Although only 10 per cent of India’s population is online, a divisive national debate over internet freedom has implications for the country’s economic and political growth.
In December 2011 journalist Vinay Rai filed a complaint under sections 200 and 156(3) of India’s Criminal Procedure Code against Google and Facebook (among others) for hosting “objectionable content”. The content, according to the complainant, “seeks to create enmity, hatred and communal Violence amongst various religious communities; is demeaning, degrading and obscene, and will corrupt minds and will seriously affect religious sentiments.”
In response, the Delhi High Court told Google and Facebook India that unless they “develop a mechanism to keep a check and remove” offensive and objectionable material from their web pages, the websites will be blocked, “like China [does]“. The case against the two web giants for allegedly failing to remove such content continues and, if convicted, company executives could face jail time and fines.
In May of this year, several Indian internet service providers blocked access to video-sharing sites, such as Vimeo and Dailymotion as well as file-sharing sites including Pirate Bay (which has since been unblocked), in response to a lawsuit filed by online anti-piracy service provider Copyright Labs over the illegal sharing of their Bollywood films.
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