Google, stay away from content - it's not your job

“The Delhi High Court will hear Google India and social networking site Facebook’s plea on Tuesday as both websites are challenging the decision to prosecute them for posting objectionable content. Google and Facebook which are among 18 websites facing criminal proceedings are not giving up without a fight. On Monday, Google told the Delhi High Court that blocking it was not an option in a democracy. It pointed out that India was not a totalitarian regime like China. Facebook in turn noted that it already has rules of blocking and removing content whenever specific matters are brought to its notice - suitable action is being taken,” reports CNN-IBN .

[caption id=“attachment_184771” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Why is Google getting into the issue of freedom of speech and expression at all? Reuters”] [/caption]

“The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression and suppressing it was not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian regime like China,” advocate N K Kaul, appearing for Google India, told Justice Suresh Kait, The Times of India had reported.

Why is Google getting into the issue of freedom of speech and expression at all? That’s an issue that the creators of content should be concerned about, an issue that publishers should be concerned about, not Google or Facebook. It’s important that sites such as Google and Facebook, who do not create any content, distance themselves from the content. Google and Facebook are only helping content creators in publishing and amplifying their thoughts.

The courts and such sites must see that the service that such sites provide is much like the services provided by the postal department. Someone writes a letter, and that letter, thanks to the postal department, reaches a targeted recipient. If the contents of the letter are objectionable, the only one who can be proceeded against in law is the letter-writer, the creator of the content. How can the postal department be responsible?

As the postal department has clear rules on that their service can be used for, so do Google and Facebook. As long as what the content creator posts is within the terms of service, Google has no reason or right to delete the content - but, if there is a court order which finds the content objectionable, Google/Facebook, if ordered, will have to take down the offending content.

In the current scenario, asking Google and Facebook to pre-screen content is like asking the postal authorities to pre-screen all letters that they deliver across the country, or asking the telecom operators to pre-screen all fax messages or even e-mails.

The issue here is one of whether judgment on appropriate and objectionable content is made pre-publishing (in which case it is, whatever you might choose to call it, censorship) or post-publishing (if the created content breaks a law). That’s an issue between the content creators and the courts; the middle man, whether it’s the P&T department, the telecom operators or, in the present instance, Google/Facebook have nothing to do with the issue, except to abide by orders of the court to pull down specifically identified objectionable content.