The Indian government has told ISPs to stop blocking entire blog websites, such as Blogger.com.
The move comes after Indian bloggers and the media found that most blog sites were inaccessible to them, although the government’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had notified ISPs on July 13 that they had to block only 17 websites and blogs.
Some ISPs blocked entire domains rather than the sub-domains they had been instructed to block, says Deepak Maheshwari, secretary of the ISP Association of India. The association advised its members not to block entire domains but only the sites and blogs specified by the government.
The DoT had instructed all ISPs to provide unhindered internet access except for the sites and web pages specifically mentioned in its earlier order. Under India’s Information Technology Act 2000, websites can be blocked if they are found to promote hate, violence, terrorism and pornography.