'Internet is pulling ahead of censors'

John Gilmore, co-founder of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a well-known figure in the cyber world and beyond, speaks about the issues of Internet and censorship in the wake of the DoT diktat to ISPs to block certain websites and pages:

It is not the first time that the Internet was gagged, and certainly not the last. Far too many governments, regimes, authorities, and others have at one time or the other soiled their hands while attempting to restrict the free-flow of information in the cyberspace. It could be under the guise of religious tolerance, pornography, patriotism, or many such pretexts.

Thus, if China blocked websites that talked about Taiwan or Tibet, or Pakistan blocked blogs displaying the controversial Danish cartoons, not many eyebrows were raised. But when, the Indian government starting giving diktats to ISPs on which websites and blogs should be blocked, it came as a rude shock. After all, censorship and democracy hardly go together, and the world's largest democracy doing something like this was simply not acceptable. There was a huge uproar. And the battle against the ban was carried on multiple fronts.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) founded in 1990 is a group that fights against censorship defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights. With the aid of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF has achieved considerable success and clout in its battle for freedom.

source: Article < "Internet is pulling ahead of censors" >; www.ciol.com/content/developer/2006/106072702.asp; CIOL.com; 27 July 2006