Discuss move to regulate networking sites in Parl: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said any move to regulate social networking sites should be made after taking the view of Parliament but maintained that material which would hurt religious sentiments or is defamatory should be checked.

Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had summoned representatives of Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft to discuss allegedly objectionable content being posted on social networking sites.

Though the BJP said such sites should not be unduly regulated or suppressed, giving them complete freedom to show any morphed or nude pictures, hate speech, or material which would hurt or incite religious sentiments also cannot be allowed. "I wonder why Sibal did not invite You Tube to the meeting. Had he done so, he would have come to know that these sites have their own regulation (through filters)," BJP Deputy

Leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia said. He maintained if the government wanted to regulate theses websites, it should bring up the issue in Parliament and pass a legislation.

"Sibal's calling these four organisations and asking them to sign the paper is just like he told Ramdev to sign a paper (before Ramlila agitation)," Ahluwalia said.

 The BJP is against posting of material that hurts religious or ethical sentiments or posting of morphed pictures. "Nobody will approve such a thing. Everybody will condemn it. But there should be concrete proposals. Nobody is saying there should be laws which strangulate freedom," Ahluwalia said.