Orkut finds ally in IT professionals

Social networking site is second most visited in India.

As a counter step to political groups advocating a ban on the popular social networking website Orkut.com, the Information Technology Professionals' Forum-India (ITPF) has decided to take up the matter with the secretary of the Union Information Technology Department.

The forum has already had informal discussions with the IT secretary of Delhi and has decided to present a memorandum on cyber law awareness to the Union Ministry.

The memorandum is expected to suggest a framework on how netizens can be informed about what is acceptable and whats isn't in a 'cyber society' .

"One cannot blame a website since what happens online depends on how people chose to use the internet. Just as there are rules on the ground, the same will have to be applied online since it is a cyber society," said Amar H S, Secretary, ITPF.

He said that contrary to common perception, the existing cyber laws in the country are quite effective to deal with law breakers. The forum has stressed that a ban on a website like Orkut without conducting a due-diligence on existing cyber law awareness would be unfortunate.

Orkut.com , which is run by Google is said to be the eighth most visited site in the world and the second most visited site in India with the last member count in April 2007 putting Indian members at 15 per cent of the total members.

The website was recently pulled up by a Shiv Sena outfit which vandalised a cyber cafe in Mumbai protesting against hate communities on Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Thackeray family.

The website also faced resistance against the "I hate India" and similar other communities it hosted as well as for its alleged indirect role in the murder of a young working woman by a man she had met on orkut .

The call to ban orkut comes even as those in favour of the website claim that that it provides ample opportunity for users to report abusive users and communities which ultimately leads them to being removed.

Seconding this, ITPF,which consists of 4,800 members across the country, has even posted a message on its website saying that the attacks against Orkut by political groups shows that cyber space has still not been well understood.

Calling the concept of cyber space a new kind of democracy, the message says that it has been accepted universally and that any attempt to curtail the right of a website to voice opinion of netizens is unacceptable.