New Delhi: By now, it's well known that Indian politicians are touchy when it comes to their own image online. But that they would consider setting a code of conduct for social networking sites has come as a shock to young and old alike.
The man behind the move is Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal, who is telling social media sites Google, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN and Facebook to pre-screen content before putting it online. He asked internet companies to screen alleged derogatory, defamatory and inflammatory content about religious figures and Indian leaders.
He is, surprisingly, being supported by former minister for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor, who has ardent followers on Twitter and Facebook. Tharoor tweeted: "I support Sibal on the examples, he gave me: deeply offensive material about religion and communities that could incite riots….Pretty vile stuff."
Jokes
For now, the very social networking sites, which the political leaders have used for their own advantage, are abuzz with jokes on the issue. A tweet said, "I just sent an email to Sibal seeking his permission to talk to my girlfriend about some private things." Another asked, "What does Sibal think he is running? A boarding school?"
What has peeved the minister among the so-called offensive photographs circulating on the internet are Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi shown as man and wife. The IT minister showed these photographs to the representatives of the companies he met.
Interestingly, Google has said until now it has got requests to remove 236 communities and profiles from Orkut because they were "critical of a local politician and the government." And just 19 requests on "impersonation and porn".
Pushpesh Pant, an expert on international diplomacy at Jawaharlal Nehru University says: "What Sibal is trying to do is good for a laugh. If you are a technical dinosaur and have political power to say that you can control online content, then it is ridiculous and cannot and should not be taken seriously. Being a legal person he knows the law, but he is also a foot-in-the-mouth minister whose stand on censoring online content should be ignored."
Users of networking sites are not ready to buy what Sibal has to say. While some are ridiculing him, others are plain unhappy at his decision-making powers.
Youngest Indian Everest climber Arjun Vajpai said: "Everyone has a freedom of speech and it means going too far if communication lines are cut. One can talk and solve an issue, but putting curbs on what someone does not like is certainly not acceptable."
Sibal has, meanwhile, threatened to ban "offensive material" on sites and warned, "Whatever step we take now, we will do it after careful consideration. They will have to give us data, then we will take action."
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi played it carefully. "Social networking is fine, but one has to see it doesn't become anti-social. Blocking the content is not the solution. Companies hosting the sites should apply self-regulation, but government regulation is certainly not right," he said.
