I completely agree with the decision of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to block a few blog sites. The directive apparently came in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Experts are speculating national security to be the main cause behind this directive among many others.

 

The government of India puts the safety of citizens as its primary concern. The country was stunned after the death of more than 180 people in simultaneous blasts in Mumbai’s suburban trains. We should learn lessons from past experiences and try to avoid such incidents in the future.

 

In a certain way the move breaches the provision for freedom of speech in our constitution. But, the government has taken a stern stance on this issue and doesn’t want to leave any loopholes for terrorists. Through this directive the government seeks to ensure a ‘balanced flow of information’. In addition to this move, I personally feel that the government should come up with more stringent measures to combat terrorism.

 

Blogs can serve as the primary and most preferred medium of communication for terrorists. It is believed that many militants use the Internet for passing on messages within their organisations. A similar decision was taken by the government to block groups.yahoo.com three years ago. The directive hence can be seen as a preventive measure to stop sleeper terrorists from accessing messages or instructions contained in blogs and control spread of information through blogs.