The ongoing war between Mumbai police and Cyber cafe owners
has taken an interesting twist and placed a challenge on the Citizens. In what
should be considered as a land mark decision, the Mumbai High Court has
ordered that the controversial report of the expert committee which has
suggested photo ID cards for Cyber Cafe owners to be placed on a web site so
that public can send their comments on the report to the Court.
It is very refreshing to note that the Court has not only
recognized the need to collect public opinion, but also made use of the unique
resources of the Internet to reach out to a large section of the population
for eliciting their views.
This is an acknowledgement of the relevance of public
opinion as an input to the arguments that may be put up by the Police and the
parties to the dispute in the court of law.
While the Court has done a remarkable service to the
Community by setting this precedent, now it is upto the public to take
advantage of the same by participating in this exercise without fail.
When the Information Technology Bill, Convergence Bill, IP
Telephony guidelines etc were put on web sites by the Ministry of Information
Technology for public comment, the participation of the public did not appear
to be very encouraging. Now this is an opportunity for Netizens to show
that they know how to use the power of the Internet to participate in the
Cyber Governance process.
In order to respect the Court's decision to seek public
participation and also to prove that this should be a precedent for others to
follow in future, it is necessary that a large number of public responses
should be sent on the matter.
naavi.org therefore requests every Netizen who has a view
on the subject to take a little time off and file his views.
naavi.org also requests portals like sify.com, rediff.com,
eth.net, 123india.com etc to prominently highlight the Court's request and
invite its visitors to participate in the process.
naavi.org also requests all Cyber Cafe owners to put up a
prominent notice in their premises and request their customers to file a
report.
naavi.org also requests offline and on line news papers
also to highlight this report and ensure participation of their readers.
Here is a challenge to the concept of Cyber Democracy. All
Netizens should realize that all Courts will not be as progressive as Mumbai
High Court in seeking public opinion in such cases. We have a duty to respect
the confidence that the Court has put on the Netizens.
It's an opportunity for all Netizens to vote and record
your views. Don't make it like a typical Indian election where people
stay at home without exercising their franchise. Let's prove that Netizens are
different.
Naavi
February 26, 2002
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