Mr Sibal, why are you showing people “dirty pictures?”
R Jagannathan 20 mins ago#Kapil Sibal #Shashi Tharoor #Sonia Gandhi #ToTheContrary
Dear Mr Sibal,
Thank you for alerting us about the extreme dangers of uncontrolled freedom and abuse on the Internet and social media.
If it had not been for your “sensitivity” and alertness to such objectionable content, the whole of India would not have been googling for these objectionable pictures.
I was blissfully unaware of the kind of putrid stuff people have been pasting, morphing and texting on Facebook and Twitter till you told me about it. Now I know all about it – and so do millions of people in the world.
No one was aware he or she needed to be offended about something they didn’t know about. Now, you have told them what to expect and effectively requested them to get offended.
In your press interaction on Tuesday, you asked journos whether they thought the pictures you showed them were really kosher or not. You didn’t get the reply you wanted (we heard someone muttering about freedom, etc), but here’s my poser: why are you busy alerting all and sundry about pictures or text you don’t want anybody to see?
No one was aware he or she needed to be offended about something they didn’t know about. Reuters
Tharoor has tweeted about “communally inflammatory images and languages” which you apparently “described” to him. Why are you giving descriptions on communally-sensitive pictures to people you meet or talk to?
If I wanted my kids to not watch porn on the net, I would install a net nanny quietly and not actually show them the pictures and say don’t look at these pictures. Even better, I would tell them watching porn isn’t criminal, but don’t go overboard thinking all this is for real.
Coming back to you point, let me be clear. I am not in favour of anyone posting any vile stuff anywhere – but, surely, Mr Sibal, you know that the Internet is no man’s land? It is simply impossible to censor and police and subjugate. The only way to deal with the issue of defamation is to take people to court when something really “vile” is said or pasted — which will teach them a salutary lesson.
I understand the potential of the Internet to inflame communal and religious passions, but, who knows, it may also be getting people to let off steam in cyberspace and preventing them from descending on the streets.
The real problem is that free speech will offend or hurt many people, but it is the only thing that finally keeps ordinary humans from crossing the line from anger to violence.
Take the case of the DNA article in which Subramanian Swamy said some objectionable things about Islam a couple of months ago. He is being sued in courts for the same. If what he said was really defamatory, he will pay for it legally. But there are people who feel he said the truth, and Facebook and Twitter have people elevating him to hero status. Should we ban all this?
The people offended by it have done the right thing by not making the fuss you did.
You are, of course, a poliltician. Maybe, you saw some possibility of political gain by pointing out that Sonia Gandhi and other party leaders are being maligned.
But let me tell you, Sonia is unlikely to be amused. Till two days ago, only the people posting the stuff knew about it. Now everybody does. Thanks to you.
You are also unlikely to emerge with a halo after all this, especially after you muttered darkly about rules and guidelines that sounded suspiciously like censorship to everyone. My condolences in advance.
Yours, unoffensively…
#Sonia Gandhi
Also see
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The government does not wants itself to be viewed as a demon against information but is wary of the inappropriate content circulating freely for netizens.
#internet firms #Kapil Sibal #NewsTracker -
Reacting to Kapil Sibal’s comments Facebook has said that it understands the Government of India’s interests and will remove content that violate the website’s terms.
#Censorship #facebook #Google #NewsTracker #Politics -
On his Twitter feed Tharoor said: As a frequent victim of “disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content” on social media, I wish2stress I’m not in favour of censoring it
#facebook #Internet #InThisCorner #Kapil Sibal #Shashi Tharoor #Twitter
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