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Blogging? Watch what you write and what others comment
A recent Supreme Court ruling on bloggers’ rights could have a huge impact on blogging in India. In a recent case where a 19-year-old blogger had sought the court’s protection against criminal charges filed against him by the Shiv Sena (which was irked by some comments on a blog started by the blogger), a bench of the court refused him protection against summons from a Maharashtra court. The blogosphere in India is not yet abuzz with reactions to this but gauging from the posts in Desipundit as well as elsewhere, expect to hear more about it. Not too long back, when another blogger, Chyetanya Kunte had a run-in with NDTV over a post about how the channel had covered Mumbai’s 26/11 (he later had to unconditionally withdraw his post), Indian bloggers and other netizens were up in arms–some labelling the action by the channel as muzzling freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech is fine but obviously blogs cannot be libellous or defamatory. The same set of rules that governs print covers what bloggers write on their website. I’m not arguing whether Kunte was right or wrong (he’s apologised, after all) but just that a new medium doesn’t mean a new set of ethics, values and rules. Those stay the same.
And, in case you want to read it and figure out for yourself what Kunte wrote is still cached right here.
(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Sanjoy Narayan on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Filed under Blogosphere, ETHICS · Tagged Blogging, Chetanye Kunte, Defamation, Legal, Libel, NDTV, Shiv Sena, Supreme Court
This recent development is indeed worrying. Authorities are just waiting for some excuse to file charges. This could become another arena to settle score. communication is under threat (help !! i am becoming paranoid).
Blogging is popular because it helps vent out ones feelings. Its all fashionable to talk about moderation and editing, but its very impractical to make it work. Who decides if something is libelous or defamatory. This way everyone will drag everyone to court just to settle scores. Just like Barkha Dutt did with Kunte. Talk about free speech. We were a closely knit community of friends who used to discuss issues amongst ourselves. NDTV was spoken in good light. This has seriously damaged their reputation as news reporters. I have no issues with them trying to sneak in communist propaganda through their programming. But to target specific people for voicing their opinions is too much. and now this SC view. we should use this opportunity to educate people all over about blogging. Its more a problem about trying to express themselves properly. Sometimes extreme emotions take the form of foul language. Alternate ways of expressing dissent could be encouraged.
Otherwise all of them will turn into Barkha Dutt and run to the court crying libel.
PS (totally separate topic): whatever happened to the “sensational tape” that NDTV had procured of a minister’s private conversations with a bollywood thingy.
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I think it should alarm not just bloggers but site moderators must also be a bit more careful.
There is a positive side. On internet anonymity gives people a sense of power and they feel they can run the person of other caste, political views, country or community down which they can’t do in real life. Take the case of Rediff forums where there are hateful comments, casteist and communal slur on stories regularly.
So in a way it can help make everybody more careful before abusing anybody. The sites that let viewers and visitors make irresponsible comments with the intention of getting more hits after inflaming passions, would be more cautious.
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
February 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Agree. Blogs or websites cannot have a different set of rules or principles. Expressing dissent is fine but defamatory, incorrect and libellous statements cannot obviously be allowed. The problem is anyone with a net connection and a computer can blog and, at least theoretically, reach millions.
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Krina Patel Reply:
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Agree. As you rightly say anyone with a net connection and a computer can express their opinions these days. And we need to see them as just that - opinions. Somehow these opinions acquire a false patina of professionalism. We need to be careful becuase on the one hand we do want to promote the “democratization” of the media but on the other hand we don’t want to give more credence to something that is not credible to begin with especially hateful comments etc. I like the way some bloggers are coming up with a “policy” that they declare at the outset on their blogs about the kinds of comments that will be allowed.
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I just hope that the government doesn’t use this court view to impose a legislation. They appear to act very swiftly with legislation whenever it concerns the fourth estate.
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what kind of a freedom would that be?:-(
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While I understand that blogs can be held responsible for any libelous or defamatory speech like the print media, you must understand that definition of libel and defamation according to the law can be quite broad. Bloggers are specifically targeted by organizations or public figures because they lack the means and resources to mount a legal challenge even if it is to contest whether the content in question is libelous or defamatory.
Organizations can and often do use the law to muzzle individuals and selectively remove criticism. As in this case, Shiv Sena could have petitioned Google to reveal the person making defamatory allegations but they chose to go after the individual running the community because they knew battling Google in court would be far more difficult. The letter of the law might be important but far more important is the spirit of the law which often is forgotten.
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I agree that going after the person running the community rather than google may be easier but does that absolve the person running the site from his or her responsibilities of ensuring that what is put up on it are not libelous or defamatory?
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This is in response to the Article in Delhi Times 14th August 2009 (East Delhi) Page no 16,
Regarding CCTVs in Dilshad colony, Its very strange that TOI has published this without even checking the ground situations.
Dilshad colony RWA wins awards every yearin “bhagidari System” I don’t know how. Basic amenities are ignored and they are going hi-tech?
The service lanes are getting encroached and there is no light, it is in pathetic condition for example you can check the service lane of G59 and G58 which haven’t seen any development since ages.
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