Ban the ban
Published by Jedi July 22nd, 2006 in GeneralSomewhere in the dark confines of a soggy cell in Tihar jail a conversation broke out between four inmates.
Terrorist A: So are all of you guys here under TADA too?
~the rest in unison~: Yes
Terrorist B: So, how many hits this year?
Terrorist C: Don't know, only started counting since April.
Terrorist D: I crossed 10,000 a week ago.
Terrorist A: Whoa 10,000. You must be doing this for a while now? I havn't even done 100 yet.(somewhat dejected)
Terrorist B: Well, I operate at 4 different places. Don't know about the annual total but I do at least 100 each day.
Terrorist A: Nice going. Who are you then? Perhaps I heard about you.
Terrorist B: crazy-demented-guy
Terrorist A: Me, random-rambler
Terrorist D: Oh, so you are random-rambler? Its an honour to meet you. We are linked. Me, random-thoughts.
Terrorist C: You guys probably never heard of me. Me, yet-another-desi-random. I've started recently, as you guys know. Since April, in fact. But I must say its been a lucky ride. I crossed 15,000 a week ago.
~the rest in unison~: WHAT?
Terrorist B: Whoa, 15,000 in less than 3 months. You must be a genius. I'd love to study your work.
Terrorist D: You know what, I've found that sitemeter counter isn't always the most accurate. Its also possible that you haven't set the blocking cookie and it is counting your own visits too.
Terrorist A: Personally I love Google Analytics. It's a pity they don't have a hit counter I could keep on my blog.
Terrorist C: Shhh! Can you hear that?
Somwhere, at the other end of the corridor you can hear someone screaming.. someone is being beaten with a stick or similar blunt object. “Bataa! Bataaa tere blogroll mein kaun kaun hai Bataaaa†[Tell me who else is on your Blogroll, tell me!]
“Naheeeeeeeeeeeâ€
To begin with, I didn't really want to talk about the blog ban or censorship imposed by the Indian Govt. But I guess I must say a few words as a responsible netizen.
Q. Is this a good thing?
No, how can censorship of any kind of information be a good thing? Unless, it pertains to matters of National security etc.
Q. Are we really under threat?
Not only from blogs per se. Blogs are not the only ways of spreading hatred or communicating. There are a million different ways. You cant possibly police all of those. Nor can you police all the blog sites for that matter. You close down one site, there are a thousand others to choose from no matter how many blanket bans you impose.
Q. Was a blanket ban really the intention?
No, I don't think so. I think they had a list of 15 odd sites to begin with. But not knowing how exactly to approach this some schmuck decided to blacklist the whole domains. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Remember Yahoo Groups?
Q. Is the ban really having the intended effect?
No. All this will end up doing is, cause people temporary inconvenience. Soon, many would move on to other sites and the rest can access their blogs anyway by circumventing the censorship by means long suggested by other bloggers in the desi blogosphere.
Q. Has this issue been beaten to death now?
Absolutely! Google itself participates in censorship in countries like China which has over a 100 million Internet users. Considering the population of India, the Indian Govt itself could force Google to do something like that under the threat of preserving their user base. What would you do then? Also, technically Google owns the site so they could remove your blog from it tomorrow if they thought you were inciting religious hatred etc.
Q. Am I in favor of this ban then or am I trying to justify it?
Absolutely not! This is an attack on the freedom of expression. But remember, censorship is not something new. Everybody and every organization censors something at some level. The Government that we elected has decided that it has taken these steps in the interest of National security. We might not agree with it, and indeed we don't, but for now we'll just have to live with it and move on with our lives.
Q. Can we expect the ban to last?
I don't think so. I think its only a matter of time before the Govt (/ISP) realizes the effects of its hastily taken decision and take steps to revert it. If this article is to be believed the efforts towards that are already underway.
As I already said, all this will ultimately result in temporary inconvenience, nothing else. Meanwhile, the blogosphere has something to rant and rave about and its frankly getting a bit boring.
jEDI
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Nice take on it..
All I want to say is I hope blogspot is back soon … or I may just lose interest in writing..
:P Now now, why do I hear sighs of reliefs! 
And yes, Ban the Ban!
-Me
Swami. You are the lord when it comes to cheeky stuff here. I sure as hell digged out all the references - may I add that it might be a little miscommunication
:P 
:P - hehehehehe!!
But your sentiments on Censorship ban exactly reflect mine - so totally
- no wonder then that you learn from me 
Suyog
I can’t agree more. Censorship is important but so is our freedom of speach. Obviously government wanted to take some action against the sites it thought are spreading religious hatered. Unfortunatley they ended up taking a wrong step and created a mess of everything. True after some inconvenience everything will be back to usual but I have question — Everyone is getting angry and saying how wrong government has done but I haven’t heard any article or comment saying what govt. should have done. Any comments??
Very nicely done and summed!
Exactly my thoughts on censorship. It’ll pass. And hopefully, with it all the ranting. I’ve said this much and I am already yawning LOL.
Hehe… keep them coming man,
Karan.
ROTFL….hilarious, man !
I agree. It was getting a little boring. Watch out for a tag soon. I expect you to make it funnier than I could manage to !
-PeAcE
–WiTH
—GuNs
Thou art tagged !
Visit my blog and see your assignment [:-P]
-PeAcE
–WiTh
—GuNs
Thou art tagged !!
Please read the tag on my blog and copy paste it with your answers !!
Dhanyawaad !
-PeAcE
–WiTh
—GuNs
@Nirwa: I feel blogspot ban has come at the right time for you, seeing how busy you are these days. I think its only a matter of time. You’ll be back in business in no time.
@suyog: Aapke kya kehne. Is Jahaan me aap ke hukm ke bagair ek patta bhi nahi hilta
@SS: Quite a few people have suggested that the Govt should have only banned/blocked the 14 sites in question rather than a blanket ban, some have even suggested asking Google or other site hosts to remove the blogs in question. The fact, however remains that regardless of what they do (and this applies to blanket bans too) people will always move on to another site or another provider and find an alternative. Thats why the whole thing is a bit pointless.
jedi
@Karan: Yes, its getting a bit boring right now. This issue has almost received more attention than the reservation issue. I agree it’ll pass and soon enough.
@GuNs: Ek aur tag!! I have a couple of pending tags already. One by Suyog/Nirwa and one by cant remember who
Will answer this tag in quick time. (i like the questions 
)
jedi
wow! i liked the dramatization bit of the banning bit….and the way you tried justifyiong why it’s of no use…..i wasnt blogging then butu being an avid bloger once, one of my blog frnd informed me abt it n i read abt it in the papers too…..it ws indeed quite shocking to see how the indian intelligentia reacts to situation….can they actually be calimed as intelligentia??? anywasy, the fact that it didnt last long enough is good coz we all could be back to what we love most…..blogging:D
@ashmi: It was obvious that the ban wouldn’t last for long and this was a result of some hastily (or incompetently) taken decision. But I’m glad its over, or the Internet could have gotten clogged with desi posts about the ban. Google might have been forced to create a new blogger site. Who knows? lol
jedi