Can't censor the Web: Google's Nikesh Arora to NDTV at Davos

Davos: Technology giant Google has finally spoken out on the controversy over objectionable content posted on its website and the legal battle it has led to. Speaking exclusively to NDTV,  Google's Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said it was not possible for the company to monitor everything on its website. "I'm hoping there will be a balanced debate around it and eventually the right thing would happen," he said.

Google and Facebook are among 21 companies whose executives have been summoned to appear in person in a lower court in Delhi on March 13 for allegedly hosting obscene and objectionable content. The companies have challenged the summons in the High Court. The next hearing is due on February 2.

"We cannot censor the Web. We cannot censor the ability of people to express themselves around the world," Nikesh Arora told NDTV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos. "I think what we are trying to explain is the enormity of what is being asked. You are asking not just censor the Web in India, you are asking to censor the entire world wide web. The web has no borders. I think some of the things are done a bit too hastily for our liking. And we will like to have real conversation around some of these issues and we feel some engagement has happened but we prefer more dialogue before people rush to take action on what I believe is not a fully formed idea. I think the idea of censoring everything and pre-clearing everything is going to fundamentally, sort of, taint the growth of the Indian economy in India and vis-a-vis the world," he added.

During the last hearing in court, Google and Facebook had argued that there was no way for them to screen content before it was posted online. Google had also said that the Indian subsidiary could not be held responsible for an act by its parent company. The arguments had provoked sharp remarks from the judge. "Are you not a beneficiary of Google Inc's business? If some illegal activity is being carried out by a tenant and the landlord is a beneficiary, then how can the landlord not know what's happening?" he had asked the companies.

The company had also argued that as a search engine, it leads surfers to sites they're looking for. "The offending material belongs to the website, controlled by the owner of the website. Google has nothing to do with it," Google's counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul had said.  

The legal trouble for companies including Orkut, Yahoo and YouTube is based on a petition filed by Vinay Rai, a Delhi resident who has pointed the court to obscene depictions that he found online of Hindu deities, the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ. A Delhi court has suggested the executives of these 21 companies be tried for criminal conspiracy; the government has sanctioned their prosecution. When the companies appealed against this in the High Court, it warned that like China, India too could choose to ban these websites. (Read: What triggered case against Facebook, Google)