Google Helps Police Internet in India
ADOTAS – It’s a brave new world, and Google is here to help. The company helped the Indian police arrest a 22-year-old IT professional, Rahul Vaid, on Friday.
His crime? Posting derogatory content about Sonia Gandhi, a prominent politician, on an online community (on the social networking site Orkut owned by Google) called “I hate Sonia Gandhi.” The nature of the content has not been disclosed by police.
The messages were sent from Vaid’s Gmail address – rahulvaidinida@gmail.com. The probe into the matter began in December of last year when a political activist in Pune, Maharashtra, India saw the posting and notified police. The Pune police then contacted Google to help them find the person distributing the allegedly obscene content.
Vaid was arraigned on Saturday. He’s been charged under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information Technology act for creating an online profile and posting vulgar content about Sonia Gandhi. He faces five years in prison.
The person who actually created the “I hate Sonia Gandhi” site is not in legal trouble, however. The police say that hating the politician isn’t a crime – but the manner in which Vaid allegedly expressed his displeasure was criminal.
Google has many counterparts in the online world when it comes to bringing down alleged criminals. Last year, Yahoo helped police in China arrest a journalist who criticized the government and in February, Facebook helped Morocco arrest an IT engineer for creating a fake profile of Prince Moulay Rachid.
And this isn’t the first round of bad publicity for Orkut: Last August, police in Mumbai said that a youth was murdered by people he met on Orkut.
Today, Google defended itself, saying that it must comply with local laws.
Article Sponsor
More News
Reader Comments.
This shows the complete lack of freedom of speech in a so called democratic country like India. How can someone be arrested for posting some hateful comments against politicians. Is this India in 2008 or some closeted society in a Medieval era.
Leave a Comment
Latest News
- Hiring Round Up: HealthCentral, Break Media, NetShelter October 10th 2008
- Microhoo: Back From the Dead? October 10th 2008
- Nielsen Online Expands to China October 10th 2008
- Mobile Gaming Firms Eye Nokia, Apple Boost in 2009 October 10th 2008
- Fitbit Bulks Up With $2M Infusion October 10th 2008
- Trulia Launches New Business Development Group October 10th 2008
- MindShare Buys Michaelides & Bednash October 9th 2008
- Entellium CEO, CFO Arrested by FBI October 9th 2008
Features
- Media Plan ’08: Look Out of the Window October 10th 2008
- TV Advertising’s Future: A Long Paddle Upstream October 9th 2008
- Conversion Mastery: How Professionals Get Top Conversions October 9th 2008
- Out With the Old, in With the NEW October 8th 2008
- Decision 2008, The Internet Changed Everything October 7th 2008
Spotlight
HipCricket: SMS Is Still the Wave of the FutureADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — HipCricket, a mobile marketing company, has been changing the way advertisers think about reaching their audiences since [...] more...
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
Most Commented
- Can 314 Ad Networks Really Thrive? (8)
- Obama’s VP Pick Inauspicious for Net Neutrality (7)
- Facebook’s $100 Million Virtual Economy (2)
- Boomers Are Slutty Shoppers (2)
- Ralph Lauren Launches Mobile Shopping Site (2)
- NBC Loses Out on Huge Online Ad Opportunity for Olympics (2)
- Advertising GOLDMINE: Online News Sites? (2)
- Social Media and Agencies: Tools for Success (2)
