Well, Gotham, I have yet to come across any such report that talks of government of India blocking out certain blog sites. Can you give me a link to one of the “various reports” saying that the Indian government has banned certain blogs in India?
In any case, rest assured Gotham, Intentblog would never be banned in India (Not that you would lose a sizeable audience if it is). Intentblog has the blessing of honourable people like Deepak Chopra, the Indian American new age guru, who teaches Americans how to live happily, and Shekhar Kapoor, the most cerebral of Indian film-makers. With such names to flaunt, I don’t think any Indian bureaucrat would be so imbecilic as to advocate a ban on this site.

Klumsyklutz
Here is a link you can read
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1773722.cms

'..we can simply rely on the government's lack of efficiency..'

LOL,
but then again,
isn't that an universal verdict..?

What bugs me, tremendous, in Poland,
is the lack of a good 'western' gym, my god,
the places I saw, in the Tricity area,
they should put signs outside, 'pimp my garagebox'
or 'museums of communistic.. '
anyhow,
http://www.balticoasis.gd.pl/
comes close, but but no freakin' decent abs machines!

The pierogi make it all worth while,
guys, the ones with berries, and cream sauce..
heaven!

Love, Passion!

Well.. I had thought that the time of Mohd. Bin Tughlaq - the Wise Fool of Indian History - was long over. He was probably one of the first to start coins as a method of trading in India .... made of leather. So everyone and his brother was busy making some at home! Like that he did many other things that left the nation and his empire poorer than it was before.

This ban ostensibly was initiated by extra-sensitive-secular-lot in our country.. who were disturbed that the bloggers pointing fingers at Pak and asking "troubling" questions about the extremism in Islam may trigger violence at home!

Notice though that people who intrinsically equate Indian Muslims feelings with Pakis are foremost our "secular brigade"!

So, our Govt. babus go overboard and try to block the sites. One major domain affected is blogger.com

Hmmm fine.. although unacceptable - but at least there is a rationale.. however twisted it might be.

Interesting thing is that anyone.. .anyone who was following the Mumbai blast knows that the most updated and best info source was.... well... MUMBAIHELP.BLOGSPOT.COM

So the only ssource of info CLOSES!!!

Then you start to think - was this ban initiated by just the over-zealous babus and the secular brigade or with their connivance with the Strong Print media lobby which probably was feeling inadequate as all the clicks were going to BLOGSPOT.com?? (of course, with the lousy tabloid coverage that TOI and HT have and the millions of pop-ups on their site - they are the worst possible source of any news from India!!)

So, Gotham... until you are trying to Ask uneasy questions of Muslims - kind of contrary to what the Big D writes - or trying to replace the main media - you will live in the ignominy of a site UNBLOCKED!! What the eff!! :-)

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Hi Gotham,
Interesting (but upsetting) news...Certainly it's a reminder of the importance of our First Amendment. I hope the ban in India won't set a precedent for other governments to follow.
Thanks for the links, Mallika.
Love,
Donatella

Yeah, right. You can trust the Indian Govt to behave like Mulla Nasruddin did when he lost his ring. Here's the story:

One day Mullah Nasruddin lost his ring down in the basement of his house, where it was very dark. There being no chance of his finding it in that darkness, he went out on the street and started looking for it there. Somebody passing by stopped and enquire:
- What are you looking for, Mullah Nasruddin ? Have you lost something?

- Yes, I've lost my ring down in the basement.

- But Mullah Nasruddin , why don't you look for it down in the basement where you have lost it? asked the man in surprise.

- Don't be silly, man! How do you expect me to find anything in that darkness!

I think I've posted this one in some laughter thread before but it fits the situation. Instead of trying to catch the terrorists where they should, they go about passing ban orders like these to create public nuisance. These babus really are a laughable lot! There is no news as to how long this ban would last......in fact they have not even officially admitted that they are blocking several blog sites. What a bunch of fools.

Cheers!
Navin

Just got an email from the desicritics.org yahoo group where a member of SAJA - Sree Sreenivasan - had asked the Indian Consulate about India's ban on blogs. Here is the official word:

From: A.R.Ghanashyam
Subject: Blog Issue in India

July 19, 2006

Dear Sree:

Reference our discussions and correspondence on the issue of blocking of
blogs in India, we had taken up the matter with the authorities concerned in
the Department of Telecommunications in the Government of India and the
facts are as under:

A two-page write up containing extremely derogatory references to Islam and the
holy prophet which had the potential to inflame religious sensitivities in
India and create serious law and order problems in the country appeared in a
blog facilitated by well known search engines. The matter was immediately taken
note of by our CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and the Department of
Telecommunications (DOT) was informed of it. The DOT took up the matter
forthwith with the search engines and instructions were also issued to all
Internet providers to block the two impertinent pages. Because of a
technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of
them which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs.
Department of Telecommunications have now clarified the issue and the error is
being rectified and it is expected that normalcy in respect of blogs will soon
be restored.

This is for your information.

A.R. Ghanashyam
Deputy Consul General
New York

The question of course, that babus need to answer is what is derogatory? And if anyone from the Muslim community reads something online and goes around doing violence - is that a behavior of a sane person? Instead of intropection and thought - what we see is outright rejection of the extremist ingredients in the entire structure!!

Why should the state be good to a hypothetical individual whose constitution has been ASSUMED to be extremist as a default?

And how does the Indian Government think of the various sites that show up talking derogatory - ok thats an understatement - stuff about Hinduism??

Just like nothing succeeds like success... one can say that nothing succeeds like Extremism too! Be an Extremist - with a "moderate" outlook and lo and behold.. the world will tread softly around you. Your extremism and thin skin ... and lack of introspective mindet will be your SAFEGUARD!

Gotham - there you are buddy... my help in having you site banned in the la-la-land of Indian Secularism!!

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Gotham, The blog ban is crazy. It is similar to the Yahoogroups ban brought in by the previous NDA govt. You know what is more crazier? The same bloggers who whine so much about blogspot ban are supporting Human rights violating third rated laws like POTA (Patriot law is nothing compared to POTA). This ban incident has brought out the blatant hypocrisy of many Indian bloggers. Shame on the successive govts. for these kinda ban. A bigger shame on these bloggers for their hyporcrisy.

Gotham,

note the following in the letter from counsul General.

###############################################
The matter was immediately taken note of by our CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was informed of it. The DOT took up the matter forthwith with the search engines and instructions were also issued to all Internet providers to block the two impertinent pages. Because of a technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of them which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs.
############################################

It was an action of a junior level official in the Indian govt. and inept ISPs. The media and largely right wing Indian blogosphere has blown the issue out of proportions because the govt. in power is not a right wing govt. These guys didn't have the spine to whine when NDA govt. did the same on Yahoogroups (again it must be by some lower level officials). These whiners of freedom of speech and expressions were the ones who blatantly and unabashedly supported Gujarat Massacre, Human Rights abusing laws like POTA, Massacre of Tehelka.com etc. I am happy that this incident has brought to open the hypocrisy of Indian blogosphere. Whether it is the current govt. or the BJP nutheads, they should realize that such bans will have no effect.

These are the classic examples of lack of understanding, reason, knowledge and everything among the people who are in power across the board. The thing starts from the top guy who can't speak a sentence without saying sh$$ at top world forum, to the babus who don't know the difference between a good and and a bad site.

Here is one more ..

http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/2006/07/soon-you-may-not-be-able-to-see.html

Thanks for the links Mallika. I have just got a list of the blog sites that have been blocked out. The sites have such funny and obscure names as Pajamaeditors.com, Bamapachyderm.com. I wonder how many people were accessing those sites anyway. They’ve blocked out about 15 sites. Already the media is discussing if India is going the China way. China has blocked out thousands of sites that talk of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. Well, I don’t think India, which is a vibrant democracy and has a robust constitution, can ever go the China way. The government of India hasn’t got the legal teeth to do it. The Information Technology Act, 2000, under which these bans are purported to have been made does not even define a blog! The government is not tech-savvy. Already TV channels are running crawlers on how to bypass the ban—by accessing your blogsite through another site by using a URL.
Apparently some overzealous bureaucrat stumbled upon a site that he in his infinite wisdom thought “pedaled propaganda that was inimical to the communal harmony and unity and integrity of India”!!

Read the following news item.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/isps-overstepped-their-blog-brief/16106-11.html

This clearly shows that the fault lies with ISPs and hunior level officials of the govt. The whine that India is going towards emergency is a clear indication of the intellectual bankruptcy and right wing nature of Indian blogosphere. Anyone with little bit of common sense could have foreseen this. I posted in similar context (proactive lower level official + inept ISPs theory) on Prof. Amardeep Singh's blog three days back. I am quite amazed how the Indian blogosphere (supposed to contain many people in IT) and Indian Media (I can leave out world media as they don't know either about the stupidity in the Indian govt. hierarchy or ineptitude of India ISPs). Probably it exposes the ineptitude of Indian blogosphere along with their hypocrisy (outlined in my previous comments).

Pakistani solution to the age old problem.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/amit_varma/2006/07/theres_no_stopping_free_speech.html

But...there is no logic when it comes to this War on Terrorism. It's straightup pure fear.

Krish:

You are back with your nonsensical self-proclaimed "high-road" BS!!

Personally I did not know of the Yahoo Group ban back then. If that was true then the "Nagas Extremist" yahoo group banning wa quite AKIN to banning a Yahoo Group of Al Qaeda members trying to hire and "manage" their folks all while using a website hosted in China who wouldnt care two hoots as to who was doing what there!!

For you to equate both shows your absolute love of nonsensical similies!

"These whiners of freedom of speech and expressions were the ones who blatantly and unabashedly supported Gujarat Massacre, Human Rights abusing laws like POTA, Massacre of Tehelka.com etc."

This BS can only come from Pseudo-secular, Osama-loving, Communist-loving, double-mouthed Hypocrite like you!!

Desh
Drishtikone.com

So the name calling continues .... with or without the typekey. :o)

grow up dude.

noname: exactly :-)

Noname - you talk to spade in "spade-ese"...

Spadease, it sounds like portuguese.LOL! Thanks for the good laugh Desh. Hamare bilkul bhai laghthe vho tum! I also believe in the same "Juhari ko Juhari na kahen tho kya Pujari kahen".

The world scene seems to be getting pretty bad. You screw my ass, I will yours...it seems to be running on that eternal principle of human interaction. Blog ban, Ghutka Ban, Bar ban, this ban that ban no can!LOL! The real bans have to occur somewhere else. External bans generally arouse them more to find a loophole to beat it. Human Nature!

'..we can simply rely on the government's lack of efficiency..'

LOL,
but then again,
isn't that an universal verdict..? ~marek

This blog ban is going to stop the terrorists from communicating, as much as asking the question "Are you a terrorist?" at airports discourages them from travelling by air.

Anyways, i'm glad that IB is not among the ones banned in India.

This is about Bombay/Mumbai:

People from this city should take a moment to go to this page:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mumbaipetition.cms

This is an open letter to the Prime Minister from the Times of India:

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Mumbai is tired, impatient and very angry. It doesn't want the praise. It wants its dues. For too long have we received only empty accolades. Now it's payback time.

We want:

More autonomy on how this city is run. India's dream destination cannot remain an administrative nightmare. We want leaders interested in the city, not in party bosses and vote banks.

More money, for the state and from the state. India's cash cow cannot just be milked dry. We want a fair percentage of what Mumbai contributes to be put back into city improvements.

More accountability and transparency. We refuse to let inefficiency and corruption steal our taxes. We want civic officials who level our roads not line their pockets.

More civilized living. India's business capital cannot be subjected to such tattered public services. We want to live like human beings, not rats.

More safety and security. We cannot be drowned out one day, blasted out the other. We want a strong, compassionate, accountable police force to protect our kids, our elderly parents and us.

It's been too little for too long. We want to get as good as we give. And we want it now.

Yours Sincerely

Observer:

Thanks! Some people assume a self-proclaimed sense of superior dialog and go about "trashing" everything that doesnt agree with their limited knowledge. When you question them.. their only argument.. sans logic/rationale is .... "i said so that you are talking trash!"

Initially I thought this guy was in for a debate.. but I soon realized that he is as perverted in his debate style as Osama or Hitler is/was... .my way or you are abused and if-possible-dead.. just because I am the "exalted one"....

.. now... the only way to address such imbecile idiots is to speak to them in their language... and TRASH 'EM!!

Har ek baat par wo gina to detein hain hamare aib-o-hunar;
Khud apne gunahon ka hisaab kaun de?

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

"You are back with your nonsensical self-proclaimed "high-road" BS!!".....Desh to Krish in post #18

Dear Desh,
Krish had not gone anywhere. He was very much here, giving a helping hand to his longstanding, likeminded friend. No points for guessing who that is. LOL ;)

Cheers!
Navin

Observer signed his real name, in the new OT #14