Online protests increase as Government contemplates internet censorship

When IT Minister Kapil Sibal came across criticisms against Sonia Gandhi on Facebook, he came up with the idea that content managers of popular websites should filter and remove ‘offensive’ material from the web. His reasoning? Such material can incite tensions in the world’s largest democracy.

It won’t remain much of a democracy if expression is repressed, counter anti-censorship groups. Freedom of expression is what makes India a powerful democracy and if that freedom is taken away, where will that leave the nation? In response to Sibal’s proposal, ideas like this were circulated across social networking sites and online media portals by citizens, specially the youth. #IdiotKapilSibal was a favourite tweet doing the rounds of the internet all of Tuesday.

The Government on their part denies any plans of censorship and claims it only wants to do away with offensive material. What is considered acceptable and what is considered objectionable is quite another debate altogether. What one person finds offensive might be easily accepted by another.

Sibal met representatives from Yahoo, Facebook, Google and Microsoft on Monday to discuss the matter. Apparently, similar requests made by the Government in the past have been ignored by online media houses. The IT Ministry is also working on a set of guidelines which will outline punitive action that can be taken against those companies who do not abide by the Government’s recommendations in the future. 

Though no formal rules have been made on the issue as yet, it is unlikely that any of the parties will let the matter rest without a fight to the finish.