The blog ban started Thursday July 13, 2006 and ended a week later. Since my blog was one of those "mistakenly" blocked, some thoughts on the actors involved, their actions and why, despite the shame, I still think we're better off than China (and Pakistan).
On CERT-In and Dept. of Telecommunications: It's funny how CERT-IN doubles up as a censor for the Internet in India. I'm not entrusting the cyber security of my nation to them! It's also rather unsettling that a bureaucrat (paan-chewing, for stereotype's sake) can block a website without any due process of law. No charges, no trial, just jail.
On ISPs: The ISP Association of India (ISPAI) tells users that they don't like censorship either, but have to do it because of licensing policies. ISPs, please grow up, we're in a "mature" democracy. If you see something you don't like you can take DoT to court for it. License and contract terms can't take away your fundamental rights. The DoT is a governmental department, it's not God.
On Governments and Nations: I love my Nation. I do not love my Government. They are two different things. I'm surprised how many people doubted the Govt. blocked out so many blogs. This ma--baap attitude towards the government must go.
On Freedom of Speech: Our founding fathers, sadly, did not trust their own people enough to give them absolute freedom of speech. If they had, then probably we'd have stronger institutions and a stronger country today. As it stands, we could've probably have gone from absolute to partial, but partial to absolute is going to be very difficult.
On bloggers' response: The RTI application is good, the PIL (if it ever materializes) is better, and suing the ISPs for denial of service is perhaps the best. After all, the DoT has already blamed the ISPs, and is threatening action against them! Sadly, non-techies will agree with the DoT that the ISPs are to blame.
On bans in India: What exactly does our government ban? It'll be interesting to find out what movies, books, websites and other prurient objects it denies to its citizens. Watch this space on more updates.
On our "mature" democracy: Sadly, nearly 60 years of freedom have not taught us to build institutions to safeguard it from our governments. No constitutional watchdogs, no civil liberties organizations of any reckoning, no understanding that the government is a servant of the constitution and not its owner. Clearly, we've to do better.
On why we're still better than China: No thought police have showed up at my door so far, and won't either. And we in India still think what the Govt. did was wrong, and we can take them to task for it.
Sometimes I wish I had pursued law seriously.
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If you're pursued Law seriously, you too would be one of those standing on the pavement from VT subway to Xavier's college saying: "Affidavit, Affidavit, Notary, Notary" like you're selling sing-chana ;)
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