Dear friends across India,
 Free speech on the Internet is under threat in India. The government is trying to scare companies and get them to pre-screen content, but together we can get PM Singh to stop India becoming the world's largest hypocrisy. Sign the petition now:  |
Using laws designed to protect national security and community harmony the government wants to force Facebook, Google and others to censor articles and cartoons which challenge or mock politicians. Having failed to bully companies to comply with requests to delete such material, they have now sanctioned court cases against 21 Internet companies. If this attack on the Internet succeeds it will undermine our democracy and economy, both of which rely on free expression.
Today let's stop India becoming the world's largest hypocrisy by calling on the PM to get Kapil Sibal and other ministers to stop this court case and back off their assault on the web. We will splash our message at an upcoming trade fair in Delhi with all key industry and government players present. Sign the petition, then tell everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_worlds_largest_hypocrisy/?vl
Google has released figures showing that a vast number of requests to delete pages or user profiles in India last year were because the material was "critical of a local politician". This is crazy -- criticising politicians and policies is at the very heart of democracy! And Google and others already comply with half of government requests, including ones which were a threat to national security.
The government's proposal that companies should pre-screen all content is totally disproportionate, and impossible to implement given the amount of material that floods onto the Internet each day. The policy would undermine our freedom of speech as well as the important services sector, which employs over a fifth of our workers. Let's tell Manmohan Singh that gagging free speech and destroying the Internet's dynamism would wreck our country's future.
We can't let the world's largest democracy become the world's largest hypocrisy. Let's raise a massive public outcry calling on our PM to get his cabinet into line, remove the government's backing for the court case, and ensure he keeps our Internet free and open. We will splash our message at an upcoming trade fair in Delhi with all key industry and government players present -- sign now, then spread the word:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_worlds_largest_hypocrisy/?vl
Our country's reputation and governing principles are fragile. They can only be maintained by citizens remaining vigilant and standing strong for the values which have made and can make India great. Now is such a moment.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Antonia, Emma, Shibayan, Shivendra and the rest of the Avaaz team
Sources:
Social media screening: Sibal's target was political blasphemy (Firstpost)
http://www.firstpost.com/india/social-media-screening-sibals-target-was-political-blasphemy-182117.html
Is India Ignoring its own Internet Protections? (Wall Street Journal)
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/01/16/is-india-ignoring-its-own-internet-protections/?mod=google_news_blog
Censoring social media is muzzling free speech (MSN.com)
http://news.in.msn.com/exclusives/it/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5754407
What triggered the case against Facebook, Google (NDTV)
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/what-triggered-the-case-against-facebook-google-167374?google_editors_picks=true
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