Blocking 32 websites: Utter Stupidity

In what can only be called an act of utter stupidity, Certin, a part of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), has asked the Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to block 32 sites. These sites include not only well-known  Internet platforms such as Vimeo and Internet Archive, but also sites such as GitHub, SourceForge, Pastebin, etc., that are widely used by software professionals and companies. A number of companies routinely use GitHub to host projects that require multi-country teams. Such arbitrary action means that projects which are being developed in this way will not be accessible to the teams working in India.

No public information was available regarding the blocking. Only when people found that they could not access certain websites, the blogosphere finally reported that this was in response to the instructions to ISP's through the Department of Telecom by DeitY under Section 69A of the IT Act. There is still no official word about the reasons for this extreme step. A BJP source claimed that the action was due to these sites hosting anti-India content from the ISIS. Free Software Movement of India has protested about such wholesale blocking. It pointed out, "Unfortunately, the current provision for blocking access to content under the IT Act, 2000 -- Article 69A – does not impose any responsibility on the government to disclose what has been blocked under their directions. Neither does it impose any requirement on the ISPs to disclose the reasons for blocking such websites."  No wonder the ISP's display no information regarding the blocking. Only one ISP even mentioned that the sites were blocked under instructions from the "Competent Authority", indicating that Certin might be involved in issuing such instructions.

Blocking 32 web pages for some objectionable content is qualitatively different from blocking 32 sites with millions of pages. This was an issue earlier also when BlogSpot was blocked for certain objectionable pages. DeitY, unlike what might be thought of from its name, seems to have learned nothing from its earlier mistakes. As FSMI states, "Even if such content exists, blocking an entire site, instead of the offending pages after due process, is a blow to citizens' freedom of expression. The situation is only worsened by the absolute lack of transparency on the part of the authorities concerned."

Various organizations have pointed out serious problems with the IT Act, the offending sections being 66A, 69A and 79. The key problem with Section 69 A is that there is no obligation on DeitY to disclose what it has blocked or on ISP's to indicate the reasons for the blocking. In this particular case, only when private sources leaked the information (https://twitter.com/pranesh_prakash/status/550279858794676227) that people realized the extent of the blocking.

Regarding the cause of blocking, the less said the better. Some intelligence agency wants some sites to be blocked and DeitY jumps to do so without any application of mind. Or if they exercised their mind, there is no evidence of it. Blocking GitHub and SourceForge for IS propaganda -- what are the DeitY officials smoking?

The other worrying part is that instead of issuing statements to clarify the issues, the government seems to have made Arvind Gupta, the functionary responsible for IT policy in the BJP, its spokespersons. That the government should use party functionaries to be its spokespersons or how is it only he was given information denied even to the press, brings out the way this government is functioning.

The government should fully understand what damage it has caused. By blocking code sharing and project hosting sites, it has given a signal to the software industry that India is no longer a safe place for developing software. For a whole host of creative community and researchers, losing access to sites such as Vimeo and InternetArchive is a serious blow to hosting their content. For those who are fighting for freedom of expression, the blocking powers of DeitY, which seem to be exercised without any exercise of mind, poses serious problems.

FSMI demands an immediate explanation by the government and the revoking of the ban on these sites.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.