In the latest twist to the Indian Blog Blackout controversy, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has written to the ISPs and Telcos asking them why exactly they banned entire domain names of blogging services (*.blogspot.com, *.typepad.com, geocities.com/* ). Apparently, DoT had only directed the ISPs to block out specific sites and blogs. Here’s the original list -
You can download or view a scanned copy of the original circular sent out by the DoT from here.
So there you have it. Millions of Indian bloggers have been locked out of their sites just because the damned ISP were to lazy to block specific sites and just set up broad filters blocking out practically all major blogging services.
Here’s a list of offending ISPs -
- TATA Indicom
- Spectranet
- Reliance Powersurfer
- Airtel
- Sify
- BSNL DataOne
- Exatt
- Primus
- In2cable
- Iqara
- Pacenet
- Hathway
- BSNL Dialup
- Asianet
- STPI
- Reliance NetConnect
- Reliance BroadNet
- iNet
There may be more, but these are the real big ones. So as I said before, may they all rot in friggin HELL.
UPDATE : The friggin ISPs have corrected they error. In a communication with DoT, they called it a technical error. What ??? Technical Error ??? How do you make a technical error that mistakes 10 individual sites with three entire services ? Is that even possible ?
July 21, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Whoever’s stupidity it is, they should determine the exact cause and see to it that it does not happen again. Also, why does it take so much time to undo a wrong in this age of “instant communication”.
July 21, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Oh Ho!
July 22, 2006 at 11:28 am
Thanks for putting things into perspective.
July 22, 2006 at 2:07 pm
I find it hard to beleive that so many ISP would be ‘lazy’ together to ban blogspot and typepad.
July 22, 2006 at 2:12 pm
ok, well lazy isnt the exact word. but i’ve got it from someone who knows more about these matters than i do, and he told me that its way easier to block access to a domain range than specific sites.
July 22, 2006 at 2:28 pm
But surely there must have been a few of them (of the total 150 Isps) that must have thought, “wait a minute, if we do that, we will block everything?’.
July 22, 2006 at 2:33 pm
well the way u put it, my whole article goes down the dumps. anyways, what do u suggest actually happened ? because it was definitely not the faault of DoT, something was wrong on the ISPs’ side
July 22, 2006 at 3:20 pm
What you have written about is what being said in the mainstream media – the ISPs messed it up. I don’t know what really went on, but I can’t digest the fact that so many ISPs would together could make such an error.
July 22, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Doesnt anyone find the whole issue odd. Just because it’s more convenient doesnt work when you’re talking bout millions of users.
July 22, 2006 at 3:31 pm
If I were the CEO of an ISP, I would be very upset with my tech team if they blocked entire blog platforms for the sake of one or two. I don’t think the list given out my the government is the real list. Why would they give out a list and make these sites popular?
July 22, 2006 at 3:38 pm
they dint give out any list jacob, it was an internal circular sent to the ISPs. download the PDF and see. its an official document. it was never meant to reach were it is now.
July 22, 2006 at 3:43 pm
Actually that is how it happens in the UAE. They block Flickr.com just because they found something objectionable in one of the sub domains.
In DoT’s case it might be a case of miscommuninication and people start blaming each other as usual.
July 22, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Very true, it’s amazing how many sites are blocked here in the UAE. Some don’t make anysense. If the can block flickr for those reasons, I’m pretty sure that they will block youtube, blogger, typepad here too
July 22, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Whether it’s 17 or 17,000 does that make it any more righteous?
July 23, 2006 at 2:24 am
There was a debate on the ongoing blog ban at the Bloggers
Collective Group,
http://groups.google.com/group/BloggersCollective/browse_thread/thread/4e1af02dd2d83b52/a29fd0e33a9050e3
when some callous cad techie called Kiran Jonnalagadda from Bangalore
comes out of the blue and posts this nasty and shocking comment:
“Awww! Poor you! Someone blew up a train in your city and you didn’t
even get a t-shirt. Here, take some sympathy. ”
–
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://www.pobox.com/~jace
http://jace.seacrow.com/about/contact
How can we fight enemies from outside when we have such heartless guys within?
July 23, 2006 at 9:03 am
traderrob,
Yes it does. Its like eliminating a terrorist group proactively rather than bombing the whole country.
July 23, 2006 at 10:03 am
Sunil, I know Jace quite well. You have quoted him out of context and not mentioned the reasons why he said that. Posting comments like these are not going to get us anywhere.
July 23, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Tsk tsk…Sunil…you chickened out the mailing list and are resorting to dropping comments everywhere to gain sympathy. Will not work, dude! He didn’t come out of the blue with that comment and if he did, you are forgetting your ‘blue’
Want me to post that here?
July 23, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Please Patrix, post it here. ‘Blue’ always make me curious.
July 23, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Patrix,
I am making everyone AWARE.
First off Kiran’s statement was totally off topic. What had the debate on NASSCOM got to do with his cruel statement( I wonder what his motivation was. Was he trying to impress Neha who I was debating with and he was nowhere on the scene until then?
Next it is all okay to be brave sitting in front of a computer and another in real life.
He is now trying to confuse the issue and indulging in semantics but I have mailed the entire thread to members of the press so they can publish both sides of the story.
My friends in Bangalore are annoyed with this Kiran chap and will mail or call him too.
How can we fight enemies from outside when we have enemies like Kiran within.
Sunil
July 23, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Jacob,
If you know Jace so well how do you explain his cruel comment?
Remember humans have the tendency to ratioanlize stupid behaviour.
If you really are his freind you would reprimand him and take the side of the truth.
And the truth is there for all to see.
Let us nor deal in verbal gymnastics.
Sunil
July 23, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Sunil, Jace’s statement was aimed you. By quoting him out of context, you are not on the side of truth. There is nothing you can do. Anyone who reads that thread will understand the context.
July 25, 2006 at 6:40 pm
So Woke, you are equating these blogs (one of which is mine) with terrorists?
July 25, 2006 at 6:55 pm
just read the first page of ur blog (yes i do live in india, but any ISP that thinks they can block me is bloody well mistaken) traderrob, and i find it a pretty normal poltical blog. its beyond me y DoT finds it offensive.
woke, i think u should read it first. who knows ? DoT might be playing on the “don’t qusetion the obvious” syndrome that we tend to have. all these blogs might just be what we consider normal political blogs.
July 26, 2006 at 9:52 am
traderrob,
Ofcourse not.
My reference was to the statement
“Whether it’s 17 or 17,000 does that make it any more righteous?”
I was equating it with the situation where if there are 17 terrorists hiding among 17000 innocent people, it is always righteous to eliminate the 17 rather than attacking the 17000.
I think DoT is justified in blocking certain websites inciting hate or promoting terrorism. Whether they have managed to do it successfully or whether your site deserves to be shortlisted is a different matter altogether.
And everythingelse,
I did read the blog and eventhough I feel it is presenting only one side of the story and I dont agree with many of the views presented there, I dont think it is worthy of a ban.
February 3, 2010 at 6:32 am
There is obviously a lot to learn. There are some good points here.
-Robert Shumake