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Debarshi's den - দেবর্ষির ডেড়া
A few weeks back, the whole Indian netspace was shaken by the Indian
government's instructive to block certain sites which were allegedly
propagating ideas contrary to the country's security. However most of
the Indian ISPs ended up blocking entire domains which included
well-known blogging services like Blogspot and TypePad.Much
has already been said about the stupidity of the ban, notable among
them being Kiran Jonnalagadda. I do not
think I can throw any more light on this issue than has already been
thrown, but I would like to publish the transcript of an interesting
and provoking discussion which I had with Richard M. Stallman about
this particular issue. The discussion originated when I came to know
about the 'blog ban' issue one evening on IRC during my stay in HBCSE
in Mumbai. I was stunned and shocked. Being a volunteer maintainer of
RMS' home page, I am used to reading a number of articles championing
the cause for social freedom and the respect any government owes to the
people it governs. RMS ultimately wrote a number of political notes
about the 'blog ban' issue on his own site. /me to RMS:
It was recently brought to my
notice that the Indian government has
instructed ISPs to block
certain sites like Blogspot, TypePad,
Geocities, etc.. There was a TV
news bulletin which covered this (I
did not see it), and a daily
Indian Express is covering the issue.
Currently one may look at http://jace.seacrow.com/, http://www.withinandwithout.com/?p=854, http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/2006/07/what-is-up-with-blogspot-blogger-sites.html
Since you have been championing
the cause for social freedom in
general, and software freedom
in particular I think this would be an
apt thing for you to make a
comment about (maybe on stallman.org).
In the meanwhile as an Indian I
will try to pursue the matter at my own
level.RMS to /me
Thanks.
Doesn't India recognize human
rights that would prohibit this
censorship?/me to RMS
On 18/07/06, Richard Stallman
wrote: > Doesn't India recognize human rights that
would prohibit this >
censorship?
Yes it does. For example there
is a clause which says that every
citizen has the right to
information, and if a citizen sends a 'Right
To Information' (ie. RTI) to
the government then it has to reply
within a deadline. I think it
is 20 or 30 days.
It seems that the government
intended to block only a few blogs which
it felt was dangerous to the
countries security or something, but the
over zealous ISPs ended up
blocking everything./me to RMS
On 18/07/06, Richard Stallman
wrote:
>
Thanks. > > Doesn't India recognize
human rights that would prohibit this >
censorship?
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8719.html Indian Express is an Indian
daily, and it made a reasonably good
coverage of the issue.
RMS to /me
> It seems that the government intended to block
only a few blogs which > it felt was dangerous to the
countries security or something, but the > over zealous
ISPs ended up blocking
everything.
Blocking "a few blogs" is still
censorship.
RMS to /me
> http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8719.html
> Indian Express is an Indian daily, and it made a
reasonably good > coverage of the
issue.
I will send mail to fetch that
page. Thanks.
/me to
RMS
>> It seems that the
government intended to block only a few blogs
which >> it felt was dangerous to the countries
security or something, but the >> over zealous
ISPs ended up blocking everything.
> Blocking
"a few blogs" is still
censorship.
Thats true but there was a serial bomb blast in Mumbai few
days back,
preceded by grenade attacks in
Srinagar that very day. It seems that
the governments action was
meant to clamp down on terror activities,
that might be perpetrated
through the Internet.
However I am not too sure
whether this is true or not.
RMS to /me
> Blocking "a few blogs" is still
censorship.
Thats true but there was a serial bomb
blast in Mumbai few days
back,
That changes
nothing about human rights.
> It seems that > the
governments action was meant to clamp down on terror
activities, > that might be perpetrated through the
Internet.
It is still inexcusable.
Censorship of political views is a bigger
threat to freedom than
bombs.
/me to RMS
On 20/07/06, Richard
Stallman
wrote: > > Blocking "a few blogs" is still
censorship. > > Thats true but there
was a serial bomb blast in Mumbai few days
back, > > That changes nothing about
human rights. > > It seems
that > the governments action was meant to clamp down
on terror activities, > that might be perpetrated
through the Internet. > > It is still
inexcusable. Censorship of political views is a
bigger > threat to freedom than
bombs.
I appreciate your views. The media is slowly waking up to
this issue.
Lets see what we can do as
citizens of the biggest democracy in the
world.
By the way can I post excerpts
from this mail conversation on my
blog?
RMS to /me
> By the way can I post excerpts from this mail
conversation on my blog?
You are welcome to do so, if
the government of India will let you ;-).
Finally
a hearty thanks to RMS for allowing me to publish this
conversation.
Reply deleted at the request of the author.
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