Orkut In Pact With Indian Law Enforcement

food4thought writes "The Economic Times reports that Orkut has signed a pact with Indian Cyber Crime Cell. They have now pledged to block any 'defamatory or inflammatory content', or hand over IP address information to police if asked.' Deputy Commissioner of Police (enforcement) Sanjay Mohite said the pact means they do not have to go through the lengthy process of asking the Central government to communicate with Orkut. The practice so far has been to first send a request to the Centre's computer emergency response team in New Delhi. This team processes the request through its channels and even if a forum is finally blocked, the "culprits" still remain untraceable as no IP addresses can be obtained ... "Now we can do away with the process and not just directly ban content but also obtain details of IP addresses and service providers quickly," Mohite said.' How long before we see these 'informal arrangements' elsewhere?"

Comments

Won't stop the real hackers, just the dumb ACs

[Bearhouse]

On reading TFA, sounds a bit flaky...

"The pact, which is actually an "informal arrangement" called the Priority Reporting Tool, comes as a big surprise to internet users as Orkut has succes, just thsfully blocked attempts by various countries to control content."

"Now we can do away with the [old, slow, but govt. controlled] process and not just directly ban content but also obtain details of IP addresses and service providers quickly...the IP addresses will enable the [police] cell to track down people who have posted messages and book them if the need arises, police officials said."

No mention of legal oversight etc.

Mind you, perhaps we'll all gotten too blasé about the supposed freedom & anonymity of the 'net. After all, if you defame someone in traditional print, you can be sued in most places if it's not fair or truthful. Still, as I said, the smart badboys aren't going to be worried about this...plenty of internet cafés and open (or openable) hotspots around..

Re:India is Unique: India is not a Western nation.

[beckerist]

The Indians, like the Chinese, enjoy suppressing human rights -- including the rights to privacy. By contrast, the Poles embrace human rights.

...just a thought, but how do you propose to control a combined 2.4 BILLION people? Considering the sheer amount of HUMAN'S, I find it implausible to expect that EVERY ONE of them can be fully represented. This isn't to say that they don't DESERVE rights, just that with THAT many people, you have to balance security and freedoms VERY carefully, generally tipping towards the former.

Re:I'm an Indian.....

[metamatic]

Well, I just deleted my Orkut account. Fuck 'em.