VOA慢速英語:India Defends Moves Against Social Media

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

The government in India is defending itself against charges of Internet censorship. The move comes after the government last week asked companies like Facebook and Twitter to block more than three hundred websites.

印度政府正就外界指控其進行互聯網審查做自我辯護。此舉發(fā)生在印度政府上周要求Facebook和Twitter等公司屏蔽三百多個網站之后。

Officials accused the websites of posting edited images and videos of earthquake victims. They said the websites falsely claimed that the images were Muslim victims caught in recent ethnic conflict in India's northeastern Assam state and Burma. A number of the images were reportedly uploaded from Pakistan.

有關官員指責網站發(fā)布編輯過的地震災民圖像和視頻。他們說，網站謊稱這些圖片是印度東北部阿薩姆邦和緬甸最近種族沖突中被抓的穆斯林受害者。據報道許多圖片是從巴基斯坦上傳的。

Officials said the panic that resulted caused thousands of Hindu immigrants to flee the area. They feared that Muslims would answer the false reports with attacks of their own.

有關官員表示，這引起的恐慌導致成千上萬名印度教移民逃離該地區(qū)。他們擔心穆斯林會用自己的攻擊方式回應這些不實報道。

Cyber law expert, lawyer Pawan Duggal says this is the first time the Internet and mobile-phone technology have been used to create fear in a community.

網絡法律專家、律師帕萬·杜戈爾(Pawan Duggal)表示，這是互聯網和移動電話技術首次被用于在一個社群中制造恐慌。

PAWAN DUGGAL: "India has to wake up to the need for putting cyber security as the number-one priority for the nation. Unfortunately, India does not even have a national cyber-security policy. The nation does not have any plan of action, should this kind of emergency happen again. "

杜戈爾：“印度必須醒悟過來把網絡安全作為國家頭號考慮的對象。不幸的是，印度甚至沒有一項國家網絡安全政策。國家沒有任何行動計劃，這類緊急情況還會再次發(fā)生。”

On Friday, India's Communication and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal dismissed charges that the government is trying to censor social media. But he said the misuse of social media has to be prevented.

上周五，印度通信與信息技術部部長卡皮爾·西巴爾(Kapil Sibal)駁回了政府正試圖審查社交媒體的指控。但他表示要防止社交媒體的濫用。

Pranesh Prakash is program manager at the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society. He says some of the Web pages that have been blocked included official news websites.

普拉納什·普拉凱斯(Pranesh Prakash)是總部位于班加羅爾的印度互聯網與社會中心的一名項目經理。他表示，一些網頁被屏蔽，其中包括官方新聞網站在內。

PRANESH PRAKASH: "I am not questioning the motivations of the government which in this current case seemed to be above board. We found that most of the material that they have complained about is actually stuff that is communal. But I do feel that the government went overboard in doing so, that it has also curbed legitimate reportage."

普拉凱斯：“我并沒有質疑政府的動機，在當前情況下，它看上去是光明正大的。我們發(fā)現他們所抱怨的實際上是種族間的事情。但我覺得，政府在操作過程中有點魯莽行事，這也限制了合法的新聞報道。”

He says some of the websites were uploaded by people trying to let others know that the edited images were false.

他說，一些網站的上傳人是為了讓其他人知道這些編輯過的圖像是假的。

The government in India has called on social media companies to come up with a plan to keep offensive material off the Web. Last year, it passed a law that requires companies to remove so-called "objectionable content" when requested to do so.

印度政府要求社交媒體公司拿出一份方案隔絕攻擊性材料。去年，政府通過了一項法律，要求各公司在收到通知時移除所謂的“不良內容”。

A Google Transparency report says that last year India topped the list of countries that make such requests. Supporters of online freedom have expressed concern that India may be restricting Web freedom.

谷歌透明度報告表示，去年印度在做出這類要求的國家中高居榜首。網絡自由的支持者已經對印度可能會限制網絡自由表示了關注。

About one hundred million people in India use the Internet -- the third-largest number of net users in the world.

印度大約有1億人使用互聯網，網絡用戶數量位居全球第三位。