Twitter and Facebook are taken Awfully Serious

Two recent news items point to a disturbing trend where the Internet — social networking sites to be precise — was used to abet crimes. The first one was of a man selling off his grandchild to a businessman in Delhi for Rs8 lakh after striking a deal using facebook. The other was how the Dow Jones fell by 143 points after hackers sent a message — ‘Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured’ — from the Twitter handle of a news organisation. The Syrian Electronic Army, which had hacked Reuters feed last year, took credit. Social networking sites, to use a popular phrase, have made the world smaller, much smaller, and have connected millions of people like never before. However, its dark underbelly has more dangerous potent and governments around the world have not been able to control its negative effects.
China, despite it denying any part in it, has been notorious for its cyber attacks on countries and organisations that have spoken against its interests. A recent example of Beijing’s use of cyber space to stymie unpalatable views was the attack on the New York Times’ website after it ran a feature exposing former premier Wen Jiabao wealth. Many countries, including India, have been victims of Chinese hackers. Al-qaeda has been using the Internet, especially video-sharing platforms and social networking sites, for propaganda and recruitment. Instances like this pose the question whether enough is being done to check the side of this virtual world?
To think that a single tweet can affect international markets and in other cases escalate tension between two nations is spine-chilling. Does this mean that the government should roll down the shutters on social networking sites? Definitely not. Real-time censoring of Internet traffic, given the volume (which is only going to increase), is unthinkable. Governments, especially in India, should, through its various wings, create more Internet awareness and give cyber monitoring cells in the police and other agencies a fillip. Internet and social networking sites are here to stay and evolve; shying away from them or banning them will be counterproductive. Governments need to device innovative ways to reap the benefits these Janus-headed platforms throw up. It should be one step ahead of forces that exploit these platforms for nefarious purposes.
(An edited version of this appeared in the Hindustan Times on April 25)