7 ms·

Why was an Indian man held for sending a tweet?

84 points by yati 14y ago

hackerboos 14y ago
Maybe the headline should be "Why were 2 men arrested and convicted for tweeting in the UK?"
- stickdick 14y ago
  Actually, it was for creating a Facebook event. Arguably even more private. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/16/facebook-riot-calls-men-jailed http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/16/facebook-riot-calls...
  - hackerboos 14y ago
    That's a different case. Details for the Tweets below: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9431677/Twitter-joke-trial-conviction-quashed-in-High-Court.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9431677/Twitte... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/09/matthew-woods-joking-april-jones-facebook-sickipedia http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/09/matthew-...
    - stickydink 14y ago
      My bad, worth a mention though. This one's a little more outrageous :|
  - shardling 14y ago
    Eh, the story there isn't really anything to do with social media. It's about riot-related crimes being treated more harshly.
    - stickydink 14y ago
      But, the rioting there never happened. It only ever got as far as a Facebook event, seen only by their own friends. (And a friend of a friend, who obviously panicked a little)
      - shardling 14y ago
        It was in the context of riots elsewhere in England -- if you read the whole article, there was a nationwide directive to treat rioting related incidents far more harshly than is the norm. (I'm not defending this!) Some other examples from the article were jail sentences for small thefts, such as a single bottle of water. Like stealing a bottle of water, calling for a riot (regardless of whether anyone shows up) is a crime. The real story here is the general pattern: harsh prosecutions for crimes that would normally be forgiven.
      - oh_sigh 14y ago
        So it's legal to plan a riot, as long as the riot never materializes? You aren't allowed to plan a murder, even if you never actually murder someone. It's the same thing.
magobarca 14y ago
because India is a corrupt mafia run state?
- sudhirj 14y ago
  Corrupt, yes. Mafia-run, no. There are limits to the insults we will take.
  - sudhirj 14y ago
    Come to think of it, implying that some of our politicians were smart enough to be mafia would be highly insulting to the mafia. Some are wannabe mafia, though. They're the ones we try to avoid. The others are corrupt, but often their motives are fairly aligned with public interest. For instance, they take cuts on all infrastructure projects, so our infrastructure tends to improve at a fairly good pace - though obviously not as fast as it theoretically could.
    - therandomguy 14y ago
      "so our infrastructure tends to improve at a fairly good pace"... not quiet. The politicians get HUGE kick backs from the contracts. Where does the money come from? By sourcing cheap sub-standard materials. This leads to shit infrastructure with everything crumbling within couple years of construction. I have seen pictures of N. Korea and they seem to have better infrastructure.
  - kghose 14y ago
    LoL
  - pkuhad 14y ago
    Indian politics is corrupt, not India.
  - oh_sigh 14y ago
    Each family is a mafia. It exactly describes India.
  - 14y ago
sergiotapia 14y ago
The same thing happened here in Bolivia. Samuel Doria Medina, tweeted that President Evo Morales had sex with a minor (17 years old) and she was pregnant. The following day the mother of the minor (a political person of power in Evo's cabinet) files for jail time among other things. This was about two months ago and to be honest, media died down on it, and I have no idea what happened to the process. Was she in fact pregnant? Was the president in fact involved sexually with a minor? Lots of questions, no answers.
- GFischer 14y ago
  I wouldn't say it's the same thing - Doria Medina is a politician himself, and opposed to Evo Morales. Apparently, he was forced to apologize, and he's been very vocal in other accusations too (for example accusing Evo of illicit enrichment).
  - sergiotapia 14y ago
    Not tit-for-tat- same thing, but same ballpark. A tweet accusing someone in power of doing something wrong.
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  17 years old is not a minor. And you don't tweet about other peoples' sexual (or reproductive indeed) lives. If person C tweets about the sexual life of B and A, then C is a bad person. They should not have done it. P. S. I live on another side of the planet.
  - aroberge 14y ago
    As is the case where the person you are replying to, where I live, a 17 years old is a minor. You claim to be living on another side of the planet ... then you should restrict to comment about things you know about on "your" side of the planet.
    - guard-of-terra 14y ago
tdskate 14y ago
Lame. I thought I was in for a good joke or comic.
chinmoy 14y ago
Things like this one happened several times in Bangladesh. The government imprisoned several people over time for posting statuses against the prime minister on Facebook.
pGrabber 14y ago
Unfortunate, but real state of affairs in the so called "India Shining" story! Corruption is ingrained in public and private offices. And my biggest concern is that it's become a way of life and people are indifferent to it.
- yati 14y ago
  This indifference is but forced. It seems that here, the "authorities" need to be appeased to get them do the job they're paid for. If you cannot appease, you are screwed.
- mmishra 14y ago
  It is unfortunate but change is difficult too. Countries , like companies , have to be crafted thoughtfully and carefully (Google <--> US) otherwise they end up being mess like ( India <--> Yahoo ). I feel same for both Yahoo and India. They both were amazing but now in a state of mess.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
jt2190 14y ago
This story leaves me feeling helpless. What can I, living in the United States, do to change this statement: In reality, [Section 66A of the IT Act of 2000] is more often used by the state as a weapon against dissent. In each such case, police action has been swift and harsh. I'd love it if someone would comment, or better, write a blog posting with a list of actionable steps that I can take to improve things.
- sturadnidge 14y ago
  Whilst a laudable sentiment, you might be better off putting your energy into ensuring a similar law is never passed in the US. We have have a very similar law in the UK, Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, and I'm sure it won't be long before something similar is proposed in the US after the 'innocence of muslims' debacle / tragedy (which is exactly the kind of thing that the UK law was brought in for, but has been similarly abused by the authorities). We also have rather interesting laws surrounding libel in the UK... India seems to be a bit more sane on that front at least.
- dharmach 14y ago
  It's not easy to take action by authorities if such acts were done by or repeated by many.
- oh_sigh 14y ago
  Your best bet is to make a really stinky fart. If that fart reaches across the world, and certain people smell it, it might stop them from doing what they do. That's your best chance of effecting any change in India from the US as a private individual.
BadDesign 14y ago
STUPID HUMANS!
known 14y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

84 points by yati 14y ago

hackerboos 14y ago

Maybe the headline should be "Why were 2 men arrested and convicted for tweeting in the UK?"

stickdick 14y ago
Actually, it was for creating a Facebook event. Arguably even more private. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/16/facebook-riot-calls-men-jailed http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/16/facebook-riot-calls...
- hackerboos 14y ago
  That's a different case. Details for the Tweets below: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9431677/Twitter-joke-trial-conviction-quashed-in-High-Court.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9431677/Twitte... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/09/matthew-woods-joking-april-jones-facebook-sickipedia http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/09/matthew-...
  - stickydink 14y ago
    My bad, worth a mention though. This one's a little more outrageous :|
- shardling 14y ago
  Eh, the story there isn't really anything to do with social media. It's about riot-related crimes being treated more harshly.
  - stickydink 14y ago
    But, the rioting there never happened. It only ever got as far as a Facebook event, seen only by their own friends. (And a friend of a friend, who obviously panicked a little)
    - shardling 14y ago
      It was in the context of riots elsewhere in England -- if you read the whole article, there was a nationwide directive to treat rioting related incidents far more harshly than is the norm. (I'm not defending this!) Some other examples from the article were jail sentences for small thefts, such as a single bottle of water. Like stealing a bottle of water, calling for a riot (regardless of whether anyone shows up) is a crime. The real story here is the general pattern: harsh prosecutions for crimes that would normally be forgiven.
    - oh_sigh 14y ago
      So it's legal to plan a riot, as long as the riot never materializes? You aren't allowed to plan a murder, even if you never actually murder someone. It's the same thing.

magobarca 14y ago

because India is a corrupt mafia run state?

sudhirj 14y ago
Corrupt, yes. Mafia-run, no. There are limits to the insults we will take.
- sudhirj 14y ago
  Come to think of it, implying that some of our politicians were smart enough to be mafia would be highly insulting to the mafia. Some are wannabe mafia, though. They're the ones we try to avoid. The others are corrupt, but often their motives are fairly aligned with public interest. For instance, they take cuts on all infrastructure projects, so our infrastructure tends to improve at a fairly good pace - though obviously not as fast as it theoretically could.
  - therandomguy 14y ago
    "so our infrastructure tends to improve at a fairly good pace"... not quiet. The politicians get HUGE kick backs from the contracts. Where does the money come from? By sourcing cheap sub-standard materials. This leads to shit infrastructure with everything crumbling within couple years of construction. I have seen pictures of N. Korea and they seem to have better infrastructure.
- kghose 14y ago
  LoL
- pkuhad 14y ago
  Indian politics is corrupt, not India.
- oh_sigh 14y ago
  Each family is a mafia. It exactly describes India.
- 14y ago

sergiotapia 14y ago

The same thing happened here in Bolivia. Samuel Doria Medina, tweeted that President Evo Morales had sex with a minor (17 years old) and she was pregnant. The following day the mother of the minor (a political person of power in Evo's cabinet) files for jail time among other things. This was about two months ago and to be honest, media died down on it, and I have no idea what happened to the process. Was she in fact pregnant? Was the president in fact involved sexually with a minor? Lots of questions, no answers.

GFischer 14y ago
I wouldn't say it's the same thing - Doria Medina is a politician himself, and opposed to Evo Morales. Apparently, he was forced to apologize, and he's been very vocal in other accusations too (for example accusing Evo of illicit enrichment).
- sergiotapia 14y ago
  Not tit-for-tat- same thing, but same ballpark. A tweet accusing someone in power of doing something wrong.
guard-of-terra 14y ago
17 years old is not a minor. And you don't tweet about other peoples' sexual (or reproductive indeed) lives. If person C tweets about the sexual life of B and A, then C is a bad person. They should not have done it. P. S. I live on another side of the planet.
- aroberge 14y ago
  As is the case where the person you are replying to, where I live, a 17 years old is a minor. You claim to be living on another side of the planet ... then you should restrict to comment about things you know about on "your" side of the planet.
  - guard-of-terra 14y ago

tdskate 14y ago

Lame. I thought I was in for a good joke or comic.

chinmoy 14y ago

Things like this one happened several times in Bangladesh. The government imprisoned several people over time for posting statuses against the prime minister on Facebook.

pGrabber 14y ago

Unfortunate, but real state of affairs in the so called "India Shining" story! Corruption is ingrained in public and private offices. And my biggest concern is that it's become a way of life and people are indifferent to it.

yati 14y ago
This indifference is but forced. It seems that here, the "authorities" need to be appeased to get them do the job they're paid for. If you cannot appease, you are screwed.
mmishra 14y ago
It is unfortunate but change is difficult too. Countries , like companies , have to be crafted thoughtfully and carefully (Google <--> US) otherwise they end up being mess like ( India <--> Yahoo ). I feel same for both Yahoo and India. They both were amazing but now in a state of mess.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

jt2190 14y ago

This story leaves me feeling helpless. What can I, living in the United States, do to change this statement: In reality, [Section 66A of the IT Act of 2000] is more often used by the state as a weapon against dissent. In each such case, police action has been swift and harsh. I'd love it if someone would comment, or better, write a blog posting with a list of actionable steps that I can take to improve things.

sturadnidge 14y ago
Whilst a laudable sentiment, you might be better off putting your energy into ensuring a similar law is never passed in the US. We have have a very similar law in the UK, Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, and I'm sure it won't be long before something similar is proposed in the US after the 'innocence of muslims' debacle / tragedy (which is exactly the kind of thing that the UK law was brought in for, but has been similarly abused by the authorities). We also have rather interesting laws surrounding libel in the UK... India seems to be a bit more sane on that front at least.
dharmach 14y ago
It's not easy to take action by authorities if such acts were done by or repeated by many.
oh_sigh 14y ago
Your best bet is to make a really stinky fart. If that fart reaches across the world, and certain people smell it, it might stop them from doing what they do. That's your best chance of effecting any change in India from the US as a private individual.

BadDesign 14y ago

STUPID HUMANS!

known 14y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index