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Indian Government Lifts Ban on Blogs
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Jul 20, 2006 01:19 PM
from the i-have-a-soapbox-and-i-must-speak dept.
from the i-have-a-soapbox-and-i-must-speak dept.
iDope writes "The Department of Telecommunications of the Government of India has lifted the ban on blogs (reported previously on Slashdot) following pressure from the Indian blogger community and the media. Even with the lifting of the ban several bloggers from BloggersCollective are getting ready to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) (similar to a Class Action Lawsuit in US) in the Supreme Court of India against the Government censorship of the Internet."
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India Joins China in Censoring Websites 303 comments
cpatil writes "On the directions of the government of India, Indian ISPs have started censoring and blocking web properties. This was first noticed by Indian bloggers and upon inquiring with their respective ISPs, the actions are confirmed. Unfortunately, Blogspot and TypePad are the targets till now." There's an ongoing discussion of the censorship on GoogleGroups. The rediff.com coverage linked above indicates that the blocking is based on a list issued by India's Department of Telecommunications.
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Indian Government Lifts Ban on Blogs
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We are rejoicing! (Score:5, Funny)
- Steve.
(Yes I am really being named Steve, and the weather here in Bango...r, Maine is wonderful! We in America are overjoyed to be reading this and posting about it on your Slashdot!)
Good news, I guess (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.bdrgear.com/)
Great ... now ... (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.tumbledry.org/)
I doubt it (Score:5, Insightful)
Democracies can be imperfect; democracies like India can make mistakes, or do things (like this Blog censorship program) which are wrong. But at least in a democracy, there is some kind of mechanism in place that can be used to eventually fix the mistakes and correct the wrongs. China has no mechanisms in place to correct the wrongs of those in power. And so you can wait, but the wrongs are not going to just go away.
keep up the coverage :) (Score:3, Insightful)
Can we also file a Public Interest Litigation... (Score:2)
Finally! (Score:4, Funny)
Official Circular (Score:5, Informative)
Technical error? (Score:1)
Good, they need the manpower... (Score:1, Offtopic)
"India's ruling party takes legal steps to stop a film director from making a movie about Sonia Gandhi." BBC story [bbc.co.uk]
Thank goodness (Score:2)
(http://www.gamerspre...tasy_XII_Walkthrough)
It's always a ruse (Score:2, Flamebait)
(http://www.codemonkeyramblings.com/)
Repeat after me, censorship is always bad except in the most extreme cases like publishing a how-to FAQ on building a portable nuclear bomb or up-to-date troop movements. Why? Because speech never killed anyone and the fastest way to make the very people who might strengthen an idea interested in hearing more is a legislative or executive attack.
It's a perfect example of why "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is a bad argument. People quickly turn to the "anti-racist/sexist/anti-homosexual/terrorist" state and say, "what are you trying to hide?"
Playing The Freedom Angle (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://bluezhift.proliphus.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 31 2007, @10:25AM)
But I would guess that the less than free and open society in China coupled with China being looked upon, by the U.S. at least, as a dangerous competitor on the world stage, is putting a brake on IT work freely flowing into China. Seriously, China and the U.S. could be at war tomorrow if Taiwan declared independence. India can play this to their advantage by doing as much as possible to resemble the free and open society that Americans claim to love so much. India is, afterall, the world's largest democracy, so playing the freedom angle isn't too much of a stretch with the right marketing.
I'm not saying that there is any concious orchestration going on. But stories like censoring the internet don't help the image the government probably wants to project, so reversing that can only be to their advantage.
alls well that ends well (Score:2, Interesting)
(http://code.google.com/p/nmod/)
We're all having to learn how the internet works. Governments, great lumbering beasts that they are, are prone to dumb decisions when it comes to new technology, at least at first.
I wonder what unseen pressure group was responsible for that. Google's blogspot was blocked. Hmm, I do wonder what microsoft were whispering in the ear of indian politicians before the decision.
So (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org???? | Last Journal: Saturday August 12 2006, @03:06AM)
Did anyone RTFA ? (Score:5, Informative)
a) The govt. had infact NOT asked for all blogs to be banned. It was just ISPs being clueluess. Repeat after me
b) The govt. had infact asked for 20 odd blogs and sites to be blocked - these were allegedly trying to incite hatred against certain minority communities, by blaming them for the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai. It was felt that such hate campaigns may lead to a violent reprisal against these communities.
c) While banning said sites may also be an attack of freedom of speech (though I think this is similar to the ban on Nazi propoganda in Germany). it is NOT in the same league as that in China and North Korea.
d) This (and by this, I mean blocking the original 20 sites, not the whole of blogspot, etc) is ALSO different from the US govt's reaction after 9/11. There was no attempt to use temporary public anger to justify aggression, infact quite the opposite - the govt. has tried to defuse such tensions and ensure sanity prevails.
So, you can blog, but they'll still censor it. (Score:1, Flamebait)
(http://www.timeiq.com/)
So while you will still be able to pick up your buddies favorite curry recipe, anything really interesting or political will go back to being blacklisted.
Awesome.
Democracy != freedom, but it sure makes it easier. (Score:5, Interesting)
Legitimate Ban (Score:5, Insightful)
Trains in Mumbai (Bombay) were recently bombed in what many people suspect was an act of Islamist terrorism to further the separation/Islamistization of Kashmir.
The blogs in question were inciting violence against India's muslim population in response to the train attacks. The blocking of these blogs were done to prevent the incitement of retalliatory attacks and to prevent the issue from escalating into an unmanageble situation like what is currently happening in Israel/Lebanon. I for one think this is the only legitimate use of censorship and applaud the Indian government for its foresight and action.
Many people fail to realize that India is not only the world's largest democracy and for the most part has a responsible government. Unfortunately, India too often gets lumped in with the Islamist extremests to the west (of India) or the Communist despots to the east (of India).
But Is censorship justified...? (Score:1)
(http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 31 2004, @01:06AM)
(all) blogs were never banned (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.db.toronto.edu/~nilesh/)
Govt of India never banned all blogs. After terrorist attack in Mumbai, 22 sites were ordered to be blocked to prevent communal hatred and riots. The order was misinterpreted [hindustantimes.com] by ISPs who blocked blogspot.com (this was just a mistake).
I am against all kind of govt censoring (including this). But this ban should not be compared to one in China. The two are fundamentally different as India is a democracy and Indian Constitution provides freedom of expression. But this ban was not unconstitutional as freedom of expression does not allow one to spread opinions of hatred.
Cool... (Score:1)
Blogs? We need food! (Score:2)
nice rant (Score:1)
PIL not at all like Class Action (Score:1)
Re:Okay (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Proof of the market versus democracy (Score:1)
Re:Now that the ban on blogs has been lifted ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow, I have never seen a more rhetorical question from a guy who comes from India and is apparently settled in US (visit his website [tripod.com]). Somehow I feel that you are one of those millions of Indians in US who feels they care about their country and express it in soulless words. If you were all that concerned, you wouldn't be waving racing flags at Nascar races, but instead be in India and help the poor in that country get education or something goddamit.
Re:Now that the ban on blogs has been lifted ... (Score:1)
Re:India & China (Score:2)
(http://www.hyperlogos.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday July 18, @08:19PM)
Yeah, or the difference between India and America...
Re:Proof of the market versus democracy (Score:2)
(http://www.keirstead.org/)
You have the right to speak freely using your body, your tools and your property. No law and no politician can change that.
Actually, yes it can. A human being does not have any god-given de-facto right to own property any more than a llama does. It is the law that gives you right to own property, and the law could just as easily take it away.
The only "right" you are born with, the only "right" granted to you by nature, is the right to live, think, and die as you please. Any other "rights" you have are granted by the law and/or society, as seen fit by the community as a whole. If there wasn't law and/or general consensus on those "rights" they would not exist.
Re:Now that the ban on blogs has been lifted ... (Score:1)
(http://sriramvenkataramani.tripod.com/)
Re:A government (Score:2)
Re:Proof of the market versus democracy (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Monday January 06 2003, @10:36PM)
Indian Supreme Court Can Strike Down Laws,Bans,etc (Score:3, Informative)
You have to bear in mind that this govt is a Left-wing coalition, and so their willingness to resort to things like censorship will be greater.
The center-right political opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, have in the past championed laws such as the Prasar Bharati Act to protect independence of the media from arbitrary government censorship, precisely because the Indian Left have a long history of playing these types of games.
That's why the Left favors the notion of big govt at every oppportunity, because they like to use Big Brother tactics on political opponents.
Read here about the State of Emergency [wikipedia.org] which was declared by the Congress Party in 1977 as a stunt to grab absolute power and arrest political opponents.
The Supreme Court struck down the Emergency with their court ruling, and despatched law enforcement personnel to arrest Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had re-named her party Congress(I) -- I for Indira.
Re:India & China (Score:2)
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
Re:Proof of the market versus democracy (Score:1)
(http://minimaxthoughts.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Monday May 16 2005, @11:32AM)
YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON I AM SAYING THIS TO. DEMOCRACY != VOTING. Democracy = the ability for the people to decide their governmental actions. Thus this was an action of democracy, not the free market. Free marketeers really have very little to gain from preventing the censorship of a myspace or blogger website. In fact, they have nothing to gain, no incentive to try and repeal this. None.
Here is proof that voting is irrelevant -- you can change government by demanding that they stop what they are doing. Put yourself forward and refuse to accept their law and their regulations and their restrictions on your inherent rights that all humans are born with regardless of their citizenship. You have the right to speak freely using your body, your tools and your property. No law and no politician can change that.
I'm tempted to "speak freely" by luring you onto my "property", then attacking you with my "tools", and then kicking you with my "body". And you, by principle, should not try and stop me. Anarchy inherently ignores the neighborhood effect or the respect of others' rights.
Good going, Indians. I just returned from a business trip to India back in March, and I also noticed that most Indian entrepreneurs ignore the business regulations, tax requirements and licensing regulations, too. Here's a competitive country that we should be watching very carefully. They might be living in our mansions and driving our leased cars in a few years. I guess they deserve it, they're the ones loaning us the money to splurge.
There are two things wrong with this statement:
1. It's China and Japan lending us the money, not India
2. This once again assumes that the government does nothing and that anarcho-capitalism works. It doesn't. Look at Somalia as an example of an anarcho-capitalistic country.
Re:Proof of the market versus democracy (Score:2)
Add more freedom, you allow imposition. Take more freedom, and that is an imposition. Libertarian anarchy sits precisely where the curve crosses the zero.