Uploaded and blocked, a daylong battle rages on the web over BBC documentary
It was a daylong tussle between uploads and takedowns. Netizens kept uploading the controversial BBC documentary, 'India's Daughter', on video-sharing websites even as several of them were blocked within hours on Thursday. By 9pm, the hour-long film had been removed from at least four locations on YouTube. One of them had already gathered over 1.04 lakh views by then. The documentary which deals with the December 16 Nirbhaya rape case was still available on another video-sharing website, dailymotion.com, where two of three such uploads even had an advertisement preceding the video. It could also be seen on vimeo.com, another video-sharing service.
The article by Kim Arora was published in the Times of India on March 6, 2015. Rohini Lakshane is quoted.
Around 4.30pm, the video on the channel "Game Pundits" titled 'India's Daughter: Indian rapist BBC Documentary Delhi Nirbhaya Full HD' was removed by YouTube. It instead carried the message: "This content is not available on this country domain due to a court order." The video here had gathered over 3,500 views.
By late evening, the video uploaded from an account by the name of Robin Kankerwal was taken down, displaying the same message. On channels "7thave" and "Kate Bevan" the videos were taken down over a copyright violation claim by BBC itself.
A YouTube spokesperson told TOI over email: "While we believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society, and that services like YouTube help people express themselves and share different points of view, we continue to remove content that is illegal or violates our community guidelines, once notified."
With the rising crescendo of the debate around the documentary, experts point to what is known as the "Streisand effect" on the internet, which is, the attempt at censoring or hiding something leading to increased discussion and exposure of the subject. #IndiasDaughter was among the top trends on both Facebook and Twitter on Thursday.
"My research shows that such content is virulently shared online and offline—through peer-to-peer sharing networks, popular messaging services such as WhatApp, through DVDs, through video-sharing and file-sharing websites. Even when it is taken down from the place where it was first posted, it stays on in assorted web archives and caches. The usual methods of weeding out web search results and directing ISPs to block URLs are mostly ineffectual. There is an indelible digital footprint," says Rohini Lakshane, a researcher at Bangalore-based Center for Internet Society.
The online discussion around the film centered along three threads. There were those who wanted it made freely available and the rapists publicly shamed, those who wanted it to not be aired for fear of giving a rapist an international platform, and others who pointed to the complex legal problems associated with the convicted rapist's interview since his appeal is still pending before the SC.
The top rated comment on Bevan's YouTube video was by one Tushar Lall, who wrote: "I'm from India...They've banned this documentary. I'm sure this will get taken down really soon. I might not be able to watch it again. But thanks to you, [name withheld]'s story is out there." Dhirajj Kumar wrote: "I don't kno y dis documentary is ban on air. India hav right to know, wat rapist think abt girl. thanks bbc (sic)."
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Internet Governance
