Friday, March 11, 2011

Blocking out the Blogger

Never mind if the Government of India drags its feet on the Foreign Universities Bill, Surrogacy Laws, Legislation related to Public Interest Disclosure, et al. At the peak of this summer, the Indian Parliament will be ensconced in palatial comfort putting its time to urgent use, and without dissent, in order to hurriedly enact the Indian Bloggers Control Act 2011 (pun intended)

The information and communications (monitoring) arms of the Government have, without reason, and rather inexplicably assumed that the blogging community has become a serious threat to its machinery, supposedly because of a perceived potential to expose many an unknown fact that may cause serious embarrassment and worse - change of guard at the helm of affairs, thanks to a wave of public awareness blitz that this medium is fast generating.

"There is an over-emphasis on the activities of blogs and bloggers; vast and vague reasons for blogs to be blocked or shut down; and above all, there is a specific rule on ‘due diligence on intermediaries’, which, in the context of the internet, can include readers who post comments."

Sounds hideously undemocratic? Or does that make one 'rightly' wonder if the babudom and netaland (bureaucracy for the uninitiated) is mighty worried about the pro-democratic outpour of the ongoing Jasmine Revolution that has transformed many a nation?

Anyone here whose read George Orwell's 1984?

No comments:

Post a Comment