The Indian Express and other regional media are reporting that Google's social networking service Orkut will cooperate with the Mumbai Police to share IP addresses of users who post “objectionable content” on Orkut. If reports are to be believed, the police need only to email a complaint to Orkut, and Orkut will send back the personally identifying data.


The police are said to be targeting a number of "problematic" Orkut posts, including items that criticize various public figures in India, others that glorify Indian mobsters, and "anti-Indian words." The latter probably has to do with a group on Orkut called "I Hate India," which pissed off Indian officials so much, they decided to sue Google over it last October.

Welp, that proved to be a highly effective tactic. I just checked Orkut for "hate india" groups, and that one group is now many (internal Orkut search Link).

I also spotted dozens of predictably juvenile counter-groups: "V HATE THOSE WHO HATE INDIA," "WAR AGAINST PPL WHO HATE INDIA," "I HATE PEOPLE WHO HATE PEOPLE WHO HATE INDIAAAA" "CLOSE THE HATE INDIA GROUPS," and "I ONLY HATE INDIAN FOOD NOT PPL." I stopped counting when the blinking gifs gave me a headache.

I am not able to locate any statement from Google (or Orkut) on the matter, but have requested clarification. If any Google or Orkut folks are reading this post, we welcome your comment.

In related news, there are reports that India's Bureau of Police Research and Development has asked India's Supreme Court of India to make "cyber terrorism" a federal crime.

Blogger Nikhil Pahwa at ContentSutra says,

We know how ineffective and poorly executed the blocking of blogs last year was - the government may have blamed ISPs for poor execution, but several of the sites on that list weren’t even relevant. How does the Police define “Objectionable Content”? Policing content online is a monumental task, and this deal between Orkut and the Mumbai Police is reminiscient of China.





Warren Ellis's NEXTWAVE: subverting the underwear perverts
"Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.: This is What They Want" is the first volume of collected Nextwave comics from savage funnybooks genius Warren Ellis. Ellis -- creator of the seminal Transmetropolitan -- is known for his scorching attacks on "underwear pervert" comics featuring caped crusaders with super-powers fighting the bad guys.
Nexwave does a thoroughgoing job of subverting the underwear pervert genre. Ellis takes a handful of Z-list Marvel superheroes and turns them into wisecracking, angry rogues who are stuck fighting their handler, who has sold out their war on terror to a group of Halliburton-esque profiteers. They curse, they screw up, they trade angry barbs, and they fight the most ridiculous super-monsters you've ever seen.

I laughed aloud a dozen times while reading these first six issues (the total run will be twelve issues long) and when I closed the book, I immediately wished for volume two.

MONICA RAMBEAU used to be known as Captain Marvel. She once ran the Avengers. She will tell you this. A lot. An unlikely veteran of superhero combat, wanting to do her bit for her country, she found herself leading this team. AARON STACK used to be called Machine Man, but his name is Aaron Stack, and it's none of your business that he's wired his robot brain to be affected by alcohol. ELSA BLOODSTONE is the daughter of near-immortal monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, wears the same creepy gem that makes her superhumanly resistant to harm, works in the family business and tends to come off like Lara Croft's evil twin sister. THE CAPTAIN claims not to remember his real name -- his chequered career has seen him basically be every crap Marvel character called Captain something. TABITHA SMITH used to be Boom Boom in the New Mutants and Meltdown in X-Force, and she's a terrible kleptomaniac, and it's because of her light fingers that The Next Wave Squad discovered that...
...well, it seems that H.A.T.E. isn't fighting the same war on terrorism as everyone else.






- http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0308071tedk1.html(devices used by the Unabomber)


- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/12mar_stereoeclipse.htm?list39638(Solar Eclipse from spacecraft)

- http://www.fabrica.it/blog/2007/03/not_wanted_creativity_1.html

I guess there is a fine line between privacy and public security in democratic societies but it is a delicate balancing act and such measures were inevitable I suppose. Generally speaking, it seems laws tend to weigh in favor of public security over internet privacy and I'd say rightly so. As long as those societies have compensating measures to guarantee privacy at other levels - which countries like China don't - I can see the moral argument for such cooperation between law enforcement and companies that promote online collaboration.

One thing that comes to mind is some of the stuff you see on Sajha - including death threats etc - I wonder if law enforcement has ever demanded something similar of Sajha or will in the future if someone seeks to press charges. I have, on occasion, wondered if some of the people posting such things are aware of the law. Remember, ignorance of the law, is not accepted as grounds for acquittal in most cases.

Just a thought - no malice intended towards anyone in particular.
:)