Call me Paranoid BUT..
This post was finally triggered by this tweet from Bibek Debroy:
Is it true that anti-govt tweets are being censored/deleted?
Now, I am not sure whether this is actually happening or not (would not surprise me)…but in the spirit of being fore-warned = fore-armed etc., here are a few tips and suggestions…
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Image Courtesy: Andrew Grove’s 1997 bestseller: Only The Paranoid Survive
Related Tweets and Posts: “Like China, we will block all such websites”
On Scandalous Information about High-profile People†and Communal Violence and Hate Propaganda
Freedom of Speech according to Hon Sh Sibal
On Blogs, Comments, Liability and Being Sued
P.S. In a judgement regarding MF Hussain, the Delhi High Court remarked that “a painter has his own perspective of looking at things and a difference in perspective could not be the basis of initiating criminal proceedings against him.”. I wonder if the same “protection” is available to bloggers.
Now that you’ve mentioned censorship:
Kerala CM has an official FB page – https://www.facebook.com/oommenchandy
There was an update on how Govt. of K is working towards getting ‘Classical’ status for Malayalam language. I wrote a comment which was almost like this – ‘ By what stretch of imagination is Malayalam a ‘classical’ language? Isn’t Malayalam the ‘youngest’ of the four Dravidian languages?’
Someone from my FB list wrote two comments after this supporting me(questioning GOK’s efforts). And dang, the status message was deleted! No, not comments, but the update itself was deleted.
The a/c is handled by someone from CM’s office; not a case of censorship, but that uneasy feeling when someone opposes your ideas.
This is not an example of Sibalism, but the inability to take criticism. Let’s not forget that it is a Congress-lead coalition that’s in power in Kerala.
In his press address, Kapil Sibal seemed more focused on tweets which express anti-Gandhi family sentiments. Basically they just want to shut up those who criticize or say negative things about the “First Family”. No one really cares if you criticize the PM or Chidambaram. Kind of reminds one of Indira going after journalists prior to the Emergency. Are we going down that path again?!
On a side note, over the last two years, especially after UPA-II, our rights to free speech are slowly being eroded with the full collusion of the English media. There is very little outrage at events that should cause outrage. Most of the media thought preventing Rushdie from the Jaipur lit festival was the height of intolerance. But hardly any of them made a big deal when a professor in Kerala had his hand chopped off for mentioning the word Mohammed on a test paper. Not a single free speech activist came to his support. How pathetic.
It is common knowledge that the media is only moved by the supposed intolerance displayed by some right wing Hindu groups. That they are complicitous in their silence when jihadi groups express intolerance is also common knowledge.
What is frightening is that one day our word and thought police will not allow us to express anything but the ruling party line and that this will be fully supported by the media which is supposed to stand for free speech.
Nikhil: Thanks for sharing…Not a pleasant feeling, I can understand…especially on a public forum.
Harapriya: Yes, the situation is grim..My only hope is that human ingenuity will remain one step ahead of ham-handed efforts by government to muzzle free speech…But the portents are not good.