India 'jihadi' web blocking causes anger

Some argue the blocks are at odds with India's
hope of becoming a major technology hub
A government block on more than 30 high-
profile websites has caused anger across India.
India's Department of Telecoms ordered the
blocking of the sites in order to prevent the
publicising of "jihadi activities".
After considerable pressure, four of the sites -
Weebly, Vimeo, Daily Motion and Github - were
unblocked.
Officials said the other sites would have their
blocks lifted if they complied with the "law of
the land".
The Indian Ministry for Communication and
Information Technology said in a statement: "It
was stated that Anti National group are using
social media for mentoring Indian youths to
join the Jihadi activities."
It went on to say that the primary concern was
that users posting material on the sites did not
require any authentication, and that identities
could be hidden.
The four websites that have been unblocked
were said to have worked with the Indian
government to address concerns - although it
is unclear what changes, if any, have been
made.

Some users were reporting that they were still
unable to reach the apparently unblocked sites.
Pranesh Prakash, from the India-based Centre
for Internet and Society, said: "Any intelligent
person can see these sites don't incite
terrorism."
'Many complaints'
Ahead of the ban lifting, a Vimeo spokeswoman
said: "It is Vimeo's longstanding policy not to
allow videos that promote terrorism, and we
remove such videos whenever we become
aware of them.

This letter was sent out by the Indian
government
"We have not received notice from the Indian
government concerning such videos and have
contacted them requesting the blocking order
to identify, and evaluate the video in question."
Many internet users in the country are angry
that other sites remain blocked, in particular
Pastebin - a site used for "dumping" text online
anonymously - and The Internet Archive, a US
organisation that offers a database of old
websites.
The Internet Archive said on Twitter that it had
received "many complaints" from users who
were unable to access the service.
India has a history of sporadically blocking
websites, or issuing warnings about online
content.
In August 2012, 245 sites were blocked by the
government in an attempt, it said, to quell
violence.
Source: BBC