Friday, March 11, 2011

Beauty And The Beast


(A government proposal cooked by some chilled brain is seeking to police blogs. The government can now charge bloggers with civil and criminal penalty, ranging from three years to life imprisonment. My question is who defines questionable content? )


The citadels erected by monarchs came crashing like castles of sand. Such is the power of Jasmine. One whiff, and thud! Strange, a brutal and violent uprising to be named Jasmine. The scent was so potent that the sharp shooting female guards of Muammar Gaddafi shivered in their boots. What began from a social networking site moved to the streets of Tunisia, erupted at the Tahrir Square and landed Mubarak in coma. The scent has reached as far off as China. That’s the power of an uprising. Once again freedom is an idea to die for.


It cannot be contained. Unable access my blog  for a few minutes, I became so restless that I went and vented my ire on Facebook against the service provider. And found that I was not alone. Many others were facing the same issue. Anger and disenchantment now finds new ways of expression. Not only by means of rallies, morchas, papers and magazines, but via new age media – twitter, blogs, and of course, Facebook.
Of all the seductions of media, its beauty lies in promoting transparency and fighting injustice. Yet, media is the omnipresent, 24/7 beast which hounds the powerful; devouring reputations, exposing scandals and delivering justice.


In the internet age no one can keep the people away from knowing the truth. President Obama was bang on when he said, “Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” Yet, the irony is that ‘Freedom’ is much easier to support in theory than in practice. the US had to impose curbs on Wikileaks and tape the whistle blower whose whistles continue to embarrass the government. Worse, the revolution in the Middle East is not going according to the American script. Scripts don’t work. People want to write their own scripts.


You can bury the ‘corrupt body’ to the chanting of CBIs deceptive funeral rites but its merciless spirit will continue to haunt. So when the government emerges from one crisis and falls with twice the thud into another, it tries to hush-hush the fall. Yet the fall becomes an embarrassing headline the subsequent day. And the post mortem by the people continues on the internet for months. It is unstoppable.

The beauty of the medium lies in the fact that it can axe its own foot, if the foot is in the wrong place. Remember how Barkha fell from the heights of Kargil to the lows of spectrum? The moment you err, media becomes a beast. Print or pixels, the rules apply to all.

The beauty of media activism delivered justice for Jessica, but hounded Aarushi like a beast. The governments have to learn to tame the beast to their advantage to appreciate the beauty of it all. They just cannot gag the beast, or strangulate the voices. You cut one arm, another sprouts from nowhere. This beast snaps on the heels of those governing us, constantly hectoring, incessantly exposing. Beset with controversy after controversy, the government is trying to play judge, jury and the executioner by policing blogs. The suppressed feelings will find other ways of expression.

Dear God of all that is fit to upload, is it a crime to voice genuine opinion on blogs? If it is, it’s a pity.
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50 comments:

  1. Alka, was expecting some one like to u react to the news.

    Yes, i too read about this, it's a proposal as yet.

    All i can say, if it's accepted and implemented, it will change the face of blogosphere... with no psuedonyms, and the author taking the responsibility of even the comments...

    let's c

    well written.... i see a marked change in your writings.

    RESTLESS

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  2. hhmmm.. so like print media, bloggers will have to keep enough evidence n facts in support of their write ups...

    even then personally i don't see any threat to bloggers bcoz what ever someone writes in his/her blog, is always based on some theory and facts behind that...

    BTW you have presented the subject very well here... its very well written... CONGRATS.

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  3. Alka. bravo!

    It will be interesting to see if the proposal gets accepted and implemeneted. It would be difficult though to define the content of any blog as questionable. Afterall, we do have freedom of speech and expression too.

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  4. Alka. bravo!

    It will be interesting to see if the proposal gets accepted and implemeneted. It would be difficult though to define the content of any blog as questionable. Afterall, we do have freedom of speech and expression too.

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  5. unfortunately the ruling government had started believing it is god but soon the worms started crawling out and coincidentally the power of the social media emerged leading the govt to planning to curb the social media - a knee jerk reaction by the jerks.

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  6. your rage comes through beautifully in your post!! well done!!

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  7. Try as much they may , its not possible to curb these voice from hearts! personally i dont feel it would change much but i hope that people don't bind themselves just coz it has come on papers.
    exceptionally well written !!

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  8. Clearly this an attempt to kill our right to speech and freedom to express. Moderation only proves that how ill-equipped our GoI is to read the harsh reality and what does the blogosphere thinks. Every post on Scam makes people more aware of the insight. Hence to cut the chaos that Blogosphere can do they are imposing such an act.

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  9. Whether it gets implemented or not is not the question. I think the mere mention of this proposal in media has already had it's effects. It's only people who give false claims and judgements on their own that need to worry. Presenting facts and our opinions on it shouldn't be an issue. I do agree with the anonymity being questioned. Under a fake name, people get away with a lot of things!

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  10. It is a ridiculous proposal, and I don't see how it would be implemented. There would be a huge uproar if this were to be implemented. Maybe, we will have a rally to oppose it then :).

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  11. I hear ppl talking abt countries like China...I would say free speech is nothing but an illusion. no govt. can afford it.
    V for Vendetta something i would recommend

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  12. it is insane actually...
    the what's and how's of the predicament at hand are boundless...
    wonder what all government has in its little bag to shock further;/

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  13. @Restless...Thanks. I doubt they can implement it..


    @Irfanuddin...Appreciate your spending time.


    @Always Happy.. I doubt they can implement it..

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  14. I m not too sure if this will get implemented. However, i like ur take on it. Well done!

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  15. @Magiceye..Exactly...a knee jerk reaction.
    The policy seems fundamentally flawed to start with.

    @subtlescribbler...true. I doubt its implementation.

    @Prateek.. You are bang on..The voice of the blogging community is too powerful to muffle.

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  16. @Jyothi...You have nailed it.The policy seems fundamentally flawed.

    @Rachna...Its tough to implement it.


    @Jon...Exactly..Freedom is a great idea in theory but tough to practice..

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  17. @Suruchi...I doubt that the proposal will go through.


    @Ria..Thanks for reading dear. When are you off to UK?

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  18. Freedom is certainly the idea to die for. With so much happening around the world, with so many uprising be it man, or nature, it is but silly of the government to think of such a plan. Policing blogs, policing the freedom of expression, I think that if such silly things happen, their is little time for this government.

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  19. Let us hope the good sense prevails!!

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  20. Next Indiblog meets can be planned at Tihar or Yerwada..

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  21. @BA..Bang on.

    @Giribala...True.


    @Harish...I am observing this wonderful sense of humour Harish..Perhaps it was always there and I never saw it.Keep it on.
    And who knows we might meet at Tihar.. Isnt there one in Blore? Tihar and Yerwada will be hot and humid.

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  22. Being an observer in the Middle east right now, i can feel the heat here. Seems everyone goes gaga for Freedom. Blogging censorship is at its peak here and i wonder why a democratic republic like India would take up the cudgel against some innocent bloggers. Isn't that India- the supposed democratic or you people too living in oppression like the middle east? Hmmmmmmm....Now its getting weirder!

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  23. @cloud nine...As of now we are free to express opinions. There are talks about a proposal which I doubt will be implemented. The mere mention of policing has people up in arms...I feel for blogging community in the Middle East. Hope and pray that they too can express and voice opinions soon.

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  24. Hope the proposal is shot down. Although i wonder who brings up all these sorts of proposals in our govt. There was one sometime bk regarding reducing the legally-consenting age of sex to be brought down to 12 from the current 16. Thankfully, law ministry threw it in bin.

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  25. And here I was so happy writing what came from my heart, without having to worry about some editor in a magazine or paper rejecting it as not conforming to their sycophantic line! Do we expect blacked out texts a la Emergency days or worse?
    You are right about the beast cropping new limbs when its existing ones are chopped off. Let's wait and watch..

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  26. @DG... Thanks for reading.. I was missing your comments.


    @sm..Scary thought. Though I doubt it.


    @Zephyr..Yes, that is the beauty of blogs..Freedom. Seems to be a crazy idea of a few scared sycophant babus..scared of being exposed.

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  27. I love how you have presented a balanced point of view. The tone is calm but the message hard hitting.

    We are on the verge of Cultural Fascism - high time we said, enough is enough!

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  28. @purba..Yes, Cultural Fascism it is.
    Its not going to be easy to implement it..blogosphere will erupt on FB and twitter..
    No news after that knee jerk reaction.

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  29. this is ridiculous.. are there a shortage of true crimes in the nation that they feel the need to go for this... the right to an opinion also gone.

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  30. MEra bharat mahaan .. thats all i got to say


    Bikram's

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  31. Alka,

    I read about this proposal on another blog too. It is still unclear to me what exactly is being proposed.

    But I know - right now also -blog can be monitored and use against and for the author in the court of law. Recently in the UK a blogger was sentenced for using his blog ...read PW's blog...she published it today. Also I know here in the USA, the service provider has to provide information about blogger if the government demands....

    Is Government of India doing anything different?

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  32. @Pythoroshan....Our sense of priorities is mostly misplaced.


    @Bikramjit..Yes, its bubbling with good bad and crazy ideas..

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  33. @A..@A...I guess the babu who has tabled the proposal himself does not know what the govt wants and how to implement it.

    http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-10/india/28676564_1_omnibus-terms-bloggers-due-diligence

    "Any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger"

    Blogs are clubbed with network service providers as most of them facilitate comment and online discussion and preserve the traffic as an electronic record, but equating them with other intermediaries is like comparing apples with oranges, says Pavan Duggal, advocate in the Supreme Court and an eminent cyber law expert.

    'This will curtail the freedom of expression of individual bloggers because as an intermediary they will become responsible for the readers' comments. It technically means that any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger," he explains.

    Even Google, the host of Blogger, among India's most popular blogging sites, expressed displeasure at the proposal. "Blogs are platforms that empower people to communicate with one another, and we don't believe that an internet middlemen should be held unreasonably liable for content posted by users," a spokesperson told TOI.

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  34. That is some powerful writing.

    Obviously, many old time maids and cooks are trembling in fear of getting exposed. Going by the overwhelming slush of corruption our incredible country is rolling in, unbridled bloggers must be a feared species.

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  35. Here's a thing, and believe me I dont often get to say that, but u totally write like a pro. More often than not, I find reading other blogs a tedious prospect simply becoz of the quality of the narrative, or the sheer lack of it, but in this case, I genuinely enjoyed every bit of it, all the way.
    You have a way with words, for sure.
    And is it really true, policing blogs, and all. They cant be serious, for crow's sake.
    Sounds like Orwell's 1984.

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  36. I've read so much about it already Alka, I can understand the anger behind government's move too. But it was just their way of telling the BIG bloggers to be diplomatic about the way they talk, and we all are still too tiny to be even noticed! And anyway as long as we know how to serve them real issues covered with all the cream, they can't do a sh*t about it!

    That asterik (*) was for the letter 'I' ! It makes sense, see ;)

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  37. Great post, its really pathetic that the Govt. wants to curb our rights of speech and expression. If we cannot express our views then we are not a democratic country anymore. And I wonder that they can't learn the fact that, the more they suppress the freedom of the people the voices become more stronger - Egypt and Libya are the live examples.

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  38. If it happens, it will be most undemocratic and unfortunate.
    But, those who have seen 1975, will vouch that any thing can happen with congress in the centre

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  39. @Umashankar... the comments are also a responsibility of the blogger. Strange na?

    A Great Liar..Sincerely appreciate. Thanks.

    Sourav..already practicing it?

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  40. @Anto..true.."Any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger" Funny or Crazy?


    @BKC....True. Agree....

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  41. Hi Alka,

    I am not on the side of the government at all. There are many contradictory thoughts however when I try to understand how much far we can take our freedom.
    For e.g. I am in full support of zero censorship( absolute) but when I think about it, if we have zero censorship, we would not be able to contain slender against ourselves or the persons whom we love. People usually talk trash on web. If you have 0 censorship then they will talk anything that comes to their mind.
    However if we do have some censorship, how much is enough? Is calling a politician corrupt is good enough? Should it be censored because it is a character assassination as well? Some one who knows truth may well point out the flaws in other but what if the truth is itself sketchy.
    So it is a difficult decision as to how much censorship is good. Many people have talked against our country and our country has termed it sedition. I am for open talk but should sedition talk be censored?
    These are questions that cannot be answered that easily. Of course man politicians would like public to keep mouth shut on various scams but I doubt they will be able to do it.
    Japanese have shown that they can be very calm and collected when there is a calamity on them. Can we Indians get this kind of maturity to provide criticism and take criticism without getting emotional about it. I think those days are still far away.

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  42. @Ashwini...coming from that perspective, what you say makes absolute sense. As i said Freedom is a great idea in theory but difficult to practice. And as you rightly said, too much freedom also has its drawbacks.This blog post was in reaction to the broad stroke of the govt order.

    http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-10/india/28676564_1_omnibus-terms-bloggers-due-diligence
    "Any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger"
    Blogs are clubbed with network service providers as most of them facilitate comment and online discussion and preserve the traffic as an electronic record, but equating them with other intermediaries is like comparing apples with oranges, says Pavan Duggal, advocate in the Supreme Court and an eminent cyber law expert.

    'This will curtail the freedom of expression of individual bloggers because as an intermediary they will become responsible for the readers' comments. It technically means that any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger," he explains.

    Even Google, the host of Blogger, among India's most popular blogging sites, expressed displeasure at the proposal. "Blogs are platforms that empower people to communicate with one another, and we don't believe that an internet middlemen should be held unreasonably liable for content posted by users," a spokesperson told TOI.

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  43. "Suppress it,police it,
    May be muffled,
    But The Voices will never die"

    They are redefining the constitutional right???

    Great Hard hitting post!

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  44. It's really a pity that our Govt. has decided to censor blog of all things.Very nice and an apt post at the right time.

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  45. @Beyond horizon...Thanks Poonam.

    @Ajay...Thanks.

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  46. Keep your eyes open. If this is implemented then, this is a direct infringement of your fundamental right to speech and expression. And trust me, I will be the first one opposing it!! And even file a PIL in the court!

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  47. Alka,

    This needs application of mind by those who are guardians for democracy. Media needs to be made answerable to become responsible. But it should never be gagged. Each of us has freedom to express our opinions but as long as we do not call for mob frency like lynching during mob attacks , why should it be gagged. And what I write is my opinion, so how can I stop someone expressing his or her opinion in comments? I hope that those drafting the rules do act responsible and go with times.

    Take care

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  48. Well said!!

    Catch my thoughts on the same topic - Against Cyber Censorship

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