Backlash From Bloggers As Indian Censors Shut Websites

Indian censors have blocked a number of popular blogging sites on the grounds of national security, angering thousands of bloggers.

The directive from the department of telecommunications came days after the Mumbai blasts, and was aimed at shutting 17 blogs which carried material from religious and political extremists. But service providers were forced to cut all major sites, including the popular Geocities, Typepad and Google's Blogspot. Cyberspace has since been filled with angry emails from bloggers in India attacking the government's "ham-handed, delinquent" move. The Mumbai blasts helped raise the profile of blogs after many were used to update users on what was happening on the ground.

India has some 40,000 regular bloggers and their sites hum with subjects ranging from the mundane and political to matters rarely found in polite conversation. "This is clearly an infringement of fundamental right [of freedom of speech]," said Sanjukta Basu, a lawyer who blogs at meateccentricitydotcom.blogspot.com.

Ms Basu said the Delhi blogging community was considering a petition to the high court: "The government only ordered to block some 20 blogs and has a duty to ensure this is carried out in an orderly manner without infringing our rights. So we are looking at the courts."

Lawyers say there is a good chance the government "will be put in a tight spot". "They have a point because the inability to filter these blogs has infringed article 19 of the Indian constitution," said Pawan Duggal, a lawyer specialising in internet law. He said another route for the government would be to make bloggers and blog sites liable for content. "There are provisions under the information act. The real problem is that there is no mention of blogs and bloggers in the legislation. The technology has left the law behind."