Social media cops on the prowl: Over 450 posts, sites deleted

Having learnt a lesson from the rampage and clashes in the city Pune and other parts of the state after objectionable photos of Maratha king Shivaji and Bal Thackeray were uploaded in May the Mumbai Policersquos Social Media Laboratory and Cyber Cell have deleted around 451 objectionable posts this year which could have created an adverse lawandorder situation in the countryIn June this year one person was killed in the riots that broke out in Pune after derogatory photographs of Shivaji and Bal Thackeray were posted on Facebook File picThe police said continuous cyber patrolling by the Social Media Laboratory and the complaints received from different people helped them delete the posts many of which were Facebook pages motivating youth to take up jihad videos by jihadi leaders and vulgar posts and pages defaming national leaders and godsThe police have created search engine optimisers that have key hate words configured to help police quickly find hate speeches Representation picGetty ImagesAfter the objectionable photos of Shivaji had appeared late in May 24yearold techie Mohsin Shaikh was killed by a mob in Pune In 2012 the Delhi police had been unable to anticipate the protest after the gruesome Nirbhaya rape case in which most of the protesters had gathered through a Facebook campaign That was when the Mumbai police decided to set up a Social Media Laboratory to monitor and patrol cyberspaceThe Media Laboratory comes under the purview of the Mumbai Police Special Branch which keeps a watch on all political parties and communities that might lead to an adverse lawandorder situation in the country ldquoAround five to six people monitor the web 24x7 to keep to keep an eye on all types of activities and groupsWe have also allocated a number 98208 10007 where people can complain about objectionable posts and malicious material on the Internet that can cause problems in the country After reviewing the material we can get it removed by writing to the concerned agencyrdquo said DCP Crime Branch and Mumbai Police Spokesperson Dhananjay KulkarniSince January the police have deleted around 451 different Facebook pages websites and videos ldquoSome videos we deleted were objectionable some could have led youth down wrong paths and others could have created an adverse lawandorder situation in the country We have also deleted several Facebook pagesrdquo said KulkarniModus operandiThe police have created search engine optimisers that have key hate words configured to help police quickly find hate speeches After receiving complaints about or finding something objectionable the police write to the concerned companies like Facebook Google and others that run the websites ldquoMost of the times the posts are removed in less than six hours and further damage is avoidedrdquo said KulkarniGetting the Internet Protocol IP address and tracing the accused however takes much longer ldquoThe companiesagencies ask us to get a letter regoratory requesting evidence and judical help from the Indian government before reverting with the IP addressrdquo said KulkarniSometimes companies donrsquot reveal the IP addresses as they are afraid that if they start revealing peoplersquos details they might lose their user base Most of the times the IP addresses are from foreign countries like Pakistan said sourcesTraining for allKulkarni said the Mumbai police are aware that criminal activities on cyberspace will only increase in the future ldquoThe whole Mumbai police gets basic training in webrelated activities so that they can register a case under the Information Technology Act but officers from our Cyber Cell have even got training from the Global Intellectual Property Academy Virginia USArdquo said Kulkarni