MUMBAI: “I might disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” reportedly said philosopher Voltaire in 18th century at the height of French Revolution.
Two and more centuries later, the brains at the Department of Telecom (DoT) or ministry of communications either seem to be oblivious or just plain ignorant to concepts like liberty of speech, etc.
How else can you describe the hush that emanates from the government officials? First they dash of a letter to 25 or more Internet service providers (ISPs) asking them to block 17 or so websites and blogs. The ISPs in their overzealousness go ahead and block the whole parent host (like Blogspot, Geocities, Typepad) instead of specific domains.
When, there is an uproar, DoT issues a circular to these very ISPs again, an ambiguous one this time that threatens action for blocking the parent site, rather specific website. No answers given, no reasons provided. But isn't that typical of how governments behave? - Governments like China, Pakistan and Ethiopia.
Over the past few days, the issue has snowballed into quite a controversy with everyone, from the BBC to bloggers in the US, writing on it. As Peter Griffen, founder of Bloggers Collective – a group of bloggers against censorship – says, “It is no more an issue of blocking of websites and blogs, but rather an issue of liberty and transparency.”
Indeed it seems so. Most of the blogs that were unduly affected seem to be back, or on their way back. The DoT had asked the ISPs to restore all those websites that were not on the list and blocked. But still, there has been no response from the government as to who did it, why was it done, under which provisions was it done, etc. Throughout the day, officials at DoT were either ensconced in a meeting or simply did not respond to mails.
Take the case of Dr. Gulshan Rai, director, CERT – India, who had supposedly told a news reporter, “websites are blocked, what's your problem.” He was busy throughout the day and quite annoyed in the evening to take a call.
“It is this attitude that is an issue. This move has made us a laughing stock globally, and the officials do not even bother to respond,” says Gopal Shankarnarayan, lawyer and blogger based in Bangalore. “The scary part is that the way it is done, suggests that it has been quite usual for DoT to send such circulars and get websites blocked. Maybe as a surfer, we were unaware,” he adds. Shankarnarayan opines that the best way would have been for the authorities to approach the host or parent companies, rather than asking the ISPs to block the websites. “Also, they should get their act together and amend the IT Act that does not say much on the pertinent issue of censorship, etc.,” he adds. He also informs that ISPs like MTNL and BSNL have restored services to most of the unduly blocked websites and blogs, while Airtel in Bangalore is still in the process of restoring it. There has been a wave of protests from all across India. For instance, Gautam Bastian, editorial associate, Centre for Civil Society, has filed a right to information (RTI) application to the department of telecommunications. The application asks for clarification on the general policy for blocking websites, specific sites that have been blocked till date, and under which section of the IT Act were these websites and blogs blocked. He also mentions that many of the bloggers are currently mulling on the idea of filing a public interest litigation (PIL). In fact there are discussions currently on with a few law firms on the viability of such a move. Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman & CEO, Rediff.com, feels that the issue has just been blown out of proportion. “I feel it is merely a storm in a tea cup. The blogs have not been blocked at Rediff as stated by a few reports. As far as I can say, it is not a move against blogging but against very specific websites and posts,” he says. He also supports the freedom of speech and says, “I do not think the government can do something like this, it is illegal for them to do it. Anyway, it isn't as simple as it seems. It is virtually impossible to block or ban anything on the Internet,” he adds. Meanwhile, Yahoo! India's head Neville Taraporewalla preferred to keep quiet on the issue. Not so recently, Yahoo! had come under fire for supporting the Chinese authorities in the prosecution of a blogger. On the question of whether Yahoo! in India was doing something similar, the management team just did not respond, in spite of repeated requests. So what do we make out of it all? A government that allows an MLA to make a fatwa against the Danish editor, or lets a political party hold a city ransom for flimsy reasons, is loathe to free speech on the Internet. The trends are quite indicative, the Broadcast Bill in the offing is supposedly aimed at throttling news channels, while the union cabinet has approved of certain retrograde amendments to the RTI Act, etc. Meanwhile the babus at DoT are keeping mum, probably in the process of compiling another list of websites and blogs to be blocked. © CyberMedia News
Shankarnarayan opines that the best way would have been for the authorities to approach the host or parent companies, rather than asking the ISPs to block the websites. “Also, they should get their act together and amend the IT Act that does not say much on the pertinent issue of censorship, etc.,” he adds.
He also informs that ISPs like MTNL and BSNL have restored services to most of the unduly blocked websites and blogs, while Airtel in Bangalore is still in the process of restoring it.
There has been a wave of protests from all across India. For instance, Gautam Bastian, editorial associate, Centre for Civil Society, has filed a right to information (RTI) application to the department of telecommunications. The application asks for clarification on the general policy for blocking websites, specific sites that have been blocked till date, and under which section of the IT Act were these websites and blogs blocked. He also mentions that many of the bloggers are currently mulling on the idea of filing a public interest litigation (PIL). In fact there are discussions currently on with a few law firms on the viability of such a move.
Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman & CEO, Rediff.com, feels that the issue has just been blown out of proportion. “I feel it is merely a storm in a tea cup. The blogs have not been blocked at Rediff as stated by a few reports. As far as I can say, it is not a move against blogging but against very specific websites and posts,” he says.
He also supports the freedom of speech and says, “I do not think the government can do something like this, it is illegal for them to do it. Anyway, it isn't as simple as it seems. It is virtually impossible to block or ban anything on the Internet,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Yahoo! India's head Neville Taraporewalla preferred to keep quiet on the issue. Not so recently, Yahoo! had come under fire for supporting the Chinese authorities in the prosecution of a blogger. On the question of whether Yahoo! in India was doing something similar, the management team just did not respond, in spite of repeated requests.
So what do we make out of it all? A government that allows an MLA to make a fatwa against the Danish editor, or lets a political party hold a city ransom for flimsy reasons, is loathe to free speech on the Internet. The trends are quite indicative, the Broadcast Bill in the offing is supposedly aimed at throttling news channels, while the union cabinet has approved of certain retrograde amendments to the RTI Act, etc.
Meanwhile the babus at DoT are keeping mum, probably in the process of compiling another list of websites and blogs to be blocked. © CyberMedia News
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