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India tackles Google

We may not always like Google, all it represents or its ways in some countries - that is, complying to strictures on its availability or co-operating with the authorities - but now it is under attack in, of all places, India.     Associated Press reports:

"Google India has removed web pages deemed offensive to Indian political and religious leaders to comply with a court case that has raised censorship fears in the world's largest democracy, media reported Monday.

The action follows weeks of intense government pressure for 22 Internet giants to remove photographs, videos or text considered "anti-religious" or "anti-social."

A New Delhi court Monday gave Facebook, Google, YouTube and Blogspot and the other sites two weeks to present further plans for policing their networks, according to the Press Trust of India.

For India's more than 100 million Internet users, the government says, U.S. Internet standards are not acceptable.

The case highlights the difficulty India faces in balancing conservative religious and political sentiments with its hope that freewheeling Internet discourse and technology will help spur the economy and boost living standards for its 1.2 billion people."





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