Internet service providers will now unblock 17 websites and blogs following an order by the department of telecom. The department has sought an explanation from service providers for blocking websites and webpages that it did not intend to block.
The department reiterated that in its order on July 13, it had clearly mentioned the names of websites and webpages that were to be blocked.
The Internet service providers' association of India has written a letter to the DoT, giving reasons for blocking websites from the server.
ISPAI secretary Deepak Maheshwari said, "We had to block the whole website from the server because despite the blockade at the sub-domain and IP levels, the URLs could have been accessed by any user in India."
It has explained that if the website had not been blocked, the overseas domain name system could have blocked the Indian DNS and the blogs could have been accessed from outside the country.
"The government has asked us to do what is impractical, if DoT officials know any other way of implementing the block at the domain name system, they should teach us," Maheshwari said and added that ISPAI had written to the department and expected it to consider the practical constraints on blocking blogs and websites. Meanwhile, it was in talks with Internet service providers for feedback on the issue.