…because now, you can’t read Blogspot or Typepad-hosted blogs in India. That means no Barmaid, no Abhi, no MD, no Brimful, no Badmash, no Maisnon. Erstwhile Mutineer Manish has more (natch) on Ultrabrown:
For all the talk of IndiaÂ’s freedom and democracy, the Indian government has apparently just censored all of Blogspot and Typepad. For shame. Blogspot- and Typepad-hosted blogs are inaccessible from my Bombay ISP and many others and seem to be blocked at the Airtel Internet backbone in Delhi. Geocities is reportedly blocked as well.[link]
Sabahat Iqbal Ashraf pointed out the utter lameness of this action via the ASATA mailing list:
As I was saying all along, unenlightened Internet policies are not a Pakistani monopoly; the Indian establishment can be just as “efficient” in the matter. First it was only Pakistan blocking most blogs, now it seems the Indian establishment is getting into the act…
Apparently, terrorists are using blogs to communicate, but Ultrabrown notes that Dr Gulshan Rai, Director of the Computer Emergency Response Team—India (CERT-IN) feigned cluelessness when asked about this unwelcome development:
“Somebody must have blocked some sites. What is your problem?“…
Awesome.
I can’t improve on Manish’s response to that:
As the worldÂ’s back office, for India to blame overzealous techies would hardly be credible. ItÂ’s not yet clear which blogs the government was targeting, but the tactic of banning Blogspot is nothing less than outright repression — mimicking the tactics Pakistan used to shut down discussion of Danish cartoons critical of Islam. India is now in the august company of some of the worldÂ’s least free nations…
…because I’m too busy freaking out over the possibility he raises at the end of his post:
These repeated incidents are also a cautionary tale about the dangers of relying on Web apps centralized on a small handful of domains. WhatÂ’ll you do when your government blocks Gmail?
Shivam Vij has a detailed and worrisome post about his telephonic attempts to figure out what the hell is going on, here. He also has a grim sort of workaround, since not all platforms are censored equally:
Is there a moral of the story? Yes, there is. Shift to your own domain and your own hosting and most of all, to WordPress. [link]
…or, click your ruby slippers together thrice and chant, “There’s no speech like free, there’s no speech like free, there’s no speech like…
I feel that the government should be more cautious while taking steps against media. and if it is necessary for the national security, it is ok. But at the same time, government should come forward with the cause of the acts.
Most reports say 22 pages of sites.
Yes, they should have filtered by domain instead of IP. IP multihoming makes the ban too broad.
Unclear, press reports seem to indicate they asked all of Blogspot and Typepad to be banned. And the gov’t has been totally unresponsive to bloggers and reporters since.
Only inasmuch as there isn’t a single government-controlled chokepoint firewall. In terms of tactics this is exactly what Pakistan did in March.
Not easy. Most ISPs use int’l backbones like Bharti Airtel which have blocked these sites as well.
Update: CERT-IN is now blaming ISPs for screwing up the block, but the only people who know for sure are the DOT, and they’re not talking.
Wow. I can’t believe they did this.
Uh right… that explains why they blocked mainly hindu-fascist sites. (Though I guess I don’t see much difference between naxals and bajarang dal other than they occupy different ends of the political spectrum, both are violent populists)
I’m pretty certain this will be resolved in the next couple of weeks.
The Indian government is very very often bumptious, high handed and incompetent.
They (at least at the Central level and at least since the Mrs. Gandhi era) are rarefully wilfully opposed to individual freedoms.
Don’t support this. The Indian govt. IT department cannot separate legitimate blogs from ones that terrorists use. I’m an American, and our govt. reviews and sometimes shuts down sites that may pose risks to national security.
Blogs are not that important, if this is what it takes to indentify and prevent further attacks, let them do it.
Indians are behaving utterly dispicable in this. Has anyone here even read some of the extremist things that Muslims write on the internet? You’d be shocked.
“Blogs are not that important, if this is what it takes to indentify and prevent further attacks, let them do it.”
oh puh-leese.
Sachin on July 18, 2006 09:51 AM · Direct link more blogs are writing about their frustration of India blocking blogs. Check this one out: http://www.currybear.com/nucleus/
The blog makes a good point; are we going to ban every means of communication if the terrorists get a strong hold of it?
Sachin, here is my repsonse to that. The fact is, the internet is one of the most effective ways that terrorists communicate. Those who watch U.S. news know how many times our govt. gets tipped off or finds out about terror groups by scavaging the ‘net. By the way Sepia staff, I love ur site, don’t take it personally what I write towards the end.
My repsonse on currybear:
“I bet none of the idiots protesting against the ban ever did read what some Muslims write on the internet.
If they did, they wouldn’t react this way. The blog will be temporary. You can get back writing about the progress of your ingrown toe nails another day.
In the meantime, if this is what it takes for the Indian government to DO THEIR JOB. Let them do it.
I’m an American, born and raised, and I would pretty much accept anything our government would do if it would help capture those responsible for the WTC attacks.
This is not a game. This is a War on Terror. It will be uncomfortable at times, but DEAL WITH IT.
I understand some say that legitimate blogspots are being banned. My response to this is to have some faith in the Indian government. The Indian government does not have a history of censoring internet sites (although they should… look up some of the things that are written in dalitstan.org, you can view CACHED copies using a Google search). If the Indian government has not gotten involved in the past, it means that this time something genuinely must be there for them to do this.
Give them time, and be patient. But most of all, be supportive.
I can’t believe the backlash over a FCKING blogspot. They are so mundane and trivial for the most part.”
Sonia: Oh puhleese?
Wow, thats pretty compelling. Do you have the ability to write more than a one liner?
Sometimes, that is all that is needed.
Communis Rixatrix: Another moronic response…
nearly 200 PEOPLE DEAD. NO ONE CAUGHT. These are the facts. The months following the WTC attack, I was proud of being American more than ever before. I was proud of the way people conducted themselves. I was proud of our spirit, and I was 100% completely supportive of our government. It was a time for civilians and the government to work together against a common threat. I was even supportive at that time of the Bush administration going into Afghanistan — afterall, Osama Bin Laden was said to be there, and he was the prime suspect. As I have stated before, I would have pretty much accepted anything we did at that time. Its been a few days since the bomb blast and people are complaining of not being able to blog? 200 PEOPLE ARE DEAD. Does that have ANY value? If an attack this large happened in Pakistan, and the government acted similarily, Pakistanis would not be complaining. Indians value Indian life cheaper than any other people that I know. They are some of the most selfish, unpatriotic and divisive people on the planet. Just look at our government officials there. Criminal, corrupt, selfish, without regard for human life or dignity… Sonia and Communis Rixatrix, presuming your’e Indians, you should consider running for office.
Please, someone tell me that this guy is attempting parody.
DT2004:
Actually Pakistan DID block blogspot blogs in March, and no, people did not take it lightly. In fact some of them started up an alternative site where you could still view blogspot blogs even from places where it was banned. This intrepid effort on their part is coming in very handy for some of us who are in India and still want to view blogspot blogs. So much gratitude to them.
Vivek, so Pakistanis took it with as much hostility towards their government as Indians are doing? Yeah, lets pay our gratitude to them. They harbor and incite the suspected bombers of the train, but hey, at least they got a workaround the ban. Pakistanis are far more patriotic and devot than Indians/Hindus are.
Evil Abhi: don’t get your panties in a bunch, looks like they’re lifting the ban! Now you can get back to blogging on your menial life.
DT2004:
Of course, you’re right. I’d forgotten in my glee at having discovered a way around the ban that all Pakistanis are terrorist-harboring India-haters. Thanks for the reality check. Thanks also for the “Indians/Hindus” equation; I’d almost forgotten in reading about Mumbai Muslims organizing to donate blood to victims of the blasts that Indian Muslim is an oxymoron. Once again, thank you.
Yes, they should have filtered by domain instead of IP. IP multihoming makes the ban too broad.
So that makes it the ISPs fault, not the govt’s. While it’s not easy to block only selected sites sharing the same IP, it definetely is possible – some ISPs do it (by basically analyzing connections going out on the HTTP port, reading the Host: field on them, and dropping those that correspond to the banned host). If anyone’s to be blamed for stupidity here, its the ISPs.
I’m sure that the person who issued those orders would’ve assumed that it was possible to block only specific blogs
As you posted later, press reporters seemed to have jumped to conclusions. Aren’t we all surprised ?
This does NOT put India in the same league as China, Pakistan, North Korea.
Firstly, the pakistani govt. did infact want to block all blogs. Secondly, the criteria that the govt. of India uses to decide what matter is objectionable (or atleast the criteria one can infer from the above list) is significantly different from those used by the authorities in China, etc.
Not easy. Most ISPs use int’l backbones like Bharti Airtel which have blocked these sites as well.
As I said, there are some ISPs which are able to block selectively. And if you aren’t able to find such an ISP in your area, at least rant against the technical incompetence of the MTNL, et. al., not against the govt.
Indian Government has lost their mind. Babu Sahib is clueless.
Unfortunately, a lot of people in the blogosphere are just as prone to jump to conclusions and make arbitrary statements as the govt. bureaucrats they seem to think they’re so much smarter than. One can pretty much say the same thing about the media as well.
And this just in: things will be fixed. Also note that “most reports” now seem to be saying that the list had 20 odd sites, not 22 pages !
Ummm, it’s fairly obvious to everyone who is wearing the panties here (not that there is anything wrong with wearing panties).
Vivek:
How many Pakistanis of various ethnic groups and religions do you know? I work with 40 of them. Punjabis, Sindhis, Agha Khani’s, Sunni’s, Parsis. A good majority of Pakistani’s have very strong views when it comes to a)Kashmir and b)Islam.
India is perhaps the only country that is democratic enough to show an adversary’s television channel within its borders, PTV. Have you watched that before? It makes it look like Indian soldiers are doing nothing in Kashmir other than raping, looting, and murdering innocent Kashmiris. This is what has been shown to Pakistanis through their highly regulated media, and this is what their impressions are based upon.
I have several Muslim friends, Indian, and Pakistani. They’re just like me. But if ONE topic comes up, religion, an amazing thing starts to happen. Right before my eyes, their mind shuts. It becomes narrow, and shades of gray disappear, their logic is left to nothing more than black and white. The black is text, and the white is the page, of the Quran. All Muslims, no. Most of them, yes. Anything that, in their mind, is the slightest taint on Islam, and all bets are off, all of a sudden they cannot rationalize, and they become extremely, extremly defensive. Do I think that all Pakistanis hate Indians (particularly Hindus), no. But do they respect them either, by and large, no. Were you aware of how many Hindu temples*, from Pakistan, to Malaysia, and probably everywhere in between and beyond, are or have been demolished? How many Hindus attacked Muslims for these actions? ZERO. And then when the Babri Masjid was demolished (which was wrong to do), when a Danish cartoonist draws cartoons on Mohammed, how many people were killed, how much damage occurred?
Its great to be diplomatic, and peace loving, but its also important to know the facts. And refer to the other thread, on the bans being lifted. I have provided a link and copied text from the dalitstan.org website, no, they didn’t just crack a couple jokes, they were propagating a Hindu free, Muslim nation, carved out of India.
*http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/28/nat23.htm
Sorry, above post was by me.
Thats probably more of a political stunt. I think part of the reason why the Kashmir issue is not resolved yet is because for the politicians on both sides of the border, its a massive vote bank!
Kunjan: i don’t know, you could be right. i don’t give politicians the benefit of the doubt. extremely corrupt and selfish. most of them should be taken out. But why show reporting that is so anti-india? i’ve seen segments of it, it is propaganda. its stupid for the Indian govt. to allow this.
Or not wearing panties.
Clarification: In the sense of not wearing them per se. I didn’t mean that it’s obvious which of the commenters on SM is going commando at this particular point in time.
Enough digression from me. Carry on.
I am totally confused by the decision of DoT. There are so many questions are arising in my minds. What is the intention of Indian government behind the decision of blocking blog websites? Do they really want to serve the nation’s security or something else?
Help me to understand >>> http://www.merinews.com/newsPortal/JSP/catFull.jsp?articleID=123283&catID=2&category=Nation
Crap, have the spam bots figured out the complex SM code for posting?! It looks like they have! Curses!
DT2004:
I was hugely ashamed with the American response after 9/11. We turned over all sorts of civil rights and let fear dominate our thinking, and our politics, here in America. Anyway, you don’t need to use the American response to 9/11 to justify idiotic policies in India done in the name of “national security.”
I think we all recognize that banning entire domains or IP ranges is a silly way to combat terrorism. The apologists on this post are nuts; they’re even more ready to bend over for the government than Americans were, post-9/11. And look how well all that worked out for America, huh? My advice? Get a backbone…an open Internet backbone.
(drum hit)
F5, baby. A K K A’s on duty. 😉
DT2004 –
“I have several Muslim friends, Indian, and Pakistani. They’re just like me. But if ONE topic comes up, religion, an amazing thing starts to happen. Right before my eyes, their mind shuts. It becomes narrow, and shades of gray disappear, their logic is left to nothing more than black and white. The black is text, and the white is the page, of the Quran. All Muslims, no. Most of them, yes. Anything that, in their mind, is the slightest taint on Islam, and all bets are off, all of a sudden they cannot rationalize, and they become extremely, extremly defensive.”
I have had similar experiences with an overwheming majority of my Muslim friends, who see conspiracy in everything that is wrong with their religion today.
Can’t we just all get along?