Shwetanshu’s Blog

Indian Government Blocks Blogs

Mera India, Tech, General - - Posted on July, 17 at 10:38 pm

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) passed an order to ISPs on Friday to block several websites. Including Blogspot, Typepad and Geocities.

I came to know about this wen i was trying to access my frnd Manas’s blog, i thought the server might be down or something, but it turned to be much more serious than i thought.

I m following the story on Desipundit and i think Electronic and Print media will soon be taking over the issue. Many including me believe that its due to terrorist organizations like SIMI and LeT who are believed to have played a major role in recent Mumbai Local Trains Bombings are using blogs to reach out their Blogs.

I m able to access my blogger dashboard (i have it just for the sake of it), but not blogspot urls. I think Wordpress.com and Livejournal blogs will be blocked soon too!!

Many Indian Bloggers are planning to file a RTI!! More about RTI can be found here. To know how to file a Right To Information Act to find out if and why the GOI has blocked blogs in India, click here. I tried to file a RTI, but papa said that since the order was given by Home MInistry, so the reply wud only be FOR SECURITY REASONS.

To access Blogspot blogs, use www.pkblogs.com

[UPDATE] The govt said that they asked ISPs to block 17 sites, but since our Private ISPs didnt have the technology to block the individual nameservers, they had to block the enitire network. But our govt forgot, MTNL and BSNL is also doing the same thing. The govt also said that the blocking of sites is not just against terrorists but aginst ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS. The 17 sites (Source: HT) are:

www.hinduunity.org
mypetjawa.mu.nu
pajamaeditors.blogspot.com
exposingtheleft.blogspot.com
www.thepiratescove.us
commonfolkscommonsense.blogspot.com
www.bamapachyderm.com
princesskimberly.blogspot.com
merrimusings.typepad.com
www.mackers-world.com
www.dalistan.org
www.hinduhumanrights.org/hindufocus.html
www.nndh.com
www.bloodroyaltriped.com
www.imagesearchyahoo.com
www.imamali8.com
www.rahulyadav.com

[UPDATE 2] Blogs Blockade will be lifted in 48 Hrs, reports Rediff

[UPDATE 3] All blogs are opening now!! Except the restricted ones.

More info is available at:
read more | digg story | Desipundit | Rediff | Wiki | Google Group | Indian Express | Hindustan Times | Financial Express | The Blog Herald | Web Pro News

8 Responses to “Indian Government Blocks Blogs”

1. Ashwin Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 7:27 pm

   Looks like Manas needs to get better things. He uses Blogger only for AdSense and some customization. Manas, move to WP man.

   And edit your post, there are one/two typos.

2. Shwetz Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 8:11 pm

   ^^ ya he is going to install WP on his zeeblo account but he is having some probs!!

   and tell me where are the typos … too lazy to search for them

3. Qwerty Maniac Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 8:27 pm

   My adsense gayii!

4. Shwetz Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 8:31 pm

   ^^ kya ??

5. Ashwin Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 9:10 pm

   He used to have a Blogger account naa, so adsense gone.

   About the typos, see the last para: “More about RTI can be ‘forund’ here.”

6. Shwetz Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 9:54 pm

   ^^ fixed and manas got a blog at zeeblo www.manast.zeeblo.com

7. Manas Says:
   July 19th, 2006 at 8:11 pm

   Shwetz,I have now installed Wordpress in the root directory itself.

8. Shwetz Says:
   July 19th, 2006 at 10:11 pm

   ^^ good