According to a report in the New York Times, Union Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal met with leading social networking sites in an attempt to censor messages posted on them related to India. According to the report, Mr. Sibal called legal representatives from the top Internet service providers and Facebook into his New Delhi office... At the meeting, Mr. Sibal showed attendees a Facebook page that maligned the Congress Party’s president, Sonia Gandhi. “This is unacceptable,” he told attendees, and he asked them to find a way to monitor what is posted on their sites. The report goes on to say that he wanted these sites to be humanly monitored as opposed to using technology to filter out offensive comments!
The attempt to clamp down on personal freedom, while the government uses all its might to dig up dirt on its opponents, are troubling signs of those in power trying to exercise undue control. The good news is that the fear of social media has crept its way to the very top and an attempt to crush this could spell the eventual doom for those in power. Earlier this year, the Egyptians “turned off” the Internet in act of desperation and the world knows how that story ended. We might not have reached such a precipice as yet, but these are sure signs that those in power are determined to go to any lengths to crush the rising tide of discontent.
Freedom of expression has reached new highs as previously non-existent mediums are slowly becoming available to large sections of the world population. You can launch a song on the Internet and get millions of viewers and an ardent following in a matter of days, as we saw in the case of the Kolaveri song. Likewise, you can earn notoriety and be completely exposed, as in the case of Swami Agnivesh. If someone says things on the Internet about Sonia Gandhi, or far that matter anyone else, it doesn’t exactly become true. This is by no means an attempt to condone offensive messages. People who read such posts are likely to come to their own conclusions about individuals who post such messages. Posts on social networking sites are a part of person’s digital trail that is here to stay for posterity. Those who misuse these new forms of freedom on the Internet are bound to pay the price through a strange, almost “karmic,” self-regulating mechanism. So those who post frivolous messages are as much at risk as the people they chose to berate in public. Clamping down and playing “school principal” is just not going to work and in fact will only make things worse because people will always find a way to get around such roadblocks.
Part of the problem is that while the world has changed, our politics is stuck in a time warp. Political parties across the country are still, by and large, like extended family businesses with no semblance of intra-party democracy. While media channels have exploded, our political leadership operates like we are still in the age of Doordarshan. Our PM holds meetings behind closed doors with a handful of his veteran buddies from the media and calls it a “press conference.” Our prince-in-waiting, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, does not write or speak to the media. Unfortunately, neither does Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Between them, they wield enormous power but sadly, offer little insight into their world view or, for that matter, their vision for a country with a growing majority of bustling, impatient, and ambitious youngsters.
At a time when the country is faced with so many challenging problems, it is painful to see Mr. Sibal and his ilk focusing their energies on precisely the wrong things. For instance, security of our computer networks is for more critical than random comments on social networking sites. The move to police the web is an indication that our leaders are completely out of tune with the times and out of touch with its young and dynamic populace. The last few weeks, in particular, have clearly shown that our elected leaders from all parties are incapable of collectively addressing the most pressing issues facing the country. When there are critical bills to be discussed and passed, the government drags in changes related to FDI in retail without any prior discussion whatsoever on the issue. The opposition meanwhile, seems more intent on disruption rather than any substantive debate.
The future belongs to countries whose leaders are unafraid to embrace these new avenues of freedom enabled by the latest technologies -- leaders who view these mediums as a source of great strength and a means to tap into the collective wisdom of its people, rather than overreacting to the misuse by a relative minority. Clearly, “Young India” has taken to this medium in droves. They are hungry and eager for India to shed its slow and painstaking ways and surge ahead in a globalized world. To realize the dreams of these young men and women, those in power should either “shape up or ship out.”
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