed by Anna`s Team and govt`s Lokpal bill. Instead of me taking sides and favoring to one side , I will let you decide.
