Oops…I did it again…..
So says (& proves) the Indian Government.
A while back, it was the key loggers.
Now, they seem to have taken another regressive step towards technology adoption. Not heeding to a recommendation by the IT ministry, a parliamentary committee has proposed that service providers (mobile service providers and Internet websites) will be liable for any obscene and illegal content/activity on their site / using their service.
It’s a regressive step. You cannot run a business if you are held liable for all the content passing through your network. It’s almost impossible for a mobile network to monitor all video clips as a social networking site will find it difficult to monitor all illegal profiles even after you have conducted due diligence, which is very subjective,” said a large industry player, who didn’t want to be named.
via ET
In the age of Web 2.0, when User Generated Content (UGC) is the talk of the world, can you imagine how dumb and incomprehensible this decision is ? In the US, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) protects the online providers from litigation in case of copyrighted content uploaded by their users.
Without such a shield in place, social networking sites, forums, video sharing and all other forms of online, social media would not be feasible. Imagine if Google India is found liable for all the Orkut notoriety - from the Adnan murder case to the fake Mayawati profiles - they’d find it more economical and wise to shut down Orkut in India than deal with so many legal hassles.
What do you think ?
