Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man

An anonymous reader writes "After a Google user posted a profane picture of the Hindu saint Shivaji, Indian authorities contacted Google to ask for his IP address. Google complied. He was arrested and is reported to have been beaten by a lathi and asked to use the same bowl to eat and to use in the toilet. Not surprisingly, Google is a keen to play this down as Yahoo is being hauled over the coals by US Congress for handing over IP addresses and emails to the Chinese Government which resulted in a Chinese democracy activist being jailed." Readers are noting that these are 2 unrelated cases — the latter is several months old.

Wow...

I don't usually complain about badly written summaries, but this one made my head explode.

Re:Wow...

You's didn't thinked the summary's quality were as good you had likening?

Even the Post Title

"Indian Man"

Something awkward and comic about this description. Curiously vague, while simultaneously exhibiting a misplaced precision.

Gnostech!

Hindu saints have IP addresses?

Re:Gnostech!

And while meditating their IP is 127.0.0.1 for "Truth lies within".

Do no evil doesnt stop 'aiding evil do bad things'

Well, I'm glad that google abides by the law here in canada. Clearly their motto of 'do no evil' is region specific; on one hand, I applaud their help in stopping crime, on the other hand, I detest the violation of privacy.

I guess I'm safe so long as my government respects my rights (because google will only go as far as the government seems deem 'right')

Dont be evil

The motto is not "do no evil," it is "don't be evil."

Not that it really matters, "evil" is a sloppy, ill-defined, and personally relativistic concept to begin with.

And of course, having an intent doesn't guarantee the ability to realize that intent, let alone to perpetually avoid any deviation.

And of course, loudly publishing such a motto doesn't actually mean that those at the top have any intention of living up to it. The perception of benevolence is what is really useful.

Sloppy Definition? maybe...

But, I would have to say, when you actions lead to someone being beaten, jailed, and forced to use the same dish to eat and shit, then you can be sure your action was evil.

What the hell is wrong with the world?

Re:Sloppy Definition? maybe...

The problem is that the world can't agree on morality. The problem is that dictators (some of them democratically elected) don't believe in civil rights. The problem is that human beings abuse power (and even those who think that they never would tend to do so when given power.)

Re:Dont be evil

.The motto is not "do no evil," it is "don't be evil.

Apparently they need to change it to

Do no evil*

*void where prohibited by law or the financial interests of our stockholders

Re:Do no evil doesnt stop 'aiding evil do bad thin

I applaud their help in stopping crime

Crime? You sure you want to word it that way?

What this man was convicted of may have been a crime in his country, but in the United States, Europe, Canada and most other places in the free world what he did would be protected under freedom of speech.

He was arrested for nothing more than saying something like "Fuck George Bush" or "Hillary Clinton is a stupid cunt licker" or "Barack Obama can go fuck himself" or "John McCain is an asshole." (There, equal opportunity. :)

Tastelss? Perhaps. Illegal? Not where I live.

Re:Do no evil doesnt stop 'aiding evil do bad thin

I applaud their help in stopping crime...

Juicy tidbits from TFA:

22-year-old IT professional Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid. His crime was writing in an orkut community named "I hate Sonia Gandhi." Sonia Gandhi is a prominent politician in India . . . he created a profile and then posted content in vulgar language about Sonia Gandhi in the community.

. . . If he's convicted, he can be imprisoned for up to five years and may have to pay a fine up to Rs one lakh.

Still applaud that? This isn't Google catching a thief or embezzler or rapist. This is Google turning in someone who said something that someone else who is powerful doesn't like.

compliance, not judges

What happened to this man is despicable. However, we need to remember that Google is a company, not a judge in a court of law. It is not their place to decide if a court-issued subpoena is "worth" complying with or not, especially not in a democratic country (eat trolls, eat!). The big question is if they were responding to a court order in the first place, or the lean of some jackass in the government.

Re:compliance, not judges

If they're not going to try and make a judgement call about what is evil then they should drop their (now obviously) hypocritical slogan.

Mixup

The summary mixes up two different stories. The first (techcrunch.com) link points to a story involving a guy posting "obscene" comments about Sonia Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi, while the later link (techgoss.com) points to the story that appears in the summary (involving Shivaji). Sonia Gandhi [wikipedia.org] is an Italian born Indian politician and the leader of the ruling Congress Party. Shivaji [wikipedia.org] was a ruler of Maratha Empire.

Also, the Shivaji story involves a goof up by the telecom provider Airtel that provided the details of the wrong person (not using the IP in question) whereas in the other story the ISP provided the details of the actual person involved. In both stories Google revealed the IP used by the "culprit".

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

US Telecoms are demanding immunity for assisting unlawful federal wiretaps.

Re:Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

This really gets to me.

Of all the British citizens sent to Guatanamo Bay, those sent back to Britain to handle have been released with no charges. There is very good evidence to say that many, if not most, held there are entirely innocent. None have yet received any form of trial, with some having been held for 6 years.

On top of this, the PATRIOT act (which has everything to do with undermining the constitution and nothing to do with true patriotism) now makes it possible to send US citizens to Gitmo.

On top of this, nearly all US phone companies are implicated in spying on US citizens illegally, allowing the FBI/CIA etc who-knows-what access to every phone call handled.

On top of this, the president wants to grant these telecoms retroactive immunity from prosecution, since he asked them to do it.

And on top of all this, Americans have the nerve to get their knickers in a twist when another American company Obeys the laws of a country in which they do business?

By all means campaign to change the attitudes of those in power in repressive countries. Please, do. But remember Google was (presumably) obeying a court order.

One big difference

India is a Democracy. China is not.

Shivaji was a warrior not a saint.

Shivaji was a Hindu king of Maharashtra who fought the (last powerful) Mogul emperor Aurangzeb and gave him run for his money. He is greatly revered by most desi patriots. But no desi calls him a saint!

Worthless!

This story is worthless without said profane pictures. Otherwise how can I acurately judge whether or not this person deserves to eat his own excrement. I need pictures dammit!! (Preferrably linked through Google images for the sake of almighty Irony.)

India is to blame

For having an outrageous law like the one this man was arrested for. Google owned or ran the site in question so they had to comply with the local law. I'm not saying I like it, but the blame should be shifted to India for having a law on the books that allows them to toss anyone in jail for posting in "vulgar language" about some politician. Democracy my ass.

asked?

and asked to use the same bowl to eat and to use in the toilet.

He was asked? Does that mean it was optional? I don't know about this guy, but I'd lean towards "No."

Google gave IP address. Police bungled it

Looks like, Google provided the IP address of someone who posted derogatory images of Shivaji to the Indian authorities. They contacted the ISP and they fingered a wrong party. May be they fingered the current holder of that IP address instead of the user at the time of posting.

They got the wrong party and roughly treated the arrested man. The idea is to send the message loud and clear, "we will get the IP address and catch you and mess you up. May this time we messed up the wrong guy, but next time, watch out." That is the logic of the Indian police who think this will reduce such incidents in the future. But what trips them up is that a savvy criminal will know how to hide his tracks, and it will always be the wrong guy who gets nabbed. But it allows the police to pretend they did something. (You might argue defacing Shivaji's picture is not criminal. But given the reaction you typically get from Muslims for defacing images of Mohammad, this reaction by the desis is quite tame. And this is a different argument anyway, nothing concerning Google)

If google had not promised anonymity to Orkut users, then it can't be held accountable. There are bigger villains in the story, the desi police, incompetent desi ISP, desi politics and the desi population in general that accepts this all.

Saint Shivaji?

I hadn't heard Shivaji referred to as a saint before, somewhat interesting usage of the term.

Shivaji is an interesting character. Perhaps best known for killing one of his Mughal enemies with a concealed weapon called a tiger's claw. Also well known as a defender of Hinduism who fought long and hard against the Muslim-ruled Mughal empire.

Beaten and imprisoned based on an IP address...

This is why I refuse to be an exit node.