Friday, July 28, 2006
Top view of my town
Originally uploaded by zxing.
INDIA: Net users protest India's blocking of blogs
Angry Indian Internet users and the country's main software trade group urged the government on Wednesday to reopen access to blogging websites that were blocked after a series of bombs ripped through Bombay's commuter rail network.
The government, trying to shut down blogs from various political and religious extremes, ended up blocking all access to a number of blogging websites, including the popular www.blogspot.com, technology experts said.
The blogs were blocked in an attempt to stop an outbreak in communal violence after the blasts.
"However, the Indian Internet service providers don't have the technological wherewithal to block specific blogs on a blogging site. Consequently, they ended up blocking the entire site," said technology expert Pawan Duggal.
Government officials could not be reached for comment, but Gulshan Rai, director of the state-run Computer Emergency Response Team of the Information Technology Ministry, said the order issued by the government targeted four blogs hosted on www.blogspot.com.
"There's no attempt to block www.blogspot.com from our side," the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.
On Wednesday morning, however, it was still difficult to access blogs on that Web site from India.
Kiran Karnick, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, the country's main information technology trade group, said his organisation would take up the matter with the government.
"It is neither desirable nor possible to impose censorship on the Net," Mr Karnick said.
Angry Indian Internet users exchanged mails and flooded message boards with postings to report that blogs could not be opened.
Experts, however, said that users could still access many blogs by connecting to them through third-party sites that the government had not blocked.
Sarabjit Roy, a cyber law expert, said blocking websites was a mindless exercise.
"It shows that our bureaucrats don't understand technology at all," he said.
India Imposes Ban on Blogs: Your Questions Answered
Everything you wanted to know about the recent ban on popular websites in India - an FAQ:
Q. Which sites are blocked in India ?
Access to all blogs and websites hosted on the following servers is currently blocked in India.
• xxx.blogspot.com/
• xxx.typepad.com/
• xxx.blogs.com/
• www.geocities.com/xxx
For strange reasons, blogs hosted on Wordpress, Livejournal, MSN Spaces, Rediffblogs, IndiaTimes and Yahoo 360° are spared by the Indian censors and they are still accessible in India.
Q. Why is the Indian Government banning blog sites ?
While there is no official comment, most people are speculating that the ban is connected to the recent Mumbai Train Blasts. Probably the groups behind the bomb blasts used blogs to exchange information and co-ordinate the plan so the Government decided to ban these sites.
Q. Are all blogspot.com sites banned in India ?
Yes, all blogs hosted on blogspot.com are banned. According to some reports, the India Government issued a directive to block only certain blogs on *.blogspot.com but the ISPs decided to block the entire blogspot.com domain.
Q. When will the Blogspot ban be lifted ?
The issue is picking momentum in India and the entire Indian blogosphere is speaking in one voice against the ban. Popular international sites like Rediff Abroad, Mercury News, BoingBoing, MichelleMalkin, Google Blogoscoped, Digg and Techmeme have also picked the story. Again, no official word on when the ban would be lifted but it could happen very soon depending on the media cry.
Q. Did India restrict access to other sites before ?
Yes, earlier a ban was imposed on Yahoogroups.com but it was lifted in a week's time.
Q. I am a Blogger. Can I still blog ?
Yes, the good news is that access is blogger.com has not been blocked. So you can still publish new articles though readers in India may not be able to access them directly. Remember to publish full text feeds.
Q. I am blog subscriber. Can I still read blogspot or typepad blogs ?
Yes, but you can read them only in a web based rss reader which downloads the Blog XML feeds on server located outside India. Or use a proxy server.
» How to Access a Blocked Website or Blog
» What Bloggers Can Do To Bypass Blogspot Ban
Q. As a Blogger, what can I do to prevent such a situation in future ?
Buy your own domain name and switch from Blogger immediately. Don't consider shifting to another free platform like xxx.wordpress.com or indiatimes.com or rediffblogs.com as risk of banning virtually remains the same.
Q. I am in India, how do I read Digital Inspiration ?
http://www.pkblogs.com/labnol
http://feeds.feedburner.com/labnol
Q. Where do I get more information about the ban ?
Head straight to Bloggers ollective - it has reactions and updates from Indian Bloggers located in and outsite India. Some nice conversations happening there.
