My ISP BSNL hasn’t blocked Typepad, yet. But Nikhil Pahwa and Shivam Vij (Crazy internet censorship time in India, again « Kafila) are reporting that the government has explicitly asked ISPs to block the blogging service. As Shivam observes, unlike earlier when one would just hit a 404 error (page not found), this time there is a notice that says the site’s blocked.
It seems like a very inopportune time for the government to be doing something as ridiculous as blocking a site. The beleaguered central government’s already bruised image isn’t going to get a facelift with this move. The Manmohan Singh government is now in the august company of some shaky sheikh’s?
Shivam raises some important concerns and demonstrates how inane such moves can be. That’s not to assume that such moves are the machinations of bumbling babus, but in fact a part of the DNA of the state to control: Here’s a Medianama post that bares it all How The Indian Government Plans To Regulate Online Content & Blogs. Would it be surprising that the citizens of this country are wary of moves like The National Identification of Authority of India Bill, 2010 (pdf)?
This isn’t just the Indian or Arab governments baring their fangs. About 60,000 Turkish blogger’s using blogspot don’t have access to their blogs, thanks to a court order. And let’s not even get started on the reaction to Wikileaks by the political elite in the U.S.