The most interesting part was this:<p><i>Even as Google and Facebook get a breather from appearing in court over allegedly hosting offensive content, the search giant has had to deal with another legal issue pertaining to the Google Mapathon event’s India leg. While Google has maintained that the Mapathon contest was in line with Indian laws, the company could see some court time in India over allegedly violating the cartographical laws of the land.</i><p>According to an interview with the Indian Surveyor General[1], Indian citizens can't map their own neighborhoods for security reasons. They must contact the government for permission.<p>Ah, famous Indian bureaucracy at work! All Google needed to do was ask permission and make a "donation", I'm sure.<p>[1] <a href="http://m.economictimes.com/opinion/interviews/googles-mapathon-contest-is-a-wilful-violation-of-indian-law-rc-padhi-additional-surveyor-general-of-india/articleshow/19778480.cms" rel="nofollow">http://m.economictimes.com/opinion/interviews/googles-mapath...</a>
An explanation for India's weird cartographic laws is in order.
India has a ceasefire line with Pakistan as a border and significant claims held by the Pakistani's. Moreover with China it has an undefined border, where China is not even exchanging maps showing their claims.Published maps are taken as proof of 'facts on ground', during negotiations and arbitration. Combine this with a big bureaucracy and you have these laws.
I wish we could not have these laws but given the present scenarios and an unfriendly giant neighbor, these laws are justified.
This article lacks a lot of context. I can't quite grasp what exactly is wrong. What communal hatred was committed, how are Google and Facebook involved in it? What was wrong with the maps?<p>Is there an article somewhere that gives some more background?
Just wait till they get an order banning Facebook and Google. See how Orkut previosly went inline with the Government.<p><a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-05-01/news/28459689_1_orkut-ip-addresses-google-spokesperson" rel="nofollow">http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-05-01/news...</a><p>And some more information...
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India</a>
I have lost all my trust in the Indian government. They have spent 400 Crore rupees on building a content monitoring system, which will monitor our online activities. 4 billion rupees could've helped many people who needed it.