Why India banned all of blogspot

[Undertoad]

India tried to ban this list and used a shotgun to do it:



Why did they try to ban that list?

After the Koran flushing story, righty blog Jawa Report encouraged its visitors to photoshop the Koran into other, more blasphemous situations. His stated goal was to provoke an international incident. The results are here and you will notice that all of the blogs with an entry are on India's banned list.

Jawa explains in detail

He wanted an international incident and he's got one. But on the other hand, it really highlights some cultural differences...

[Beestie]

I don't blame India. They got problems and this is an easy way to not get some more.

[Pangloss62]

Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Tsunamis. Call centers.

India is the crazy!!! I think I will take my bullock cart and move to another place!

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Beestie

I don't blame India. They got problems and this is an easy way to not get some more.

Would you apply that argument to the Bush Administration? I didn't think so.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Would you apply that argument to the Bush Administration? I didn't think so.

Certainly not. But you could also at least entertain the idea that imposing a martial-law like measure is not completely incomprehensible given what's going on over there.

Nor would it be here if someone killed 700+ people over a cultural slight.

[BigV]

I am reserving judgement on the subject of India's government's actions; I will know better when I know more.

Until then,

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Would you apply that argument to the Bush Administration? I didn't think so.

I hold him/them to a higher standard. The right thing is hard, but no less right because it's hard.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by BigV

I hold him/them to a higher standard.

No kidding.

Gee, isn't that racist? :-)

[BigV]

No, it's because I know more about what our government is accountable for than I do about the Indian government's accountability.

"Racist"?! I can't tell if that's a joke at the end of the stick you're poking me with, but with respect to the original comment by Beestie and your response, I most certainly hold the US Government to a standard higher than the one Beestie suggested may be the motivation behind India's actions, on that you may rely.

The fact that GW Bush is the current president is no more than an unfortunate coincidence in this case. It's about policy, not politics.

[BigV]

Hang on, the spin cycle is starting.

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.

[Undertoad]

They wanted to block, for example, princesskimberly.blogspot.com, but they blocked all of blogspot.com instead.

[BigV]

So, they succeeded, however ineptly, yes?

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by BigV

No, it's because I know more about what our government is accountable for than I do about the Indian government's accountability.

Well, I would think they're both accountable for what they do.

Originally Posted by BigV

"Racist"?! I can't tell if that's a joke at the end of the stick you're poking me with...

Mostly. But if you don't hold both of them to the same standard, there should be a reason for your discrimination.

[MaggieL]

Reports I'm reading are saying the sites were blocked because they were linked to a blog that posted material presumed to be offensive to Muslims.

Excellent justification for censorship, that.

[Undertoad]

And now we are linked to a blog that posted material presumed to be offensive to Muslims.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Mostly. But if you don't hold both of them to the same standard, there should be a reason for your discrimination.

The main reason is that I have a different standard is that I am a citizen of the United States and not a citizen of India. As such, I have good reason to expect my representative, democratic government to listen to my voice, but much less so with India.

The higher standard I'm talking about includes responsiveness to the electorate and respect for the Constitution. As both countries have the right to freedom of expression written in their respective constitutions, I would expect both governments to respect those rules. But the government of India can ignore me with impunity, while the Bush administration does so at their peril.