The Double Standards of policing the Net

The Internet is one of the most blessed technological innovations of the 21st century, for it has eliminated the barriers of distance and time between diverse nations. However, the Web has fallen prey to the concept of Propoganda and is an active platform for hate groups. It is on this account that this post is going to deal with. The problems of Propoganda as well as the fact that the Web is cursed!!!!!!

This is with reference to the recent Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed against the online socializing website www.orkut.com. This was regarding the inflammatory comments posted on the Orkut Community "We Hate India", with the symbol of the burning flag of India. This PIL exposes the double standards that exist here in India. When the same "We hate India" makes people here boil over with anger, in India, there exists 1000 communities which Hate Pakistan as well. However, there seem to be no action on this front, and under the guise of Legitamacy, Indian users here can go on publishing inflammatory remarks against Pakistan, and the people. This gives a platform for fundamentalists on both sides of the fence to indulge in Cyber Terrorism. Instead of completely eliminating the whole, by trying to get rid of only the part, the process is underlined with double standards from the very beginning.

This does not mean that only one set of Hate Groups should survive. If something has to be banned, then it should be done in totality. Unfortunately, the mindset of majority of the people worldwide is that whatever is put out on the net is the gospel truth and nothing but the truth. The lines of fact and Propoganda are completely blurred, and thus hate groups and other Propoganda sites thrive on the Web. As I had mentioned that the net is cursed, it is on the security front where there is prominent. The Web Security is very much like the Panapticon, and hence Policing the net is close to impossible. The Panapticon was the mythical Watch Tower, where in Guards were stationed on the top of the tower and was situated in the middle of a Huge space. The guards could observe what each person would be doing, but they could not impose their presence on others, and hence the Panapticon was rendered useless. The same scenario confronts the security front on the Internet.

So far that Human beings have gone in the development of Technology that the basic factor of security was overlooked. Now, Propoganda and hate may seem to be the dominant trend of the Internet. However, technological development can be used in a better way itself. The new century represents a real challenge of finding a way to effectively police the Internet. The policing must be done in ways that Freedom of speech and Expression is NOT curbed, but at the same time Hate and Propoganda must be filtered and then eliminated. It will be this quest to find a security apparatus for the Net which will direct Technological development in the coming decades of the 21st century. But, unfortunately for the moment, the net will be a platform for Hate and Propoganda to a certain extent, and humans are powerless to do anything against it.