cartoonsagainstcorruption.com is apparently the latest victim...
Aseem Trivedi, a Kanpur-based cartoonist is the latest to be caught up in the push-and-pull over what constitutes free speech and what constitutes material so offensive that no one should see it.
Mr. Trivedi runs a website called www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com that he says was inspired by Anna Hazare’s anticorruption movement. The portal was recently suspended, following a complaint that it showcased “ugly and obscene” content that mocked the Indian Constitution.
The site was suspended after a complaint to the Mumbai Crime Branch by a Mumbai-based advocate, R.P. Pandey. The complaint stated that “defamatory and derogatory cartoons” were displayed as posters during Mr. Hazare’s hunger strike in Mumbai last week. Noting that the posters were created by Mr. Trivedi and “are believed to be made at the instance of Shri Anna Hazare,” the complaint requested “strict legal action in the matter.” Soon after, Mr. Trivedi’s web portal was banned by “Big Rock,” which hosted his portal. Big Rock didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In an interview with India Real Time, Mr. Pandey said that his complaint targets “select cartoons” which “ridicule the Indian Parliament, the national emblem and the national flag” and “not those which poke fun at Indian politicians.”
Cartoonist Faces Ban on Right to Poke Fun — blogs.wsj.com — Readability
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Actually,
Google and Facebook have the resources to take this all the way to the Supreme Court - and I trust the courts more than the politicians. The SC has regularly come down on the side of free speech throughout the past decades and I think the same thing will happen here.
Someone mentioned that India doesn't have the equivalent of the DMCA. I believe it does. And this is what Google responded with in its latest salvo. This is the right time for a case like this to go to the courts and get settled once and for all. We needed the precedent. Luckily the case is against Google/Facebook who can actually stand up and defend themselves rather than against some poor blogger with no resources.
well of course the current laws should come to the rescue of the social giants. the problem is sibal who is working on passing new legislation that would make things worse.
courts would have to follow the law of the land. and government is working on creating the laws they need for the curbing of freedom of speech on the web.