Vineet Rai posts on Global Voices Online

still wondering what the fuss is all about??? A person decided to criticise an institute, the insti filed a case, the person decided to quit from his company thinking the company is facing trouble and all with personal choices.

So where is the problem. IF IIPM is fake and fraud it would get proven in the court where they filed the case, why are we going ballastic about the Indian government and right of free speech!!!!

I think IIPM does have a right to sue Gaurav if it believe about not being a fraud insti, and Gaurav should do the same as well ( may be all the bloggers can fund him to do that

how about that?

Vineet rai, (above)
The Institute did NOT file a case, but rather tried to uses its (financial) clout to threaten a ordinary citizen into silence. It tried to exhort an unimaginable amount for an action which ordinarily is a right of everyone - free expression. IIPM assumes that the information posted by Gaurav is malafide, factually wrong and amounting to crores of liablility to be paid to it. Just as IIPM assertains that the articles posted on Gaurav's blog are false, why can't and shouldn't Gaurav or JAM or anybody question the factuality of IIPM's claims in its advertisements?

The threatening is no different from a bully using his size to intimidate a somebody smaller.

Your post smacks of gross apathy to understand what is at stake.

The IBM/Lenovo Company made it clear to Gaurav that it is concerned. These are the subtly ways in which Corporates work. If they need to make somebody quit, they need not issue yellow chits, rather, they can make the environment unconductive for the victim who will have no choice but to leave 'On his own decision'.
HR are trained to handle such situations in a way that it does not come accross as scandalous. The matter is in between the lines when Gaurav says that he was called for a meeting. If IBM/Lenovo just did not care about the whole Blog thing, the meeting would have gone differently. Afterall, it goes without saying that the blog is a reflection of the personal views of Gaurav and in no way is associated with his employers.

IIPM may have a right to sue. But not to threaten. If it had filed a libel suit, the court would have sent the summons order. Here, IIPM chose to send the Summons order itself taking law into its own hands, arbitarily assuming the powers and privileges of a judicial authority.

About proving in courts, do we have to defend our freedom to express ourselves EVERYTIME in the courts? Is it possible for normal citizens to appear and fight huge corparations in court everytime a corporation takes offense at our free speech? Won't the whole thing about courts and associated difficulties itself prove to be a barrier to freespeech? Would it not effectively stiffen everybody into silence?

Due to archaiac laws in India, already nobody comes to any victim's help in accidents and such situations owing to the fact that these involve police procedures, court appearances and harrasment from those bodies which surely inconvenience the ordinary joe.

Online however, the Bloggers have taken a stance to stand up and fight without shying away. This is a paradigm shift in general mentality and should by all means, be encouraged.

So when you ask, 'where is the problem', think again.

Freedom of speech isn’t limited to wrestling with government regulations, but being able to have and to express an opinion in an environment charged with power. The power could be sourced from culture, history, money, trade, resource-control. Traditionally the government has represented all these power exchanges, but even outside the orbit of the government there are forces that control our rights.