I am somewhat amazed that you are clubbing somewhat unrelated issues with a problem that directly threatens freedom of internet access in India.While, I do not take any sides -tinting of car glasses was prohibited by few state governments before. Also I am not sure if installing speed regulators is a step in the right direction but people getting killed in road accidents is a real problem in India. Remember that Lambourghuini mowing down several people in New Delhi?
But lets not call it "getting ridiculous by the day" yet. These orders were passed by court and not laws that parliament tried to make to achieve a totalitarian state and as such these orders are open for challenge by anyone. For example, it is likely that Madras High Court judgement was rushed through and there weren't anyone[probably] challenging it and hence it is now being enforced by ISPs.
>>I am somewhat amazed that you are clubbing somewhat unrelated issues with a problem that directly threatens freedom of internet access in India.
These are not unrelated issues. The common thing among these issues is the knee jerk reaction by authorities to fix social problems with artificial and infeasible patches to social living conditions of a country.
Do you think piracy can be solved in India by just blocking torrents. Piracy has been existing from long back. Even before all this you could buy pirated audio and video cassettes from foot paths. By restricting sites like pastebin they are actually showing how clueless they are about the root cause of the issues.
You will see a similar pattern in all these bans.
1. Some one commits a crime.
2. Investigation reveals a tool used to commit crime.
3. Courts/Authorities think banning the tool prevents the crime from happening again.
>>Remember that Lambourghuini mowing down several people in New Delhi?
Yes, Roads and foot paths are meant to drive and walk on. If you sleep on the road you shouldn't look too surprised if people drive over you.
The solution to this problem is to provide affordable housing to people so that they can sleep in their homes, instead of putting the speed limitation.
> "It is likely that Madras High Court judgement was rushed through"
I would get worried if this were the case. Serious cases take years to pass through Indian courts. If Copyright Labs (which I increasingly feel is a facade company) got this rushed through the court AND got the ISPs to block access at such a blanket level I would start getting worried about the integrity of that court.
My point was the cases that drag for years generally has two sides, but what if the case had only one side? Copyright Labs wanted certain sites banned and obviously Vimeo, Pastebin etc have zero ground presence in India so there wasn't really anyone protesting the case of Copyright Labs. I am betting, if there was someone opposing what Copyright Labs was claiming, the outcome would have been different.
If a court is banning a publication, surely at least someone might be expected to go and double check that the claim isn't bullshit. You know, just on the basis of it being their job, or something nice like that. Otherwise it isn't really a court, is it? Is more like just a carefully staged sketch show with unusually high consequences.
But lets not call it "getting ridiculous by the day" yet. These orders were passed by court and not laws that parliament tried to make to achieve a totalitarian state and as such these orders are open for challenge by anyone. For example, it is likely that Madras High Court judgement was rushed through and there weren't anyone[probably] challenging it and hence it is now being enforced by ISPs.