INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN INDIA : Yahoo groups blocked Posted below are URL's to news reports about a droconian move by the Indian state to specifically block a specific online news group on yahoo. The targeted Group's name on Yahoo is: kynhun Bri U Hynniewtrep. URL: groups.yahoo.com/group/kynhun/. Blocking of single web site being by Indian agencies, is bad enough, but what is extremely disturbing is that apparently blocking of an entire domain, (groups.yahoo.com) ALL yahoogroups are now inaccessible to India based users for the last 4 days or so. [This has been repeatedly confirmed to me by hundreds of users in India, the latest being few hours ago]. There are literally thousands of yahoo groups list sites related to and/or based in India (if you do search on yahoogroups with the term India, it gives you figure of 12503). This is a grave violation of freedom of expression and sets a very dangerous precedent of censorship and control of the internet in India. Human rights groups in India, South Asia and around the world need to take note and express concern. Addresses of the officials and bodies to whom people may write to protest or seeking their intervention re this current instance of Internet censorship in Iindia: Government of India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Web site : http://www.mib.nic.in Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad (Minister of Information and Broadcasting) E-Mail: ravis@sansad.nic.in Phone: (91) 23384340, 23384782 Fax : (91) 23782118 Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) http://www.mit.gov.in/cert/ India's Department of Telecom http://www.dotindia.com/ ddgir@sancharnet.in The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) http://www.ispai.com/ [* India's Official Human rights watch dog] National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) http://nhrc.nic.in/contact.htm Please write to any or all of the above, write to the press and to contact human rights groups In the meantime users in India wanting to urgently access the groups.yahoo.com domain based sites despite this unofficial ban should attempt to beat the ban by browsing via: www.anonymizer.com or may want to visit www.proxy4free.com/ [this second option may require some figuring out changing settings] Harsh Kapoor (South Asia Citizens Web) NEWS REPORTS: http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/industry/0,39001143,39152163,00.htm Cnet Asia, Sept. 24, 2003 India blocks Yahoo web site By Staff, CNETAsia o o o Newindpress, September 24, 2003 Yahoo refuses to remove anti-India content, site blocked This is the first time a website has been blocked under Cert-IN since it came into being in July this year. Representatives of Yahoo in India had been http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEH20030923005101&Title=Top+Stories&rLink=0 o o o Editorial, Hindustan Times, September 24, 2003 No net gain for Big Brother http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_387920,0012.htm o o o News Today, September 24, 2003 Yahoo Groups continue to be blocked http://newstodaynet.com/23sep/ld1.htm o o o Rediff, September 24, 2003 Government bans Yahoo! group http://www.rediff.com/netguide/2003/sep/23yahoo.htm o o o The Hindu,September 23, 2003 Bid to block anti-India website affects users By Sandeep Dikshit http://www.thehindu.com/2003/09/23/stories/2003092312761100.htm o o o The Register [UK] India blocks Yahoo! Groups By Andrew Orlowski Posted: 23/09/2003 at 16:21 GMT http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32983.html o o o Business Week, September 23, 2003 http://www.businessweek.com/technology/cnet/stories/5081021.htm o o o The Times of India., September 23 2003 Yahoo website blocked http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com:80/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=196169 o o o The Hindustan Times, September 23, 2003 Govt blocks e-group but can't prevent access Siddharth Zarabi http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/230903/detFRO04.shtml o o o Business Line, India - 20 Sep 2003 Govt issues orders to ISPs - ` Block separatist outfit's e - ... http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/09/20/stories/2003092002890100.htm o o o Business Standard, India - 26 Aug 2003 IT and political parties - a clash of cultures http://www.business-standard.com/ice/story.asp?Menu=8&story=21575 ========== HURIDOCS-Tech listserv ========== Send mail intended for the list to <huridocs-tech@hrea.org>. Archives of the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.php To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: subscribe huridocs-tech To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: unsubscribe huridocs-tech If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.
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