Blocking of Blog Websites
Known as the fourth pillar of democracy, the Indian media has had the freedom to report on controversial issues and has in the past raised voice against certain government decisions. Perhaps it is this freedom of the press, which has led India being placed at the #105 position ahead of its neighbors China, Pakistan and Nepal.

Exercising its responsibility of reporting on unfair government decisions, the media was up in arms against a recent order of the government to impose a ban on certain websites and blogs namely hinduunity.org, exposingtheleft.blogspot.com, pajamaeditors.blogspot.com, commonfolkcommonsense.blogspot.com, hinduhumarights.org and princesskimberley.blogspot.com.

The recent bomb blasts in Mumbai and in other cities made the government suspicious of certain blogs being used by terrorists for exchanging information required to coordinate terrorist activities within the country. "This led to the DoT to issue notices to all ISPs to block over two dozen websites" says, Diljeet Titus, senior member of law firm Titus & Co.

The country's 153 ISPs including Spectranet, MTNL, Reliance Powersurfer, Airtel Broadband and Sify therefore blocked the websites. The blogging community claimed the decision was an attack on the freedom of speech as the ISPs blocked entire domains on which the blogs were hosted.

Posing a Ban
Amit Agarwal, an ex-IITian, author of the blog labnol.blogpsot.com differs with the other bloggers when he says that "the general ban on Indian blogs happened due to the technical ineptness of the ISPs and was not ordered directly by the Indian government". Nikhil Pahwa author of mixedbag.in feels that even though the government was attempting to block certain sites that they deemed anti-national or inflammatory, he agrees with Amit that "the ISPs compounded matters by blocking access to all blogs."

While most bloggers claimed it to be a suppression of speech and expression, Agarwal justifies the decision of the authorities to block handful of sites that were possibly spreading religious hatred. "In a country where religious sentiments are so strong, the sensitive Indian masses can easily get instigated in such situations, and therefore precautionary measures taken by the government may be justified to some level," he said. Pahwa opposes any decision to ban blogs and said, "Even when access to blogs was allowed, the ban on certain websites still remained, hence the government continued to suppress freedom of expression and some blogs remain blocked."

Websites in India are monitored by Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) whose role is to monitor anti-national or against public interest information available on Internet and report to the government. Websites which CERT-IN thinks need to be blocked is referred to DoT. "Therefore, the usage of a particular website can be blocked in India but a website usage cannot be blocked throughout the world," explains Titus. An avid blogger, Agarwal explains why it is impossible to effectively impose a blanket ban on such websites, "In the event of such a ban, the offenders can easily shift the content to a different website and since most of these sites are hosted outside our borders, there are very little legal options one can exercise."

Infringement of Rights?
But does website and blog ban like these amount to infringement of fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression? Answers Titus, "Blocking would not have amounted to infringement guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian constitution since the order was given by the government to preserve peace and security within the country, and Article 19 (2) of the Indian constitution empowers the State to impose reasonable restrictions on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression in the interest of (i) sovereignty and integrity of the state and (ii) public order, etc." However, he added that the order could have been challenged in the court alleging it as a violation of the fundamental right.

Ideal Solution
Experts and users agree that Internet should ideally be used as a potent means to exercise political freedom and to express opinions. A line should be drawn where government control should cease to exist, especially when it comes to online freedom of expression. Countries like China, Egypt and Vietnam should be made to understand the significance of freedom of expression, until then organizations like RSF and Amnesty would continue to raise voice against Internet repression.

Stuti Das
stutid@cybermedia.co.in

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