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It started with a blogpost yesterday by Twitter on its blog about its "ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world":
One year ago, we posted "The Tweets Must Flow," in which we said,
“The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact … almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.”
As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.
Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.
We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld. As part of that transparency, we’ve expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects to share this new page, http://chillingeffects.org/twitter, which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter.
There’s more information in our Help pages, both on our Policy and about Your Account Settings.
One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The Tweets must continue to flow.
Does it have anything to do with Twitter's plans to enter China? Or that Saudi prince dropped $300 million on a Twitter investment? Boeing Boeing provides more context:
As journalist Shannon Young notes, "It would've been too ironic for twitter to have made this country-based censorship policy announcement yesterday, on the #Jan25 anniversary." And, as Shannon points out, the announcement comes just days after Google announced new terms of user data collection.
Update: Alex Macgillivray, the general counsel of Twitter, responds:
Three quick things:
#1: I can confirm that this has nothing to do with any investor (primary or secondary).
#2: This is not a change in philosophy. #jan25
#3: you'll see notices about withheld content at: http://www.chillingeffects.org... so you'll get to figure out whether we've "caved" or not with data. This change gives us the ability to keep content up even if we have to withhold it somewhere.
The nextweb explains how you could circumvent the new Twitter restrictions:
Indeed, Twitter’s Help Center itself gives a good clue on how to bypass them very easily.
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 27, 2012 AT 21:32 IST, Edited At: Jan 27, 2012 21:32 IST
One of the ball boys makes an amazing catch during the Federer Nadal Semifinal match at the Australian Open. Then there was a cricket reference to Ricky Ponting, and the crowd goes crazy! Two million (actually, 2,000,859 at the time of posting) views and counting
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 27, 2012 AT 21:09 IST, Edited At: Jan 27, 2012 21:09 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 25, 2012 AT 22:06 IST, Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 22:06 IST
At the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Amitava Kumar had read small passages from The Satanic Verses, along with Hari Kunzru, as a mark of protest against Salman Rushdie not being allowed to participate. Following which, he was advised to leave the festival. He shares a series of tweets that he says he, like Gibreel Farishta in the banned book, dreamed he had written:
I had to leave India to be safe. A realization filled with surpassing loss. #JLF
But did I need to leave India to be brave? The truth was that I was afraid. #JLF
As in countless films, when the man pleads with his killer, “I have small children.” #JLF
...
I read from “The Satanic Verses” because it was, in that time and place, a bold and imaginative act. #JLF
If I were honest, that would be the only claim I submit to the Indian authorities in my defense. #JLF
Read the full piece at NYT's IndiaInk
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 25, 2012 AT 20:39 IST, Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 20:39 IST
This will come as no newsflash to anyone who followed the story. Let's not put too fine a point on it: there was craven capitulation at Jaipur. Again.
After much plucking of flower petals about "will he-won't he" attend, the organisers finally pushed forward Rampratap Singh Diggi, owner of the Diggi palace, where the Jaipur Literary Festival was being held, to make an announcement:
“I have taken a decision not to allow the video link to take place on the advice of the Rajasthan police. There are lots of people who are averse to this video link. They are threatening violence. This is unfortunate. This is to safeguard you, my family, my children …”
Some of the immediate reactions are best reproduced from Twitter:
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 24, 2012 AT 23:55 IST, Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 03:55 IST
After the Fab Four (before they became the Fab Five) read out passages from the Satanic Verses on Jan 21 in protest against the way Salman Rushdie had been prevented from participating in Jaipur Lit Fest, the organisers had come up with the following statement:
This press release is being issued on behalf of the organizers of the Jaipur Literature Festival. It has come to their attention that certain delegates acted in a manner during their sessions today which were without the prior knowledge or consent of the organizers. Any views expressed or actions taken by these delegates are in no manner endorsed by the Jaipur Literature Festival. Any comments made by the delegates reflect their personal, individual views and are not endorsed by the Festival or attributable to its organizers or anyone acting on their behalf. The Festival organizers are fully committed to ensuring compliance of all prevailing laws and will continue to offer their fullest cooperation to prevent any legal violation of any kind. Any action by any delegate or anyone else involved with the Festival that in any manner falls foul of the law will not be tolerated and all necessary, consequential action will be taken. Our endeavor has always been to provide a platform to foster an exchange of ideas and the love of literature, strictly within the four corners of the law. We remain committed to this objective.
It was received with widespread consternation and many wondered about who could been responsible for something so craven.
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 23, 2012 AT 23:59 IST, Edited At: Jan 24, 2012 06:12 IST
That elections in Punjab are fast-approaching is getting manifested even in our foreign policy, it would seem:
India has strongly "objected" to the remark on the Golden Temple by popular US television host Jay Leno, terming it "quite unfortunate".
Leno, the host of the popular "The Tonight Show" on NBC channel, flashed a picture of the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, in Amritsar on his programme and termed it as a possible summer home of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The visiting NRI Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi yesterday "objected" to the remark and said he has directed Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao to take up the matter with the State Department.
"It is quite unfortunate and quite objectionable that such a comment has been made after showing the...Golden temple," Ravi told a group of Indian reporters.
"Golden temple is Sikh community's most sacred place. Even our Prime Minister went there for praying in the New Year. I believe that the person who has shown is not that ignorant. The American Government should also look at this kind of thing," the NRI Affairs Minister said.
"I wish this kind of thing is not shown by any media in the US," Ravi said, adding that he has not seen the show personally and has heard about it from the Sikh community.
"Freedom does not mean hurt the sentiments of others... This is not acceptable to us and we take a very strong objection for such a display of an important place like Golden temple," Ravi said.
Read on: India Objects to Jay Leno's Remark on Golden Temple
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 23, 2012 AT 23:37 IST, Edited At: Jan 23, 2012 23:37 IST
Prez Obama:
In the office late tonight, we all just took a break to huddle around someone’s computer and grin like idiots at this.
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 20, 2012 AT 23:52 IST, Edited At: Jan 20, 2012 23:52 IST
First the statement from Salman Rushdie today:
For the last several days I have made no public comment about my proposed trip to the Jaipur Literary Festival at the request of the local authorities in Rajasthan, hoping that they would put in place such precautions as might be necessary to allow me to come and address the Festival audience in circumstances that were comfortable and safe for all.
I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to "eliminate" me. While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the Festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience, and to my fellow writers. I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned.
I hope, however, to be able to participate by video link, at a time to be announced soon. Believe me, I am sorry not to be there in person.
***
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 20, 2012 AT 19:14 IST, Edited At: Jan 20, 2012 19:14 IST
Midway through Manmohan Desai’s classic 1977 film about three brothers separated in childhood, a man in a top hat and a Saturday Night Fever suit leaps out of a giant Easter egg to inform the assemblage, “My name is Anthony Gonsalves.”
The significance of the announcement was lost under the impact of Amitabh Bachchan’s sartorial exuberance. But decades later, the memory of that moment still sends shivers down the spines of scores of ageing men scattered across Bombay and Goa. By invoking the name of his violin teacher in that tune in Amar Akbar Anthony, the composer Pyarelal had finally validated the lives of scores of Goan Catholic musicians whose working years had been illuminated by the flicker of images dancing across white screens in airless sound studios, even as acknowledgement of their talent whizzed by in the flash of small-type credit titles....
—Naresh Fernandes, Remembering Anthony Gonsalve
Photo Credit: Anthony Gonsalves/Laxmi Gonsalves. Scanned by Mr Vivek Menezes. Reproduced here from parrikar.com
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 19, 2012 AT 15:00 IST, Edited At: Jan 19, 2012 15:00 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 18, 2012 AT 02:31 IST, Edited At: Jan 18, 2012 02:31 IST
What are the implications of the RIL-TV18-ETV deal for the media and our democracy?
Some of the comments made by the four participants in a discussion on Rajya Sabha TV, the newly launched television channel of the upper house of Parliament:
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 16, 2012 AT 23:02 IST, Edited At: Jan 16, 2012 23:02 IST
Pratap Bhanu Mehta in the Indian Express has a brilliant article on What Vivekananda Valued , arguing that his underlying sensibility was open, self-confident and governed by the belief that humanity needs wider circles of identification to transcend narrow identities::
He directed India towards a liberality by reminding us that it was god’s job to protect us, not ours to protect our gods. The distinction of Indian nationalism was precisely that it never saw the nation as the highest embodiment of value. With the condescension of hindsight it is too easy to dismiss this project as either disembodied idealism, or worse still, an assertion of Indian superiority. But embedded in it was the radical idea that India means nothing if it is not going to be a source of alternative values. There is a recognition of pluralism, but not one that sacrifices truth. “We want to lead mankind to a place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran, yet this has to be done by harmonising the Vedas, the Bible, the Koran.” Whatever one may think of this project, the idea that each tradition could reach to some place outside itself, by working through all traditions, was a sign of intellectual ambition that is now all but lost.
Again, in hindsight, Vivekananda has been read as progenitor masculinity in politics; and he has certainly been appropriated that way. His claim that “for our motherland, a conjunction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam — Vedanta Brain and Islam Body is the only hope” has been tirelessly misinterpreted. This quotation is prefaced by two striking claims “Practical Advaitism, which looks upon and behaves to all mankind as one’s own soul, was never developed amongst the Hindus.” And “if any religion approached equality in any appreciable manner it was Islam and Islam alone.” The reference to Islamic body is not to an ideal of power; it is to the central idea of equality.
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 16, 2012 AT 06:14 IST, Edited At: Jan 16, 2012 06:14 IST
After the pummelling at the hands of Australia, Sourav Ganguly says he agrees with the idea of bringing in new players but makes the important point that the selectors have often in the past only gone for soft targets - players whose omission may not create much furore in India:
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 15, 2012 AT 23:59 IST, Edited At: Jan 16, 2012 02:39 IST
The fates seem to have got their calendar wrong. For almost all the important events in Homai Vyarawalla's life had something to do with the number 13 -- she was born in 1913, she met husband-to-be Maneckshaw when she was 13, her first car’s licence plate was DLD 13. And So there is an element of being cheated that Dalda 13 (a pseudonym she chose for herself) did not live on at least till 2013.
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 15, 2012 AT 22:50 IST, Edited At: Jan 15, 2012 22:50 IST
Some background first:
Dec 5, 2011: In l'affaire Kapil Sibal V/s Social Networking sites, NYT had reported Mr Kapil Sibal as showing the representatives of social networking sites a Facebook page that maligned the Congress Party’s president, Sonia Gandhi, saying: “This is unacceptable.”
In his hurriedly called press-conference after the above news broke, on December 6, Mr Sibal had changed the focus to "Indian sentiments and religious sentiments":
"It was brought to my notice some of the images and content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google are extremely offensive to the religious sentiments of people of this country," Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here.
"I believe that no reasonable person, aware of the sensibilities of a large section of the communities in this country, would wish to see this in the public domain," Sibal said.
The content posted on some of the sites, the minister said, was so offensive that it would hurt the religious sentiments of a large section of communities in the country. These contents would also offend any reasonable person looking at those images.
"We will not allow the Indian sentiments and religious sentiments of large sections of the community to be hurt," he said.
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON Jan 13, 2012 AT 23:21 IST, Edited At: Jan 13, 2012 23:21 IST
Two diametrically opposing views on the prime minister.
In Mint, Aakar Patel dismisses "the shallow middle-class contempt for Singh", joining issue with Ramachandra Guha's evaluation of Manmohan Singh, and concludes that we should look at the parliamentary minority numbers he had to work with and "given the poor hand that Indian voters have dealt him, he has played well, even brilliantly":
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 12, 2012 AT 23:56 IST, Edited At: Jan 11, 2012 23:56 IST
Hamilton Nolan reacts to the video of US Marines urinating on three Taliban corpses in Afghanistan, which has been widely condemned across the spectrum in the US establishment, at Gawker:
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 12, 2012 AT 22:57 IST, Edited At: Jan 12, 2012 21:57 IST
For the record, the two videos now placed on youtube by Gethin Chamberlain:
A video circulating among tour operators in the Andaman Islands. Released by Gethin Chamberlain in response to police attempts to play down my report on the abuse of the Jarawa tribe. This is one of many such videos in circulation. It was filmed on a mobile phone.
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 12, 2012 AT 21:31 IST, Edited At: Jan 12, 2012 21:31 IST
Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
"This commercial isn't real, neither are society's standards of beauty"
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jan 11, 2012 AT 22:07 IST, Edited At: Jan 08, 2012 13:43 IST
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| Censorship |
| Free Speech |
| Google |
| Indian-Americans |
| Indies |
| Indo-US |
| Internet |
| Levity |
| Moral Police |
| Rafael Nadal |
| Ricky Ponting |
| Roger Federer |
| Sikhs |
| Tennis |
| Twitter |
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