In a landmark legal strike, the Aurangabad bench of the Mumbai High Court has “directed the Maharashtra government to issue notice to Google for the alleged spread of hatred about India by its social network service ‘Orkut’. [Times of India]
Laying aside useless litigation on issues like murders, rapes, property disputes (which some say take decades to resolve due to court backlog), the wise men in black coats seem to have at last gotten their priorities right by spending their time taking action on an issue of the greatest national importance: the “Down with India” communities that flourish on Orkut like flies on cowdung.
Because frankly, I am enraged when in Orkut discussions, Indians are called “dark, ugly men” by people who ironically put pictures of Shahrukh Khan and John Abraham on their profiles. And when Hindus, Sita-maiyya and all our idols are abused on these communities using language that the famous milk-seller Dulu of Santoshpur would baulk at, a line is crossed. It is then that I stop sending “friend requests” to hot girls and dedicate myself to mass-mailing everyone on my contacts list to “report as bogus” the said communities (For those sensible people not on Orkut, “reporting a community as bogus” by a certain number of people –say 100—-leads to its removal. Of course nothing prevents it from popping up the next day with a new name and the same content)
I know it—some wise alecs, are going to ask me to ignore these affronts to our national dignity and try to convince me of the the technical/moral futility of attempting to stifle the voices that hate us. Ignore these “jallads” and “chandals”? Are you crazy? Have I worn bangles on my hand? Shall I tolerate insults to my Gods and to my motherland? Has there ever been a movie where Prabhuji Mithun-da has not avenged the rape of his sister?
No there has not. Which is why I am compelled to not IGNORE. Instead I shall entreat the wise men with the hammers to put the “Ban” back into “Ban”dra, “Ban”galore and “Ban”dopadhyay if Google does not satisfactorily reply to the Honourable Court’s “notice”. Make no mistake. Those men at Google HAVE to take appropriate action: like employ an army of auditors whose job it will be to scan the gazillions of Orkut communities created every minute for any anti-India content and immediately remove anything offensive (This includes anti-Mallika Sherawat speech).
And while we are at it, I request the Honourable members of the Bench to also bring to the notice of Google several other highly objectionable “things” that are being allowed to persist due to the lax standards imposed by the Orkut people.
That includes:
1) Water Babies: Indian mid 20s males on an office outing to a water park, come back and then post their skimpy-suited, bare-torsoed pictures on Orkut. Me Lord, kindly ask Google to put in appropriate aesthetics filters such that we do not have to endure such affronts to civil society.
2) Forward Or Die: Well-meaning dolts who mass-mail everyone on their friends list with messages like a) forward this message else Orkut will delete your account b) there is a virus on orkut that eats your genitalia before you know it c) stand up against RESERVATION…
3) Rapists of the Queen: The Queen’s English that is. That means those wHo tAK iN SMS-ese (not Assamese), type in multiple colours (or should I say colorz) and those who cannot spell “friendship” correctly.
4) Open relationship: Google needs to tell desis what “open relationship” means. It does not mean “open for relationship”. The number of times I have seen men (and women) put “Open Relationship” in their status and then talk about how he/she loves commitment above anything else and is of “varry jealous type” shows that their concept of an “open” relationship is akin to Sitaram Yechruy’s idea of an “open market”.
5) Offensive Communities: The law may not know this but there are other several offensive communities that Google has to take action against for the sake of common decency and the Indian way of life.
Examples: “Must Boys and Cute Girls” (description: a community for must boys and cute girls who want to do masti on the Net) , “Unsatisfied Aunties” (paradoxically made up of only men–psst the female profiles are most probably all fake), “orKuT cute Boys n Girls” (description: is only 4 girlz and boyz…..lerke or lerkiyon k liye or wo bhi khobsorat), Desi Sex Styles (description: To Promote desi sex styles amongst youngster Pakistani) and “BackStreet Boys 4 Bengali Fans” (don’t ask)
So dear bench, kindly step in —notify Google of these abuses and spank them on their naughty BackStreets if they do not take action.
And if you can squeeze out some time from your obviously busy jurisprudent schedules, may I suggest becoming members of Orkut and spending some time “social networking” i.e. —–meeting a few jobless, lifeless dudes and dudettes and engaging in debates of national import like “Who is India’s sexiest cricketer?” and “Last Person to post in this thread is Sachin’s biggest fan”.
How about it?
————————————————
Update: Breaking News !
Orkut also hosts a few anti-Pakistan and Indo-Pak friendship communities. The “We Hate India†community says one Miraslov Stankovic, who claims to be located in Russia, has created it. He has also created communities such as “Israel Must be Destroyed†and “I Hate Himesh Reshammiya.â€
The guy who started the “We Hate Community” is also the brains behind “I Hate Himesh Reshammiya” ! What a co-incidence. Obviously, this “hateful” man has no taste. Where are the mad Himesh fans with their capital letters when you need them?
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
@GD – Yet another simple but forceful post. I should say, I would not expect any less from you.
This is getting plain silly with the Judicial system just thinking of ways to take our country back to the dark ages!! *fuming*
“BackStreet Boys 4 Bengali Fans” — ROTFL.
Mmh – I was not aware of any such notices sent by Govt to Google – not that I mind it much actually. I only wish govt of Maharastra asked Google to shut down Orkut completely – its one big pathetic mess anyways. All the social networks are big waste of time anyways… though I must say please spare the brazilian babes groups on orkut 😀
S
“BackStreet Boys 4 Bengali Fansâ€
:))
“orKuT cute Boys n Girls†(is only 4 girlz and boyz…..lerke or lerkiyon k liye or wo bhi khobsorat)
ROTFL….
This cmunity vry vry bad….I wan fransip cmunity only…. 😀
> 2) Forward Or Die…
Whenever I get a mail like this, I change the names inside it to my own, or something totally meaningless. I then proceed to forward the message as requested and watch smugly as the same message travels all over the tubes and returns to me a couple of weeks later, inaccuracies and all. In fact, I blogged about this a few days ago:
http://nachowski.blogspot.com/2006/10/me-vs-forwarded-junk.html
I was wondering whtether or not to join Orkut when this popped up.
I think sooner or later, what you have said was bound to happen. I don’t know how far the court can help in this. The great mystic Osho had said once that you can bring light into a room but not take darkness out of a room. This comes more in that catefory.
Very soon we shall have companies and countries having peoplelobby for them on the net.
That Sitaram Yechury remark was great.
Ah! GreatBong you are guilty of getting on to Orkut as well. My pet hate is those who forward anything and everything. I got this:
For every scrap posted on Orkut, Orkut (the maker) gets $5 and for every reply scrap he gets $4. I asked the kind forwarder who enlightened me on how do they know if a scrap is a reply or not..
Don’t go there much.
After reading this post, I seriously want 2 mk franship with u.
But “Desi Sex Styles (description: To Promote desi sex styles amongst youngster Pakistani)”? Why do “desis” focus on Pakistanis? Perhaps they’re completing the work Shah Rukh Khan started with Veer Zaara …
(Incidentally, I emailed you about the coolie union video from your Dance Dance post. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, what is the source? I want to make franship with Prabhuji, too, because I can’t protect my sister. Maybe he can.)
😀 too too gud!! ROTFLMAO!!
Water Babes: Superb Observation 🙂
You did not spare a thought for the guy, who slapped this PIL on Bombay Court.
Why not blame him instead of the Court?
Court had to arrive at “some” decision after this PIL was filed. Just think if Judges would have squashed the litigation. Next Headlines would have been “Bombay High Court allows hate India communities”.
Wow! The Aurangabad Bench has managed to reach the 21st Century and actually know what orkut is? I’m afraid I had ‘misunderestimated’ the honourable judges! It must be the effect of moving into the new building they made for themselves.
So sad that it’s unlikely that TOI will print Google’s reply to the Maharashtra government. Would like to see if Google laughs at the notice, or buckles like it did in China. To me it’s a more interesting question.
GB, if the decision is indeed based on some valid legal provision, how can it not be made (given the PIL)? The subject of contention should ideally be the lettering and possible interpretations of the invoked law(s). I wonder along Sam’s line: could the court have junked the PIL w/o severely ignoring the law as it stands?
Was thinking of writing about Orkut for a long time. All the Hate communities that have sprouted upon ther fertile ground of Orkut was going to get the goat of someone sometime. And never used to understand why people used to continue sending the requests to make a community bogus.
Anyways, it was always fun reading the requests on some of the girls scrapbooks where they used to get request for friendship in a language which was supposed to be English.
Someone should make a post of the weirdest scraps received on Orkut. That would be one hell of a post 🙂
Cheers,
HP
LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus man, this was FUNNY!! And dude, I cant believe you romped on orkut as well!
I’ve been staying away from that stuff a lot, I dunno, it seems desperate or lol, just plain f’ing weird. I have a friend in office who is constantly glued to Orkut and ICQ, and he keeps borrowing my heavy metal lingo to post there, and he ‘scores’ often. I’m just too lazy to go to that extent of imagination.
😛
“BackStreet Boys 4 Bengali Fans†huh? This is so bad…you pique my interest and then KLPD…vary vary bad…no donut for you! 🙂
Excellent post Arnab! This is the best you have come up in recent times!! 🙂
“Must Boys and Cute Girls†– LOL
I wish I could show you the other ones like “Masala Aunties”, “Hot guys and cool girls”, ets. Absolutely painful!! Although I’m on orkut for a considerable amount of time everyday and find it really convenient to keep in touch with old friends. If only we could block those forwards.. sigh! 😦
Ban on blogs, Ban on orkut communities, Ban on cartoons on CN, Bandh in Bangalore, Protest against Pope, Curfew in Mangalore, Protest for National Song, Protest for Danish Cartoons..
Has this fanatic form of religion and nationalism ever been more ominous than in the last few years? Chilling! “We are in trouble.. yes we are”.
I was recently told by a colleague that these days orkut invitations are auctioned in sites like ebay and reportedly some jobless people also have websites where you could request an invitation for free..I tell you, this crazy waste of a generation 🙂
time for a banner on censorship?!?
Holy Christ man !!! I was laughing my ass off…..especially as I was just talking to a friend this morning about the whole Orkut Open Relationship thing 🙂
Man, this post just made my day…
GB, considering that this was reported by TOI (and no one else), we should perhaps take this with a pinch of salt.
Vamsi.
hahaha!!! bang on, mister!! Esp loved this:
‘meeting a few jobless, lifeless dudes and dudettes and engaging in debates of national import like “Who is India’s sexiest cricketer?†and “Last Person to post in this thread is Sachin’s biggest fanâ€.’
The number of these silly games that are played on ALL Orkut communities has to be seen to be believed…and the way and the frequency with which these guys (and girls) reply to each other – they HAVE to be jobless and lifeless.
About complaining on ‘open relationships’…hehe, sour grapes, GB??:-D
I had a woman posting on my school community saying all guys from xxx’s are dogs and the replies she got included – ‘I dont know you but would love to be friends with you. Do feel free to discuss with me if anyone from the school has hurt you personally – send me PM or scrap me. regards, YYYY, 98#@@@#!@#. ‘
jeez.
haii grtbong!
i rallly rally laik ur blog, wud u plzzzzz mak franship wid me?
gonna start a community “Love Indian high courts” right a way in Orkut. They r simply irreshishtaabal.
Bong ji, i was expecting a post on KanshiRam.
I am so glad I left Orkut. I used to miss the daily dose of humor, but your blog posts more than compensate for it. Thank you.
“…akin to sitaram yechury’s idea of open market” – hillarious! 🙂
wow! An entire post criticising the action of a court without any reference to relevant laws. If the law makes publishing such material on the internet illegal, then would have preferred that the court ignored the law and set aside the PIL?
The more I read you, the more I am coming to the conclusion that you would rather sacrifice logic for the sake of being sarcastic and funny (which you are very good at, btw).
“BackStreet Boys 4 Bengali Fansâ€..ROTFLMAO!!
Fatafati!!
interestingly, the “we hate those who hate India”, or other communities against the ‘we hate India’ community in question, are a lot more active and more vitriolic
Ki aar volega. You’ve said it awl. Btw, is this some kNowachey hate-Orkut thingy that’s on in blogosphere? Sagnik kaku too seems rather disturbed about missed (Do)nuts of late in his blog.
Iye maaney meant chNowachey, not kNowachey.
YOURFAN writes:
@GB:“their concept of an “open†relationship is akin to Sitaram Yechruy’s idea of an “open market†– excellent analogy. So why do you say you don’t have knowledge of economics? Flip side of your observation implies you also have good knowledge about ‘open relationship’ – is it a theoretical one or a first hand knowledge? Superbly humorous article.
@Yourfan2: How can you remain silent after this article on Orkut?
I just imagine the reaction of the employees in Google after they hear that. As a reply, probably, they will just have to write detailed instructions on “how to report a bogus community”. Thats all.
@Rohith: Yes the laws…really.
@Suyog: They make Orkut worth it. And the Backstreet boys of course.
@Nishit: 🙂
@Anonymous: 🙂
@Nachowski: My favorite is the “flesh eating bacteria” forward.
@Hiren: Oh but do join Orkut. It is an interesting place and you do find many old friends through it.
@Aravind: Sigh.
@The Graduate: Sorry for the late reply. Have mailed you. And you are right “Desi” baba was a Pakistani site.
@JJ: Thank you.
@Sam and S.Pyne: Oh indeed I blame him too. And I understand the point about the judge being obligated under the law to pass the judgement. My question however is different: don’t I always hear of backlogs…of cases that are waiting years for a next hearing: some of them extremely simple ones. So if that is the case, should not such silly PILs be low-priority….dont the judges have more pressing matters to deliberate on?
@Sayon: As far as I know, Google World still shows India’s nuclear installations. So yes I do not expect it to “buckle”…
@HP: Ideally a female blogger…
@Pradeep: I have been on Orkut since 2004 summer !
@Nautilus: 🙂
@Ali: And yes so we are. Unless the “masala aunties” can help us.
@BangoNari: Sigh.
@Anon: Good idea ! Now the images are the challenge
@Soham: 🙂
@Vamsi: Its on HT now also.
@Raccoon: Sour grapes ! Now where did you get that idea?
@Haha: Depends on whether you are a ledki aur woh bhi khobsorat.
@Ram: And watch that getting reported as bogus ! Kansi Ram…ahhh…
@DJK: Thank you
@Vinay: 🙂
@Mohan: Yes pity. I am not so wise as to quote “Dafa 420” or something—maybe you should go elsewhere for that. As to logic, well I explained what the logic of this post was in the comment to Sam and S.Pyne……
@Abhijit: 🙂
@N: They are?
@R-I-M: Sagnik Kaku seems pissed off at fake John Abrahams…
@Yourfan: Theoretical one…absolutely theoretical one….:-)…..
As to yourfan2, he has had a serious health emergency in the family recently and I do not think he is coming online all that regularly.
@Amit: I do not think Google will even react to this.
Bloody brilliant, Arnab. Although you missed the ‘dating — men and women’ tag a lot of clueless straight men and women sport. It’s so fucking hilarious!
Also, the forward of all forwards — the ‘see your crush list’ mail. EVERYBODY I asked had tried it. I mean…!
However, I’m much inspired by Nachowski’s post. Since you’re on my Orkut list as well, I’d say you’d better brace up for some REALLY weird mails coming your way.
Bloody brilliant, Arnab. Although you missed the ‘dating — men and women’ tag a lot of clueless straight men and women sport. It’s so fucking hilarious!
Also, the forward of all forwards — the ‘see your crush list’ mail. EVERYBODY I asked had tried it. I mean…!
However, I’m much inspired by Nachowski’s post. Since you’re on my Orkut list as well, I’d say you’d better brace up for some REALLY weird mails coming your way.
@ Arnab :
Quite some time back I , inspired by the ‘hate India’ communities (in most of which Hinduism and Indianism are considered synonymous), had created a community named ‘s*r*w Pakistan’. After approximately 5 hours, the community was deleted and I got a warning mail from Orkut Admin.
That the community created by me was deleted is not an issue for me but what strikes me most is if Orkut Admin guys are so prompt then how come these ‘hate India’ communities exist for sooooooooo long? I find it almost impossible to believe that they haven’t been getting any complaints about these communities with pictures of a burning tri-colour, Ganesha idol in a toilet seat or even the worst kind of expletives involving Indian Greats and Hindu Gods/Goddesses.
GB, if the PIL was indeed “silly,” the court was all the more justified to have delivered its verdict w/o further deliberation. Besides, can we really “blame” the individual who might have felt disturbed and filed the lawsuit? Does he/she not have the same rights as an individual like a Indian Muslim citizen whose right as an individual to not sing VM you had defended earlier?
(Indeed, I had felt that the “right of an individual” was never an accurate premise for a Muslim non-compliant’s VM argument because the prevalent flavour of the argument as it was made was increasingly community-driven, i.e. hardly individualistic, as was evidenced in the related community-addressed fatwas, etc.)
GB do want my fraandsip??? i m ur gr8 fan… a friend of mine wants to meet these backstreet chokras 😀 can u give directions… 🙂
Btw have they set up a Judicial committee ooops i meant community 😀
hmm. so now you are blaming the person who brought the PIL for exercising his constitutional right as a citizen, just because you don’t agree with his contention? Brilliant. What happened to your liberal values?
As for pil’s wasting court time, take a look at this comment by a Supreme Court judge. But ofcourse, you will probably dismiss it as nonsense, because it doesn’t agree with your opinion.
@Rimi: Welcome to the club! We shall fight this scum…. together!
LOL great post but the snippet below is the funniest part of the blog 🙂
concept of an “open†relationship is akin to Sitaram Yechruy’s idea of an “open marketâ€
I am ok without ur “franship” . Just keep up the excellent entertainament man.
How about a plot with Prabhuji let loose on Orkut …
BTW , Not that I am even remotely interested with wife and kid and all… But whats the name of the Brazilian babes group?
i joined orkut with HIGH HOPES.
all i got was a rotundish brother (as a loving sister i refuse to call him fat or even more accurately — obese) and a tall sister.
not a single dashing male has ever popped up. and the number of people who post a picture of a handsome hunk on their profiles…. ah! who can you trust?
as for the judges… they must be creating communities like JUDGE DREAD and swopping nib-breaking stories.
@Rimi: Yes quite forgot about that bit of nonsense.
@deBoLiN: Pakistani people in Orkut? Otherwise I fail to see why Google would be selective about offensive communities.
@S.Pyne: Now what do we mean by “blame”. A few years ago, a man in Kerala filed a PIL against Rahul Gandhi because he had come to Kerala and stayed together with his Colombian girlfriend..outside wedlock. Now will we “blame” this man for being offended? Certainly we will laugh at his PIL just as we laugh at the PIL of this man. This man has a choice…if he is offended stop visiting orkut. Which was not the case with the Vande Mataram circular.
Now the “Vande Mataram” thing was different. There the government was sending a circular making it mandatory for people to sing it. Nobody has made it mandatory (as of yet) to be a member of Orkut and to visit the “I hate India” communities.
@Sumod: 🙂
@Mohan: Indeed I am blaming him for being silly. That is compatible with my liberal values. What is not is trying to STOP him from being silly (which I nowhere advocate–have I ever said he should be PREVENTED from filing a PIL?). In other words, people are free to be as silly as they want and I am free to laugh at it. However I have no right to stop people from being silly or to prevent other people from seeing the “silliness”.
Do you understand now?
As to that lovely link, beautiful. “Contrary to the general feeling, the courts’ time is not wasted due to the PILs”. Now if that isnt an unsupported assertion, tell me what is? The court’s time is not being wasted on a silly thing as Orkut—who says so? Says the judge. Why does he say so? Not that clear.
But we do hear of judgement being delivered 20 years after the crime…houses locked up forever because the case is pending in the High Court for years.
I dismiss it nonsense as the judge does not explain, by citing dafa of his choice, why he thinks frivolous PILs do not waste the courts time.
Indeed if I dismissed things that do not agree with me, then every time you commented I would reply with “Nonesense” and that would be the end of it.
@Rohit: 🙂
@Saurav: The entire Orkut is a community of hot Brazilian ladies.
@Swati: Post your profile link here and just watch the line of handsome hunks line up on your scrapbook.
GB, it is a thin line between laughing at others actions (which they are perfectly entitled to do) and going, “hey, we shouldn’t allow any such silliness to continue”. Hatred towards jews in Europe also probably started off with people laughing at their “silly” customs. [No, I am not suggesting that you are about turn into a Nazi, just taking it to extreme]
As for the judge’s comment, first of all, if a Supreme Court judge says something, I wouldn’t dismiss it lightly. Backlog of cases etc. it doesn’t work that way in any sphere. You can’t say, I will only deal with rape and murder cases first and then corruption and property disputes and then frivolous PIL’s. I am sure you have heard of low-hanging fruit. Rape and murder cases drag on not because judge doesn’t have time, but because the defense lawyers keep asking for adjournments. So when you have time between those cases, judges have to take up others. If they can take up a PIL and have it resolved in a couple of hours, why not? I guess that’s what the judge meant when he said frivolous PILs do not waste the court’s time.
In your response to S.Pyne, you mention about visiting Orkut being non-mandatory. That is totally beside the point. This person who filed the PIL noticed something which he thought was illegal and brought it to court’s notice. That it is not mandatory for him to visit Orkut is irrelavant. If India Today published such material and I file a PIL against them, would you say, “don’t read India Today if you don’t like it”? Well, maybe you would, but that is not the point. I notice something illegal and I bring it to court’s notice, that’s all.
i still dont understand why ban orkut communities at all. i must be dumb, i guess.
@Mohan: No there is a very thick line between criticizing someone’s actions (which is my individual freedom) and preventing someone from performing his actions (which is impinging on his). If you think there is a thin line, then yes that is laughable.
Low hanging fruit? Now I really dont know. Is that the way things operate—the bench says let’s look at the low hanging fruit and deal with them first…mm….Katrina Kaif’s skirt, Orkut petition….? I frankly do not know—though I expect that it does not work like that. This perhaps is not Shortest Job First scheduling.
A frivolous PIL even if resolved in 2 hours is a waste of time.
Yes I would say that. I would say “vote against India Today” with your wallet. Dont buy it. Ask your friends not to buy it. But do not force others not to read it.
@Nandhu: Because “hate speech” is illegal. Ask Mohan. He can provide you the “law numbers”. I cannot. I am also too dumb.
GB, as far as I understand (which is not much), the court is not obligated to entertain each and every PIL. Everyone would be better served if such silly PILs, which are an utter waste of the court’s time, are dismissed.
Mohan, you completely missing the point here. No one has questioned the right of the petitioner here. GB has questioned the wisdom of the said bench of the MH high court and rightly so. Do you think there is any practical way to stop people from preaching hate in Orkut communities? Even if the court decides to do so, it has no way of enforcing anything.
i’ve never received an Orkut invitation till date … I probably need to improve my online presence – i just don’t know what I am missing out in life 🙂
NanadaKishore: Practical way? ofcourse, google will probably have to take away the privilege of anybody posting anything on their website and have the content reviewed before being published. That’s what print media does. That’s what television does. Internet is just another medium. “oh we didn’t write it, some users did” is no excuse. That content is sitting on your site. India Today could also use the same approach. Fire their reporters, ask people to send any write-up they wish and publish the first 100 in magazine form without any review. Do you think they will be allowed to run for even a week like that? GB might say, let anybody publish anything, but that’s not the law. There are laws to regulate what can be published and what can’t be and that covers internet too (as Ebay India ceo found out when he had to spend a night behind the bars). So all that the court has done is to issue a notice as per the law. That’s why I said, if GB has any issues with the judgement, his rant would have been a little more credible if he had atleast bothered to check what the law says rather than spouting things like “vote with your wallet” etc. Yes, that may be his personal belief and nothing wrong with it, but unfortunately, Indian courts don’t run on his beliefs (not yet, anyway).
“Yes, that may be his personal belief and nothing wrong with it, but unfortunately, Indian courts don’t run on his beliefs (not yet, anyway).”
And thank the lord for that!
@Mohan
So basically, you want the internet to be regulated. Look, it’s all good to say that there are laws and the court must follow them. But there are also laws which are pretty ambigious, now this kind of PILs actually give the courts an opportunity to pass judgements depending on their interpretation of this ambigious law. Just take the recent PIL by Pratibha Naithani into consideration. Just one PIL meant that thousands of viewers in Mumbai are denied HBO and Star Movies. Did the courts ask the viewers opinion ? PILs which are based on one person’s whims and fancies can have other repurcussions for people who do not share the same viewpoints. So just as the person is among his rights to file a PIL, GB (and indeed people who fear further regulation) is well within their rights to ridicule and condemn such irresponsible action.
“if GB has any issues with the judgement, his rant would have been a little more credible” — credible for you, you meant, isn’t it ? And oh yeah, lighten up a bit. We are mostly here to have fun.
@Mohan – can you imagine what orkut would become if Google had to police everything put in it? The controls which the governments and the learned judges would like to put on the net (I’m not saying that they are unjustified), defeats the purpose of the internet.
Maybe the government/judiciary is out of sync with the internet and it would be futile to expect the 21st Century internet to co-exist with the 19th and 20th Century systems of government control.
Would you care to exist in orkut if every entry you made had to be individually scanned (to ensure it did not anger every individual nation, or social or racial group, or caste, or class or whatever). Couple the additional time spent in trying to find out what entries written in other languages, or other scripts, really mean. So you could type in something today and have it appear (after moderation) 2 years later. No, I think you’d go back to writing snail-mail letters.
I don’t know how you feel about it, but from the sheer impracticality, I’d hate to waste Google’s resources in ensuring nobody is hurt by the stuff in orkut. Which is why I’d agree with Arnab that the PIL is frivolous.
The only non-frivolous part of it is a serious legal question – how do you control the internet, given the sheer volume of information in it? Which country has the jurisdiction? And how do you punish someone who lives in another country?
Let’s also not forget that the definition of hate speech varies from country to country and is a very subjective matter. It might be easy to drag an entity that does business in India to court, but the very nature of the net means anyone can access such hate speech regardless of where it originates and courts in certain countries may not have any jurisdiction.
In any case, going by what I have read, stuff posted on Orkut is just puerile nonsense that is not worth the spending taxpayers’ money on to prosecute the alleged offenders. As long as it is not Al Qaeda type hate preaching to incite violence or terror or causing any harm to anyone personally for that matter, no point getting our knickers in a twist.
Oops, I see that Sayon has already made some of the points that I talked about. My bad.
@dipesh: law being ambiguous – maybe it wasn’t in this case. Maybe it was a clearcut case. I don’t know. I am trusting the court’s judgement. If anyone has any issues, they are the ones who need to show where the law is ambiguous and why the judgement is wrong. Court asking viewers’ opinion? They don’t have to. That’s not how judiciary works. People elect MLA’s and MP’s, they make laws, courts just resolve disputes based on those laws. So you want your opinion to reflect in the laws? Vote for someone who brings in such laws and hope that it gets passed in parliament (I know it is a roundabout way, but that’s what it is).
@Sayon: Actually, government is not that out of sync. There is an Information Technology Act and it was under that act that Ebay CEO was arrested. As for where Orkut would be, I don’t know. I have never been there, so I don’t know what kind of content is there. But it is for Google to worry whether their business model can be sustained within the laws wherever they operate. Not the other way round. GoI can’t say, “Oh Google has come up with this new business of user generated content. We better change our laws to suit that”. They may, but till they change the laws, it is for Google to obey the law.
@Nandakishore: Apparently, the IT Act allows the Indian government authorities to pursue case against entities operating outside India too.
Netizens’ freedom: must and premium.
Post anything on the net (bloggers, orkuteers): let the readers be free to decide (virtual ww-democracy, should supercede ground autocracies as in China). I’m liberal.
Let a film/paper/magazine (e.g. India Today) present its contents freely: let the buyers decide. Hail intellectual/artistic democracy.
Let a free individual – be it in compliance to communal ganged up consensus – be not coerced to sing a national song: let the individual decide (fatwas notwithstanding). Long live freedom of individual and secularism.
Let a free individual not infringe upon any of the above rights with a PIL: let me and not the court decide it’s frivolous. Remember, I (and not the court) am the liberal (democratic, secular) ensuring the above freedoms so long…
As a liberal, I am more equal among all equals. Hail democracy (better virtual than on ground): let the blogger be free to decide.
Methinks this is all just getting delightfully interesting. Rabert, get that folder of fake Orkut profiles and Bogus Communities! Furst PIL against “My Name Starts With an ‘A'”! Secund against, “We Hate A**h****s!” Third against, “We HATE PILs”.
@Mohan: I’ve read your comments on too many posts to think that you are in the habit of writing without thinking. But I’m afraid that you haven’t thought too deeply on this topic.
The IT Act, while it is a brave attempt to do something, actually is a pretty ineffective law. Think about it – if Google is held guilty of not adequately policing orkut, what can the GOI do? Try to arrest the organisers, who sit outside India? Declare them ‘proclaimed offenders?’ Put out Red Corner Notices? Block Google? Harrass ISPs who do not block orkut?
The world-wide nature of the internet prevents nation states from effectively policing the net. No, it’s not google who needs to change its business model, but the Indian law which needs to realise its inability in trying to control wrong-doers who often sit outside the country.
How many cyber crimes happen in India? How many arrests / convictions have happenned under the IT Act? If you bother to look up the statistics, I’m sure it will tell a pretty tale.
No, when dealing with cyber crimes, the nation state will fail. It needs a new paradigm of law enforcement to deal with the new environment. The environment does not change to suit the law – the law needs to change to suit the changing situation.
This order from the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court only reinforces my belief that the BHC is full of loony judges, with a complete lack of a sense of priorities. For more, see this
@Sayon: I guess they will try and block Orkut, like they had done with some blogging sites earlier. There is a department under IT ministry (Computer Emergency Response Team) whose job it is to block unwanted web sites, among other things. Maybe it is not foolproof, maybe people will continue to access blocked sites through other means, I don’t know. But for now, Government of India seems to believe that Internet is policeable (atleast what can be accessed from India) and the laws have been framed with that belief. And my point is courts have to work with whatever laws they have.
@Mohan: So thwe GOI is wrong – the internet is not effectively policable. In trying to control the net, the GOI is going to make itself look foolish.
No issues on the court – it can only try to implement impractical laws, and depend on the ‘contempt of court’ provision to stop people saying ‘The Law is An Ass!’
The Indian blogsphere is running outta content I guess.
A court after duly analysing the pros and cons gives a verdict and suddenly this self-appointed gaurdians of freedom of expression get hysterical all over the b’sphere and spend hours losing their blog individuality to harp on the same topic.
It all started with the pony-tail bashing of Arindam of IIPM when a part of the desi b’sphere was converted into a Forum. Every post related to IIPM in different blogs referring to each other. on Oct 8th last year, Indian bloggers lost their individuality and started mass-blogging 🙂
And now its the Indian Court vs. Google. Enjoy…
) there is a virus on orkut that eats your genitalia before you know it
ROFLMAO! methinks the site is a bleddy waste of bandwidth and that is all
enjoyed your post. not everyone did though.. http://silkboard.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/the-great-bong-orkut-and-the-irony/
Food for thought on similar lines here:
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2006/10/faltugiri.html
BTW, The Author of this blog is IIMA alumni, and I think most of you already know her and her popular JAM
Hurr
hey,
i have an orkut community called ORKUT MAFIA, for precisely such reasons. you can join that and start killing anyone whom the group feels like killing…what r u waiting for???
achal
hi,
can the judiciary filter Orkut?…just like China did with google search engine…I wonder…coz India’s considered a “soft state”…
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1826957,0015002100000000.htm
There actually is a community on orkut dedicated to the hilarious friendship requests received . It’s called friendship for dummies oh wait i think its now called ‘wanna make friendship’? Anyway check it out. It’s fun!
These are the profiles of some of the friendship requesters on orkut. heeeeeeee
THIS DUDE IS A MODEL…… mind u this was way funnier with the pics…..
about me: hiiiii Guys……me only me..no one like me….coz my name is Sahal & Sahal means easy…i think no one easy like me….. i m verrry open minded n Straight 4word , Lovable, Carring boy i m a Computer Engnr & a part time model from Ahmedabad, Delhi & Mumbai
I LOVE 2 WALK IN RAINS COZ NO1 CAN C MY TEARS……..
activities: Modeling, struggle n work hard
books: Hardy Boy
music: allllll romentic music
movies: Jism,Dil Chahta Hai,Tom never Die
I’M NOT SURE WHY THIS DUDE SCRAPPED ME. HE SOUNDS SUPER GAY!
about me: the world is round, the friend are close when i look into your eyes i look as my way,
what you want to know about me im active boy,I do every thing which i think is right,
more about me not now after the friendship.
in my bedroom you will find: Pooh bear, periodic table, a smock, pictures, Picture of Salman Khan in my closet, Mirror (can’t live without one), pillows, hundereds of pen from different drug companies, clothes (duhhh),loads of papers, thumb board, and much more!
AND THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE…..
wanna chat or mail exchange with patna boy?
whose three brother are IITian
and i am doing preparation of MCA
i saw you, are beautiful and got sth to my heart
Happiness is something u always work for the future.
about me: Name is p*****p ****a. completed BCA from ***** and having well communication in english and hindi. Target:to be owner of website server and ofcourse website administartor. ,after completing join MNC company. Philosphy of Life:being good human beings and make other same.
loking for right girl which can understand my feeling ang give pleasure in my life.broad minded girl i look for,beautiful ,intelligent and of course caring and give love.
activities: traveling,doing masti in life
books: u can win,godan,shrelock homes,henry
rofl! excellente!!
you are funnier than even I am ! I dont like this !!! Lol
i will suggest you better site than orkut . callinglife.com
this is much better than orkut
a few people have sent friendship requests but their picture looks like brad pitt or matt dillon or anthony bourdain
their profile reads like what priya has written about.
all of ’em want to meet pretty young things.
all of them are illiterate.
if they could read they could have found out that i am a 41 year old rotund female.
plzz sab meri help kero! mera community nahin khul raha kia karoon ??[:(] i am really sad mujhe mail ker do yeh hain mera id forever_friend2006@hotmail.com
i want to like to see u
And I only thought that HOT BRAZILIAN BABES were IT!
I have posted a picture of a happy dancing pig and am getting fraandship requests galore!
On second thoughts, are they the lovers of sausages, bacon, ham and other things porcine?
dont wory be happy
“Google, Indian Police Combat Orkut Offenders”
http://www.tech2.com/india/news/websites-internet/google-indian-police-combat-orkut-offenders/3699/0
Brilliant post.
I can only quote the girl who left the following comment in Mr.Stankovic’s scrapbook on Orkut, in response to his statement that he didn’t care what anyone said, and trash talking wouldn’t make a difference either. She said: “Good attitude…put it to good use. Get a life.” Now if only he, and all those who are currently busy spamming him or creating other Hate communities would listen to her…
he he..the “friendship” thing is so so true..have recd so many ” i wanna make freinship with you” requests..
achal are you from st antony school?
i want 2 make frndship with girl,aunty or bhabhis plz help me for searching them
iam searching for any sexy aunty
hi……..
friends m schring a sexiest gal 4 myself
if there is some one let me know
my no. is 9850033372(aurangabad{mh})
Hello …Mr SUNNY …i have been using this name here for more than 2 yrs…do u want to take responsibility for all my comments !! Btw its very common so i dont blame u . i am sunny jain from kolkata.
ki karda hai