http://timesnews.typepad.com/news/2006/07/bye_bye_ban_ind.html
Thursday, July 20, 2006 Bye Bye Ban: India's bloggers celebrate India_blog_1After two days of international criticism and determined disobedience from India's internet community, the Indian Government has lifted a ban on online diaries put in place after the Bombay train bombings. Hundreds of Indian bloggers turned on their computers today and found themselves able to write again. Soon afterwards, Indian officials told the International Herald Tribune that the ban had been a mistake, the work of over-zealous technicians who were told to close down just two anti-Islamic websites rather than the 11 suggested by bloggers. "Because of a technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of them which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs," said a statement provided by the Indian Consulate in New York. We are seeking confirmation from the High Commission in London. The shutdown, which prevented writers from accessing popular weblogging sites such as blogspot.com, appears to have been aimed at anti-Muslim groups seeking to whip up anger after last week's attacks, which killed more than 200 people. The bombing of the Bombay stock exchange in 1993 came after vicious sectarian riots between the city's Hindus and Muslims. Among the provocative sites thought to have been targeted were the extremist Hindu forums, Hindu Unity and the Hindu Human Rights Group. Dalitsan, another allegedly anti-Islamic website, remains down. The Hindu Human Rights Group posted a statement today blaming "the Indian government... for creating the arena of hatred against Hindus and Hindu culture through its policies since Independence." Exposing the Left, a conservative site among those thought to have caused the ban, celebrated the lifting with the headline Ban Bye Bye: "You rose up in unified condemnation of a governmental mandate that attempted to infringe on your rights... You excercised a textbook example of civil disobedience 101. I salute you all." As soon as the ban spread across India's internet service providers, bloggers both political and personal found ways to reach their sites, sharing technical tips and, with a hint of irony, a Pakistani route to the web. Articles about the ban then appeared in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In India, the main organising tool was a Google group, here, which has a section reserved for opinion: "In a weird way it is good that this stupid fiasco has happened, it has increased awareness in an all round manner as to how these things work. But it also begs a larger query, as to the need for a body that represents the internet users of India," wrote Codelust this morning. Posted by Times Online Newsdesk on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 03:14 PM | Permalink -- DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
