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DIT says it wanted to censor only a few pages of one site

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, July 19, 2006

Facing stiff opposition from internet service providers and net surfers against blocking of 18 websites following Mumbai train blasts, the Department of Information Technology on Wednesday sought to play down its action saying it wanted to censor only a few pages of just one site but technology in India did not permit a limited curb.

The blockage was ordered in a bid to check hate or intimidating messages on the net in the wake of the blasts that left more than 200 dead in railway stations in Mumbai on July 11.

A top official of Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), who did not want to be named, said that DoT was told to block four pages of a particular website. However, technologically it is not possible to block a particular page of a site and hence it resulted in blocking of a number of websites completely.

Asked if DOT would lift the ban on so many websites, concerned officials said the Department is talking to officials in the DIT to resolve the problem.

Officials in the DoT said they just followed the recommendations by the CERT, an entity entrusted with the responsibility of supervising internet contents and regulating security issues on the net.