Censored: Govt signs out bloggers

New Delhi Post-7/11, a Government order had directed Internet service providers (ISP) in the country to block access to certain websites.

Various ISPs say they were asked to block access to a list of 20 odd websites, which these include sites like Dalitstan.org, Clickatell.com, Hinduunity.com, Princesskimberly.blogspot.com and Hinduhumanrights.org - all sites that supposedly spread extreme views.

But trying to prevent access to extremist views seems to have backfired on the Government, because instead of blocking only those specific blogs and possibly escaping all this attention - the ISPs have gone ahead and blocked all blogs.

The result is a united front on the part of the bloggers who want to know what's going on for they could not access some of their favourite sites like Blogspot.com and Geocities.com.

However, ISPs say that they are not at fault for though a lot of the blocked sites are not on the list issued to them, there is a technical glitch as it's not possible to block certain pages, without blocking the entire site.

The order banning blog sites was issued on July 13 though it was not officially announced. The Government alleges these blogsites were fuelling hatred and communalism.

However, the Government also clarified its stand saying that they were not trying to censor free speech in the country but that these sites have been under security check much before the terrorist attacks.

(With inputs from ibnlive.com)

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)