Indian Government banned dozen sites

Is it the growing popularity of blogging or just another government policy? Whatever might be the reason, the truth is that Gov India is going to ban many blogging sites like *.blogspot.com, *.typepad.com and geocities.com/* (the list will have more sites). I just read it in eco times front page. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) passed an order to ISPs to block several websites. Till 9:00 IST I am able to access all the above said sites.

Earlier it was Google Earth and now Google blogs, google is surely not finding a place in Indian Gov’s heart.

Now are these bans going to help? Isn’t it added publicity to the overall not so visible issue? We respect the move but should have been taken with a little care as blogspot was one of the most helpful sites during Tsumani and even I heard of some blogs offering good help for the Mumbai blast victims.

The pros of free blogs are many but can the Gov capable of taking the cons off forcefully? We will have to wait for some more time.

The reasons for ban
Terror**** are using free blogs to promote anti-nationalism.

Effective from
According to newspapers and internet sources it has already been applied. By the end of Tuesday all the ISPs are expected to do so.

Can Gov do this?
Yes, they can and they have done this in past as well. According to newspapers Gov has banned over 100 sites in last 6 years.

Why is this not a solution?
IMO this can only stop some known sites but there are hundreds and thousands of free websites providers, some known and some not so known. Also using a proxy (which are not under Govs control) people can access it unless they ban all those proxies. Even people can use Search Engine cache to read such websites. This is more or less like an attempt to ban the whole Internet.

What is then a better suited solution?
People’s involvement with the ISPs. A common forum for ISPs and the world supporting anti-terrorism can come together to ban all such sites. Making a crew of Internet specialist to find out the pattern behind such bloggers, tracking the pattern can help us stop these things to a certain extent.

Update: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/government-lifts-ban-on-blogsites/16155-11.html says, “The Department of Telecommunciations has now clarified that the error is being rectified”.

Also read my latest post on “How to access the existing blogspot sites from India“.

11 Comments »

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1. [...]  Check- http://www.idealwebtools.com/blog/gov-bannedblogs/ [...]

   
   
   AIMK » Blog Archive » A Big Set Back For AIM on July 18, 2006 - 6:56 pm @ 6:56 pm

2. This is very wrong……………..

   I’m feeling very bad about it…….

   not only me i belive the whole bloggers community of India is surely thinking something about it….

   
   
   Rajesh on July 18, 2006 - 7:10 pm @ 7:10 pm

3. LOL…

   This is lame…….

   I have a easy idea to bypass this… google for the site’s cache and voila……. it done…….

   noone can stop me…. we all have the right to freedom

   
   
   Devil on July 18, 2006 - 8:50 pm @ 8:50 pm

4. [...] As I have mentioned in my previous post that Government has banned blogspot, geocities e.t.c. This step was taken to prevent any anti-national blogging. From yesterday afternoon even I am not able to access the blogspot blogs. This step was taken as a precaution to prevent any Mumbai blast aftermath. It is giving an additional publicity to the overall issue. [...]

   
   
   My Abode » How to access the existing blogspot sites on July 19, 2006 - 6:47 am @ 6:47 am

5. With Google cache it will take some time, read my latest post to gain the access right away.

   
   
   AjiNIMC on July 19, 2006 - 6:53 am @ 6:53 am

6. The government didnt ask the ISPs to ban the entire blogspot or geocities domain. Instead it gave them a list of sites to block. Its the stupid ISPs who blocked the entire domain.

   
   
   Pallab on July 19, 2006 - 7:37 am @ 7:37 am

7. According to news channels and newspapers, Government has asked to ban the whole domain. May be that Govt wanted to stop the possible new anti-national blogs as well.

   
   
   AjiNIMC on July 19, 2006 - 9:19 am @ 9:19 am

8. The result of this ban will be major Proxy programming ! phpproxy should have had a lot of downloads from India.

   
   
   Anjanesh Lekshminarayanan on July 19, 2006 - 9:34 pm @ 9:34 pm

9. Anti-national blogs have been banned but anti-national activites have not yet been stopped. Inocent blogger losing their blog and innocent people losing their lives. This is what called powerful Government and we are helpless people.

   
   
   SC on July 19, 2006 - 10:55 pm @ 10:55 pm

10. According to news channels Govt only asked to ban 4 blogs (sub-domains) but ISPs applied a stronger filter. Also Goverment has asked to remove the ban from other sites. Few of the bloggers have filed case through RTI. All the news channels are covering this story. Hopefully the ban will be removed in a day or two.

    
    
    AjiNIMC on July 19, 2006 - 11:18 pm @ 11:18 pm

11. Good news.

    
    
    SC on July 20, 2006 - 9:28 am @ 9:28 am

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