DoT bans 32 websites including Pastebin, Imgur, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Github, Archive in India: Report
As many as 32 websites including Pastebin, Imgur, DailyMotion, Vimeo, Github, Internet Archive have been reportedly banned in India following an order from the Department of Telecom (DoT). While some telecom operators and ISPs are still allowing access to the aforementioned websites, subscribers of BSNL and Vodafone among others aren’t able to access them.
@refsrc @BGRIndia hmm .. ACT fiberbnet & Tata Docomo … from bangalore
— iRohit (@iRohit) December 27, 2014
A reader told us last week that he was facing similar issues with Tata Docomo network in Bangalore. We tested the said sites with BSNL network from Odisha, and are able to confirm that the said sites are indeed inaccessible. First spotted by Times of India, Pastebin acknowledged recently that it has been blocked in India on the directions of the Indian government.
http://t.co/e3zRKnJJQO seems to have been blocked in India. If you are from India and unable to visit Pastebin, please email us.
— Pastebin.com (@pastebin) December 19, 2014
The Department of Telecom is yet to offer an explanation behind the blockage of over two dozen websites. But National Head of BJP India IT Cell tweeted that the reason behind the block is an advisory by the Anti Terrorism Squad, as they were carrying Anti India content from ISIS.
The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti India content from ISIS. 1/2
— Arvind Gupta (@buzzindelhi) December 31, 2014
The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the on going investigations, are being unblocked. 2/2 — Arvind Gupta (@buzzindelhi) December 31, 2014
While DoT has yet to say just what websites have been blocked, a list circulating online gives the entire list.
Insane! Govt orders blocking of 32 websites including @internetarchive@vimeo@github@pastebin#censorship#FoExpic.twitter.com/F75ngSGohJ
— Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh_prakash) December 31, 2014
This isn’t the first time Department of Telecom has blocked websites in bulk and seemingly did a poor job at running background checks while evaluating the sites. Earlier this year during the FIFA World Cup, the telecom operators had blocked over 450 websites on the grounds of copyright infringement. The DoT had mistakenly also banned Google’s productivity and cloud-storage service Drive.
IMPORT:-BGRindia
