And we thought India was a democracy
Censorship has arrived with a bang to the net in India overnight.
Through a communication, dated July 13, by the Dept. of Telecom (DOT) to ISPs, specific pages/ websites have been shut down, the ostensible reason being that terrorists were using blogs to communicate.
The list is confidential, and Indian ISPs have been slowly coming into compliance. SpectraNet, MTNL, Reliance, and as of Monday afternoon, Airtel. State-backed BSNL and VSNL have not started yet but likely will soon. And several ISPs have blocked all blogs because they were not equipped to filter specific pages.
The most prominent blogs that have been blacked out are hinduunity.org hinduhumanrights.org, princesskimberley.com, bloodspot.com, dalitstan.org, clickatell.com, blogspot.com, geocities.com, and typepad.com.
This is censorship at its most blatant form. And there is no oversight in the order following the Mumbai blasts. India which has been managing to maintain its ragtail economy is ignoring the deeper cause for the disaffection that is spreading fast and wide, viz., ignoring development.
With over Rs 7.5 lakh crores sitting in banks awaiting investing opportunities, the Indian Government’s focus appears to have wandered afar. It is more eager to announce its intentions to become an unit of the MNC-led US coalition than help resurrect Nehru’s “Temples of India”, create jobs, provide social safety nets and uplift the poor and disenfranchised.
This is a time when the net requires a Ramnath Goenka and more people to write about this outrage.
And outrage it is. In an interview with the website boing boing, Dr Gulshan Rai, director of CERT-IN, the only body authorised to issue directives to ISPs said: "Somebody must have asked for some sites to be blocked. What is your problem?”
Worse yet a blackout while denying a ban is mere semantics. And this seems to be the defense for this disgrace to democracy. And if India were to follow the US route and insist it is above the law, God alone can save us.
Censorship has arrived with a bang to the net in India overnight.
Through a communication, dated July 13, by the Dept. of Telecom (DOT) to ISPs, specific pages/ websites have been shut down, the ostensible reason being that terrorists were using blogs to communicate.
The list is confidential, and Indian ISPs have been slowly coming into compliance. SpectraNet, MTNL, Reliance, and as of Monday afternoon, Airtel. State-backed BSNL and VSNL have not started yet but likely will soon. And several ISPs have blocked all blogs because they were not equipped to filter specific pages.
The most prominent blogs that have been blacked out are hinduunity.org hinduhumanrights.org, princesskimberley.com, bloodspot.com, dalitstan.org, clickatell.com, blogspot.com, geocities.com, and typepad.com.
This is censorship at its most blatant form. And there is no oversight in the order following the Mumbai blasts. India which has been managing to maintain its ragtail economy is ignoring the deeper cause for the disaffection that is spreading fast and wide, viz., ignoring development.
With over Rs 7.5 lakh crores sitting in banks awaiting investing opportunities, the Indian Government’s focus appears to have wandered afar. It is more eager to announce its intentions to become an unit of the MNC-led US coalition than help resurrect Nehru’s “Temples of India”, create jobs, provide social safety nets and uplift the poor and disenfranchised.
This is a time when the net requires a Ramnath Goenka and more people to write about this outrage.
And outrage it is. In an interview with the website boing boing, Dr Gulshan Rai, director of CERT-IN, the only body authorised to issue directives to ISPs said: "Somebody must have asked for some sites to be blocked. What is your problem?”
Worse yet a blackout while denying a ban is mere semantics. And this seems to be the defense for this disgrace to democracy. And if India were to follow the US route and insist it is above the law, God alone can save us.
