Since the beginning of this month, certain ISPs have been blocking access to streaming video and torrent sites on their networks. As of today, just about every ISP in the country is reported to be blocking the following sites:

DNA has a story on the government setting up a website (and a call centre) to allow for RTI applications to be submitted and tracked online.

NIXI is reported to be working on the introduction of Internationalised domain name support for the .in registry. Internationalised domain names allow for multilingual domains such as the following:

• हिन्दी.com [Hindi]
• http://தமிழ்.idn.sg [Tamil]
• http://മലയാളം.com [Malayalam]

A Swedish security consultant, Dan Egerstad, has released the passwords of over a 100 e-mail accounts belonging to embassies worldwide including those of India.

LUG - Delhi maintains a list (dubbed the Hall of Shame) of government and other (deemed) critical websites that force users to use proprietary technology (usually Internet explorer) to access their pages.

The DoT is expected to introduce regulations that will open up access to landing stations of international long distance players for rival companies’ submarine cables.

Currently, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Reliance Communications, Bharti and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd carry bandwidth to India through seven locations. Trai had recommended to the DoT to allow equal access at the cable landing stations (CLS), including landing facilities for submarine cables, to licensed operators on a non-discriminatory basis, without any sunset clause.

The Economic Times confirms that the DoT has ordered ISPs to only block the blogs in question rather than entire domains or IP addresses.

DoT has also issued a show cause notice to ISPs following pressure from the government. “The DoT has further sought explanation from the erring ISPs as to why action be not taken against them for blocking unintended websites and webpages,” a government notice on the issue said.