Indian ISPs are as of July 13 blocking several websites, amongst them Blogspot, Typepad, and Geocities. Several reports by bloggers confirm that it is the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) that has requested Indian ISPs to filter websites. Slashdot and Boingboing have picked up this story as well.

A list of websites to block has been provided to the ISPs but the list itself has not been made public. Several bloggers have started asking people to file a Right to Information (RTI) requesting the government to release the list of blocked websites. Not satisfied with the intransparent situation, bloggers have been organizing themselves and keeping track which ISP blocks what website.

For several days there was a general lack of further official government explanation and justification for these censorship practices. As of July 19, the Deputy Consul General has come forward with a clarification, stating that:

There are recent signs that the blanket filtering are slowly being lifted by ISPs. In the meantime, concerned bloggers have been communicating and organizing themselves using Google Groups, as well as a wiki that aggregates information, including information on how to bypass the block.

This not the first time India has practiced internet censorship. For example, in 2003 they closed down a Yahoo Group, called Kyhun, that was run by a banned militant outfit, the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) of the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya. See the Opennet Initiative report for more detail on earlier Indian internet filtering practices.

Some of the work I do for the summer involves looking at internet censorship practices. A little while ago, I was asked to look at some of the more sensitive ‘hot button’ issues in India, in order to build a list of websites that might be censored. Most articles that I came across wrote how, in general, India has freedom of speech and press. The Indian case shows how situations can change fast, and how even democracies with a long standing history of freedom of speech can react in a knee-jerk way when faced with highly ‘explosive’ information online. The good thing is that the government responded to the massive protests. Hopefully this opens a window of opportunity that allows for a more accountable and transparent decision process of what will be blocked.

PS the original blog is posted at the OpenNet Initiative blog but I repost it here as a slightly amended and updated version.