he argument for internet regulation or censorship in India has mostly been framed in the context of ensuring national security and secular harmony. Efforts at regulation increased in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and subsequent tightening of national security. While some see these arguments as justified given India’s experience with terrorism and history of ethnic and religious tension, many civil society and internet activists feel that the government’s attempts at regulation go too far, infringing on peoples’ right to free speech and expression.
As India positions itself as a global leader in the 21st century, one of its greatest strengths is its loud, boisterous, and often frenzied democracy. The right to freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental pillar of this democracy, and efforts at curbing this right through arbitrary laws and rules will only serve to turn back the clock on the country’s social and economic progress. Mahatma Gandhi once advised a newly independent India to pursue a path of spiritual and inner purity embodied in the principles: “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.” Surely a state that censors and curbs the free flow of information isn’t what he had in mind.
Many people come to us and say that it’s great you played such a big role in the Arab spring [uprisings], but it's also kind of scary because you enable all this sharing and collect information on people. Civil society groups, activists, and social movements have innovatively used the internet and social media platforms to combat corruption and bribery, redress grievances, and demand improvements in service delivery and governance more broadly. Initiatives such as Ipaidabribe.com, for example, provide Indians with an opportunity to file online reports of bribe giving or taking. Similarly, Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign last summer usedFacebook and Twitter to generate public support against corruption.
Governments cannot cherry pick which aspects of the web to control and which not to. But it's hard to have one without the other. You can't isolate some things you like about the internet and control other things that you don't. Technology will move faster than governments, so don't legislate before you understand the consequences
By controlling social media, the government is doing a quick fix and not solving the real issues. Why government hasn’t used social media till day to benefit from it. Although the government has created a presence it is nothing more than blowing its own trumpet.
Cultural sensitivity is not a pre-given fact in India. The reality is that India today is undergoing rapid social and economic changes. More than 50 percent of India’s population is below the age of 25 and nearly 65 percent under the age of 35. There are an estimated 100 million internet users in the country, with the number estimated to triple by 2014. Mobile phone penetration, particularly in rural areas, is extensive with over 800 million subscribers in 2011. With the rapid expansion of well-paying jobs in sectors such as IT, software, and business-outsource processing, many young Indians have access to disposable incomes far greater than their parents and have aspirations to work and live abroad. Against this backdrop, the government’s efforts to censor the internet and other media is an anachronism and symptomatic of a pre-liberalization regime of state regulation and control that is long past. And let’s face it, in a country of 1.2 billion people monitoring or policing user content is simply not feasible.
It’s ridiculously expensive. The cost of complying with regulation in the United States is $1.8 trillion each year, according to a recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Recommendation:
Freedom of expression is important, but there must be limits, like laws against defamation and remarks that can incite hatred of a race or religion. The Government should consider laws to combat cyberbullying and other forms of Internet harassment, and we are fully ready to support the government in such initiatives as always
Government agents in 74 countries demanded information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of this year, with about half the orders coming from authorities in the United States for which we have always complied
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