FC: Indian court rules that search engine liable for links to porn

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[We have a writeup here: 
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40432,00.html A quick glance says 
rediff.com is a fairly standard portal/news site, with original articles, 
free email, and online shopping. --Declan]

*******

> From: "David Burt" <dburt () n2h2 com>
> To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
> Cc: "James S. Tyre" <jstyre () jstyre com>
> Subject: Indian Judge: Search Engine Access to Porn Makes Provider Liable
> Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 16:21:55 -0800
>
>
> Copyright 2000 FT Asia Intelligence Wire
> All rights reserved.
> Copyright 2000 Business Line.
> BUSINESS LINE
>
> November 30, 2000
>
> LENGTH: 501 words
>
> HEADLINE: India: 'Rediff purveying pornography'
>
> BODY:
>
>
> PUNE, Nov. 29. IN a landmark order, a Pune judge has held Rediff.com 
> responsible for spreading pornographic material on the Internet.
>
> In an order dated November 27, the First Class Judicial Magistrate, Mr S. 
> Bhosle, held that there was enough evidence to place the Directors of 
> Rediff Communications Ltd on trial for offences under Section 292 of the 
> Indian Penal Code (distribution of pornographic material) and Section 109 
> of the Indian Penal Code (abetment).
>
> According to the order, if convicted, the Directors of Rediff 
> Communications Ltd - Mr Ajit Balakrishnan (Chairman, accused No. 1), Mr 
> Arun Nanda, Mr Abhay Havaldar, Mr Sunil Phatarphekar, Mr Charles Robert 
> Kaye and Mr Tony Janz (accused No. 2 to 7) - could face imprisonment for 
> up to two years.
>
> In his five-page order, the magistrate held that the search facility 
> offered by Rediff.com could be used to view Web sites containing 
> pornographic material. The Directors have been summoned to the Criminal 
> court in Pune on December 30.
>
> The order has been issued on a complaint filed on June 21 by a Pune-based 
> law student. Mr Rohas Nagpal, President of the Asian School of Cyber Laws 
> from Pune, represented the complainant.
>
> The student, who accessed the Net from a local Internet cafe, found that 
> pornographic and obscene materials were easily available and could be 
> viewed by using the search facilities of Rediff.com.
>
> The complaint had also alleged that the company was providing the facility 
> of the search engine.
>
> Mr Nagpal said that he had verified the complaint, adding that an 
> investigation by the police had become necessary.
>
> He pointed out that the investigating officer had supported the facts 
> stated by the complainant but differed in the opinion only on the point 
> that these sites were based in the US and that currently, there was no 
> machinery available which could separate the obscene sites from other 
> information sites.
>
> The officer had said that "viewing" of such sites totally depended on the 
> viewers and submitted his report that the accused were not responsible for 
> the offence.
>
> But Mr Nagpal said that two Web sites, 123india.com and Compuserve.com, 
> had successfully filtered all obscene materials from their sites and 
> access through their search engines for such materials was not possible.
>
> He noted that the technology for filtering the obscene material was 
> available and that Rediff.com should also utilise it.
[snip --DBM]

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> | David Burt, Market Research Manager dburt () n2h2 com http://www.n2h2.com/ |
> | Intelligent Technologies For A Safe and Productive Internet |
> || Phone 206 892-1130  Fax: 509 271-4226 |
> |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




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