IAC unblocks website ripoffreport.com strikes anti-censorship blow
Aftab Shah | India News Political Bureau, Sringar, Friday August 09, 2013, 07:21 am (IST)
A campaign by India Against Corruption's National Convenor Sarbajit Roy against the unsanctioned blocking of Freedom of Speech website http://ripoffreport.com has paid off with the block being lifted last Tuesday. The site had been unofficially blocked in India for over a year without any formal instructions being issued as per procedure.
After verifying from members of India-Gii, a group of Indian tech activists, that the website was inaccessible at root level all over India and on different ISPs, Roy shot off an angry email to TRAI Chairman Dr. Rahul Khullar claiming
The Authority (TRAI) has been tasked to take on the problem of "paid news" and "media monopolies" and uphold "free speech" through pervasive internet and broadband.
Instead under your watch, prominent free speech sites like "www.ripoffreport.com" have been blocked at root levels to all ISPs, and India has the slowest Internet speeds in the world now that the Indian Govt. has implemented one of the world's most inefficient cyber surveillance technologies from Israel which is simply not scalable to India's populations. It is no coincidence that net latency in India has gone up by at least 500% in past 4 months.
I am also given to understand from the media that you are a prominent member of the so-called "Chandigarh Club" and are married to ex-IAS officer Sindushree Khullar (who was turned down for post of CAG), which perhaps explains the degree of inefficiency and dishonesty now pervasive in your Authority. It is pertinent to mention that the present Minister of MoCIT Mr Kapil Sibal as also the Minister MoI&B Mr. Manish Tiwari are members of your "Club", so it would be very convenient for all concerned to have such a pliable and rubber stamp Chairman in charge of the Authority.
Roy said he got suspicious about the unauthorised block when he noticed that the block message did not specify if the website was blocked by the Dept. of Telecommunications or under a court order.
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