India Lurches Toward Internet Censorship 86
First time accepted submitter ixarux writes "India is at a crucial crossroad at the moment. Internet censorship laws are getting stricter as it begins to ban file-sharing and video-sharing websites. It started with Indian courts allowing censorship of Google, Facebook, etc. It has now gone one step ahead and decided to ask ISPs to block file-sharing sites. It is the movie industry which is again at the forefront of this. Anonymous retaliated, and targeted the websites of various Indian government websites in protest. What India lacks at this crucial juncture are debates in the public domain about this and citizens actually organizing protests as seen in the West."
India (Score:4, Insightful)
What India lacks is indoor plumbing for much of the population. I don't even know where to start with that place, but internet censorship isn't high on the to do list. Don't get me wrong, I love India, some of the most beautiful women in the world, ancient culture etc, but so many of them are living the exact same lifestyles as people did there a thousand years ago.
This case in particular is a prime example, the sites blocked were only in certain regions and at the behest of a production studio that had a new movie coming out while also owning several ISPs. Corruption that would stagger most of us in the west is everday life in India.
Rich Corporations (Score:5, Insightful)
If the movie companies have enough money to bribe the number of governments that they seem to, people are not illegally downloading nearly enough movies.
Re:Is that wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Once you start arguing over collective vs individual rights, you start down a slippery slope. You allow every petty tyrant to fence off their group against the influence of the one in the next country, the next city, just down the road, etc. Pretty soon, its the Hatfields and the McCoys. Everyone devolves into little fiefdoms and its back to tribalism.
India, or better yet, Indians, have the right to publicize their culture and ideology on the 'Net. And the rest of the world can take it, leave it, or adopt parts of it as they see fit. This is all good. Likewise, The West can do the same and Indians can adopt it or ignore it by voting with their mouse button. If Indian culture is so weak that it can't survive or adapt in the face of others, perhaps it shouldn't survive.