Supreme Court Ruling on Blogger Rights

I would think that blogs written and hosted outside India would not fall within the purview of Indian law. Then again I’m no lawyer.

The SC only said that He should appear in Court and explain himself!
…

Free speech is NOT completely free; there are laws against defamation, race baiting, and hate crimes! Lets see how the case goes!

Hosts who tolerate “Anonymous” rants are tacitly supporting that kind of behaviour. Turn off Anonymous posting, and see how everyone is on their best behaviour!

mera do paisa!

I think the policy for those with access to legal power is to harass those who can’t defend or lack the resources to defend. I wrote about this a couple of hours ago on the Mediavidea blog.
These are early days yet.

I think if an editor at TOI or some big media company had written a similar piece, they wouldn’t have filed a case in the first place. They are only going after this poor guy cause he probably can;t field an army of lawyers. The supreme court should have squashed teh case right there and then. It’s a waste of time for the courts to even discuss this.
That said, am surprised shiv sena actually took the “legal” route. I would have imagined they would have thrown stones at his house and beaten him up!!!!

Has the Sena written provocative articles in its newspaper Saamna during the infamous Mumbai riots. What was the supreme court doing that. Isnt this a case of double standards. I am not anti Sena, but I believe everyone has got a right of freedom of speech. Regarding anonymous posts, has anyone verified the true existence of millions of letters the newspapers get?

Blog is a shared on-line journal where people can post daily entries about their personal experiences, hobbies and views, but hey hold there please; because the Supreme Court has rules against bloggers.

There’s a difference between America and India. We term India as a “developing country”, whereas we are among the 6 countries that landed on the moon. In America bloggers have the freedom of speech and views. You can comment against Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bill Gates. But this is India my friend.

So is India really the largest democracy? Does democracy not include freedom of political expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the press? Doesn’t seem like it.

Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content.

It will no longer be safe to start a blog and invite others to register their raunchy, caustic and even abusive comments on an issue while seeking protection behind the disclaimer — views expressed on the blog are that of the writers.

This chilling warning emerged as a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam refused to protect a 19-year-old Kerala boy Ajith D, who had started a community on Orkut against Shiv Sena, from protection against summons received from a Maharashtra court on a criminal case filed against him. This is the shame against democracy. The reason why we are still “developing” and not “developed”

Which means I can no longer blog against a political party’s invasion of Nandigram, nor speak against a certain woman’s agitation to industrialisation of West Bengal. I can no longer blog against political parties raping, hooliganism and murder extravaganzas. I can’t speak against some idiots for molesting young female citizens in a pub. I will be happy if I turn late for office due to political gatherings and I must be happier to stay in house due to strikes. Supreme Court has just given bloggers the order to keep shut even if they have a lot to say.

Did India really gained freedom? Well I have just lost my freedom. India is ruled by “Poli-tricks”. I fear India will never be termed as a “developed nation” it was, it is and will always be termed as a “developing nation” unless people have the right to express their views.

First we need awareness about what exactly constitutes ‘libel’ and ‘defamation’. Without that, bloggers will continued to be victimized by vested interests so-called-custodians of law.

There are some interesting comments (by Solilo and Indyeah) on this post on my blog: http://alchemistpoonam.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/freedom-of-expression-and-amendments-to-crpc/

One of ur comunity member windyskies is nominted in Lonely Planet blog award. voting chal raha hai, Congrats. Forgot. link is here http://lplabs.com/2009/02/25/voting-open-for-the-2009-travel-blogger-awards/

Thought this was a pretty good take on the subject: http://dhananjay.nene.in/2009/02/free-to-blog-but-accountable-you-are-the-supreme-court-of-india-weighs-in-on-blogging-and-online-expression/.

If, as @dnene says, it was a moderated blog, and the comments had to go through the moderator approval, then probably, he might have to face the music (since he knew what he was doing). I have a blog and I don’t actually moderate the comments (perhaps just like this one), and sometimes don’t check or reply to posts regularly, and it would be a travesty if I am held responsible for some crap someone posted.

Btw, check this out too (if you haven’t already). The take by WebWorkerDaily: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/orkut_user_loses_in_indian_sup.php

I thought India must have come out of this nonsense by now, I think As a blogger I have the right to express my views.If someone does not like it do not read it then. Supreme court should devote its time to matters as corruption .

Govt’s decision to restrict bloggers freedom is like cutting off the next of a cock.

The laws of the land are to be obeyed
For the land lets you breathe
It’s year ending
And the elections are inching–so beware!
Don’t dare.

The laws of this land are old
Don’t try for the new ones
For even the old ones haven’t been practiced properly.
Somebody will definitely get offended
As you keep burning the bridges.
Others need them too.

A man’s best friend is fear
And ignorance his worst enemy.
Live in fear and it lets you live
Ignore it, and it grips you.
Fake it, if necessary.
But don’t show, don’t dare.
It’s not worth it.