On Facebook, what happens when you click

Whenever you make any controversial post on Facebook, beware. Because, on charges of violating Facebook's policies, you may blocked.

With a dedicated team of over hundred, the popular social networking website ensures that more than 900 million users comply with the company's policies whenever they post something on the website. Essentially a round-the-clock job, Facebook strategically uses its offices based in in Menlo Park, Austin, Dublin and Hyderabad to work seamlessly to file reports of inappropriate posts.

In a report on Tuesday, the social networking site explains how this is done. It says, "For instance, when the User Operations team in Menlo Park is finishing up for the day, their counterparts in Hyderabad are just beginning their work keeping our site and users safe. And don't forget, with users all over the world, Facebook handles reports in over 24 languages. Structuring the teams in this manner allows us to maintain constant coverage of our support queues for all our users, no matter where they are.


When a person reports against a specific content it gets directed to four separate teams, who in turn takes necessary action. The four teams - Abusive Content Team, Safety Team, Hate and Harassment Team and Access Team - have different roles to play. "For example, if you are reporting content that you believe contains graphic violence, the Safety Team will review and assess the report," says the report, adding that "If one of these teams determines that a reported piece of content violates our policies or our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, we will remove it and warn the person who posted it." Similarly the Abusive Content Team handles spam and sexually explicit content, the Hate and Harassment Team handles reports of hate speech and harassment and the team that handles hacked and imposter accounts is called the Access Team.

If any content is found violating the policies of the social networking website, the content is removed and the publisher is warned or, in certain cases, blocked.

MPs owe 7.3 crores in phone bills, but enjoy "immunity"

New Delhi: While dues worth crores of rupees are pending against sitting and former Members of Parliament in telephone bills, their phones cannot be disconnected in the normal process as they enjoy "some immunity", according to the MTNL.

In an RTI reply, the phone company said the decision to disconnect the phones of MPs can only be taken by the Head of Circle and "not by a subordinate officer". 

"The head of circle shall himself write a polite letter to the concerned MP inviting his attention to the unpaid bills and giving him reasonable opportunity to clear the dues.

"A decision about the extreme step of disconnection shall be taken only by the Head of the circle/telecom district and not by any subordinate officer," an MTNL official told activist Subhash Agrawal in an RTI reply.

Agrawal had sought to know detailed information on rules about pending payment of dues against the former and sitting MPs.

In a previous reply, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited had said that more than Rs. 7.30 crore had been pending as telephone bill dues against 405 former and present MPs. 

According to the information, 399 former and six sitting Parliamentarians owe Rs. 7,30,66,746 to MTNL. The list also included the name of 67 MPs who have died. 

The MTNL said it was filing its up-to-date responses in the Delhi High Court in response to a public interest litigation filed by NGO Krishak Bharat against Union of India regarding recovery of outstanding dues on MPs.

Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies Yousuf Raza Gilani, says vacate Prime Minister's post

Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from holding office, two months after convicting him for contempt for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against the president, state TV reported.

The Supreme Court ordered President Asif Ali Zardari to take steps to elect a new Prime Minister

गिलानी को पाक सुप्रीम कोर्ट का पद छोड़ने का आदेश

इस्लामाबाद: पाकिस्तान की सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने प्रधानमंत्री यूसुफ रजा गिलानी को पद त्यागने का आदेश दिया है। इससे पहले कोर्ट ने उन्हें अवमानना के आरोप में दोषी पाते हुए संसद के सदस्य के लिए अयोग्य घोषित किया था। कोर्ट ने चुनाव आयोग को उनकी सदस्यता भी रद्द करने का आदेश दिया है।

कोर्ट ने कहा कि 26 अप्रैल से पीएम का पद खाली ही समझा जाए। पाकिस्तान के पीएम को नेश्नल एसेंबली से अयोग्य करार दिया है।

साथ ही कोर्ट ने सरकार को आदेश दिया है कि जल्द ही व्यवस्था की जाए जिससे किसी प्रकार का संवैधानिक संकट न पैदा हो जाए। सरकार ने राष्ट्रपति आसिफ अली जरदारी को आदेश दिया है कि जल्दी वह नए प्रधानमंत्री के लिए प्रक्रिया आरंभ करें।

India's requests to remove online content shoot up

New York: Internet giant Google has said it has logged 255 instances of India asking for online content censorship, marking a sharp rise of 49 per cent in the second half of last year.

Google Inc said India's request formed part of 1,000 demands from governments around the world in the second half of last year to take down items such as YouTube videos and search listings, and it complied with them more than half the time.

India's objections ranged from blockage of 133 YouTube videos, including 10 made on national security considerations and 77 on defamation, besides 26 web searches and 49 blogs, Google said in its transparency report made public yesterday.
The Internet giant said political comments were a prime target as the number of requests for the company to remove content from the reach of Internet users jumped manifold.

"We noticed that government agencies from different countries would ask us to remove political content that the users had posted," a top Google official said.

He said the number of content removal requests received by Google in India was 49 per cent higher in the second half of last year than in the first six months.

Google reported that it went along with slightly more than half of the approximately 1,000 requests it received to remove material or links.

After the US, India topped in demand for user data with more than 2,207 requests of which 66 per cent were compiled with by Google. Washington headed the global list with 6,321 requests.

Google along with some other Internet companies already faces lawsuits in India for content found objectionable on its website. A key issue in the dispute is whether intermediary can be held liable for third party content on its websites.

The Google report does not provide insights from countries such as China, where tight Internet controls allow blocking of content.

The net blockage request from governments ranged from satires on military Generals in Pakistan, request from UK police officers to terminate six YouTube videos for terror contents and SOS for removal of as many as 149 videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in Thailand.

Google said Pakistan's Ministry of Information of Technology asked it to remove six YouTube videos that satirised the country's military and senior politicians. 

"We did not comply with the request," it said. A company top official said that the prime request from the governments were mostly to take down political speech.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect - Western democracies not typically associated with censorship."

Like India, content removal requests doubled from the US in the second half of last year as Ukraine, Jordon and Bolivia showed up for the first time on the list of countries out to have materials removed.

From political to terror inspirations, Google said that requests at times became ludicrous as Canadian officials wanted removal from YouTube of pictures of a citizen peeing on his passport and flushing it down a toilet.

Releasing the transparency report, Google said it hoped to continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviours are shaping our web.

Overall, the firm said it had received 461 court orders covering a total of 6,989 items between July and December 2011. It said it had complied with 68 per cent of the orders.

The company said it had received a further 546 informal requests covering 4,925 items, of which it had agreed to 43 per cent of the cases.