Indian government officials have asked Google, Yahoo and facebook to censor the content before it goes online. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday asked Internet companies to screen alleged derogatory, defamatory and inflammatory content about religious figures and Indian leaders.
Top officials from the Indian units of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook met with Kapil Sibal on Monday regarding this issue. They had a deep talk with the minister. After the meeting, no official want to talk to the media. So there is no response from these top internet companies. Mr. Sibal will also meet some top Internet Service Providers
Now a days, Facebook is full of photos and status which is targeting PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. 8 out 10 people on facebook have already shared this type content. Pointing to a page like this, Kapil Sibbal said,”This is unacceptable.” And he asked them to find a way to monitor what is posted on their sites.
Mr. Sibal also told them that he expected them to use human beings to screen content, not technology. But it is impossible to check all the contents by human beings in such a big country like india. Facebook has more than 25 million users and Google has more than 100 million users. Monitoring each data by a human is not possible. But companies have commented that they will try to accept this if there is any law or order by any Indian court.
The Indian government also plans to set up its own unit to monitor information posted on Web sites and social media sites, executives said, which will report to Gulshan Rai, the director general of India’s cyber-security monitor.
