India unblocking blogs

The blogs were blocked by ISPs because of a technological error.

All the blogs that had been blocked in India are now in the process of being restored, according to an Indian official.

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The blogs were blocked by Internet providers because of a "technological error", India's Deputy Consul General AR Ghanashyam said in a letter to Sreenath Sreenivasan, co-founder of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA).

The action followed the appearance of a two-page write-up containing extremely derogatory references to Islam and Prophet Mohammed that had the potential to inflame religious sensitivities in India and create serious law and order problems in the country in a blog facilitated by well-known search engines, he said.

The matter was immediately taken note of by CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was informed of it. The DOT took up the matter forthwith with the search engines and instructions were also issued to all Internet providers to block the two impertinent pages.

Because of a technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of them, which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs, Ghanashyam said.

The DOT has now clarified the issue and the error is being rectified and it is expected that normalcy in respect of blogs will soon be restored, he said.