Dubious no. 2

IN Media Watch Briefs | 14/11/2012

Google's latest Transparency report, tells us that India follows USA in removal requests. At least 7969 of the 20,938 requests between Jan-June 2012 came from USA, followed by India (2319) and Brazil (1566). The trend of seeking to curb political speech is alarming and visible even in Western democracies, says Google. The report also states that 360 search results related to India were removed after a court order that adult videos allegedly violated one individual's privacy. No prizes for guessing whose!

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Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.