Will Self Regulation Help?

Let a body of prominent tweeters expose handles that cross the line of decency
 SANJAY PINTO

 I  vividly recollect a jocular comment  by my professor of jurisprudence: “there are three sides to every controversy – yours, the other person’s and the right one!” Ironically, some  new age crusaders of free speech vociferously dismiss any remotely contrary view and denounce pleas for instrospection.  Can abuse, defamation, intimidation, vulgarity, sexist comments, obscene innuendoes and communal hatred  pass for 'free speech'? Ask and you shall receive vitriolic responses. If any of these offences are swept under the broad rubric of 'free speech', where do we stop? Can free movement include trespass? Can freedom to practice a religion include the right to denigrate other faiths? On sections of twitter, we have all this and more. And the sane voice of reason in being drowned in this ‘politically correct’ Bush style dictum “If you’re not with us, you are against us.” So if you question the free for all on sections of the social media, you  invite the ‘anti free speech’ tag.
 
 Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act  can seem like a draconian provision of law if invoked in inappropriate cases. A danger the country has woken up to, four years after it was inserted. Words like “annoyance” and “inconvenience” turn the fundamental canon of criminal law – mens rea or intention, on its head. Criminality must hinge on intention, not impact. Otherwise, anyone can be arrested for exposing an inconvenient truth. It would be ridiculous for journalists to carry their toothbrushes to work everyday! Is this provision ultra vires Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution? It’s certainly worth testing  in court. But  can an accused  person be allowed to cherry pick the course of action against him? How about including inaction as an option?  

 Last week following the “50 crore girlfriend”  tweet that went viral, a journalist wrote a blog critical of this post. Out  came the trolls. One fumed: "u r in the habit of sleeping with others husbands? Being a lady, be in limits.” I found this more offensive than the girlfriend tweet. The shocked recipient tweeted back asking for the sender’s postal address to send a defamation notice. The tweeter was unapologetic  with  almost predictable  ‘Catch Me If You Can’ glee. This is the root of abuse. Anonymity is not a bogey, it’s a reality and it precludes accountability. To all those who insist that defamation is the best shield against abuse on twitter, I ask: How do you get an address to initiate defamation proceedings ? If the offender is  a public figure, the address would be public knowledge. If not, does twitter  have postal addresses? It does not. Often, there is no profile picture, sometimes there are symbols, pseudonyms and even peculiar  profile info that would lead you nowhere. Read the Terms  Of Usage and you will realise that even obtaining IP addresses from the office in California  is not easy. It is Twitter’s format  that is pushing aggrieved users to the cops; turning what can be a defamation case into a charge under Section 66-A. How do you send a defamation notice, say for an illustrative purpose, to XYZ_ABC?  Tweet a notice in 140 characters?  If you get an offensive sms, what action will you take? Go to the cyber crime cell. It may also be possible to get the address from the mobile service provider  based in your city. Twitter isn’t even based in your country. Moreover, the mobile company would probably have a correct address because you do need to provide an address proof for a sim card. And unless it’s sms spoofing, at least the number will be correct.Twitter admittedly “doesn’t require email verification or identity authentication.” It's only the law enforcement agencies that are equipped to investigate and track down culprits who send offensive smses, emails or tweets. You can’t use the police as a private detective agency; just to get you a postal address. A complaint could result in prosecution. And the cops decide what section or law to invoke. Not the complainants.


 A friend who was bullied on facebook, blocked the offender and also specified if  the accused person was harassing or threatening or stalking him. He has a valid point. “ Blocking merely ensures that I stop seeing him.  I want him  to stop doing it. And I do want to see him and what he is up to.”
 
 Just a cursory glance at the ‘Comments’ section on news websites, that are not moderated, will reveal that there are many out there who  don’t know how to disagree without being disagreeable. Would it help to have a Social Media Standards Authority comprising prominent tweeters themselves for some self regulation (as regulation is often confused with censorship)? This body can be a sort of watchdog and expose handles or trolls that cross the line of decency. All right thinking users can then block these handles en masse. And if legal action is taken aganst real offenders, there will be no hue and cry. Till that happens, if you don’t have a thick skin, it may be wise to protect your tweets and choose your followers. Unless you suffer from low blood pressure.

(An edited version of this column of mine was published in The Hindu)

Chennai’s Same Old Story!

By Sanjay Pinto

Every ten years, Chennai  witnesses severe floods. In November 1985, I remember cutting my birthday cake in a neighbour’s home. As we lived in a low lying area in a place ironically called  Little Mount, along the banks of the Adyar river, the incessant downpour had submerged many areas, and was threatening to reach our doorsteps. So after placing a few valuables like the TV & music system on the loft, we left our home, carrying all that we could – my books, money, jewellery, certificates. Strangely enough, there was an encore in 1995. And yet again  in 2005, when on the 26^th October, the city received 21 cms of rain in just 2 hours, for the first time in over a hundred years! So going by this ‘every decade’ formula, Cyclone Nilam that the Met office says may bring 25 cms of rain, in 12 hours, doesn’t scare me. The next big monsoon onslaught is still 3 years away!

I’m watching Monsoon 2012, that has brought in its wake, Cyclone Nilam, under very different circumstances . I’m not a TV journalist anymore, with the onerous task of tracking the storm. I now have the luxury of watching it unfold from my window with a steaming hot cup of tea and samosas! I now stay in an apartment building with no threat of evacuation. And my children are yet to enter school.

That apart, it’s the same old story in Chennai, year after year.  Will the gusty winds of 100 kilometres per hour uproot trees that form a  canopy around my building and damage our vehicles?  Will fallen trees block traffic and cause snarls tomorrow as we drive to work?  Will the roads get water logged making commuting a nightmare? Will the many trenches as a result of the incomplete storm water drain construction in the city get inundated and double up as breeding grounds for mosquitoes? The 37 dengue related deaths and hundreds of reported cases are scary enough. Will there be an outbreak of the host of illnesses that the monsoon brings? I often wonder why we have to go through this every monsoon. These are not flash floods. We know what to expect at this time of the year. Why did we dig up trenches if we knew that we wouldn’t be able to cover them before the rain?

It’s easy to point fingers at the authorities. Many incidentally, like the Chennai Corporation Commissioner D.Karthikeyan (who is experiencing the third monsoon during his tenure in the hot seat) are staying overnight in the office to oversee relief work. What about the common man who throws plastic covers on the road, clogging the drains? The dishonest contractors who use sub standard material to lay roads? A facebook wall post is quite apt: “In the West, the water disappears 5 minutes after a downpour. In India, the road does!” The indifferent residents who allow water to stagnate in empty tyres, coconut shells and uncovered overhead tanks?

Talking of the authorities, I  texted our Director General Of Police K.Ramanujam to ask just how prepared we are for the storm. His immediate response seemed heartening: “ The State Disaster Response Force under the ADGP Operations is kept in readiness.” As an NDTV journalist, I had covered the tsunami in 2004. Eight years on, I can say with all the emphasis I possess, that Tamilnadu has met the challenge posed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the lawns of the Raj Bhavan in Chennai during his visit to the State in the aftermath of the killer waves: ‘Convert Disaster Into Opportunity’. The administration today does have a contingency plan in place and some of the best officials to implement it, like Dr.J. Radhakrishnan, who was the Collector of the worst hit Nagapattinam district and now the Health Secretary.

I’m sure there is no need to panic. As I type this, the power is off. How I wish the Tamilnadu Govt had given free inverters along with mixers and grinders! The power failure now is probably a precautionary measure to prevent electrocution deaths. The State’s monsoon death toll stands at 34, many due to electric shock. But with several other districts experiencing power cuts for upto 12 hours a day, a night or two in darkness may not seem too unbearable.

I just hope that by the time my twin babies start going to school, we have a monsoon vacation instead of the summer vacation. We can withstand the heat. The Britishers couldn’t and hence his colonial hangover. A monsoon vacation will make sense, obviate the annual tension over whether schools are closed or not; and the harrowing experience of tiny tots wading through waist deep water in crisp uniforms. Meanwhile, my neighbour has just called to check if schools will be closed tomorrow as well. The guessing game continues! 

(An edited version of this blog of mine was uploaded on www.ndtv.com)

Block & Tackle!

Trolls Are A Threat To Free Speech 

SANJAY PINTO 

How do bullies operate? They target individuals and when their antics are resisted, they call out to their associates who then gang up and pounce on  hapless souls. In real life, such criminals are called gangsters and their modus operandi has its consequences. In the virtual world, they are called trolls, who attack users on twitter with impunity under the cover of anonymity. It’s one thing to have groups of like minded people with a common ideology and by logical extension, even common foes. It’s quite another to exist only for the purpose of lashing out at anyone who has a different point of view, with specious arguments, derogatory below the belt references and scurrilous remarks.

In India, people may not be too open about their political leanings. Even on facebook, most users prefer not to reveal their political views. On twitter,they seem to break free. For instance, the pro Sangh Parivar brigade called “Sanghis” takes on the pro Congress users nicknamed “Congis”; and vice versa, at every opportunity. Trolls don’t believe in putting out correct information about themselves, opting for pseudonyms like ‘patriot’ or ‘real citizen’ or ‘the true Indian’. The only giveaway is an occasional mention of the leader or party they owe allegiance to. What’s worse, they even christen their adversaries with acerbic titles like “Visha Kanya” – conferred on a leader of a party. In this polarised environment, collateral damage accrues to just about anyone who may not belong or subscribe to either of the ideologies but even unwittingly expresses an opinion that doesn’t tie in with their line of thinking.

So when I come across tweets like “Why do people get upset on twitter? If you don’t like what someone is tweeting, Unfollow or Block. Simple. Stop complaining. Twitter is fun” @ warne888 reportedly by Shane Warne, I cannot help retorting that inflammatory, defamatory and intimidatory tweets are not fun. Cricketers may be accustomed to sledging. Not everyone is. I know of cases where victims have gone into depression, even attempted suicide. Because of someone’s “fun.” And if you block one offender, a hundred other handles can mutate like viruses. There was another tweet likening twitter to “Parliament where different groups engage with each other”. Parliament may have privilege. Trolls must understand that twitter can offer no such immunity.  Our cyber cells may be short staffed but Indian laws are aplenty to deal with online onslaught. From defamation to hurting religious sentiments to criminal intimidation, the Indian Penal Code stares offenders in the face. Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act is another provision for the cops to invoke. And like most criminals, culprits here too invariably leave behind a trail. There are clues from their tweets – a website, a linkedin URL, a mobile phone number, interaction with others, their followers, the list can be quite long.

The social media is most definitely a great embodiment of freedom of expression. But it obviously cannot be unbridled, offering a carte blanche to users to let loose, enter any discussion and vitiate the atmosphere. Just like the Indian Constitution has hemmed in ‘reasonable restrictions’ , this right is also not absolute in the American law. The First Amendment does not protect free speech if there is a ‘clear and present danger’ of it leading to ‘imminent lawless action.’ In this context, trolls have no legitimate space as they not merely reflect intolerance but also constitute a threat to free speech.

Remember the college cultural event – ‘Block & Tackle’? It’s a contest where the participant has to defend and oppose a proposition at the mention of ‘block’ or ‘tackle’. You can’t be expected to play a Jekyll and Hyde on the social media. And the Aussie prophylactic suggestion of ‘Block’ or ‘Unfollow’, that entails very high privacy settings will defeat the purpose of your presence on the social media.This platform is getting bigger. Facebook recently revealed that India has 6.5 crore  active users; an eight fold jump in the last two years. We cannot allow misdirected fringes to run amok and pollute platforms that are meant for free, fair and mature discourse.

(This column of mine was published in The Hindu)

The Bare It All Syndrome

The New Culture Of Volunteering Information About Ourselves Has A Flip Side.

 SANJAY PINTO 

From  Lewis Caroll’s ‘cabbages and kings’ to the Vadra update  “mango people and banana republic”, we’ve come a long way, haven’t  we?!  Sashi Tharoor lost his post over his “cattle class” tweet. Robert Vadra didn’t have one but chose to deactivate his facebook account in the wake of a controversy over his wall post. Closer home, an eligible bachelor lost a shot at a ‘bride’ future as his prospective in-laws, known to me,  found a mismatch; not in the horoscope  but between his facebook status update and  information on a matrimonial website! The young man’s privacy settings allowed ‘everyone’ to view his wall posts. His recent update: “ Wow! Eight days of being a teetotaller . Back to booze soon!”  didn’t tally with his matrimonial advertisement  that claimed he wasn’t the ‘spirited’sort!   As for Vadra,  his spur of the moment update has triggered a slightly mean repartee on how an ordinary businessman “acquired”  the country’s most powerful bride. The link has almost gone viral. While I don’t approve of personal and below the belt remarks, one must remember that the social media can sting those who are hyper sensitive or faint hearted. Think before you post ; you never know how or when  it may boomerang.

That said, there are no real guarantees on such platforms. You may have the highest privacy settings but be prepared for surprises. I’m not referring to spam or viruses or links that scream “what the hell are you doing in this video?”  Or “This person is writing nasty things about you.” (Click on the links and all your friends or followers will get the same poser from your ID). Like bacteria thrive in moist conditions, rumours can find no better place than the social media. We saw that during the North East crisis.  But there are also timely warnings shared on sites. Many of us may have seen posts on how all our inbox messages can be viewed by everyone, thanks to new  facebook  settings.  I’m still not sure if this is entirely true in all cases.  With every key stroke, we leave behind a trail. There is an entire data warehousing industry out there keeping tabs. It’s not just for commercial or business analysis.  The social media has given rise to this culture of volunteering information about ourselves. Where we party. Who we meet. What we eat. What we feel like doing. What our career plans are. What our stand is  on a controversy. The list is endless. We bare it all. For all you know, just like confessions made to police officers are inadmissible, we may soon have similar provisions about status updates! Intelligence gathering was never this easy! Telephone tapping may soon seem like an archaic practice! Which is why when some of my sleuth friends ask me how I am, I retort ‘don’t you know?!”

There is no reason to panic. There is every reason to be a lot more circumspect.  For instance, on facebook, you can compartmentalise your contacts into relatives, friends, favourites  and acquaintances.  Posts meant for a particular category can be addressed to only the relevant readers. You wouldn’t want a family update or something very personal  to be viewed by all and sundry; not just all your friends but everyone on the platform if your  privacy settings are weak! Make no mistake. Many  love  to read personal stuff about others. And also flood you with unsolicited advice! On the other hand, it may also not be appropriate to pour out your sorrows and unwittingly convert all your friends into Agony Aunts or Uncles! Or shrinks. Watch your back. Watch your posts. The mangoes needn’t be all that juicy in a "banana republic".

(An edited version of this column of mine was published in The Hindu)

Turning Complainants Into Followers

Wallposts & Tweets Are In; Complaint Boxes Are Out

SANJAY PINTO 

You may have come across an SMS rant about how a pizza reaches home faster than an ambulance! Whether or not that smacks of exaggeration is debatable. But there can be no two opinions that the response time is such a key element in customer interface that today a business entity can do a Dale Carnegie and ‘Win Friends & Influence People’ on the social media with ease. Quite like Sunny Gavaskar who was known to use the pace of the Carribean quickies to make the ball reach the boundary  faster, mobile operators’ twitter handles like @ Airtel_Presence  or @VodafoneIN or @TataDocomo have been converting a good number of complainants or feedback providers into followers. The response time, they claim, is less than ten minutes and their dedicated cyber net teams are active between six in the morning till twelve midnight. Let off steam on twitter about a connectivity issue or even the eternal telemarketing menace despite being on the Do Not Disturb registry and you get an immediate reply with a request for more details through a Direct Message. The trick here is that you need to follow each other to be able to send direct messages. That’s the first step in the following, as it were. Of course, the proof of the following is in the follow up! With more than fifty thousand to a lakh tweets and twenty five to fifty thousand followers, these  private mobile operators have realised the scope for a speedy redressal mechanism on twitter and facebook. Or call it customer anger management if you like!

Contrast this proactive approach with what I’m tempted to refer to as the King Herod mindset of a public sector telecom body . The Roman King had come up with a fiat to kill all male new born babies just to wipe out any future threat to the throne. With a similar broad sweep strategy, to remind a few defaulters, every subscriber is disturbed. So even those who have paid their bills, are woken up with reminder calls at odd hours. I have even got SMS payment acknowledgements at two in the morning and a payment reminder the next day, perhaps unwittingly designed to ruin that rare afternoon siesta! Surely, they can spare customers who have paid up, of this nuisance, instead of reminding everyone in their database with an afterthought: “If you have already paid your bill, please ignore this”.  What’s worse, the other day my broadband connection stopped working. The Service Centre nonchalantly mentioned that a server was being changed. How about the courtesy of advance intimation to customers that even Electricity Boards give out?

If private players can reach out to customers on the social media, and even the Chennai Traffic Police or the US Consulate in Chennai  can engage with the public on facebook quite effectively, what is stopping public sector undertakings and other government departments from keeping up with the times? Mindsets. And archaic rules like banning social media sites in office computers. As if most people don’t have them on their mobile phones. In this age of mobile number portability, the customer may not be the king but definitely a chooser. And it does make sense to reach out to a few crore  people on their very own platform.

Ideally, every civic body, every police commissionerate, as well as other departments like Registration, Passport, Transport, Electricity and so on that have high public interaction, must be on the social media. Let the respective pages be monitored by the department heads periodically. With the private sector, we have a choice; with some of those government wings, we don’t. All the more reason for interaction between public servants and the people they serve, in the medium of today. When let’s say,  a senior citizen, sitting at home, manages to reach the Police Commissioner at a designated hour, that’s empowerment. That’s accountability too. Wallposts and tweets are here to stay. The days of shabby complaint boxes opened once in six months, are over.

(An edited version of this column of mine was published in The Hindu)