The tech world giants seem to be having troubled times in the Indian territory, as the Delhi High Court has claimed that that a few websites are responsible for obscene online content. Google and Facebook are amongst those websites facing criminal proceedings, but would not give up without a fight. Others may not feel strong enough to fight this decision, but Google and Facebook are on their toes to oppose the thought on the Indian government.
Today, one would see Google India and Facebook’s plea, as they firm their stand on challenging the decision to prosecute them for posting objectionable content.
Yesterday, the search engine giant, Google, told the Delhi High Court that they cannot consider blocking websites as an option, since India is a democracy and not a totalitarian regime like China. Google emphasized that in a democracy, freedom of speech cannot be blocked.
Advocate NK Kaul, appearing for Google India, told Justice Suresh Kait, “The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression and suppressing it was not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian regime like China.” He continued saying, “They (reports) suggest the existence of the right (freedom of speech).”
The above statement was in reference to the last hearing, wherein Justice Suresh Kait had warned Google India and social networking site Facebook India that websites can be “blocked” like in China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove objectionable material from their web pages.
The social networking giant, Facebook, on its part said that there are a number of rules and regulations made by them to block and remove content, whenever specific matters are brought to its notice. Suitable action for the same is always taken.
Kaul, however, seems to have made a few strong points, which can definitely help them move out of the case peacefully. He noted that Internet is a global system having billions of users that also included companies, private persons and the governments and their departments. He detailed the same with an example. He said that if one searches for ‘virgin’ on Google, they would get 82.30 crore search results in just 0.33 seconds, but this word cannot be blocked by the search engine giant. Reason being that the term could be in relation to Virgin Airlines or for that matter ‘virgin areas for inventions’.
Further, he made a stronger comment, when he said, “Google India is neither a search engine nor a web hosting site and is a distinct legal entity from its US-based holding company Google Inc, a search engine,” adding, “No criminal liability can be fastened on Google India.”
One can have a look at a news channel, detailing the progress in this case till now:
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The trial will resume on Thursday.