Cardiologist attracts Bloggers ire

Posted on 26-06-2009

Freedom of speech can indeed be tough to live with in today's internet scenario as Ashwin Mehta a cardiologist from Mumbai found out recently.

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It is quite simple today for one to spread their word, fact or fiction, with the entire internet populace looking for gossip. Between blogging and twittering, it is hard to silence a voice once its spoken. In fact silencing (or trying to silence) any internet phenomenon is perhaps the best way to bring it to other peoples' attention.

Dr. Ashwin Mehta who is Director of Cardiology at Jaslok Hospital found as many as 20 blogs on Blogger which seemed to contain derogatory / defamatory material about him and has now taken Google India to court over it. The High Court Judge ruled in his favor and the content has since been removed, however the doctor now seeks compensation for his damaged reputation.

To be fair, with the sheer volume of content that goes through Blogger each day, it is impossible for Google to monitor it all to ensure that the content is entirely appropriate, or accurate. And such was Google India's stand in its appeal. Further, Google India argued that they have no role to play in the Blogger service, as that is entirely provided by Google US, and they are the ones who present users with the Terms of Service.

The internet is impossible to silence, and this is something people need to start adjusting to. Even with the posts removed, there is a great chance that they remain mirrored in the multiple Web Archiving services that exist today, if not saved on the computer of many of the visitors of the blog. With more involvement from individuals in the content that we see on the internet today, it is becoming a highly opinionated place. This is worth keeping is mind while reading a blog post or twitter feed, that the people on the other side may be equally misinformed. The internet in such cases can make or break a persons career, with little respect for the truth of the matter.