Google India in a statement has said that it cannot be held liable for content published on blogger, it’s blogging platform.

As per Google India lawyer, Google India has no control over the blogging site and the same is being managed and provided by Google Inc, USA.

Google India was recently sued by Mumbai based cardiologist Dr Ashwin Mehta who approached the court after finding that over 20 blogs on the website were defaming him.

The offensive blog posts have been removed and Google India has now filed an appeal stating that the blog hosting company/platform cannot be held liable for the content.

This is not the first time, Google India has faced trouble with Blogger earlier as well. Mumbai-based firm, Gremach Infrastructure Equipments & Projects filed a lawsuit against Google for hosting a series of articles on its blogging site, campaigning against its mines in Mozambique.

No wonder, Indian government wants Google/Yahoo/MSN and foreign firms to host their servers in India and the new IT act bill which empowers Indian Govt. to block websites (and you cannot contest the decision) – IT Act Bill

IT Act 2008

This is what India’s IT Act 2008 has to say :

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,—
(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages,shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.

Freedom of Expression – What’s that?

While we couldn’t find the *offensive* content  published, there are open questions related to freedom of expression

- What if a person just wants to review an experience? [there are enough content sites where you’d see people cribbing about services – so do you ban them all? Are they all liable to being sued by ‘known/famous’ faces?]

- Does Google has a stand on these issues? It seems to comply with all things law without giving a damn to users (Orkut happily shares IP address of users)

- Is there a legal rule around UGC in India? Protection/Guidelines for bloggers? Sadly, none.

What’s your opinion on this issue? Isn’t it high time that government sets up some regulations sorrounding blogging and new media, in general? Or is a regulation really needed, first of all?

Related: Orkut user faces legal case over anti Shiv Sena community

Google India says it is not liable for Blogger content..

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HTC has launched the first Google Android phone in India – HTC Magic. HTC has tied up exclusively with Airtel to sell the unlocked HTC Magic Android phone – the exclusive deal spans six months, i.e. you still need to buy the phone from Airtel.

HTC Magic - G2 Android Phone in India

HTC Magic Specification

Processor : Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz

OS              : Android

Memory      : 512 MB along with 288MB RAM

Camera      : 3.2 MP

Battery         :  Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Talk time: Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA, Up to 450 minutes

for GSM, Standby time: Up to 660 hours for WCDMA, Up to 420 hours for GSM

Dimension: 13 x 55.56 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.19 x 0.54 inches), Weighs 116 gms with battery.

The phone costs Rs. 30K (the unlocked version, which was available for developers was available for $649) and is a sleeker version of G1 (without a keyboard).

Features Supported

- All Google applications,

- Smart Dialer, an on-screen keyboard that lets you call people in whatever way you think, by either dialling their phone number or by dialing the first few letters of their name.

- Multiple mailbox support and Microsoft® Exchange Server synchronization for email, calendar and contacts

Are you game for HTC Magic? In general, smartphones in India haven’t seen major success – let’s hope Magic does some trick!

Also see:

• Unlocked iPhone in India – Officially from Airtel
• Nokia N97 Launch and Price Specification in India
• Mobile Phone Market – Nokia Dominates GSM Market, LG Leads CDMA

Unlocked Google Android Phone in India – HTC Magic

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1. Unlocked Google Android Phone for Indian Developers ($399)
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3. Telecom Roundup – Tata Tele’s GSM Service, HTC to Launch Android Phone in India..and more
4. Google Phone, G1’s India launch in December or early January 2009
5. Only 4,000 3G iPhone Sold in India?

India’s government has banned popular toon porn site Savitabhabhi.com. According to documents seen by contentSutra.com, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has asked all Internet Service Providers to block the website in a communication dated 3 June.

The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), a government agency under the Department of Information Technology, is the agency that is entrusted under the IT Act to block websites. N. Vijayaditya, of the CCA, confirmed the development. “There were several complaints against the site. We have taken action under the relevant sections of the IT Act and blocked the site,” he said. When asked if the agency will give a chance to the owners of the site to defend themselves, he said nobody has come forward so far with such a request. He said he could not say if the agency will pursue legal action against the operators of the website.

There has been mounting concern over upcoming amendments to the IT Act that gives the government absolute powers to block any website without a hearing or assigning any reasons. In a recent column in The Hindu, media critic Sevanti Ninan laid down several concerns arising from the absolutist rules that will soon have the power of law. “What about a right to be heard before the blocking? There is none,” she wrote.

Launched in March 2008, Savitabhabhi.com is an adult cartoon strip featuring a married Indian woman’s sexual adventures. Bhabhi is Hindi for sister-in-law. It quickly acquired a cult following with its funny plot lines and the uniqueness of having an Indian setting in a porn strip. The strip received much press last year, from Indian (Mint, Tehelka) and international (The Telegraph, The Independent) media outlets. According to Alexa.com, Savitabhabhi is the 82nd-most-visited Indian website, attracting more visitors than Bseindia.com, the website of the Bombay Stock Exchange. In February, when Mint interviewed the anonymous creator of the strip, the site ranked 45th in India.

The site’s popularity did not come without its perils. The portrayal of a married Indian woman as wildly promiscuous raised the hackles of many in a largely conservative nation. One of them, Bangalore-based N. Vijayashankar, who describes himself as a “techno-legal information security consultant”, waged a sustained campaign against Savitabhabhi, complaining to the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) as well as the Director General of Police in Karnataka in October last year. “Cartoons are a more participative medium. Videos don’t do as much damage. When a child is watching a cartoon, he imagines himself as the character. This has a deeply corrupting influence on our youngsters. This, apart from the fact that an Indian name was being used in such an obscene cartoon, is what led me to make the complaint,” Vijayashankar said. “A child will see a Savitabhabhi among his relatives.” When asked if there was any scientific basis to his thesis that pornographic cartoons did more damage to young people than pornographic videos, he said that was his own psychological interpretation. (Vijayashankar has no training in psychology.)

The law could come to Savitabhabhi’s rescue, according to Pawan Duggal, cyber law expert and an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. “Under Section 67 of the IT Act of 2000, publishing or transmitting obscene electronic information is punishable with up to five years’ imprisonment and Rs1 lakh in fine. The creators of Savitabhabhi can challenge the ban, arguing that it is an expression of their thoughts and what is expressed is not lascivious. When there is so many explicit pornographic content easily available, why should they be singled out?

“It is a cultural cum legal issue. The courts will have to decide whether Savitabhabhi is a lascivious site or not. Kamasutra and the sculptures of Khajuraho are far more explicit but not considered obscene. So they do have an argument,” Duggal said.

The creators of Savitabhabhi are known only by their screen names. In an email interview with contentSutra, the main brain behind the site, who goes by the handle Deshmukh, said they were exploring legal options. “We are talking to our lawyers and trying to figure out our options. The initial reaction is since the site does not pose any threat to India’s national security and is not illegal, it must be against some international treaty to block it. However, we are still working on the legal angle.” Deshmukh said the creators of Savitabhabhi were based in the European Union and had not received any communication about their site getting banned. The domain is registered in the US, Deshmukh said. The site used to get more than a million visitors every week before the ban, he added.

“Wow, India has now joined the elite club of China, Iran, North Korea and suchlike in the area of Internet censorship,” said graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee. Efforts to reverse the ban have already sprung up on the Internet. A website, Savesavita.com, attempts to channelize support and action against censorship.

Google India has contended in the Bombay High Court that it does not control the publication of content on its blog-hosting website Blogger.com, and is not liable for the same.

Earlier, a single judge of High Court had restrained Google from hosting any blog containing defamatory material about Dr Ashwin Mehta, a Mumbai-based cardiologist.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip.com has launched rail bookings service which will allow users to check availability across multiple classes, dates and trains with a single click and also book return trips in a single payment transaction.

According to the company, users of its rail bookings service can also set alerts to know when availability becomes low, get automatic updates on PNR status of a waitlisted ticket, and get reminded before tatkal reservation begins.

(By Preethi J & Nikhil Pahwa)

Six years after the Indian Citizenship Act was amended to issue a national identity card to every citizen in the country, the government has constitued a Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to launch and run the scheme. In 2006, Section 14A was added to the Citizenship Act of 1955 to issue a national identity card to every citizen of the country. Yesterday, the Cabinet approved the creation of the post of Chairperson of the UIDAI, and the Prime Minister approved the appointment of Nandan Nilekani of Infosys as Chairperson, in the rank of Cabinet Minister. Nilekani will step down from the board of Infosys in July, and assume charge of the UIDAI, he told CNBC-TV18.

Pilots have been attempted, but no large scale implementation has taken place. The project was initiated to keep out illegal immigrants - West Bengal, which is home to many Bangladeshis, is one of nine states along with four Union Territories selected for the first stage of roll outs. Rs. 1 billion will be spent on the project, which is expected to be completed by early next year, Business Standard reports.

Need For A Single ID?

The National ID will be similar to a Social Security Number in the US; at present, multiple IDs are in use in India - ration card, drivers license, passport, voters ID card, PAN card for taxpayers. There have been several instances of both fake ID cards being used by terrorists and criminals, that have been used for procuring mobile phone connections etc. During the recent general elections in India, there were reports of Voter ID cards with mistakes as well. The problem is this - no single ID is comprehensive, and each relies on another form of verification. There is a need for consolidating all of these into a single ID. At the same time, the government needs to ensure that these IDs are not replicable (protection of identity), and access to information about individuals is limited (privacy).

Implications For Mobile Industry

One of the key issues with getting a mobile connection is the verification of the individual getting the connection. Particularly in rural areas, and with a migrant population, authentication of individuals is an issue; people may not possess any ID at all. A national ID card may not only reduce issues with getting a connection, but a smart card may also do away with verification costs for mobile operators.

E-Commerce & Payment Industry

Authentication is a vital step in e-commerce transactions and the more options there are, the easier. The biometric card will be used in a multiplicity of situations - to register for offline services such as a loan or an insurance plan, while buying a car. Travel will the first service that will be affected by the citizenship card, which can be used to validate identity at airports, checkposts and while booking tickets. Railways currently requires you to carry one of five documents if you have an e-ticket, the smart card will be added to the list.

Issues have been raised in the past about Know Your Customer norms for Cash Cards like Itz Cash and Done Cards. It’ll be interesting to see if the National ID is made mandatory for validation all payments. Banks currently offering m-commerce transactions are using tokens to increase security and may opt to include the new id card to the process.

The additional data required will only add to the process, and increase the complexity of transactions.

e-Governance

Various government schemes on health and education can be accessed using the smart card which will reduce cases of identity theft in the country. It could also be used as a tool for justice by keeping an up-to-date record of a person’s criminal record or fines and driving offenses, as is done in other countries. Malaysia’s MyKad smart card is also being used as a passport.

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By Rich Miller, Founder, Data Center Knowledge

Can a single HTML tag really make a difference on a corporation’s financial results? It can at Google (GOOG), according to Marissa Mayer, who says Web page loading speed translates directly to the bottom line.

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By Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Facebook is testing a new privacy setting that for the first time allows its members to share their status updates and items with a wider Internet audience than just Facebook members.

The status update box–now called Publisher and an all-purpose location for updates, links and photos–will allow users to customize their audience. When Facebook opens the feature to all of its members (”soon,” it says), they’ll be able to specify whether they want to share the submission with their friends, their broader networks or to “everyone,” including the rest of the Web.

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Trade representative, Commerce Sec. in a letter to Chinese Ministry of Commerce say the requirement may violate World Trade Organization rules.

In the US, ISPs and companies that provide hosting services have a degree of protection from being held legally responsible for the actions of their users. These “safe harbor” provisions don’t exist in the legal codes of other countries, however, leaving the local branches of US companies at risk of legal action. Google India found itself in precisely this situation, as it was the target of legal action by an Indian cardiologist who claims he was defamed by posts hosted on Google’s Blogger service. The Indian branch of the search giant is trying to defend itself from these charges by claiming that it has nothing to do with the US-based blogger service.

The trouble apparently started when someone used Blogger to post a number of inflammatory claims about Dr. Ashwin Mehta, who is a cardiologist at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital. These apparently included specific allegations that Dr. Mehta engaged in both professional and financial misconduct. Mehta responded by filing a suit in which, according to the Mumbai Mirror, he claimed he has suffered “incalculable harm and injury to my name, fame, standing and reputation.” Nevertheless, some sort of calculation was made, as Mehta sought financial damages in addition to having the posts removed.

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