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How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

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Re: How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

#4

Post by nischalsamji »

forkLding wrote: post #2

The rationale for blocking websites is pretty convoluted, what are they saying? I mean aside from the usual censorship justification

"Objectionable content", "Hurting religious sentiments" are the reasons given when github/ vimeo/ pastebin etc., were banned few years ago. The rationale is pretty vague and it's often tough to understand on what info a certain site gets blocked.

Re: How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

#5

Post by derefr »

nischalsamji wrote: post #4
forkLding wrote: post #2

The rationale for blocking websites is pretty convoluted, what are they saying? I mean aside from the usual censorship justification

"Objectionable content", "Hurting religious sentiments" are the reasons given when github/ vimeo/ pastebin etc., were banned few years ago. The rationale is pretty vague and it's often tough to understand on what info a certain site gets blocked.

I would assume it's much the same as Canada's law against publishing hate speech. Just with a very wide net on what constitutes hate speech.

Re: How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

#6

Post by nitin_flanker »

nsomaru wrote: post #3

I've found non-https archive.org (!) to be blocked in India on a government ISP. Interestingly it seems to depend on the ISP used. Same site worked fine on a mobile connection.

Yes, as far as I've tried, it entirely is ISP dependent. Here's the message that my ISP show when a website is blocked: http://ibb.co/mvSMRR. I can access it however using my Wifi instead. Similarly, few website that are blocked by one are accessible on others carriers.

Re: How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

#9

Post by shubhamjain »

Indian state wields too much power over everything. I guess it's remnant of a socialistic past. Consider this: CBFC is film certification board that can block a movie's release until appropriate cuts are made subject to their whims and fancies. This makes no logical sense. Why should the Govt. interfere in whatever the movie wants to show? The max stipulation should be on what content is appropriate to which age group.

Websites can be blocked by people who have zero clue what they are about. Television programmes can be asked to censor everything from expletives to kissing scenes. (Try seeing Kill Bill with all violent scenes removed). Hell, Karnataka Govt. even tried to cap the price of movie tickets. [1]

The fact that a random litigation can persuade a judge to order to block 1000+ sites is downright scary. I don't see anything changing near future. Politicians (and even judiciary) rarely want to do away with any power they have.

[1]: http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/kar...

Re: How many URLs/Websites are blocked in India? Government gives different answers

#10

Post by keganunderwood »

derefr wrote: post #5
nischalsamji wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Objectionable content", "Hurting religious sentiments" are the reasons given when github/ vimeo/ pastebin etc., were banned few years ago. The rationale is pretty vague and it's often tough to understand on what info a certain site gets blocked.

I would assume it's much the same as Canada's law against publishing hate speech. Just with a very wide net on what constitutes hate speech.

I think someone mentioned that politicians in India enjoy wide freedoms due to generous libel laws as well.
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