This story in the Financial Express made me wonder a bit about Dilip's post on truth and lies in the Indian blogging world, and also made me wonder, not for the first time, whether the journalist who wrote the story has information that none of us do.
She mentions "flogs" or fake blogs: "Even as fake blogs or flogs are increasing in number, including a recent one on tennis sensation Sania Mirza, celebrities tend to popularise blogging." Now this is a disturbing trend if it's actually happening--Dilip, is this what you meant when you referred to blogs that tell lies? Just curious--but the only mainstream "fake blog" I've heard about so far is the Sania Mirza one, where some idiot was pretending to be Ms Mirza and posting lurid comments in her name. That's one "flog"; are there others?
The second point she makes is an apparently random quote from a lawyer:
"Cyber lawyer Pavan Duggal says 'blogs are increasingly being misused in India as the Indian cyber law does not touch upon blogging.'"
This sounds to me as though Indian cyberlaw might at some stage try and introduce rules/ guidelines for bloggers, which should be interesting, given the way cyberlaws have been framed in India!
All of us have come across blogs that are mean, vicious, downright incompetent or untruthful, but I used to assume these were in the minority: am I wrong? Has the trend changed? None of the bloggers I read on a regular basis seem to "misuse" their blogs, and none of the influential bloggers, the ones on the Top 100 list who get linked to a lot, seem to be especially problematic.
So I'm confused. Am I missing out on the general viciousness and lies out there in the blogosphere, and if so, why didn't I get my invite? Or is this sort of reporting just the beginning of "bad blogs" stories in the same way we used to have "cyberspace is evil" stories?