Opinion - Editorials

An assault on free speech

The Department of Telecommunications' action in blocking access to 17 websites and web logs on the Internet has resulted in an avoidable mess for the Government of India and raised questions about its commitment to free speech. What was apparently envisaged as a limited action against some websites, webpages and blogs hosting extremist views has spun out of control and resulted in the blocking of thousands of blogs, some of them rendering public service in the aftermath of the Mumbai suburban train blasts. It is bad enough that this ham-handed and non-transparent order, whatever its intent, has created an international embarrassment for a country that prides itself on its strong democratic credentials and strengths in Information Technology; it has been made worse by the reluctance of anyone of significance in the Government to take full responsibility for the action. The action apparently followed a request from the Intelligence Bureau on security grounds. The order itself does not, as is the usual practice, invoke the authority of any law, nor is it clear why access was denied to the whole class of bloggers who are reported to be at least 40,000 strong and who identify themselves as Indian. Quite apart from the insensitivity to free speech concerns, the measure also indicates that those in authority may be unaware of the ineffectiveness of their action; the more technology-savvy bloggers have found ways of bypassing the filters to remain connected.

Various forms of speech have been growing on the Internet to the discomfiture of governments, some of which have responded with broad restrictions on their dissemination through laws and technological barriers. The reasonableness of such curbs, which can only be the rare exception in an open society, depends on whether the banned material can cause immediate violence or harm. Such a principle may apply to some online activities such as child pornography and incitement to hate crimes of a direct nature. In general, though, free speech must remain unfettered and protected vigorously as one of the most prized of freedoms. The order of the DoT to the Internet Service Providers appears to meet none of the tests restricting the freedom of speech and smacks of arbitrariness. The overzealous shutting down of blog communication is of a piece with the indefensible blocking of Pakistani media websites such as Dawn in the shadow of the Kargil conflict and of a major email discussion group website a couple of years ago. Such censorship clearly places little faith in the good sense of the large majority of the people. Blogs have indeed revolutionised the dissemination of information, particularly in times of crises such as the tsunami of 2004 and the recent Mumbai blasts. They have given ordinary people a voice that carries far. But to collectively view them as a threat to civil order appears to be a gross exaggeration.

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