Collaboration: India Blocks Blogs

Magazine News Story/July 31, 2006

For four days, all blogs on Google’s Blogger and Six Apart’s TypePad in the world’s largest democracy were mysteriously shut down, sparking an outcry among writers. As it turned out, the government of India had ordered the country’s Internet service providers to block access to some sites a few days after the deadly train bombings in the financial capital of Mumbai on July 11.

The Indian government says it was trying to squelch some of the radical voices in the country. “A two-page write-up containing extremely derogatory references to Islam and the Holy Prophet which had the potential to inflame religious sensitivities in India and create serious law and order problems in the country appeared in a blog,” says A.R. Ghanashyam, Indian deputy consul general in New York City.

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