Incidentally...

You can see this blog, but I can't. (And yes, it is much easier to do links in blogspot than livejournal; why do you ask?) Here's something else amusing: normally credible sources such as the BBC really get it wrong. In articles like this, it's as if the Beeb couldn't decide whether an entire server was banned or just 17 sites, and just decided to run something that wouldn't technically be false if either were true.

It was the servers, of course, and it was truly freaky, as the ISPs each pulled the plug in turn, and word spread only from person to distraught person. It took a good 48 hours for the story to "catch," although it seems to have truly exploded now.

The Telecom Ministry claims they never ordered entire servers to be blocked and that the ISPs were just lazy; the ISPs claim the Ministry doesn't understand how technology works. The Indian Embassy in Washington claims the whole thing was a misunderstanding and service has been restored. Except it hasn't. (And yes, I'm using pkblogs.com to get around the block, but so are a lot of other people, and service is rather patchy.)

Another thing no one can understand is why even 17 sites would be blocked, as the preferred method of communication among Bombayites -- terrorist and chai-wallah alike -- is the cell phone SMS. Perhaps it was to shield the world from trenchant observations like this?