As of this writing many blogs continue to remain out of bounds — typical bureaucratic overkill.
One obviously is concerned about hate mongering. The disproportionate noise that fundamentalists of all hues are able to inflict on the online world is evident.
There are techno-fundamentalists, of course, who think that blogosphere or cyberspace will somehow filter hate mongering. That the Indian online scene is dominant by religious fundamentalist — both resident and non-resident — is a fact that deserves a book-length elucidation, where secular intellectuals have been targeted and some have even been hounded out of academic institutions. Self-appointed historians have taken it upon themselves to “defend” India’s hoary and glorious past without as much as having heard the word historiography.
This unpardonable ban needs to be condemned. But it also evidence of how the new media are viewed by the authorities. The decision to ban blogs surely was taken by a bunch of bureaucrats.
It merely demonstrates the vulnerability of the Internet viz. overt control by the authorities. That we need a independent regulator for the new media is certain, and urgent.
Despite some murmurings in the mainstream press, the ban has not made any difference to the majority of Indians. That is where we stand. Until that changes we are the fringe — an elite one at that.
