Kapil Sibal : An Idiot?

Union communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal's demand from social network sites, like Facebook and Google, to prescreen user content from India and remove disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before it goes online has received bitter criticism on the social networking site Twitter.

Kafila.org has started a campaign asking people to write 'Kapil Sibal' is an idiot' on their Facebook status message, to use the hashtag #IdiotKapilSibal on Twitter and write a blog post with titles censorship, Internet censorship in India, Kapil Sibal and  #IdiotKapilSibal.

SOME RESPONSES to Mr. Sibal

@over_rated retweeted, "The next task Kapil Sibal is going to undertake is to enumerate the grammatical errors in a Chetan Bhagat 'novel.'"

"Dare to think beyond Arindam Chaudhuri: Kapil Sibal," tweeted @fakingnews. @Joydas Joy wrote, "Kapil Sibal Asks Google, Facebook to Scan User Content" - "Google, Facebook asks Kapil Sibal to Scan Brains."

RT @Dosabandit Hey Kapil Sibal, why this kolaveri da? Take it easy macha! Chumma don't get angry, grow up. RT @BDUTT @PankajPachauri @sardesairajdeep @rahulkanwal “@agenthunt: Kapil Sibal thinks the Internet is like NDTV and can be controlled”

The company representatives are believed to have told Sibal his demand was impossible, given the volume of user-generated content from India, and that they cannot be responsible for determining what is and is not defamatory or disparaging. They also said the demand could be implemented only if there was a clear law.

Facebook in a statement says, "We want Facebook to be a place where people can discuss things freely, while respecting the rights and feelings of others, which is why we have already have policies and on-site features in place that enable people to report abusive content. We will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service. We recognize the government's interest in minimising the amount of abusive content that is available online and will continue to engage with the Indian authorities as they debate this important issue".

Medianama has a detailed analysis that tries to reason with the unreasonable Mr Sibal. Nikhil Pahwa notes:

The Indian government needs to have a more realistic approach to the Internet.

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – there is a dangerous trend that has emerged over the last year and a half, of the Indian government trying to monitor, identify and block digital (online and mobile) communications, and increasingly there is paranoia over their lack of control over the digital space. [Link]

This comes in such times when Anna & Co. used social media extensively during its anti-graft corruption. Anna Hazare's anti-graft campaign was a big hit on the Internet with anti-government protests trending on Facebook an Twitter.

What do you think is government trying to do? Do you think it is necessary to impose censorship on internet? Is the generation of internet users this immature that they need to be controlled by a government that itself is struggling to bring petrol prices down from 64rs a litre.

Petrol in Delhi is priced at Rs 63.70 a litre, while the same in the USA is priced at Rs 42.82 per litre.

The price in India is more than any of its neighbours -- Pakistan (Rs 41.81 a litre), Sri Lanka (Rs 50.30 per litre), Bangladesh (Rs 44.80 a litre).

Is this a direct assault on Right to Freedom of Speech? Give your opinion, in the comment box below.