DoT blocks 78 URLs; most of them with IIPM content

New Delhi, Feb 15: The Department of Telecommunications has issued instructions to

Licensees to block access to 78 URLs. Most of the URLs are news portal and blog entries related to the educational institution IIPM and its promoter Arindam Chaudhuri. The order sent to internet service providers has been signed by Subodh Saxena, a director rank official of the DoT.

The blocked content is about the University Grants Commission notice pointing towards the unrecognized status of IIPM. The worrying factor is is that the blocks include URLs of news portals like Outlook Magazine, Careers360, The Times of India, FirstPost, Rediff, The Indian Express, The Economic Times, MensXP, The Wall Street Journal, The Caravan Magazine. Their news reports reports related to IIPM have been blocked. Even the spoof news site Faking News and The Unreal Times also find themselves in the blocked list.

Apart from the news portals, blog posts dating back to 2005 and 2006, which are critical of IIPM have been ordered to be blocked. Even URLs of consumer complaints portals Akosha and consumercourtforum.in related to IIPM has also been ordered to be blocked, as well as a compilation of links on Bitly by Mahesh Murthy.

Even though it may not look a security issue, included in the block list are Arindam Chaudhuri specific tags in The Wall Street Journal and Caravan Magazine.

DoT blocks 78 URLs; most of them with IIPM content

OneIndia News