On May 29, 2008, Naavi sent the following e-mail to the
Director CERT-IN.
To
Mr Gulshan rai
CERT
Dear Mr Gulshan Rai
One of my journalistic
friends brought to my attention the existence of the following website http://www.savitabhabhi.com for
advise on its legality.
While perusing the site
I was shocked to find the contents aimed at corrupting the minds of
young Indians in a manner worse than the worst pornographic sites.
This site is
specifically aimed at the Indian audience and hence must be considered
as violating Section 67 of ITA 2000. The site is registered under the
name of an ISP in Canada but I suspect it is owned and operated from
India. There must be ftp uploads and downloads from this site by the
owners which should enable one to find the owner through a scanning of
the ISP server logs.
The site needs to be
blocked immediately besides action being taken on the owners. Perhaps
the investigation to trace the owners should precede the blocking.
However blocking cannot be postponed for long and hence urgent action
is called for in starting an investigation.
I have brought this
incident to the notice of the Police in Karnataka and done my duty as a
Citizen. I wish CERT now takes some positive action of tracing the
offenders and then protect the Indian Children from this onslought.
I am aware that the
present rules permit you to act only when a complaint is received from
certain agencies such as Police or Court and not from individuals/NGOs.
However I wish your organization does not stand on such formalities and
immediately order an enquiry through CBI if required to nab the owners
of this site.
I have persuaded the
journalist to hold back his report for some time since the publicity
gained by the site by any media exposure would be harmful in itself.
But I am not sure how long you can bottle up the information.
When the
news eventually breaks out, questions will arise on what the
Government of India did to stop this menace. I wish CERT would have
taken necessary action in the mean time.
Naavi
Cyber Crime Complaints
and Resolution Assistance Center
Bangalore
This was the beginning of a long drawn war on
savitabhabhi.com.
This was also followed up with an
e-mail report to the DG of Karnataka. Subsequently, journalists at
techgoss.com also took up the issue and even announced a reward for
some body who could trace the real identities of the site owners.
After a long wait, it appears that CERT-In has now initiated action
(through CCA's office) and caused the site to be banned. As a result
the site is not accessible for the last few days. (I understand that
the ban was since June3).
However there are already many sympathizers of savitabhabhi.com who are
trying to promote the cause of savitabhabhi.com by criticizing the
Government for its action calling it "Censorship" of the Internet. Some
think it is "Freedom of Expression" to run a site like savitabhabhi.com.
In order to ensure that the efforts of the Government are frustrated,
some of these supporters are posting information on how to bypass the
legal restriction and are also starting a website called savesavita.com
for carrying on their illegal activity of promoting a banned site.
It is necessary to keep such enthusiasts warned that their work can be
considered as "Assisting in the contravention of law" and could also be
considered as an "Offence".
I have today urged
CERT-IN to also ban this new site and this war on savitabhabhi.com will
therefore continue.
A Copy of the e-mail letter sent
is reproduced below:
To
The Director
CERT-IN
Delhi
CC: CCA, Delhi
Dear Sir,
I thank you for having taken action on Savitabhabhi.com by banning
the website. Obviously one can foresee opposition to the banning in
various forms. I urge the Government not to be deterred by the
criticism which is bound to follow. For every person who criticizes
the move there will be hundred other persons who would be happy with
the decision.
We must consider this as a "War on Pornography" and ensure that all
attempts to frustrate the intentions of protecting the Indian
children
is countered.
In this connection, I hereby bring to your notice the emergence of a
website namely www.savesavita.com whose
sole objective is to promote
the illegal activity of savitabhabhi.com.
By the same logic which
makes savitabhabhi.com eligible
for banning, the site
www.savesavita.com also
deserves to be banned.
I request you to take the necessary action in this regard
immediately.
Just as the race with virus creators, there will be a need to
continue
our efforts to track and kill such sites if we want to save Internet
usage in India particularly amongst children.
I hope necessary action would be taken.
There is no doubt that the supporters of
Pornography will try to keep savitabhabhi.com alive in some form or
another. It is equally important for the Government not to give up its
commitment and keep banning all alternate access points to
savitabhabhi.com.Just as it happens in a war, I
anticipate that there will be a collateral damage in this fight and the
victim could be the privacy of individuals. I therefore urge the savita
supporters to stop challenging the Government. If they do, they may
actually end up creating more damage to genuine privacy protection
requirements than they intend protecting today. In an attempt to
preserve the right to visit a pornographic site such as
savitabhabhi.com, they may force the Government to initiate measures
which ultimately curtail the genuine freedom of speech on the net. (If
it happens, Naavi would like to disown responsibility as the initiator
of this war.).
