Social media: a child’s play ground?

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Facebook and Twitter are the chosen grounds for many to express their thoughts, showcase their opinion and access the world around. YouTube stands as a favourite platform to showcase one’s activities or see others’ activities. All of these allure people belonging to different ages right from the age group of 13. Why 13? The High court of Delhi, India has raised a very valid question, which came up in the public interest litigation filed by former BJP leader K.N. Govindacharya.(see http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/illegal-for-minors-to-open-facebook-account-petition/article4654571.ece?homepage=true). Popular social media like the Facebook, Twitter etc are hosted in the US and the age limit has been set by the rules and regulations of the hosting nation. But in India the age of majority is restricted to 18. This is the valid age for voting, to get a proper driver license, to get married (for girls especially) and to form a contract. But in reality, all these norms are violated in different ways; for example, there are umpteen numbers of child marriages still happening in various interior parts of India; driving light vehicles to even heavy vehicles by children belonging to the age group of 13 to 18 are neither uncommon scene. The flaunting of disobeying the ‘age law’ is now more prominent after the 9 year old Ferrari driver was hugely exhibited in a private road in Kochi, Kerala through YouTube(see http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Kerala-father-arrested-for-letting-9-year-old-boy-drive-his-Ferrari/Article1-1052503.aspx . The YouTube exhibition drew attention of large number of people including the police and the father of the 9 year old is now being prosecuted. Regarding the contract by juveniles, S.11 of the Indian contract Act maintains that contracts made by minors are void especially when it relates to profit making by both or either of the party.

But when it comes to creating an account in the popular social media, the confusion of understanding demands better reading. Facebook, Twitter and Google have options for children to become users once they become 13. But in reality, children below 13 also find Facebook, Twitter and YouTube extremely alluring and I have personally seen many parents encouraging their children to communicate to their friends through parent’s profiles. This is also evident from the Base Line Survey report of cyber victimisation in India that we had conducted in 2010( seehttp://www.cybervictims.org/CCVCresearchreport2010.pdf) . Given this fact, when over 13, children actually become pretty much aware of the Facebook usages. But it may be noted that Facebook does not allow registering when the user is below 13. It is similar for Google and Twitter. However, , many under age children may have their profiles with fake age as these social media do not have real life age verification methods. But the concern lies in the fact as to what the children can access through these social media. There are many unclaimed images which often go viral in the social media. Greatest examples could be that of Delhi gang rape victim’s photo or that of children being raped. These are not only traumatising for children only, they create shock for adult viewers also. Similarly, older adolescent children are at higher risk for becoming cyber perpetrators like hacking. Many older children have also got into creating fake profiles of others, especially girls and adult women as well.

But not to ignore the advantages of social media also. Government as well as non-governmental educational portals, scientific bodies etc embrace Facebook and Twitter for showcasing latest news and developments. A matured handling of the social media can make a user gain more knowledge and experience. Undoubtedly, this depends upon the parents, teachers and peers to make the child use the social media for good. The Ferrari boy YouTube incidence stands a good example for the parents as well as children as how much parental control and guidance is necessary, what should not be allowed by parents and what should be done with internet era children and how it should be done. But at the same time, the video can actually make many under-age children take the same steps to do illegal activities if they are access the video without proper parental guidance. Perhaps here lies the concern of the Delhi High court. But the society has to accept the growing level of maturity and responsibility of children as well. Let us hope that the Delhi High court case brings out a good judgement which sets a path breaking example of welfare judgement in the light of modern internet era.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2013), “Social media: a child’s play ground?”, 2^nd  May, 2013,  published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/”

Death penalty debates: a note to the supporters

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Since the news of execution of death sentence of Afzal Guru, one of the prime accused of Indian Parliament attack case came out, India as well as the world seems to be divided into two groups: one who is saying no to death penalties, and the other who is saying yes to the death penalties. Unfortunately India is witnessing a killing spree which has become almost viral right from 16^th December,2012 when the Delhi gang rape victim was brutally raped. The 23 year old young woman was raped, stripped off and thrown out of the bus where she was raped. Huge numbers of protesters showed their protest against this cruel torture on the woman by saying yes to the death penalty. Internet was swept by such ‘demands’. One experienced woman journalist of a national news channel shared with me personally  her fear that from now on all news papers/media channels will show case rape cases and their handling by the government agencies. She sadly told me that most media houses will go ahead with such news mainly to grow their TRP rates, but at the same time she feared that the result would be devastating. She was true! Anger of people kept on rising whenever there was any news of sexual assault and related death of the victim. The last was none other than the acid attack victim from Chennai who succumbed to death just a few days ago. Unfortunately   there is an extremely dark history in our country which would show that many raped and subsequently dead women victims are extremely neglected by the criminal justice machinery. The Mathura rape case stands as the ugly evidence of abuse and misuse  of power when it comes to providing justice to rape victims such as Mathura. The law has been amended time and again to test the strength of S.376 IPC which prescribes punishment for rape and its series which includes intercourse with a woman misusing the accused person’s designation (even that of a husband  when he involves in intercourse with the wife during  separation ) and its punishment. .While in some cases of brutal rape and then subsequent murder of the victim, the lawyers appearing for the victim (as well as the State) could actually convince the judges to award the death penalty (see Dhananjay Chatterjee Alias Dhana vs State Of W.B. on 11 January, 1994, 1994 (1) ALT Cri 388, 1994 (2) BLJR 1231), with the help of S.302 of the Indian Penal Code, S.376 originally did not prescribe death as the ultimate punishment for violent rape. As it can be seen, India does have death penalty and it is used for rarest of the rare cases. The language of Section 302 of the Indian penal Code prescribes death penalty as the first preference for punishment for murder. The second preference remains life imprisonment which is shown as a substitute to death penalty by adding an  “or” in front of the words “life imprisonment”. The pecuniary punishment of fine comes as an added prescribed punishment  with it. While this provision is a common punishment provision for ‘cold blooded’ murders (which actually excludes culpable homicides not amounting to murder, or cases of causing death by negligence etc), S.121 of the Indian Penal Code also prescribes death penalty as the first preference (again linguistically) and life imprisonment with fine as the second preference for (i) waging war against the government of India, or (ii) attempting to wage such war, or (iii) abetting the waging of such war.  It was not till  the recent Criminal law(amendment )ordinance, 2013 which   mention awarding death penalty for brutal rape which would leave the victim dead or in a vegetative condition(see s.376A of the Indian penal code of the Criminal law (amendment ) ordinance,2013, published on 4^th February,2013 in the Press Information Bureau of India, available @http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=91979) that death penalty was accepted as the extreme punishment for rape of such nature. On a personal note, I  actually support inclusion of this penalty as the last option especially for rarest of the rare cases if taken in its true meaning (the framers of the this ordinance has kept the option of ‘death’ as the last option in line, beginning with prison sentence for twenty years as the first option, which may extend for life). The ordinance made a sect of people happy as it carried out the retributive aspect of sentencing violent crimes against women. Apparently this section comprised of people who went for  on-line petitions, debates and write-ups which actually wanted the prime accused of this rape case to be hanged  or chemically castrated.   The  ordinance  simultaneously made another sect of people disappointed as it upheld ‘constitutional murder’. Immediately after the publication of this ordinance, came the ‘shocking news’ of execution of Afzal Guru which was done without any prior publicity. Actually it was highly speculated in the internet especially after the hanging of Ajmal Kasab in 2012. I came across so many cartoon and  images, short notes and write-ups in the Facebook itself and also in the Twitter which indicated that many people wanted to see the terrorists hanged. The on-line debates brewed up on the sentiments of people. Undoubtedly the demands of hanging of  the brutal rapists and dangerous terrorists who have caused bloody death to many found their own ways of convincing ways. Such posts in the social media did not get removed, but it was seen as a plain case of   freedom of speech and expression which expressed anger and frustration over the delayed process of law in seeing the result  of the rape law amendment or parliament attack case or 26/11 case. These  demands of death penalty especially for the gang rape accused got almost viral in the social media. I find the supporting grounds behind this ‘desperateness’ in some of the land mark death penalty verdicts which considered rarest of rare cases to award the penalty such as  in Machchi Singh Vs. The state (1983)3SCC,470 etc.

I sadly observe that this turn of events actually made some people or groups of people obsessive with death penalties. Many are attacking activists who are against death penalty with harsh and extremely humiliating words in the web platforms such as Twitter. Such activists, especially women activists are targeted by trolls in very offensive words. It needs to be remembered that  if supporters for death sentence can use their freedom of speech and expression in the social media, supporters against death penalty are no aliens who would be rejected this prime right. This pseudo anger over non supporters is carried out through peculiar ways ; some call these non supporters ‘traitors’, some openly throw challenges to breach the dignity of the person (this especially happens for women activists). While all of these sorts of speeches can actually be booked under S.66A of the Information Technology Act, I am yet to research on how many targeted non-supporters have actually taken this path. But at the same time, I would not be surprised if any of the non supporters is again dragged to the police station for expressing his/her views against death penalty as had happened for the Palghar girls’ case who was arrested for their Facebook remarks against the Mumbai shut down due to the death of veteran political leader BalSaheb Thackeray.   Judicial investigation revealed how the law was misused by political goons who forced the police to book the false case.

But, one serious note for the supporters of death penalty: stop throwing threatening /humiliating words to the non supporters. If they are really “traitors” let the court( and not the police only) decide it. Instead of taking law in your own hands or throwing it aside for the sake of hailing the capital punishment , test the power of  the law to judge whether their ways of protesting the death penalties really attracts the ‘protected speech’ category or not.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2013), “Death penalty debates: a note to the supporters”, 16^thFebruary,2013, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/”

Now India can boast of an anti-stalking law

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The December 2012 brutal Delhi rape had given birth to numerous issues. This included knee jerking awakening regarding the safety of women and a feeling of insecurity due to too many laws but too less execution of them. The incidence had also showcased the need of new sensible laws which can protect women not only in theory, but also in practice. The best result of this painful incidence is probably the Justice Verma committee report on proposal to amend the criminal law of India. The report did promise to fill in many gaps which were left for so long by numerous law amendment committees. Undoubtedly one of the notable moves by this committee was giving legal recognition to the offence of Stalking.  In my blogs and many of my write-ups I had pointed out that we in India really needed a legal recognition for stalking. I had also pointed out in our 2010 report “Cyber victimization in India : A baseline survey report” that many individuals, including victims do not actually understand the nature of stalking, especially online stalking. In this report we had analysed online stalking as follows:

“In real life, stalking   if we analyze the US laws on stalking, the nearest explanation of cyber stalking could be found in Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 which  amended Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(h)(1)) through Section 113 to include the use of any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet for the purpose of  ‘stalking’ , annoying and harassing others as penal offence. This US provision attempts to explain cyber stalking as follows;

Cyber stalking= following the victim’s internet activities  + using digital device, software to create  harassing, threatening , abusing mails/messages  etc + transmitting the said mail to the victim’s inbox and / or victim’s friends or relative’s inboxes + successfully creating fear, annoyance, irritation harassed feeling in the victim.

We feel those who never understood how stalking may have happened or whether stalking has at all happened or not, perhaps feel confused with the whole component parts of the stalking. In one word, when ‘following’ is added by Mens rea to commit harm and it is successfully digitally carried out, we can say cyber stalking has happened.”[1]

I am extremely happy to note that the Verma committee report in January, 2013 has built up anti stalking law quite in the same tune. The report suggests introduction of S.354C(1) to the Indian Penal code which defines stalking in following lines[2]

“Whoever follows a person or contacts or attempts to contact such person to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such person or whoever monitors the use by a person of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication or watches or spies a person in a manner that results in fear of violence or serious alarm or distress, in the mind of such person or interferes with the mental peace of such person, commits the offence of stalking.”

Note that the proposed law specifically mentions the behavioural pattern in the offence of stalking which we in 2010 report summed up by stating  “when ‘following’ is added by Mens rea to commit harm and it is successfully digitally carried out, we can say cyber stalking has happened”. The proposed law has mixed up offline as well as online stalking giving much scope to experiment with S.66A of the Information Technology Act,2000(amended in 2008)(punishment for sending offending messages through communication services etc). The punishment that the proposed legal provision offers is however expanded from 1 year to 3 years and also with fine. This can actually bring the offence at par with S.66A of the IT Act.

          It is expected that this proposed provision would finally prove beneficial to harassers who take up stalking specially through cyber space to victimise others. Even though the proposed law is expected to draw criticism for its proviso and also for its effectiveness in the long run, it is still a welcome move.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2013), “Now India can boast of an anti-stalking law”, 25^th January,2013, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/”

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[1] See pg.12, Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2010). Cyber Victimization in India: A Baseline Survey Report. Tirunelveli, India: Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling. Accessed on 25-01-2013

[2] See pg 437 of the Report of the committee on amendments to criminal law accessed from  @ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/full-text-justice-js-verma-committee-report-on-amendments-to-criminal-law/317383-53.html on 25.01.2013

Law to regulate cyber goons?

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One more strong amendment to the law meant for regulating cyber offences and this time I am little sceptical about it. The Tamil Nadu government has decided to incorporate the Goonda’s Act to curb cyber goons. Officially known as Tamil Nadu Prevention of  Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug offenders, Goondas, Immoral traffic offenders, Sand offenders, Slum grabbers, and Video pirates Act, 1985, the law is extremely powerful and its arms reach seven categories offenders: bootleggers, drug offenders, goondas, immoral traffic offenders, sand offenders, slum grabbers, and video pirates. Those who research in the area of social sciences including criminology, law and victimology, and those who practise criminal law, may note that in general, the typical offenders in such cases who are first nabbed by the investigating officers are often hired individuals or groups of individuals who work for organised crimes sector. The law definitely is extremely powerful to punish the big heads also. This law, if extended to include offences committed in the cyber space which reports suggest “has the propensity to disturb public order”,(see     http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/tn-will-use-goondas-act-to-curb-cyber-crime/article4218006.ece?homepage=true) would actually acknowledge the devastating damaging effect of cyber crimes. As I get from The Hindu, the law would be used to curb “ any repeated cyber crime that involves harassment, intimidation or cheating of innocent people in large scale”.  But the rest of the news report gave an idea that these definitions may be  largely meant for economic crimes and money laundering activities through identity related crimes in the internet. True; phishing, lottery scams, card scams, whatever you call them, people behind these crimes are becoming cyber goons who are no less than those which are already under the scope of the Goonda’s Act. In real life, the hired goondas may often be less educated and become habituated for need of money. Cyber goons who act as key players for phishing scams are well matured than these sects of people. But their ultimate motives remain the same: to earn money by illegal ways. In the Information Technology Act, 2000(amended in 2008), the offences chapter in Chapter XI already have bunch of provisions like sections 65 and 66, which prescribe punishment for unauthorised access to computer and data and modifying the contents and computer related offences, the controversial 66A which prohibits sending offensive messages etc, 66 C which prohibits identity theft and 66D which prohibits impersonation by cheating etc. All most all of them can be used in cases of phishing activities (off course depending upon the nature of the operation) and they prescribe jail terms which may extend to three years, besides monetary fines. To make the crime more severe, several Sections from the Indian penal Code like Sections 417, 419, 420 are also used in some cases. All of these sing in the same tune (with different tones): cheating and illegal monetary benefit.

Apart from these, is the Goonda’s Act needed ?

          I endorse Ratna Kapur’s one statement in her very recent article Rape and the crisis of Indian masculinity (http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/rape-and-the-crisis-of-indian-masculinity/article4214267.ece). She says  More law — or calls for the death sentence — are not the answer to what is a deeply ingrained societal problem. True, one more law may not be the answer for ending the problem, but I feel happy to note that the problem which remained “cyber” for so long is gradually becoming “real”. The true scope of the law is yet to be determined. But I expect that it should not be misused by police personnel just for the sake of executing the law. We already have a devastating example of misuse of section 66A and the after effects must be taken as a lesson for all. However, I am still waiting to see whether the law extends its hand to nab cyber eve teasers too.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2012), “Law to regulate cyber goons”, 20^th December,2012, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/

To speak or not to speak while driving:A confused law ?

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Survived Bangalore traffic last evening, I thought of revisiting certain feedbacks from the police regarding the side effects of certain laws. Talking and driving have been proved fatal many times  on  Indian roads. Gone are the days when vehicle owners could be punished for driving while listening to car radios only. Introduction of mobile phones, smart phones, blue tooth etc have ushered in a new era when the lawmakers had to think of prohibiting the driver from focussing his attention to other things like talking while driving.  True, talking while driving can be extremely fatal. Particularly when I see drivers of public vehicles like the buses, trucks or  even auto rickshaws, I feel extremely   uncomfortable. The typical position of placing the mobile phone on his ear and clipping it with a hiked shoulder proposes every possibility of faulty driving and even losing mobile phone from the ‘grip’ if the driver has to cross bumpy roads with equal speed as an F1 driver. Each time I am in the hands of such drivers, I keep on shutting my eyes off and on to avoid viewing any nasty accident (fortunately my fear has still now remained a fear only). But can the law really check this habit of talking while driving?

The recent Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill imposes a hefty punishment for repeated use for cell phones, hand held or hand free device or any gadget which actually aides in communicating while driving. Cell phones, i pods, GPs devices .....all are included in the red book now. The feedback from the police in this regard was particularly noteworthy.  They stated that it would be difficult to prove driver’s guilt under this law. Cudos to the police understanding. How can an officer on duty catch a driver who may be armed with a blue tooth on his ear and asking the passenger for the direction? Why would GPS system be at all installed in the cars? Above all, it needs to be understood that in many cities, and even semi rural places (which are blessed with good transport systems), auto rickshaw drivers are often seen to build up personal network among the residents by exchanging their mobile numbers. Their services are available almost 24/7 and this is possible because drivers receive calls while ‘on job’ and if they are driving other passengers, they instantly contact other fellow drivers to provide service to the ‘customers’. Say it a boon of digital telecommunication era, but this is the hard truth. These drivers may not be financially strong enough to buy hand free sets like the upper middle class or upper class car owners. But their business network remains alive for whatever device they have. Majority of urban and rural population of India is still not properly introduced to GPS system;  “call a cab” is still a spreading concept for many non metro cities and in this situation, the easiest way to call for a transport is relying on the mobile phone number given by the good old auto driver.

Added to this, the law even though can prove extremely good to regulate for  safe driving, poses another question: the driver should not concentrate on communication through electronic devices; what if the passenger does the same? Human beings cannot keep their attention focussed on one thing for long if he/she is surrounded by various communicating elements.  Indulging in communication with the passenger or through the communication device of the passenger which is held by the passenger can also be equally dangerous. Many often wise passengers advise others to keep on communicating with the driver while on a long drive. This is a common method adopted by many to keep the driver awake and to avoid any fatal accident which may be caused due to silent, boring and even strenuous drive hours. The driver’s guilt again becomes a question of burden of proof. As the law suggests, the driver needs to stop driving while attending his phone calls. But what would be the situation when the passengers are equally “disturbing” ? It needs to be remembered that while physical safety like wearing seat belts, using helmets etc are extremely necessary for a safe driving and the law must be punitive if the driver faults in these aspects,  at the same time, checking on the driver’s communication activities during driving needs a very high legal and psychological understanding.

But I cannot stop praising the police officials who pointed out this folly. Keep it up officers. If this is the attitude, misuse of law can be prevented in a far better fashion.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2012),” To speak or not to speak while driving:A confused law?”, 13^th December,2012, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/

Showing death to the world

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Off late there are too many disturbing reports about suicides in India. Well, if a researcher checks the graph, it can be seen that suicide rate probably goes higher immediately after the school leaving exams are finished or the exam results are out. Our young generation is stressed and many of them cannot take the pressure of being humiliated by peers and rejected by colleges they dreamt for. Yet another type of people who take this extreme step that attract my attention is those who commit suicide with web-cams on. Now this is really disturbing. The latest of this ‘brigade’ is a Chennai boy who took his own life with his web cam on. Before him, there were several others who did this and found their names in the news reports. While this boy in question finished his life for poor studies, others include those who committed suicide due to fight with girl friends, due to work pressure etc.  In the first case, I feel that the deceased probably had taken this extreme step to actually threaten the girlfriend on the other side of the screen. My claim can become a ‘truth’ only when the person witnessing it is properly investigated and the online communication is thoroughly investigated. The second case and cases like this boy in question may need more in-depth research, as whether they were persuaded by someone online at the time of death etc. But thinking from the other side, it is disturbing for the viewer to see a real suicide taking place infront of his/her eyes (through his camera). Ironically in India attempt to suicide is considered a penal offence and once the death has happened, the witnesses may face stringent police prosecution on several legal questions including persuading to even negligence in stopping the act. This is the case for many other countries too. But imagine a witness’s plight if he/she is a minor, or he/she never expected to witness such ghastly acts till he actually saw it. The prolonged process of investigating the evidences through checking the communications conveyed between the deceased or the one who tried to commit suicide and the witness on the other side should also obviously include cyber  forensic test  to ensure whether there were any third party activity involved in it or not. All these may leave the ‘witness’ even more traumatised.

Probably this is one of the worst examples of misuse of webcams by users. In one way, people must understand that attempting or committing suicide and showing death to the world is no big act of heroism. It creates bad example for others. On the other hand, it must also be understood that now time has come to take up interdisciplinary research to highlight this problem which may actually create new brands of cyber offences and cyber criminals.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2012), “Showing death to the world

”, 14^th October,2012, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/”

A message to my fellow netizens of internet era

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It is disturbing to see how India is getting divided due to the pranksters and mischief mongers who took full (mis)use of social networking sites and digital communication medium, especially SMSs. Too many news reports, blogs, media high lights and I am distraught to see how the fear wave touched my own dreamy university town Tirunelveli. Yes, the fear has spread like a fire and people belonging to north east, who used to work in various industries including hotels, brick kilns, ports, every one is running back to their home land (See http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article3794140.ece) . All for a dreadful SMS which instigated the violence in Bangalore and then it did not take much long to push out others from other southern cities of South India. I know this will die down. It will either have a natural death, or the phenomena would be killed in the rightful way by the authorities. But the fact remains fact. We are never encouraged to be  INDIANS  first. I married a Tamil and got settled in Tamil Nadu for past thirteen years. I speak the language of the place which has given me motherly comfort and which actually blessed me to become what I am today. But I am still tagged as a “north Indian” (I am not from northern part, I am from the eastern part of India), some of the oldies in my in laws are scared of me because of my non Tamil lineage ( a peculiar sociological behaviour which actually bars people from different regions from accepting others due to some age old cultural beliefs), some blame me for bringing in the Calcutta culture in my own home consisting me, my husband and my multi lingual and multi cultural child. In my virtual life, I often  get to see ‘groups’ of  Bengalis, Tamils, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, ................... the list is endless. Yes, all of us are practising our precious rights to speech, expression, religion, and life. But where is the red line? Who bars us? The answer is known to none. We are now a generation of internet era. Probably we are the first generation. How would our children who are born of multi-linguistic, multi religious, multi- cultural parents tag themselves? What about those who have migrated to other parts of the country for good? They are neither south Indian nor north Indian, neither Tamils, nor Kannadas, nor Bengalis, nor Assameese. They are INDIANS  of the internet era. But still then, the division stays; some over smart opportunists try to create the separatist movement through the digital technology and we are unnecessarily feeding them to grow like poisonous trees by taking them extremely seriously. Isn’t it an irony? When scholars, researchers, cyber psychologists bravely announce that every human being in the NET must learn how to detach oneself from the NET,  the NET is gripping us more by sheer technological ‘magic’ to forget about the human side of the users? 

          In spite of the fact that I had my ups and downs in this place due to cultural differences, I would still say people of Tamil Nadu have hearts  that are tied with the heart of India.  From my part, I am not giving any opportunist any opportunity to break my country and my family. What about you?

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2012), A message to my fellow netizens of internet era”, 19th August,2012, published in http://debaraticyberspace.blogspot.com"