In the era of free speech , India seems to be lagging , however when it comes to competing with the Great Firewall of China, India is far much ahead. Very recently, as on 31st Dec 2014, Indian govt. has issued a directive via DOT’s (Department of Telecommunication) wherein 32 websites have been blocked.
At the time of writing this short blog-post, we have been unable to access quite a few of the sites mentioned in the circular through some ISPs. Even though the errors are inconsistent nor is there any specific reason provided for the blocks, 2014 is surely coming to an end for the Indian IT industry and also for its users in the worst possible manner.
If we are to believe the tweets posted by IT HEAD of BJP’s (The ruling Govt. Political Party) IT Cell, then this particular blockade has been initiated as these websites contained some objectionable content by a Terrorist Organization.
The Tweets
Great, however, by simply blocking the entire domain at the ISP level is something which bothers me a lot.
Websites such as github, pastebin, weebly etc. are the services on which many of us dependent for all sorts of reasons ranging from Software Development to sharing of information. Moreover, rather than investing in advanced technologies wherein one can initiate blocks based on URLs or the content, Indian ISPs and Govt. IT Cell is still living in the Neanderthal Timezone, as far as implementing the latest technology is concerned.
With a heavy heart we bid adieu to 2014 and welcome 2015 with a worrying thought in our minds as to when would the Indian Govt. force the ISPs into upgrading their Blocking mechanism.
