Sify To Shiv Sena: No Orkut Block For You!

Now I know that this news article was published earlier this month (which is like an eternity in "internet years") but I felt that with political pressure being brought on the Indian government to censor Orkut, government officials will take notice and follow the example of Sify, an internet service provider (or ISP).

(Mumbai Mirror Online) Internet Service Provider (ISP) Sify has refused to bow to the Shiv Sena's demand to block Orkut.com, saying the social networking website is the 'most popular' among the youth. Sify is the biggest ISP in Mumbai. It has 400 (I-way) franchisees in the city. In addition to that, over 1,000 cyber cafes use its services to provide Internet access to their customers. [...]

"Blocking a site is not at all possible and reasonable [from the moral point of view]. If someone is upset with the contents, they can take up their grievances directly with the [people who operate the] site," Pasha said. He also made it clear that cyber café owners do not have the technology to block a website; only an ISP can do it.

I am glad that companies like Sify exist, as there are already too many governments on our planet trying to play big brother for their populations. Although many people may be upset about the offending forums on Orkut (as there are several out there that I personally find offensive) I think censorship is the wrong avenue to take.

Ignoring "hate groups" is far more effective than banning the entire site, as doing so will only result in these offense groups finding another medium to communicate through. Unless hate groups become violent, the government should allow them to speak but use them as examples of backwards thinking in a modern day world.

Freedom of speech means freedom for everyone, and it should only be restricted when such speech causes false alarm or endangers people (like yelling "fire" in a movie theater or screaming "bomb" in an airport).

After all, if freedom is denied to one group, then what prevents that same freedom being denied to you in the future?

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