Google India Private Ltd., resists Indian High Court demand to identify blogger

This excellent blog service ,"Blogger" is provided free by Google Inc. There is some sort of contract which we have never read but nevertheless agreed to. We know that if people like Peter Carter Fuck and Associates put pressure on Google Inc. they will take pages down. See Sunday, February 24, 2008 Grouchy Nadhmi Auchi and the problems of the blogiste re problems our friend Kate of the excellent viperish Kate a Blog had when she posted a picture of Mr Sadam Hussein and incorrectly labelled it Nadhmi Auchi.

It appears that Google were very friendly about it and had no desire or intention of closing the blog down.The 2 pages came down however and Kate kept her blog. See her blog entry November 29th 2006 "Received an email today from Harjinder Obhi, London based attorney for Google ......Mr. Obhi politely tells me if Auchi files suit, Google will be forced to produce information about me, emails, IP addresses, ISP information, etc. etc. etc. and that once my identity is known I will be formally added to the lawsuit.etc., etc.,

A case has now arisen in India which raises concerns.

Mumbai based and highly respectable Gremach Infrastructure Equipments & Projects Ltd., last September bought a 75% interest in 11 coal mining licenses in Mozambique. Since then a "Blogger" using the name "Toxic Writer" has attacked the company which Gremach calls a "hate campaign".

The post reportedly describes an investor whose investments were tied up in Germach's rapidly falling stock, as the manufacturer allegedly diverted funds to a company called Austral Coke. Germach's stock price has dropped in value from Rs 500 ($11.90) to Rs 86 ($2.00) per share as of closing bell yesterday. (August 15, 2008, Beta News)

The Economic Times of India quoted a source in Gremach and said the company “suspects corporate rivalry behind the hate campaign” and sought help from the Mumbai Police’s cyber crime cell. However, the investigations by the local police hit a dead end after Google’s India office refused to co-operate.

On February 26th the High Court of India ordered Google India Private Ltd., to take the blog down and also to identify the blogger within 4 weeks.

The blog has been removed as instructed but the name or other details have not been revealed to the court.

Google won't comment as the case is sub judice but apparently under Indian law Web site hosts are responsible for content on their sites. If Google loses the case it may have to disclose the blogger's identity, a move that could set a precedent for court challenges to the anonymity of its users.

At the time of the Mumbai commuter train bombings in 2006 which killed 207 people the Indian authorities out a great deal of pressure on site owners and India's Department of Telecommunications ordered whole sites including Blogger to restrict access to a handful of sites that could have been inciting community tension.

It's only going one way folks.

PS : There was a period of a couple of years when people accessing Lord Patel's raving by proxy could be identified as originating in the Indian sub Continent. Proxy readers and other mumbo-jumbo merchants have however got smarter in covering their spoors.... and no doubt spoortrekkers got better at snffing them out.