Recipe for killing Internet in India
October 17, 2007, Manoj Mitta, The Times of India
The parliamentary standing committee in India is trying to increase liability of Internet service providers (ISPs) responsible for third party content. This would effectively 'kill' the Internet, since 85% of the Internet deals with third party content, including search engines, email, blogs, and community sites. The article claims that such legislation, in contrast to Internet laws of advanced countries, is the result of committee's failure to understand the Internet. Thus it is attempting to hold ISPs responsible for the legality of the content they transmit, though the ISPs would have no way to verify such data unless they monitor, record and regulate all content passing through their channels. On the other hand, the article notes that in European and US, well-thought Internet laws attempt to reduce the liability of service providers and place the burden of proof on the law to show that ISPs have conspired or abetted in committing illegal acts.