In India, is web censorship justified in the name of national security?
India recently blocked 32 websites from users within the country in what the government officials call efforts to prevent terrorist groups from recruiting new members. Civil liberties advocates, however, say this action amounted to censorship and infringed upon freedom of expression in the worlds largest democracy. Photo by Bloomberg/Getty Images.
Software engineer Ashwath Akirekadu cant tell you how many times hes logged onto GitHub over the last 15 years, but he vividly recalls the one time he couldnt.
Earlier this month while on vacation to visit family in Bangalore, India, Akirekadu tried to help a local friend who wanted to develop a mobile application. Just as he would have done if he were back at work in San Francisco, Akirekadu turned to GitHub, a collaborative, code-sharing hub used by millions of computer, Internet and data professionals around the world. But this time on Jan. 6, he got an error message.
It was as though theres no website called GitHub.com that existed, he said.
Akirekadu wasnt the only person who had trouble accessing the website. In what the government says is an effort to thwart terrorist groups from recruiting new members and distributing anti-India content on the Internet, the Indian government recently blocked GitHub, the Internet Archive, Vimeo, Pastebin and dozens of other websites from users within that country.
The sites have since been restored, but following President Barack Obamas visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and the two nations strategic defense partnerships forged this week, questions remain about how India, the worlds largest democracy, balances the tension between free speech and national security. How effective is this method in stemming terror attacks? Did India do the right thing?
Critics call this latest move censorship and an affront to freedom of expression, and found it particularly offensive because websites were not given prior notification. Blocks were conducted secretly, leaving users to wonder what happened.
The Indian government maintains that this is not censorship. Instead, India considers these steps necessary to prevent websites from carrying the ISIS related Jehadi [sic] material inviting youth to join ISIS and promoting their policies, according to a statement from Gulshan Rai, director general of Indias Computer Emergency Response Team, which monitors cybersecurity issues.
Rai emailed the NewsHour on Jan. 19, saying that the ban was lifted on all of the affected sites in early January:
First of all, the websites were not censored. India believes in freedom of expression and speech and we are committed to the principles of freedom of expression and speech as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
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In India, is web censorship justified in the name of national security?