listenin to: hello afrika on 5fm
last night john told me about the blogging situation in india at the moment. after the recent train bombings, the indian government has issued an order to internet service providers (ISPs) to ban 17 websites, which are perceived to be anti-india. service providers were forced to cut all major sites. this has angered thousands of indian bloggers. of course the usual cries of stilfing freedom of expression are now being heard through india. government now says that they will decrease the terms of the ban to block only single pages and not entire sites.
after spending some time reading up on the situation it seems that many indian bloggers are using their blogs as ways of channeling requests and offers of help. in particluar the Mumbai Help blog has also developed a wiki that allows anyone to add to a list of injured, killed, and contact numbers, as well as potential blood donors. other blogs are merely reporting on the incident form various angles via video, audio pics etc. but the main just of all the posts are using these blogs as centres for help.
sure there are some blogs that indluge in hate speech-some that will now specialise in the topic since these recent blasts. but these will always be there- people who indulge in hate speech dont need a few bomb blasts to start up again. censorship upon the legitimate rights of 50 million internet users in india is so unwise and unecessary. come on.... drop the ban and show the rest of the ridiculously restrictive governments how to work with this... instead of against it.
today i like: happy birthday sna
today i dislike: jeez i am starving
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