India Looks to 'Protect its People' with Censorship of Social Media
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China is not the only one looking to censor citizens protect them. Officials in India recently met with operators of social media networks and search engines to determine what type of censorship could be installed to prevent and remove offensive material.
Some of the company’s which met with India’s Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal include Facebook, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).
Sibal said his request was an effort “to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us.” He later made the point that doing nothing would not be allowed; all companies will be held responsible for their sites content.
No deal was reached between the companies and government during the meeting. The companies told the government the request was impossible due to the massive amount of user generated content. India has the third-largest internet user base behind China and the U.S., although less than a tenth of people use the internet.
This isn’t the first type of censorship in which the Indian government has tried to implement. Last year, Indian security agencies had been demanding to intercept all communications sent through Research In Motion’s (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry devices. Regulators also mentioned in the past monitoring emails and messenger communications on Google and Skype.
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Some of the company’s which met with India’s Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal include Facebook, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).
Sibal said his request was an effort “to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us.” He later made the point that doing nothing would not be allowed; all companies will be held responsible for their sites content.
No deal was reached between the companies and government during the meeting. The companies told the government the request was impossible due to the massive amount of user generated content. India has the third-largest internet user base behind China and the U.S., although less than a tenth of people use the internet.
This isn’t the first type of censorship in which the Indian government has tried to implement. Last year, Indian security agencies had been demanding to intercept all communications sent through Research In Motion’s (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry devices. Regulators also mentioned in the past monitoring emails and messenger communications on Google and Skype.
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