Centre mulls proposal to slap restrictions on Orkut

The government is examining a proposal to slap restrictions on the networking website Orkut following a complaint from Shiv Sena, which found some adverse comments against its chief Bal Thackeray on the portal.

"We are examining the request from Maharashtra police (with whom Shiv Sena has filed the complaint) from all angles. We may take a few days to reach a solution," Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA) N Vijayaditya, whose division is looking into the issue, said.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team of CCA, which falls under the information technology ministry, is empowered to monitor online content and block sites containing offensive material.

Orkut is managed by popular search engine Google. There have been attacks on cyber cafes in suburban Mumbai by Shiv Sainiks protesting against the controversial remarks regarding Thackeray on Orkut.

However, an official source said the government was unlikely to impose any ban on Orkut as it feels this can lead to outcry against freedom of speech and such a move might appear as curbing personal views of the people.

"An entire site cannot be banned just because some content is found objectionable, but the content could be looked into to see that it does not create any hate campaign or law and order problem," the source added.

The government had received flak from netizens and the international community last year when it blocked 17 websites after coming across alleged anti-India massages posted by bloggers.

A Google spokesperson said, "We do not endorse or pro-actively monitor the content of community discussions but place a lot of trust in our users to notify us of violations. We want to foster an environment in which users feel safe, as well as free to speak and interact."

"Orkut works on a hosted platform, which allows users to create content. Google does not pro-actively monitor the content, unless it is flagged.

"Once flagged, we will review the content against the terms and conditions mentioned on the website. We will pull out the content if it violates these," the spokesperson said.

Shiv Sena activists had earlier this month attacked cyber cafes in Mumbai to voice their protest against what they termed as an assault on some religious communities on Orkut. Following this, Thane police had written to the Department of Information Technology to consider curbs on Google.