Today’s papers carry following headlines :
‘Surveillance
state’: SC raps government over WhatsApp tracking
Extracts from News
papers :
"A technology platform
is needed to collect digital media chatter from all core social media
platforms as well as digital platforms such as news, blogs... In a single
system providing real-time insights, metrics and other valuable
data," the tender document says.
Under the project, media
persons would be employed on contractual basis in each district to be the
"eyes and ears" of the government and provide real-time updates from
the ground.
The tender document says the
platform is expected to provide automated reports, tactical insights and
comprehensive work-flows to initiate engagement across digital channels.
"The platform maybe used
to disseminate content and hence, should support
publishing features," the document says, adding the platform needs to
power a real-time New Media Command Room,"
according to the tender document.
It adds that the tool must
have “listening and responding capabilities” with respect to “standard digital
channels” such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, email, and blogs and also be
able to analyse sentiment of posts on social media as “positive, negative and neutral”.
According to Mahua Moitra,
the social media analytical tool is expected to ‘listen’ to conversations on
all major digital channels including email without any authorisation in
violation of the Telegraph Act.
Before trying to
answer the question “ Where is the need ? “ , let us understand ,
“ What is the need to monitor the
Social Media ? What is the purpose ? “
Not having read the tender document , I do not know whether it contains ,
a para or two , about the “ purpose
/ object “ behind government’s desire to create this Social Media Hub
At least , in the news reports sited above , there is no mention of any PURPOSE , nor any mention
of exactly HOW the collected info / data will be used
!
Will it be used for a BENEVOLENT purpose ? for the BENEFIT of all the citizens ?
Or , will it be used , to catch and punish , only those
citizens who engage in some kind of ANTI-SOCIAL activities ?
In such a case , what is a comprehensive definition of an ANTI-SOCIAL activity ?
Does a mere THOUGHT which is not in congruence with the government policy
, constitute an “ anti-social activity “
?
Does an expression ( tweet / post / photo / article / comment etc ), which
hurts the feelings of any section of the Society, an “ anti-social activity “ ?
And this “ lack of clarity
of purpose “ , is what makes this initiative SCARY !
How come there is no preamble to the tender document which reads :
PREAMBLE :
“ The entire idea behind Social Media
Hub is to “ nip in the bud / pre-empt “ any potentially ANTI-SOCIAL activity [
even at the level of “ Man ( thoughts ) “ , but certainly at the level of “
Wachan ( speech / expression )” ] ,
before it manifests itself in the form of “Karma “ ( Evil / Anti-Social ACTIONS
)
Under no circumstance , will such monitoring of the Social Media Life /
Presence / Existence, will be used to harass a person ( or a group of persons
), merely for their beliefs which are different from beliefs held by other (
majority or minority ) citizens , as long as such beliefs are not “ Anti Social
“ as defined here under “
Where is the need ?
If Government accepts that its purpose behind wanting to set up this
Social Media Hub , is as I described above , the right way to go about is to
implement :
Fast
Forward to Future - 3 F [ 20 Oct 2016 ]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/in-hindu-mythology-brahma-creator.html
Eric Schmidt and
Jared Cohen ( both from Google ) wrote in 2013
: THE
NEW DIGITAL AGE ( page : 181 ) :
Eventually, we will
see the emergence of industry-wide standards
All digital
platforms will forge a common policy with respect to dangerous extremist videos
online, just as they have coalesced in establishing policies governing child
pornography
There is a fine line
between censorship and security, and we must create safeguards accordingly
THE INDUSTRY WILL WORK
AS A WHOLE TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE THAT
MORE EFFECTIVELY IDENTIFIES VIDEOS WITH TERRORIST CONTENT
Some in the industry
may even go so far as employing speech-recognition software that registers strings of keywords or facial recognition software
that identifies known terrorists
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