Social Media Hub ? Where is the need ?
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Today’s papers carry following headlines :
‘Surveillance
state’: SC raps government over WhatsApp tracking
Monitoring
online data: SC expresses concern at plans for social media hub, likens it to
'surveillance state'
Extracts from News papers :
"A technology platform is needed to
collect digital media chatter from all core social media platforms as
well as digital platforms such as news, blogs... In a single system providing real-time insights, metrics and other valuable data,"
the tender document says.
Under the project, media persons would
be employed on contractual basis in each district to be the "eyes and
ears" of the government and provide real-time updates from the ground.
The tender document says the platform is
expected to provide automated reports, tactical insights and comprehensive
work-flows to initiate engagement across digital channels.
"The platform maybe used to disseminate content and hence, should support publishing
features," the document says, adding the platform needs to power a
real-time New Media Command Room," according to the tender
document.
It adds that the tool must have “listening and responding capabilities” with respect to “standard
digital channels” such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, email, and blogs and
also be able to analyse sentiment of posts on social media as “positive, negative and neutral”.
According to Mahua Moitra, the social
media analytical tool is expected to ‘listen’ to conversations on all major
digital channels including email without any authorisation in violation of the
Telegraph Act.
Before trying to answer the question “ Where is the need ? “ , let us
understand ,
“ What is the need to monitor the Social Media ? What is the purpose ? “
Not
having read the tender document , I do not know whether it contains , a para or
two , about the “ purpose / object “
behind government’s desire to create this Social Media Hub
At
least , in the news reports sited above , there is no mention of any PURPOSE , nor any mention of exactly HOW the collected info /
data will be used !
Will
it be used for a BENEVOLENT purpose ? for the BENEFIT of all the
citizens ?
Or
, will it be used , to catch and punish , only those citizens who engage in some kind of ANTI-SOCIAL
activities ?
In
such a case , what is a comprehensive definition of an ANTI-SOCIAL activity ?
Does
a mere THOUGHT which is not in congruence with the government policy ,
constitute an “ anti-social activity “ ?
Does
an expression ( tweet / post / photo / article / comment etc ), which hurts the
feelings of any section of the Society, an “ anti-social activity “ ?
And
this “ lack of clarity of purpose “ , is
what makes this initiative SCARY !
How
come there is no preamble to the tender document which reads :
PREAMBLE :
“
The entire idea behind Social Media Hub is to “ nip in the bud / pre-empt “ any
potentially ANTI-SOCIAL activity [ even at the level of “ Man ( thoughts ) “ ,
but certainly at the level of “ Wachan ( speech / expression )” ] ,
before it manifests itself in the form of “Karma “ ( Evil / Anti-Social ACTIONS
)
Under
no circumstance , will such monitoring of the Social Media Life / Presence /
Existence, will be used to harass a person ( or a group of persons ), merely
for their beliefs which are different from beliefs held by other ( majority or
minority ) citizens , as long as such beliefs are not “ Anti Social “ as
defined here under “
Where is the need ?
If
Government accepts that its purpose behind wanting to set up this Social Media
Hub , is as I described above , the right way to go about is to implement :
Fast
Forward to Future - 3 F [ 20
Oct 2016 ]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/in-hindu-mythology-brahma-creator.html
Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen ( both from Google )
wrote in 2013
: THE NEW DIGITAL AGE (
page : 181 ) :
Eventually, we will see the emergence of industry-wide
standards
All digital platforms will forge a common policy with
respect to dangerous extremist videos online, just as they have coalesced in
establishing policies governing child pornography
There is a fine line between censorship and security,
and we must create safeguards accordingly
THE INDUSTRY WILL WORK AS A WHOLE TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE THAT MORE
EFFECTIVELY IDENTIFIES VIDEOS WITH TERRORIST CONTENT
Some in the industry may even go so far as
employing speech-recognition
software that registers
strings of keywords or facial recognition software that identifies known
terrorists
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