[Due to the extraordinary interest
generated by this issue, a more detailed discussion was found necessary. Hence a
series of articles are being presented links for which are given below as BB1,
BB2,BB3 etc....Naavi]
BB1:BB-2
: BB3:BB4:
BB 5:BB6:BB7:BB8:BB9:BB10
In our previous article "Bloggers Beware...1" we had
discussed the impact of Section 67 on the Blog owner when "Information which is
Obscene in Electronic Form" gets displayed on the blog space.
The continuing discussions on the issue has raised certain
other interesting academic debates which are worth discussing here. I accept
that these views may be disputed and welcome constructive criticisms if any.
The issues that arise are
1) Is there a difference between a Forum and a Blog?
2) Is there a difference in "Creating an Object of
Information" and "Publishing the Object"?
3) Is the Blog owner responsible for a hyper link posted
by a visitor?
4) Is the Blog owner responsible for Copyright Violations
if he posts a picture?
5) What are the ethics of posting comments in a disguised
identity and to what extent "Anonymity" encourages "Adventurism" on the
Internet?
6) Does calling one an "Idiot" on a Blog constitute cause
for action in a defamation case?
7) If a person places his work in a public domain, what
are the rights of the public to criticize? and is there a difference between
criticism and defamation? or between criticising the author and criticising the
work?
8) Is it correct to invoke Section 292 of IPC and Section
67 of ITA-2000 for the same offence?
9) Can we trust that "Law will take Its own Course" and
"Freedom of Speech" will protect the Blog Owner from action under Section 67 or
any other section of IPC if the powers be take note?
10) Is there a need for "Self Governance" amongst Bloggers
and if so how?
Let me try to give my views on each of the above points
through a series of articles here. Let me make it abundantly clear that this
article/s is/are not intended in any way to pass comments on
any
alternate views held by others. I just feel that these are interesting academic
questions which can be debated again and again.
I am also fully aware that many of the views remain
subjective and cannot ever be said as the truth and only the truth. Even when a
Judge expresses his views in a given case (such as in a Defamation suit),
which is cited as a "precedence", lot of reliance is placed on the
circumstances of the case, the personalities involved, the culture of the
society, the manner and tone of a spoken word, the actions of the persons
involved prior to and after the event and lastly the admissible evidences that
are laid before the Court. The same judge under a different circumstance
may reverse his own decision after giving full consideration to his earlier
view.
So what I state here will be just one of the many views that
may co-exist with other views.
I also would like to say that I am myself an advocate of
"Freedom" and "Preservation of Democratic Traditions of Free Speech and Right To
Privacy". Though I assist the Police from time to time for Cyber Crime
investigations and would be proud to be called a "Friend of the Police", I
am aware that just as in any other field, there are good and bad people even in
the Police and it is better for the Citizens as well as the "Good Policemen"
that public vigilance is maintained on the law enforcement activities to prevent
"Mis-Interpretation of Law". The same comment also may apply to the
judiciary. I am not however with the so called "Human Right Activists",
who have their own axe to grind and react in a partisan manner almost
every time.
I believe that the views expressed here is without any
prejudice concerned with my other activities as a consultant of the Police or
the Government/s. I therefore request the viewers not to presume that I am
making certain statements here because I support the Police and not the
Netizens. We may have to wait and see if the views expressed here get
vindicated in a Court of Law.
Issue (1): Is there a difference between a Forum and a Blog?
The word "Blog" is a recent addition to the vocabulary and
some legal dictionaries have no entry or the same. I have therefore decided to
refer www.dictionary.com
for the acceptable definition.
A Blog is defined by dictionary.com as
Definition: an online diary; a personal chronological
log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example: Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of
the author.
Etymology: shortened form of Weblog
Usage: blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n
A Forum is defined as :
-
- The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city
that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
- A public meeting place for open discussion.
- A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a
newspaper or a radio or television program.
- A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among
experts and often including audience participation.
- A court of law; a tribunal.
The other web definitions of a "Blog" run on these lines:
-A Blog is basically a journal that is available on the
web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a
blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that
allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain
the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order
with the most recent additions featured most prominently.
www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
-A blog is basically a journal that is available on the
web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a
blog is a "blogger." See also: WWW
www.mitsol.co.za/help_glossary.htm
-A blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible
personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often
reflect the personality of the author...http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/blog.html
A Forum on the other hand is defined as
-An online discussion group. Online services and bulletin
board services (BBS's) provide a variety of forums, in which participants with
common interests can exchange open messages. Forums are sometimes called
newsgroups (in the Internet world) or conferences.....Webopedia
Others define a Forum thus:
-An online discussion group or newsgroup (see USENET).
www.wmo.ch/web/www/WDM/Guides/Internet-glossary.html
-A discussion area (containing post and reply messages) within an ezboard
community. A community may have one or more forums. A forum may have one or
more topics.
www.ezboard.com/help/glossary.html
-
A forum is an online discussion group. Forums can be newsgroups, or
they can be Web-based. The Sympatico discussion forums are Web-based forums.
www1.sympatico.ca/help/Glossary/f.html
I leave the readers to make their analysis of the above definitions and
present my views.
Whether a facility is a "Personal Diary" or " Place for public Discussion"
has to be determined from the manner in which the facility is sought to be used.
If there is a "Blog" where a person keeps entering his own
perceptions and does not open it out to the public, it amounts to a "Personal
Web Diary". Subject to other authentication requirements (I am not going into a
detailed discussion on the topic of authentication) this can be taken as
evidence just as a personal diary would be in case of any crime or disputes.
Since there is no practice of a "Personal Diary" being shown
around to friends and others, a Blog of the kind we normally come across where
public view and comment cannot be considered as an equivalent of a "Personal
Diary" though it is colloquially referred to as such.
Now compare a "Blog" and the web site such as
www.naavi.org. To the extent the contributions in naavi.org is predominantly
from one single person who is the owner of the site, the website naavi.org
appears similar to a Blog. However, as more and more Praveen Dalal s and
Parthasarathy Pati s start writing on the website, it changes its "Blog
like" status and acquires a character of a "Magazine" with several
contributors and one editor who controls the content. The publisher can be some
times different from the Editor. As such, in an "Electronic Publication" there
are Content Contributors, Editor/s and the Publisher. Comments from the visitors
get reflected from time to time just like "Letters to Editors" and does
not form the significant part of the content.
In a typical Blog however, the blog owner acts as a catalyst
to place a comment of his own in a public place with the invitation to the
public to contribute their ideas around the central theme.
The very purpose is to make the main post and the comments
together constitute "Content". There may be more visitors to a blog to read the
comments rather than the main post itself.
The same objective is also seen in a "Forum" as we know on
the web (such as an Yahoo group or a Message Board in Forum.onecenter.com). The
group/forum owner here generally enlists members and any of the members may
contribute an original point for discussion or comment on posts made by others.
The information that so accumulates becomes the content.
There are obvious differences in forums. Some may be viewable
by any but postings could be restricted to members. Some may restrict even the
viewing to members only. Some may restrict the postings only to the owner and in
some cases postings may be subject to moderation.
One essential difference between a typical forum and a Blog
is in the way the new content may be distributed. A Forum may or may not
distribute the postings by means of individual mails or digests. A Blog normally
encourages people to visit the blog to make a comment. So is a website which
would like visitors to come to the website rather than just receive the content.
In recent days there are some alternatives developing in this field also with
"Notify me when there is a Change" kind of service or "RSS feeds" supplementing
the distribution systems.
Considering all the above practices, there is no essential
difference between a typical "Blog", "Forum" and even a
"Website". They differ in presentation, style of organizing contributions and
distribution. Essentially all present "Electronic Content" in Cyber Space and
allow others to view them and provide interactive responses.
When we are interpreting "Publishing" under Section 67 of the
ITA-2000, we need to consider that a "Blog", "Forum" and the "Website" stand on
the same pedestal.
Naavi
December 7,2004
..Will Be Continued in Bloggers Beware..3
Related Articles:
Scandal in school shakes up Delhi..Telegraph
First Conviction Under Sec 67 of ITA-2000
Defamation on
Internet-Ivan Hoffman
Defamation-IVan Hoffman
What is Defamation?..libelxpress
