Three years ago, Kynhun, a Yahoo! group caused a storm in a teacup when a CERT-In directive to Indian ISPs to block it, resulted in a blanket ban on the entire Yahoo! Groups.

Whether the government, acting through CERT-In, was justified in its request to block a website, is a matter for another debate as it involves the volatile issue of freedom of expression or an individual’s right to make an independent choice as opposed to the government making it for her.

But it was clear that CERT-In had asked for blocking only the Kynhun group and not the entire Yahoo! Groups. Indian ISPs, claiming they did not have the expertise to block individual sites, went ahead an blocked the entire domain resulting in a blanket ban. A classic case of throwing away the baby with the bath water!

Everyone granted the ISPs a benefit of the doubt since this was the first ‘known’ case of such nature. And the ISPs, a chastised lot, had claimed they would work with CERT-In to rectify their mistakes and ensure they wouldn’t happen again.

And now… history repeats itself!! After CERT-In asked the ISPs to block 18 websites (some of them blogs hosted on blogspot and typepad) due to their communal nature, given the curent climate in India, the ISPs went ahead and brought out their blankets!!

Haven’t they learned anything in the intervening 3 years? Hasn’t technology improved since 2003? Do the ISPs have any clue?

Anyone who’s had the mis-fortune of interacting with ISP helpdesks in India can vouch for the fact that  ISPs don’t give a damn! … about their customers… or about technology!

And here, there is no private versus government-owned distinction. Private doesn’t mean better. We have seen that last year in Mumbai when Reliance Energy left their customers high and dry when mumbai was soaked under a deluge. And Reliance, MTNL, etc. have shown it once again… by their incompetence… this time around!!