An hour of darkness. An ice-cream vendor works next to the India Gate in New Delhi on March 31, 2012. (Parivartan Sharma/Reuters)

Earth Hour 2012 | The Big Picture

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More on Vinay Rai, the journalist on a censorship crusade in India

Now, obviously there are some cultural differences between India and the U.S., but journalism is generally a very pro-free-speech industry. So it disturbs us greatly to hear that the guy who’s been using the court system to force Google and Facebook to censor content in India is the editor of Akbari, an Urdu publication. His reasoning? “The content I have submitted to the court deeply offends several religions including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity,” he told The Wall Street Journal last month. “It involves pages and groups where users have mocked Hindu gods and goddesses, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ. Such content can create communal riots across the country. These are just a few examples…My intention is to ensure that the sentiments of any religion or community are not hurt.” Rai said he once had a Facebook account, but got rid of it after getting too much spam.

Political Angry Birds

Supporters of Anna Hazare used Angry Birds to carry Hazare’s message of anti-corruption to hundreds of thousands of people across India.

As CNN reports:

“Angry Anna” substitutes the birds for caricatures of Hazare and fellow activists Baba Ramdev and Kiran Bedi and the pigs for Indian politicians including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“We wanted to go to a candlelight march at (New Delhi landmark) India Gate but we were unable to because of the heavy work load in our office, so we thought, why not build a game so people can vent their frustration by sitting in an office and playing,” said Mohammad Faisal, co-creator of the game.

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