Indian Government Orders 32 Web Sites Blocked, Including GitHub, Archive.Org, Pastebin, DailyMotion And Vimeo

from the blunt-instrument dept

Wed, Dec 31st 2014 4:15am — Glyn Moody

According to a developing story in the Times of India, some users in India are unable to access major international Web sites, including GitHub, Pastebin and DailyMotion:

It now appears that the blocks are being carried out on the instructions of [India's] DoT (Department of Telecom). The telecom body reportedly issued a notification regarding the same on December 17. A screenshot of the circular has been posted on Twitter by Pranesh Prakash. The notification mentions that 32 URLs including Pastebin, video sharing sites Vimeo and DailyMotion, Internet archive site archive.org and Github.com( a web-based software code repository), have been blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. DoT has also asked ISPs to submit compliance reports. However, we have not been able to verify the authenticity of the circular.

Here's the list posted by Pranesh Prakash:

It's not clear why these sites have been blocked in this way, but Prakash, who is Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, India, believes it may be because of a court order in a copyright case. He also points out that this is not the first time this has happened. However, the key nature of many of the sites affected, and the fact that entire sites, rather than just some of their pages, were blocked, is bound to lead to calls for this blunt instrument to be refined before it is used again.

Update: The Economic Times of India provides more information about what is happening here (via Arijit Banik):

The websites were blocked for hosting content that is pro terrorist group ISIS and not cooperating with government investigations, officials said.

Arvind Gupta, the head of IT Cell, BJP Tweeted: "The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti India content from ISIS. The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the on going investigations, are being unblocked."

Even so, taking down entire Web sites -- especially major ones like GitHub and archive.org -- is clearly a completely disproportionate response, and shows the dangers of using this very crude approach.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+

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Filed Under: blocks, censorship, copyright, filter, india
Companies: archive.org, dailymotion, github, internet archive, pastebin, vimeo

68 Comments

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That One Guy (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 2:59am

So about that...
It's not clear why these sites have been blocked in this way, but Prakash, who is Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, India, believes it's because of a court order in a copyright case.

So hey, anyone remember when certain individuals in the US were clamoring for, and demanding, the ability to have sites shut down and/or blocked, based upon claims of piracy, without any sort of adversarial trial to prove guilt or innocence?

Remember when they insisted that such an ability would never end up affecting innocent sites, but only ever affect the worst of the worst, and anyone who expressed concerns contrary to those claims were told that their worries were completely blown out of proportion, and nothing but fearmongering in order to defend piracy?

So with an example like this, about those 'out of proportion, nothing but fearmongering' concerns...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:39am
  
  Re: So about that...
  Yes, I do remember that. One of these days, they might even listen when we tell them those things, instead of lying and name-calling while they launch head first into disaster and then whine when things go wrong in exactly the way we warned they would...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Michael, 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:54am
  
  Re: So about that...
  So hey, anyone remember when certain individuals in the US were clamoring for, and demanding, the ability to have sites shut down and/or blocked, based upon claims of piracy
  
  Of course we do. It was yesterday.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:43am
    
    Re: Re: So about that...
    and the day before that and the day before that and....
    
    Welp you get the idea.
    
    the Slippery slope is so damn slippery people keep forgetting how slippery it is!!!
    
    Nope... they actually KNOW how slippery it is and just keep pushing us onto it! They know exactly what is going on, and a lot of people believe their feigned ignorance.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 6:59am
      
      Re: Re: Re: So about that...
      We've been sliding down this slope so long that people have forgotten what it was like not to.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:15am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: So about that...
        might as well hop on the sled and scream weeeeeeeeeee....
        
        all the way down!
        
        Its going to be one HELL of a ride!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        vindication unlimited, 2 Jan 2015 @ 10:09pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So about that...
        Nice concept, John Loudermilk said it first:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpAMtqlIDI
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:38am
  
  Re: So about that...
  "Remember when they insisted that such an ability would never end up affecting innocent sites..."
  
  Well, obviously these site are not innocent. Innocent sites don't get blocked!
  
  /s
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Crims0n (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:40am

moooh
Next stunt: all sites promoting beef will be shut down due to blasphemy against cows ^^
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:46am

How is tech support supposed to support if they can't access the site?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- who cares, 4 Jan 2015 @ 10:42pm
  
  Re:
  lets block twitter, making sure no news passes by
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:47am

What's interesting here is that most of the sites being blocked appear to be sites used by developers and tech support, even going as far as to block phorkie (an open source project that allows people to set up their own equivalent of pastebin).

In other words, don't worry about all those developers and tech support people who depend on these services to easily share code and logs with their colleagues and customers. Someone, somewhere decided their copyright was more important than your particular business and will stop you using legitimate tools for legitimate purposes. Because someone, somewhere might be losing money and their money is worth more than yours.

Besides the usual free speech arguments, this is literally one set of companies ordering the tools used by another set of companies to be blocked because they're scared that some 3rd party is misusing them. You have to be a special kind of stupid not to see what a massive problem this is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Comcast "Chief Diversity Officer", 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:53am
  
  Re:
  Now do you see?
  
  THIS kind if thing is why Comcast support is being rated so badly. It's not our fault!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- That One Guy (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:53am
  
  Re:
  Not stupid, just incredibly self-centered and holding the belief that no-one's profits or livelihood matter more than yours.
  
  So what if a number of other companies suddenly find themselves in deep trouble without access to the tools they need to do their jobs properly, you might be losing money somewhere, and there is no cost too high, nor collateral damage 'too much', in the effort required to stem those theoretical 'lost profits.'
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Michael, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:06am

PasteBin Response
Pastebin.com seems to have been blocked in India. If you are from India and unable to visit Pastebin, please email us.

Hey guys, if your domain has been blocked you aren't going to get those emails.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:19am
  
  Re: PasteBin Response
  Depends on how the block has been implemented. If it's just on port 80 / HTTP traffic and not on a DNS or IP level, emails will get through while web traffic is blocked.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Rajeev, 31 Dec 2014 @ 3:35pm
  
  Re: PasteBin Response
  yes, because proxies and VPNs have not been invented
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
art guerrilla (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:16am

gee, i'm sure that won't have any unintended consequences...
...like all the software companies who hire indian tech support and programmers, but since they no longer have access to the websites and tools they need to do their work, they can't do their work, so... ?

...and archive.org ? ? ? THE BEST site on the innertubes ? ? ? sure, hobble yourselves voluntarily, india...

act in haste, repent at leisure...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:26am
  
  Re: gee, i'm sure that won't have any unintended consequences...
  "all the software companies who hire indian tech support and programmers, but since they no longer have access to the websites and tools they need to do their work"
  
  That's the silver lining here. Just looking at the enterprise section of Github, there's some major American companies who use the site. There's thousands of smaller startups and other companies, of course, not to mention homegrown Indian developers who are losing out. But, the fact that some major international players stand to lose money due to the block should mean that it's lifted fairly quickly.
  
  "...and archive.org ? ? ? THE BEST site on the innertubes ? ? ?"
  
  The site had demonstrably been used to host at least one infringing file. Since that means the site is now used for piracy, and it is not used by an **AA member, it should be blocked.
  
  Sadly, that's literally the way they think.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - repoman, 31 Dec 2014 @ 12:53pm
    
    Re: Re: gee, i'm sure that won't have any unintended consequences...
    archive.org can NOW BE OPPENED IT REMOVED THE ISIS CONTENT.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:18am

Now we get a taste of what SOPA could've looked like in US. Entire legitimate websites blocked because of some individual "infringement".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:21am
  
  Re:
  "Now we get a taste of what SOPA would have looked like in US"
  
  FTFY. Mistakes like this were inevitable, and the losers would always be innocent bystanders.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:40am
    
    Re: Re:
    "Mistakes like this were inevitable"
    
    What makes you think this was a mistake?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:23am
  
  Re:
  One problem with SOPA would have been that people along the Canadian or Mexican borders would have been able to get wireless Internet from accross the border and not be affected.
  
  I know this because I have heard of people in, say, Montana, getting wireless Internet from Canada, becuase it is all they can get.
  
  A Canadian ISP is not subject to American laws, even if they have wireless customers on the US side of the border.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:28am
    
    Re: Re:
    I somehow think that the major problem with SOPA would be what it was designed to do, not the fact that some people could bypass its influence...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Allaun Silverfox (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:09am
    
    Re: Re:
    A Canadian ISP is not subject to American laws, even if they have wireless customers on the US side of the border.
    
    Americans have a funny idea about national borders and how international law is applied.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:34am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Isn't international law the same as American law?
      /S
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - John Fenderson (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 12:23pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        According to what I hear from certain political circles, international law is the purest of evils. US law applied internationally, however, is the most exalted form of godliness.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 3:59pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        How are they going to make an Internet service provider, either dial-up or wireless, follow American law.
        
        This also would have made the CDA impossible to enforce on rich people, if it had been upheld. Someone who could afford the cost of an international phone call could have simply dialed up to an offshore dial-up ISP and signed on there.
        
        There would have been no possible way to stop someone from picking up the phone and dialing a foreign phone number connected to a foreign computer.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2015 @ 9:28am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        You're always so polite John. "certain political circles" heh. I'd just say it, authoritarian anarcho-capitalists, or more simply, fascists and if they were taught in college by Leo Strauss in the 60's, basically neo-nazis, even if jewish!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 3:56pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      A wireless ISP operating from the Canadian side of the border is not subject to any American laws, even if American customers are connecting from the US side of the border
      
      The same goes with Mexican cell phone providers. Cell providers operating om the Mexican side of the border are not subject to any American laws, even if they have people on the U.S. side of the border using their networks.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:16pm
        
        Re: operating from the Canadian side of the border is not subject to any American laws
        Tell that to iCraveTV.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:25am

HAPPY new year India

Signed
Government
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2015 @ 9:30am
  
  Re:
  Is the Indian new year even jan 1st ?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Wanderer (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:27am

Wait, "the Information Technology (Procedures and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by the Public) Rules"?

That's about as clear and unambiguous a match for the definition of censorship ("an attempt to prevent some particular audience from being exposed to some particular information") as I could ask for - and they put it right in the title of a formal government document.

At least they're being honest and straightforward about it...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 6:08am

Steps have just been taken....
...to provide means to evade these blocks. Since I am neither an Indian citizen nor within Indian jurisdiction I am under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to obey their profoundly idiotic directives, therefore I choose not to do so -- and further, I choose to undermine them to the extent that my technical ability and access allow. It will no doubt take some time for these changes to propagate, but I trust in due course they will render these blocks moot.

I suggest that the Indian government's time would be better spent dealing with the horrific, systemic problem of gang rape -- a matter far more serious and pressing than kissing the asses of the copyright cartel.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2015 @ 9:33am
  
  Re: Steps have just been taken....
  Well they can still use tor while it is still somewhat anonymous and just make short use of it when needed.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:06am

India just put a bullet in its own economy. One of the things India has had going for it recently is its up and coming tech personnel, either people learning and moving to other countries to work or jobs outsourced to India. Now that they've blacked out the ability to use some of the most often used resources for Programming and IT, their current and up-and-coming tech people are going to be at an extreme disadvantage.

MPAA and RIAA take notes of this as what not to do. If you want to make the US a tech backwater with an economy that has people at such a loss they can't afford to buy your product, keep pushing for idiocy like this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- That One Guy (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:22am
  
  Re:
  You greatly underestimate the greed and short-sightedness of the *AA's. If they thought that tanking the internet entirely would get people back to buying their overpriced CD's, and that they would survive the riots from such an action, they would see absolutely nothing wrong with such an action.
  
  Much like ancient people believed that everything in the universe revolved around the Earth, they truly and honestly believe that everything is, or should, revolve around them and what they want.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2015 @ 9:36am
    
    Re: Re:
    What about websites that sell cd's/records/even tape cassettes (they stopped being made around 98/99 right?, I have a real album in cassette tape format from 97, cos I was a paperboy kid and it was cheaper) ? They profit from those. Oh, I see, they would like it if people didn't sell used records/cd's/cassettes? To hell with them then.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:43am
  
  Re:
  "If you want to make the US a tech backwater"
  
  In many (certainly not all) ways, the US is already a tech backwater.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
McCrea (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:23am

"anti-India content"
"Indian ruling party BJP’s National Head Arvind Gupta confirmed the block order via Twitter, citing ‘anti-India content’ hosted on those sites from terrorist outfit ISIS"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Matthew A. Sawtell, 31 Dec 2014 @ 12:33pm
  
  Re: "anti-India content"
  Github is "anti-Indian"? Nice to see that clueless politicians are a world-wide issue. {facepalm}
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - repoman, 31 Dec 2014 @ 12:59pm
    
    Re: Re: "anti-India content"
    THEY ARE DOING BECAUSE RECENTLY A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WAS HACKED INSIDE INFO .
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2015 @ 9:38am
      
      Re: Re: Re: "anti-India content"
      OK THEN
      
      HOLY SHIT HOW YOU KNOW
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:45am

That list looks nothing like a collection of likely targets of "copyright" concerns. It rather looks like some list of alternative out-of-band impromptu communication channels - people post stuff on pastebin-like sites to be able to link to them in their social or p2p posts (really, when did you last see the latest Bollywood hit crammed into pastebin?!?) and vimeo and github seem to be simply caught up at the edges of trying to prevent that. What the heck are they so afraid of, some sort of Arab Spring or what?!?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:34am
  
  Re:
  Well India is infamous for their corruption. So perhaps they are worried about an Indian Snowden.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 10:45am
  
  Re:
  Github has gist, which is pastebin-like.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- repoman, 31 Dec 2014 @ 12:57pm
  
  ITS BECAUSE OF HACKERS INDIAN HACKERS ARE THE WORST
  THEY HACK LOT OF STU..............
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
mSparks, 31 Dec 2014 @ 10:25am

great
surely India making itself uncompetitive on the IT scene is something we should all applaud and encourage.

much like everyone sings songs of joy every time the latest US data scandal hits the news and companies shed US services in droves in favour of safer European companies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:02am
  
  Re: great
  "much like everyone sings songs of joy every time"
  
  Who's everyone? I can see European companies singing songs of joy over it, but nobody (outside of the *AAs) in the US is doing so.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
balaknair, 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:12am

Been checking the listed sites
from where I live in India, checked each url thrice from the three ISPs I use- cable broadband and 2 mobile connections, once at 7:30 pm IST, and again now at 12:30 am IST.
So far all of them seem to be accessible. Either the report is mistaken(a prank or troll) or perhaps my ISPs haven't implemented the block yet.

That said, the list provided seems to have very little to do with copyright infringement. Except for dailymotion and vimeo, all the rest seem to be web development and software dev sites. And blocking archive.org makes very little sense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:44am

this 'very crude appraoch' is being used because it can be! governments everywhere are starting to follow the same course as was started by the UK. they use the same pathetic arguments of 'protecting the children' when they dont give a toss about the children because it is about the governments being able to control what can and cannot be accessed over the net. the main thing will come out when elections start but the banning of social websites is already being used to stop people informing others of a starting place for demonstrations etc. it is far more important to these governments to be able to stop dead any form of protest at what the governments are doing, even though those governments were voted in to office to follow the promises made during the election run up and refuse to leave office until ready! they all ignore that they are in office to do what is best and what is right for everyone, not just for themselves and not just for particular industries!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 31 Dec 2014 @ 4:22pm

Supposedly A Democracy, Yet With This Weird Paternalistic Mentality...
I came across something similar a couple of years ago, with Google’s “Mapathon” being investigated by the Indian authorities over making available information which was already public anyway, yet somehow deemed “sensitive”.

See the responses to my comments (as “ldo17”) here and here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anish Mangal, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:29pm

Still accessible from India
Maybe the order is still being enacted, but the following websites mentioned are still very accessible (atleast on Bharti Airtel from New Delhi).

vimeo.com
pastebin.com
github.com

I haven't checked others, but these are definitely accessible and working!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anandarjeshwaran, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:57pm

url not blocked
i am using Airtel one of India's biggest ISP. I am able to open GitHub, daily motion .not sure how true is this news or when will this be implemented
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- abckb, 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:58pm
  
  Re: url not blocked
  I am using BSNL broadband. I can't open any of the sites listed there! Not even github.com! This is insane!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- gevarghese, 1 Jan 2015 @ 8:54am
  
  Re: url not blocked
  at least by BSNL ISP its blocked
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
abckb, 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:56pm

github blocked!!
Holy cow!! Even github.com is blocked! Who is taking these decisions??! This is insane :O How would I work on my git project now!!??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who Cares, 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:41pm

India can watch porn, but not share software...Come on!!!
India is allowed to rape, India is allowed to watch porn indiscriminately, India is allowed to throw garbage everywhere but India can not share software, code. Give me a break. There are better ways of negotiating misuse. Have they gone nuts?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who Cares, 31 Dec 2014 @ 11:41pm

India can watch porn, but not share software...Come on!!!
India is allowed to rape, India is allowed to watch porn indiscriminately, India is allowed to throw garbage everywhere but India can not share software, code. Give me a break. There are better ways of negotiating misuse. Have they gone nuts?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anon, 1 Jan 2015 @ 4:15am

Could have been worse
They might have banned Stack Overflow and shut down the whole Indian IT Sector.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2015 @ 6:16am

Nice. Indians will compile codes, share with each others through servers situated in foreign countries. Server company lures the Indians by showing they have provided free platform to share and indirectly collects all compiled codes and launch software product with their brand name to kill Indians resulting in IT job stagnation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Krunal, 1 Jan 2015 @ 10:54am

it's a hoax
The screenshot doesn't include any information through which this can be validated. It seems like a hoax. We're able to access the sites without any issue.

Nothing to panic.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
JJ, 1 Jan 2015 @ 12:38pm

Access restored
Access is now restored to GitHub n Vimeo, dailymotion is still blocked.
This is stupid, even a monkey can figure out how to use a proxy.

Dailymotion Has a lot of Bollywood movies available so I'm guessing that this is purely anti-piracy action in progress.

They should set up a better system to monitor content instead of blocking entire websites.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
jayesh, 4 Jan 2015 @ 10:38pm

why not block google/twitter
that would make sure that no search results of any kind reach users of the net...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Karan, 19 Jul 2015 @ 1:34am

Why Why Why
Why is that so many non copyright educational videos are blocked in youtube. How do they explain this???
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
anupama, 3 Sep 2015 @ 5:43am

houses in bangalore
if you can justify better and healthy for human development then continue.
prestige song of south
prestige song of the south
prestige song of the south price
[ link to this | view in chronology ]