This came as a complete shock to me. India actually has the third highest Internet censorship rate in the world.
In a dramatic move, Google yesterday released the figures of government censorship requests it receives. We – India – the world’s largest open democracy are just behind Germany and Brazil. To be fair, the list doesn’t include China – which would be numero uno of course.
I can’t believe our local press hasn’t reported this. Do they think it’s not important or relevant? Why hasn’t the media highlighted our shameful position? How can we improve unless we know the facts in the first place? Thanks Google, for letting us know the truth and caring enough about it.
Here is what our Indian government asked Google to take down between the 1st of July 2009 and the 31st of December 2009:
- 2 Blogger blogs
- 1 Book Search (court order)
- 2 Geo (except Street View)
- 119 orkut profiles
- 1 SMS Channels
- 2 Web Search
- 15 YouTube
That’s 142 website removal requests. And Google had to comply at least partially with 77.5% of them. The Indian government also sent out 1061 data requests – the fourth highest in the world. Considering the fact that Internet penetration in India is still low, this represents a frightening percentage of takedown notices.
The highest is Brazil with 219 requests. Here are some of the others:
United States 123
South Korea 64
United Kingdom 59
A country like Pakistan is ranked waaaay down at 38 with less than 10 requests, and Google complied with none of them. It’s high time we woke up and became sensitive to the direction our Government is taking.
The whole world seems to know about it, except for us. Two years ago, when the Indian IT amendment was notified, lots of foreign newspapers screamed about the invasive provisions, but not a peep out of the the Indian ones! And then when Savita Bhabi was banned under the new provision, there was some reaction. But why didn’t anyone see it coming?
Why do we always sleepwalk into situations that screw us over? Why are we sleepwalking into the UID number regime without a proper debate? Our freedom fighters gave their lives to allow Indian citizens to have the freedom of expression. Why are we so willing to throw their efforts into the dust? Why why?
"The nation of 1.2 billion is the world's largest democracy and in principle affords free speech to its citizens. But the country has a volatile mix of religious, ethnic and caste politics and a history of mob violence. So, the government has the authority to curtail speech rights in certain cases. India's Constitution encapsulates that gray zone: Free speech is subject to "reasonable restrictions" for such purposes as maintaining "public order, decency or morality." http://bit.ly/6gKhK0
The government usually bans anti-establishment sites as well as those that incite violence…I don't think this kind of censorship works because I'm quite sure restriction on asking others to commit violent acts will actually stop them from doing so…An idiotic and unenforceable policy…
Sometimes, the Indian govt. asks ISPs to ban blogs temporarily…Eg. After the Mumbai train blasts, blogs hosted by blogspot and typepad were blocked because it was thought the terrorists were exchanging info through them…During Kargil war, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn's website was blocked…
The most famous case of Internet censorship was that of Hinduunity.org, which though run from the US, claims to be the official website of the Bajrang Dal (it's a repulsive site in my opinion)… The site posts anti-Muslim hate speech, creative interpretation of Qur'anic verses and a "hit list" of those who it says are against Hindus…
As I see it, the government may not agree with some of the views expressed on websites, but that does not give it the right to stop people from expressing their views…
The larger question is, why does Google bow to Indian policy and why does it continue to stay in India? Because it makes money…
In reply to Sraboney
Thanks for that article. It's really quite comprehensive and gives a good picture of censorship in India.
I think the way things are going, the situation will improve with time and not worsen. Another 10 years perhaps, and the number of removal requests should go down as a percentage.
As for Google, they of course have a balancing act to perform. They can't suddenly leave because they have to take down a request. If it gets too bad like it is in China, they would leave India just like they left China…
Local press will not report this Bhagwad, a lot of other media sees internet media as a threat. Did you see how the case of Ajith from Kerala was reported? A blogger had pointed out that the way Shashi Tharoor's tweets are hated is because he gives them no statements.They are used to being the middle men. This might get worse. Most other media is privately owned and they can make sure they print what they are paid for etc, they have resources to handle censorship and law suits. I feel eventually we might see a bloggers joining to create a stronger community too. This is a serious concern, basically all bloggers should be aware of the risks and responsibilities involved in blogging.
In reply to Indian Homemaker
Wow – I hadn't thought of that. Now that you mention it, it makes sense. Looks like everyone has a stake in keeping power out of the hands of the common citizens. The government doesn't want it and the corporations don't want it. It's a miracle the RTI act was passed…
But I wonder in what form the Indian blogosphere can get together. I don't know if it can be a formal grouping since bloggers are typically individualistic. And only a formal grouping brings about power. There are a few organizations in India I think who are pushing for more freedom in cyberspace, but they don't seem as well conducted as I would like them to be.
For example, http://www.naavi.org/ is campaigning for their issues, but their website is horrible. Cramped, no blog, iframes galore, no facebook/twitter page for updates etc etc. In fact, a lot of governmental or quasi governmental organizations have this horrible web design – it all combines to make them ineffective and not taken seriously…
This is always a complicated issue, but you are right to raise it. Freedoms have to be guarded or they will be lost.
Congrats India moved to top No. 1 spot in BOGUS takedown requests. See boingboing.net article
In reply to nma
At least Google doesn’t comply with the requests blindly. 88% bogus requests means that they vet each takedown carefully…