

Indian Court says may "block" Google and Facebook, like China - shreex
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/can-block-websites-like-china-delhi-high-court-warns-facebook-google-166383

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start123
Being an Indian, I can confidently say that neither Facebook nor Google would
be blocked..Ever. Unlike China, India is a democratic country and its media is
independent from the clutches of the higher authority. Serious objections
would be raised from all quarters if the high court decides to go ahead with
the ban.

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warmfuzzykitten
Not being an Indian, I'm surprised at how often the word "defamatory" appears
in discussions by Indian government officials and now this court. Is prior
restraint an established Indian tradition? Is criticism of government or other
public figures out of bounds? If it is, it's difficult to see how the internet
could ever be made to conform.

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dm8
As discussed earlier, criticism of government or public figures is not out of
bounds. Freedom of speech is very important and everyone values that in India.
Print/electronic media is not regulated and they often criticize the
government. However, they (especially print media) work under certain moral
framework like not making any obscene remarks or vulgar attacks. I believe
that is the sticking point for all the authorities in India. If traditional
media can follow this "moral framework" then why not the Internet? And to be
honest, I'm not sure how many people even understand the concept of user
generated content based websites or web 2.0; let alone the inner workings of
the Internet.

I fear Internet regulation will be the major theme of 2012. All the major
countries are looking ways to regulate it. And its really sad.

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jagira
An old but apt tweet:

Clean drinking water in villages. Primary education for all. Safe streets. No
hungry people. Ah never mind. Let's monitor content on the net and block
sites.

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blisper
If we asked a good sample of Chinese citizens if they valued freedom of speech
more, I wonder what their choice would be. Based on my Chinese colleagues, it
will be probably split down the middle, i.e. 50% of them picking freedom - for
reasons of the "lost generation".

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just_a_cs_dude
I am sure it would be tough, but as we have seen that this could happen, as
happened in China. What could be a viable solution? I mean, for future, how
can we make it so that blocking two domains is not what it would take for a
government agency to block big networks like Facebook and Google.

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brador
Seeing as the general perception of the Indian economy is IT services and call
centres, switching off Google would be akin to banning the telephone.

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scarface548
IT services and call centers make up for only 3% of GDP despite the general
perception

