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Google Sets Censorship Precedent In India
eldavojohn writes "Censorship varies from country to country but India, home to a sixth of the world's population, appears to be shaping up much like China. Not far behind everyone else, Google has increasingly censored websites with an incident where a very popular politician died and Google forcibly deleted and dissolved a group on Orkut where offensive comments about the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh were posted. An official from India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said, 'If you are doing business here, you should follow the local law, the sentiments of the people, the culture of the country. If somebody starts abusing Lord Rama on a Web site, that could start riots.' The lengthy opinion piece calls attention to the beginnings of a definitive lack of free speech online for Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the 'Do No Evil' company explained, 'India does value free speech and political speech. But they are weighing the harm of free speech against violence in their streets.'"
People don't want to be oppressed. Look at what happened to countries in the iron curtain. Their economy fell apart, people wanted civil rights, they protested and an oppressive government fell.
Uh, no, an oppressive government fell because said government horribly mismanaged their economy. Meanwhile, I don't expect to see China or India falling apart any time soon.
It all comes down to bread and circuses (and a little zealous nationalism/culturalism, coupled with a dash of xenophobia, always helps).
Chances are, once governments start looking at the scientific evidence, we will look at a number of substances and wonder what in the world we were thinking when we banned them.
HA HA HA HA! Oh god, that's good. Yeah, all it'll take is a little scientific evidence. *snicker* Good luck with that. I mean, it definitely had nothing to do with alcohol being *very* widely consumed, or that banning it resulted in organized crime like nothing we've seen in modern times, right? It was just the scientific evidence about alcohol that turned the tide...
No, I'm sorry, when it comes to drugs, homosexuality, and a number of other issues, social conservatives are winning the day, and until those views can be changed, the laws will remain just as they are, as when it comes right down to it, the US is a tyranny of the majority, where those of the moral majority get to dictate what everyone else can and can't do, bill of rights be damned.