

US officials to Delhi court: Can’t summon Facebook, Google - helloamar
http://tech2.in.com/news/general/us-officials-to-delhi-court-cant-summon-facebook-google/872180

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mratzloff
The most interesting part was this:

 _Even as Google and Facebook get a breather from appearing in court over
allegedly hosting offensive content, the search giant has had to deal with
another legal issue pertaining to the Google Mapathon event’s India leg. While
Google has maintained that the Mapathon contest was in line with Indian laws,
the company could see some court time in India over allegedly violating the
cartographical laws of the land._

According to an interview with the Indian Surveyor General[1], Indian citizens
can't map their own neighborhoods for security reasons. They must contact the
government for permission.

Ah, famous Indian bureaucracy at work! All Google needed to do was ask
permission and make a "donation", I'm sure.

[1] [http://m.economictimes.com/opinion/interviews/googles-
mapath...](http://m.economictimes.com/opinion/interviews/googles-mapathon-
contest-is-a-wilful-violation-of-indian-law-rc-padhi-additional-surveyor-
general-of-india/articleshow/19778480.cms)

~~~
nsns
Not sure bureaucracy's the reason for that; most probably it's the (not
unrealistic) fear of a Chinese/Pakistani attack.

~~~
wnight
Likely. Who'd ever enact a law without a goal?

But it's wrong headed and pointless as well as being unjust.

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rrrazdan
An explanation for India's weird cartographic laws is in order. India has a
ceasefire line with Pakistan as a border and significant claims held by the
Pakistani's. Moreover with China it has an undefined border, where China is
not even exchanging maps showing their claims.Published maps are taken as
proof of 'facts on ground', during negotiations and arbitration. Combine this
with a big bureaucracy and you have these laws. I wish we could not have these
laws but given the present scenarios and an unfriendly giant neighbor, these
laws are justified.

~~~
vacri
Are the laws applied in only the contested areas, or across the whole of
India?

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AYBABTME
This article lacks a lot of context. I can't quite grasp what exactly is
wrong. What communal hatred was committed, how are Google and Facebook
involved in it? What was wrong with the maps?

Is there an article somewhere that gives some more background?

~~~
qxf2
This OP-ed in 'The Hindu' gives you more context:
[http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-curious-case-of-
vi...](http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-curious-case-of-vinay-
rai/article2893650.ece)

Key quote: >>" Since August 2011, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications
and Information Technology, has reportedly held meetings with the Indian heads
of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo and expressed concern regarding
content on the sites hosted by these companies which maligned politicians and
religious figures. The executives were reportedly shown content from their
sites that could hurt religious sensibilities, as well as obscene images of
Indian political leaders, and were told to screen user content and remove
offensive material before it was uploaded."

There are a growing number of cases against Facebook and Google - the tax
angle, blasphemous material hosted, minors creating accounts. To the cynic in
me, all this just seems like Facebok and Google have not yet learnt to play
with the the political big wigs.

~~~
gngeal
_To the cynic in me, all this just seems like Facebok and Google have not yet
learnt to play with the the political big wigs._

To the cynic in me, all this just seems like Facebook and Google have learned
just fine how to play with the political big wigs...as in how a cat plays with
mice.

~~~
qxf2
The balance of power between corporation <-> politician is different in India.
Politicians usually, but not always, have more power.

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nmridul
Just wait till they get an order banning Facebook and Google. See how Orkut
previosly went inline with the Government.

[http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-05-01/news...](http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-05-01/news/28459689_1_orkut-
ip-addresses-google-spokesperson)

And some more information...
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India>

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rplnt
It only works the other way around. When will you learn that world?

~~~
rayiner
Do you really want every twobit country to be able to drag Americans to court?

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wnight
You support the USA forcing extradition of foreigners, and you've said that
extraordinary rendition isn't a crime, so really it's your turn.

I don't support this at all, but I'd let you be taken because you do. That'd
end this sooner than your double standard.

~~~
rayiner
I don't understand why you think countries like India should be treated with
the same standards as countries like the U.S. It's foolish to think you can
have bilateral, equal relationships between countries who don't share basic
values. There is much to criticize about the American justice system, but
there is even more to criticize about India's justice system, and until they
come up to our level we should treat them with a double standard.

In different contexts, I don't think such double standards would be
controversial. For example, certain European countries refuse to extradite to
the U.S. who might be sentenced to the death penalty, even though they expect
the U.S. to extradite people to them who might be on trial for say fraud. I
would argue that the double standard there is totally justified too.

~~~
wnight
"Up to our level" of holding prisoners, many not captured anywhere near a
battlefield or with evidence of fighting the USA and leaving them in prison
without trial. Of bombing whoever, whenever, wherever, without a trial, and
without review.

Our level of persecution of whistleblowers? Or is that optional?

Oh, you mean basic values like the belief in perpetual copyright.

And your example isn't a double standard, the prisoner being accused of
something that's a crime in both jurisdictions and the punishment not being
unconscionable in the destination are the basic assumptions of extradition.
The double standard is the USA playing political games with trade tariffs, etc
to get someone who hasn't committed a local crime.

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aksx
I have lost all my trust in the Indian government. They have spent 400 Crore
rupees on building a content monitoring system, which will monitor our online
activities. 4 billion rupees could've helped many people who needed it.

