By Jisha Surya / ENS 24th August 2012 11:12 AM
Thursday was a black (block) day for Twitter as the government cracked the whip on several websites and social media accounts in view of the hate campaign and subsequent exodus of people belonging to the North East from various states. The buzzword #GOIblocks (for Government of India block) was trending on Twitter on Thursday. The Twitter world criticised curbs on social media by terming the act as #Emergency 2012 and #blackday. Even two prominent journalists faced Internet censorship on Thursday. Union Home Secretary R K Singh, the other day, had said that Pakistan was behind the hate campaign. Soon, the government pressed the panic button and blocked more than 250 websites and social networking sites. Blocked messages from Department of Telecom were received by several Twitter users, including prominent journalists such as Kanchan Gupta and Shiv Aroor. Aroor, deputy editor of ‘Headlines Today’, tweeted on Thursday, “My Twitter ‘account’ isn’t blocked (yet?). But http://twitter.com/shivaroor on a browser shows a DoT “Blocked” msg”. However, one of the ironic and funny facts of #GOIblock was that the government even blocked the post of Pakistani blogger Faraz Ahmed who first exposed how Islamist groups doctored photographs from Tibet and Southeast Asia to incite violence against the North East people. “They can block my Twitter, my FB, my Blog, my Email BUT They can NEVER EVER block my mind. #Emergency2012 #GOIBlocks #BlackDay” was the most re-tweeted message on Twitter on Thursday. Some other interesting tweets were, ‏@rameshsrivats: I’ve always wondered what exactly a Block Development Officer does. Now I know. #GOIBlocks, ‏@madversity: Freedom of speech is a fundamental right, not a fundamentalist right. #GOIblocks. Whatever be the reason, Internet block is expected to be a matter of heated debate in the coming days.
Thursday was a black (block) day for Twitter as the government cracked the whip on several websites and social media accounts in view of the hate campaign and subsequent exodus of people belonging to the North East from various states. The buzzword #GOIblocks (for Government of India block) was trending on Twitter on Thursday. The Twitter world criticised curbs on social media by terming the act as #Emergency 2012 and #blackday. Even two prominent journalists faced Internet censorship on Thursday. Union Home Secretary R K Singh, the other day, had said that Pakistan was behind the hate campaign. Soon, the government pressed the panic button and blocked more than 250 websites and social networking sites. Blocked messages from Department of Telecom were received by several Twitter users, including prominent journalists such as Kanchan Gupta and Shiv Aroor. Aroor, deputy editor of ‘Headlines Today’, tweeted on Thursday, “My Twitter ‘account’ isn’t blocked (yet?). But http://twitter.com/shivaroor on a browser shows a DoT “Blocked” msg”. However, one of the ironic and funny facts of #GOIblock was that the government even blocked the post of Pakistani blogger Faraz Ahmed who first exposed how Islamist groups doctored photographs from Tibet and Southeast Asia to incite violence against the North East people. “They can block my Twitter, my FB, my Blog, my Email BUT They can NEVER EVER block my mind. #Emergency2012 #GOIBlocks #BlackDay” was the most re-tweeted message on Twitter on Thursday. Some other interesting tweets were, ‏@rameshsrivats: I’ve always wondered what exactly a Block Development Officer does. Now I know. #GOIBlocks, ‏@madversity: Freedom of speech is a fundamental right, not a fundamentalist right. #GOIblocks. Whatever be the reason, Internet block is expected to be a matter of heated debate in the coming days.
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