Blogs may be a mighty wind heralding the future of news, but the Indian government seems like it would rather enjoy the silence.
The government “has apparently directed local Internet service providers to block access to a handful of outlets that host blogs, including the popular blogspot.com,” the New York Times reported today. A technician at a Bangalore-based service provider said the government had asked for the blogspot.com block for “security reasons,” the Times reported.
Officials at the Ministry of Communications in India did not return repeated calls, according to the Times report. An official at the ministry’s department of information and technology, Gulshan Rai, told the Times he was aware of ‘two pages’ that had been blocked for spreading what he called ‘antinational sentiments,’ but was unable to provide details.
The block has been in effect since Friday, July 14, according to a report on Boing Boing.
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9 comments so far
It is a disheartening to learn “Freedom of expression” and “right to information” exist only in law books in India. We are following the shameful path lead by Iran, Pakistan, Ethiopia & China.
- Posted by devanandThis is really unacceptable. Iran, Pakistan and did the same in the past and now India is also done the same? Can’t understand a developing country (democratic) like India did the same.
Blogs are the fastest growing media of the new era and this blog should be removed
- Posted by RageshPlacing ban on certain blog sites as a measure for curbing terrorist interactions is clearly inefficient. There are tens of hundreds of free proxy-server service providers available on net. A concerned person can very well use those to access the information in blogs.
A country like India which guarentees its citizens the fundamental right of expression, banning blog sites which hundreds of thousands of people use to express themselves, is non-constitutional.
If the directive was given by the government to block a handfull sites only, why should an entire community of bloggers suffer? The govt should direct all internet service providers to lift ban other blog spaces. During the event of mishaps like Mumbai bombing, Isreal-Lebanon war etc blogs were very much useful in getting important data like helpline numbers casualty status etc.
Blogs have the potential to share information and it helps in bringing a group of like minded people together. An issue can be brought up in a community and discussed to arrive at a consensus. Banning a site alltogether will affect the mindset of its users.
Its my sincere request to the Govt of India to lift the ban on all blogsites. We need to communicate to dwell in a civilized social setup.
- Posted by SandeepI hereby vote of protest on this stupid action taken by indian so called sarkkaar
- Posted by siddhaarththan[…] The Reuters Newsblog notes in “India bans some blogs” that India is directing ISPs to ban access to specific blog hosts, including the popular blogspot.com. […]
- Posted by » India Blog Ban - rogerd’s notebookBlogspot Ban in India is something like using an atom bomb for killing a rat.
- Posted by SanjeevThis ban is disgusting. Wither “Free Speech”?
Anyway there are short-cuts to this ban. I access my blog throught pkblog.com.
- Posted by KarthikFreedom of speach is an “Atombomb” for somebody. Thus Geocities, Typepad & Blogspot blocked in India. Few evidence of irregularities are avilable in my pages related with Rubber. “Is Right to know information is a hidden thing?”
- Posted by S.Chandrasekharan NairIt is sad that India baned geocities site. I have my web site in this free web hosting service. I donot know why this site is banned in India
- Posted by Elango