This Article is From Mar 01, 2012

Microsoft exits list of internet giants facing civil case in Delhi

Microsoft exits list of internet giants facing civil case in Delhi
New Delhi: Microsoft will not be a part of the case that accuses 22 internet firms of online hosting of religiously inflammatory material. The internet firms were brought to court in a civil case in Delhi.

Like Microsoft, Yahoo! had told the court that the content in question has never been served by it. The court will decide on Yahoo's petition to be dropped from the case on March 5. "The petitioner's best case is that social networking websites are selling objectionable contents, but if none of this material is emanating from my website, how can I be a defendant... We do not have an ego, we have joined the process of law. After completely scrutinisng the situation, we are now telling the court that we have nothing to do with this," said Yahoo's representative in court.

The case was filed in December by Mufti Aizaz Arshad Kazmi, who said that firms like Google, YouTube, Facebook and Orkut have failed to delete material that promotes communal hatred and religious intolerance. Mr Kazmi had shown the court morphed and obscene photos of Hindu deities, Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed.

Mr Kazmi was asked to supply the 22 firms with CDs of these images. After examining them, Yahoo! and Microsoft have claimed exemption.

Google told the court today that it has removed the objectionable content. The search engine, in a written statement filed before Administrative Civil Judge Praveen Singh, denied the allegation that it has projected Indian culture in poor light.

The US-based firm said the alleged objectionable contents were removed after its Indian subsidiary Google India brought them to the notice of the service provider.

Google said that the case against it should also be dropped because it violates the immunity given to a service provider under the Information Technology Act for any third party-content linked or hosted by it.

The same 22 companies are also challenging a criminal case against them that accuses them of conspiring to distribute lascivious content.
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