Slashdot Mirror
Indian Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Against Posting 'Offensive' Content Online
palemantle writes: The Indian Supreme Court has overturned the controversial Section 66A of the IT Act which included a provision for a three-year jail term for sending "offensive" messages through a "computer resource or a communication device." In its judgement, the Supreme Court held "liberty of thought and expression as cardinal" and overturned the provision (66A) deeming it "unconstitutional." It's been in the news recently for an incident involving the arrest of a high school student for posting allegedly "offensive" content on Facebook about a local politician.
...i use slashdot and not facebook
Which one would get me jailed there?
Angle 1: "Your claim is a steaming pile of shit!"
Angle 2: "Your logic resembles the quickly-disintegrating chemical bonds as found in recently-emerging solid waste products of typical mammals."
Table-ized A.I.
What is "offensive" is politicians who try to censor discontent with their policies and behaviour. I realize it's mere fantasy, but politicians should always be held accountable under both the law and public opinion. They're supposed to be there to represent us, not line their own pockets.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
It isn't every day that you see a law that would make posting a copy of itself online a punishable act...
So when some random loud mouth on India's side decided to post Mohammad jokes, is this going to devolve into a shooting war with Pakistan? And would the US and EU side with India, and the League of Arab States side with Pakistan. And next thing we're all fighting a multi-theater war triggered by something disproportionally small?
ps - I'm an American and was raised to believe the right to free speech is sacrosanct. But India's neighbor's aren't quite as friendly as the US's, and there can be serious repercussions to what would ordinarily be a purely domestic issue. While Pakistan's current government (the PML-N party) is fairly stable and has generally been interested with cooperating and trade with the US, EU and China, the PML-N has always been at odds with India of Kashmir, and the current PM was the same individual who escalated the nuclear tension in the region by ordering the first nuclear tests in Pakistan.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Seems I recall Indiana being famous for legislating science.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
...if only they'd treat women like real human beings and do something about the 65 million people still living in slums, up 13 million people from 2013. For some perspective, that's approximately the population of the UK (64 million).
India is a shithole, and they're hell bent on keeping it that way.
about a country that made it illegal to eat a burger. Damn religious nuts
Who cares what a billion strong country of backwards rapists does? Fuck em the filth all rot.
Hey did you know that 9 out of 10 indians enjoy gang rape?
This whole "offensive" thing is bullshit. Everything we don't like we find offensive.
I find a politician's face offensive, can I sue to for being caused distress for having to see him on TV?
I find his opinions offensive too. But you know what, they're just opinions. And I think having a bad idea should not be against the law.
It's almost as if some people believe others can't think for themselves. We shouldn't let adults vote if that's the case.
I'm waiting for the day a militant Indian group rises up in the US and threatens to blow up random Denny's locations if they intend to go forward with their "Baconalia" promotion.
I'm sure, sadly, this would cause more racism than it would be a call to show how absurd being offended is.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
Let's just lay out the facts, shall we? The ones who make it a big issue are:
1. The secondaries who hang on to the alpha male (or a long-dead alpha male's image) and want to gain attention.
2. The alphas who are just pretending to be alphas and feel threatened.
3. The ones who have a genuine reason to be offended.
That apart, there is a rule that states that if you have to plead freedom of expression to defend yourself, then you have said something offensive.
Nobody sympathises with a bully's victim, but they close ranks when the bully is threatened. Nobody is offended by the actions of the Brave new World, but everybody picks on the Big Brother.
So, to sum up, society is complicated.
Celebrate by fucking a cow.
The people on /. aren't quite stupid enough to fall for trolls. Especially mindless and poorly constructed ones such as this. Try Reddit next time.
Back in the 60s, my father-in-law ran a weekly paper in his small town. It eventually got shut down by the police on some bogus excuse; the actual reason was that he wasn't just writing that the mayor was taking bribes, but had the bad taste to say who they were from and what for. Corruption does also exist in the US, and so does censorship. (I didn't see much censorship when I lived in New Jersey, though - just corruption.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Never did - here's the Wikipedia about the Indiana Pi Bill. The crackpot proposed a bill that would acknowledge his collection of R33lY k3wl mathematical discoveries and let Indiana schools teach them free (in return for royalties from other user, if I'm reading it right), it snuck past the Indiana House, and a Professor Waldo told the Indiana Senate how bogus it was. It was close to passing there anyway, but one senator pointed out that it's not the Senate's job to establish mathematical truth. And now you know Where Waldo Was.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks