India OKs censoring Facebook, Google, Microsoft, YouTube | Hacker News Reader

India OKs censoring Facebook, Google, Microsoft, YouTube

zdnet.com

43 pointsSlimy15 comments

The current Indian government is run by a bunch of amateurs (if not outright criminals). They keep concocting fake issues to keep people from the real issues. Their days are numbered.

The dumb move by the government to censor the internet earlier was catapulted by opposition from every corner and then came headless high court rule and the signal from the court to continue with the censorship. I see this as a dumb and the dumber show.

2 things: Google does censor youtube - via responding to user complaints. And I bet Google /could/ censor the rest if it wanted to. And doesn't it already, anyway, for China?

But then if not, who would lose more, Google + Facebook or India?

Not really. Google gave up on censoring search results in China and simply moved its operations to Hong Kong (http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/02/googles-china-...).

China blocks websites that don't follow its rules. India is threatening to do something similar. From this article: "Like China, we too can block such websites," said Justice Suresh Kait.

Google is back in China, but it looks like they are somehow not censoring themselves there: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020343690457715....

This trend will go on, other 3rd world countries will do the same. The problem is that "the internet" doesn't have the political clout that mainstream media has.

The good news is that most of these countries are too corrupt and disorganized to make this censorship work. It might even actually help improve anti-censorship technologies.

This trend will go on, other 3rd world countries will do the same.

The term "3rd world" is a bit outdated (it's from the Cold War to describe neutral and non-aligned countries) and is derogatory. It would be more accurate to say India is a developing country.

3rd world=developing

I don't see anything derogatory about it.

Just because you dont see it means its NOT? Google it up! I think there are a significant number of Indian people visiting this site. I see no reason why a less offensive term like BRIC or developing countries can't be used.

This is technically true. But isn't it a bit pretentious to assume that every unindustrialized nation wants to (or should) "develop" into something more like America?

I am confused why google is repeatedly being included in this list. From what I read in the newspapers the (perceived) problem was that posts on facebook are promoting enmity between religious organizations. Setting aside the validity of this claim, what does google have to do with this problem ?

No surprise. All movies are reviewed by the Indian government's censor board. The 'world's largest democracy' has a long way to go!

Looks like a new reason to emigrate is being created this days:

Q: "Why do you want to live in Japan?" A: "Gastronomy, more jobs and no internet censorship"

India needs to correct their shit, or US companies need to begin pulling out. The dilemma is that any company worth their commercial salt is not going to give up the business opportunity that is the Indian economy.

I am an Indian and I used to think that one safeguard that we have against state sponsored censorship is that there are many companies outsourcing work to India, however I have recently realized that the outsourcing situation is more or less the same in China and they censor the web without qualms.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com