BlogSpot Banned in India

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

First the news: "The central government, reeling under fierce criticism of its response to the Mumbai blasts, has struck a blow at the online community by issuing orders to block blogs across the country. " - Economic Times

This piece of news has shook the bloggers across the country. Apparently, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has directed all ISPs to block certain websites including some at blogspot.com and geocities.com. Though you can still access your blogger dashboard and post new posts but you won't be able to read any blogs hosted on blogspot.com.

Some ISP officials confirm that they have received a confidential list of sites to be banned. But, there is still no conforming report that all blogs are ordered to be banned in India.

The news of blogspot being blocked was manifestly released by Mridula, when her ISP spectranet showed a "Site BLOCKED !!!" notice on opening blogspot blogs yesterday. Though I was able to access blogspot till last night on my Airtel connection but started facing problems from today morning.

This situation is similar to the one that exists in Pakistan and China. In Pakistan blogspot was banned after the Danish cartoon incident, while in China only limited access to internet is available. Does, the Government of India wants to play the same game in India. What about Freedom to Expression?

So, what can be done? You can file a RTI application under the Right to Information act 2005. For details on how to file an RTI, click here.

If you want to access your blog despite of the ban, visit www.pkblogs.com, a site by Pakistani bloggers to help them view their blogs despit the ban. For example, you can access my blog by typing www.pkblog.com/gsmodi.


P.S.: View the comments to dis post for any updates regarding this issue.

9 comments:

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

here are some news articles related to d issue:

Rediff news: http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/17blog.htm
Econ times news:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1767836.cms
hindustan times:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1746690,000600010001.htm

Anonymous said...

join this blogger collective group to take part in the protest against this decision:

http://groups.google.com/group/BloggersCollective

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

More news articles:

CNN-IBN

NDTV

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

Airtel Delhi tracert at 6:50pm:

tracert gsmodi.blogspot.com


Tracing route to blogspot.blogger.com [66.102.15.101]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



1 209 ms 246 ms 288 ms brasdel.touchtelindia.net [203.145.171.3]

2 298 ms 276 ms 226 ms rasBTNLDel-static-221.215.56.202.mantraonline.com [202.56.215.221]

3 80 ms 78 ms 69 ms rasBTNLDel-static-162.215.56.202.mantraonline.com [202.56.215.162]

4 58 ms 57 ms 59 ms 203.101.83.197

5 176 ms 202 ms 186 ms 61.95.252.34

6 115 ms 105 ms 104 ms 59.145.7.146

7 59.145.6.34 reports: Destination host unreachable.



Trace complete.

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

a news site quoting me too...

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1042593


tht ws a comment i posted here,

http://tech.moneycontrol.com/news/india-blocks-blogger-typead-and-geocities-blogs-and-websites/1988/india/#comment-20867

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

My letter to the prsident of India

Sir

First of all great to have you as the president of India. You would be aware that all blogs hosted on blogspot.com have been blocked in India.

This action of the Government sends wrong signals to the world. We the citizens of the largest democracy of the world have been deprived of the right to access our blogs.

Blogs are an integral part of the life of the Bloggers. They provide a platform for people to express themselves freely and allow others to comment about them.

I understand that Government has to take some steps to fight terrorism but feel that blocking of blogspot.com is no solution to this as these blogs can still be accessed by some other means. Also, there are many other places on the internet to communicate. We can't just restrict our internet services. What need to be done is better monitoring of these services.

Its a humble request to you from the whole Blogger fraternity to please look into this matter and direct the government to take appropriate action.


Regards,

Gurpreet Singh Modi

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

Finally, a ray of hope:

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/19blogs.htm

hope it happens soon

Gurpreet Singh Modi said...

the Hindu also quoted me,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200607200313.htm

Anonymous said...

Finally, blogspot is accessible...

I'm at my office at National Informatics Centre, where i'm doing my summer training and can access all blogs...

I guess, VSNL service here...

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